Church of St. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)

For most of the Soviet period, there were no Orthodox churches on Sakhalin. In 1930, the last Orthodox parish was closed in the north of the island. Attempts to open at least one parish were not successful ^[4] .

So in 1948 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk the "Committee of the Orthodox Faith" was formed, numbering 86 people. This community on behalf of numerous believers requested the opening of an Orthodox church. The city executive committee allocated for this purpose the building of the former Protestant church. On June 1, 1948, the regional executive committee approved the decision of the city authorities to transfer the building and appealed to the Council for Russian Orthodox Church Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR with a motion to open the church. But this initiative did not receive further development, and the Sakhalin Oblast remained outside the field of activity of the Orthodox Church and its clergy. The situation changed only after the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia ^[5] .

Finally, on January 17, 1989, a religious organization of Orthodox Christians was registered in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk by the decision of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city executive committee No. 38 "On the application of believing citizens about the registration of the Russian Orthodox Church Society". Due to the fact that not a single religious building was left in the regional center, believers were asked to buy a house with its subsequent conversion into a prayer room, which was also given permission. Attached to the decision is a list of the founders of the religious society of the Russian Orthodox Church consisting of twenty-two people, twenty-one of whom were women aged 26 to 79 years. The registration of the Orthodox community in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk took place in early July 1989 ^[6] .

On July 10 of that year, the first (constituent) parish meeting of the religious community of the Russian Orthodox Church was held, which was attended by 30 people - all women; average age from 50 to 74 years; most ethnic Russians. All of them became members of the parish. The representative of the Council for Religious Affairs in the Sakhalin Region invited by him N. Nikolaev in his speech announced the registration of this religious society. The chairman of the meeting, in accordance with the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, was elected priest Konstantin Ostrovsky ^[6]

Also in the summer of that year, the building became the property of the parish - a cinder block house in the private sector of the city ^[7] at ul. Labor , 6 ^{[8] [1]} .

On August 16 of the same year, at the request of believers, Bishop Gabriel of Khabarovsk (Steblyuchenko) blessed the community to be named in honor of St. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg ^[8] , which was canonized the year before ^[4] .

Thousands of Sakhalin residents from various regions of the region reached into a small adapted room on the outskirts of the city ^[9] . In the early years, there were a lot of parishioners - many Sakhalin residents and Kuril people were baptized here ^[4] . With the opening of the church of St. Xenia of St. Petersburg, the foundation was laid for the further development of Orthodoxy on Sakhalin: in the coming years parishes were formed in Okha , Korsakov , Kholmsk , Tymovsky , Dolinsk , Makarov , Nevelsk . In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk itself a second parish was opened in the name of St. Innocent of Moscow, and in the 1992-1994s the Resurrection Cathedral was built ^[6] .

With the advent of new Orthodox churches in the city, the community diminished ^[8] . In addition, most of the organizers of the parish within a few years left the Sakhalin Region ^[6] . The fact that the street in front of the church was not covered with asphalt had a negative effect on the attendance of the church, so it was difficult for parishioners to get to the temple both in the summer after rains and in winter during hurricanes ^[7] . Nevertheless, believers continued to go to the church even from afar, especially those who loved Saint Xenia of Petersburg ^[8] .

In 2007, according to the then rector Abbot Avel (Apanovich): “People here are spiritually living babies, mostly unchurched. Most residents of the city are unbaptized. There are few parishioners: thirty to thirty-five people go to regular services, on holidays - up to forty. On Sunday evening, we always read the akathist of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg <...> Mostly here, on the outskirts of the city, the Korean population. Not far from here <...> on the main street, there is a huge Korean religious building. <...> They do not go to our church, adhere to their faith. We have only one little root here, a young girl. And so mostly parishioners, of course, are Russians ” ^[7] .

On June 6, 2016, on the feast of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, the permanent headman of the church, Alla Zazymina, received from the hands of the Archbishop of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kuril Tikhon (Dorovsky) the patriarchal Order of St. Euphrosyne. At the same time, Bishop Tikhon noted that for more than 20 years, the parish of St. Xenia has remained cozy and sincere through the efforts of the elder. In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the dioceses also noted in connection with this event that this temple may well be considered a monument and historical value - similar house parishes in Sakhalin are becoming smaller over the years - instead of temporary buildings, full-fledged temple buildings are built ^[4] .

It has become a tradition that on the feast day of February 6 or June 6, according to the new style, the ruling bishop serves in the church ^{[10] [1]} . Bishop Tikhon (Dorovskikh) called the patronal feast of this temple the patronal feast of the entire diocese ^[11] .

At the entrance, in a small porch, the parishioners not only leave their outer clothing and bags, but also change their shoes into slippers ^[3] .

To the temple is assigned ^{[12] the} temple of Anastasia the Solvers at the penal colony No. 1 ^[13] .

• Konstantin Ostrovsky (July 4 - November 1989)
• Vasily Matskovsky (January 15 - September 1990)
• Jonathan (Tsvetkov) (1990-1993)
• Alexy (Kim) (April 30 - July 2, 1993)
• Nathanael (Meshcheryakov) (August 14, 2001-2002)
• Seraphim (Skipin) (April 21, 2002 - March 16, 2006)
• Abel (Apanovich) (March 24, 2006—2007)
• Dionisy Kashkin (since September 28, 2007)