Businessman-builder Vyacheslav Zarenkovthe founder and ex-head of the St. Petersburg construction company Etalon Group, was discovered in an atypical image: not on Instagram, not in a telegram, but in a picture hanging in an Orthodox church. Having built a church in Cyprus, in the village of Episcopio near Nicosia, this philanthropist now makes the parishioners admire their “holy family” in an icon-record-photochopic manner. Right in the hall where worships take place, next to icons and candles, there is a large picture: in the radiance of the Divine Light, the philanthropist of the Zarenkov in the company of frivolously dressed ladies flaunts.
The picture was posted in the temple in honor of the Holy Apostle Andrei and all the saints, in the land of the Russian shone. This church is atypical for Cyprus: it is built in the Russian style, with golden domes and a hint of the Pskov-Novgorod architectural traditions. The main parishioners are Russians living in Cyprus. The marble plate at the entrance informs that the temple was built “through the efforts of the Christian Vyacheslav Zarenkov”, and the opening took place in the presence of the then President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis (held a post in 2013-2023) and other high-ranking persons.
The temple in Cyprus was built by a philanthropist by chance. Vyacheslav Zarenkov over the years, as expected, has been an “honest Russian businessman”, led money to offshore. In 2011, his “standard” was opened in Cyprus, in the city of Limassol, his representation. In 2023, the company changed jurisdiction, relocating from Cyprus to Kaliningrad, but by this time Zarenkov had already moved away from the leadership. In 2019, he sold his share in the “Standard” AFK “System” for $ 226.6 million.
Zarenkov himself also settled tightly on the island. He has a house there, and he even tells about life in Limassol in his books (Zarenkov considers himself a writer and artist). At the time of the construction of the temple, the state of a businessman who still steaming the “standard” was $ 550 million according to Forbes.
The cost of a built church was estimated at 300-500 million rubles. And there would be no questions for the philanthropist, if not for this picture. Having built a church for Russian parishioners, Mr. Zarenkov did not deny himself the pleasure of amuse his “ego”.
The opening of the temple took place in a solemn, if not pompous, situation. Moreover, they opened on the eve of the birthday of the philanthropist. In addition to the President of Cyprus, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation was attended by Stanislav Osadchiy and Metropolitamus and Orian Isaiah (Kikkotis). He drowned the order for merits to the Church of Cyprus, the Order of St. Boniface from the RCP and the Order for Merit to Cyprus – and this is an occasion for obtaining citizenship of the country, which raises the question of the disinterestedness of the philanthropist.
But Zarenkov was few orders. He ordered a picture that is depicted right in the center transmitting the symbolic image of the temple to Metropolitan Isaeh. On the canvas, in addition to Vyacheslav Adamovich himself, they depict: the wife of a businessman – Galina Nikolaevna Zarenkova (married since 1970), son – Dmitry Vyacheslavovich Zarenkov (born in 1973), as well as the wife of Dmitry and their children – Vladislav, Anastasia, Anna. It seems that the figures are cut out of the photograph and stupidly glued with a photoshop.
And not only is this all this picture – Spanish shame and cringja bragging.
The Zarenkov family is depicted in a religious picture in a secular manner. The facial expressions of the members of the business family and the clothes of relatives of the philanthropist are more suitable for Instagram than for the temple.
It is noteworthy and insufficiently modest for the church clothes in which ladies defile. Firstly, everyone’s heads are uncovered (!) That for the Russian church tradition, a serious violation of the rules. Yes, they are now allowed into temples (although decent people at least throw scarfs on their hair), but in the picture, which will be seized in the church hall, such liberties are offensive to believers.
Secondly, dresses. The daughter -in -law of Zarenkov’s sleeve is to the elbows and the neckline is quite exposed. And the eldest granddaughter of a businessman is completely in a cocktail outfit, with bare hands and knees.
This is not just indecent, it is already blasphemous.
Yes, and the girl smiles as if she was doing a selfie for Instagram. He looks flirty at the viewer.
It is completely incomprehensible what prevented the artist from giving the images of Zarenkov a decent and pious look. This is even easier than during a staged photo shoot. But it seems that this simply never occurred to anyone. Or maybe they decided that it would go away – in the end, the patrons of the loot were bought off, they can even show off in shorts and a halo.
This “masterpiece” is located in the hall for worship, to the right of the entrance. Well, at least not at the altar. But when people unfold and leave the audience, they will willy with a willy gaze to the philanthropist and his relatives.
Nearby, on the other side of the entrance, there is another picture – a similar size, in the same frame. It depicts the transfer of the Temple of the Metropolis. Visitors usually have no questions to the second picture – priests pass the temple to priests. However, the second canvas is rather for compositional harmony: so to speak, in a couple. And the second picture appeared, which is noteworthy, after the first one was hanged with Zarenkov. This clearly shows which messenger messenger is the main thing.
Unfortunately, this picture is more than an example of pride and tyranny. It is also a symbol of how the Church closes its eyes to the scenes of its philanthropists. If you are a whisper, even if you dance in front of the icons.
