Orthodox Church

The idea to build an orthodox church in the museum complex of Dudutki appeared in 2006. The founders and workers of the museum decided to set up a parish and invite an orthodox priest to manage it. The project was aimed to make the workers of the museum, inhabitants of the nearby villages and guests of the complex to pay attention to the ecclesiastical history of the Belarusian lands and to restore the cultural heritage of Pukhovichi orthodox parishes. In that very year of 2006 a temporary building in nearby Pitch village was found to hold services according to the Eastern rite. There on the 27th of November, 2006 Eugene Gromyko, the priest directed by the Belarusian exarchate, conducted the first divine liturgy. From that very moment it has become possible to speak about the existence of a real parish in our museum. Besides regular services, confession, the Eucharist, baptizing and wedding ceremonies started to be conducted in the church soon. After a little while on the 16th of February the museum was visited by Metropolitan Philaret, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, who blessed the construction of the church. On the day of his visit a wooden cross was installed near the place of building. The construction started in May 2007 and took about one year. On the 27th of May, 2008 the first service in a new building of the church was held. Moreover, it was the Easter service. Since that very day on Sundays and on the days of celebration of the orthodox holidays the liturgy has been conducted. The next important event connected with our church and parish was its consecration that took place on the 7th of July, 2008. This day is considered a Patron Saint's Day of our church. It is a birthday of Saint Prophet John the Baptist. The ceremony of consecration was conducted by Metropolitan Philaret in the presence of the priests from different Pukhovichi parishes, some Minsk priests were invited too. The special attention was paid to the guests from Montenegro from Cetinje Monastery who brought and donated to the church the icon with a particle of holy relics of Saint John the Baptist. Before the evening Saturday service a special prayer service including the akathist to Saint Prophet is held in front of the icon. For Belarusian orthodox believers this icon is a sanctity. The consecration ceremony was followed by worshipers, sponsors, museum workers, guests, the then Serbian ambassador to Belarus. Among all the other important facts about the church one cannot but mention the creation of the creation of the straw iconostasis that was made by Vera Soldatova. Visitors specially admire the beauty of the straw Royal doors. The leaves and the upper part of the doors are made from straw completely. The craftswoman created the doors on the basis of the part from the 18th c. Royal Doors. So, the doors in our church are considered to be their replica.