All Saints' church consecrated at the Plesetsk Spaceport

The Church of All Saints has been consecrated on grounds of the Russian spaceport (cosmodrome) of Plesetsk in the Arkhangelsk region. With the blessing of Metropolitan Daniel of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory, the consecration of the Church was performed by the Dean of the Mirninsk district, Archpriest ArtemyEnke, reports the website of the Diocese of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory.

The Church's foundation stone was placed on July 23, 2011. In less than two years, using funds from the officer personnel and the unit veterans, the Church was built, the cross erected, and the interior adorned.

The first service in the Church service was a funeral service, on March 18, 2013—the 33rd anniversary of the rocket launch accident which took the lives of forty-eight people. The first Liturgy was celebrated in the Church on All Saints' day, June 30, 2013.

"Ten years ago, in July 2003, when the first missionary trip to the spaceport's units took place, nobody could believe that it would become possible to serve Liturgies in military churches and not in sport halls, clubs and barracks, “related Father Artemy. “The treatment of priests in the army has changed over these 10 years as well–from seeing them as "aliens" ("what do they want here?!") to good a disposition and readiness "to render great assistance". The work with servicemen continues, and now they have the possibility to come to a real church, to confess and take Communion, and to open their hearts to God".

The priest also noted that at the first Liturgy, nineteen soldiersrecieved Communion. "For most of them, confession, the worship and taking part in the main Sacrament of the Church became their first serious spiritual labor".

Source: Pravoslavie.ru