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President Putin attended Divine service at the Transfiguration Cathedral in Yakutsk on Christmas Eve

8.01.2006 · Архив 2005-2009, События  

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on a working visit in Yakutia attended the Great Compline service in the Transfiguration cathedral church in Yakutsk.

Bishop Zosima of Yakutsk and Lensk met the head of the state at the entrance to the church.

The President stood through the service together with the parishioners living in Yakutsk. When Vladimir Putin was going out of the church, they greeted him with the Nativity of Christ, wished him happiness and good health and thanked him for his visit to Yakutia and for not being afraid of the fifty-grade frost.

Representatives of more than 120 nationalities live in Yakutia, but the overwhelming majority of them are Orthodox Christians.

The Cathedral of Transfiguration is the oldest working church in Yakutsk. It was built in 1838-45 on the funds of the merchants Alexey and Maxim Solovievs who realized an initiative of their father Mikhail who donated all his money for the construction of the cathedral.

The church was almost completely demolished in 1930s, and only a half-ruined first floor survived. Construction works began in 1998, and the church was completely restored in 2001. It was consecrated on 19 August 2001, the feast of the Transfiguration of the lord.

The Yakutsk diocese was founded in 1870 and revived on 23 February 1993. There are 49 parishes, 17 churches, 20 prayer houses, 10 chapels and a convent in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) at present.