Saint Serge de Radonège bis

A year and a half ago, I made a post about a Russian orthodox church (well hidden), Saint Serge de Radonège (Sergius of Radonezh, Сергий Радонежский). I ask you kindly to revert to that post, if you want to know something more about this church.

When I then visited the church, I was not able to get any photos from the inside. I was luckier the other day. Some renovation work was ongoing. I was kindly allowed to take some photos.

As an extra reminder, some photos from outside.

If you are interested, I have made some other posts about orthodox churches in Paris: Saint Alexandre Nevsky and Saint Séraphin de Sarov.

Saint Serge de Radonège

It’s by pure chance that I discovered this charming little church, in a little oasis, hidden behind a normal street gate (93, rue de Crimée, Paris 19), normally impossible to find if you just pass by in the street; maybe thanks to the blogger instinct? The church, hidden by some (now naked) trees, is named after Saint Serge de Radonège (Sergius of Radonezh, Сергий Радонежский), a major Russian saint from the 14th century.

It was built in 1861 as a German Lutheran church, abandoned in the beginning of WW I. It was acquired by Parisian Russians in 1924 and became an orthodox church. The painted stairs were then added and was, as the interior, decorated in an orthodox style, imitating 16th century art.

The surrounding buildings obviously house the priests and other personnel and also an Institute of Orthodox Theology. There is also a small library. All is totally peaceful.

You can visit the interior of the church, but when I passed last week, there was some kind of symposium ongoing and I did not want to disturb by taking photos, so I “stole” a photo from the official website.