The temple of “Seeking out the Lost” Icon is situated in Lenin Street in the Park of Nation’s Friendship, not far from the second ring road of Belarusian capital. In 1991 the memorable sign of “The Victims of Chernobyl” was opened on the site of the future church. The social organization of “Pripyat Union” became an initiator. In November 1995 that place was blessed for the construction of a chapel.

The construction of the church was started in 1996, ten years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The temple construction was planned in the memory of those who suffered after the accident – people involved with the mitigation of the explosion consequences – the liquidators of the accident. In this regard the church got the second “people’s” name – “Chernobylskaya”.

The initiators of the construction were Minsk Orthodox eparchy and the National Association of “Chernobyl Shield”. The architect Nicolay Mihailovich Dyatko became the author of the project on the basis of the temple. The time capsule with the will to descendants was embedded on 26 April 1996. The President of Belarus and the Metropolitan of Minsk took part in that event. The capsule was embedded into the altar apsis, later in the same year the community was formed. Several months later the community was registered in the Minsk City Executive Committee.

Two years later in 1998 the temple was opened. The Priest Pavel Latushko became the Grandmaster of the temple, later he got the Archpriest ministry.

There are regularly conducted liturgies with the names of those who died in the mitigation of the accident consequences.

As for the architecture the temple is built in traditions of Old Russian Church style. The building presents an octangle with a cascade of corbel arcs and with an onion dome. The external walls are wreathed by arched gables with narrow daylight openings.

The temple has three exit ways. There is a memorial museum dedicated to Chernobyl nuclear accident in the separate church premises.

The temple attracts interest not only of religious people that present the principal activity of the temple, but also of tourists. The temple is included in religious and excursion tours, it is also attractive for event tourism.

“Seeking out the Lost” Icon, in honor of which the temple was blessed by the Metropolitan of Minsk and Slootsk Filaret, is worshipped on 5(18) February. The icon was praised in VI century in the town of Adama situated on the river Seihan (modern Turkey). The icon was saved by the doomed monk Theophil that afterwards attained spiritual perfection and was canonized.