Toulon, France, July 14, 2022
Photo: rcf.fr
If the mayor and municipal council get their way, the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Toulon in southern France will be demolished to make way for a parking lot.
An online petition has been launched to try to save the church.
Fr. Alexis Struve writes about the ordeal:
Dear Friends,
Our church of the Holy Resurrection in Toulon (south of France) is being threatened with destruction by the mayor of the city in order to widen a street and to build a parking lot.
For nearly 50 years French Orthodox Christians and Orthodox Christians of Eastern European origin have worshipped in this place which, today, has become a centre of welcome for Ukrainian refugees.
We need to ask for your prayers that our community may continue to gather together to worship, to witness to our faith and as a place where everyone is welcome.
Today we are doing everything we can to solve the situation and we need everyone to invite the Mayor to renounce this project. This is why we are launching an international petition that we invite you to sign.
You can discover our community by visiting our Facebook page.
According to the RCF Radio, the parish community, which is part of Constantinople’s Russian Vicariate in France, will have to leave the premises starting in December.
The building belongs to the Toulon town hall, which complains that it isn’t up to code. The parish says it’s ready to do the necessary work, but Municipal Councilor Geneviève Levy emphasizes that the signed agreement with the church notes that “this provision will last until the need for demolition is felt. There is a project of communal interest for the neighborhood, whether it is the widening of the street or a parking lot.”
The community is also concerned about the fate of the iconostasis in particular.
“It dates to 1937. the daughter of the person who made this iconostasis is still alive. It’s our treasure because it’s a sacred thing: We look at it all the time, we pray in front of it,” one parishioner explained.
“We can’t dismantle the iconostasis. It’s forever. It’s really dramatic.”
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