Two Orthodox churches in Australia on Easter caught fire, just a few hours after the Serbian Orthodox church in Manhattan, New York burnt down. Today, another Orthodox Monastery in Russia also had a fire.
The church in New York was burnt down to its walls, while the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Sydney completely burnt down. The fire in Russia is still active.
The fire began in the Macedonian Orthodox Church of the Resurrection of Christ at 22:00 local time, luckily, no-one was in the building at the time. To put the fire out, it took 60 firemen and women, while three of them received light injuries during the blaze.
“We were very surprise of the intensity of the fire, the building collapsed very fast. We were lucky so few were injured”, said Gregg Malnis from the Fire Service.
The police are conducting an investigation into the fire, some of the Australian media say there is a possibility of arson, because the church had a lot of money after Easter donations were given to the church.
Just a few hours earlier a fire broke out in the oldest Orthodox Church in Melbourne.
The Fire Service were called at 13:40, just a few hours after the morning Easter service had finished.
Over 200 people were evacuated from the surrounding buildings, and there were no fatalities or injured.
The building did not collapse after 30 minutes of being on fire, but the flames have damaged the walls, roof and many icons from the church.
The cause of the fire in the 115 year old church is still unknown.
The Serbian Orthodox church in Manhattan, New York, St Sava was completely destroyed in the fire, there were no fatalities or injured.
More than 170 Fire men and women were involved in putting out the fire. The cause here, is also unknown, however investigations and inquiries are being conducted.
The fire started at 19:00 local time, and was put out 4 hours later.
This elemental force, also broke out in the Valam Monstary in Northern Russia. The fire is believed to have started in the hotel “Winter” which is located in the old building which is owned by the monastery, which also happens to be next to a cathedral.
The fire spread onto 8,600 square metres, luckily there were no injuries, as 70 people were evacuated on time.
