Holy Trinity Church (Antarctica)

The idea to create a permanent temple in the Antarctic appeared in the 1990s with the head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE) Valery Lukin , the captain of the Metelitsa women's polar team Valentina Kuznetsova and Patriarch Alexy II . This idea was actively supported by the head of the Antarctic airline Petr Zadirov . At that time, the Temple of Antarctica foundation was established, which received the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II . The All-Russian competition organized by the foundation was won by the project of the Barnaul architect Svetlana Gustavovna Rybak, who works in the Creative Workshop of P. I. Anisiforov . The workshop director P. I. Anisiforov organized and led the work of the creative team. Designer in the team of authors was invited Alexander Borisovich Schmidt ^[1] .

The location of the future temple was consecrated on January 20, 2002. ^[2]

The temple was cut down by a team of carpenters from Gorno-Altaysk under the leadership of Kirill Khromov in Altai in the village of Kyzyl-Ozek from cedar and larch wood grown on the shores of Lake Teletskoye . The building of the temple was allowed to “settle down” for almost a year, then it was dismantled, transported by truck to Kaliningrad , ^[3] and from there on the ship “Akademik Sergey Vavilov” to Antarctica, where it was assembled again by a team of eight people in 60 days. The icons for the iconostasis were made by Dmitry icon painters under the direction of Valery Ivanovich Grishanov ^[4] . A residential house for priests was built near the church.

The temple was consecrated in the name of the Holy Trinity on February 15, 2004, by the governor of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, Bishop of Sergiev Posad Feognost , in the presence of numerous clergy, pilgrims and sponsors who arrived on a special flight from the nearest city, Chilean Punta Arenas ^{[5] [6] [7]} .

The first rector of the Antarctic temple was the 30-year-old Hieromonk Kallistrat (Romanenko) , a resident of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra , and in the past - the hermitage of a monastery on the island of Anzer in the Solovetsky Archipelago . ^[8] He spent more than a year on the Antarctic island, leaving for Russia in March 2005, after he was replaced by two other hieromonks of the same laurel, the fathers Gabriel (Bogachikhin) and Vladimir (Petrakov), to spend the year in Antarctica as well. ^{[9] [10]}

Since then, priests (Hieromonk Lavra) in the church changed every year, on approximately the same schedule as the workers of the Antarctic research stations. However, many of them visited the Antarctic post more than once: in the third year (2006) Antarctic clergyman was again about. Callistratus, and on the fourth (2007) - again about. Vladimir, this time with about. Sergius (Yurin). ^[10] In 2014, Fr. Sofrony (Kirillov), in 2015 he was replaced by hieromonk Veniamin (Maltsev) and Deacon Maxim (Coat of Arms).

The priest's duties include spiritual nourishment of the personnel of the Russian and other nearby stations and commemoration of 64 Russian polar explorers who died during the study of Antarctica .

The project was financed by Petr Zadirov , a former polar explorer and skydiver, whose airline Polyus has been delivering cargo to polar stations since the 1990s.

The Church of the Holy Trinity was considered the southernmost Orthodox church in the world. Now even further south are the chapel of St. John of Rylsky at the Bulgarian station " St. Clement of Ohrid " ( Smolensk Island) and the chapel of St. Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, at the Ukrainian station " Academician Vernadsky ". Nevertheless, the Church of the Holy Trinity was and remains the southernmost permanent Orthodox church.

On January 29, 2007, the first wedding in Antarctica of the Russian woman Angelina Zhuldybina and the Chilean Eduardo Aliaga Ilabaka, working at the Chilean Antarctic base, took place in this temple ^[11] . On February 21-25, the temple was visited by the head of the Synodal military department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Lviv and Galicia Augustine , who performed a prayer for the successful work of the expedition at the Antarctic station RAE 51 Bellingshausen ^[12] .

In February 2009, on the fifth anniversary of the consecration of the temple, a delegation from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra visited the Bellingshausen station, including several priests who served at the station for these 5 years. ^[13]

On February 17, 2016 Bellingshausen station and the church were visited by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. In the general hall of the station, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill talked with members of the Russian expedition, as well as with employees of other expeditions, including polar explorers from the Chilean, Chinese and other stations who came to meet with the Primate of the Russian Church ^{[14] [15]} . After a conversation with polar explorers, the Patriarch noted the peculiarity of Antarctica to unite people from different countries and religions: “Antarctica is the only place where there are no weapons, where there is no military activity, where no scientific research is being conducted to create new means of destroying people. This is a certain image of ideal humanity. And this is evidence that people can live like this: they can live without borders, without weapons, without hostile competition, cooperate and feel like members of the same family ” ^{[16] [17] [18] [19]} .

• In 2007, a church in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh was consecrated near the city of Valdai, Novgorod Region , which is an exact copy of the Church of the Holy Trinity ^[20] .

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  Location about. Waterloo

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  Anglo-Hispanic map about. Waterloo

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  View from Ardley Island

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  Bells

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  A flock of penguins on the background of the temple

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  Lunar Eclipse 09/28/2015

• Religion in Antarctica
• Chapel of St. John of Rylsky (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
• Argentine Chapel of the Virgin of Luhansk (roman catholic church)
• Norwegian Lutheran Church (Grytviken)
• Snow Church (shared by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, in fact - outside denominations)
• Epiphany Cathedral (Naryan-Mar)

• Description of the temple in LJ  
• Church history
• Press Release ITAR-TASS
• "The Tale of the Cold Paradise" ( part 1 , part 2 ) - an interview with Hieromonk Gabriel (Bogachikhin), who served for a year in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Antarctica (Tatyanin Day)
• " Travel notes from Antarctica " - photo report about. Gabriel
• Blog of Father Gabriel. Diary of life in the Antarctic.
• article about Vladimir Solovyov’s documentary film “Temple in Antarctica” (from the series “Sacred Geography of Russia”)
• “ Do I need a temple in Antarctica ” - an interview that priest Konstantin Kravtsov took from Hieromonk Pavel (Gelyastanov) wintering in Antarctica
• “ Christmas in Antarctica ” - article by Deacon Maxim Gerb about life and ministry at the Antarctic Bellingshausen station in 2015—2016
• “ Orthodox Antarctica ” - Notes by Deacon Maxim Gerb about life on the Antarctic station on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the Holy Trinity Church.