Chelles, France, August 25, 2025
archeveche.eu
On August 1, the feast day of St. Seraphim of Sarov, a new cross was blessed and installed atop the renovated dome of St. Seraphim Orthodox Church in the Parish suburb of Chelles, marking the first time in approximately 50 years that the church has been crowned with this sacred symbol.
His Grace Bishop Elisée of Reutov celebrated the Divine Liturgy and blessing ceremony at the church, which uniquely straddles the border between the communes of Chelles (Seine-et-Marne) and Gagny (Seine-Saint-Denis). The bishop was assisted by Archpriests André and Adrian, along with Fr. Silouane. Following the Liturgy, Bp. Elisée blessed the new cross before it was raised and installed on the newly renovated dome as parishioners sang the Troparion of the Cross in both French and Church Slavonic, reports the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Moscow Patriarchate).
The church has served the local Orthodox community since 1933, when it was built by Russian émigrés who had fled to France following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent civil war. Many of these White Russians were Cossacks from the Kuban region who had settled in the Abbesses neighborhood, where they found affordable land to build modest homes. The original church structure was dismantled and rebuilt at its current location in 1939, with the property officially acquired by the parish in 1950.
archeveche.eu Today, the parish is part of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe. While originally serving an exclusively Russian émigré community, the congregation now includes Orthodox faithful of various backgrounds—descendants of Russian émigrés, recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Romanians, Lebanese, and French converts to Orthodoxy. Services are celebrated in both French and Church Slavonic.
During the service, Bp. Elisée, who previously served as the parish rector for six years, presented the church with relics of St. John Chrysostom on behalf of St. Silouan Monastery in Saint-Mars-de-Locquenay. In his address to the congregation, he reminded them of St. Seraphim’s teaching on love and forgiveness, particularly emphasizing the saint’s famous words: “Acquire peace within yourself and thousands will be saved.”
The installation of the new cross and renovated dome represents a significant moment for the parish community, restoring a vital architectural and spiritual element that had been absent from its church building for decades.
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