Parishes and Communities

The Archdiocese was formed by the progressive addition of different parishes.

First of all, the parishes and churches existing before the revolution, in particular the St Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Paris. Then as pastoral needs arose under the energetic direction of Metropolitan Euloge who showed great tenacity, parishes were opened in Paris and its region, in the big cities of the different countries where the Archdiocese was active, but also in many industrial centers which had welcomed Russian communities, often Cossacks. For example in Chalette, near Montargis, in Collombelles near Caen, in Le Creusot, in Ugine, in mining towns in Belgium and France and in many other places.

While many of these parishes gradually died out, others were created in the provinces to serve the scattered Orthodox faithful of all ethnic origins. In particular in the West of France, in the Center, in Scandinavia ...