Bishop Nestor Sirotenko of Korsun (1974- ), MP ruling bishop in France, Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal
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The website of the MP Diocese of Korsun (covering France, Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal) reported that Bishop Nestor Sirotenko of Korsun served Liturgy for Epiphany at St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, where the MP recently took over the keys to the building. This was the first time that an MP hierarch served in the cathedral since the beginning of the 20th century. That same day, Bishop Nestor performed the Rite of the Great Blessing of the Waters. In addressing the believers present, Vladyki Nestor expressed his confidence that a strong Orthodox community would soon arise in the cathedral parish.
In December 2011, Sergei Bolkhovitin, the deputy head of the RF Presidential Administration, handed the keys of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice to Archpriest Nikolai Ozolin, the new rector. This ended the drawn-out, melodramatic, and stagy process of returning the church to the MP’s ownership. On Friday, our Interfax-Religion correspondent reported that the blog of the MP Diocese of Korsun posted that a ceremony took place at which the parties involved signed an official protocol formalising the transfer of St Nicholas Cathedral to the MP. A service led by the former and current rectors of the Church, Frs Johann Heidt and Nikolai Ozolin, preceded this long-awaited event. Fr Johann served Liturgy and Vespers, but both priests communed the believers present.
As reported in May 2011, a French court affirmed Russia’s right of ownership to the church in Nice, but the council of the Exarchate of Russian Parishes in Western Europe (EP) continued to consider itself the legitimate owner of St Nicholas Cathedral. In late October, the highest court in Nice ordered the EP group to hand over the keys to St Nicholas Cathedral to the RF government within seven days, but the situation dragged on for another six weeks.
20 January 2012
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=43874
