Church of St. Job the Long-suffering (Brussels)

In 1928, N. M. Kotlyarevsky, a member of the Resurrection Parish in Brussels ( ROCOR ) and the former secretary of General P.N. Wrangel , came up with the initiative to erect a monument in the capital of Belgium in honor of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and all the atheistic authorities in turmoil slaughtered . " The initiative was approved by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), and in 1929, under the auspices of the Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna , a committee was created to build the church-monument.

In 1931, an art-technical commission was created under the committee, which included: art critic Pavel Muratov , architect Nikolai Krasnov , professor N. L. Okunev and artist Ivan Bilibin . Committee departments and special representatives functioned in a number of countries (in Yugoslavia S.N. Paleolog collected 100 thousand dinars). The total amount of donations amounted to 1.2 million Belgian francs. In December 1932, Professor N. L. Okunev, as a model of the temple, suggested taking the chapel of the Transfiguration Church, built at the beginning of the XVI century in the village. An island near Moscow.

At the beginning of 1934, the design of the temple, completed by the architect N.I.Istselennov , who had previously worked in St. Petersburg, was approved. On February 2, 1936, Metropolitan Anastasius (Gribanovsky) and Serbian Metropolitan Dosipheus laid the foundation for a one-throne church. The Romanov dynasty was represented by Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich . After the break caused by the Second World War , construction work was continued under the direction of A. B. Bogdasarov. On October 1, 1950, the church, which seats 400 people, was consecrated by Metropolitan Anastasius (Gribanovsky), Bishops Nathanael (Lvov) and Leontius (Bortashevich) in the service of a large clergy and in the presence of Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich Romanov.

A church house was erected at the same time as the church (in 1973 it was expanded by an extension of the refectory). After the consecration, the care of the temple was taken over by the circle of St. Martha and Mary later converted to sisterhood.

In August 1977, in the course of the fire, the leaking dome of the church burned down, and it took several months to restore it (N.I.Istselennov was engaged in the repair). On August 15, 1981, the memorial church was robbed: thieves took away the gift guard, the altar gospel and 45 icons, part of the stolen was returned from the antique store.

The newsletter “The Voice of Our Church” is published, a parish school for children and a sisterhood operate.

The temple’s foursquare (height - 24 m) is completed by a protruding cornice, zakomar tiers and a dome covered with copper and painted in green. The walls of the temple are dissected by shoulder blades, narrow loophole windows are punched in the openings, the side facades are marked by large semicircular windows, the main facade - by a rosette window. Granite steps lead to a promising portal. The complex is surrounded by an iron fence, and birch trees are planted on site.

The stylized icons in the three-tier iconostasis, designed by N. I. Iscelennov, were painted by emigrant icon painters: Princess E. S. Lvova , Isselennov, and others. The right choir houses the icon box “Resurrection of Christ” with the image of the heavenly patrons of the Imperial family, and the left - All Russian saints (both cases are the work of Archimandrite Kiprian (Pyzhov) ). Four marble boards are located above the icon cases: the names of members of the Royal family are immortalized on two, and the prayer for “those who were martyred and killed by the Bolshevik anti-God power” is immortalized on two. In the altar of the temple are commemorative plaques with the names of 122 bishops who were martyred in Russia. Among other plaques, many were built by military associations and individuals. The shroud for the temple was embroidered by Committee member N.P. Soldatenkova.

In the altar conch, N. I. Istselennov wrote the image of the Mother of God “The Indestructible Wall”, outside the entrance, in the tympanum, Baron N. B. Meyendorf performed in 1968 a mosaic of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God , the patroness of the Romanov dynasty. There are no murals in the temple. The interior is illuminated by a large chandelier-khoros, made according to the drawing of Isselennov.

In 1971, seven bells, cast in Louvain and set up by N.V. Sokolov, a former ringer from the Volga, were hung on a tent belfry located in the church house. The largest bell weighing one ton is called the "Tsarevich", the other - "Relight".

In one of the walls of the temple, relics found in Ganina Pit are walled up at the site of the destruction of the bodies of the Royal Martyrs, including presumably the finger of Nicholas II. ^{[2] [3]}

The Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna presented the church with an icon: the icon of John the Baptist, which was earlier in the Ipatiev House (located above the royal gates), the Empress’s Bible, the epaulettes and overcoat of Emperor Nicholas II, as well as the chair on which he sat at the front in 1916. On shelves along the walls there are icons donated by Russian people in memory of the new martyrs of Russia; in the choirs are the banners of the Imperial and White Army.

• Archbishop John (Maksimovich) (1950-1964)
• Archbishop Anthony (Bartoshevich) (1964-1993)
• Archbishop Seraphim (Dulgov) (1993-2001)
• Bishop Ambrose (Cantacuzen) (2001-2004)
• Bishop Agapit (Gorachek) (2004-2006) temporarily
• Archbishop Michael (Donskov) (since 2006)
• Archpriest Leonid Griliches (Deputy Rector since September 2012)

• Orthodoxy in Belgium