Cancun, January 23, 2020
The newly-baptized Dmitry Sukharov with Fr. Mark Rashkov and Fr. Kyrill Chakon. Photo: blagovest-info.ru
Dmitry Sukharov was born again unto new life in Christ on the feast of Theophany, just a few days after being released from a Mexican prison.
The Latvian native had served 8 years in prison, but was unable to leave until he paid the necessary fine. He appealed to the St. John Give Hope Foundation, a Brooklyn homeless relief fund named for St. John of Kronstadt, and he was soon a free man, reports Blagovest-Info.
Sukharov left jail on January 13 after the foundation Director, Vadim Arefev, personally flew to Cancun to pay his fine. As Arefev noted, although the foundation was created to serve the community in Brooklyn, “Christ Himself stands behind everyone who asks.”
The funds came from volunteers at the foundation, who are parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church in New York.
The parish community of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Cancun. Photo: blagovest-info.ru
Six days after being released, Sukharov was baptized into Christ on the feast of Theophany at the local St. Nicolas parish. The Liturgy was celebrated Fr. Kyrill Chakon, who serves several communities in Mexico, and Fr. Mark Rashkov from the St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York.
Fr. Kyrill celebrated the first Orthodox Liturgy in the history of Cancun last year on May 1.
