Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. How the Church of St. Nicholas was built in Khamovniki

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in 1846 on the site of a burnt wooden temple of the Uniate Church. In Eastern Poland, the Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church had a very strong position. But after these lands were included in Russia, the Uniate system was liquidated, and the believers were converted to Orthodoxy. It is known that in 1897, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II visited the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker belongs to the Bialystok-Gdansk Diocese of the Polish Orthodox Church. The temple is made in the classicism style and consists of a main single-nave prayer hall and a bell tower. In plan the building is a cross.

In the 1990s, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was restored. In 1991, Pope John Paul II visited it as a sign of respect for all religions.

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The lands of the present Bialystok Voivodeship were enlightened by the Orthodox faith in the 11th-12th centuries. and were cared for by the Kyiv and Galicia-Volyn bishops. Since ancient times, this territory was called Podlasie because of its position on the border of the “land of the Poles.” Bialystok itself was, according to legend, founded in 1320 by the Lithuanian ruler. book Gediminas, however, the first reliable mention of a settlement in this place dates back only to 1437.

The region owed its prosperity to gr. Branicki, who made the Bialystok court their main residence and built a rich palace here. In 1749, King Augustus III granted Bialystok city rights. According to the Treaty of Tilsit, in 1807 it became part of the Russian Empire, becoming the center of the region of the same name. From 1842-1843 Bialystok was a district town in the Grodno province. In church terms, the region was part of the Brest diocese established in 1798 with its center in Novogrudok, and from 1828 - the Lithuanian diocese.

Bialystok originally had a wooden Orthodox church. The first known project for the construction of a stone church dates back to 1822, however, the current St. Nicholas Cathedral dates back to 1843-1846 and its project was drawn up in St. Petersburg in the Commission of Projects and Estimates. The new church was consecrated by a famous church figure, Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna Joseph (Semashko), a fighter against the union. During the renovation of the church in 1910, the artist Mikhail Avilov painted the interiors in the Vasnetsov style (the image of the Risen Savior on the High Place was preserved).

The most revered icons in the church were the Bialystok Icon of the Mother of God and the Icon of St. Nicholas. In memory of Emperor Nicholas I, a silver chasuble was placed on the Bialystok icon in the winter of 1854-1855 by the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, and on the temple image - in 1877-1878 by the 26th Artillery Brigade stationed in the city. Emperors Alexander I and August 25, 1897 Nicholas II prayed in the cathedral. The Brotherhood of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” was active.

Over time, the relatively small church became too small for parishioners and military units located in the city, and therefore, from the end of the 19th century, the issue of building a new Resurrection Cathedral began to be discussed. At the request of the Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilnius Iuvenaliy (Polovtsev), a state parade ground was provided for him free of charge. For a number of reasons, including due to a lack of funds (the initial estimate was 114,133 rubles), the Grodno provincial architect I.K. Plotnikov only in 1905 drew up a design for a temple in the “Moscow-Yaroslavl” style. This project was not implemented. Construction began after the approval in 1911 of a new project, with elements of Byzantine and Old Russian architecture, owned by K. P. Dontsov, a junior architect of the provincial government.

A few days before the arrival of German troops in 1915, the majestic five-domed cathedral with a bell tower was roughly finished, but after the war the Polish authorities took it away from the Orthodox. For 13 years, parishioners demanded the return of the building, which was gradually collapsing. On holidays, the cathedral square was given over to booths, and the domes were used for arranging attractions. “A marvelous, very large temple, on a spacious square in the middle of the city, now stands, overgrown with grass along the eaves, and on one of the domes there is a rising birch tree,” only “the gilded crosses on the domes... shine in the rays of the sun, like new,” - this is what the building looked like in 1937. By order of the Bialystok voivode on April 12, 1938, the cathedral was blown up and in its place (Sienkiewicz Street) the existing building of the police commandant’s office was built.

The fate of the Resurrection Cathedral is no exception. Already in the early 1920s, all the military churches of Bialystok were closed and then rebuilt into churches or destroyed: Assumption - 64th Kazan Infantry Regiment (after 1902, now a church on Traugutta Street), Nikolsky - 4th Mariupol Hussar Regiment ( wooden, rebuilt in 1897 from the former royal pavilion), St. Zechariah and Elizabeth - 4th Kharkov Uhlan Regiment (1911), as well as house churches at the men's gymnasium and real school. On Kavaleriyskaya street. Only the rebuilt former regimental church of St. Seraphim of Sarov.

A little earlier than the above-mentioned parish St. Nicholas Church, the Alexander Nevsky Church, designed in a classicist style, was consecrated in 1830 in the former Branitsky palace. The design of the iconostasis was drawn up by the famous architect A.P. Melnikov, and the palace architect K. Ratgauz participated in the work. The icons were painted by Academy of Arts professors A.E. Egorov and V.K. Shebuev. In 1841, the Institute of Noble Maidens opened in the palace, and the church became an institute church. When Poland gained independence, the Polish authorities closed the temple and now, in the building occupied by the Medical Academy, not a trace remains of it.

The persecution of Orthodoxy during the interwar period also affected the St. Nicholas parish. In 1935-1936 it was barely possible to defend it from the so-called. “Stake of Orthodox Poles named after Marshal Pilsudski,” which advocated the Polonization of the Orthodox Church. In 1951, the boundaries of the new Bialystok-Bielsk diocese (later Bialystok-Gdansk) were determined, and St. Nicholas Church became its cathedral. In 1955-1958, the cathedral was repaired; in 1956, the lower church of St. Seraphim of Sarov, where the iconostasis from the former regimental Seraphim Church was installed. In 1975-1976, the old paintings were knocked down from the walls, and the temple was re-painted by the artist Joseph Lotovsky.

In 1981, the Bialystok diocese was headed by Archbishop Savva (Grytsuniak), who permanently lived at the church. In the same year, with his blessing, the Brotherhood of Orthodox Youth, now the largest in Poland, was established. In May 1991, for the first time in Polish history, the Orthodox church was visited by Pope John Paul II, who was received by Archbishop Sava himself. Since 1998, he has headed the Polish Orthodox Church in the rank of metropolitan, and the diocese is governed by Bishop Jacob.

St. Nicholas Cathedral is a good example of late classicism. Above its main volume, a massive helmet-shaped dome rises on a high light drum. Above the entrance is a single-tier bell tower. The architectural design is modest: triangular pediments, pilasters, crackers, semi-circular windows. There are seven bells on the belfry, the largest of which weighs 27 pounds. Inside, a three-tiered iconostasis from the time the temple was built, created in Vilna, has been preserved. It is painted white, gilded and richly carved. The icons of the royal gates were painted in 1844 by the artist Malakhov. The Bialystok Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary hangs near the right choir. This is a list from the 1940s-1950s with a miraculous image that disappeared after evacuation to Russia during the First World War. Prayers are constantly served in front of the icon.

The main shrine of the temple is the incorruptible relics of the martyr. baby Gabriel of Bialystok (Zabludovsky), transferred on September 22, 1992 from the Cathedral of Grodno in Belarus. Gabriel was born and lived in 1684-1690 in the village. Zverki (Zverki), 8 km south of Bialystok. As stated in his life, he was “martyred by the Jews” for ritual purposes. In 1746, the Zabludovsky Church, where St. baby, burned, but his relics survived and were transferred to the Slutsk Trinity Monastery. At the same time, the celebration of the saint’s memory was established, and on April 20 / May 3, thousands of pilgrims flock to Bialystok, Zverki and Zabludov.

Modern Bialystok has up to 300,000 inhabitants. Here, as in the Kholm region, there were no repressions and relocations of the Orthodox people in the interwar period and in 1946-1947, therefore the Orthodox make up about half of the population of the voivodeship and 2/3 of the believers of the Polish Orthodox Church. In addition to the cathedral, the city has an Orthodox convent, nine parishes, a publishing house and a printing house "Ortdruk".

The church of St. attached to the cathedral. Mary Magdalene - the oldest Orthodox church (1758) surviving in Bialystok, stands on the old cemetery, where several Orthodox burials have survived. It belonged to the Uniates for a long time. Around 1855 the cemetery and church were finally returned to the Orthodox parish.

After the pogrom of Orthodoxy carried out in interwar Poland, each surviving Orthodox church is of a certain historical value. This can also be said about the classic St. Nicholas Cathedral, which stands in the main city of Orthodox Poland and testifies to the long history of Orthodoxy in the now Catholic country.

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It was built with the diligence of His Holiness Patriarch Adrian and consecrated by him in 1700. Before the construction of the cathedral, there were three stone churches here - Assumption, Nikolaevskaya and Sergievskaya. He united them: on the top floor there was the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on the bottom floor there was the refectory Church of St. Sergius, and in the bell tower there was the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It took four years to build and decorate it, from 1696 to 1700. During the construction of the cathedral, the Patriarch was actively assisted by the abbot of the monastery, Simon and his brethren, and the cell attendant of His Holiness, Hieromonk Gerasim.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, through a wooden gallery running from the southwestern corner of the façade of the covered porch, was connected to the upper chambers of the Patriarch's cells, which was explained by the desire to make it easier for the sick Patriarch to enter the temple. This gallery was apparently dismantled immediately after his death. In the southwestern corner of the church there was a monastery sacristy, and in the northwestern corner there was a monastery storeroom, which, as legend says, served under Patriarch Adrian as his prayer room, from which he listened to church services through the window overlooking the cathedral church. This window was subsequently blocked.

In the upper Nicholas Church in 1727, the walls were painted with gilded stamps depicting Gospel events, and the altar in 1717 was decorated with picturesque images from Sacred History. The vast dome depicts the Ascension of the Lord and the heavenly armies. Painting was resumed several times.

Near the upper St. Nicholas Church, on both sides, from the north and west, there is an extensive and bright porch that goes around the upper church from the north and west. It was plastered and in 1766 and 1767 it was completely covered with good paintings with stucco decorations, beautiful alfresco frames, mostly depicting the life and miracles of St. Nicholas.

Under Metropolitan Plato in 1776–1778. In the upper church of the St. Nicholas Cathedral, a cast-iron floor was laid instead of a wooden one. In 1800, a choir appeared on the western wall, which was entered from a porch, magnificently painted. Seminary choristers sang on them during bishop's services.

In the north-eastern side of the St. Nicholas Church, above the very entrance to it, there is a bell tower, almost the same height as the temple itself with a dome, divided into five tiers, of which the above-mentioned entrance to the church is located in the first, in the second, according to information from the eighties years of the 19th century, there was a monastery sacristy, in the third there was a small church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God, painted in 1767 with excellent iconography in silver-gilded stamps, in the fourth in 1784 a fighting clock with quarters was installed, in the fifth the bells themselves hang , components of church bells.

In 1787, under Metropolitan Plato, the Assumption Church inside was completely restored and covered entirely with gold and silver. Subsequently, it was restored several times. Services in it, due to its small capacity, were performed only on church holidays, which, with rare exceptions, is observed to this day.

On the lower floor there is the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, a warm winter temple consisting of three parts - the altar, the church itself and a large refectory supported in the middle by a pillar. As the history of the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery testifies, there was a fraternal meal here, in which, since 1775, students of the Perervinsky (Platonov) Theological Seminary had a table. Nearby were the bakery, kitchen and granary of the seminary. The walls of the Sergius Church were covered with paintings in 1737, which were subsequently renewed several times, the iconostasis was carved, all gilded. In a silver robe, made in 1865, there was a copy of the temple icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which stood in the St. Nicholas Church in a golden robe. In 1808, under Metropolitan Platon, new cast iron floors were made in the Sergius Church. In 1894, instead of the previous wooden iconostasis, a beautiful two-tier iconostasis was made from Italian marble in the Byzantine style.

Object of cultural heritage of federal significance.

Icon of the Resurrection of Christ.

Restoration work was completed on the entire façade of the cathedral, and all roofs were replaced. The four small domes have a roof with a coating that imitates gilding. The large dome of the cathedral and the dome of the bell tower are gilded with gold leaf.

The courtyard was improved and the residential buildings were reconstructed, the residents of which were moved to comfortable apartments. In these premises a temple was created in honor of St. Basil the Blessed - the sacrament of baptism is performed there. In the same buildings there is a refectory for receiving guests, a dining room for staff, a prosphora room, various storage rooms, and a garage. On the site of the demolished dilapidated buildings, a permanent place for consecration and distribution of holy water was equipped with a mosaic icon of the Baptism of the Lord and a canopy. Work to improve and maintain the cathedral in good condition is constantly ongoing.

Icon of the Epiphany - Baptism.

The first temple building (wooden) was erected in the middle of the 17th century. It was intended for the parish church of the palace settlement of Yelokhovo near Moscow.

In 1694 it was replaced by a new wooden building, which did not last long.

From 1717 (or 1722) to 1731, a stone temple was built in its place, begun with the assistance of Emperor Peter the Great and Princess Paraskeva Ioannovna. In 1790, the refectory was rebuilt and a four-tier bell tower was added. The renovation of the temple was carried out in 1837-1845 according to the design of the architect E.D. Tyurin.

The refectory and bell tower of the 18th century were preserved in the newly created architectural ensemble.

Since 1945, the Epiphany Church has been the patriarchal cathedral.

The main altar of the cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. There are two chapels in the temple: the left one is in the name of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the Wonderworker, the right one is in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The patronal feasts of the church are celebrated on January 6/19, December 6/19 and May 9/22, March 25/April 7, respectively.

The most revered shrines of the temple are the relics of the great prayer book for the Russian land, St. Alexis of Moscow (d. 1378; commemorated February 12/25 and May 20/June 2, October 5/18); miraculous (memory 8/21 July and 22 October/4 November).

The Epiphany Cathedral was the main place of celebrations during the election of Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod in 1945 and Metropolitan Pimen of Krutitsy and Kolomna in 1971 to the Moscow Patriarchal throne. To participate in these celebrations, many heads of local churches again came to Moscow to the Yelokhovsky Cathedral.

In 1978, Archpriest Matthew Stadnyuk was appointed rector of the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral and elevated to the rank of protopresbyter. He serves in the cathedral to this day. Father Matthew enjoys great respect and love from his parishioners.

On this day, the Orthodox people, as in times of unrest and strife, turned their gaze to the Mother of God with faith and hope. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, with many archpastors, fervently prayed for the salvation of Russia at the throne of God and before the Miraculous Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God.

And she did not allow enmity and hatred to spread across the face of the Russian land.

The Epiphany Cathedral houses the great shrines of Russian Orthodoxy.

In 1930, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Kazan” was brought to the cathedral. The image is one of the first copies of the image of the Mother of God, discovered in 1579 in the city of Kazan. In 1612, the miraculous image of the Mother of God was brought from Kazan to Moscow by soldiers who came to help in the fight against the attacking Poles. With faith the warriors accepted the holy icon, from which many miracles began to appear. Having learned about the help of the Mother of God to the soldiers, Prince Pozharsky, who was going to help Moscow with his warriors, took the miraculous icon with him, and the soldiers constantly resorted to it with warm prayers for help.

The Icon of the Mother of God “Kazan” is a miraculous image.

In 1613, the attacking enemies, having lost hope of victory, themselves surrendered the Kremlin and asked Prince Pozharsky for mercy. In honor of this, a religious procession was held with the Kazan icon of the Mother of God to bring solemn thanksgiving to the Lord and His Most Holy Mother for deliverance from the enemy. After the enemy was expelled from Moscow, Prince Pozharsky placed the holy icon of the Kazan Mother of God in the Church of the Entry of the Virgin Mary into the Temple on Sretenka. After the creation and consecration of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square in 1636, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God was transferred to it.

The holiness of his life, attested by God before his compatriots in the miracles he performed, was also known to foreigners who did not believe in Christ. During the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the wife of Tatar Khan Chanibek (Dzhanibek) became blind, and he turned to the prince: “We heard that you have a servant of God who will pray for anything and will be heard by God. Release him to us." Saint Alexy, with his strong faith in God and hope for His all-powerful help, went to the capital of the khan and with his prayer healed the sick woman, restoring her sight. And during the difficult years of the 20th century, Saint Alexy did not leave his All-Russian flock.

St. Sergius of Radonezh, abbot of the Russian land, diligently helped Saint Alexy in his many years of monastic feat, combined with zealous service to the Church and the Fatherland. Saint Alexy is a man of prayer and a representative for the Russian people before God. The relics of the Saint, which are one of the great shrines of the believers of Moscow and the entire Orthodox world, are surrounded with great reverence.

In the main chapel of the Epiphany Cathedral there is an icon of the Mother of God “Mammal” with the following inscription: “This holy icon was written and illuminated on the holy Mount Athos in the monastery of the holy Prophet Elijah and is sent as a gift and blessing to the reigning city of Moscow to the Church of the Epiphany, which is on the Field of Elohov. . In unforgettable memory of the 2-month stay in this temple of the miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos “Mammal,” which belonged to the above-mentioned monastery when Archimandrite Gabriel was its rector. 1894."

Icon of the Mother of God "Mammal".

In the St. Nicholas chapel of the cathedral there is a very ancient icon of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, Wonderworker. During the 1917 revolution, the image was protected by the state. There is a legend that on May 5, 1616, on the site of the current cathedral, a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas was built and illuminated in the presence of the Tsar.

Icon. Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, wonderworker - miraculous image.

Saint Nicholas is revered all over the world. Not only Orthodox Christians, but also non-Orthodox Christians approach the image of the saint with great faith. Moving away from the icon, they say: “How He helps us in everything!” The saint and wonderworker Nicholas became famous for his great deeds of charity: “There He saves captives from heavy slavery; here it feeds the desperate in times of famine; in one place he returns dead babies to inconsolable mothers; in another, it saves innocently convicted people from the shameful death, then it prevents the crimes that poverty threatens; sometimes he saves drowning and stranded travelers at sea; then unexpectedly rewards flagging zeal for piety.”

In 1991, the cathedral became the location of the newly discovered holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. On the way from St. Petersburg to the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery, for several months the relics of the saint were in the Epiphany Cathedral. From early morning until late at night, people walked in an endless stream to the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. The solemn meeting and farewell attracted an unprecedented number of believers. The farewell to the saint was especially solemn and touching, when, upon leaving the cathedral, thousands of parishioners sang Easter hymns with tears of tenderness, as St. Seraphim had predicted, although these were not days of Easter celebrations.

Icon. Great Martyr Healer Panteleimon.

Thousands of believers stood in line to approach the shrine. A large number of sick people were brought, among them were those possessed, who received relief from a serious illness.

Icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost”.

The Icon of the Mother of God “Deliverance from the Troubles of the Suffering” is a very ancient and rare icon. Celebrated on February 5/18.

The image of the Crucifixion and the Passion of the Lord, with the image of the miraculous icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Ever-Virgin Mary. Icon of the late 18th - early 19th centuries.

Using materials from the book “Epiphany Cathedral”, Moscow, 2001.

Photo: St. Nicholas Cathedral

Photo and description

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Yeisk is a majestic and beautiful temple, which is located on Panteleimon Square and is located in a building restored in the late 1990s. building of the cinema "October".

In 1890, on the site of the current cathedral, thanks to the efforts of parishioners, a church was built, consecrated in honor of St. Panteleimon. The temple was small, and in appearance it strongly resembled an ancient tower. Behind the wooden fence of the Panteleimon Church there was a men's parochial school. Simple at first glance, the temple stood out with its magnificent bell tower, built a little later.

In 1917, after the revolution, mass destruction of churches in Russia was carried out. In the 30s Yeisk churches, including the Patelemonovsky Church, suffered the same sad fate. The Oktyabr cinema was built on this site. In the 90s, when the return of illegally held church buildings to the Orthodox Church began, the cinema was reconstructed into a temple and consecrated as St. Nicholas Cathedral. The largest bell in the Southern Federal District was installed on the bell tower of the cathedral. Its weight is 6 tons.

The cathedral delights citizens and guests of the city with its beautiful decoration. In the main hall of the cathedral you can see beautiful icons, in front of which parishioners can pray and light a candle. There is a shop at the temple that sells church souvenirs, candles, icons and a wide range of church literature.

The Russian Far East is famous for its ancient shrines - various cathedrals and temples of the Orthodox faith. They were built here at the request of believers and sufferers, who really wanted to have a place in their region for services and prayers. The 20th century greeted all these buildings as usual, but some were spoiled by time, and in the early 2000s, a massive reconstruction of all architectural religious buildings in Vladivostok began.

Eight golden domes, cast in Zadonsk, decorated the new, not yet consecrated temple. Inside it was decorated with beautiful frescoes by artists invited from famous art centers in Russia. A carved altar, rose windows and a wonderful room for the church choir - everything is here as it should be. The church choir consists of parishioners and parishioners who themselves express a desire to sing here for the glory of God. The temple was ready and consecrated in 2003, and since then it has been called a monastery dedicated to the memory of fishermen and sailors who remained at sea forever. The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Vladivostok uniquely fits into the overall landscape of the city - it stands on the main square, and its domes, the largest of which weighs more than 250 kilograms, are visible beyond the city limits and symbolize the eternally unfading light of memory of all those who died in the water element. Many pilgrims and tourists come here to see the temple in order to see with their own eyes such a young cathedral that has already acquired such fame. Here, naturally, there is an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which, according to parishioners, heals and heals. See for yourself and tell your friends!