The construction of an Orthodox church dedicated to All Saints and a Russian cultural center in Strasbourg will cost €6 million, the Russian Orthodox Church’s envoy to the Council of Europe said Tuesday, RIA Novosti reports.
“According to a preliminary assessment, some €6 million will be required, and construction may start this fall, presumably in early October, but only if the financing is received by that time,” said Hegumen Philip Ryabykh, who is also the rector of the All Saints parish in Strasbourg in eastern France.
The parish of All Saints in Strasbourg was established in 2003. It is currently housed in a former garage reequipped for church needs. Permission to build the church was secured from the local authorities in December 2012. The parish community will rent the plot of land, where the church will be built, for 99 years.
Construction will be funded with donations and the parish community needs some €180,000 ($236,340) to start work, Hegumen Philip said after a meeting of the board supervising the construction of the All Saints Church.
The meeting, led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, was held in Moscow on Tuesday. It involved clergy from Russia and Ukraine, businessmen, as well as state and public figures from Russia and France. A foundation providing money for the All Saints Church construction has already partially paid for the services of an architect and companies providing engineering documentation.
Patriarch Kirill said at the supervisory board meeting that the church will become a place for communication and prayer of the Russian community, as well as a site for the Russian Orthodox Church’s dialog with European organizations.
Russkiy Mir Foundation Information Service
