On September 24, 2024, the first divine service for Russian-speaking believers of the Moscow Patriarchate was held in the Turkish city of Kars. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Priest Georgy Sergeev, who is responsible for the care of Russian-speaking believers in the territory of the Turkish Republic. At the funeral litany, Priest George remembered all the Russian soldiers who died during the two Kars operations.
Kars is a city in the northeast of Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia region. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the city of Kars and its surroundings came under the rule of the Russian Empire. From 1878 to 1917, a separate Kars region existed within the empire. As of 1914, 25,000 Armenians, about 1,500 Russians, about the same number of Turks, as well as Jews, Kurds, Poles and Germans lived in the city with a population of 30,000. In the center of the city of Kars according to the standard design of F. The church of Alexander Nevsky was built by Verzhbitsky. It was the temple of the 154th Derbent Infantry Regiment. In 1918, according to the Brest Peace Treaty, Russia gave these territories to Turkey. After these territories were transferred to Turkey, the Orthodox church was converted into a mosque. The outlines of the Orthodox cathedral are still clearly visible, despite the modified appearance of the building.