A Church at the End of the Earth

Antarctica’s Church of the Holy Trinity

The work and housing structures used by international polar expeditions in Antarctica are for the most part rectangular metal cabins: functional and transportable, but awfully ugly. So the addition of an Orthodox church to the polar continent was a breath of fresh air, architecturally speaking. 

The defiant silhouette of the wooden Church of the Holy Trinity appeared on Antarctica’s King George Island in 2004. It was the brainchild of Oleg Sakharov, head of Bellingshausen Station, and was funded by several Russian entrepreneurs, with bells donated by a Russian-American patron. 

Constructed of Siberian cedar and larch, the church is a traditional “srub” – a rectangular framework of round logs joined at the corners. The wooden members came from forests in the Altai, and the church was dry fit in 2002 in the village of Kizil-Ozek. The structure was carefully disassembled a year later, each log numbered before setting off on its journey. 

The church traveled by train to Kaliningrad, then by boat, in the company of the head engineer of the project and the first priest to serve in the church, Hieromonk Kallistrat. On December 9th, 2003, the cargo arrived at Antarctica’s Ardly cove. On February 15th, 2004, the church was consecrated and had its first service.

Priests serve at the church for one year terms. Father Sergiy Yuryin will be at the post until March 2008. He is aided by Vladimir Petrakoff, who helps at the altar, reads, and sings. Lacking an on-site journalist, Russian Life corresponded with Petrakoff by e-mail and asked him to tell us a bit about their very unusually situated parish.

The Trinity church on Bellingshausen is considered to be under the Patriarchate’s control, but the priests are sent here from the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergiy in the Moscow Region.

Our parish consists of Russian polar expedition members. During the winter, there are only 12 such people, including me and Father Sergiy. In summer, there are as many as 40 people. Right now there are about 2-5 people that come to pray. People work and can’t always come to services, which are on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. There are additional services for Orthodox holidays.

People from Chile and Uruguay also come to the church, as do many tourists from Europe and the United States. It is rarely to pray, and mostly just to look at the church and watch the service. During Easter, we invited everyone on the island and gave a service in two languages, Russian and Spanish.

As soon as the church was constructed, the head of the station at the time, Oleg Sakharov, wanted to be baptized. That was the first baptism at the church. Later, there were others: polar explorers and Russians from passing ships. About six months ago, there was a wedding between Eduardo Aliaga Ilabaka, an Orthodox Chilean, and Angelina Zhuldybina, daughter of a Russian polar explorer.

We are not often visited by priests from the continent. This year there were Father Protolion and Father Khristofor, and later the Bishop of Lviv and Galicia, Avgustin. Serving here is wonderful, and we also work a little on the station like other expedition members. It is very still all around us and in our souls.