“The Ninth Hour”

Yaroslavl

On March 15 Pastor Agris Pilsums, who serves the Lutheran congregations in Ilukste, Subate and Lasi (Latvia), drove his car to Yaroslavl and brought with him the diptych “The Ninth Hour” („Devītā stunda"), painted by his wife, Art History specialist Daiga Pilsuma.
The diptych will become the altar picture in Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Yaroslavl. Christ's Passion as portrayed in the paint fits in well with the rough, once-destroyed-and-now-being restored interior of the church. It reminds us both of death and God's victory over death.
Church council President Igor Fedder, lay preacher Artis Petersons, congregational Pastor Ivan Shirokov and Area Dean Elena Bondarenko were there to receive the painting. A celebration is being planned for this summer for the dedication of the painting.

ELCA Partner Visits

2017 showed that the ELCA continues to remain engaged in partnership with the church in Russia. In February regional representative Arden Haug made a trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow together with Bishop Cindy Halmarson, Global Mission Director for Europe, Middle East and North Africa. As usual they visited the central church administration, Bishop Kugappe of the Ingrian Church, and ELCA Pastor Bradn Buerkle in St. Petersburg, and then in Moscow visited Archbishop Brauer and his staff, the French-speaking congregation, and the Moscow Protestant chaplaincy.This trip came at the conclusion of Arden's many years of faithful service in accompanying the Russian church on the behalf of the ELCA; his knowledge of the situation and his efforts on behalf of our church throughout the years have been very much appreciated.

Northwest Washington delegation with Bishop Brauer

In March a group of 5 people from the Northwest Washington Synod, including Bishop Unti, came to Russa to visit the two capitals and their partner synod (ELCER) and congregations in Yaroslavl and Tolyatti. They were very impressed by what they saw, and they are filled with a desire to strengthen ties further. Eva Mader, who was not able to join the delegation that came in March as she had originally planned, did make a short trip to St. Petersburg in September to attend the service of dedication for the new organ in Petrikirche, the partner congregation of her home Grace Lutheran in Bellevue.

Pastor Gary Teske, Pastor Gleb Pivovarov, and Olga Vinogradova

In September and October, a delegation from the Central States Synod made their first trip to Russia in 5 years; while they might not be frequent, they do cover a lot of ground! They began in St. Petersburg and made stops in Moscow, Omsk, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk before reaching the congregations to which they have been historically tied in the Far East. Their meetings with church leaders along the way helped the delegation get a sense of the challenges the church faces and some of the hope-filled new aspects of church life in ELCUSFE, including the leadership of a new bishop, Alexander Scheiermann, with whom the delegation's leader, Gary Teske, had already become acquainted in Omsk at the bishop's installation in April.

Bishop Halmarson and other church leaders at the Reformation Anniversary

Viking Dietrich, the new ELCA area representative, joined the group in Vladivostok, where they all celebrated together with Dean Manfred Brockmann his 80 birthday and the celebration of 25 years since the congregation has been reborn.
Finally, our church was honored to have Bishop Halmarson with us again for the Reformation anniversary celebrations in Moscow over the last days of October through the beginning of November. Her presence was more than just a reminder that this event is being celebrated world-wide, it was also a chance to gain a deeper understanding of one another and one another's church life.

Songs from Magadascar in the Congregation in Yaroslavl

On April 22 a long hoped-for event took place – the trip of the French-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Moscow to Yaroslavl. The youth choir prepared a special paschal program for their performance in the “kirche.”

Despite the biting cold in the church (since it is still under construction there has been no heat for many years ) the sanctuary was full. Members of the congregation came; they prepared tea and snacks for guests from the city. The vice mayor of the city, Vyacheslav Gavrilov, welcomed the guests. The choir, for their part, gave him souvenirs from Madagascar (where most of the members of the congregation are from) as a sign of thankfulness for his support. Area Dean Elena Bonderenko, Pastor Ivan Shirokov from the Yaroslavl congregation, and preachers Artis Petersons and Mamy Rakotonitama each said a few words of their own.

The choir, directed by Fara Rakoto, performed traditional French Easter hymns, Malagasi and contemporary Christian songs. The choir was accompanied by the pianist of the Moscow Protestant Congregational Jacquis Steve Andriamampiarintsoa and his spouse Farrah Ramboarifina (the director of the MPC choir) also joined the performance. On that day that French-speaking congregation took with them a new paschal candle to light it from the candle of the Yaroslavl congregation. This candle became a symbol of the light of the Gospel which believers share with one another, confirming in this way that victory of the Risen Christ.

Elena Bondarenko

Dedication of the Organ for St. Peter and Paul Church in Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl

On October 4^th a long-awaited event took place – the dedication of the organ for St. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church. The organ was donated to the congregation already in 2001, but since the building was in a very poor state at the time, it was not possible to install the instrument.

Therefore the main condition for being able to receive the gift from friends in Germany was the restoration of the kirche. Congregation members, led by Pastor Shirokov, took it upon themselves to do the work, most of which was finished this summer. The organ, then, was brought to Russia in June and the process of assembling and installing it began right away. The instrument has more than 100 pipes and other small details which needed to be put together by hand. When that was done the organ finally was able to play and the dedication was planned for the fall.

Key memberrs of the team that made this happen were the Dean of the Central Deanery Elena Bondarenko, Pastor Ivan Shirokov of the Yaroslavl congregation, and, of course, partners from Kassel (Germany) who gave the organ to the congregation and also support other congregational projects. 

The celebratory worship service was led by Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, Dean Elena Bondarenko, the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia Dean Olga Temirbulatov, Pastor Ivan Shirokov, the pastor of the congregation in Stariy Oskol Sergei Matjukh, and also Pastors Karl Leonhäuser, Heinemann and Schneider from Germany.

Yaroslavl's vice-mayor for questions of city government, Vycheslav Gavrilov congratulated the congregation in the name of the local administration. He noted that this was an important event not only for the congregation but also for the city of Yaroslavl insofar as it turns over a new page in the history of the religious culture of the city. The Russian Orthodox Church also sent a representative from their “Church and Society” department, Archpriest Alexei Kirillov, with congratulations, and the vicar of the local Roman Catholic congregation, Father Joseph, also expressed his congratulations.

The event was concluded with a large concert in which the organist of the Moscow congregation Irina Shashkova-Peterson, the choir of the congregation, the choir of the Moscow French-speaking congregation and the “Vozrozhdenie” choir took part.

New Life for the Congregation in Yaroslavl

  In the last weeks of 2013 the congregation in Yaroslavl took an important step in itself development when it welcomed its first full-time pastor in 90 (!) years. On December 15, Ivan Shirokov, a native of Volgograd and a graduate of the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary, was ordained and installed as pastor.
  The congregation has 30 to 40 active members, though with the appearance of a new, young Russian pastor, there have been many more new people visiting the church than in the past. They meet in the historic Lutheran church, St. Peter and Paul's, in the center of the city. After many years of neglect, the building had fallen in to disrepair, but Ivan, together with a group of friends from Cassel, Germany, have made great efforts and much progress in making the building into a comfortable home for the congregation and a welcoming space for guests. One of the first steps in this process was building a glass-enclosed chapel inside of the walls of the historic building. This allowed the congregational members to stay warm in the winter and also to keep the space of worship at least somewhat separated from the area being restored.

They've also worked on cleaning up the territory and insuring the structural integrity of the building. However, because repairs to the exterior are lower on the list of priorities, there have been some questions as to whether or not there would be pressure on the congregation from the city administration. Dean Elena Bondarenko and the head of the ELCER church administration Viktor Weber helped the congregation with this issue by meeting with the city administration. Now the congregation has also acquired its own organ, and the building is feeling more and more like home. The most recent news is that the city of Yaroslavl plans to return the ownership of the building to the church. Praise the Lord!