ANGLICAN BAPTISM BY IMMERSION IN MOSCOW

The churchwarden of St Andrew’s Anglican church in Moscow recently completed a successful shopping trip to buy a portable swimming pool for the congregation’s first baptism by total immersion in its long history.

Pat Davis Szymczak managed to find a 6 metre wide pool, which was one and a half metres deep at a local discount store. It was then installed outdoors, in front of the church, for the big day. Eight Nigerians, many of whom had links with the Nigerian embassy in Moscow, were baptized by the Chaplain, Canon Simon Stephens, OBE.   

The church was built in 1884 in the Victorian Gothic style with funds provided by the British community and the Russia Company. It was named after the Apostle, St.Andrew, the patron of Scotland, as most of the British community at that time were rich Scottish merchants.

Between 1920 and 1991 the building was used to house the Finnish and the Lithuanian embassies, then a hostel for orphans until the early 1960’s when its superb acoustics were used by the recording organisation 'Melodia'.

Weekly Sunday services resumed in 1993 and a year later President Boris Yeltsin formally promised HM The Queen that the church would be returned to the British Christian community. An official agreement on its use is due to be signed with the Russian authorities early in October this year.

Susan Samuel Shelpidi, eldest daughter of the Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, was one of the eight candidates baptised by total immersion at St Andrew's, Moscow, by Canon Simon Stephens.