The Samara administration does not allow Old Believers to hold holiday services in the temple that once belonged to them

The Samara Old Believers were unable to obtain permission from the city authorities to conduct an Easter service in the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (recall that the local Old Believer community has long and unsuccessfully tried to achieve the return of this church, which is in municipal ownership).

The believers were told that in the event of a worship service, it would be impossible to ensure compliance with safety regulations. The site Modern Old Orthodoxy commented on this as follows: "... the state of the building is magnificent, there can be no talk of any collapse of the roof, falling walls and similar horrors - the Old Believers built for the glory of God, with love and for centuries. The unwillingness of the city authorities to let in temple of legitimate (according to the laws of conscience, not bureaucratic circulars) owners, of course. The city is the official owner of the temple, so to speak, the assignee of the Soviet authorities, who confiscated this temple, and does not want the Old Believers to consider the temple their own - even on Easter night.

On May 24, the rector of the Samara parish of the Russian Orthodox Church, Priest Dimitry Martyshin, on behalf of the Old Believer community, handed over a letter to the First Deputy Head of the city N.V. Troyan, which contains a request to expedite the transfer of the Kazan Church to the community. There was no response from the city administration to a previously sent letter with a similar request.

The next day, the Committee on Social Issues of the Samara Regional Duma turned to the head of Samara G.S. Limansky with a request to comment on the situation around the Old Believer church. Priest Dimitry Martyshin was informed by the deputies that the Regional Duma had taken this issue under its control.

However, at the request of the Old Believers to allow them to hold a service in the church on the feast of St. Trinity city administration again refused.

website On October 4, the Samara Old Belief published an open appeal from the local community of the Russian Orthodox Church to the head of the city administration G.S. Limansky in connection with the current situation. The reason was the receipt by believers of an answer to one of their previous letters from the first deputy head of the city N.V. Trojan.

"Members of our community are still deeply perplexed by this document," the Old Believers said in their appeal. that do not correspond to reality.

So, in a letter to N.V. Trojan says that there are destructions in the building. But this is not so - the building of the temple is in a satisfactory condition - we have had the opportunity to verify this more than once, conducting divine services in the temple.

It is also unclear how the size of the forthcoming expenses for the repair of the building became known, if an examination of the state of the temple was not carried out, there is no restoration work project, and, of course, the estimate of work was not drawn up.

And it is completely incomprehensible why Mr. Troyan believes that the transfer of the temple to the community will make it difficult to restore it? The community asked to transfer the temple for free use. In this case, the city will remain legally and de facto the owner of the building. Nothing will prevent the owner from restoring the temple. Moreover, nowhere else can the city find such zealous, diligent and gratuitous helpers as the Old Believers are ready to become. <...>

But most of all, we were surprised by the statement of N.V. Troyan that "representatives of various religious denominations, movements in the Old Believers and public organizations will consider the question of the ownership of the temple and its use." The historical belonging of the temple to our community is beyond doubt - several volumes of archival documents confirm this.

If we are talking about who the temple will belong to, then it is not clear why such a question did not arise earlier in relation to other confessions: in the city, more than once or twice, religious buildings were returned to those confessions to which they historically belonged. But not once, when the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church (MP), the church, the church, the synagogue were returned to believers, did public discussions take place. Not once was the ROCC community asked if it had any objections to the transfer of religious buildings to the former owners. And this is understandable: the community has nothing to do with these buildings and has no historical rights to these buildings. Why should representatives of other faiths now decide the fate of the only Belokrinitsa church in the city?

In an interview with Credo.ru, V. Troyan accused the Old Believers of "black ingratitude." "In 2004, the mayor's office held a meeting with the leaders of the Belokrinitskaya community," he said, "then it was decided that the city authorities would repair the temple, and then the procedure for its use and its status would be determined. Since then, we regularly issue permits for that the community, in the name of the image of the Kazan Mother of God, hold their divine services in this building. The city is aimed at peaceful cooperation, and the Old Believers say that they just need to give the temple and that's it. It is not known how they will restore it. , who bought the building of the temple, is purposefully engaged in the revival of the historical appearance of the city and is trying to give a second life to church and secular architectural monuments."

Sources

• The Samara community of the Russian Orthodox Church asks the city authorities for permission to hold an Easter service in their church // Modern Old Orthodoxy. 2005. April 22.
• Samara Old Believers Seek the Opportunity to Celebrate Easter in Their Church // Portal-Credo.ru. 2005. April 27.
• Easter "gift" of the city authorities to the Old Believers: the Samara community of the Russian Orthodox Church was not allowed to hold an Easter service in the temple // Modern Old Orthodoxy. 2005. April 28.
• The Samara community of the Russian Orthodox Church once again appealed to the city authorities with a request to expedite the transfer of the temple // Samara Old Belief. 2005. May 25.
• The Social Policy Committee of the Samara Regional Duma asked the Mayor of Samara to comment on the situation around the Old Believer church // There. 2005. May 26.
• Samara Old Believers are disappointed with the results of the meeting of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church with Plenipotentiary Kiriyenko // Blagovest-Info. 2005. June 20.
• An open letter from the Samara community of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Head of the city of Samara G.S. Limansky // Samara Old Belief. 2005. October 4th.
• First Deputy head of administration of Samara, responsible for public relations, V.N. TROYAN: "Samara Old Believers responded to the authorities with black ingratitude" // Portal-Credo.ru. 2005. October 7th.