It will make take some time but the former friary on Route 145 in Middleburgh will eventually become a fully operational church.
St. Sergius of Radonezh purchased the former Mountain View Manor Home for Adults in May and volunteers have begun cleanup work, said George Lukin, president of the board of directors for the purchasing committee.
The brick building will eventually become an active Russian Orthodox Church that could be housing 30 people, including a bishop, Mr. Lukin said Monday.
The church, he said, could be the center of the eastern core of the church and be used for retreats on weekends.
An architect has been hired and drawings are being done but it will take some time for the building to be renovated, Mr. Lukin said.
It was a stretch for the church to buy the building and it will be another stretch to pay for repairs, he said.
Officials from St. Sergius put a down payment of $30,000 after the county tax auction in May and then paid the remainder of the $270,000 purchase price at the end of May, said County Treasurer Bill Cherry.
The church does not have a big community and fundraising is being done to raise money for the repairs, Mr. Lukin said.
The work will be done in stages, he said, with the first stage including brick and roof repairs.
The building appears solid with little sagging but the interior needs a lot of work including boiler work, he said. The boilers were damaged while the building was vacant.
“There’s lots of work to be done,” he said.
Plumbers will be hired for some of the work but the majority will be done by volunteers, mostly on weekends, Mr. Lukin said.
One of the exterior changes to the church will be the placement of a “golden dome” and cross on the top of the building. The dome resembles an onion and will replace the thin spire currently on the building.
The head of the church, Metropolitan Agafagel who lives in Odessa, Ukraine, may visit the church when it is completed.
An organic farm is also planned for the property. They have already purchased a tractor and tiller, he said.
Mr. Lukin emphasized that the church will be a Christian church and not a sect or closed community. It will be open and will have a small gift shop.