Kemerovo churches

The Holy Synod resolved to appoint Bishop Sophrony, the interim bishop of the Kemerovo diocese, to his post on October, 1993.

That year there were sixty-two parishes in Kuzbass that were under the pastoral care of 62 priests. Many parishes utilized non-traditional buildings to worship.

That the Kemerovo diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate be established by separating it from the Krasnoyarsk diocese, with the subsequent approval of the decision at the Sacred Bishops’ Council. That the ruling bishop to hold the title of Bishop of Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk. That Bishop Sophrony of Tomsk, a vicar of the Novosibirsk diocese entrusted with the temporary administration of the Kemerovo diocese.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia I Alexy II officiated at the consecration of Znamensky Cathedral in Kemerovo on May 26,1996.

A copy of the icon of the Iveron Theotokos (Panagia) was brought on the request of Bishop Sofrony from the holy Mount Athos (Greece).

Icons containing particles of relics of the twelve apostles are also kept in the Cathedral: St. John of Tobolsk, St. Philaret of Moscow, St. Joseph of Belgorod, St. Luke the Confessor, Righteous Fyodor Sanaksar (Ushakov), Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea.

St. Seraphim Protection Convent established in Leninsk-Kuznetsky in 1992.

In the Synaxis of the Saints of Kemerovo includes clergymen and laymen, canonized as New Martyrs and Confessors by Russian Orthodox Church. They were killed or died in Siblag camps situated it Mariinsky, Chebulinsky and Tashtagol districts of Kemerovo region. It also includes three hermit lathers of Novokuznetsk.