Danish media: Odd, but Ukrainians and Russians here celebrated Pascha together

The Alexander Nevsky ROCOR Church in Denmark. Photo: Politiken

Journalists from the Danish newspaper Politiken expressed puzzlement over the fact that Ukrainians and Russians in Copenhagen marked Pascha together at the ROCOR Church of St. Alexander Nevsky.

In an article titled “When the Doors of the Russian Church in Copenhagen Open, a Ukrainian Woman Is the First to Enter,” the author describes it as a “paradox” that, amid war, Ukrainians and Russians can still celebrate church feasts together.

“It may seem paradoxical. But for many Russians and Ukrainians in Denmark, there is nothing unusual about going to the same church. That was the case as long as the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky with its golden onion domes stood on Bredgade in Copenhagen. And so it was when priest and rector Mikhail Sukhanov began the midnight service on Orthodox Pascha on Saturday evening,” the article says.

The author writes that during the service, “Russians and Ukrainians stand shoulder to shoulder, even though the full-scale war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year.”

The Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Copenhagen is the oldest Orthodox parish in Denmark. It was built in 1883. From 1925 to 1983, it belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is now under the jurisdiction of the German Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Metropolitan Mark of Berlin, the devil is the one gaining the greatest victory in the “Ukrainian” war.

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