Source: Interfax-Religion
November 2, 2016
A priest from Russia, Hieromonk Pavel (Zhuravlev) has arrived to his place of ministry - the only Orthodox church in Asuncion.
He was sent by the decision of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to give pastoral care to the community of the Protection Church, the press service of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations reports.
The priest celebrated a liturgy there and talked to the members of the parochial community.
Russian emigrants set up a parish of the South-American Diocese of the Russian Church Abroad in 1924 with the help of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and the local Orthodox community, which consisted of Arabs and Serbs. The number of parishioners started reducing from the 1960s, and regular divine services were ceased, resuming only in 2012.
This February Patriarch Kirill, at his meeting with descendants of Russian emigrants in the Paraguay capital, promised to send a priest there.
"I rejoice to hear that the only thing you want is to have a priest here and it absolutely redeems your guilt of not mastering the Russian language. I bow you to you for this. We will try to make your wish come true," he said at that time.