OREANDA-NEWS. On February 3, 2008, in ceremonies in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Russian Federation received as a gift the St. Sergei Radonezhsky church. Chief of Business Affairs for the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kozhin, State Duma Deputy Artur Chilingarov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of South Africa Anatoly Makarov, First Vice-President of Stroytransgaz Leonid Bokhanovsky, Rector of St. Sergei Radonezhsky Father Ioann, members of the Parish Council, and parishioners took part in the solemn festivities.

During the period 2000 to 2004, Stroytransgaz financed construction of St. Sergei Radonezhsky – the only Orthodox Church in South Africa – the church complex, the parishioners’ center, and a home for the clergy. The company also sent literature in Russian for the library and the Sunday school that are part of church.

With financial support from Stroytransgaz, eight icon painters from the St. Petersburg Academy of the Arts spent seven months painting and ornamenting the cupola and walls of the church, after which the building acquired its perfected appearance. The very best models of 12th century Russian painting, in particular paintings from the Georgrievsky Church in Staraya Ladoga and frescos from Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral at the Mirovsky Monastery in Pskov, were used as the stylistic bases to adorn the church. Countenances of the Blessed Virgin and the Savior were prepared in pre-Mongolian period style – for them, the Vladimir Mother of God icon and the Spas Nerukotvorniy icon from the Tretyakov Gallery collection were used as the foundation.