75th Anniversary of Russian Orthodox Church in Utica, "Spiritual Center of the Church Outside Russia"

September 5, 2005

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/nyregion/05orthodox.html

On September 5, 2005 The New York Times reported, "Amid the rolling hills of cornfields and dairy farms in this sparsely populated hamlet, a cluster of gold domes atop buildings reach toward the sky. The domes are one of the few signs that Jordanville, a farming and recreational community in the Adirondack foothills near Utica, is as important to some Christians as Bethlehem or Vatican City may be to others. Thousands of members of the Russian Orthodox Church come here, some traveling from the far corners of the country, to attend services at Holy Trinity Church, study at its adjacent seminary or visit its museum and library. The church was in full glory yesterday as it celebrated its 75th anniversary. 'This is the spiritual center of the church outside of Russia, and it will always exist,' said the Rev. Deacon Vladimir Tsurikov, assistant dean of the seminary... To observe the 75th anniversary, hundreds of people stood throughout a four-hour service, with dozens of people spilling from the overfilled church, standing on steps and listening to the prayers at windows. The service, in Russian, began and ended with processions, in which worshipers walked around the church."

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