(a). Background.
Contemporary society in Denmark presents a kind of “middle-ground” between the predominantly Christian-Satanist USA and the predominantly Orthodox-Christian Russia.
Denmark presents itself as a Christian country, where 72% of its citizens are members of the nominally Christian “state church.” In reality, though, the ovewhelming majority of Danes are self-described atheists who participate in the “state church” as a kind of “culture club.” Only 15% of Danes continue to believe in “divine power” (74).
Yet, while self-described “Christians” in the USA live in an every-person-for-themself, satanic cult of individualism, self-described “atheist” Danes live in a collectivist society in which they really truly do love their Danish neighbor as themselves. This is, at once, a de facto “Christian” way of life and also (at least for now still) very much closer to the way of life in Russia than to that in the USA.
Danish media is currently completely given over to anti-Russian hysteria. Yet Denmark’s formerly “slavish” pro-American attitude is starting to evolve, now that the USA has shown it’s true colors with it’s open intention to soon do to Greenland what it has just done to Venezuela.
The famous, well-recognized landmark “Russian-Orthodox church” in downtown Copenhagen was built by Russian Czar Alexander III as a monument to Danish-Russian relations. His half-Danish son, the martyred and cannonized Czar Nikolai II, who spent his boyhood summers in Copenhagen, himself often worshipped in this very church.
This historically and metaphorically important Russian-Orthodox church is now in crisis. An ethnic German ROCOR bishop who openly opposes the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine, calling it “criminal,” has converted this “monument to Danish-Russian relations” into a church that identifies itself as being “Russian with a small letter r” (meaning that its “Russian” origins are no longer significant).
The situation is described in detail in my recent presentation titled “The Orthodox Church of Emperor Alexander III as his gift to Denmark,” which is given below.
If you want to include your name on a letter to Patriarch Kirill urging his office to investigate this situation, simply fill out and sign the form shown below and return it to info@atlasstumbled.com. The names of the signatories to the letter will not be published – they will only be indicated in the letter itself.
(b). The Orthodox Church of Emperor Alexander III as his gift to Denmark.
The famous Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in central Copenhagen was conceived and built with the express intention of serving as a monument to Russian-Danish relations. Its construction was largely personally financed by Russian Emperor Alexander III. Construction began shortly after the assassination of his father Alexander II in 1881. The foundation stone was laid and consecrated jointly by the new Tsar, Alexander III, and his father-in-law, the Danish King Christian IX.
The church was built on perhaps the most expensive plot of land in the city, next to the Lutheran National Cathedral in central Copenhagen, and virtually across the street from the Danish Royal Palace. The land alone cost 300,000 rubles—approximately 2.15 billion rubles in today’s gold equivalent.
The renowned architect and St. Petersburg professor David Grimm collaborated closely with Danish architects to create a church in the “Russian Byzantine” style, which immediately became a Copenhagen landmark. For this work, Grimm was knighted by the Danish king. The style characteristic of this church later became known as the “Alexander III style.”
Tsarevich Nicholas II, a Danish man by birth, spent his summers in Copenhagen, standing during services in this church. Having been a parishioner of this church for 20 years, I recall how often I heard visiting Orthodox guests and priests speak with reverence of this blessed place, where a sense of “Holy Rus’” was preserved. They sensed it. It was in this church that I personally learned Orthodox spiritual work. I sang in the choir and was once treasurer. And I can confidently testify from personal experience that we regularly and consistently reached remarkable heights of spiritual experience in the congregation there.
Five years after the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II, the Bolshevik government of Russia filed a lawsuit in the Danish courts seeking to seize the church. At first glance, the ownership rights seemed straightforward. The church officially belonged to the Russian Empire. Denmark, after all, recognized the Russian Bolshevik government. Accordingly, the case at the outset appeared straightforward. But the Danish Supreme Court did something extraordinary: it concluded that since the Russian Empire had explicitly transferred the church to the Russian Orthodox Church for use, it was questionable whether the Bolsheviks had the right to evict the parish, on the grounds that the terms of their “lease” were unknown. Thus, in 1925, the court confirmed the “stay of execution of the eviction order” as permanent. To this day, this church remains the only building in Denmark without a legal owner.
During this period of bitter legal proceedings, the church literally served as a transit point for Russians fleeing to Canada. These same refugees established a fund for the church, which to this day partially covers its operating expenses.
For many years, the church functioned normally under the control of the Western European Exarchate in Paris. However, beginning in the late 1960s, the Russian Church Abroad attempted to wrest control of the church in Copenhagen from Paris, using tactics similar to those it had employed throughout Germany during its Nazi rule. This struggle continued for many years. A number of lawsuits were filed in Danish courts. But in the final, decisive case, a Danish appeals court ruled that the ROCOR bishop had no right to remove the priest who served under the Parisian bishop, as the ROCOR had never legally acquired authority over the parish. The Parisian priest continued to serve until his death in 1984, after which the German ROCOR diocese simply changed the locks on the church doors. By that time, Paris had grown tired of paying lawyers and did not fight for the return of the church, to which it clearly had a right under the final decision of the Danish court.
The German ROCOR bishop, who was in power during the initial seizure of the church by changing the locks, is still alive and ruling. It was on his orders that our priest and his wife, who had served for 25 years and built a remarkably close-knit parish, were evicted in 2024. Our former priest, now serving in Ulyanovsk, is the author of a book on the history of this church, a gift from Alexander III to Denmark, entitled “The Tsar’s Church in the Danish kingdom.”
The true reason for this eviction is abundantly clear from a recent interview in a Danish magazine with the current priest—a 27-year-old deacon who was ordained to the priesthood by the German metropolitan, despite never having attended seminary. (75) The German metropolitan openly opposes the SVO, calling it a “crime.” How he continues to hold the position of bishop remains unclear. Our former priest, in an interview with the Danish Press published in 2022, openly declared his support for President Putin and the regrettable need for the SVO. The new priest, by contrast, cautiously supports the German bishop’s anti-SVO views. In this article, he is quoted as saying that Alexander III’s gift to Denmark is now “Russian with a small letter r,” meaning that its “Russian” origins are no longer significant. He says that although the church is in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, it is “governed by New York, not Moscow.”
After such an eviction, many of us tried to organize a general meeting to answer the question: should we ask the Moscow Patriarch to place us under his direct authority, as is the case with each of the other Russian Orthodox parish communities in Denmark? The current bishop in Paris, recognized by a Danish court as the legitimate ecclesiastical authority, granted us such a right. But the German bishop suppressed this desire, threatening to excommunicate all those present. I described the situation in detail to the office of the Patriarch’s assistant, Metropolitan Anthony, asking them to permit the meeting and send a priest to participate. They promised to consider the matter, but have yet to do so.
Russian-Danish relations, which were supposed to be supported by the gift of Tsar Alexander III, are now in an extremely degraded state. The level of anti-Russian hysteria in Denmark is truly astounding.
In my view, this situation should be viewed in the context of the anti-parallel development of Danish and Russian societies. Since the Danish Supreme Court’s decision protecting this church from the Bolsheviks, Russia has undergone a spiritual revolution, once again becoming a Christian country strong enough to resist the satanic globalists. During the same period, Denmark has degenerated from a once Christian country to one almost entirely atheistic in nature. The Danish Lutheran State Church continues to exist officially in Denmark. Indeed, every Dane is formally a member, unless they specifically submit documents to the tax office to “opt out.” Thus, 72% of Danes are officially members of the Danish “Christian” state church. However, only 15% of Danes continue to believe in “divine power.”(74) The Danish State Church is literally a “cultural club” for people who openly declare their atheism. Highly paid “priests” make shocking public statements without losing their jobs, such as: “I don’t believe in God, but I think it’s good that other people do.” That’s the reality.
I believe that the Russian holy martyr Tsar Nicholas (half-Danish) longs to see the Danes, his “other people,” turn back to Christ. And towards that end, I sincerely hope that the Patriarch will soon reclaim this historically important church from the Germans and make it, once again, a monument of Russian-Danish relations, with a capital R.
Instead of cowering in the face of anti-Russian hysteria, the Patriarchate could make this a vibrant center of Orthodox outreach to the small percentage of Danes who remain sincere Christians. Help them understand the great moral battle that is unfolding in the world as we speak. Help them get free of their hysterically anti-Russian mass media and their atheist “culture club.” Help them find what the Lord calls them to do for their people.
The 19th century Danish bishop Nikolai Grundvig, whose theology is very close to traditional Orthodoxy, wrote many if not most of the songs that Danes sing in their state church “culture club.” Indeed, it is coming together to sing that remains the foremost reason why atheists Danes continue to participate in their “Christian” church.
Myself a retired lawyer, I edit the blog Atlas Stumbled which presents Denmark as a “salvageable” spiritual “intermediate” between the openly Satanic USA and Orthodox Russia, where I am able to live in peace and repentance, swimming with the stream of society. Denmark has a strong history of labor unions. These are now defunct in the era of “mechanical capitalism,” but they could be revived after the coming crash of the Western economic order. Denmark is an excellent “test case” in which the principles of Orthodox Christian economics expressed by Sergei Bulgakov in “Philosophy of Economy” could someday be actualized.
A few words about the church itself wouldn’t hurt:
(See photo 1). The façade is made of red and white brick. The foundation is made of granite. There are three majestic domes covered in gold leaf, a large cross as a decorative element on the façade, built-in church bells, and a large icon of St. Alexander Nevsky at the top, painted on a lava stone slab by Professor Theodore A. Bronnikov, who also painted icons for the church’s iconostasis. The priests’ quarters and the church’s common areas are located on the ground floor, while the nave (the nave of the church) is on the second floor.
The priests’ quarters were previously quite small, with most of the space given over to common areas—a library, a living/music room, a chapel, two dining rooms, and a basement with guest rooms, a meeting room, and a fully equipped kitchen. A staircase leads from the altar to a side vestibule on the first floor.
In the courtyard, where we often took meals after church in warm weather, stands a bronze bust of Maria Feodorovna, the Danish princess formerly known as Dagmar. Completely secluded from the street, this space is an oasis of calm in the center of Copenhagen.
(See Photo 2). The nave, or church proper, is entered from street level via a white marble staircase with ornamented walls. A large bronze chandelier, a gift from Tsar Alexander III, hangs in the hall above a mosaic-tiled floor. The walls and ceiling have a dark background with gilded ornamentation and interior arches supported by black stone columns. The iconostasis and choir stalls are made of carved walnut. In addition to icons by Fyodor Bronnikov, paintings by renowned Russian artists Alexei Bogolyubov and Ivan Kramskoy are on display.
In this photo, we cannot see an icon of St. Nicholas, which has a remarkable history: this icon was from a Russian ship sunk by the Germans during World War I. Miraculously, it floated to Copenhagen, where fishermen found it in the harbor and donated it to the church.
In this back corner, we see a display case containing Empress Maria Feodorovna’s personal icons. It is shown in more detail in the last photo. (See photo 3)
(c). Proposed letter to Patriarch Kirill.
His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, Russian Orthodox Church
We have reviewed the presentation on the “Russian Orthodox Crisis in Copenhagen,”including the article “The Orthodox Church of Emperor Alexander III as His Gift to Denmark,” which is posted on the “Atlas Stumbled” blog (https://www.atlasstumbled.com).
We urge you to instruct Metropolitan Anthony to finally REVIEW the extensive materials on this topic submitted to his chancery in 2024 and 2025.
Sincerely,
(List of individuals who expressed a desire to be included)
(74) “Why are Danes and Swedes so irreligious?,” P. Zuckerman (2009) Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 22(1):55.
(75). “Russisk med lille r,” A. Esbjørnsen Weekendavisen August 6, 2025. (english translation shown below)
Leave a Comment