After Surviving Parachute Failure, Test Pilot Builds Church in Antarctica
Moscow, 19 January 2010, Interfax – Test pilot Pyotr Zadirov thanked God for his successful flight without parachute by building the Holy Trinity Church in Antarctica.
Zadirov, a professional parachutist, made a jump from 800 meters, which became crucial for him. His parachute failed to open for technical reasons. However, Pyotr fell in a snowdrift and miraculously had only slight concussions and bruises. Doctors could not help wondering as he did not have any internal injuries, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported on Tuesday.
Since then Zadirov has erected three churches to thank God for his miraculous salvation including the one at the South Pole.
“Though there are organized tours to Antarctica, the church was mainly built for polar explorers. No requiem service was read for all who died at the Pole before, they were just buried in snow in a small local cemetery,” the parachutist said.
Patriarch Alexy II blessed the project of the church in the style of wooden architecture in 2000. The church has become a representation of the Holy Trinity - St. Sergius Laura and rectors serve there in shifts.
