Our Charity

The Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky

The Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky (www.cathedrale-orthodoxe.com), constructed in Russo-Byzantine style, was consecrated in 1861. It holds a central place in the life Russian Orthodox community in Paris. The building was classified a national monument by the French government in 1983.

In 1867, Emperor Alexander II on an official visit to France, attended a liturgy in the cathedral, accompanied by Emperor Napoleon III of France, King Wilhelm I of Prussia and his prime-minister Bismarck and others. In 1896 Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra marked their official visit to Paris in 1896 with a service in the cathedral.

The wedding of Pablo Picasso to Olga Khokhlova in 1918 was celebrated at the cathedral which also officiated the funeral services of Ivan Turgenev (1883), Fyodor Chaliapin (1938) and Wassily Kandinsky (1944), to name only a few.

After the 1917 revolution, the Russian population scattered outside of Russia represented more than two million people. During this time the cathedral became the spiritual and social centre in the life of the emigration. It has retained this role today welcoming orthodox immigrants and visitors from Russia and all the other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Today, 153 years after the foundation stone was laid, the cupolas are in need of restoration. Your help is sought in support of this worthy cause.

Beneficiary: Association Cultuelle Orthodoxe Russe
Bank: Credit Lyonnais
RIB: 30002 00463 0000044144H 74
IBAN: FR75 3000 2004 6300 0004 4144 H74
Swift/BIC: CRLYFRPP
Contact: Alexandre Jevakhoff
Tel.: +33142887647

E-mail: jevakhoff@wanadoo.fr

The Vitiaz Association

The Vitiaz Association (www.vitiaz.info) is a Russian Orthodox youth organisation created in the early 1920s in Paris by an officer of the White Army. In 1934 it registered as a French charitable organisation.

Since its creation, the Vitiaz Association contributed, through its activities and summer camps, to the education of 5 generations of Russian émigrés and to the preservation of pre-revolutionary Russian culture in Europe.

After the fall of communism, the Vitiaz Association expanded its activity in Russia and a number of organisations and summer camps, including for underprivileged children, orphans and disabled children, opened across Russia. Several scholarship programmes allow these children to spend their summer at the Vitiaz Laffrey camp in France.

The heart of the Vitiaz activity since 1939 takes place at its Laffrey summer camp in the French Alps.

In recent years, local developers have been looking into opening a private camping on lands surrounding the camp with adjoining parking lot, nightclub and bar. This will most certainly threaten the very existence of the Laffrey camp.

A fundraising campaign has started since August 2013 to gather funds to purchase these adjoining lands. The price agreed with the current owners is EUR 300,000 and so far the Vitiaz have registered a total of EUR 51,100 donations.

Beneficiary: Association des Vitiaz
Bank: Credit Lyonnais
RIB: 30002 00422 0000006321U 06
IBAN: FR16 3000 2004 2200 0000 6321 U06
Swift/BIC: CRLYFRPP
Contact: Serge Coulon
Tel.: +336 51 90 02 12

E-mail: camplaffrey@gmail.com