Utesovka, Ulyanovsk Province, Russia, August 20, 2025
On August 15, His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Simbirsk and Novospassk celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Archangel Michael in the village of Utesovka, Ulyanovsk Province—the first such service held there in over 90 years.
The 200-year-old church, consecrated in either 1822 or 1828 according to different sources, has stood semi-ruined for decades. Closed in the 1930s and subsequently used as a grain storage facility, the building survived a demolition attempt in the 1960s, according to local residents' memories.
Today, only about 20 people remain in Utesovka village. Despite the church’s deteriorated condition, residents of Utesovka and nearby Lebedevka have tried to maintain some order in the building. While molebens have been held several times on the feast day of Archangel Michael, no Divine Liturgy had been celebrated there for more than nine decades.
Met. Longin was assisted in the service by several local and diocesan clergy. The Hierarchical Men’s Choir of the Simbirsk Metropolis sang under the direction of choirmaster Roman Khitev.
Following the Liturgy, the clergy served a moleben to Archangel Michael, a procession with the cross, and memorial prayers for all who had previously lived in the village and who had prayed and served in the church.
In his address to the congregation, Met. Longin noted that while small, the preserved Archangel Michael Church is beautiful and welcoming. He emphasized the significance of celebrating the Eucharist in the space after so many years of abandonment.
“Today we prayed for those people who once lived here, who built this church, who brought their hopes and joy, their grief and their tears here. We tried to extend our common history with our ancestors,” the Metropolitan said. He expressed hope that people with “warm, caring hearts and skilled hands” would come forward to first preserve and perhaps eventually restore the church to its original appearance.
Following the service, Met. Longin and Fr. Georgy Dzhmil visited other historic churches in the district that remain standing: the Holy Trinity Church in Astradamovka village and the Intercession Church in Kezmino village. The stone church in Astradamovka was built in 1867 and later converted to a cultural center during Soviet times after its bell tower was dismantled and domes removed. The Holy Protection Church in Kezmino, built in 1827, now lies in ruins after being plundered and destroyed in the 1930s.
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