Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (Smila, Ukraine)

Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist is an Orthodox church in Smila, Cherkasy region. It is located near the site of the former Great Cathedral of the Savior, which was closed in 1928 and later destroyed by Soviet authorities. Outside the church is decorated with three icons: St. Nicholas, the Blessed Virgin and John the Baptist, which are laid out in mosaics. Entering Smila from Cherkasy, the faithful meet the holy face of the Theotokos, from Kondratyuk Street - Saint Nicholas, and from the main entrance - John the Baptist. The temple is Cross-in-square with three naves and five domes, the height together with the cross is 28 meters.
Sanctification
On December 22, 2019, the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epiphanius consecrated the throne and the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy in it. On the same day, the relics of the holy martyr Volodymyr, , were laid to the throne.
Metropolitan Ioan of Cherkasy and Chyhyryn, Archbishop Athanasius of Kharkiv and Izium, Archbishop Agapit of Vyshhorod, Bishop Sava of Donetsk and Slovyansk, and the rector Archpriest Mykhailo co-served with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
At the end of the service, Metropolitan Epiphanius delivered a homily when he spoke about the importance of the church in the life of a Christian. “We pray at home both in the morning and in the evening, but the temple is a special consecrated place. It is in the temple that a person is born into a new life through Baptism. Here, through the Sacraments, her spiritual and bodily powers are strengthened, and here our earthly path ends” His Beatitude said.
Community
The rector of the church, Archpriest Mykhailo Shevchuk, until the opening of the church, prayed in a small chapel, which they built themselves. In the courtyard of the church there is a well with a domed lid and a cross, there is also a neat gazebo and bells that were brought from the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi.
A memorial cross was erected on the territory of the church to the victims of the repressive policy of the Soviet authorities towards the pastors of the Church of the Cross, with the words: "To the clergy of all denominations who perished as a result of the repression of the communist totalitarian regime. Those who sow truth, faith, learn on the path of truth and the division of the tragic fate of their people"
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