Anglican Parish Church of St Andrew in Moscow is in Need of Urgent Repair

St Andrew Anglican Church in Moscow, built in 1882, a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin, a little bit of England in the centre of Russia

The building of the St Andrew Anglican parish church in Moscow is in need of urgent repairs, without which it threatens to collapse in the next 20 years, wrote the British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph. The newspaper pointed up the fact that the church of St Andrew in the centre of Moscow is the only functioning Anglican church on the territory of the former Soviet Union. It has about 150 parishioners, mostly employees of British organisations in Moscow and their families. The church is a symbol of the 450-year history of Anglicanism in Moscow, and is the only building in Russia built in the Victorian Neo-Gothic style that was current at the end of the 19^th century.

The building, which survived shelling during the fighting in Moscow during the Revolution, was used in the Soviet era as a recording studio by the firm Melodiya because of its excellent acoustics, is now faced with a more mundane, but, no less dangerous threat, sagging foundations, dry rot, and structural cracks. The rector of the parish, Fr Simon Stephens, who was previously a chaplain in the British Royal Navy, and the head of the Moscow parish for the last nine years, fears that the building shall not survive another 20 years, if not its renovation is not started immediately, the total cost of which is estimated at 8 million dollars (232.423 million roubles. 5.67 million euros. 5.455 million UK pounds).

“The Church shall not fall down tomorrow, but, we cannot wait any longer. In recent years, we have conducted extensive cosmetic repairs, but, now we need to urgently embark on the structural restoration of the building”, Fr Simon said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. “We really need to raise money for the next 24 months, and we really need to start the restoration next summer”, he emphasised. The newspaper notes that the parishioners of the church, and Anglophile philanthropists from Russia and other countries have already begun collecting funds for the restoration of the church. In particular, a Texas oil tycoon donated 100,000 dollars (2.905 million roubles. 70,870 euros. 68,190 UK pounds)

28 December 2008

Alexander Look

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/religion/20081228/158232764.html

Editor’s Note:

For those who would like to help with this worthy project, contact information is at the parish website, the URL is:

http://www.standrewsmoscow.org/email.php

BMD

Instead of a Troika with Horses… a White Cadillac: Ded Moroz Arrives in Moscow

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Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) arrived in Moscow from his home in Veliki Ustyug. The magician of winter didn’t arrive in a troika driven by horses; he came into town in a white Cadillac. Dede greeted all the Muscovites on the coming New Year. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov received a photo of Dede with penguins from Antarctica, and a set of winter-gear from the expedition. The fun didn’t end there. On Manezh Square, Dede lit up the Christmas/New Year’s Tree. Click on the URL below, it shall take you to a video on Dede’s arrival. It is only 1:35 long, so, the fact that it is in Russian shouldn’t deter non-Russian speakers. See Dede in action!

26 December 2008

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/ny_mm/20081226/158163076.html

The Tele-Project “The Name of Russia” Chose St Aleksandr Nevsky as the Person Who Best Symbolises Russia

Russian soldiers hold an icon of Grand Prince St Aleksandr Nevsky

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On Sunday, the tele-project The Name of Russia chose Old Russian Grand Prince St Aleksandr Nevsky as the Person who best symbolises Russia. St Aleksandr gained historic victories against the Swedes and the Teutonic Knights in the first half of the 13th century. The results of the popular vote were announced by the initiator and head of the project, Aleksandr Lyubimov, during a live broadcast on Telekanala Rossiya (TV Channel Russia). Over some three months, voting took place using the internet and SMS. More than 520,000 Russians voted for St Aleksandr Nevsky. Next in line, according to the results of the vote, was Graf Pyotr Stolypin, who was a reforming prime minister in the first years of the 20th century; Iosif Stalin and Aleksandr Pushkin took third and fourth places. In commenting on the results of the poll, Sergei Mironov, the Chairman of the RF Federation Council, said, “I am very pleased by the choice that Russians made in this poll. I think that this choice is very symbolic… People turned out and voted for the only saint in the list of the dozen candidates… it was the right choice”. The poll was conducted by TK Rossiya (TV Channel Russia), and the list of finalists also included Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Tsar Pyotr Veliki, Vladimir Lenin, Aleksandr Suvorov, Tsaritsa Yekaterina Velikaya, Tsar Ivan Grozny, and Tsar Aleksandr II Nikolaevich.

28 December 2008

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/media/20081228/158243637.html