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Church Seized by Soviets Returned to Catholics
Zenit News Agency ^ | June 29, 2006
Posted on 06/29/2006 5:49:01 PM PDT by NYer
Archbishop Receives Keys and Cross
MOSCOW, JUNE 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A Catholic church confiscated 50
years ago by Soviet authorities has been returned to the archbishop of
the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow.
In a ceremony on Sunday, government authorities signed the Church of
St. John the Baptist over to Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, and in a
symbolic gesture handed him the keys of the church, and a cross bearing
a representation of the temple.
The church, built in the early 19th century in the village of Pushkin
in northwestern Russia, a short distance South of St. Petersburg, had
been closed since 1938.
During the Soviet era the church was used for physical education and
concerts.
"Prepare the way of the Lord!" said Archbishop Kondrusiewicz on taking
possession of the church.
During the Mass, which gathered some 200 faithful, the archbishop said
that "Christ comes to his disciples through the service of the Church."
Also attending the ceremony were Igor Rimmer, deputy of the Legislative
Assembly of St. Petersburg; Ivan Sautov, director of the Tsarkoe Selo
National Museum; as well as Russian priests and Protestants.
During the Mass, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz blessed an icon of Our Lady
of Fatima made especially for the church.
Construction began on the church of St. John the Baptist by order of
Czar Alexander I in 1823, and was completed in 1826.
Soviet authorities closed the church after arresting the pastor and
pressuring those in charge to sign a document stating that they were
"unable to repair the church and to pay the state the taxes
corresponding to the property."
The first religious celebration took place again in the church in 1991.
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