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.