Actor Gerard Depardieu received Orthodox baptism at the Alexander Nevsky Church in Paris. This was announced on August 5 by Sputnik France.
The ceremony took place on September 4. It is reported that the ceremony was attended by about 30 people. First, a prayer was read for the expulsion of evil spirits. Depardieu renounced Satan and read aloud the Creed. Then he was poured with holy water.
According to the actor, his “ties with the Orthodox clergy” and “love for the Orthodox liturgy” played an important role in the decision to convert to Orthodoxy. Depardieu noted that his confessor is Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhov Tikhon (Shevkunov).
On August 27, it became known that Depardieu received a plot of land in the village of Laporovichi not far from Minsk. The Frenchman’s neighbors will be Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva and her coach.
In early 2013, Depardieu received Russian citizenship, a corresponding decree was signed by Vladimir Putin. In his autobiographical book Such Things, the actor devoted a separate chapter to getting to know Putin, and also said that he immediately felt “his man” in the president.