wfn.org | Russia: City Authorities Transfer Administration of St Anne's

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Russia: City Authorities Transfer Administration of St Anne's
Church to ELCROS 
Rebuilding to Be Completed in Three to Five Years

OMSK, Russia/GENEVA, 22 December 2003 (LWI) - St Petersburg
authorities have transferred the administration of a church
ruined in a fire last year to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Russia and Other States (ELCROS). 

A November 11 agreement signed between the city of St Petersburg
and ELCROS' officials formalized the hand-over of St Anne's
Evangelical Lutheran Church management to the Russian church. The
church building was burned down on 6 December 2002.

On the fire's first anniversary, representatives of the six
Lutheran congregations in St Petersburg held a memorial service
in the ruined church's nave. ELCROS' Northwest Russia dean,
Hans Achenbach, emphasized in his sermon that St Petersburg and
St Anne's Lutherans now have the church back. 

In March 2003, the ELCROS consistory decided to assume
responsibility for the church's administration again, despite the
extensive damage from the fire. But this was linked to a
condition that the government would provide assistance, and
assure that the building could be used later to cover costs. In
the spring of 2004 a decision is expected from the Ministry of
Inheritance in Moscow which will allow "use" of the property,
after which the church would be struck from the list of
federal-administered monuments. St Anne's Church would then
become the property of the city of St Petersburg, making it
possible for ELCROS to use it as part of an investment project,
explained the church office director, Hans Schwahn. This is the
prerequisite for setting up and operating a church and conference
center, which can cover its own costs. Schwahn said ELCROS
urgently needs additional funds in order to first secure the
site's safety, then develop a reconstruction plan.
 
Dedicated in 1779, St Anne's Evangelical Lutheran Church is
one of the oldest church buildings in the 300-year-old city of St
Petersburg. The church was closed in 1935 and was taken over by
the then communist government. Since 1992, St Anne and St
Peter's Evangelical Lutheran congregation used its rooms for
worship, until the September 1997 rededication of St Peter's
Church on Newsky Prospect. In 1994 the first ELCROS General Synod
was held in St Anne's Church.

In government hands, the building was in use until 2001 as a
cinema, then as a nightclub and bar. After lengthy negotiations,
it was agreed in mid-2002 that the church would be handed back in
the spring of 2003, but the fire prevented this from happening.
ELCROS together with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in
Russia wanted to set up a spiritual center for Lutheran groups in
St Petersburg, and also planned inter-confessional use of the
building.

ELCROS is expecting the complete restoration of St Anne's
Church to take about three to five years. Schwahn noted that
there are plans to set up a provisional chapel and small exhibit
area that will be officially opened during ELCROS' Third
General Synod in September 2004. (494 words)

(By Marina Chudenko, ELCROS public relations officer.)

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