Sanctuaries

BUILDING THE CHAPEL OF THE NEW MARTYRS OF JASENOVAC IN URAL, IN THE HEART OF EURASIA
Worshipping in Unity
The chapel in the Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan will be the first place of worship in the Russian lands dedicated to Serbian martyrs of Jasenovac. The chapel will be designed in Serbian style. A large fresco will depict a group of Russian new martyrs, the holy imperial family, Patriarch Tikhon, many bishops, monks, faithful people on one side. New martyrs of Jasenovac, with St. Petar of Dabar-Bosnia, Platon of Banja Luka, Vukašin of Klepci… will be on the other side. It requests great spiritual and financial support

By: Bane Velimirović
Photo: Sergei Kvitsinsky, Alexei Kachurin, Vyacheslav Chetverov,
Maxim Braznikov, City of Orsk Archive

The Russian city of Orsk, in south Ural, was founded in 1735 as a fortification for defending the empire from the south. There, on the confluence of the rivers Ori and Ural, soldiers and Cossacks from Ural defended the state border from the invasions of Kyrgyzian Caisacks and Bashkirs. In the XIX century, the importance of the fortress significantly decreased, since the garrison was moved 270 kilometers deep into the province. The settlement grew into a city, mostly inhabited by merchants, and small factories started appearing (tannery, brewery, brickyards…). Chronicles mention important visitors of the fortress and city in the XVIII and XIX century. Christopher Euler, astronomer, son of famous mathematician Leonard Euler, by order of the St. Petersburg academy of science, watched the transition of Venus in front of the sun disc from May 23 to June 14, 1769, from a temporary observatory on nearby mount Preobrazenskaya. German traveler and Russian academician P. S. Palas visited the Orsk fortress in 1769 and German scientist Alexander Humboldt in 1829. Prince Alexander Nikolayevich (future Emperor Alexander II), during his travels through Russia, visited the Orsk fortress in 1837. Great Russian poet V. A. Zukovsky was traveling with him and left a drawing of a church made of stone and wood on Mount Preobrazenskaya in his diary. Ukrainian poet and painter Taras Shevchenko was in exile in the Orsk fortress for a year (1847–1848). Prince Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (future Emperor Nikolai II) visited the city in 1891. During the civil war, Orsk was defended by the ”whites” for a long time, under command of famous ataman Alexander Dutov. After fierce battles on Kumak Plateau in 1918 and 1919, during which Orsk changed hands four times, the city was finally taken over by the ”reds”.
After establishing Soviet rule, Orsk became an industrial city with two plants for machineries production and oil processing. The local smelter produced the purest nickel in the USSR since the 1930s. The tractor trailer factory manufactured buses as well. Together with it, settlements for workers, the core of new Orsk, were being raised. That part of the city is on the right bank of the Ural, in Europe, while the old city is on the left bank, in Asia. In the 1990s, during the heavy state and economy crisis, industry suffered a breakdown. Practically all production was stopped. The recovery of the city today is neither easy nor quick.
One of the important signs of recovery is the new upswing of Orthodox Christian spirituality. The church honoring the icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan was raised in 2002, in a village near the Kumak Plateau, where the fiercest battles between ”whites” and ”reds” took place. The church is in the renovated building of a former grocery shop, leaning on a five-story building from the Soviet period called the hrushchovka. Since 2003, every November 4, on the day of the icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan, a procession walks from the church to the Chapel of New Martyrs of the Russian Church on Kumak, which was raised that year.
National Review wrote about the upswing of Orthodox Christian life in Orsk in its number 67 from 2018, when our reporters visited Orsk for the first time.
– Our Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan establishes its liturgical tradition related to the liturgical richness of the Serbian Church – reminds Priest Maxim Brazhnikov, prior of the Orsk church. – Since 2016, on the day of our protector, we celebrate our patron saint in the Serbian way. Since 2017, upon the double bishopric blessing, Serbian (Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia Jovan) and Russian (Bishop of Orn and Gai Irinei), we brought a particle of relics of the new martyrs of Jasenovac from Pakrac to our church. We celebrate the day dedicated to those holy Serbian new martyrs, September 13, as our patron saint day.

FOR DEEP INTERNAL RECONCILIATION

Needs have grown, so the improvised church, former grocery shop, became too small. In the winter of 2018, the parish board initiated the construction of a new church, a real one. It immediately decided that one chapel, with a side altar, in the new Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan, will be dedicated to the new martyrs of Jasenovac and other new martyrs of the Russian and Serbian church. The location was granted by the city authorities: Kumak, where the fiercest fratricidal battles between ”whites” and ”reds” took place.
– Our assignment was to build a new church in that exact place, among other things as a symbol of deep internal reconciliation, which our people need so much, just as the brotherly Serbian people do – continues father Maxim. – The Icon of the Mother-of-God of Kazan brought peace to Russia in 1612, so let it bring the same now to our community gathered around it. May it bring peace and forgiveness to our lands and to our hearts.
The Chapel in the Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan will be the first place of worship in the Russian lands dedicated to the new martyrs of Jasenovac. People in Russia don’t know much about the Serbian martyrdom in Jasenovac, tells farther Maxim Brazhnikov. However, the Russian love for their brotherly Serbian nation is enormous, and this is an opportunity to reveal the entire truth to Russians.
– We don’t want golden domes and grandiose spaces. I believe this is a time we need smaller churches, in order to feel more as family in them. The plan is to build a new church in Pskovsk style, which implies a small church with a lower ceiling and helmet-shaped dome. The chapel honoring the new martyrs of Jasenovac will be built in Serbian style – tells father Maxim. – We want the iconostasis designed in a way to see altar paintings above it. We will also paint a large fresco in which a group of new martyrs of the Russian church will be on one side, with the holy imperial family, Patriarch Tikhon, bishops, faithful people and monks, including the bell tower of the Transfiguration Church in Orsk, destroyed in the 1930s. Serbian New Martyrs of Jasenovac will be on the other side, with St. Petar of Dabar-Bosnia, Platon of Banja Luka, Vukašin of Klepci, assassinated children, faithful people and among them the Orthodox church in Jasenovac.
Designed in such a way, the church will be a grand endeavor. And expensive. Especially because Orsk has also been impoverished in the decades of devastation. Any support is welcome, especially in prayers and money.

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Canons in Serbian
– We hold memorial services for the new martyrs of Jasenovac in Serbian – says father Maxim. – I translated a few sticherons from Serbian to Church-Slavonic, but the canon and other chants are in Serbian. I see that it is familiar to our people and they are interested in it. On the first such all-night vigil, I saw from the chorus that people in the church came closer to hear better and understand the meaning of what is sang in Serbian.”

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Contributions
All those who can and want to support the building of the Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan in Orsk, with the Chapel of New Martyrs of Jasenovac, can pay their contributions to the account in ”Sberbank Russia”. Payments are made to the Orthodox Parish of the Church of the Icon of Mother-of-God of Kazan in Orsk, Orsk Bishopric of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Moscow). Purpose of payment: contribution for the construction of the church. Tax identification number, registration no. (INN/KPP): 5616010005 / 561401001. Account no.: 40703810746310013920. Correspondent account: 301018106000000601. SWIFT (bank identification code): 045354601.