On December 28, 2025, celebrations were held in the St. Petersburg Diocese on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the deaf community of the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul at the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen. As part of the celebration at the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga celebrated the Divine Liturgy with sign language translation for the deaf and hard of hearing parishioners.
"The community of the deaf in our church has an interesting history," Archpriest Dimitri Simonov, rector of the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, said after the Liturgy. — Even under Metropolitan John (Snychev), the deaf tried to find an opportunity to pray during divine services with sign language translation, but then no one simply had the strength to do so. And in 2000, remembering that here, in this building of the Herzen Pedagogical University, there was once a school for the deaf and a temple in which they prayed, it was decided to restore this service, which has not been interrupted for these 25 years. And every Sunday, every holiday, deaf parishioners can participate in the Eucharist here, study the Word of God, learn the faith, and perform the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage."
Father Dimitri also presented Metropolitan Varsonofy with an icon of the Healing of the Deaf, a copy of the temple image, with the parishioners' wishes on the back.
The house church in honor of the Apostles Peter and Paul was founded in 1821 by Empress Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Paul the First, at the school of the deaf and dumb. In 1923, the church was closed and ruined. Services were resumed in 1998. On October 8, 2000, the Divine Liturgy with sign language translation was celebrated there for the first time. In the same year, a community of the deaf was established. Today, services with translation into Russian sign language are performed in the church on a weekly basis.
After the Liturgy, a concert prepared by representatives of the community was held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the deaf community, during which Veronika Leontieva, head of assistance to people with Disabilities at the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, presented the Department's awards. The rector of the church, Archpriest Dimitri Simonov, received the medal of the Righteous Philaret the Merciful II degree, Subdeacon Alexander Mironov and the oldest parishioner Marina Mehrabova received medals of the righteous Philaret the Merciful III degree. The diploma of the Synodal Department for Charity was awarded to sign language interpreter Vitaly Taks.