The first Russian Orthodox church will open in Abu Dhabi, the Synodal department of the Russian Orthodox Church for relations with Society and the media reported.
Russian Russian Orthodox Church Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, V.R. Legoyda, said that at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was decided to establish a Russian Orthodox parish in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). The corresponding report was sent to the members of the Holy Synod by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations.
Russian Russian-speaking believers living in Abu Dhabi have appealed to the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church with a request to establish a Russian Orthodox parish there, according to the information provided by the head of the Department for External Church Relations.
In a letter dated January 17, 2026, addressed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East gave his consent to the establishment of a Russian Orthodox parish in Abu Dhabi under the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Patriarchate and to the construction of a church.
Russian Russian Orthodox Church, taking into account the consent of the Patriarch of Antioch, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to establish a Russian Orthodox parish in Abu Dhabi in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
By a decision of the Synod, Archimandrite Alexander (Zarkeshev), rector of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Sharjah, was entrusted with the pastoral care of the newly formed parish.