VOLGOGRAD, October 31 (RIA Novosti's Irina Ilyicheva) - On October 31, a self-propelled floating church Knyaz Vladimir - a modified version of a landing ship Olekma - was launched in the Kirov district of Volgograd.

According to members of Volgograd-based yacht club Parus, where the ship was reconstructed, the floating church accommodates more than a hundred people.

The design of the ship allows it to get close to the bank even in most shallow places. The mission of the floating church is to help believers in remote rural areas without churches to worship God.

There are two floating churches in the Volgograd region already. Both were built by Parus yacht club members. The Priest Innokenty, consecrated in 1998, is tugged along the Don River, and The Priest Nikolai, built four years ago serves along the Volga-Don Canal. Both ships were designed on the basis of barges and can only move with the help of tugboats. The Knyaz Vladimir, on the contrary, is a self-propelled ship with a church on board.

The Knyaz Vladimir will provide services for various eparchies - from Astrakhan to Saratov. Metropolitan of Volgograd and Kamyshin Herman performed a prayer ceremony at the launch of the floating church.