History of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Temple of Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki. Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki: how to get there
The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki is an ancient building that was erected in the 17th century.
It is an architectural monument and is known throughout the world.
At present, this is a very beautiful place, which is one of the most visited churches in Moscow.
A bit of history
Until the 16th century, the area belonged to suburban areas, cattle were grazed on its meadows. Later, the Novodevichy Convent was founded there. Gradually, several settlements formed around. They were inhabited by working peasants and artisans.
One of these settlements was Khamovnaya Sloboda. Weavers lived in it, who moved to Moscow from the Tver region. Masters were engaged in the maintenance of the royal court. They made mainly linen for tablecloths. Previously, the old Russian word "kham" meant "flax", hence the name Khamovnaya Sloboda. Later, the whole area became known as such.
At first, the settlement was quite large and included about 40 households. She also had her own church of St. Nicholas. It was built from wood. It is mentioned in documents of 1625. A little later, the wooden church was replaced with a stone one. This was in 1657. After 20 years, the church officially received the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the metropolitan stables. In 1679, the construction of a new building began nearby.
The building style has also changed. Initially, the building was erected in a simple, strict style. But the new temple has become more elegant, bright and pretentious. This style was called "wonderful pattern." Its characteristics:
- bright colors;
- multi-colored tiles;
- a large number of decorative elements.
The cathedral was built of brick, and the decoration was carried out with white stone using red-green tiles.
During the battle with Napoleon in 1812-1813. the building was badly damaged. It was completely restored by 1849, and during this period, wall paintings appeared there. During its existence, the cathedral was restored 3 times, but services never stopped in it, and it was always open to parishioners.
Shrines of the temple
One of the main shrines of the Church of St. Nicholas is icon of the mother of God the guarantor of sinners. She can be seen in the left aisle of the temple, which was named after her. This icon is an exact list from the image of an old Russian letter, located in the Nikolaevsky Monastery, which is located in the Oryol region. In 1848, one of the parishioners donated this icon to the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki.
The legend says: the former owner of the image began to notice that after he acquired the icon, fragrant oil drops began to appear on its surface.
Many sick people were healed with the help of prayer and this oil. After the transfer of the image to the temple, the miracles continued, and the people began to flow there like a river. In 2008 the temple celebrated its 160th anniversary.
Icon of St. Alexis (Metropolitan of Moscow) is another shrine. It was painted in 1688 and is on the main iconostasis. The author is icon painter Ivan Maksimov.
No less revered image of the Smolensk Icon of the Most Pure Mother of God, which was created in the 17th century, image of the martyr John the Warrior written in the 18th century. Also, the main chapel of the temple keeps a reliquary with particles of holy relics that belong to different saints.
Church activity
The doors of the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki are open daily for visitors. The schedule of services can be viewed on the official website of the shrine. The activity of the temple is a public service during which communion (the sacrament of the Eucharist) is performed.
On Sundays, Parents' Saturdays and on Twelve Feasts, the morning service is held at 7 and 10 am, and on Sundays and on the eve of the All-Night Vigil, the service begins at 5 pm.
At the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, the guarantor of sinners, on Tuesdays during the evening service, they perform akathist singing. On Thursday there is Vespers, during which the akathist to St. Nicholas is read. The temple operates:
- general education gymnasium of the Orthodox type;
- Sunday School;
- church children's choir.
How to get to the cathedral
The Church of St. Nicholas is a well-known landmark and architectural monument. Every day it is visited by many parishioners and tourists. The temple is located near Komsomolsky Prospekt, between the streets of Leo Tolstoy and Timur Frunze. You can get there by metro or other public transport. The nearest metro station to this place is Park Kultury. The exact address of the building: Lev Tolstoy street, 2.
The first mention of a wooden temple dates back to 1625, in 1657 it was already made of stone, and in 1677 the church was already named by its full name "Nicholas the Wonderworker at the Metropolitan's stables."
The current church was founded somewhat away from the original on May 21, 1679 under Tsar Fedor Alekseevich, and the consecration of the main church took place on June 25, 1682. A one-pillar refectory with side chapels and a bell tower were added later.
In 1812, during the Patriotic War of 1812, the interior of the building was partially destroyed, but was restored by 1849. In 1845, wall painting appeared in the temple. At the beginning of the 19th century, a fence and gates were erected.
The temple was restored in 1896, 1949 and 1972. Stayed active all the time.
In 1992, a bell weighing 108 pounds was raised to the bell tower.
In 2008, the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki celebrated the 160th anniversary of the transfer and glorification under its vaults.
Ancient temple in modern history
Khamovniki is one of the oldest districts of modern Moscow. A few centuries ago, the settlement of weavers was located here. Craftsmen earned their living by selling cloth. The weavers were called khamovniks, after the name of the cheap silk they produced - "hamyan". From here the settlement got its name - Khamovnaya, and not at all from the word boor (as some people think), with which we reward ignorant people.
Even before the revolution, many famous temples and monasteries were located in Khamovniki. Some of them did not escape the fate of destruction during the years of unbridled persecution. This misfortune bypassed the ancient temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and to this day it remains an adornment of the ancient district.
This temple was built at the personal expense of craftsmen-weavers. They considered St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, to be their patron. In honor of this great saint, the church in Khamovniki was consecrated. From the beginning of its history, it was a wooden building, the mention of which dates back to 1625. And already in 1757, the chronicle speaks of a stone temple. The architecture resembles a ship - such a scheme for the construction of Orthodox churches was adopted in the second half of the 17th century. It should be noted that the hipped bell tower of the Nikolo-Khamovniki Church is one of the largest in the capital.
In 1812, when the French ruled in Moscow for a short time, the temple was partially destroyed and completely restored only by 1849. A few years earlier, a wall painting appeared in it, which contemporaries can still see today.
Nikolskaya Church never closed. And even during the years of militant atheism, people could come and pray for those who needed help at that difficult time. As then, so today, people who come to the temple, be sure to kneel before the shrine of the temple - the icon of the Mother of God "The guarantor of sinners."
Four years ago, the parish celebrated a memorable date: 160 years ago, the miraculous image of the Mother of God was brought under the vaults of the temple and glorified.
Acquisition by the temple of its main shrine
The history of this event is as follows. The image was kept in the Nikolo-Odrin monastery in the Oryol province. This icon was forgotten by everyone, until the wife of one merchant, whose son was prone to severe seizures, came to the monastery and asked to serve a prayer service in front of the image of the “Guest of Sinners”. A prayer service was served, after which the two-year-old sick child recovered. After the incident, the icon was transferred to the monastery church, where in the future it repeatedly showed its miraculous power to those who pray, and to this day it is kept in the Nikolo-Odrin Monastery.
And in the Nikolo-Khamovniki temple there was a different image. In 1846, a hieromonk was sent from the Oryol Monastery to Moscow to make a robe for the miraculous icon in the capital. He was sheltered by Lieutenant Colonel D.N. Boncheskul. Wishing to thank the host for his hospitality, the hieromonk sent him a copy of the miraculous image, which was placed in a home icon case along with other icons. Soon people began to flock to this list from everywhere and received healing from a miraculous image.
An unusual shine and drops of oily moisture were noticed on the icon. They began to anoint the sick with this world, after which they became healthy. Seeing the miracles that came from the image, Dmitry Boncheskul donated the icon "Guest of Sinners" to the St. Nicholas Church in Khamovniki. This is how the miraculous image ended up in our church and to this day remains its main shrine.
Rector of the church and parish activity
Today the rector of the temple is Archpriest Andrey Ovchinnikov. To date, the church has a Sunday school and a youth group, which was organized in the spring of 2010, with the blessing of the rector.
Meetings are held weekly on Saturdays at 3:00 pm in the temple building. After the end of the meetings, members of the youth group take part in the evening service in the temple, as well as in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and holidays.
For informal communication, discussion and coordination of work, a group was created on the VKontakte social network - the Youth Group of the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki (http://vkontakte.ru/club19982954). It hosts interactive discussions of work plans, meeting times and other topical issues related to the activities of the youth group in the parish, uploads photos from various events, pilgrimages and excursions
As part of the meetings of the youth group, joint tea parties are held, discussions of various problems of church and public life, viewing and discussion of feature films on topical issues of church and public life. Members of the group take part in the social service provided by the parish.
Each temple has its own history, its own birthday and its own name. The temple grows to the place, we grow to the temple. A path stretches from the heart to the soul, and an invisible thread firmly binds him together, as if with the dearest, dearest person, so constant, reliable and at the same time changing, alive and real. This is exactly what the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the 17th city hospital in Kyiv has become for us.
In the center of the city in Pechersk, in a hospital founded in 1975, until the beginning of 2000, no one even thought about the possible appearance of a church here in honor of one of the most revered saints in Rus'. But, as they say, "man proposes, but God disposes." And so it happened. The first liturgy, in the gatehouse at the gates of the hospital, was served in the same year 2000 on December 19, on the feast day of the patron saint of the church.
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in twelve years. From the gatehouse of three by four meters, through the efforts of the rector of the temple, Archpriest Vladimir Kostochka, the head physician of the hospital, Demin Nikolai Ivanovich, and also the parishioners, the temple grew. The parish community was formed and rallied.
Patronal temple holidays on May 22 and December 19 are always held with special warmth and cordiality. Festive worship, procession, common meal.
Among the shrines of the temple are our favorite and revered ancient icons of the 18th - 19th centuries. - Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and the Savior Not Made by Hands. The great shrine, which makes one kneel before it with bated breath, is a particle of the tree of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. Written icons with particles of relics - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), martyr. Catherine, mch. Barbarians, Rev. Jonah of Kyiv, Holy Blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia of Murom, martyr. George the Victorious, St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Sergius of Radonezh.
In the annals of memorable days for us, there will forever remain the days when specially brought shrines stayed in the temple, among them: the miraculous image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, called "Krupetsky" from the Krupetsky Baturinsky Convent, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Ostrobramskaya", a particle of the relics of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon, delivered from Athos. The presence of this shrine is associated with a miracle of healing, which happened through prayers to the saint in our church. During the stay of a particle of relics, people walked continuously, prayers were served every hour. Accidentally passing by and learning that in the temple there is a particle of the relics of the great saint, the man went to pray for his work colleague. The woman had vision problems and required surgery.
In the simplicity of his heart, he asked the saint that everything would be resolved safely. Then he himself accidentally learned from a sick woman that on the same night she dreamed of a martyr. Panteleimon, and the operation was not subsequently needed. A month after those events, he again passed near the temple and already specifically went in order to tell about the miracle through prayers to the martyr. Panteleimon and thank you.
Spiritual talks (for adults), Sunday school (for children), church singing lessons and church reading lessons are regularly held at the temple, as well as pilgrimages to the holy places of our country. In the last three years alone, we have visited more than forty cities and towns in Ukraine. We visited twenty-six monasteries, praying at the locally revered shrines.
The Orthodox work at the temple - a library, a music library, a video library.
In the temple are performed: Baptism, Wedding, Unction, funeral. You can invite a priest to confess and give communion to the patient in the ward or at home. By agreement with the priest, you can consecrate an apartment, office, car.
The temple is open every day from 10.00 to 18.00.
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HISTORY in pictures:
Appearing in a dream to Saint Constantine Equal-to-the-Apostles, Saint Nicholas urged him to release the unjustly condemned military leaders, who, being in prison, prayerfully called for the help of the saint. He performed many other miracles as he labored in his ministry for many years. Through the prayers of the saint, the city of Mira was saved from a severe famine. Appearing in a dream to an Italian merchant and leaving him as a pledge three gold coins, which he found in his hand, waking up in the morning, asked him to sail to the Worlds and sell life there. More than once the saint saved those drowning in the sea, led them out of captivity and imprisonment in dungeons.
Having reached a ripe old age, Saint Nicholas peacefully departed to the Lord († 345-351). His honest relics were kept incorruptible in the local cathedral church and exuded a healing myrrh, from which many received healings. In 1087, his relics were transferred to the Italian city of Bari, where they rest to this day (May 22 NS, May 9 SS).
Veneration of Nicholas the Wonderworker in Rus'
The name is one of the most revered in the entire Christian world. According to legend, he lived at the turn of the 3rd-4th centuries (sometimes they even give the exact dates of his life: 260-343) and was a bishop in the city of Myra in Lycia (Asia Minor), from where his nickname comes from - Myrlikiysky (often they write - World of Lycian ). Even during his lifetime, St. Nicholas became famous for many deeds and miracles for the glory of Christ. Therefore, the day of his burial - December 6 (19) - became a common Christian holiday. In Rus', this day began to be called Winter Nicholas.
In Rus', the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker gains fame quite early. So, in the Kiev Sophia Cathedral, built in the middle of the 11th century by Yaroslav the Wise, among the most revered saints there is also a mosaic image of St. Nicholas. However, the special veneration of this saint within Rus' begins in the second half of the 11th century. This was due to several reasons.
First of all, in 1087, the relics of the saint were stolen from the city of Mira by the Normans and transported to the Italian city of Bari, first to the church of St. Eustathius, and then, in 1089, by order of Pope Urban II, they were transferred to a specially built in the name of St. Nicholas Catholic Cathedral, where they are kept to this day. Rus' very quickly responded to this event by creating a literary monument - "The Tale of the Tale, about the transfer of honest relics to the saints of our father Nikola, Archbishop of the city of Mira." True, it does not say anything about the fact of the theft of relics, which in itself is very characteristic - some kind of Western influence on the author of the Tale is clearly traced in this. Moreover, the Legend itself gives a wonderful explanation to the events that happened with the relics of Nicholas of Myra. It told in detail how Saint Nicholas appeared to the presbyter of the city of Bari and ordered him to go to the city of Mira, which had been devastated by that time, and take his relics. The inhabitants of Bari, pretending to be merchants, went to the Worlds, and found there a shrine with the relics of a saint, filled with fragrant myrrh, which they brought to Bari. They entered their native land on May 9 (22), and immediately many miracles happened near the relics. Since then, this day has been considered the second holiday in honor of the famous saint.
In addition, in the same years, written sources recorded for the first time a miracle from St. Nicholas, manifested in Kyiv. This first miraculous appearance of the saint in Rus' is described in a monument called “The Miracle of a Drowned Child, Save Saint Nicholas Alive.” It tells how on the day of the celebration of Saints Boris and Gleb, sailing on a boat across the Dnieper from Vyshgorod to Kiev, the wife of a wealthy Kyivian dropped a child into the river, who immediately drowned. Heartbroken parents appealed to the mercy of Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the same night, the servants of the St. Sophia Cathedral found a living wet child in front of the icon of St. Nicholas. The Metropolitan was informed about this, and he ordered that the whole city be notified. The baby's parents were soon found and, to their own and everyone's amazement, recognized him as their drowned son. Since then, by the way, the icon in front of which the wet baby was found began to be called the icon of Nicholas the Wet and for many centuries was kept in St. Sophia Cathedral, in the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas.
“The Miracle of a Drowned Child” showed that now Nicholas the Wonderworker proved himself to be the protector and savior of the Russian people, which means he took Rus' itself under his miraculous protection. In any case, this is how these events were interpreted in ancient Russian literary and philosophical monuments. Already at the end of the 11th century, the day of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas began to be considered a holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church. In any case, in the calendar of the Gospel of 1144, May 9 (22) was designated as a holiday. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, this day was called the spring Nikola.
But here's what's interesting. If the Byzantine church revered St. Nicholas in winter as a common Christian holiday, then St. Nicholas in Byzantium was not recognized as a holiday, because it was established by the pope, and the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, stolen by the Normans, ended up within the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, in this case, the Russian Church showed clear independence. Why did this happen?
Apparently here, on the one hand, the long-standing contacts of Ancient Rus' with the West, which continue to maintain their relevance, appeared. On the other hand, a more loyal than the Byzantine attitude towards the Roman Church continued to exist among the clergy, who supported the principles of the Cyril and Methodius tradition. In addition, many ancient Russian princes were associated with Western European princely and royal families by dynastic ties. A significant role was played by the desire during this period of the Russian princes to prove their independence from Constantinople.
But the most interesting thing is that the establishment of a non-canonical, from the Byzantine point of view, holiday was also supported by the Greek leadership of the Russian Church. Most likely, this situation was explained by the fact that, recognizing the new feast of the famous saint and establishing his special veneration in Rus', the Greek metropolitans sought to weaken the influence of early Russian Christianity, close to the Cyril and Methodius tradition. The fact is that gradually the cult of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker began to supplant the veneration of St. Clement of the Pope of Rome, and the significance of St. Sophia Cathedral, as the main temple of Kievan Rus, gradually began to supplant the same significance of the Church of the Tithes. And in general, the special veneration of Nicholas the Wonderworker, in the end, weakened the influence of the cult of Clement of the Pope of Rome (and the Cyrillic and Methodian tradition in general) precisely because initially both of these cults expressed the same idea - the idea of independence of the Russian Church and from Constantinople , and from Rome. However, from the point of view of the Greek Church, the cult of St. Nicholas was, so to speak, "more manageable."
However, the patronage of Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Russian Land did not depend on any calculations. In subsequent years and centuries, many miracles occurred in Rus' associated with the name of St. Nicholas. So, around 1113, near Novgorod, in one stream on the island of Lipno in Lake Ilmen, an icon of St. Nicholas appeared, miraculously healing the Novgorod prince Mstislav. At the beginning of the 13th century, Rus' acquired another miraculous icon - in obedience to the repeated command of St. Nicholas, the priest from Korsun, Evstafiy, took the icon from the church in which Prince Vladimir was baptized and, having traveled by a roundabout waterway, through Riga and Novgorod, brought it to Ryazan lands to the city Zaraysk, where this icon became famous for many miracles. Thus, an icon-painting type developed in Rus', which became known as "Nikola Zaraisky".
In the XIII-XIV centuries. St. Nikolay accomplished the miracle of saving Mozhaisk near Moscow from the Mongol raid. The inhabitants of Mozhaisk passed from mouth to mouth a legend about how St. Nicholas appeared in the sky before the Mongol-Tatars who besieged the city: with one hand he raised a sparkling sword, ready to fall on the heads of enemies, in the other he held the city of Mozhaisk as a sign of its protection. Frightened by a formidable sign, the enemies fled in horror. Since then, Nicholas the Wonderworker has been considered the heavenly patron of the city, and the main city cathedral of Mozhaisk was dedicated to St. Nicholas.
In the Nikolsky Church of Mozhaisk, there was a wooden carved sculpture of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, unusual for traditional Orthodox ideas, and made in an unexpected iconographic type: the saint is depicted with a sword in his right hand, and in his left hand he holds a conventional image of a protected city surrounded by a battlement wall with a temple inside (the carved image of the temple, which was inserted into the image of the city, unfortunately, was lost in antiquity). The carved sculpture of the saint eventually became the object of a separate worship. From the end of the XV century. special pilgrimages were made to it, in the 16th-17th centuries. the sculpture was decorated with precious stones, pearls and gold.
When, how and by whom the carved image of St. Nicholas was created, and when it ended up in Mozhaisk is unknown. For example, the time of creation of a sculpture is determined both by the end of the 13th century and by the middle of the 14th century. and even the beginning of the fifteenth century. According to legend, the image of this sculpture was on the coins issued under Prince Andrei, the son of Dmitry Donskoy. It is also assumed that this sculpture was originally placed on the city's Nikolsky gates, and later it was transferred to the St. Nicholas Church.
But be that as it may, this ancient and non-standard image of St. Nicholas became very popular in Rus' and served as the basis for the birth of a new iconographic type, which was called “Nikola of Mozhaisk”. And since that time, many icons appeared in various Russian cities, on which the saint held a sword in his right hand, and a temple in his left. Now the very ancient sculpture of Nikola Mozhaisky is in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
And later in Rus' there were many miracles, which the Orthodox people considered miracles created by St. Nicholas. For example, at the end of the 15th century, Nicholas the Wonderworker, together with the Monk Varlaam Khutynsky, became famous for the healing of the Grand Duke's youth. This list could go on for quite some time.
The main thing was that St. Nicholas became a truly popular saint, simply called Nicholas or Mykola. A huge number of literary monuments are dedicated to him (more than 500 manuscripts of the 12th-20th centuries are kept in the Russian State Library alone), temples, monasteries, and icons. And the very image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as a merciful, kind, earthly saint, continues to sanctify the hearts of Russian people for many centuries.
About Saint Nicholas and his relics
In the 11th century, the Greek empire was going through a difficult time. The Turks devastated its possessions in Asia Minor, devastated cities and villages, killing their inhabitants, and accompanied their cruelty by insulting holy temples, relics, icons and books. Muslims attempted to destroy the relics of St. Nicholas, deeply revered by the entire Christian world.
In 792, Caliph Aaron al-Rashid sent the chief of the fleet, Humaid, to sack the island of Rhodes. Having devastated this island, Humaid went to the Lycian Worlds with the intention of breaking open the tomb of St. Nicholas. But instead of it, he broke open another, which stood next to the tomb of the Saint.
The desecration of shrines revolted not only Eastern, but also Western Christians. Especially feared for the relics of St. Nicholas were Christians in Italy, among whom were many Greeks. Residents of the city of Bar, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, decided to save the relics of St. Nicholas. In 1087, baronial and Venetian merchants went to Antioch to trade. Both of them planned to take the relics of St. Nicholas on the way back and transport them to Italy.
In this intention, the inhabitants of Bar were ahead of the Venetians and were the first to land in Myra. Two people were sent ahead, who, returning, reported that everything was quiet in the city, and in the church where the greatest shrine rests, they met only four monks. Immediately 47 people, armed, went to the temple of St. Nicholas, the watchman monks, not suspecting anything, showed them the platform, under which the tomb of the saint was hidden, where, according to custom, strangers were anointed with myrrh from the relics of the saint.
To facilitate their actions, they revealed their intentions to the monks and offered them a ransom - 300 gold coins. The watchmen refused the money and wanted to notify the inhabitants of the misfortune that threatened them. But the aliens tied them up and placed their guards at the door. They broke the church platform, under which stood the tomb with the relics. In this matter, the young man Matthew was especially diligent, wishing to discover the relics of the Saint as soon as possible. In impatience, he broke the lid and the gentlemen saw that the sarcophagus was filled with fragrant holy myrrh.
The compatriots of the baryans, presbyters Lupp and Drogo, made a litia, after which the same Matthew began to extract the relics of the Saint from the sarcophagus overflowing with the world.
In view of the absence of the ark, presbyter Drogo wrapped the relics in outer clothing and, accompanied by the baryans, transferred them to the ship. The released monks told the city the sad news about the theft of the relics of the Miracle Worker by foreigners. Crowds of people gathered on the shore, but it was too late ...
On May 8, the ships arrived in Bar, and soon the good news spread throughout the city. The next day, May 9, the relics of St. Nicholas were solemnly transferred to the Church of St. Stephen, located not far from the sea. A year later, a church was built in the name of St. Nicholas and consecrated by Pope Urban II.
Churches in Moscow where you can venerate the relics of St. Nicholas
- Danilov Holy Trinity Monastery
Danilovsky Val, 22 (metro station "Tulskaya"). - Church of the Savior of the Holy Image on Setun at the Kuntsevo cemetery
st. Ryabinovaya, 18 - Church of the Archangel Michael in Troparevo
Prospect Vernadsky, 90 - Temple-Museum of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi at the Tretyakov Gallery
Maly Tolmachevsky lane, 9 - Temple of All Saints on Kulishki
Slavyanskaya square, 2 - Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains
Novovagankovsky per., 9 - Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery
Moscow region, Dzerzhinsky, pl. St. Nicholas, 1
Icons and frescoes with the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker
Sacred Tradition, of which ecclesiastical art is also a part, accurately preserved the portrait features of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker over the centuries. His appearance on the icons has always been distinguished by a pronounced individuality, therefore, even a person who is not experienced in the field of iconography can easily recognize the image of this saint.
Local veneration of the Archbishop of Myra of Lycian Nicholas began shortly after his death, and veneration throughout the entire Christian world took shape during the 4th-7th centuries. However, due to iconoclastic persecution, the iconography of the saint takes shape quite late, only in the 10th-11th centuries. The oldest image of the saint in monumental painting is in the Roman church of Santa Maria Antiqua.
The image (full-length or half-length) was present in the decorations of Byzantine and Old Russian churches, where it could be placed both separately and as part of the composition “The Hierarchal Order” in the altar. With his right hand, the saint blesses, and in his left, often covered with a phelonion and omophorion, he holds the Gospel. The vestments are: a riza, handrails, a phelonion, under which a club is visible, and an omophorion. The ancient saints were usually depicted wearing a phelonion, and not a sakkos, since until the 14th century only the Patriarch of Constantinople had the right to wear a sakkos. Fresco and mosaic images of St. Nicholas are preserved in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople, in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, in the Church of the Assumption in Daphne, in St. George's Cathedral in Staraya Ladoga and in many other churches.
The most ancient of the icon-painting images of the Mirliky saint known to us is the image of Nicholas with the Savior and selected saints in the margins from the collection of the Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine. This icon is notable for the fact that the gesture of the hand is not blessing. Such a gesture can be described as pointing to the gospel, or as a "speech gesture".
On many icons on either side of the saint (against the background or in medallions) are placed images of Christ and the Mother of God, returning to Saint Nicholas the Gospel and the omophorion, attributes of hierarchal dignity. This is an image of a miraculous vision that was given to the participants in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea and showed that the saint was deprived of his episcopal rank and imprisoned unjustly. Images of the "Miracle of Nicaea" are already known on the icons of the XII century.
The Russian translation of the life, made in the 11th century, contains a description of a miracle that happened in Kyiv. The baby who drowned due to an oversight in the Dnieper after the prayer of his parents to the Wonderworker was found alive in the choirs of St. Sophia Cathedral under the icon of St. Nicholas. Since then, this icon has been revered as miraculous and was called “Wet Nicholas”, since the baby was lying all wet, as if he had just been taken out of the water. Restoration studies carried out in the 1920s showed that the icon of St. Nicholas the Wet, kept in the cathedral, was painted no earlier than the 14th century in Rus'. Apparently, it was a revered list from the original image. Unfortunately, during World War II, this icon disappeared and was never found.
The history of another miraculous image of the saint is connected with Novgorod. The legend says that Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared in a dream to the gravely ill Novgorod prince Mstislav and ordered that his image, made on a round board, be transported from Kyiv to Novgorod. On Lake Ilmen, the princely ambassadors got into a storm and landed on Lipno Island, waiting for the weather to continue their journey. On the fourth day, they saw the icon of St. Nicholas floating on the waves, which exactly matched the description. After the miraculous healing of the prince, the image was placed in the Nikolsky Cathedral on Yaroslav's Court. Hence the name of the icon - "Nikola Dvorishchsky". Later, on the island where they found the image, the Lipensky Nikolsky Monastery was founded.
The icons of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk have been known in Rus' since the 15th century and repeat the iconography of the famous miraculous wooden statue, famous for its patronage of the city of Mozhaisk. According to legend, during an enemy raid, the saint of Mirlik appeared to the defenders of the city. He stood in the air above the cathedral, holding a sword raised with a blade in his right hand, and in his left a model of a walled temple. Frightened by the vision, the enemies fled, and the inhabitants made a carved image of the saint. It is believed that this sculpture, dating from the end of the 14th century, is now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.
There are different opinions in science about the origins of the iconography of such carved statues (and later icons). It was assumed that this iconographic type was the development of the ancient Russian tradition of depicting "Nikolas of Zaraisk". Some scholars considered such iconography to be Romanesque, borrowed from Western Europe, where the image of a militant saint with a sword in his hand was widespread. The appearance of the image was also explained by the possible participation of Balkan craftsmen in the construction of the Nikolsky Cathedral in Mozhaisk in the 14th century. A.V. Ryndina offered a convincing version linking the appearance of this monument in Rus' with the liturgical and ritual transformations of Metropolitan Cyprian and the Byzantine tradition of veneration of relics. This version connects the origin of the carved images with the sculpture of the saint, which the Serbian king Uroš put into the basilica in Bari at the beginning of the 14th century and was intended to be placed over the shrine with relics.
The image of St. Nicholas, the holy warrior defending the Orthodox city from foreigners, became especially popular in Rus', tormented in the 15th-16th centuries by raids and wars. The sword was interpreted both as a military weapon and as "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Eph. 6:17), with which sins are to be cut off. As the heavenly patron of the city, Saint Nicholas protected the inhabitants from all sin and misfortune, both spiritual and bodily.
The iconography called "Nikola Zaraisky" became widespread in Rus'. On icons of this type, the saint is depicted full-length with arms outstretched to the sides. With his right he blesses, in his left he holds the Gospel. Such a compositional solution of the figure resembles the image of a praying (orant) common in Christian art.
According to The Tale of Nicholas of Zaraisk, in 1225 the image was transferred from Korsun to the Ryazan principality, where it soon became famous for numerous miracles. During the devastating invasion of Batu on the Ryazan land, Prince Theodore died, and his wife, Princess Evpraksia, not wanting to fall into the hands of the Tatars, rushed out of the tower and crashed - "get infected to death." After the burial of the family near the icon of Nikola Korsunsky, the image began to be called Zarazsky or Zaraysky, and the city was named Zaraysk.
Some images of Nicholas the Wonderworker created in Rus' do not represent any separate, new iconography, radically different from the previous ones. These images fit well into traditional image schemes. Having become famous for miracles, such icons received all-Russian fame and individual names, usually associated with the place of acquisition. The icon found in the Vyatka region on the banks of the Velikaya River began to be called "Nikola Velikoretsky", acquired near the Kaluga village of Gostun - "Nikola Gostunsky".
NIKOLSKY PARISH S. MEZENSKOE
In 1851, the inhabitants of the village of Mezenka (which has been called a village since 1852) united with the communities of the villages of Gagarskaya, Boyarskaya, Kurmanka and separated from the Beloyarsky parish, forming an independent parish. The building of the wooden church was bought from the peasants of the Beloyarsk parish, which they no longer needed after the construction of a new stone church. With the blessing of His Grace Arkady, ep. Perm and Verkhotursk, the wooden Beloyarsk church was dismantled and transported to Mezenka, where on April 29, 1851, it was laid.
In 1852, on April 20, the temple was consecrated according to the letter of His Grace Neophyte, ep. Perm and Verkhotursky. The throne was one in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The first priest was Fr. Flegont Antiohovich Ponomarev (served since 1853, a graduate of the Perm Theological Seminary. In 1858 he was awarded a pectoral bronze cross in memory of the war of 1853-1856; Dismissed for the state in 1888. Died in 1895) O. Flegont served in the parish for 36 years and passed his place to his son, Fr. Alexander (served since 1888, graduated from the Perm Theological Seminary. In 1892 he was awarded a gaiter, he also had an award kamilavka. The last information available in archival documents about the service of Father Alexander in the Mezen Church dates back to December 1917).
By the beginning of the 20th century, the Church of St. Mezenskoye had a very solid appearance: a wooden building on a stone foundation, plastered inside and out, a bell tower, a 2-tier iconostasis of good carpentry work, painted and gilded. Three domes of the temple are upholstered with white iron, eight-pointed crosses are made of the same material. On the west side is a marble porch. The wooden temple functioned until 1918. Then until 1991 there was a club and a library in the temple building. In 1997 it burned down.
In 1904, a construction committee was established to arrange a new church building (three altars) in the village. Mezensky, which, according to local historian V. Korovin, honored. worker of culture in Russia, laid down in the name of the victory of the Russian people in the war with Japan.
In 1905 construction began. The temple was built at the expense of parishioners - residents of Mezensky, Gagarka, Boyarka, Kurmanka. The work was carried out by the society. (Stone - granite was taken from the Kurman quarry, broken there by hand, carried by the company one cart per capita.)
The entire construction of the church building cost the parish approx. 50,000 rubles, which was for the Mezen parish in terms of the population of a poor one, a decent amount. (It is noteworthy that 50 rubles were donated to Fr. Alexander by St. Right. John of Kronstadt during his stay in Yekaterinburg at a personal meeting).
Consecration of the main chapel in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker took place on September 25, 1911. In 1912, on September 25, the celebration of the consecration of the right aisle of the new church in the name of ev, martyr. and goal. Panteleimon (performed by the local dean, Father Nikolai Toporkov, with the blessing of His Grace Mitrofan, Bishop of Yekaterinburg and Irbit). The choir sang at the service, invited from the Novo-Tikhvin Convent. The left aisle was consecrated in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the same 1912. It is not possible to establish the exact date from the surviving archival documents.
After the 1917 revolution in 1923, church property was confiscated. In with. Mezensky under the act of 25.05. 1922 14 pounds & 2 spools (about 6 kg.) of silver were confiscated. The temple was closed in 1936. Divine services in the temple resumed on October 8, 2001. April 1, 2004 there was a big fire. After 3 days, on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, services in the temple resumed. At present, the bell tower has been restored, plastering work has been carried out, and faience iconostases have been installed throughout.
Priest Vladimir Bratenkov performs a prayer service on the porch of our church. 1996
