August 16, 2020

Four confirmands were received into the fellowship of the Church this year. There were more people who initially attended the confirmation class, but during the pandemic not all of them stayed firm and completed it. Senior pastor Rev. Aleksei Kronholm quoted the Gospel which says, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” In his homily prior to the public confession of the faith, he shared about the fates of the confirmands whose photo is published in the book Put very dlinnoyu v stoletiya (“A Faith Journey that Lasts for Centuries”): soon afterwards, they were unable to go to church any longer and many of them died a violent death during the persecution of believers, but the Church of Ingria has been preserved thanks to their proclamation in all the places where they were deported. Sometimes, after we take the oath before God, we drift away from the Church and don’t see it as important to build the Body of Christ. Each should recall their promise and realize that going to church on Christmas and Easter does not assure salvation. Pastor Aleksei expressed the hope that the confirmands would go to church every Sunday and witness to Christ for their neighbor with their own life.