Church of St. Catherine, Dnipro

Church of St. Catherine
Church of St. Catherine
Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine
Кірха Святої Катерини
	The church in 2016
	48°28′23″N 35°01′38″E / 48.4729459°N 35.0272777°E
Location	Dnipro
Address	103 Dmytro Yavornytsky Avenue
Country	Ukraine
Denomination	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Active
Founded	1852
Dedication	Catherine I
Consecrated	1866
Architecture
Functional status	Church
Architectural type	Gothic
Years built	1865–1866
Completed	1866
Administration
Archdiocese	German Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Ukraine
Clergy
Pastor(s)	Oleg Gnedovsky

The Church of St. Catherine (Ukrainian: Кірха Святої Катерини, romanized: Kirkha Svyatoyi Kateryny) is a 19th-century Evangelical Lutheran church of the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Ukraine (GELCU) in Dnipro, Ukraine. Additionally, it is also called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine. It is the first church to be opened in independent Ukraine. It is located on Karl Marx Avenue, next to the Maxim Gorki Theater and Lazar Hloba Park.^[1]

Design

The church was built in the early Gothic architecture,^[2] with late Baroque features to enhance its appeal. Its current interior design is opulent, with altar pieces such as crucifixes, exquisite icons, sophisticated saint plaster statues, items of devotion, and books with stylish bindings. Images from evangelical life were painted on the church's walls and ceilings.^[1]

History

Early in the development of the German community in the second half of the 18th century, the first Lutheran evangelists relocated to the settlement in the Katerynoslav Oblast. The oldest Lutheran village dates back to 1789 and was known as Josefstal. It is located in what is now the Dnipro Oblast of Samarivka, and it was about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Katerynoslav.^[3]

At the cost of the city's German Lutheran population, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine was founded in Katerynoslav (present day Dnipro) in 1852.^[4] In 1861, a plot of land was bought to construct a church. The actual building process started in 1865, and it was consecrated in 1866. At the building, a Lutheran charity for impoverished people as well as a school were also established.^[3]

The church in early 20th century

In 1866, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine was constructed using funds donated by the locals. The neighborhood helped to reopen it after the city officials had shuttered its operation several times.^[1] The church continued to function for precisely fifty years, closing its doors in 1933 due to the USSR anti-religious campaign,^[5] with the school closing its doors in 1938.^[3]

This building was then converted into an archive and library for foreign book collection during the Soviet era.^[4] The structure was then abandoned for a long period of time. Following these examinations, the church was placed in an emergency. The structure was given to the Dnipropetrovsk Revival Society in 1990, and they began a comprehensive restoration of the church. Munich and Dnipropetrovsk architects created the repair plan.^[1] In 1991, the church services were able get back on track.^[4]

The vigorous efforts of the Widergeburt Society of Ethnic Germans in 1991, allowed the Lutheran religious community in Dnipro to resume its operations. Igor Yermolaev served as the first pastor of the church until 1994, when Gotthald Hyunke took over. On 24 October 1994, the church was fully restored and refurbished, and it was reopened. Igor Taranenko was the priest of the Church of St. Catherine from 1996 until 2009. Moreover, Serhii Mashevskyi, who was elected bishop of the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Ukraine in 2013, served from 2008 to 2013.^[3]