Temple of Cosmas and Damian: history and modernity on Maroseyka. How to get to the Temple of the Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka: address and schedule History of the old church

The Church on Maroseyka is located between a modern high-rise building with a glass facade on one side and a busy highway on the other. It seems as if it was accidentally “placed” in the center of a noisy and dusty metropolis. Although it was Moscow that grew up around it over four centuries.

History of the monastery

The modern building of the Cosmodamian Church in Moscow is not the first on this site. At first there was a wooden church here, which burned down twice: in 1547 and 1629. After the second fire, the temple was built from stone.

Temple of the unmercenary Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka

The main altar of the stone church was dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which is why it was often called Nikolaevskaya. A chapel was dedicated to the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. Over time, a porch was added, a bell tower was erected, and then a second floor. Another church was built there and dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

By the end of the 18th century, the building had almost completely dilapidated, and the parishioners decided to build a new one. In July 1790, construction began on this site of a temple in which:

the main chapel in honor of the Savior’s healing of the paralytic;
the southern aisle was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker;
northern aisle - Saints Unmercenary Cosmas and Damian.

The Kosmodamian chapel remained the only one unchanged, which is why the name of the church stuck among the people.

Until the mid-19th century, the temple consisted of two parts. The unheated main aisle was closed for the winter. In the warm part, which included only the chapels and the refectory, there was little space. Thanks to the installation of a furnace in the basement, the entire space began to be used in winter.

In the 1930s, the temple was under threat of destruction: a decree on explosive work was signed, but not implemented. In Soviet times, the church premises housed a warehouse, an archive, and drawing classes.

The transfer of the building to the archive coincided with the destruction of three buildings on its territory and the partial restoration of the external decoration. Even the crosses were reinstalled. A series of ceilings appeared inside. All this happened in the 1960s.

Temple icon of Saints Cosmas and Damian

The Russian Orthodox Church returned the Temple of Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka in 1993. The first Liturgy after the restoration was served on the patronal feast of Cosmas and Damian on November 14 of the same year.

Temple today

Today, services in the Church of Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka are held regularly:

On Orthodox holidays, regardless of the day of the week, the Liturgy begins at 9:00, and at 17:00 the night before they serve the all-night vigil.

On a note! You can confess in the Kosmodamian Church in the morning on any day when the Liturgy is served.

Since the restoration of church life in the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Moscow, Archpriest Fyodor Borodin has remained its permanent rector.

Parish life

The life of the community is built around several areas of service. They work here:

historical and cultural educational center, which holds film lectures, open meetings and lectures, musical evenings;
catechetical groups “Discovery of Faith” for those who are preparing to be baptized themselves or become godparents;
Gospel readings;
social service;
Sunday School.

The youngest pupils of the Sunday school at the Church of Cosmas and Damian are about one and a half years old. They do modeling, drawing, dance and play. For the little ones, Sunday service consists of common prayer. With the onset of summer, older students do not leave church life, but go on a kayaking trip when they arrive.

Shrines

In the Temple of Cosmas and Damian in Moscow you can worship:

the icon of the Savior who healed the paralytic;
relics and icon of Saints Unmercenary Cosmas and Damian;
relics of the holy martyr. Bonifatia;
relics of St. Luka Krymsky (Voino-Yasenetsky).

Patronal holidays

The Church of Cosmas and Damian in Moscow has three altars, which is why the church has many holidays.

The main temple celebration takes place on the Sunday of the Paralytic in memory of the Savior’s healing of the paralytic at the Sheep Font.

The week of the paralytic is celebrated annually on different days, but only on the fourth Sunday after Easter. In 2018, this day fell on April 29; Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter on April 8.

Patronal feast day in the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka

On November 14, the memory of the holy Unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian of Assia is celebrated.
Several times a year the Church remembers St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra, wonderworker.

Important! The most famous day of remembrance of St. Nicholas is December 19, the day of the Assumption. In addition, it is customary to honor the day of the transfer of his relics to Bari on May 22 and Christmas on August 11.

How to get there

The Temple of Cosmas and Damian is located at the intersection of Maroseyka Street and Starosadsky Lane at the address: st. Maroseyka, 14/2, building 3.

The Church of the Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Assia on Maroseyka is an Orthodox church of the Epiphany deanery of the Moscow city diocese.

The temple is located in the White City in the Basmanny district of the Central Administrative District of Moscow. The main altar is consecrated in honor of the icon of Christ the Savior, who healed the paralytic, the side chapels are Cosmas and Damian and Nikolsky.

Story

Construction of the church

The wooden church on the current site is mentioned as having burned down in 1547 and 1629.

The old stone church, which stood on the site of the current one, is mentioned in the chronicle in 1639.

N. A. Naydenov, Public Domain

The church was built according to the project in 1791-1793 (the decoration was completed by 1803) on the site of an ancient dilapidated church. The construction was carried out at the expense of M.R. Khlebnikov, the owner of the house located on the other side of the street (Maroseyka St., 17).

unknown, Public Domain

The church was renovated in 1893.

From the 17th century to 1922, the lane departing from Maroseyka at the apse of the church was called Kozmodemyansky (Kosmodamiansky) after it.

Church architecture

The composition of the church is unusual. It is based on four cylindrical volumes: the main part of the church, its apse and side chapels, equal in height to the apse. On the western side there is a cubic refectory and a bell tower, placed along the longitudinal axis of the structure. Two-column porticoes are placed symmetrically on the sides of the aisles. The difficult task of combining a group of cylindrical volumes was solved by the architect with amazing skill.

Lodo27, GNU 1.2

The Church of Cosmas and Damian is considered one of the most striking programmatic monuments of mature classicism. The development of classicism in the direction of increasing laconicism brought to the fore the plasticity of the main masses of the building, and here this trend was expressed with the greatest completeness.

Despite its relatively small size, the church is still an expressive dominant feature of the area.

The Church of Cosmas and Damian was closed in the late 1920s. In November 1929, it was decided to demolish the fence under the pretext of expanding the movement. In the early 1930s, plans were made to completely demolish the church. The authorities allowed restoration photography and measurements to be carried out before demolition. The church survived.

A warehouse was built inside the church, and in front of it was a beer hall. In the 1950s, the pub was broken down. In the 1950s and 1960s, a model workshop was located inside; in 1965 - a club of automototourists.

In 1958, scientific restoration was carried out on the facades of the church, and the gilded domes and crosses were restored. The interior of the temple remained rebuilt at that time.

In 1972, a new fence was erected around the church, modeled after the previous one, but not exactly replicating it. At the same time, a tall administrative building made of glass and black plastic was built behind the temple. In publications of that time, the construction of this administrative building was presented as a successful combination of new and old.

In 1992, the temple was temporarily transferred to house the library of the Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

Revival of the temple

The church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1993. Gradually, the Soviet ceilings were dismantled and the original volumes of the church interior were restored. A new central iconostasis was erected and the iconostases of the chapels were restored.

There are regular services in the temple.

Cosmas and Damian are brothers, holy Roman martyrs. Being doctors by profession, by God's grace, they possessed the gift of healing. Following God's will: freely received - freely give, they devoted their entire lives to serving God and people.

Healing people from physical and mental illnesses, the brothers did not take payment for their help, for this the people called them “unmercenaries.” Since ancient times, these saints have been revered in Rus'; they are considered the organizers of family marriage, patrons of married life, and holiness.

In Moscow there is a church of Cosmas and Damian, located on Maroseyka, but the history of its creation and revival is associated with difficult trials and difficulties.

In Kitai-Gorod there is the glorious Temple of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian, followers of the faith of Christ.

The Kosmodamian Church gave the name to one of the nearby lanes; until the seventeenth century it was called Shubin.

One of the versions regarding this name says that it was in this place that a noble boyar lived, in whose honor the lane was named: other sources say that merchants who traded in furs and fur coats lived here.

Until this time, around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, according to legend, Polish lords lived on the site of the modern Temple of Cosmas and Damian on Kitaygorodsky Lane. Mention of them dates back to 1508.

There was a wooden church near the master's courtyard, but it soon burned down, and another stone one was built here. Now the church on Maroseyka is valued for the fact that it miraculously managed to survive the difficult times of the 1930s, when “socialist reconstruction” reigned.

Story

The Church of Cosmas and Damian in Moscow that exists today was built in 1793. It was built on the site of an old one that existed at the beginning of the seventeenth century. There is no exact information about who built the first building.

What is known is that it was one-story, made of stone, with two thrones. One of them is consecrated in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the other - the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian.

Important! Previously, the temple was named in honor of St. Nicholas, archival documents confirm this.

The Kosmodamian Church was initially equipped modestly; it did not even have a bell tower.

Only at the end of the seventeenth century, at the expense of the God-loving Princess Kurakina, was the second tier built, where a church was built, bearing the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

For a long time, the church of saints was maintained thanks to the financial investments of the princess, then it became a parish church.

The end of the 18th century was a difficult period for this holy monastery. The building completely dilapidated and became unusable, but at the request of true Christians in the summer of 1790, it was decided to build a new one on the site of the old building, with a main altar in honor of the Lord, the Healer of the Paralytic.

With significant donations from parishioners, the construction of the church was completed after 3 years, the consecration of its premises took place in two stages, this was 1795, then 1803. The project was drawn up by the famous Russian architect Matvey Kazakov.

The arrangement of the chapels of the temple deserves special attention; they, like parts of the altar, have the shape of a circle.

Subsequently, major construction work was carried out to build a furnace to heat the cold room, and the interior was updated.

After the invasion of enemies in 1812, the holy monastery in the name of Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka was devastated, ancient icons, expensive jewelry, and valuable church utensils disappeared.

It was never possible to recover from this loss.

In the early thirties, the temple of Cosmas and Damian suffered another misfortune: the parish was dispersed, and valuable shrines disappeared without a trace. A decision was made to blow up the temple, however, by the grace of God, it remained unharmed.

Art classes, warehouses, archive rooms and other public organizations were established here.

The sixties were a period when several church buildings were demolished. An administrative building was built on this site. The church was partially restored, but due to various redevelopments, the foundation sloped.

Only on June 22, 1993, the decision was made to reconstruct the Temple of Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka, and already on November 14, the first Liturgy took place in honor of the glorious unmercenaries.

There are several known cases of healing recorded in the Church of Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka. The sick, who prayed before the miraculous icon of the Savior, received the grace of God, after which the illnesses left them.

On a note! Since ancient times, prayers have been performed in front of the icon of the Lord healing the paralytic every Saturday. A special Gospel, troparion, prokeimenon, and touching prayer are read.

Shrines

The Temple of Cosmas and Damian in Moscow contains many valuable relics. Parishioners can come and venerate the following shrines:

The icon of Jesus Christ who healed the paralytic, located in the main chapel.
The revered icon of Cosmas and Damian of Assia, containing a particle of relics.
Relics, icon of the Great Martyr Boniface.
Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Icon of the Archangel Michael.
Icon of St. Luke with a piece of relics.
Icon of all saints revered on Russian soil.

Schedule of services

The Temple of Cosmas and Damian is open daily for visiting parishioners; the schedule of services depends on the day of the week and on the festive event in honor of which the Liturgy is celebrated.

Every day the Church of Cosmas and Damian is open from 8:00 to 20:00; on Sundays you can go to the temple of the saints from eight in the morning to seven in the evening.

On Sundays, a prayer service is held for the holy saints, starting at eight in the morning. By 8:30, believers gather for confession, and at nine o’clock in the morning the Divine Liturgy begins. On holidays, confession hours are from 8 to 9 am, then the Liturgy is served. On the eve of holidays and Sundays, an All-Night Vigil is held, the service begins at 17:00.

On a note! In the Church of Cosmas and Damian of Assyria, from October to Easter, two Sunday Liturgies are held: the early one starts at 7:00, and the late one at 9:30.

On Wednesdays, the morning service begins at eight o'clock, parishioners can confess, at 17:30 an akathist is read in honor of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian, the consecration of water is performed, and a prayer service for sick people. On Thursdays, the schedule remains the same, but the akathist with a prayer service for water is read to the holy martyr Boniface.

On Fridays, a water-blessing prayer service is performed to St. John Chrysostom, and the akathist is read before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “The Sign.” Friday prayer services are held at the address: Maly Zlatoustinsky Lane, 5, second floor.

On Saturdays, in addition to the Liturgy and Matins, a memorial service is served, beginning at 8:00. Those who wish can confess.

Useful video

Let's sum it up

The parish life of the church is quite diverse, an Orthodox sisterhood is organized here, and a Sunday school operates. Sisters of mercy prepare dinners for patients in medical institutions, orphanages, and boarding houses.

Visiting the holy monastery, of course, is worth it for those people who want to receive God's grace, peace, and tranquility.

In contact with

“The first church stood on Maroseyka for a long time - it burned in the fire of 1547, and in 1629 the newly rebuilt wooden church also burned down. The current building was built in 1791-1803 by the architect Matvey Kazakov, commissioned by A.F. Khlebnikova and her husband, Colonel M.R. Khlebnikov. They owned a luxurious bright blue palace with stucco (house No. 17) on Maroseyka, directly opposite the church, which Vasily Bazhenov himself built for them - where Field Marshal P.A. Rumyantsev later lived, and is now located Embassy of Belarus An interesting thing is this: in the church built by Kazakov at the request of the rich and noble Khlebnikovs, the chapel was consecrated in honor of Cosmas and Damian - holy unmercenary doctors who treated for free throughout their long lives, and the main altar, so rare for Moscow churches, was consecrated in honor Christ the Savior, who healed the paralytic. This icon of the Savior, who healed the paralytic, became famous in Dmitrovsky district, where in 1780 a stone church was built in its honor - just shortly before the construction of the same name in Moscow. Judging by this, the temple was built by the customers as a vow or in gratitude for the healing of one of the members of this family, or in a request for help in illness. The medical theme with the plot of healing is the main one in the temple on Maroseyka. It’s probably worth noting that the inscription “free from standing” on the gates of the former Khlebnikov house has nothing to do with them. Only in the 1840s this house was acquired by the merchants Grachevs, who paid a fee for the construction of barracks in Moscow. For this they were exempted from the mandatory maintenance and stationing of soldiers. At the end of the 1920s, it was decided to demolish the fence and corner of the church to expand car traffic along Maroseyka, which became Bohdan Khmelnitsky Street in Soviet times. Then the church was closed, the fence was dismantled, a warehouse was set up in the “vacated” building, and a pub was built in the courtyard-square, which was broken down in the 50s. last century. Only in 1972 the fence was restored to the same type as the one destroyed. Now the church is active." © http://www.pravoslavie.ru/

Then we crossed Maroseyka and ended up in Armenian Lane. Since there are embassies all around (Belarusian on one side, Armenian on the other), we didn’t take much photographs, so as not to irritate the embassy guards. But we still snatched a piece of a ruined building adjacent to the building of the Armenian Embassy that is being restored.

The Armenian Lane received its final name in the 18th century, in connection with the Armenian settlement located here. Before that, it was Nikolsky, Stolpovsky (from the name of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker near the Pillar), Artamonovsky. On it are located the estates of the Miloslavskys (no. 3) and the Tyutchevs (no. 11), the Lazarevs' house (currently the Armenian Embassy, no. 2).
In historical chronicles 1718-1725. There are no courtyards along Armenian Lane; one must assume that the lane was not yet paved at that time.

In the middle of the 18th century. The rich and noble Armenian L.N. Lazarev moved to Russia from Persia for permanent residence with a large family, relatives and servants. In Moscow, he bought up many yards between Myasnitskaya (Kirova Street) and Maroseyka (Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street), especially in the lane we are describing, where in 1781 -1782. financed by the Lazarevs was built in the courtyard of house No. 3
large Armenian church. Catherine II elevated the entire Lazarev family to the rank of nobility, and, like Russian landowners, they bought several villages, where they mostly set up silk and paper factories. The largest of the silk factories was in Fryanovo, Moscow province, Bogorodsky district. Brocades and silks were made here that were not inferior to those produced abroad. I. L. Lazarev made a particularly large fortune. He died (in 1801) childless and transferred most of his wealth to his brother Iakim, bequeathing him to build a school for the children of the poorest Armenians. The latter fulfilled the will of the testator and in 1815 opened such a school in his house (No. 2), at the same time starting to build a new large house for it and (in 1817-1823) outbuildings that still stand here. In 1835, the school received the rights of a gymnasium, and in 1848 it was transformed into a higher educational institution - the Lazarev Institute
oriental languages. The institute occupied almost the entire space along Armenian Lane from Krivokolenny to Maly Zlatoustovsky; there was a large garden at the institute. The Institute has done a lot to train Russian leaders in Eastern countries. An engraving from the first quarter of the 19th century has been preserved, depicting Armenian Lane near Krivokolenny. On both sides of the alley there are one-story houses; its roadway is paved with cobblestones. The architectural decoration of the alley are the buildings of the institute and the Armenian church. The Institute is one of the architectural landmarks of Moscow. Its building, raised by a high plinth, is spectacularly placed in the depths of the front courtyard, bordered on the side
the lane is surrounded by a beautiful fence with a monumental gate. A magnificent portico expressively forms the center of the building. The main building and harmoniously combined with
The side wings form a beautifully designed ensemble. Next to the Armenian church, on the site of modern houses No. 5 and 7 and the courtyard of boyar Matveev (No. 9), it was located at the end of the 18th century. the vast courtyard of Prince S.V. Meshchersky. The plan of this courtyard from 1777 has been preserved, showing us its development. In the depths of the courtyard there were large stone chambers in which the boyar A.S. Matveev lived (they were demolished in 1783). Adjoining the chambers from the southeast was a small stone house church of the Trinity “with a dome and a bell.” To the north of the chambers there were further stone buildings, and to the east there was an extensive garden with a pond. Along Armenian Lane, near the front gate, there were small stone buildings on stone pillars.
That year, Prince Meshchersky demolished the dilapidated wooden buildings located north of his front yard and created a new house here with a special gate to the Armenian Lane and wooden buildings along the red line of this lane. In the courtyard, on the sides of the gate, with the ends facing the alley, wooden human quarters were built, and opposite the gate - a wooden semicircle of stables, in the center of which there was a passage to the back yard. To the south of the front courtyard of Prince Meshchersky, capturing part of Sverchkov Lane, between Devyatkin and Armenian, there was a long but narrow courtyard of Colonel Dashkov, with a small stone building in the middle and wooden ones along both lanes. Behind it stood the courtyard of Colonel Dubrovsky, with a dilapidated stone building on Armenian Lane. Finally, at the corner with Pokrovka there was an extensive courtyard of General's wife Khitrova, with stone chambers along the red line of the Armenian
lane, which, however, did not reach Pokrovka. On the opposite corner of Armenian Lane and Maroseyka in 1774-1793. there was an extensive courtyard of Colonel Khlebnikov, formed from four properties he bought: the daughter of the provincial prosecutor Ladyzhenskaya - on the corner, the merchant Pastukhov - next to the alley, the daughter of second lieutenant Dobrovolskaya - further
behind him and the priest of the church of Cosmas and Damian - Timofeev. At the very corner with Maroseyka, Khlebnikov built a large stone house with three floors, and from it along the alley there was a vast garden. It is believed that this house was built by the architect V.I. Bazhenov. Street facade of a house in the 19th century. underwent great changes, but from the side of the court the appearance of the end of the 18th century was preserved to a certain extent. In 1793, this house was bought by the famous commander, Field Marshal Count P. A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. At the count's request, the inside of the house was painted with pictures of the battles in which he participated. After his death, the house, in 1796-1827, belonged to his son - Count N.P. Rumyantsev, the founder

Rumyantsev Library and Museum, and in 1827-1835 to his other son, Count S.P. Rumyantsev. Behind the garden of this house stood the Church of St. Nicholas in the Pillars with a fence; Opposite her, on the other corner of Maly Zlatoustovsky and Armenian lanes, are the small courtyards of her clergy with wooden buildings. They were surrounded, opening into both lanes, by a large courtyard with the garden of the Armenian Lazarev. Next was his own extensive yard, and only at the very corner with Krivokolenny Lane was the yard of the poet F.I. Tyutchev’s father, and opposite was the yard of Count E.V. Santi. The main house of the Tyutchevs was house number 11. In this house F.I. Tyutchev spent his childhood and youth. In 1817, V. A. Zhukovsky visited the Tyutchevs here. In 1825, the Decembrists lived in the same house: member of the Northern Society D. I. Zavalishin, member of the “Union of Welfare” A. V. Sheremetev. On January 9, 1826, the Decembrist I. D. Yakushkin was arrested here at Sheremetev’s apartment. After the fire of 1812, in which many wooden buildings burned down, stone ones appeared in their place along the alley, and both stone and wooden ones appeared in the courtyards. In 1813-1819 The Moscow City Building Commission continued the current Sverchkov Lane from Devyatkina Lane to Armenian Lane. In the 19th century Armenian Lane has significantly changed its appearance and development. On the corner of Maroseyka Street, the former Rumyantsev house passed first into the hands of the wife of General Divov (1835-1839), then the schismatic merchant Shcheglov (1840-1843), the merchants Usachev (1844-1857), Sapozhnikov (1858-1864 gg.), Kaulina
(1864-1876) and, finally, the Grachevs, who owned it from 1877 to 1918. What these owners did with the house is told by the famous “grandmother” E. Yankova: “...Rumyantsevsky house on Pokrovka... there in many rooms there were painted and bas-relief images of battles in which Zadunaysky participated. Then this house was bought by some merchant (Shcheglov, in 1840) and,
of course, scraped and cleaned these glorious memories. In 1864-1876. another merchant, Kaulin, destroyed the extensive beautiful garden located near the house, and the Grachevs (the next owners) converted the entire house into apartments and retail premises. However, even to this day, despite the many alterations and special adaptations made to the house at different times, the main building of this house appears in many of its parts as a majestic, grandiose structure.” In the second half of the 19th century. on the site of the garden, a three-story stone building was erected with apartments-rooms along long corridors, for rent, which was built on during Soviet times. In the 1870s, the main house housed the board of directors of the Libavo-Romenskaya Railway, then for four years one of the prominent railway figures, V.K. Von-Meck (builder of the Kazan Railway), lived here. In 1888, half of the mezzanine housed the City Auction Chamber, where the houses and estates of the most famous nobles and statesmen of the late 18th - early 19th centuries were sold daily under the hammer. During Soviet times, the artist V.K. Kolenda, who was the author of a number of interesting works depicting the architectural monuments of Moscow, lived and died in this house.
The house on the lane opposite in the first half of the 19th century. was turned by its owner Gorikhvostov into an almshouse for widows and orphans of clergy. One might think that it was joined by what was at the Church of St. Nicholas in the Pillars in the 18th century. almshouse for the poor. The vast chambers of Miloslavsky were used for the almshouse; This building survived until Soviet times.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. In place of one-story buildings along Armenian Lane, three- and four-story houses were erected (No. 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), the lane was paved with cobblestones and illuminated with gas lamps. But only after the Great October Socialist Revolution did real city life begin here. St. Nicholas Church in Stolpi and the Armenian Church were demolished; a large school appeared on the site of the first one. For some time, the main building of the Lazarev Institute housed the House of Culture of Armenia (and now the embassy). In 1905, the Lazarevsky Institute had a revolutionary weapons warehouse, which was discovered only in November 1906, during a search after the assassination attempt on the Moscow mayor Reinboth. © Sytin P.V., Moscow Worker Publishing House, 1958; Portal "Archaeology of Russia", 2004