Celebrations on the occasion of the 260th anniversary of the consecration of the first St. John the Baptist Church in Kutuliktranslated

In the village of Kutulik, Alar region, on June 5, 2026, a significant event was celebrated - 260 years since the consecration of the first church in the name of St. John the Baptist. During his Eastern journey, the Church of St. John the Baptist (then still wooden) was visited by Tsarevich Nicholas - the future Emperor-Passion-Bearer Nicholas lI. The current stone church is the 4th in a row. He suffered greatly during the godless persecution of the Church: he was beheaded and converted first into a granary, then into a club. The abandoned, collapsed building was returned to the Irkutsk diocese in 1992. For the first time in the past 111 years, the Divine Liturgy took place in the main chapel, consecrated in the name of the Holy Prophet - until this moment, services were held in a small chapel in the name of St. Innocent (Kulchitsky), 1st Bishop of Irkutsk. The festive liturgy was led by Metropolitan Maximilian of Irkutsk and Angarsk, who was co-served by the secretary of the Irkutsk diocese, priest Stefan Bazhkov, dean of the Cheremkhovo district, archpriest Nikolai Ershukov, archpriest Leonid Shevchenko, archpriest Dimitry Belkov, archpriest Vladimir Kuzminykh (one of the former rectors of the church), archpriest Pavel Kosorov, priest Gennady Znaidenko,...