unnecessary confusion. Already during the construction, the unfinished building was set on fire three times. The cornerstone, in which, next to the foundation act, stones from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jordan and Athos were placed, and the bishop of Bialystok and Gdańsk Sawa consecrated the construction of the church on August 1, 1982. He also entrusted the duties of supervising the construction of Serafim Żeleźniakowicz. During the construction works, a temporary chapel operated in the vicinity of the future temple The church was consecrated on May 16, 1999, on the patronal feast. The ceremony was attended by the metropolitan of Warsaw and all of Poland, Sawa, bishops of Lublin and Chełm, Abel, Białystok and Gdańsk, Jakub, Bielsko, Grzegorz (Charkiewicz), and Artemiusz (Kiszczanka), bishop of Grodno and Wołkowysk (Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate). Four years after the temple was consecrated, work on the fresco complex began inside that was done with a group of selected iconographers from Donetsk, under the direction of Vladimir Telichko. Artists from Donetsk were the first to make the Eucharist fresco in the altar room, depicting the eternity of the sacrament shown. Overview Designed by Jan Kabac, erected since the 1980s and consecrated in 1999, the church is the largest Orthodox church in Poland. It is a single-nave, five-domed building with two altars. The entire architectural concept of the church is based on the symbolism of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The walls and domes were shaped like tongues of fire. The church has five domes that refer to the figure of Jesus Christ and the four evangelists. The church nave was laid out on an octagon plan with an area of over 800 square meters. From the east, there is an altar room divided into a part with a main altar and a side altar (its patron is Saint Sava). The furnishing of its interior is modern, but made on the basis of traditional patterns of Orthodox church art. The frescoes in the temple were made by a team of iconographers from Donetsk under the direction of Vladimir Telichko. External links References Eastern Orthodox churches in Białystok 20th-century churches in Poland 20th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings pl:Cerkiew Świętego Ducha w Białymstoku