The Hague, November 10, 2026
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
A church in The Hague founded by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco in 1952 was reconsecrated on Sunday, November 8, after a full renovation.
His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Western and Central Europe of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church led the festive hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Church of Sts. Archangels Michael and Gabriel on its feast day, the Synaxis of Archangel Michael. Because the holy table and the table of oblation in the altar were replaced, the church was consecrated in full, reports the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Anthony brought a particle of the relics of St. James the Persian, which was placed in the new marble holy table. Bulgarian and Georgian clergy from the Netherlands and Belgium concelebrated. During the service, a four readers were tonsured and one man was ordained to the diaconate.
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
In his sermon, Metropolitan Anthony said it’s especially significant that the church is dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Heavenly messengers and servants of God’s providence, and he asked for their intercession over the church, its clergy and all who enter it.
“Today we consecrate a church, but in fact we also dedicate ourselves to God. For the most beautiful church isn’t only the one built of stone, but the one each of us builds in his own heart through faith, humility, mercy and love,” he emphasized.
The church in The Hague was founded by St. John in 1952 as Resurrection of Christ, originally belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The Bulgarian Orthodox community of St. Paisius of Hilandar was founded there on November 19, 2000, and moved into the building that same month. The church is now dedicated to the Archangels Micheal and Gabriel.
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
To honor its history, the church is home to an icon of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco painted by a Bulgarian iconographer in the U.S.
Because it has no church of its own, the Georgian Orthodox Diocese of Belgium and the Netherlands also uses the church in The Hague.
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