Moscow, July 9, 2024
Photo: lublino-mos.ru
The largest wooden church in central Russia, the Church of the Holy First Apostles Peter and Paul, will be completed in Moscow in September, reports RIA News, citing the press service of Vladimir Resin, a State Duma deputy and curator of the program for the construction of Orthodox churches in the capital.
“In September, builders plan to commission the Church of the Holy First Apostles Peter and Paul (located on Tikhoretsky Boulevard in the Lyublino district of Moscow). This is currently the largest wooden church in Central Russia. The builders are now finishing the interior decoration. Landscaping work is underway, and paving tiles are being laid,” according to the press release distributed by the press service.
The height of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul will be 42 meters (about 141 feet), with a capacity of one thousand people. Additionally, the church has a large wooden parish school with an area of 350 square meters, where more than 90 children are already studying.
According to Resin, the construction of the wooden church is the initiative of its rector. “He himself is a Siberian, from the village of Shushenskoye. Together with the parishioners, they gradually erected a fairy-tale-like Orthodox wooden ensemble. In our program, this is the first completely wooden complex,” said Resin.
The construction of the wooden church complex began in 2019. “Over five years, the parishioners of the small wooden church in honor of St. Sabbas the Sanctified gradually built an entire wooden town with their own funds. The church itself, a separate structure for the baptismal font, a Sunday school, a refectory, and a church shop. Then they began the construction of the main church. Unlike most of the program’s churches, this one is made of pine wood,” clarified the press service.
Church rector Fr. Georgy Ivanov emphasized that everything is being built through the donations of the parishioners, who also have helped with their own labor.
The program for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow, previously called the “Program of 200 Churches,” was initiated by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus' in 2009 and is funded by donations. Over 50 new churches have been built in Moscow over the past five years. A charitable fund called the “Support Fund for the Construction of Churches in the City of Moscow” was established to collect funds, the co-chairmen of the board of trustees being Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Patriarch Kirill.
