Ex-Wehrmacht soldier donates collection of ancient icons to Orthodox church

Church of St. John of Kronstadt in Hamburg received a collection of ancient Orthodox icons as a donation from a former German soldier, a World War II veteran, reports Foma (Thomas).

"He is a very secretive man, he has not told us much about himself yet, but what is known is very interesting. He was held hostage to Russians. After the release, he collected icons for more than 35 years, buying icons on auctions (actually saving them from captivity for us as it turned out)," said rector Archpriest Sergiy Baburin.

According to the priest, now the man is 90 years, "he decided neither to leave a collection to his children (they can sell it out), nor to give it to the museum (the majority will form the storage facility), but to donate it to a church to save the collection from being scattered. He travelled a lot to study temples and finally singled out ours."

At the moment, all the icons that have cultural and historical value are displayed in the Church of St. John of Kronstadt, including 150 monuments of Old Russian casting.