Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Minsk, Eastern Orthodox church in Minsk, Belarus.
The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene is an Orthodox place of worship built in brick with classical architectural features including symmetrical proportions and balanced structural design. The building presents a clean, orderly exterior with regular window placements and a simple facade that reflects its traditional Orthodox design approach.
A wooden church built in 1804 on the Perespa cemetery burned in 1835; the brick church that replaced it was completed in 1847 with donations from townspeople, and its builder, Archpriest Piotr Yelinovsky, was buried in the crypt beneath the apse. It became a parish church in 1879, was closed in 1932–1933, returned in 1934, and closed again in 1937 as a carpentry workshop. Reopened on 27 July 1941 under German occupation, it was closed in 1949 and housed the BSSR film and photo archive until 1990.
The church remains a central place of worship for the Orthodox community, where daily services and religious celebrations bring people together. Visitors can observe believers lighting candles and offering prayers in front of the icons lining the interior walls.
The church stands on Kisialiova Street, next to the Storozhevsky Gate and the small Saint John the Forerunner church. Services are held daily, morning and evening, and a church kiosk and Sunday school operate on the grounds. A garden around the church holds the graves of several clergymen.
The church kept a myrrh-streaming icon of St Nicholas whose miraculous properties were noted in 2002, when a procession with an icon of the royal martyrs reached Minsk. Patriarch Alexy II donated a cross with particles of relics during a pastoral visit to Belarus.
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