He first temple of the Orthodox Church in the Canary Islandsin the municipality of Adeje, the works began again a few weeks ago, but at a “snail’s pace”, say the representatives of this religion on the island, after more than two years stopped due to a controversy between the construction company and the architect of the project, about the quality of the roof materials, which is the part that still, at first glance, is what remains to finish the structure of a building created in La Caleta and whose first stone was laid almost four years ago .
The curious thing is like the construction company itself (topconstruction) apologizes on a sign in the works: “If Rome had been built in one day we would have had to use the same construction company.”
He templealready raised in its central structure, shines spectacularly in the area of La Enramada, in La Caleta de Adeje, and is a source of pride for thousands of Slavs who process Orthodox Christianity, despite the fact that many of them are now separated by the bloody Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Although not all are necessarily Orthodox, according to Boris Portnykh, the secretary of the parish priest Vasily Fedik, the church could serve the almost 15,000 Russian-speaking people who live all year or a good part of it in the south of Tenerife.
If we add Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Georgians, we would be talking about the main group of foreigners in Adeje and Arona, only behind Italians, although Portnykh acknowledges that more than half of those Slavs who have residence in Tenerife, They only spend a few months on the Island, while those who reside on it all year are mainly dedicated to sectors such as restaurants, real estate and tourism, “including pleasure boats to visit the cetaceans”, tells us the secretary to the parish priest Vasily Fedik.
It does not hide the fact that the large colony of residents of the former countries of the Soviet Union have great purchasing power, as demonstrated by financially supporting the construction of the temple in La Caleta with funds, with thanks to the Adeje City Council for the assignment, very near the historic hermitage of San Sebastián, of 2,400 square meters free of charge, for at least 75 years, after the first stone was laid in the summer of 2019, by the Orthodox bishop of Madrid and Portugal, Néstor Sirotenko, and the mayor of Adeje, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga.
The temple is projected in two buildings, one as a temple itself and the other as a socio-cultural center, which, in turn, will be surrounded by landscaped and wooded areas. In total, covering a space of about 2,400 square meters. The architectural design corresponds to the architect Jorge Mosquera Panyagua.
If completed this year, the three churches already built, which in chronological order are Altea, Madrid and Torrevieja, would be joined in Spain by another two such as Estepona and this one in Tenerife, and even a sixth in La Nucía (Murcia). writes the Tenerife historian Sergio Pou, in the book recently published by the University of La Laguna on the Orthodox churches in Spain.
wild callao
The parishioners of Tenerife, waiting for their desired temple, continue to use a Catholic church, on loan, since 2011, on Avenida de Jable, in Callao Salvaje. Masses are held on Saturdays (4:30 p.m.) and Sundays (at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.). Its parish priest continues to be Vasiliy Fedik who, from Tenerife as the main center, also assists the emerging community of Gran Canaria.
