The Church of the Moscow Hierarchs is an Orthodox church in the center of Nizhny Novgorod, built in 1860 and operating since the late 1990s as a metochion of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent. It stands at the intersection of Slavyanskaya Street (formerly Nemetskaya) and Korolenko Street (formerly Kanatnaya).[2]

History

The area of today's Lyadov Square (formerly Krestovozdvizhenskaya) and the adjoining streets began to be actively built up from the mid-19th century. Residents of the newly formed neighborhood asked the church authorities to establish a parish church: the nearest one, the Church of the Intercession, was hard to reach because of ravines and spring floodwaters. Their request was supported by Ieremia (Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod) (who held the see in 1851–1857); he petitioned Annenkov Fyodor Vasilyevich) for the allocation of a building site.[3] A plot at the intersection of Kanatnaya and Nemetskaya streets was purchased from the townswoman A. A. Nazarushkina and the soldier's wife A. S. Pozdeyeva; before construction began, extensive grading was required, since clay had previously been dug there and the ground was pitted with pits.[2]

The church was built in 1860 to a design by Nikolai Ivanovich Uzhumedsky-Gritsevich, funded by the city treasury, parishioners, and a donation from the merchant L. M. Koptev; construction cost 30,000 silver rubles and took about a year. Brick was supplied by the merchants M. Ya. Kolotilov and I. V. Komarov, lime by Gorodets, timber by the merchant I. I. Shchurov, iron by the merchant's wife A. I. Redozubova; the walls and vaults were laid by the father-and-son Spiridonov team.[2] At its opening the church had three carved pine iconostases installed, and the walls were painted with images of saints on canvas; oil frescoes were added later, in 1885. The bell tower received seven bells of varying size. The original parish comprised 168 households with nearly 700 residents. In 1885 the Nizhny Novgorod townsman I. F. Ryabov replaced the Untermark stoves with calorifer heating.[2]

In 1930 the church was closed: its domes and the tented top of the bell tower were demolished, the interiors destroyed, and the building converted into a dormitory. The fate of the icons and church plate is unknown.[2]

Revival and present state

In 1997 the church was handed over to the Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent, and restoration began immediately using the convent's funds. The historical appearance was restored from photographs by M. P. Dmitriev and V. I. Breyev, archival drawings, and the 1860 property inventory.[2] From that time the church became a metochion of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent in Nizhny Novgorod.[3]

The main altar is consecrated in honor of the Moscow hierarchs Peter, Alexius, Jonah, Philip, and Hermogenes (patronal feast — October 18). The right side-chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Apostle Jason, the left to the Apostle and Evangelist Luke and the Venerable Martyr Andrew of Crete.[3] Among the venerated relics are the icon of the Mother of God "Pantanassa," painted on Mount Athos (the icon painter added oil from the lamp of the miracle-working image at Vatopedi Monastery into the paints), icons containing relics of the Apostle Luke, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Seraphim of Sarov, the Diveyevo saints and the elders of Optina, as well as an icon of St. Spyridon of Trimythous, consecrated on his relics on the island of Corfu.[3]

Outside, the church walls are painted with light-yellow ochre and whitewash, giving the building the look of a "sunlit" structure in any weather.[2] The church is part of the established historical ensemble of the Church of the Three Hierarchs" in the city's central district.[1]

Sources

  1. putidorogi-nn.ru — Church in honor of the Moscow hierarchs in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  2. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Diocese (archive)
  3. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Old estates and secret gardens: Slavyanskaya, the street where time flows differently (archive)