Following upon a decision from the Sacred Community, which represents the 20 ruling monasteries of Mt. Athos, monastics in the monasteries, sketes, and cells, took up holy icons and offered entreaties for rain.
Police Department has launched a criminal investigation into the incident.
Marie Tolonen
Xenia Franck is the artist behind the icons and began studying iconography about 11 years ago.
The new three-story Byzantine-style Church of the Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki was built in just 355 days and consecrated on its patronal feast day on November 8. It features the first marble iconostasis in the Belgorod Province.
Violence and war and other serious problems are increasing around the world, thus “we must intensify our prayers.”