Chapel of the Prophet Elijah in Malvaste

An Orthodox subsidiary congregation was established on Tahkuna peninsula already in 1885, due to the parish church in Puski being too far away for the congregation members. However, they started building their own chapel only after the opening of Malvaste cemetery in 1925. A house of worship dedicated to Prophet Elijah was built with timber from a former Puski cooperative store and consecrated already in the same year. The construction foreman was Peeter Holm. A modest bell-tower was added later together with an Orthodox pine cross by a forester Peeter Leiger.

The chapel that stood empty for a while was restored in 2008 by Juhan Kilumets and company Rändmeister. The thatched roof was installed by a roofer Siim Sooster and his labourers. In the summer of 2011, the chapel got a new furnishing and iconostasis. The saints’ relics were placed into the altar table. In the same year, on the feast day of Prophet Elijah on 20 July, Metropolitan Stefanus of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church consecrated Malvaste chapel once again as sanctuary. The chapel’s bell-tower was also refurbished, and it received two new bells, which were blessed in November 2012. As Puski Christ Nativity congregation is being restored from ruins currently, the Hiiumaa Orthodox congregation serves today in Malvaste.