Orthodox parish of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Prechistensky Gate
The second stone church of the monastery was built in 1476-1477. northeast of Trinity Cathedral. It is located on the site of an earlier wooden Trinity Church, erected by Abbot Nikon around 1412 during the restoration of the monastery destroyed during the raid of Khan Edigei.
Spiritual Church. Fragment of a lithograph from 1859
The temple was built by Pskov craftsmen invited to Moscow by Grand Duke Ivan III. The model for the construction of the Spiritual Church was the Trinity Cathedral, the main forms and proportions of which (the height of the cross is 30 m) were repeated in the new church. However, the new building has a fundamental difference. The unique combination of a temple and a belfry, where the round tier of the belfry with bells is located on the vaults of the church, received the name “church like the bells.” It is considered the oldest surviving structure of this type.
Spiritual Church. 1476-1477 View from the northwest
Unlike the white stone Trinity Cathedral, the belfry church is made of brick, which at that time became the main building material. The volume of the Spiritual Church is clearly divided into two parts of equal height: a four-pillar quadrangle with three high apses, repeating the shape of the Trinity Cathedral, and a cylindrical pedestal on the church vaults with a six-span belfry carrying a drum with a dome and a cross.
Spiritual Church. 1476-1477
View from the east
Bells hang on oak beams in the spans of the belfry, while a drum open inside the dome with narrow windows serves as a kind of sound resonator. The decorative decoration of the temple was built in the likeness of the Trinity Cathedral, but in a different material. The three-colored ornamental belt framing the walls of the Spiritual Church and the top of the drum was made of terracotta balusters bordered by two rows of polychrome glazed tiles.
The arrangement of an open tier of bells under the central chapter, vertical proportions, the richness and elegance of white stone and ceramic decorative elements (including the base band decorated with carved krins) gave the structure features of grace and originality. Patterned belts made of terracotta balusters and tiles were the earliest example of the use of ceramic decor and glazed tiles in Moscow architecture.
The Spiritual Church was built in those years when not only the best craftsmen from different Russian cities, but also European architects worked in Moscow at the Grand Duke's court. It is no coincidence that new techniques and details were used in the design and decorative decoration of the temple. Decorative half-columns with garlands that decorate the apses of the temple are similar to the garlands on the walls of a Greek church Holy Mother of God Pantanassi (1428) in Mystras. Subsequently, this decorative technique was used in the design of the Vvedenskaya Church of the Podolny Monastery (1547), located not far from the Holy Gates, and the church in the name of St. Zosima and Savvaty Solovetsky (1635-1637).
The ringing of bells in the church was completely unique for Moscow. This was originally the so-called Pskov ringing, in which beams with bells mounted on them were swung from the ground. The bells were rung using ropes and wooden levers attached to beams. The bell swung along with the beam holding it, while the tongue alternately struck the opposite edges of the bell. This method of ringing is also called ochapny, or Pskov, and is still used in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. Initially, this type of ringing was widespread in Europe, and in Russia it was known only in Western Russian lands (Novgorod, Pskov).
A special “alarm” bell hung on the church belfry during the Polish-Lithuanian siege of the monastery in 1608–1610. announced to the defenders of the monastery about the danger.
Interior of the Spiritual Church
Left - ntombstone of Metropolitan Plato (Levshin)
The interior space of the Spiritual Church, devoid of upper windows due to the presence of a belfry, is illuminated by a few narrow side windows. The paintings on the walls were made for the first time in 1665 by order of Patriarch Nikon and were renewed several times. The icons for the three-tier rosewood iconostasis, installed in 1866, were made by masters of the Lavra icon-painting workshop.
Last Supper.
Fragment of the Royal Doors of the Spiritual Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
Before the revolution, a small stone chapel over the grave of Maxim the Greek adjoined the northern façade of the Spiritual Church. Adjacent to the southern facade was a chapel in the name of the Righteous Philaret, in which, in 1867, the Metropolitan of Moscow and rector of the Lavra, Saint Philaret (Drozdov), was buried. The chapel and the chapel were united by a porch adjacent to the western façade of the Spiritual Church.
Spiritual Church. Photo beginning XX century
The temple is located in Festivalny Park. Directions to Maryina Roshcha metro station, then 5 minutes. on foot along the pedestrian crossing across Sushchevsky Val.
Lazarevsky wooden temple
The temple at the Lazarevskoye cemetery was loved by the holy Patriarch-Confessor Tikhon, who often served here in the 1920s. Until a year ago, there was a sisterhood at the temple, whose sisters helped the poor and sick, took care of the temple, and sang in the choir. One of the sisters of this community, O.I. Podobedova, recalled that at that time members tried to know as little as possible about each other, so as not to hand over someone to the NKVD through carelessness or under torture. Some of the sisters really suffered.
On one Sunday of the year, the temple was suddenly cordoned off by the police and the abbot was informed of the closure of the temple and confiscation of property. After this, the reliquary cross and the icons of the temple disappeared without a trace. The building was transferred to the plant as a dormitory for workers. In the same year, the Lazarevskoye cemetery was also destroyed, and a children's park and dance floor were built at the burial site of the dead. According to witnesses, football was played with skulls in the park, and stray dogs lived in the temple altar. There are documents indicating that the temple was sentenced to destruction by the atheists. But there were employees of the Main Science and Central Restoration Workshops who recognized the temple as an architectural monument of the first category and thus saved it from destruction and the construction of a columbarium in it.
The granddaughter of one of the temple clergy, Archpriest Alexander Sokolov, testified that her grandfather, dying in December, prophetically predicted to his loved ones that there would be a time when churches would reopen, and services would be held in the church at the Lazarevskoye cemetery. At that time, loved ones considered this to be the delirium of a dying man, but decades later the words began to be put into practice.
Revival of the temple
The Temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was returned to the Church in the same year, although for several years after that the Operetta Theater workshops were located in the refectory. The first hard work to revive the disfigured temple fell to the lot of Father Ioann Mazov, and from the year onwards Hieromonk Sergius (Rybko) became the rector, with whom many young people came to work in the temple. A small community of girls gathered at the temple, whose members took on selfless work: singing in the choir, participating in restoration work, cleaning the temple and territory, teaching classes in Sunday school, work in book publishing and an icon-painting workshop, etc. In the year a sisterhood was formed at the church in the name of St. Ignatius of Stavropol. The temple was gradually restored through the efforts of parishioners and benefactors; The parish refused large donations.
Architecture
The three-altar stone church was built according to the architectural type of a “ship”: a round rotunda, with a short refectory, with two bells crowning the western facade, windows stylized as portholes.
Clergy
Abbots
- Nikita Skvortsov (1857 - ca. 1892)
- Vladimir Ostroukhov (1901 - 1914)
- Nikolai Skvortsov (August 9, 1914 – June 15, 1917)
In 1846, under the abbess of Apollinaria (Shuvalova), Belitsa Varvara Mikhailovna Golovina, née Lvova, turned to Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov) with a request “to allow him to build a church inside the monastery at his own expense and with it a residential building to accommodate the poor and infirm elders from the sisters of the monastery.” , expressing their readiness to ensure “the maintenance of the church and pending deposits.” The almshouse project was commissioned from the famous architect M.D. Bykovsky.
Construction work began in 1849. The new architectural complex consisted of a two-tier, single-altar, single-domed church, connected by a passage - a refectory with a two-story almshouse. The temple was made of solid brick, the lower floor of the almshouse, where the cells of the elders and the “services” were located, was made of stone, and the top, where the sacristy and Mrs. Golovina’s chambers were located, was made of wood. It is known that V.M. Golovina, being skilled in painting, herself participated in the painting of the temple.
In 1850, on October 24, the temple was consecrated by Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, in honor of the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.
In 1887, under Abbess Valentina, a decision was made to reconstruct and expand temple complex. A “stone one-story building was added to the southern façade of the temple to house cells” for the sisters caring for the nuns of the almshouse.
In 1902-1909, extensions were erected to house an orphanage and a parochial school for girls. In 1910, the shelter was moved to the former refectory building, and the school became a two-class school.
In 1910, by order of Abbess Maria, work was carried out to restore, strengthen and update the internal painting of the walls and iconostasis of the Holy Spiritual Fellowship Church.
Stage II. Destruction of the temple, its purpose during the Soviet period.
In 1918, in connection with revolutionary changes in Russian state the monastery as a religious structure was closed, its churches were declared parish and transferred to the communities.
In 1926, all churches of Zachatievsky were closed convent and the entire complex finally came under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat for Education.
In 1933, the dome was removed from the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit and a major reconstruction was carried out. Golovina's cell and the almshouse were turned into an office establishment.
During the Soviet period, the temple building was used by various institutions. The southern extension housed the workshops of artists and sculptors - F.M. Soghoyan. and V.F. Soghoyan. The inside of the building was sheathed with new facing materials, the layout was distorted by interfloor ceilings, partitions according to adaptations, and basements were dug. The company Stroytekhinvest LLC, a long-term tenant, built an underground passage connecting the temple with the old refectory building. Tenants also included a Finnish construction company and a Soviet-American joint venture. (based on 1993 inspection)
Stage III. Restoration of the temple. Current state.
In 1991, at the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane. The Sisterhood is formed in the name of the “Merciful” Icon of the Mother of God, whose goal is the revival of the most ancient shrine of the capital - the Conception Monastery. In 1991-92, official resolutions were issued on the gratuitous transfer of the buildings of the Conception Monastery to the Sisterhood with instructions to the relevant structures to assist in the removal of tenants. Years of correspondence, appeals to various authorities, meetings with various officials follow. At this time, the sisters could only go into the temple for a few minutes, sing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the holiday.
In 1999, the keys to the annex to the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit were received.
In 2000, the temple itself was liberated. Restoration work has begun. At this time, the first miracle was revealed: a surviving fragment of the altarpiece was discovered - the face of the crucified Savior.
The following organizations took part in the restoration of the temple: JSC "Elgad Spetsstroy", d. Kirnosov I.V.; CJSC "Klen AS", d. Onatsik A.F.,; LLC "Res Dan", d. Danilin A.V.. Architectural work was carried out by architect B.G. Moginov. Government agencies provided assistance in financing the work, incl. GUOP Moscow, prefecture of the Central Administrative District and private philanthropists.
In 2001, the first divine service was held - all-night vigil Spiritual Day is the patronal feast of the temple.
In 2002, a belfry was added to the northern facade as a temporary adaptive structure. A decision arose to build a small “cave” church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the basement of the Holy Spiritual Church, and restoration work began.
In 2003, the reconstruction of the dome over the main temple volume was completed and the cross was solemnly erected. In the southern volume, the former sister cells, work has begun on constructing a chapel in honor of the Holy Martyr Vladimir (Ambartsumov), a new martyr who was executed at the Butovo training ground in 1937.
In 2004, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, work began on painting the temple. The painting of the temple was carried out by a small team of icon painters under the leadership of Maria Tsekh. In the same year, on the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, a minor consecration of the lower church was performed. On November 24, 2004, on the eve of the Feast of the Gracious Icon of the Mother of God, a minor consecration of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was performed. From that time on, regular services began to be held in the temple.
The stone iconostasis is made in the Greek tradition: an equal-ended Byzantine cross, plant and animal ornaments, stone figures of doves serving as brackets for lamps, ostrich eggs in pendants for lamps. The painting of the temple also corresponds to the style of temples in Greece and the Holy Land. All these character traits, as well as the central khoros in Greek style were chosen in memory of the connection between the main monastery shrine - the “Merciful” icon of the Mother of God with the ancient image of the Merciful-Kykkos icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located since the 11th century on the island. Cyprus in the Kykkos monastery.
In 2005, on November 2, a small consecration of the southern chapel was performed in honor of the Hieromartyr Vladimir, presbyter of Moscow.
Currently, services are held in the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Sundays and holidays. In the temple there is a crucifix with the face of the Savior preserved from pre-revolutionary times and with a particle of the life-giving wood of the Cross of the Lord. The temple contains a collection of particles of the relics of the Optina elders and Kiev-Pechersk monks.
Temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Easter 2013
Visiting this temple left me with an unpleasant aftertaste. Even upon approaching, I was surprised by the fact that the previously transparent metal fence was “draped” with a solid ugly fence in the manner of the “new Russian” dachas. I thought maybe there was some construction going on there.
Further more, I went into the courtyard, took this photo, but then a security guard came up and very politely said that the abbot forbade taking photographs. He apologized for a long time - it was clear that he himself was embarrassed.
I have never seen anything like this either in Russia or abroad. But when Soviet power The temple was a decoration of the park, although it was not active. Now you can’t tell whether it’s a warehouse or a factory in the middle of the park.
I have always been a supporter of the return of churches to the church, but when faced with a similar case, I doubted the advisability of this, without introducing a law limiting such arbitrariness of absurd priests.
I went online to see what kind of wild abbot this is, maybe some kind of sectarian or an ancient elder who is on the decline of life... well, it’s clear what happens “in the decline of life.”
And so, on the website http://www.spb-army.narod.ru/sob.htm I found:
Our interlocutor is the abbot Sergiy (Rybko). A former hippie, now the rector of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevskoye cemetery in Moscow. Author of many articles and books, including books about rock music " Modern culture: Satanism or God-seeking?
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Our interlocutor, Hieromonk Sergius (Rybko), in the days of his youth in the late 70s was well known in the Moscow SYSTEM (hippie) under the nickname Jura-Terrorist.
The purpose of the new section is to tell a story about the missionary activities of the rector of the church, Abbot Sergius (Rybko), among modern informal youth (hippies, punks, rockers). Here we plan to post links to interesting sites, reports about the priest’s trips, and conversations with interesting people.
Here you go! There is also a sentence: “write letters, we will discuss all issues.” Wrote: why, father, do this? Of course, I did not receive an answer. And what could he answer: “I can’t resist my heart, I want it and I will.”
All of the above happened in 2010. 2012 came, again I went to the temple and again with a camera (I’m numb). And oh, miracle! He calmly took photographs, and in the presence of some priest. And although the ugly solid fence remains, progress is obvious.
And just as I rejoiced at Father Rybko’s, albeit small, steps towards sane horizons, the restless priest showed up again, this time in a big way.
Hegumen Sergius (Rybko)
Here are some excerpts from the press and the Internet:
At the entrance to the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery in Moscow hangs a piece of paper with the following text: “Dear parishioners! Due to the increasing frequency of attacks on churches and the desecration of Orthodox shrines, I ask you to pay attention to suspicious visitors. If they intend any outrages, theft of icons, relics, especially attempts to enter the pulpit and altar, take immediate action: loudly call for help, contact the guards, do not hesitate to stop the blasphemers on your own. I bless you to use physical force. “If someone in your presence dishonors the King of Angels, sanctify your hand, striking the wicked lips” (St. John Chrysostom). We are not pacifists or Tolstoyans. No one but us will protect our shrines from the wicked and atheists. If we don’t defend our churches today, tomorrow they will be converted into supermarkets and parking lots.
The rector of the temple is Abbot Sergius (Rybko).
Well, about “supermarkets and parking lots,” he was overreacting - just the opposite, now museums are being turned into temples. But this is a small matter. The main thing is here: “I bless you to use physical force.” Of course, it is necessary to protect, but the problem is - how to define “blasphemy”? Will everyone do it themselves? Is a person with a camera or in jeans or a short dress blasphemy? It may seem to some, especially with less sober eyes or stupidity, that this is exactly the case. And immediately the priest blessed “physical strength”.
And here’s another father’s pearl:
“In fact, we expect help from the state, since it positions itself as legal. But if there is no such help, then it is not surprising that the Orthodox will defend their churches, even with clubs.”
I'm a pensioner. After more than forty years of service, I receive a miserable pension. If there is no help from the state, does my father bless me to steal and rob?
Or here's another: "We are not pacifists.."- that is, Christ is not a decree for us. It seemed to me that he was precisely the first pacifist who came to a world filled with anger.
In general, as Yura the Terrorist was, he remained so - it seems that it is simply more profitable to be Abbot Sergius.
Once Valentin Gaft wrote an epigram to a Jewish colleague: “When such paths are open, the ranks of anti-Semites grow.” It seems that when the paths are open to people like the Yura-Terrorist, the ranks of opponents of the Russian Orthodox Church (not to be confused with Orthodoxy) grow.
In Moscow, parish cemeteries were preserved for a long time: each church had its own small graveyard, where local residents were buried. Since the time of Peter I, attempts have been made to ban burials within the city, but only under Empress Elizabeth the first real changes took place. As part of the gradual abolition of parish cemeteries (they would finally cease to be used only after the Moscow plague epidemic of 1770–1771), a special cemetery was created for the unprivileged classes - that is, simply put, for the poor. The area near Maryina Roshcha was chosen as the location, where the first city-wide cemetery, opened in 1750, appeared. As expected, a cemetery church was built at the necropolis for funeral services and commemoration of the dead - a small wooden church in the name of St. Lazarus the Four-Days. According to him, the entire cemetery began to be called Lazarevsky.
Soon the wooden church fell into disrepair and needed to be replaced with a more permanent building. And in 1782, a new temple builder appeared - the president of the Moscow magistrate, titular councilor Luka Ivanovich Dolgov (his house was preserved at 16 Mira Avenue), who received permission at his own expense to build a stone three-altar church instead of a wooden church, as well as an almshouse with it. After Dolgov’s death in 1783, his widow Susanna Filippovna took charge of the construction of the cemetery church, under whom the construction was completed in 1787. Luka Ivanovich was solemnly buried inside the church; his marble tombstone in the form of angels hovering above the clouds remained in the interior until the twentieth century. It is interesting that Luka Dolgov’s brother, Afanasy Ivanovich Dolgov, also became a temple builder: with his funds it was rebuilt on Bolshaya Ordynka.
The main altar of the temple was consecrated in honor of the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and the side chapels - in the name of Saint Lazarus (in memory of the old church) and in the name of the Holy Apostle Luke (patron saint of the builder of the temple - Luke Dolgov).
The church was built by the architect Elizvoy Nazarov, the author of a number of masterpieces of classicism architecture in Moscow. There is, however, a version according to which Nazarov only supervised the construction work, and the project itself belongs - this is supported by the fact that Bazhenov was married to Dolgov’s daughter. Masters of their era also worked on the interiors: the paintings were done by the Italian Antonio Claudo (he was also the author of the surviving paintings of the Great Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery), the icons for the iconostasis were created by his compatriot Giovanni Scotti. The main temple is made in the form of a round rotunda with two rows of windows (rectangular and round), which is topped with a large round lantern with a spherical dome and a cross. The rectangular refectory, which was originally short, ends on the west with a four-column portico with two bell towers on the sides. The presence of two symmetrical bell towers is more typical for Catholic churches than for Orthodox ones - this makes the Church of the Holy Spirit unique in architectural terms.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the need arose to significantly expand the temple. According to the design of the architect S.F. Voskresensky in 1902–1904, the refectory was more than doubled to the west, the side facades received pilaster porticoes. At the same time, the western entrance composition, which included a portico with a colonnade and two bell towers, was measured, dismantled and restored in a new location. As a result, the general features of the temple remained the same, but its proportions changed greatly.
Since 1914, Archpriest Nikolai Alekseevich Skvortsov, a famous priest, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, chairman of the Church-Archaeological Department of the Society of Lovers of Spiritual Education, author of many works on the history of Moscow and its monuments, served in the church at the Lazarevskoye cemetery. He is the author of the massive work “Archaeology and Topography of Moscow”. On the night of June 14-15, 1917, Archpriest Nikolai Skvortsov was killed along with his wife in his own house near the church: he had previously collected funds for the establishment of an orphanage at the church - this money was the target of the killers. A unique archive about. Nicholas has been preserved and is today in the Russian State Library.
In 1932, the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevskoye cemetery was closed for worship; its last rector, Archpriest John Smirnov, was later shot at the Butovo training ground. The building housed a workers' dormitory, and then the workshops of the Operetta Theater moved into it. In 1934, the destruction of the Lazarevskoye cemetery began, ending with its complete disappearance - the Festivalny park was laid out in its place. The church building has hardly changed in appearance, but the unique interiors with stucco moldings and iconostases were completely destroyed, and the temple space itself was divided into two floors. Only in 1991 did the process of transferring the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit to the community of believers begin, which was completed a few years later. In 2000, a chapel was consecrated next to the temple in memory of all those buried in the former Lazarevskoye cemetery.
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