A fire with unknown author consumed on Wednesday the Romanian-language Orthodox church in Prague. The flames caused the collapse of its 17-meter tower. Parish Priest Andrei Ioan Danciu declared for Radio Free Europe Moldova that Prague Municipality, who owns the building, will reconstruct it.
“We need to keep on going, we cannot give up. I have always had in mind my mission as a priest. Once we have started working on it, we need to strive for this work and leave God to draw the bottom line,” said the Romanian parish priest of Prague.
Father Andrei Danciu emphasized it is the Church that unites the communities of the Romanian diaspora. His parish was a meeting place for Romanians from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The church, a historical monument, was situated in a public garden and had no protective fence around it. The suspected authors are homeless people.
Miraculously enough, the Holy Table and the objects on it remained intact: the antimension, the Holy Gospel, four blessing crosses of which two were made of wood, the Liturgical Book and the Ark holding the Holy Gifts. The liturgical vases and coverings did not burn either.
The building and the objects inside it were insured. Prague Municipality has already initiated a fundraiser to rebuild the place of worship. The fundraiser will last throughout the next year.
The patron saints of the church are the Archangel Michael and the Holy Prince Stephen the Great.
The church was under the canonical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, which encourages officiating the services in the mother tongue of the minorities. This has made possible the functioning of the Romanian parish in the Czech Capital city.
The Romanian Church in Prague was located in the Kinsky Garden, near Petrin, and it was leased to the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia in 2008.
The historical building dated back to the second half of the 17th century and it was brought from Western Ukraine.
Požárem byl kostel zasažen v plném rozsahu. Nasazeny jsou 4 proudy vody. pic.twitter.com/scYSFNPZdY
— Hasiči Praha ? (@HasiciPraha) October 28, 2020
It was integrally made of wood, including the pinions and wedges. Its typically Ruthenian architecture contains elements of peasant Baroque.
The church was twice disassembled and relocated: first in 1793, then in 1929, when the Ruthenians offered it to the Municipality of Prague, the Capital city of the state in which they lived at the time. Between 1919 and 1939, Transcarpatia was part of Czechoslovakia.
The church belongs to the ethnographic collection of the Prague National Museum.
The last religious service was officiated on October 25 and live-streamed on the Youtube channel of the parish, while the Czech Republic has introduced restrictive measures regarding circulation and public gatherings.
For donations
Bank account (Číslo účtu): 43-5910970287/0100
IBAN: CZ2701000000435910970287
SWIFT: KOMBCZPPXXX
Recipient (Příjemce): VI. Pravoslavna cirkevni obec v Praze 5 – Svaty Michal
Bank (Banka příjemce): Komercni banka
Photo courtesy of Radio Free Europe Moldova
