Assumption Church (Singapore)

In 1990, the “Residential” Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate appeared in Singapore, in which services were conducted in English ^[1] . Many Russian-speaking residents of Singapore, whose number has increased from time to time, would like to attend services held in their native language, in connection with which they began to appeal to the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church to send a priest to Singapore and organize a parish ^{[2] [2]} .

On December 22-24, 2003, DECR Chairman Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill (Gundyaev) visited Singapore. On December 23, in the Armenian church in the name of the Holy Martyr Gregory the Illuminator, he performed Divine Liturgy, for which more than eighty believers prayed - citizens of Russia, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, Singapore and other countries ^[3] .

On July 12, 2007, Bishop Sergiy of Ussuriysk (Chashin) , who arrived in Singapore, on the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul held a divine service in the Armenian church of Gregory the Illuminator ^[1] .

On October 12, 2007, the newly-formed parish in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the Republic of Singapore was accepted into the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. The archpastoral care of the parish was entrusted by the Holy Synod to the Bishop of Ussuri Sergius (Chashin) , Vicar of the Vladivostok Eparchy ^[4] .

To organize the services, a small house was taken, located at the intersection of Dermavan and Remaj streets near the Bukit-Batok reserve, outside the city of Singapore itself ^[1] . The building was quite neglected. By the labor of Bishop Sergius himself, as well as of the three nuns who arrived with him and the priest, the cottage was put in order. On the ground floor there is a home church and a refectory, and on the second floor there is a place for the clergy to live ^[5] . The iconostasis, throne and altar were built. Church plate was brought from Vladivostok. The regular services began on December 1, 2007. ^[2] In the first days, few people came to the service. When people learned about worship services, the number of parishioners began to increase ^[6] . Since August 2008, the church has a Sunday school. On December 12, 2008, the Parish was registered with the Singapore Registration Chamber and received the official status of a religious organization ^[5] .

As Bishop Sergius noted in February 2009, the parish had friendly relations with the parish of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Singapore, “but the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate nevertheless expressed irritation at the emergence of our community, although from the point of view of canon law we did not violate anything, has repeatedly been officially declared in the Moscow Patriarchate " ^[7]

On March 23, 2009, Patriarch Kirill met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore in the Patriarchal residence in Chisty Lane, during which George Yeo promised to assist the growing parish of the Russian Church in the Republic of Singapore ^[8] .

As of 2011, services were performed at least four times a week. Up to 200 compatriots gathered for holiday services. Even then, the rented room did not accommodate everyone. There was a Sunday school, which included 2 groups for classes with children 12-16 years old and 3-7 years old ^[9] . By that time, the temple itself was described as follows: “A white cottage on a mountain outside the bustle of the city - around the flowers, birds sing, butterflies fly. This church is not like the ones we are used to in Russia, but there is a good atmosphere. It's only the beginning. Thanks to the help of kind people, the Parish can carry out its activities. In due course, when the necessary funds are received, a real temple of the Russian Orthodox Church with golden domes and voiced bells will appear in Singapore ” ^[5] .

In 2014, the parish moved to 110 Highland Road, closer to the center. The building had no signs indicating that it was an Orthodox church. Priest Pitirim (Dondenko), in 2016, explained: “We have no advertising, signage or information outside the building. We do not want to disturb our neighbors too much. ” By the time the arrival is not all missionary work. According to Pitirim (Dondenko): “Our goal is not to preach or convert Singapore to Orthodoxy. We are here to help meet the spiritual needs of the Russian community, who wanted a church here, and everyone who comes. ” ^[6]

In May 2016, Singapore’s Prime Minister, Li Sianlun, on the eve of his visit to Russia and participation in the Russian summit - ASEAN announced his desire to have a Russian Orthodox church in his country, noting that in Singapore “a place has already been selected where the cultural center is supposed to be located” on the creation of which an agreement was reached with the Russian side ^[10] .

On February 10, 2017, Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk met with the Russian Ambassador to Singapore A. A. Tatarinov . During the meeting, further steps were discussed for the implementation of a project to build a Russian cultural center with an Orthodox church in Singapore ^[11]

On November 13, 2018, a solemn ceremony was held in Singapore to lay the foundation stone of the Russian Cultural Center and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary ^{[12] [13]} . The ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Singapore President Halima Yakob , Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Senior State Minister at the Singapore Ministry of Culture for Community and Youth Affairs Anne Sim . Before the ceremony, the Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Mikhail Bryukhanov, told reporters that 33 thousand square meters of land had been leased to the cultural center, and a room of 4.6 thousand square meters was planned to be built. "The fifth part will be set aside for spiritual purposes." In this project the building at that time was not. It was assumed that a competition would be announced for it ^[14] .

On December 28, 2018, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church formed the Patriarchal Exarchate in Southeast Asia with the center in Singapore with the title of diocesan bishop "Singapore and Southeast Asia" ^{[15] [16]} . On February 26, 2019, the Holy Synod formed the Singapore Diocese within the Republic of Singapore, the Republic of Indonesia and Malaysia ^[17] . This parish became the chair of the head of the Exarchate and the Singapore Diocese.

As George Derbusch noted in April 2019: “The present temple is small, but despite this, it has good decoration and is perfectly clean. Divine service is performed in Church Slavonic and English. Some prayer books are read in local languages. On Sundays and public holidays about 150 people arrive. The national composition of the parishioners is diverse. Here, in fact, the words of the holy Apostle Paul are being fulfilled: "... neither the Hellene nor the Jew ..." (Colossians 3:11). Assumption parish - one big family <...> The local population also comes to faith, maybe not so active, but it comes. And it is very happy. It is a joy to see bright, sincere people who love God and their faith. ” ^[18]

A visit of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and the consecration of the new cathedral is planned in 2021 ^[18] .