There are currently 120 Orthodox churches in Latvia (10 years ago there were 76) and 2 monasteries. Separately, it is worth highlighting the Orthodox Church in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Dubulti. Dubulti is a part of Jurmala city and is 22 kilometres from Riga.
For the first time about the need to establish an Orthodox church in Jurmala began in the middle of the 19th century. The Baltic Chamber of State Property ordered that a plot of land was allocated for the construction of the church. The construction was undertaken by a merchant of the first guild, Lomonosov. And the Petropavlovsk Brotherhood, established at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Riga, began to care for and oversee the construction of the temple.
Erection of the temple and its internal arrangement were completed in 1867. It was consecrated in honour of the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. Consecration was conducted by Archbishop Platon of Riga and Mitava.
At first, services were held only in the summer months. In the temple was not a permanent priest. The parish was also absent. Only in 1902 services were held in the winter. This happened twice a month. The church began to be visited more people. The parishioners helped the church to the best of their ability. They helped raise funds for the shroud for the temple. The temple was heated of the donations collected. It was already gathering up to 150 people. In 1906, services began to be held daily. They were carried out in three languages: Church Slavonic, Latvian and German.
In 1897-1900 a parochial school operated at the church. It is noteworthy that the main part of pupils were Lutherans (47 out of 57). After the school stopped its work. Then Alfred Viktorovich Mirbach (Lutheran Baron), who was the head of the Dubbelne police, allocated funds for the repair of the church and the church buildings adjacent to it.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Peter and Paul Brotherhood began to build a chapel, adjacent to the church, at the Dubbelyn Brotherhood cemetery. In Dubbulty at the same time time another church had already been erected on the Riga seashore. Therefore His Eminence Agafangel, Archbishop of Riga and Mitava, sends to the Father Nikolai Shalfeev, a priest of the Kuimetska church. Later, in 1913, he would become the rector of the parish.
The Church of St. Prince Vladimir endured the First World War, the revolution of 1917, changes of authorities and remained unharmed. In 1943, the church received refugee children whose parents had been shot or burned in German camps.
In 1944, the shutters of the church were broken in and the windows were smashed. All the interior interior decoration had to be temporarily moved to the Kazan Church, located on the territory of present-day Dzintari. In 1962, by decision of the Latvian authorities, the church was the church was simply smashed in 24 hours and all its property was moved back to the Dubulta church.
Nowadays the rector of St Vladimir's Church is Father Vladimir (Rätsep). He is a member of the Synod of the Latvian Orthodox Church and teaches at the Riga Theological Riga Theological Seminary.
It is noteworthy that since 1902, once a year in the church of St Prince Vladimir the Vladimir icon of the Virgin Mary of Pskov-Pechora was brought for worship "Pacification". And in 1907 one of the main shrines of the Latvian Orthodox Church was located here for some time. One of the main relics of the Latvian Orthodox Church, the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God of Jakobstadt, was located here for some time in 1907. The miracle-working icon of the Mother of God of Jakobstadt (the newly painted image currently resides in the Ekabpils Holy Spirit Monastery).
Many people from different parts of Latvia and neighbouring countries have visited the Dubulta church Dubulta church to pray in front of the miracle-working icons. According to witnesses, many pilgrims were relieved of various diseases and ailments.
Icon of Panteleimon the Healer in a silver frame, an icon of Seraphim of Sarov, an ancient image of Nicholas the Wonderworker and a shortly painted image of the blessed Matrona of Moscow are some of the most revered icons of the church today. Beautiful and one-of-a-kind icons of the Lord Pantocrator, the Resurrection of the Lord, the archangels Michael and Gabriel, and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God adorn the right and left aisles of the church. They were brought from the destroyed church in Dzintari, which was written about earlier.
In St Vladimir's Church you can see the icons of the saints, which rarely found in other churches in Latvia. These are the images of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia, Theodosius of Chernigov, Nina, Olga, Catherine, Tatiana, Valentine, Constantine and Helen. The image of the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir is in the royal gates.
