Archpriest Dimitry Netsvetaev is not a newcomer to Egypt. Between 1983-1989 he was a representative of the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia to the Greek Orthodox Pope ad Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa. Father Dimitry, who has 8 sons and 8 daughters, lived in Alexandria and served in a small home Church of St. Alexander Nevsky - mostly for his own family. Now he came back to Egypt in the same capacity but with an additional task: to settle in Cairo in order to serve the Russian community [in Cairo] which is much larger than in Alexandria.
There was a Russian Orthodox church in Cairo built in the 1930s by Russians [who had] emigrated after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. But by the beginning of the ’80s, the Russian community practically disappeared because of natural causes. The Church of St. Nicolay in Heliopolis was given to the Alexandrian Greek [Church], not the Russian Patriarchate of Moscow which emigrants considered to be "Bolshevik". As to the Moscow Patriarchate itself, it had no church in Cairo because the Soviet community was small and the number of religious Orthodox persons in it was at that time next to zero.
Everything changed since Father Dimitry left Egypt ten years ago; the dissolution of the Soviet Union and dramatic negative changes in the life of the great majority of Russians moved the ground under their feet. People started to look for moral support, and a lot of them found it in religion. A number of faithful people in the Russian community in Cairo has considerably increased. That’s why Patriarch Alexiy of Moscow asked Archpriest Netsvetaev to move from Alexandria to Cairo.
In the beginning, Father Dimitry planned to establish in Cairo a home church, like in Alexandria. But I convinced him that a church should be established in a church building, not in a flat. The Russian Orthodox Church can’t afford building a church in Cairo. Finally a decision was made to exchange church buildings with the Alexandrian Patriarchate. The Greeks received a church in Moscow, and the Russians received a church in Cairo. On the first of June, the Patriarch of Alexandria, Petros, issued a document which gave the Russians the Church of St. Demetrios in Zeitun, a district where the Holy Family stayed during its flight to Egypt.
Before the 1950s, the Greek community in Egypt was the largest expatriate community and had a lot of churches. Now Greeks are counted only in the few thousands. The church of St. Demetrios in Zeitun, built in the ’20s like many other churches, was not used for decades. It needs serious restoration at a cost roughly calculated at US$ 200,000. This sum is too big for the Moscow Patriarchate to pay, so Father Dimitry is looking for sponsors. After presenting official papers on renovation for the approval of the Cairo Governor, he opened a special account for donations: Mr. Dimitry Netsvetaev, A/C 812516-180-00200201 at the Egyptian American Bank, Zamalek Branch, Cairo.
