Russian Orthodox Church, Sharjah

St. Philip the Apostle Russian Orthodox Church is a Russian Orthodox Church located in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It's part of the Patriarchate of Antioch. It is the only Christian Orthodox church in the Arabian Peninsula with an area of capacity of 20,000 worshippers. The church opened on Saturday August 13, 2011.

WWW rus-church.ae

Background

Discussions about building the church began in 2005. The church was given approval to start construction in May 2007. The church was designed by architect, Yury Kirs who based his drawings on one of the churches in Saint Petersburg - the city that Yury Kirs hails from. One of the main contributors and founders was businessman Yuri Grigorievich Sidorenko. The church had received its blessings from the head of the parish, Hegumen Alexander Zarkesher of Moscow as well as from His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV. It is one of the rarest Russian orthodox churches in design as it has a gold cross on each of the five domes, all made in Russia.