Rostov-on-Don, Russia, March 23, 2022
Photo: foma.ru
An historical Liturgy was celebrated in the building of the former crypt chapel of Rostov Medical University over the weekend.
The Liturgy hadn’t been celebrated there in nearly a century, Fr. Sergei Lysy of the local Annunciation Church noted before the service. The priest was joined by his parishioners and university employees, the church reports.
Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk has entrusted Fr. Sergei to celebrate regular services in the chapel. The new ministry began with the festive Liturgy in honor of St. Luke of Simferopol on Saturday.
The inaugural service is just the beginning of the long road to the restoration of the chapel.
Photo: vk.com
Before the Russian revolution, the Church of the Archangel Michael operated on the territory of the Rostov City Hospital, later a medical institute, where funerals were served. It was closed in 1923, and funerals were no longer served. It was dismantled in the 1960s. The building itself gradually fell into disrepair.
It was only last year that the chapel premises were transferred to the use of the Rostov-on-Don Diocese, at the request of the faithful.
In January, Holy Transfiguration Church in the Russian village of Kadnitsy, Nizhny Novgorod Province, saw its first service in nearly nine decades.
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