Orthodox residents of Semenov are seeking the return of the Ascension Cathedral to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church

Orthodox believers in the city of Semyonov (Nizhny Novgorod region) intend to ask the regional administration to transfer the Ascension Cathedral, built in 1820, to the local diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (the building currently houses a cultural center). Activists have already collected more than a thousand signatures in support of their initiative. The idea of ​​transferring the cathedral is supported by the head of the district administration, Nikolai Krasnov, while the zemstvo assembly opposes it.

“The church that we now have is a cemetery church. It no longer accommodates all believers,” the official website of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, the dean of the Semenovsky district, Archpriest Igor Iudin, quotes. “A lot of people come on big holidays. On the Annunciation, for example, there were 700 people.

“Until the issue of transferring the house of culture has been resolved, we ask that at least the altar be handed over to the Church. Previously, there was a disco on the site of the altar, but the believers began to resent, and it was transferred to the cinema,” Archpriest Igor Iudin also said.

Sources

• More than 1,000 signatures were collected by Orthodox residents of Semyonov for the return of the main cathedral of the city to the Church // Official site of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2005. July 1st.