Description of the attraction
By the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, there was only one Orthodox church in Klaipeda, built in 1947. The idea of building a new church already existed then, but it had no real possibilities for implementation.
The beginning of the 90s can be characterized by a powerful flow of a large number of people to God's temples; a considerable number of people were baptized. For these reasons, the Klaipeda church could hardly accommodate everyone who wanted to listen to the Sunday liturgy. One of the permanent parishioners of the church was the Artamonov family: husband Vladimir was the school director, and his wife was an art teacher at the school.
When several rooms were vacated at the school, Vladimir Artamonov suggested to the clergy to locate the House of Prayer here. The extension had a place for the vestibule, as well as a place for Sunday school classes, and the city authorities agreed to improve the House of Prayer.
It took a lot of effort to reconstruct the old premises: it was necessary to equip a separate entrance to the temple, change the shape of the windows and separate the premises for prayer and study from each other. Already in the process of building a new House of Prayers, people began to come to the school and help with construction work, in addition, during the construction of the temple, the first services began to be performed, which were held in uncomfortable conditions, but this did not stop the believers.
The walls of the temple were painted by artist Valeriy Osyshny, who lived in Klaipeda at that time. He was a very hardworking person, because in just a year he painted all the walls of the temple, which were distinguished by artistic freedom and purity of lines. After the walls were decorated, Vladyka Chrysostomos began to prepare the premises for lighting: an altar elevation and an iconostasis were installed.
The temple of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia in 1995 was illuminated by the Klaipeda Archimandrite Anthony. The name of the church was not chosen by chance, because it is the virgins who suffered for their faith in Christ who are considered the patrons of the church ministry to children.
Teachers also took part in the internal arrangement of the school. The Christian direction of the school could not but influence the educational process in many schools and secondary educational institutions of Klaipeda, where they began to teach the basics of religion. After some time, the school was named after St. Andrei Rublev, who was an icon painter of the 15th century. It was this event that closely connected the school with Orthodoxy.
An important event that took place at the Andrei Rublev school was the elevation to the rank of priest Vladimir Artamonov by the Lithuanian and Vilnius Metropolitan Chrysostom, while Artamonov remained the director of the school. This was the only precedent in the Vilna Orthodox Church when a clergyman performed secular duties. Icon painting appeared at the school, headed by the director himself, and three students of the school entered the MPSTBI - icon painting department.
In the new parish, there were people who seriously engaged in the publication of literature of the social and religious direction. The parish "Vestnik" issued the first issue already in 1996, in which the issues of church life were consecrated. And in 1999, the parish published a book "I Will Not Leave You Orphans", written based on the ideas of Archpriest Pontius Rupyshev, who served in the Diocese of Lithuania and Vilnius.
A Sunday school began to work at the church, in which the basics of church services and Orthodoxy were taught. Now the school also hosts similar classes for groups of people with different levels of training. In the classroom, taught: Church history, the Law of God, theatrical skills and church singing. Young people make performances that are shown to parents, participate in theological competitions on holidays.
In the spring of 2004, Vladimir Artamonov held a drawing competition among children "Slavic Spring", dedicated to the apostles Cyril and Methodius. A huge number of works were submitted to this competition, and now the forum is held annually.
Thanks to Fr. The Penza architect Dmitry Borunov became known to Vladimir Artamonov in Lithuania and is in demand, because many Orthodox Russian churches have been built according to his designs.
