Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Ilyinka. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "Big Cross", temple
At the Saint on Ilyinka, or a few words after the destroyed Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross
In the Degree Book of the 16th century. The Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross is mentioned as standing “outside the city,” that is, outside the city wall. And this could only have happened before 1534–1538, when the Kitai-Gorod wall was built. The Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross stood at the very beginning of Ilyinka Street. In it, citizens who had litigation were sworn in - “kissed with the cross”; In the temple, according to the vow of its creators, a huge cross with 156 pieces of holy relics was erected. In 1680, the Arkhangelsk merchant Filatyev built a new stone church to replace the old one. It was famous for its elegant porch, stone carvings, openwork crosses on the five-domed dome... The temple sparkled with elegant, shiny decoration with a pale blue color. The basement served at the same time as a warehouse. St. Nicholas the Great Cross was one of the most famous and beautiful churches in Moscow. Its decoration can be judged by the iconostasis, which is now located in the Refectory Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross (XVII century) – destroyed
Church of the Entry (XVII century) – destroyed
The history of the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross is closely connected with the name of Bishop Seraphim (Zvedinsky). We will try to briefly trace the life path of this bishop in order to introduce the reader to this confessor and new martyr of Russia. Bishop Seraphim Zvezdinsky was born in Moscow in May 1883 on New Blessed Street in the parish of the Edinoverie Church of the Holy Trinity and Entry into the Temple Holy Mother of God. The father of the future ruler, having converted in his youth from the Bespopovsky schismatics and secretly leaving his parent, the leader of the Bespopovsky sect, John Zvezdinsky became a zealous preacher among his lost brothers, calling on them to join Church of Christ. He took holy orders in St. Petersburg, marrying the daughter of Priest Vasily Slavsky.
The birthday of Bishop Seraphim was the day of St. Nicholas. The name of the newborn was given in honor of the holy day, and it was the grace of St. Nicholas was entrusted with a small child who was orphaned in the third year of life. Nikolai grew up under the supervision of his father, a kind nanny and an older sister. His favorite toy was a censer. One day, during the Liturgy, seeing his father standing at the Throne, the boy entered the altar through the Royal Doors. In this they saw an indication from God - the child himself will be a priest and primate at the Throne of God.
Years passed. While excelling in spiritual sciences, Nikolai lagged behind his classmates in mathematics. He sighed prayerfully for help and was heard - he began to prosper, and subsequently was always one of the first students. The youth especially earnestly prayed to his heavenly patron - St. Nicholas - about his cherished desire: “St. Father Nicholas, help me preach the Word of God as best as possible, without notebooks and books, with your help to glorify the Lord and convert people to Christ.” After graduating from the Zaikonospassky School, Nikolai continued his studies at the seminary. In 1901, the Lord visited the seminarian with His miraculous visit. On the evening of January 25, Saturday, the young man did not go with his family to the all-night vigil, but decided to simply walk the streets. Finding himself at the Church of the Epiphany in Elokhov, he slowed down somewhat and thought about stopping in, but then decided that it was too late. Returning home, he felt a pinpoint pain under his right arm, like a bite, after which his arm began to hurt greatly. At dinner he told his family about this, and in the morning he could no longer get out of bed: a strong fever began. The invited doctor found lymphadenitis (inflammation of the lymph nodes) and advised him to undergo surgery. The operation was refused, and the disease progressed. The pain intensified to the point that Nikolai sometimes fainted, tossed about, and screamed. On February 7, the abbot of the Sarov Hermitage, Father Hierotheus, unexpectedly came to their house and advised them to turn for help to the late elder of the Sarov Hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Seraphim, who even after his death helped many. Father Hierotheus promised to send an image of Elder Seraphim. “God willing, through the prayers of the elder, your son will recover, do not lose heart,” said Father Hierotheus, saying goodbye.
The patient was getting worse; He felt especially bad on February 10th. Subsequently, he said that there was a feeling as if the soul was being separated from the body. In the evening of this day, a book with the life of Elder Seraphim and his image on tin were received from Father Hierotheus. When the patient took the icon, he was struck by the living eyes of the Sarov elder, kind and kind. “Father Seraphim, heal me!” – the young man begged. With difficulty, he crossed himself with his sore hand, applied the icon to the sore spot, and suddenly the pain subsided. A little later Nikolai forgot. They told him that at night he sat on the bed, prayed, whispered something, kissed the icon, but he himself did not remember any of this. Nikolai woke up only at 5 o’clock in the morning and felt that he was all wet. He asked to change his underwear. Everyone thought at first that he was just sweating, but when they lit a candle and looked, it turned out that an abscess the size of a fist had broken through and everything came out. Nikolai was saved. Now it was necessary to heal the resulting wound. In the first burst of joy, the Zvezdinskys wanted to write to Father Hierotheus about the miracle that had happened, thank him for the icon and ask him to serve a memorial service at his grave in gratitude to Elder Seraphim. But all this was put aside and then forgotten. Meanwhile, the wound, despite the doctor’s efforts, did not heal, although several months had passed. On July 14, Father John finally sent a telegram to Sarov with a message about the healing and a request to serve a memorial service. Soon the answer came that the requiem service had been celebrated and the miracle was recorded in the monastery chronicle. After this, the wound healed over a few days so that not a trace remained of it. In gratitude for saving his son, Father John composed a troparion and kontakion for the saint of God, St. Seraphim, the wonderworker.
After graduating from the seminary as one of the best students, Nikolai Zvezdinsky entered the Moscow Theological Academy. In his third year, he suffered great grief - he lost his beloved father, who died on January 6, 1908. During these difficult days for the young man, the Lord consoled him by sending him a spiritual father, who replaced his parent. Near the Holy Trinity Lavra in the quiet Zosima Hermitage lived the reclusive Hieroschemamonk Alexei. The elder took the student completely under his leadership. Nikolai felt how, through the power of the prayer of the holy recluse, everything earthly departed from him and his heart was lit with spiritual fire, and zeal for monastic life appeared. Together with two of his friends, students of the academy, at the shrine of St. Sergius, he made a vow to devote his life to God and His Holy Church, taking monastic orders. One of them betrayed his oath promise, being carried away by one girl, but just before the crown he unexpectedly fell dead. “God is a Jealous God,” responded the rector, His Eminence Evdokim (Meshchersky) in his funeral homily. “The young man made an oath promise to God to betroth himself to Him, and the Lord took him to Himself before he betrayed Him.”
Nicholas was firm in his intention to devote his life to God. But the enemy did not sleep, attacking him with night insurance. When this did not work, he took advantage of a young girl towards whom Nikolai had warmed up. Previously unapproachable to his youthful pure love, she now began to seek a meeting with him. The young student preparing for tonsure felt a disposition towards her in his heart, was carried away by the thought of earthly happiness - but, calling on God for help, he rejected this temptation and hastened his steps to the hermit elder, who in his reclusive cell blessed him not to delay taking tonsure. September 25, 1908 on all-night vigil In the academic Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the rector, His Eminence Evdokim, tonsured third-year student Nikolai Zvezdinsky. The face of the newly tonsured monk shone with an unearthly lightness. The Right Reverend Rector, meaning free-thinking professors and students who hated monasticism, said: “Look at his face and be convinced of the brilliance of monastic deeds and God’s grace.” The newly tonsured monk Seraphim was taken to the Gethsemane monastery, where he spent seven days in prayer and fasting in the church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God, in the choir area. It was as if angels were singing in his soul, praising God, as if he had heard heavenly music. But the warrior of Christ was not abandoned by the enemy. Suddenly, hell approached his heart - fear, melancholy, impenetrable darkness, despondency of loneliness... Then there was a terrible roar: the temple collapsed, falling down; The iconostasis crumbled into splinters with a roar. The young monk woke up - everything was in place, the temple was intact, a quiet prayerful twilight filled it...
Miracles Monastery (XVI century) in the Kremlin - destroyed in 1928.
On the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, November 4, Seraphim was ordained hierodeacon. How grateful was his heart when he held the Almighty of the Universe in his hands, how filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, consuming the Holy Mysteries after the Liturgy! On the summer feast of the Kazan Mother of God, July 21, he became a hieromonk. In 1910, Hieromonk Seraphim graduated from the Theological Academy with a master's degree in theology and, as an ardent preacher and zealot for Orthodoxy, was left as a teacher at the Bethany Theological Seminary. At the seminary, he won the hearts of students with his example and word, prayed for each of his students, and took out a particle for each one at the proskomedia. The young students felt this, their hearts were inflamed with the desire to serve God, to be faithful servants of the Throne of God until death, like a mentor. But here too the enemy hatched intrigues against the ascetic of Christ. Wanting to change the good opinion of his mentor, he sent to him a woman of high rank, extraordinary beauty, who, with subtle flattery, under the guise of spiritual disposition, began to bribe the ascetic monk, showering him with valuable offerings and gifts. But Father Seraphim looked inward vigilantly and did not bow to flattery, protecting himself with seclusion and silence.
Consolation in these sorrows was a visit to the Chudov Monastery, where at that time the meek, prayerful Archimandrite Arseny (Zhadanovsky), the good shepherd of a large monastic flock, shone with a quiet light. In 1914 Fr. Seraphim became the rector of the Chudov Monastery, and Archimandrite Arseny became the Bishop of Serpukhov. The Chudov brethren and parishioners fell in love with their new rector. Vladyka Arseny saw in him a faithful helper, prayer partner and friend, the brethren - a good steward and a high example of monastic life, parishioners - a comforter, mentor, teacher. The year 1917 came like thunder from heaven, and a year later Chudov was empty. Father Seraphim sealed the relics of St. Alexei with the abbot's seal and was one of the last to leave the monastery. Shortly before the destruction of the monastery, in July 1918, Archimandrite Seraphim had two visions. In the Annunciation chapel, on Monday, during the proskomedia for the early liturgy, which was performed by Bishop Arseny, Fr. Seraphim stood at the altar. Suddenly a large and strong boar entered the altar, grunting and looking askance at Vladyka Arseny and Fr. Seraphim, and with a roar he began to dig a mountainous place. Father Seraphim saw the second vision from the windows of his chambers - a black demon, as if in tights, was climbing into the window of the Patriarchal sacristy...
The brethren were transferred to the Novospassky Monastery, but were not given premises. The fathers settled in the Seraphim-Znamensky monastery of the women's community of the Intercession, under the caring care of Mother Abbess Tamar. Liturgy was served daily. In October 1919, Patriarch Tikhon summoned Fr. Seraphim. “I need you,” said the patriarch and appointed him Bishop of Dmitrov. – Do you think that bishops burn incense three times three times for nothing? No, not for nothing. For many labors and exploits, for confessionally faithfully kept faith. Follow the apostolic path. Don’t be embarrassed by anything, don’t be afraid of inconveniences, endure everything,” Patriarch Tikhon instructed the new bishop. The Bishop diligently cared for his Dmitrov flock, was accessible to everyone, and knew every house. The Dmitrov residents lived quietly and peacefully, warmed by his love and prayer...
In November 1922, the bishop was imprisoned in Lubyanka. The Lord alone consoled the saint in a deep dungeon. Eating nothing for nine days, he strengthened his soul and body with the Holy Mysteries. Then he was transferred to Butyrki. His sufferings here were similar to those suffered by the martyrs of the first Christian centuries. His body, eaten by lice, was covered with scabs. My heart weakened and I started having frequent heart attacks. But the Lord preserved the saint for the Church and his beloved flock, who prayed for him with tears. Vladyka was admitted to the hospital. The deliveries to the prisoner were so plentiful that many prisoners fed on them. The saint never ceased to capture souls with the love of Christ. People who had not approached the Holy Mysteries for decades united again with the Lord, confessing their sins. After five months of imprisonment, Fr. Seraphim went along the convoy to the Zyryansky region. The modest village of Vizinga accepted him into its borders. They set up a house church. The daily statutory service took up all the free time. The exiled saint indulged in prayer. “Only here, in saving exile, did I learn what solitude and prayer are,” he wrote to his friend Bishop Arseny. Liberation followed two years later, but it was overshadowed by the death of Patriarch Tikhon. Returning to Moscow, Vladyka settled in the Anosinaya Hermitage. Prayer calmed the archpastor’s soul. In the summer of 1926, he was again expelled from Moscow and the Moscow region. O. Seraphim goes to Diveevo. But the fearful abbess did not immediately allow such a famous saint to perform divine services in the monastery. The bishop suffered for a long time; finally, with his humility and prayer, he persuaded his mother to fulfill his request. In the basement church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows,” His Grace Seraphim began to celebrate the Liturgy daily, praying for the monastery and for his orphaned flock. After the liturgy, he walked along the canal, accepting with his heart the rule of St. Seraphim - one and a half hundred prayers of “Theotokos, Virgin, Rejoice” daily. And on November 9, 1927, the bishop was arrested again. Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Melenki, Kazakhstan, Penza, Saratov, Uralsk... In Uralsk, severe malaria almost took his life. Then he was transferred to Siberia, to 60-degree frosts... On June 11, 1937, Bishop Seraphim was arrested for the last time. On August 23, 1937, the “troika” of the NKVD in the Omsk region sentenced N.I. Zvezdinsky. under Article 58-10-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to be shot. Three days later the sentence was carried out. It is known that Vladyka Seraphim was buried in Omsk, in a mass grave, on the site of which a residential building now stands. Today he is a saint of our Church and prays for us at the throne of the Most High in the host of new martyrs who have shone forth in the Russian land.
Returning to the Zvezdinsky case, concocted by the NKVD, it should be noted that it contains the story of the failed underground movement of the community of the St. Nicholas Church of the Great Cross. This was the same church where Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky served before his arrest, where he sent his last letter, blessing his spiritual children not to go underground, but to become members of the Church headed by M. Sergius. Father Valentin (1882–1931) was in his own way wonderful person and an excellent shepherd-confessor, who suffered a lot from the godless government. In order to at least to a small extent enable the reader to feel the charm of his words, we present an excerpt from one sermon delivered by Fr. Valentin in the 1920s, during the terrible time of persecution of the Russian Church. “...Church shortcomings are not a phenomenon of our time, they have always been there. It is enough to recall the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, who said: “Faith in God has perished.” It is enough to recall the words of St. John Chrysostom, who in a conversation on the Epistle to the Corinthians said: “We in the Church have many only good memories, that both before and now we gathered for hymns, but earlier, when we gathered for hymns, there was unanimity, but now you will hardly find at least one person who would be like-minded.” After all, all this was said when some of the fathers of the Council of Nicaea were still alive, when Athanasius the Great had just died, when Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom were still alive. But what does it mean? This only means that the earthly Church has many shortcomings, which are the result of human weaknesses and infirmities. Can the holiness of the Church be shaken by the sins of individual people? What a temptation, what the greatest foolishness to say that I am leaving the Church because I met an unworthy shepherd, that I will no longer believe in the Church because I had to endure a difficult personal impression from one or another bearer of grace. The holiness of the Church does not lie in this - it lies in the sacraments, in the holiness of God’s grace, in all the good that this grace has done to human souls; it lies in the host of saints who are saved by this grace, it lies in every truly good movement of our soul. This light and sacred constitutes the holiness of the Church. And our sins are our illnesses, they are sinful infirmities, which we wash and cleanse in this Holy Church of Christ. That’s why, just as in our personal lives, let not the crafty thought about the uselessness of our labors, when we feel the weakness of our sins, not confuse us, so let not our faith in the holiness of the Church be confused in us, when we see certain shortcomings in the earthly Church. Our consciousness of sins should not cause despondency in us, but only greater and greater effort to do the Lord’s work. Awareness of the shortcomings of church life should not entail departure from the Holy Church, but an even greater love for it and a desire to serve for the benefit of the church.”
The case of Bishop Seraphim bears traces of the ambiguous reaction of parishioners to the message of Fr. Valentina. Some of them even left the temple. It is noteworthy that among the arrested children, Fr. There is no Valentine, except his wife's sister. It is not clear whether those of them who obeyed their spiritual father, in the St. Nicholas Church, the Grand Cross or arrests were more clearly selective than it seems to us. To the extent that we can judge from the materials of the case, at the beginning of 1932 in the Nikola Big Cross community there was no noticeable tendency towards the adoption of the declaration of Met. Sergius - on the contrary, it was one of the most active non-commemorators. It is even possible that the parish perceived itself as some kind of Moscow center Orthodox Church. In particular, they received pilgrims from other cities who came to confess and receive communion. For example, groups of 12 people came to them from the city of Kozlov, who, in a situation close to a state of emergency, were accommodated in Moscow for the night. Perhaps all this affected the attitude of the OGPU towards them.
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Grand Cross shortly before destruction
In the fall of 1931, even before the verdict of A.F. Losev, St. Nicholas the Great Cross Church was closed. A few months before, anticipating the closure of the temple, its community and rector, Fr. Mikhail Lyubimov, made attempts to find forms for continuing liturgical life. What to do next? The Orthodox community must exist, Fr. believed. Michael; “...in no case should believers be allowed to recognize the Sergian Church, since this leads to some reconciliation with the existing system...” The parish of the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross maintained constant communication with other Moscow churches that did not commemorate St. Sergius: Serbian courtyard (Church of Cyrus and John on Solyanka), Nikola Kleniki on Maroseyka, Nikola Kotelniki, Nikola Podkopai. After the closure of the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross, Fr. Mikhail invited his parishioners to take communion in one of the listed churches. Understanding the inevitability of going underground, the parishioners were concerned with the problem of maintaining themselves in the Church, and therefore, episcopal care. “...Those who are the people of God and the essence of Christ are with the bishop,” wrote the svmartyr. Ignatius the God-Bearer. How close the self-awareness of the Church of the first centuries has now become! Immersed in an atmosphere of God-hatred, both priests and laity, faced with the need to choose, realized with extraordinary clarity their involvement precisely in Christ and the Church of Christ. They seek this unity in Christ with each other, they persistently seek the completion of this unity in their spiritual primates - the bishops. Everywhere, both priests and laity - representatives of communities - go and go to their bishops, who have become church-wide. The temple was demolished in 1933. The parishioners moved to the Church of the Serbian Compound on Solyanka...
From the book In Search of an Imaginary Kingdom [L/F] author Gumilev Lev NikolaevichA few more words An example similar to the word “hiny” is the frequently occurring word “kharlug”, which is explained by the commentator as “damask steel” (p. 406). The Mongolization of Turkic words noted above gives the right to see here the word “karaluk” with the replacement of “k” (Turk.) with “x”
From the book Victory in spite of Stalin. Front-line soldier against the Stalinists author Gorbachevsky Boris SemenovichA few preliminary words Theme “Stalin and the War” in modern Russia and in the West it has long become a kind of classic. A lot has been said, even more lies and apologetics have been written, and very little truth. In an ongoing discussion, an important aspect is discussion
From the book Commander author Karpov Vladimir VasilievichA few introductory words I take up my pen with the same joyful excitement that I felt in my youth, looking at the person I want to write about. Joyful? Not only. There is now a wormwood flavor in this excitement. This wormwood is not only from the battlefields he passed through.
From the book Commander author Karpov Vladimir VasilievichA few words about myself If readers remember, in this book I promised to tell about my fate at the points of contact with Petrov’s life. But during the years of the battle for the Caucasus, I did not meet Ivan Efimovich. The last time I saw him was before the war, when he said goodbye to
From the book Commander author Karpov Vladimir VasilievichA few more words about myself After publishing the second part of the story in the magazine, I received many letters in which readers asked me to tell me more about myself. The temptation is great. But that would be a different book. I hope that someday I will approach her, in the same story as it was
From the book Türkiye. Book of Travels author Meyer M.S.A few words about drinks Turkey is not one of the countries where the problem of drunkenness is acute in society. This is primarily due to the influence of the Muslim religion. The first official Russian envoy, P.A. Tolstoy, who regularly sent Peter I reports on
From the book Battles That Changed History author Pratt Fletcher SpragueA few introductory words When looking at a vast and uneven landscape, sometimes you need to squint your eyes to distinguish its main features. Anyone who wants to find meaning in history needs to do approximately the same. Attention to detail is essential to detailed analysis and gives it
From the book In Search of a Fictional Kingdom [Yofification] author Gumilev Lev NikolaevichA few more words An example similar to the word “hiny” is the frequently occurring word “kharlug”, which is explained by the commentator as “damask steel” (p. 406). The Mongolization of Turkic words noted above gives the right to see here the word “karaluk” with the replacement of “k” (Turkic) with “x”
From the book Secrets of Military Agents author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai NikolaevichA few words from the compiler of the Second World War... For us, this is the bitterness of the defeats of 1941-1942, the grandiose victorious battles over vast spaces from Stalingrad to Berlin - and the victory in May 1945. The battles on the fronts that decided the fate of Nazi Germany
From the book Great Secrets of Gold, Money and Jewels. 100 stories about the secrets of the world of wealth author Korovina Elena Anatolyevna authorThe sacred triangle of Moscow, or By the wasteland on the site of the Church of St. Nicholas Streletsky on Znamenka Going down to the Kremlin from Znamenka, many times I had to pass by the blatant boasting of temporary workers, brightly written on wooden boards, sadly stretching along
From the book Moscow, which we lost author Goncharenko Oleg GennadievichArbat Phantom, or Past the wasteland on the site of the Church of St. Nicholas the Revealed on Arbat in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos Arbat was popularly called “the street of three Nicholas” or “the street of St. Nicholas” - after the churches of St. Nicholas on Peski, St. Nicholas in Plotniki and St. Nicholas the Revealed. This street,
From the book Moscow Akuninskaya author Besedina Maria BorisovnaA few words in parting Our tour has ended. Of course, the specificity of its topic affected the selection of sights visited - Moscow experts will agree with me that much of what is usually included in guidebooks, as they say, “by
From the book Mazepa's Shadow. Ukrainian nation in the era of Gogol author Belyakov Sergey Stanislavovich From the book New Chronology of Nosovsky-Fomenko in 1 hour author Molot Stepan2.16. A few words about the Romanovs Here it seems appropriate to say a few words about the Romanovs. Having come to power as representatives of the “pro-Western party”, the dynasty ended its reign 300 years later with Nicholas II, probably the most pro-Russian tsar. Historians note that
From the book Suzdal. Story. Legends. Legends author Ionina NadezhdaA stunning, heartbreaking poem “on the death” of the famous Church of St. Nicholas at the Ilyinsky Gate (popularly known as St. Nicholas the “Big Cross”), mercilessly and senselessly demolished in 1933 - after all, in addition to the destroyed churches (in the vast majority of architectural monuments), there were also unbroken ones. The poems were written at the same time (naturally, “on the table”) by a Moscow expert, an eyewitness to the demolition of the temple by Yu.K. Efremov:
“Yesterday there was a church. Gorda, five-domed.
Azure clumps bloomed on the corners.
Those who did not hand over gold for remelting,
Placers of stars burned on the domes.
And now - “Khodynka”... They are stingy with spectacles
Weeks and months of everyday affairs.
And someone on the royal star-shaped dome
I put on the loop of the quarter lasso.
The lasso rope will finish you off, bastard.
And the dome will give way, rounded, full-chested...
Faces are tense. Pressed and driven
No, we are crowding around the stone piles again...
Korezha. Breaking. Krosha. Hewing -
They beat with pickaxes and crowbars, dirty them and execute them.
Oh, how the blue head moaned!
How painful it was for her! The rope is pulled
Again! - The head gave way, staggered,
The cross shining with gold swayed,
And a crash, like a scream, rang along the streets,
And the echo of the answer sobbed around.
And torn out by the roots, torn off with the meat,
The mute head fell on its back,
“E-ah”! - swept through the tense masses,
Those who heard the pain and forgot the words...
The masterpieces of Russian architecture included one of the most beautiful churches in Moscow - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which is near the Great Cross in Kitay-Gorod. The temple, erected in the 1680s with magnificent stone carvings of the Baroque decor that was then in fashion, had an undoubted influence on the formation of this style in Moscow architecture. The emphatically vertical composition of the church, standing on the basement (in the 19th century - early 20th century, it served as a warehouse for a trading company), established its role as the spatial dominant of Ilyinka.
White-blue, with a luxurious five-domed church, it had a separate bell tower in the “northern” style, the 2 upper tiers of which were erected in 1819. The temple received its name from the chapel of St. Nicholas and from the large carved wooden cross that stood at the right choir and contained 156 particles of relics, as well as the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in its very core. After the destruction of the temple in 1933, it was possible to save the iconostasis (now in the refectory of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra), and part of the choir, which is kept in the Donskoy Monastery.
The temple was broken mercilessly and absolutely uselessly, because... The Bolsheviks still failed to kill the faith, but the monument ancient Russian architecture destroyed (in a strange and selective manner, churches were demolished - some were broken, some were not..) Now in its place is a public garden with some outbuildings, next to clock tower office building of the Northern Insurance Company (1910-1911, architect I.I. Rerberg, M.M. Peretyatkovich, V.K. Oltarzhevsky)
Church of St. Nicholas "Big Cross" and Ilyinsky Gate of Kitay-Gorod, lithograph
Nikola "Big Cross", view from Ipatievsky Lane (in my opinion, it is now closed with bars, because there is a checkpoint there)
Roman Tsekhansky
Kitay-Gorod, the former Veliky Posad, is the central part of historical Moscow, which could well have become a full-fledged tourist Old Town, but has become, God knows what. For decades, various concepts for its reconstruction have been discussed, none of which have been brought to fruition. Architecturally, today's China Town is a motley development with a considerable number of historical and cultural monuments of varying degrees of preservation, mostly located in courtyards or alleys. The exception is the even side of Varvarka, which has a more or less uniform image, playing in a new way. But many of the churches in Kitay-Gorod have disappeared or been distorted; an entire district, Zaryadye, has disappeared completely. Therefore, we have to study China Town mainly from documents and photographs, where it appears as the disappeared Atlantis. Particular attention is drawn to the exceptionally high concentration of churches dedicated to St. Nicholas.
In China Town the veneration of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was decisive in church construction. Of the 56 altars that existed in Kitai-Gorod in 1917, 13 were dedicated to St. Nicole (1). This is serious even for the nearby White City, which is also quite filled with St. Nicholas churches. If you take some old map, for example, the atlas of A. Khotev of 1852 (2), you can see almost all of the St. Nicholas churches (except for the Nikolo-Irininskaya that disappeared in ancient times), the Zaryadye not yet demolished, the line of the Kitay-Gorod walls, which in the 16th century encircled the line of the oldest settlement in Moscow. The fortress was built by the Italian master Petrok Maloy, so a number of researchers believe that China stands for “city” (“citta” in Italian, a Latin root, as in the English “city”). The name itself contains the decoding: “China” is a city, just like Kitezh is a city (3). Therefore, we have the right to consider China Town as a “city within a city,” a completely independent unit in the urban planning structure of Moscow.
St. Nicholas churches quite evenly filled the territory of Kitay-Gorod. If you select the main ones and connect them in plan with lines, you will get a somewhat inclined spatial cross. The top of this cross is the St. Nicholas Greek Monastery in the middle of Nikolskaya Street, the bottom is the Church of St. Nicholas the Mokroy in Zaryadye. Both churches disappeared in Soviet time. The right crossbar of the St. Nicholas Cross is also the disappeared Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross at the end of Ilyinka, the left one is the existing chapel of St. Nicholas of the Velikoretsky Church of the Intercession on the Moat. “St. Nicholas Cross” gives spiritual and symbolic meaning to the abundance of St. Nicholas churches in Kitai-Gorod.
St. Nicholas churches largely determine the historical and urban structure of Kitai-Gorod, each part of which has its own defender, St. Nicholas. These are the St. Nicholas-Greek Monastery and the Church of St. Nicholas the Wet near the walls washed by rivers (the Neglinka and the Moscow River, respectively) and the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross, protecting the long, curved, approachable eastern wall of the city. If you imagine in the plan a circle consisting of St. Nicholas churches, you will get a real “St. Nicholas round dance”. At the same time, the functional “specialization” of these churches was different. Traditionally helping people in difficult everyday situations, the saint helps Kitay-Gorod residents in almost all areas of their lives.
Addressing prayers to St. Nikolai Mozhaisky, people from time immemorial received God's help and deliverance from their troubles. “St. Nicholas, as a patron, alone is given more prayers and prostrations than all the other saints combined,” testified foreigners who visited Muscovy. Casanova, who expressed this idea in the 18th century, recorded the tradition of venerating the saint, dating back to pre-Mongol times (4). In ancient Moscow texts the saint is called “an irresistible visor and affirmation of our city” (5). There is an assumption that the mass baptism of Muscovites (like Kyiv and Novgorod) took place on Nikolin Day, May 9 (shortly after the completion of the construction of the fortress in 1156) at the mouth of the Chertory River. St. Nicholas churches that arose in the ancient tracts adjacent to this place (at Lenivy Market, in Turygin, in Kievtsy) gave impetus to the construction of countless St. Nicholas churches both in Moscow and in all Russian cities (6).
Traditionally, the Nikolsky Gate of the Kremlin was decorated with the icon of St. Nikola, facing China Town. The image was executed in the image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, who for the first time replaced the Gospel and the blessing gesture with a sword in one hand and a city in the other. The city-protective aspect of the veneration of the image of St. Nikola Mozhaisky is complemented by its spiritual content. "The name of St. Nicholas is derived from the Greek word “nika” - victory. But victory may not necessarily be military. The saint contributed to the victory of Christianity over paganism, the true worldview over the false, the spirit over the belly, God over the devil” (7). This is the meaning of the sword image. The city in his hand is interpreted both as an image of the Heavenly City of Jerusalem (8), and as “an image of the Universal Church, of which the Savior is the Ecumenical Teacher” (9).
It is interesting that the Mozhaisk image (originally sculptural) was still on the tower of the white-stone Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoy. The tower was located west of the current one. During the reconstruction and expansion of the Kremlin by Italian masters in the 15th century, the name of the tower was retained and the image above the gate was reproduced (albeit using the fresco technique). It was as if the veneration of the image took place in Kitay-Gorodsky Posad, where at different times 13 St. Nicholas churches and chapels were built (10). Nikola seemed to go out to serve ordinary people. Moving through the “Nicholas Circle” of churches inside the Kitay-Gorod walls, one can see how varied his ministry was.
Looking at the image of St. Nikola, located on the Nikolsky Gate of the Kremlin, we met with city-protective-symbolic function veneration of the saint. In a circle, clockwise, starting from the Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin stood the monastery of St. Nicholas the Old, in the middle part of Nikolskaya Street. It has been traditional here since the 16th-17th centuries. Greeks and learned people lived; the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened on its territory (at the subsidiary Zaikonospassky Monastery) in 1686. Many learned people came from here in the 17th – 19th centuries. (eleven). This - educational function.
To the right, at the end of Nikolskaya, in the courtyards there was the Nikolsky chapel of the Trinity Church in the Fields, which performed traditional liturgical function. Almost the entire Nikolskaya Street was the parish of the church. St. Nicholas' chapel, along with two others, was added to the 16th-century church. in 1657 by boyar M. Saltykov, a relative of the king (12).
The five-altar Church of St. John the Evangelist under Elm with the St. Nicholas chapel in the 1st tier (13) is located south of the site of the Trinity Church in the Fields, along the line of the walls of China Town.
Below on Ilyinke Street stood the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross. In this beautiful church of Kitai-Gorod there was a cross for kissing; people were sent here to take oaths (14). Here we are dealing with legal function.
Even further south, somewhat deeper into the development, is the Trinity Church in Nikitniki, a bright temple of the 17th century. This multi-altar church also has a northern St. Nicholas chapel (15).
Following further, you have to retreat into the depths of the settlement, where almost in the center of the “St. Nicholas Round Dance” stands the Church of St. Nicholas the Red Bell. Since at least the 16th century, the most beautiful-sounding bells have been brought to its bell tower (16). The location of the church near the geometric center of Kitay-Gorod contributed to the uniform distribution of the ringing, reaching the farthest corners of the fortress. This function is not only an alarm, but rather public-church, cathedral. Bell ringings were the basis of the “sound of Moscow”; they had their own hierarchy, which at present has not yet been studied for the city of China.
Below along the line of the walls was Zaryadye. Here, along the Moscow River, there were three St. Nicholas churches. The first is Nikolo-Irininskaya, which disappeared in the 19th century. It stood at the walls of the fortress, east of the altars of the now existing Church of the Conception of St. Anne in the Corner. Perhaps this was another, together with Zachatievsky, prayer temple for childbearing, only this time for the Romanov dynasty. The church was erected in honor of the name day of the daughter of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The king came here regularly on Irina’s day for services to celebrate her name day (17). This could not have happened without St. Nikola, through his prayers a princess was born. The dedication was double, the thrones were equal. Perhaps it was a pair church. Probably, any person could come to this church and pray for continuation of the family. Here it appears prayer function about childbearing, about children.
It was not only children that St. asked for. Nikola. In 1674, Patriarch Joachim placed in the hand of the deceased Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the traditional “letter of permission” - a letter addressed to St. Nicholas, testifying that the deceased was Russian, lived in true Orthodox faith and that he may have access to Paradise (18).
From the Conception Church towards the Kremlin, on Velikaya Street parallel to the Moscow River, in the middle of it was the Church of St. Nicholas the Mokroy. The church has been known since the 15th century, a stone building from the 17th century. was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style (19). Nikola is the patron saint of travelers, especially on waters, and since ancient times there has been a pier nearby. There were shopping arcades nearby; it was not for nothing that Zaryadye was called “behind the rows.” Wholesale transactions were carried out here, the risk for merchants was great, hence the function of the Mokrinsky temple - prayer for travelers and traders (20).
Close to the beginning of this street there was the Nikolo-Moskvoretskaya Church. They brought it to it by water miraculous icon Nikola Velikoretsky from the Velikaya River, where it was found in the 16th century. The church was erected on the spot where the icon had stopped and a prayer service to St. Nicole (21).
Higher in the circle rises the magnificent complex of the Church of the Intercession on the Moat. Its Nikolo-Velikoretsky chapel faces the river. The icon was transferred from the Kremlin to this chapel, called by the chronicle “miraculously found,” which is a pillar-shaped church. The Nikolo-Moskvoretskaya Church and the Nikolo-Velikoretsky chapel have one function - votive, in memory of the miracle (22).
And there is one more function of all the listed temples - city-forming. “Nikolin’s round dance” formed a unique internal structure and shaped the life of Kitai-Gorod (23). In the current, modern city, “Nikolin’s round dance” has lost its cross.
The Cathedral of the St. Nicholas-Greek Monastery was destroyed in the 1930s, and in its place is a public garden. Currently, the Town Planning Council has decided to restore the cathedral. Now it’s only a matter of time, and soon Nikola’s cross will find its peak again.
Trinity Church in the Fields with the chapel of St. Nikola was also destroyed in Soviet times, in its place we see the foundation museumized by archaeologists. If the foundation of the Nikolo-Irininskaya Church has been preserved, then over time it will also become the object of an archaeological exhibition.
The Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross is the main loss of Kitay-Gorod and one of the main ones in all of Moscow. An architectural masterpiece has perished, and in its place is a public garden. The concept of restoring the church was worked on by academician V. Vinogradov, architect S. Konev, the temple was studied by O. Braitseva and many others. But the spatial Nikolin Cross of Kitay-Gorod is still left without its most beautiful temple. I would like to believe that we will see the restored St. Nicholas Church in our lives. There is an idea to put the famous Shumaevsky cross in it (now located in the storerooms of the Museum of Architecture), attracting pilgrims and tourists to the church.
The Zaryadsky Nikolas died entirely. The restoration of the Church of St. Nicholas the Mokroy after the demolition of the remains of the Soviet hotel is a necessary and quite realistic undertaking (archaeological measurements by P.N. Maksimov have been preserved). This will be the restoration of historical justice, as well as the restoration of the ancient street system on the site of the Rossiya Hotel.
In 2010, after clearing the plaster, (together with the Savior of Smolensky on the neighboring Spasskaya Tower) the ancient image of Nikolin was revealed on the Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin. The fresco is carefully dated to the time of construction of the tower, despite losses and late entries. They say that restorers already knew about the existence of these icons, but many Muscovites consider their appearance a real miracle. The St. Nicholas icon on the wall of GUM was also restored.
Thus, by recreating the spatial St. Nicholas Cross (the Cathedral of the St. Nicholas-Greek Monastery, the Church of St. Nicholas “Big Cross” and the Church of St. Nicholas the Wet), we will partially restore the integrity of Kitay-Gorod as a historical component of Moscow, which can be considered a serious state and public task.
1. P. Palamarchuk, “Forty Forties”, “Book and Business”, “Krom”, 1994, vol. 2, 11,
2. Now widely available on the Internet, http://retromap.ru/mapster.php?right=081852
3. This point of view is shared by most researchers, for example E. Murzaev. Information from: R. Rakhmatullin “Varvarka, there and back,” Moscow Heritage magazine No. 3, 2007, p. 51.
4. Many books have been written about the veneration of the saint in Rus', for example the recently republished “Life and Miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra" A. Voznesensky and F. Gusev 1899, etc.
5. Quote from the “Word of Praise at the Transfer of the Relics of St. Nicholas from Myra of Lycia to Bar grad by Presbyter Andrey, cleric of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral.” (quoted from: G.Ya. Mokeev. “Mozhaisk is the sacred city of Russians.” M., KEDR Publishing House, 1992, p. 20, hereinafter referred to as Mokeev).
6. Mokeev, p.20.
7. Ibid., p.25.
8. Ibid., p.49.
9. A. Voznesensky and F. Gusev. Uk. cit., pp. 203-204.
10. There are practically no St. Nicholas churches in the Kremlin. Nikola Gostunsky was located east of the pillar of Ivan the Great, i.e. was on Ivanovskaya, and not on Cathedral Square.
11. ibid., vol. 1, p. 152,
12. Was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 58,
13. ibid., vol. 2, p. 28,
14. ibid., vol. 2, p. 64,
15. The chapel may have appeared later than the main volume of the church. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 36,
16. Church of the 16th century. was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 35,
17. ibid., vol. 4, p. 509,
18. Mokeev, p.11.
19. P. Palamarchuk. Uk. Soch., vol. 2, p. 71,
20. “Wet” St. Nikola was named because of a miracle that happened in May 1090 in Kyiv on the Dnieper. The parents found the drowned child alive and unharmed, not yet dry from the water, in the church near the St. Nicholas Icon. Mokeev, p. 15
21. The stone building of the 17th century was rebuilt in the 19th century. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 74,
22. P. Palamarchuk, vol. 2, p. 23,
23. Of course, we must not forget about other dominant features of Kitay-Gorod, primarily Epiphany Monastery. This prominent Baroque cathedral was erected in the 17th century by the Golitsyns as a family tomb on the site of a 14th century temple, and the foundation of the monastery dates back to the 13th century. It is believed that the blessing of water took place here with access to the Neglinnaya River (L. Belyaev, Ancient monasteries of Moscow according to archaeological data, M., 1995). In general, the monastery arose earlier than the surrounding settlement.
The Kazan Cathedral at the beginning of Nikolskaya Street and the Vladimir Church at its end have a memorial function. These objects do not interfere with considering the St. Nicholas churches in the suburb as well as the veneration of St. St. Nicholas in the Church does not interfere with the veneration of other saints.
Text quoted from the book: Romanyuk S.K. Moscow. Loss. M.: Publishing house PTO "Center", 1992. 336 p., ill.
Photo from Naydenov's album
Before the revolution, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker stood on Ilyinka and was popularly called the “Big Cross”.
It was erected in 1680-1688 by wealthy merchants from Arkhangelsk, the Filatiev brothers, who ordered the construction of such splendor that would glorify the temple builders themselves, their generosity and zeal for godly deeds. Unfortunately, we do not know the names of the architects.
The lower floor served as a tomb, and there were two entrances to the temple itself through a porch raised on three arches and beautifully decorated with white stone carvings. The elegant building was almost square, the second and third tiers were decorated with capitals, and large windows were framed by lush platbands. The most unusual thing was located at the top of the building - here unknown craftsmen placed hexagonal windows of a magnificent and unusual shape for Moscow in the lower tier of the two-tiered completion, and filled the upper one with ribbed shells, so beloved by Russian craftsmen after the Fryazin Aleviz Novy, who built the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin.
The same shells were placed at the base of the elongated necks of all five domes, decorated with relief stars.
The interior of the church matched it appearance. Its decoration was considered to be a majestic carved iconostasis, more like a work of jewelry. The landmark of the temple, from which it received its name, was a two-meter wooden cross standing near the choir, built by the same Filatyev brothers, in which more than a hundred particles of the relics of various saints were enclosed.
Next to the church stood a bell tower, built at the same time, but crowned with a pseudo-Gothic completion after the fire of 1812.
The official reason for the demolition of the temple was that its porch overlooked the sidewalk and interfered with traffic. First, in 1933, the porch was dismantled, and then the church itself.
More images of the church:
Photo from Barshchevsky's catalog
From a wonderful site.
Fedor Alekseev. View of the Church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross on Ilyinka
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "Big Cross" (also known as "Nicholas the Great Cross") - Orthodox church in Moscow, built at the end of the 17th century and demolished in 1934.
The main altar of the temple was consecrated in the name of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the chapel - in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
A masterpiece of the Stroganov Baroque, one of the most beautiful churches in the city.
From the history:
- The temple was built at the expense of the Arkhangelsk merchants Filatyevs. Construction began in 1680 and was completed in 1688. The temple is considered one of the first examples of reworking the architectural type of a parish church that developed in the mid-17th century. It is a tall, elongated quadrangle on a basement divided into four tiers horizontally. The architectural innovation was the separation of the bell tower (which in 1819 was built on two tiers) from the quadrangle, the absence of a refectory (usually serving to connect the quadrangle and the bell tower), and a reduction in the size of the apses and aisles. As in the Archangel Cathedral, order decoration was used in the divisions of the facades, which did not reflect the real structure of the building - the temple did not have floors, the interior space was solid. There was some eclecticism in the external design - the Doric order was used in the columns of the first tier, the Corinthian order was used in the second tier, and pilasters of complex shapes in the third, however, thanks to the well-chosen ratio of sizes and shapes, the integrity of the building was not compromised. The windows, located according to the division into tiers, differed in size, shape and design. Thus, on the lower tiers the windows had a rectangular shape and were framed by carved frames with torn pediments. On the third, low tier there were octagonal windows decorated with white stone patterned frames. The foursome ended with false mosquitoes. The five domes of the temple were multifaceted, had twisted columns at the corners and were surrounded by kokoshniks.
- The name “St. Nicholas the Great Cross” was popularly given to the temple by the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and by the relic of the temple - it contained a large (over two meters) wooden cross, made by order of the Filatyevs. This cross was made according to the model of the cross made by Patriarch Nikon in the Onega Monastery of the Cross in the Arkhangelsk province on the island of Kiye. The cross contained 156 reliquaries with particles of the relics of various saints, in addition to the relics of St. Nicholas, located in the center of the cross. In addition to this wooden cross, the church kept an altar cross made in 1680 by clerk Andrei Gorodetsky and an icon of All Saints, painted in 1700 by Kirill Ulanov. There was a custom in this temple to bring people involved in litigation to the “kissing of the cross” - the oath.
- In 1928 the temple was restored.
- After the release of the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, the church community turned out to be one of the “non-commemorators,” that is, those who did not agree with the declaration and stopped commemorating the Soviet government and Metropolitan Sergius (Starogorodsky) at the service. The parish of the Church of St. Nicholas “Big Cross” became a kind of center of the Moscow community of “non-rememberers”, maintained communication with other communities that did not recognize Metropolitan Sergius as the head of the Church, people from other cities came there to confess and receive communion. The rector of the temple, Father Mikhail Lyubimov, believed that “...in no case should believers be allowed to recognize the Sergian Church, since this leads to some kind of reconciliation with the existing system...”.
- In the fall of 1931, the temple was closed, and after some time the community continued liturgical life in small house churches.
- In 1932, most of the faithful parishioners, led by the rector, were arrested and imprisoned.
- In 1934, the temple was destroyed without any reason along with the bell tower; the site of the temple is currently a wasteland.
- Before the destruction of the temple, its iconostasis was dismantled and was in museum storage for 15 years. In 1948, it was installed (in a reconstructed form) in the refectory of the Sergius Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
- White stone decorative details - a baluster, columns, a fragment of an icon case and shells - are on display at the Kolomenskoye Museum.
- In 2017, plans emerged to rebuild the church.
Loading...
