Construction continues on a church dedicated to the Prophet Elijah on Mount Magulo in the General Santos Deanery in the Philippines.
On March 26, a dome with a cross was installed on the church.
This marks the first time in the diocese that a scaled dome has been used in church construction. It was manufactured at the Blessed Matrona of Moscow Missionary Center in Davao City, and the drum was constructed at the construction site of the Church of the Apostle Thomas in Kinabalan.
Parishioners from Davao delivered the dome to the foot of Mount Magulo. Since cars cannot navigate the mountain road, a specially equipped truck transported the structure to the church, located at an altitude of 1,500 meters.
“The population of this area is made up of the Bla-An tribe,” said Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), secretary of the diocese. “The first Orthodox missionaries visited them in 2015. At the same time, a local chieftain, later baptized with the name John, donated a plot of land for the construction of the church.
For a long time, the congregation gathered in a temporary bamboo structure, which eventually fell into disrepair, so the decision was made to build a new church.
“The day of the cross’s installation coincided with the 90th birthday of the oldest local parishioner, Raisa, who celebrated with family and friends,” shared Reader Elijah, the priest’s assistant. “So, all the guests were able to share in the joy of the church’s nearing completion.”
A distinctive feature of St. Elijah’s Church is its location: it is being built near the dormant Matutum volcano, which stands at 2,286 meters and is the second highest peak on the island of Mindanao.
