Official site of the Archdiocese of Brussels and Belgium opens in its new version

A new full version of the official site of the Archdiocese of Brussels and Belgium of the Russian Orthodox Church opened with the blessing of Archbishop Simon of Brussels and Belgium and of Hague and Netherlands on October 3, 2005: www.archiepiskopia.be.

Presentation took place at the opening of the ‘Europalia-Russia 2005’ cultural festival held in Brussels. Among the present were the Belgium ruling dynasty and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Diocese of Brussels and Belgium is the oldest Orthodox diocese in the country. It was established when the church of St. Nicholas was built at the Russian Imperial Mission in Brussels in 1862. Today it includes 9 parishes and 2 monasteries; the divine liturgies are celebrated in Russian, French and Dutch.

About 80 thousand emigrants from Russia and the CIS countries live in Belgium. Most of them are Orthodox. The new Internet project has three language versions and aims at introducing spiritual and cultural values of the Orthodox Church to our compatriots and native citizens of Belgium.