The church will bear the name “Surb Sarhis” in honor of the young commander, Sarhis, who was martyred for the Christian faith in 363. According to Nshan Antonyan, it will be built at the expense of the community and sponsors, in particular, “Union of Armenians of Ukraine” is ready to help.
The Executive Committee of Lutsk City Council supported the draft decision on the construction of a temple of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Not all members of the Executive Committee approved the project, as a plot of land of 25 ares on Okruzhna street is in the “green zone”. Some proposed to return Armenians their former premises of the temple. However, in the end, the draft decision was approved.
In his comments to RISU correspondent, the head of Armenian religious community “Surb Sarhis” Nshan Antonyan said that the Volyn region is inhabited by about 200 Armenian families. So the church should be the focus of not only of the religious, but also of the cultural life of minorities to preserve national traditions, religion, and language. In addition to the church, it is planned to build a Sunday school and a hotel.
The church will bear the name “Surb Sarhis” in honor of the young commander, Sarhis, who was martyred for the Christian faith in 363. According to Nshan Antonyan, it will be built at the expense of the community and sponsors, in particular, “Union of Armenians of Ukraine” is ready to help.
The Armenian community of Lutsk has its own history. In the XV century, it was quite large and in 1427 it erected a church dedicated to St. Stephen. In the second half of the XV century many Armenians migrated to the city of Lutsk, and from XVIII the life of the Armenian community in Lutsk gradually declined. In 1820, the church premises were given to a military warehouse that was destroyed in the great city fire in 1845. The temple had remained a ruin until 1950, when it was restored, but adapted for residential purposes. St. Stephen's Church is still used as a house. In the early 2000s, a two-story building was built close to the former church that worsened its overall appearance.
The former premises of the Armenian church look like this now.
Today the Armenian community does not claim its former church. According to Antonyan, it is too expensive and difficult. “This is a multi-storey house, we should buy apartments to people and rebuild the premises back.” Therefore, it is easier and cheaper to build a new church.