The Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos is an Orthodox church of the 18th–19th centuries in the historic part of Nizhny Novgorod, located on Zalomov Street (formerly Pokhvalinskaya). It stands at the edge of a slope above Pokhvalinsky Descent and is one of the few surviving stone religious structures in this district.[1]

Parish history and early churches

The area where the church stands began to be settled in the 14th–15th centuries. In the 17th century this territory was part of Telyachya Sloboda, inhabited by state coachmen (yamshchiki). The first wooden church in the name of the Praise of the Mother of God was erected after 1678. Nizhny Novgorod historian N. I. Khramtsovsky and M. Dobrovolsky, compiler of a reference guide to Nizhny Novgorod churches, attributed its appearance to the 1678 Census Book of Nizhny Novgorod, though the church itself is not mentioned in that book. The wooden church stood approximately 60 sazhens (about 127 m) to the south of the present stone building, between two ravines — Studenaya Hill (now filled in) and the ravine along which Pokhvalinsky Descent runs in the 19th century.[1]

On June 25, 1715, the wooden church burned down in a great fire. The Nizhny Novgorod Chronicle recorded the event: "The wooden church of the Most Holy Mother of God burned completely to the ground." The parish and the wooden church were restored. The locally venerated icon of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos, which according to tradition miraculously survived the fire of 1715, is currently kept in the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum.[2] According to P. Topolev, in 1722–1723 the parish counted 133 households, of which 65 were those of coachmen (yamshchiki).[1]

Construction of the stone church

A decree from the ecclesiastical authorities authorizing the construction of a stone church in place of the wooden one was issued in 1737. Construction dragged on for more than a decade: only by the end of 1749 was the building completed and furnished with icons. The heated side-chapel in the name of Alexander Nevsky and Athanasius of Athos was consecrated earlier — on November 23, 1742 — with the blessing of Bishop Dimitry (Sechenov), by Archpriest Yakov of the cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior.[1]

The church was built at the expense of provincial secretary Grigory Semyonovich Rogozhnikov; according to other accounts, it was built jointly by "the secretaries of Pyskorsky Monastery, Glushkov and Rogozhnikov." Rogozhnikov died on June 27, 1747, in the 55th year of his life, and was buried on the north side of the church — this is attested by a memorial plaque set into the wall. On November 2, 1749, the church was consecrated at the petition of its parishioners.[1]

Architecture and current condition

The building is a listed architectural monument of the 18th–19th centuries. The church has been included in studies by Nizhny Novgorod architectural historians; in particular, a historical note by A. I. Davydov (NIP "Ethnos") was compiled for a restoration project drawing on archival sources from the Central Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region — clerical registers, property inventories, and architectural drawings.[1] On the website "Sobory.ru," the church is registered as the "Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos" in the Nizhegorodsky District of the city.[3]

The church was built in the Byzantine style, with a tall octagonal dome and a tent-roofed bell tower; it has three altars — the Pokhvalinsky, the Alexandrovsky, and the Nikolsky.[2]

During the Soviet era, the church building housed a printing house and a design bureau; restoration began in 2001. By November 2005, the refectory section and the narthex had been fully renovated: the roof and floors were replaced, the walls plastered and painted, a church shop was set up in the northern part of the refectory, and the southern altar was restored — services were held there during that period; demolition work was under way in the main body of the church. In the course of the restoration, the church's square windows were replaced with arched ones; an octagonal drum for the bell tower, a small tent roof, a dome, and a cross were installed above the church, and a cupola with a cross was added above the Nikolsky chapel; five bells cast for the church were still inside the building as of November 2005. The church retains ancient wall paintings: in the arched opening between the refectory and the main body of the church, and in the main altar; the paintings in the arched opening had been restored by 2005.

The rector of the Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos during the restoration period was Priest Alexander Mikhailov, who noted that the church was being rebuilt gradually, as contributions from parishioners and benefactors came in.[4] On 7 June 2005, a cross was raised onto the dome of the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; the cross had been made by craftsmen from Dzerzhinsk following old patterns found in Nizhny Novgorod archives, and those same craftsmen were carrying out the restoration work in the church; the raising of the cross was witnessed by the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, George, and the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative to the Volga Federal District, [6]Sergey Kirienko.

On 28 April 2011, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos for the first time in 75 years in the episcopal rite — the last such service had been held there in approximately the mid-1930s.[5] On 3 June 2021, the feast day of special veneration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Archbishop George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas performed the rite of consecration of the church's cross and dome.

A legend associated with the church concerns Kuzma Minin: according to it, after the liberation of Russia he lived in the Pokhvalinsky parish and was buried in the churchyard of the Pokhvalinsky church, and only later, by order of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, were his remains transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral. The legend is not supported by documentary evidence, yet it was repeated by authors who wrote about Nizhny Novgorod and about Minin — Orlov, Dukhovskoy, Svinin — as well as by Archpriest Rozhansky in a letter to N. A. Polevoy. Among the church's sacred relics are particles of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Demetrius of Rostov, and the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem.[2]

Sources

  1. opentextnn.ru — Davydov A.I. The Pokhvalinskaya Church in Nizhny Novgorod — OPEN TEXT (archive)
  2. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitanate — The church was built in the Byzantine style with a tall octagonal dome and a tent-roofed bell tower; it contains three altars (archive)
  3. sobory.ru — Nizhny Novgorod, Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos (archive)
  4. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitanate (archive)
  5. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitanate — On April 28, 2011, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Church of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos for the first time in 75 years, performed in the hierarchical rite (archive)
  6. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitanate (archive)