In the 1960s, the Church of the Conception of John the Baptist was located not far from school No. 55 and was destroyed on the orders of the Soviet authorities. The rector of the abolished church lived in a private house on the site of the current church with a parishioner. The owner built an extension to her home, where the priest set up a prayer house and performed liturgies – services took place there until 1971, until the death of the rector. Until 1990, the prayer house was empty, but already in the same year, with the blessing of the primate, Metropolitan Philaret, a parish in honor of the conception of John the Baptist was established on the site of the prayerful feat of Abbot Miron. This took place thanks to the assistance of the owners of the site and parishioners of the temple.
By January 1991, the community built a building for worship using collected and purchased building materials. Before this, the house was in ruins – there were no floors, there was no iconostasis. In 2006, construction of a new modern church building began – in October, His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, together consecrated the cornerstone for construction and laid a symbolic capsule. On April 8, 2007, Easter of Christ was served in the new lower church. Construction was carried out with donations from parishioners over a period of 6 years with interruptions, and only in 2011 was the first celebration of Easter in the upper church.
In 2013-2015, at the expense of the community, a bell tower was erected, as well as the building of the “Theological School of the UOC”, where classes for children and adults are held every Sunday. In 2016, work was carried out in the temple to paint the upper chapel of the temple – the walls and vaults of the church were decorated with icons of the Mother of God, the psalmist David, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and Prince Vladimir, scenes from the Gospel, scenes from the lives of John the Baptist and St. Nicholas, and so on, and the dome was crowned with the image of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on the day of Holy Pentecost.
In 2016, another important event took place in the life of the parish – the revered temple image of the Mother of God “Nurturing”, in whose honor the lower aisle of the church was even consecrated, became one of the locally revered icons, and a copy of it was presented at the permanent exhibition “Ukraine – the Home of the Most Holy Mother of God.” Since then, the icon has visited many places in Ukraine and even in Jerusalem, at the procession “For Peace”, which took place during Holy Week in 2017.
Where is the Church of the Conception of John the Baptist?
Chernobylskaya street, 15A
08:00 – 19:00
services: morning Sat 08:00, Sun 07:00 and 09:00, evening Fri, Sat 16:00
(044) 423-58-81