A Dream Becomes Reality. The Church of St. George in Viljakainen, Finland

On Thursday August 15, the long-time dream of an Orthodox Finn has come true--the church he built in his homeland was opened to all. Pekka A. Viljakainen writes on the website of the Church of St. George (stgeorge.fi): “The Church of St. George was built in honor of God and to commemorate the late servant of God Yuri Injushin, the joint effort of pianist Anastasia Iniushina and entrepreneur Pekka Viljakainen, was consecrated by Archbishop Leo of Karelia and All Finland. This temple was built to bring the joy, hope and beauty of encountering God to our fellow human beings, as well as strengthen the love between people. We would like to thank the employees at Kenozersky National Park in the Arkhangelsk Oblast of the Russian Federation, who graciously provided us with information about the Chapel of the Procession of the Holy Spirit in the village of Glazovo on which the Church of St. George is modeled. The church was built by a group of expert artisans from Finland and Russia. The design and construction took a total of 500 days. It was designed by church architect Ivan Kanaev” “Anything is possible,” says Pekka, “it just takes a lot of energy, time and passion.” We present a photo display of the process.