The Church in Honor of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh is an Orthodox parish church in Nizhny Novgorod, located at Sergievskaya Street. The parish was revived in 2006; the history of a church on this site goes back to the 17th century.[3]

History

The History of Nizhny Novgorod. In 1621 a different building is already recorded on the site; in 1701 the church was rebuilt. After the fire of 1701, the church was rebuilt in stone with the participation of the merchant Afanasy Firsovich Olisov, who lived in the Ilyinskaya sloboda: a small five-domed church with a spacious refectory and a tall tent-roofed bell tower was decorated with glazed tile and majolica, but it burned down again in 1715.[4] In the 16th century a sloboda belonged to the parish, and the building itself was repeatedly altered. In 1715 a stone structure was laid down; in 1838 the church again underwent reconstruction.

In the 1820s the dilapidated church was rebuilt to a design by the Nizhny Novgorod architect Georg Kizeveter; at that time the Nikolsky side-chapel appeared, and the appearance of this building has survived thanks to an engraving by the amateur artist Dmitry Bystritsky.[4] The building in its present form dates to 1869, with additional work completed in 1872. The stone five-domed church with a four-tiered bell tower was built to a design by the Nizhny Novgorod architect Nikolai Feldman, approved by Emperor Alexander II on 11 December 1864; construction proceeded from 1865 under the supervision of the architect Robert Yakovlevich Kilevein, and the consecration was performed by Filaret (Malyshevsky), Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, at the end of the summer of 1869.[4] By the end of the 19th century the parish had several altars and a developed infrastructure.[3]

During the Soviet period the church was closed. Services in the Sergius church ceased in 1937 after the clergy were arrested: on 5 August 1937 the priests Ioann Runovsky and Avenir Ilyinsky, and the deacons Aleksy Batistov and Aleksandr Sergievsky, were arrested; by a decision of the special NKVD troika dated 21 September they were sentenced to be shot, the sentence was carried out on 4 October 1937, and until the spring of 1938 the church still remained in the possession of the community of believers. The initiative to revive the parish belonged to residents of the surrounding houses, who appealed to A. A. Serikov, a deputy of the Regional Legislative Assembly; through his assistance the process of transferring the building to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese gained momentum from 2001, and in 2002 Archbishop Yevgeny blessed the priest Aleksy Gorin to be rector of the forming parish, but after the bishop's death the matter was resumed under Georgy, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas.

During the Soviet era Sergievskaya Street was named Uritsky Street; after the church was closed its building housed the workshops of painters and sculptors, who still occupied part of the premises at the start of the restoration work in 2003. On the proposal of Bishop Georgy, adopted at a meeting in May 2003, the Sergius church was designated the central church for all law-enforcement and security agencies of Nizhny Novgorod — in part because of the historical association of the name of Sergius with the Russian military; restoration work in the altar section was initially carried out by officers of the Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs (GUVD), with administrative assistance provided by the administration of the Nizhegorodsky district.

On 19 July 2003, the feast day of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, the first molieben with the reading of an akathist in many years was served in the church — performed by the rector, Aleksy Gorin; the molieben was attended by law-enforcement officers and public figures, and on 24 July of the same year the priest Vyacheslav Popov served the first liturgy in almost seventy years, for which the antimension and altar table were temporarily brought from the Dormition church.[6][4] The revival of the parish took place in 2003, and full parish life resumed in 2006: the first service after a long break was held on 12 April 2006, and the solemn opening took place on 4 April 2006.

In September 2005, in the course of restoration work, Georgy, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, performed the rite of consecration of the church's crosses; immediately after the consecration the crosses were installed on the domes. The crosses were gilded by sisters of the Holy Trinity–St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent, who at the same time were gilding the domes. By September 2005 a four-ton bell had been cast for the Sergius church's bell tower; the remaining bells were planned to be cast by the end of that month and installed on the bell tower in November 2005.[5] The main altar was consecrated on 4 November 2006, the right side-chapel — in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker — was consecrated on 31 December 2011, and the left side-chapel — in honor of All Saints of Nizhny Novgorod — was consecrated on 6 May 2012.[4][3] In 2025 the parish marked the 20th anniversary of its revival.[1]

Parish structure and activities

The church is home to the "Spas" Orthodox community of the deaf and hard of hearing, the Sunday School), youth movements, and church-singing courses.[1] The patronal feast is the discovery of the holy relics of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh (18 July / 5 July Old Style, the anniversary of the year 1422).[1]

The church offers a virtual tour and also organizes pilgrimage trips — in particular, to the Holy Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra. Among the church's holy objects is an icon of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh with a fragment of his relics, made by monks of the workshop of the Trinity–Sergius Lavra in 2006, before which a molieben is served on Sundays after the Divine Liturgy; a number of icons were painted by the "Spas" Orthodox community of the deaf and hard of hearing, including images of the Mother of God "The Inexhaustible Cup" and "Assuage My Sorrows," the Vladimir icon, icons of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the holy and blessed Peter and Fevronia of Murom — all containing fragments of relics.[4][1] The church can be reached by trolleybus routes No. 3, 5, 18, 19, 33, 37, 44, and 57 and Nizhny Novgorod tram.[3]

Sources

  1. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis — The initiative to revive the parish belonged to residents of the surrounding houses, who appealed to A. A. Serikov, a deputy of the Regional Legislative Assembly… (archive)
  1. nne.ru — In September 2005, in the course of restoration work, Georgy, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, performed the rite of consecration of the church's crosses; immediately after the consecration the cr (archive)
  1. nne.ru — The stone five-domed church with a four-tiered bell tower was built to a design by the Nizhny Novgorod architect Nikolai Feldman, approved by Emperor Alexander I
  1. azbyka.ru — Church of Sergius of Radonezh (Nizhny Novgorod) — Pilgrimage to Nizhny Novgorod, Church of Sergius of Radonezh: history,… (archive)
  2. hram-sergiya-nne.cerkov.ru — Church in Honor of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  3. mapy.com