Zorkino
The village of Zorkino in
the Marx region of the Saratov oblast was known until 1942 as
“Zurich.” It was a German settlement similar to many others on
the Volga. But while it shares a history with many other settlements,
it's present is unique thanks to the generous donations of a Russian
German businessman who decided to restore the church in the home town
of his father.
On October 3rd
of this year, then, the Church of Christ the Savior (a copy of the
building that was destroyed during Soviet times) was opened and
dedicated. At the dedication the main sponsor of the project, Karl
Loor for Belgorod, said, “a few years ago I lost my father. A few
days after his funeral I sat down to look at his photo albums and
understood that there is so much that I do not know about the history
of my family. I began to gather all the pieces of the puzzle, and it
was then that I had the idea to restore the church.” Olga
Litzenberger, a researcher and historian of Russian Germans, found
the building plans and passed them on to Mr. Loor.
The Church of Christ the
Savior in the Zurich colony was built in 1877 according to the plans
of the famous German architect Johann Jakobstal. It was an exact copy
of the church of St. Mary that was destroyed in Saratov in the 1970s.
In the 1930s the church in Zorkino was closed and then used as a
warehouse, a club and a movie theater. In 1992 there was a fire in
the building and the building was abandoned. By the time the
restoration of the building began, the only thing that was left were
walls with trees growing out of them. The reconstruction began in
2013 and the day of re-dedication was chosen deliberately – October
3, 2015 is the 25th anniversary of the re-unification of
Germany.
More than 500 people
attended the ceremonies. Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church Dietrich Brauer was in attendance, as were the Dean of the
Saratov Deanery Alexander Schaermann, pastor in Saratov Alexander
Dzhamgarov, the Dean of the Volga-Kamsky Deanery Vladimir Provorov
and also pastors from America, Germany and Brazil. Olga Martenz
represented the International Union of German Culture while Yuri Gaar
represented the Volga Russian Germany National Cultural Society of
Saratov Oblast.
After the dedication of
the building Archbishop Dietrich Brauer performed the first Baptism
in the new walls of the church. After the 4-hour service, guest went
to place flowers on a World War I.
In the future worship
services here will be led by pastors from the Saratov deanery and
there will also be a cultural center in the building.
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