Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov (Wammal)

The foundation of the formation of the parish was laid in 2000 by a group of Orthodox Russian believers from the region of the city of Tampere . The initial meeting place was private premises, and over time, members of the Orthodox parish began to rent premises from the Russian Club in Tampere, the urban multi-cultural public project “Unipoint” and the Red Cross Society, where hieromonk Nikita (Dobronravov) from the Assumption of the Mother of God Church in Turku worship services. At the same time, regular community contests began with the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate from the Pokrovsky and Nikolsky parishes in the city of Helsinki ^[1] .

December 28, 2001 community in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov was registered in the state register of Finland as a public organization ^[1] .

On August 1, 2004, in the town of Stormi, the site was consecrated for the construction of a wooden church, and in September of the same year, the foundation was prepared and a commemorative capsule was laid ^[1] .

In autumn 2005, a wooden church, modeled on the wooden churches of Karelia , was brought from Russia and assembled on a prepared foundation ^[1] .

On May 20, 2007, Archbishop Mark Yegorievsky (Golovkov) , consecrated by Archpriest Victor Lyutik and Archpriest Nikolai Voskoboinikov, consecrated the church. At the consecration was attended by the mayor of Vammal, Paavo Sally ^[2]

On January 12, 2008, as part of the “Week of Russian Culture” in Finland, the arrival of Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, together with the Department of Culture of Tampere, organized a holiday where everyone could get acquainted with the Russian Orthodox traditions on the example of the life of the parish ^[3] .

The members of the parish translated the book “ Father Arseny ” into Finnish, published a brochure about the Monk Seraphim of Sarov , periodically the parish published an information leaflet “My Joy”.

The seraphim parish in Stormi came to the attention of the Finnish press in connection with the case of Rimma Salonen , who was a singer in the Russian St. Nicholas Church . According to Tatyana Kuusisto, Chairman of the Society of St. Seraphim of Sarov, “We are being persecuted only because we have provided moral support to Rimma. Of us make accomplices in the abduction of Anton. <...> The Finnish press presents the Society of Seraphim of Sarov as ... a Russian sect in which parishioners are zombified ” ^[4] .

This, however, is a clear exaggeration with the negative sensational bias characteristic of the Finnish media when the issue concerns Russia and, especially, the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2005-2009, some of the parishioners really fell under the certain influence of the cleric of the MP living in Russia, demanding thoughtless and rigorous obedience from their children, and who, using this obedience for his own purposes, intervened in the affairs of the parish without the necessary blessing of the Church. However, after a negative public outcry in connection with the case of Rimma Salonen and the disorder among the parishioners themselves, which was caused by this unauthorized interference in the affairs of the parish, this priest was forbidden by the Patriarch to enter into any contacts with the parishioners of the church, and the services in the church were minimized precisely in order to repay the negative consequences of such non-canonical feeding.

After a long break, in May 2015, in order to revive the parish, a new priest and parish of the Pr. S. Sarovsky in the city of Wammala resumed his activity - now regular services are being served in the church. In the social. the network "Vkontakte" created a group of the Temple of St. Seraphim of Sarov, where everyone can find out the schedule of services, and get all the necessary information about the church and parish activities.

• Patriarchal Parishes in Finland
• Orthodoxy in Finland