The jurisdiction of His Excellency Bishop Mark A. Pivarunas, CMRI in Russia
A view on a Gelendzhik Blue Bay.
Catholic Church Mission in Gelendzhik
Gelendzhik is a city in the south of Russia, on the Black Sea. The settlement was a Greek colony from the VI century B.C. and later - a part of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Since 1829 the city has been belonged to Russia.
On March 31, 2024, the only Holy Mass for Easter in all of Russia was said by Father Alexander Kryssov in Gelendzhik, a small city in the south of Russia, not far from the battlefront of the War with Ukraine.
To reach this city, Fr. Kryssov had to fly from Moscow to the Caucasus mountains for 4 hours, and then travel by special car for 7 hours along a dangerous mountainous serpentine road, and the same way back.
The faithful came to the Mass from this Caucasus region and from the Crimean Peninsula, crossing the Crimean Bridge, which is in the shelling zone.
One man, originally from the USA, now lives in the Caucasus and previously attended Masses on Mount St. Michael in Spokane.
On April 23, 2023, in the second Sunday after Easter, despite great difficulties and a dangerous path along a slippery, very narrow winding mountain road, used as a corpse traffic for killed soldiers, Fr. Kryssov arrived in Gelendzhik to give pastoral care with the blessing of Bishop Mark A. Pivarunas for truly Catholic Family and baptize the newborn Elizabeth - the second child of Evgeny Shmelyov.
The Shmelyovs are a family of doctors and we turn to you for prayers so that the War and other disasters do not separate these faithful Catholics from their Pastor.
On the picture: Fr. Kryssov near his small goddaughter Elizabeth and Evgeny.
Thanks to the dedicated work of local residents supervised by Evgeny Shmelev - a founder of the Russian Catholic Internet public resource - Gelendzhik has become the center of our online activity in social media. Currently, the resource is visited by more than 3000 participants form all regions of Russia strived to live the Catholic faith.
Fr. Kryssov and Evgeny Shmelev with his son Aleksey on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, after the first Holly Latin Mass in 2500 history of Gelendzhik (June 16, 2019).