The Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was destroyed by fire, blagovest-info.ru informed.
“The church was completely burned down, almost everything was lost, the ceiling collapsed. We managed to save some icons, but, in addition to material losses, we suffered historical losses. This is the first Orthodox church in Brazil,” the portal quotes the words of the rector of the temple, Paisiy Diaz. “Only the altar remained,” he added.
The fire started on Sunday evening in one of the commercial and office buildings adjacent to the temple in the center of Sao Paulo. Its causes have not been established. In addition to the temple, the fire engulfed four neighboring buildings, one of them also belonged to the church. According to firefighters, there is a risk of their collapse.
“This temple kept the historical memory of the Syrian-Lebanese community of Brazil, the diaspora was born here,” said Dimitrius Attarian, secretary of the Bishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Brazil. According to the clergy, the building built in 1904 housed an extensive archive of documents of religious and historical significance.