Tehran, December 23, 2025
Photo: mospat.ru
The Russian Orthodox community in Tehran marked a significant milestone on December 19, celebrating both its patronal feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the 80th anniversary of their cathedral’s consecration.
The day also marked the 30th anniversary of the parish’s reunification with the Moscow Patriarchate in 1995, reports the Department for External Church Relations.
Prior to the festivities, the cathedral underwent substantial renovation work, including the installation of a new table of oblation and a new altar table.
Rector Archimandrite Alexander (Zarkeshev) celebrated the festive Liturgy together with Igumen Varlaam (Dulsky) and Deacon Alexei Kostin. Many parishioners received Holy Communion during the service.
In honor of the cathedral’s 80th anniversary, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill granted St. Nicholas Cathedral the privilege of celebrating the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the Lord’s Prayer.
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Photo: mospat.ru
The Russian Orthodox presence in Iran dates back to the late 16th century, when a monk named Nikifor established the first Russian parish on Persian soil. By the early 20th century, a Russian ecclesiastical mission operated in Iran, and by 1917 approximately 50 Russian Orthodox churches served the community. However, most of these churches were lost in the early 1920s.
Following the Russian Revolution, the Soviet government cut off funding to Russian institutions in Persia, including the Imperial Mission in Tehran. The mission’s staff and clergy were left without financial support. Archimandrite Vitaly (Sergiev) served as parish rector from 1918 to 1946.
In the first half of the 1940s, donations from Russian emigrants enabled the construction of a church on the northern outskirts of Tehran. St. Nicholas Cathedral officially opened on March 8, 1945, under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The iconostasis was preserved and transferred from the previously closed Alexander Nevsky embassy church. A two-story church house was built alongside the cathedral to accommodate the parish office and priest’s residence.
The cathedral gradually fell into neglect during the 1980s. In 1995, at the request of parishioners, the cathedral was received into the Moscow Patriarchate.
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