Ukrainians to build an Orthodox church in Antarctica

А chapel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Мoscow Patriarchate will be built in Antarctica this spring, Interfax-Religion reports.

"When we send polar explorers to the South Pole we don't ask about their confession. But every person can have a wish to stay alone, to pray. Why don't we build a church?" Director of the National Antarctic Scientific Center Valery Litvinov was quoted as saying on Friday by the Ukrainian Segodnya.ua website.

It is not the first Orthodox church on the ice continent: Russian carpenters built a 15-meter Orthodox church from Siberian cedar in 2004 that is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

"When you pray there you get unspeakable impressions. It is zero altitude, but you have a feeling that the church almost flies above Earth," Archbishop Augustyn of Lviv and Galicia, who is going to consecrate the Ukrainian chapel in spring, said about a Liturgy in the church in 2007.

The chapel is being made in Chili and is much smaller than the Russian church. It will be sent to Antarctica in late March with a new group of polar explorers. Philanthropists will pay for the chapel to be built and installed.

Belarusians intend to erect a similar chapel on the continent as they plan to open a base in Antarctica this year.

Besides, Ukrainians will present a bell cast by the Donetsk metallurgical plant to the Russian Holy Trinity Church.