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55.791319; 37.765067
Russia, Moscow, Eastern administrative district, Izmailovo district, Bauman town, 1
Moscow
Russia
Telephone:
Phone number of the priest on duty
A
Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Izmailovo
- Orthodox Church of the Nativity Deanery of the Moscow City Diocese. The temple is located in the Izmailovo district of Moscow (on an island on Serebryano-Vinogradny Pond).
Church of the Nativity in Izmailovo
The blessed letter for the construction of the stone Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo was issued by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Joachim on September 16, 1676. The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts contains a fragment of a charter column. Attached to it is the red wax seal of Patriarch Joachim with the image of a blessing hand. Already at the end of 1678, the church was completely completed and consecrated with the rite of the Great Consecration.
To this day there is a beautiful building - the Orthodox Church of the Nativity Deanery of the Moscow Diocese. It is an object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. It was not destroyed by time, people did not wipe it off the face of the earth. Moreover, it never closed. Here the Divine Liturgy was and is constantly served, the sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated, in which bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. “The Lord will forever be slain for our sake” (canon for Holy Communion, canto 9). That is, everything for which churches were built at all times never died here.
The thread connecting five centuries can be seen in the architectural elements: in the main building in the style of Russian patterns and a little later, the Baroque bell tower with a porch was erected. In the pristine splendor of the interior decoration, in icons painted in different years, in church utensils, in vestments, in frames. And also in the fates of parishioners and trustees, from royalty and priests to ordinary laymen. They are like knots on this thread that prevent it from breaking.
History of construction
The Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo is one of the ancient temples with a rich historical past. The village of Izmailovo arose back in 1663, when, by decree of the dawn of Alexei Mikhailovich, a large farm and estate were formed here: gardens, stables, apiaries, ponds, and cattle yards were laid out.
The estate was settled by residents of the surrounding villages, and it was for them that in 1663 the first wooden tent church with one main and two side altars was built: the central one was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of Christ, and the southern and northern ones in honor of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. By 1664 the church building was completed.
The following year they began to paint the church with the participation of icon painters from Kostroma, known for their talents, S. Roshkov and D. Emelyanov. They painted images for altars, as well as images of revered local saints. One of these icons, depicting the All-Merciful Savior and the saints standing before him, has survived to this day. The craftsmen also decorated the side choirs.
In 1676, they first started talking about building a full-fledged stone church, and in the same year a charter was received for its construction.
The overall construction of the stone church lasted exactly a year, from summer to summer. The complete construction and facing work were completed this year. The interior work also took a year: placement of icons, installation of iconostases. Liturgical objects were made, vestments and shrouds were sewn.
The work of local soldering workers created the necessary metal objects for all the aisles, the central and side chandeliers, and various candlesticks. In 1678 the temple was consecrated. Nothing is known about what happened to the wooden church: perhaps it was completely dismantled as unnecessary.
There is a version that the church frame was moved to another place: for example, to one of the surrounding villages, where there was no church at all. Until the 18th century, Izmailovo was one of the most beloved estates outside the city, the royal family regularly visited here, the temple flourished: extensive donations were made here, there were icons from the best masters of Russia.
Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo, structural diagram.
After the transfer of the imperial court to St. Petersburg, the need for the estate disappeared. Many village residents moved to Moscow, the church and other buildings were no longer cared for as much as before, and the parish also decreased. Soon the parables of the church were reduced, leaving only a priest, a deacon and one sexton. Gradually the temple deteriorated and the allocated funds were not enough to maintain the proper level.
In 1744 it was decided to correct the old icons, and in 1761 - to build a bell tower. During the War of 1812, the temple was almost robbed and only thanks to the efforts of the abbot, who hid the jewelry in time, it remained intact. Until 1922, the temple was gradually restored and regained its importance along with the flourishing of Izmailovo itself.
In 1922, valuables were confiscated from the temple, a total of 196 items: these were vessels, crosses, silver and gold vestments from icons, lamps, silver corners on service books. Despite this, the church itself was never closed: even during the war it fully functioned, and priests from other parishes whose churches were closed served here.
In the 1980s, the church experienced a new flourishing. The time of social work, educational activities, and catechism began. Soon a Sunday school building was built, restoration was carried out in the temple and the interior painting was updated.
History of the village of Izmailova
The village of Izmailovo already existed in the 15th century. It was located on the territory of modern Izmailovsky Island and belonged to the Grand Dukes. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov inherited the estate from his childless uncle Nikita Ivanovich Romanov.
In 1663, the young tsar planned to create a large palace farm here: gardens, the sovereign's arable land and apiary, stables, barnyards and poultry houses, fish ponds, glass and brick factories, and a distillery. This estate was supposed to serve not only as a vacation spot for the royal family, but also for the economic needs of the royal court. To carry out the grandiose plan, peasants from Kostroma, Valdai, Pereslavl and other lands were resettled to Izmailovo.
New residents settled on the Khorugovo wasteland and formed the New Sloboda village of Izmailovo. For them, a church was later erected in honor of the Nativity of Christ with chapels of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas of Myra. This dedication of thrones is associated with the fact that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich sought to imitate his predecessor John IV (especially at the beginning of his reign). Therefore, in the new residence, he reproduced the dedications of churches and chapels: to the Nativity of Christ and to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as in the oldest posad churches of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, Grozny’s favorite estate.
The dedication of the third throne of the Izmailovo church - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God - is typical for churches in palace villages. The Romanovs and especially Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich deeply revered this image, which showed its intercession in the Time of Troubles and contributed to the establishment of a new dynasty.
This is how the Church of the Nativity began
Initially, through the efforts of the archers, a wooden church was erected. Almost no information about her has survived. Only a few documents mention services here in 1664. The further fate is also unknown. It was probably dismantled and transported to another village.
Construction of the stone Church of the Nativity of Christ began shortly after the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. His son Fyodor Alekseevich, pious and God-fearing, showed great love for stone church architecture. Under him, the construction of three churches in Izmailovo was completed - the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Izmailovo Island, the Indian Tsarevich Joasaph and, in fact, the Nativity. The last of the above was built by the architect - peasant Spiridon Kharlamov with an artel from the village of Rozhdestvennoye.
Already in the summer of 1677, the temple was completely erected: it was whitewashed, the roof was covered with planks, the domes were covered with wooden ploughshares, and the crosses and apples under them were soldered with tin. In the east, the church ended with triple altar apses. The chapels, according to the blessed charter, were supposed to open into the refectory part of the temple, but not connect to the central temple.
This part of the project was changed during construction: now the chapels are connected by arched openings to the refectory and to the central church. The quadrangle was crowned with a traditional five-domed structure, and a dome rose above each aisle. On the sides of the royal doors in three iconostases there are icons: on the right - the All-Merciful Savior and a temple image, and on the left - the Most Pure Mother of God. Apparently, there were not enough funds, so instead of a stone bell tower, a wooden belfry with a canopy and nine bells was erected.
Architect, exterior decoration, architectural ensemble
The archives preserved a charter detailing the appearance of the temple, but during the changes during construction, the contents of the charter were not fully observed. The temple consists of three chapels, which are connected by a common refectory with the help of high arched openings. Above the temple there is a traditional five-domed dome, representing Jesus Christ and the four evangelists.
Each of the cubic aisles has its own dome. The temple has three tiers of kokoshniks. Later, a refectory was added to it; even later, the architectural ensemble was supplemented by a bell tower and an external porch and porch. The name of the architect has been preserved; he was a local peasant Spiridon Kharlamov, head of an artel of local masons.
The modern temple is painted in red and white: red is the main color, details, painted columns, decorative elements of arches and window openings are highlighted in white. The temple was built in the patterned style, dating back to the early Baroque. There are many different decorative details present here. The altar projection of the temple stands out further than in most similar temples.
Temple icons
Some icons from the original interior decoration of the stone temple have survived to this day. Among them, images of saints named after members of the royal family stand out. The appearance of these images is not accidental, because both the wooden and stone churches were built with the “alms” of Tsars Alexei Mikhailovich and Fyodor Alekseevich.
On the left, in the local row of the Kazan chapel, there is an image of the righteous Alexy, the man of God, and the Venerable Mary of Egypt - the patron saints of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna. This icon retains the signature of the sovereign’s granted icon painter of the Armory Chamber, Sergei Roshkov: “year 7186 (1677/78) ... letter from Sergiev Roshkov.” Perhaps this icon painter also painted the image of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, and Theodore Stratilates, standing in the refectory part of the temple - the namesake saints of the princes Alexei Alekseevich and Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich.
In the refectory part, on the pillars, there are two images facing each other: the apostles Peter and Paul and the prophet John the Baptist, whose names were borne by the co-rulers Tsars Peter and Ivan Alekseevich.
Historians note that the first years of the church's existence were the most brilliant. Later she lost the highest attention. After all, the village of Izmailovo did not remain the residence of the kings for long.
XVIII century
Tsar Peter I moved the court to St. Petersburg. Peasants - the main donors - left to work in factories in Moscow. The village was empty. No more than five hundred parishioners remained. The church became one-staff - one priest, deacon and psalm-reader. The Moscow office of the Main Palace Chancellery, which provided for the palace villages, provided insignificant funds for the maintenance of the temple.
It was difficult for the peasants with their worries to support the parish. The building was dilapidated, the wooden belfry was literally falling apart before our eyes... At the request of Izmailov’s manager Yakov Normatsky and rector Nikita Vasilyev, the icons of the palace village of Alekseevsky were transferred to the temple, but they also turned out to be dilapidated.
Only at the beginning of 1744, after three tenders, a contract was concluded with the famous Moscow icon painter Yegor the Greek, who completed all the work by the beginning of February of the following year.
In the mid-1740s, the temple received a new set of liturgical books instead of dilapidated 17th-century editions, new vestments, veils, curtains, lecterns and altar vestments, as well as new bells that were cast from old cannons. They say that these were the same cannons that, by order of Peter the Great, were poured out of the bells. The implementation of these works became possible thanks to the special attention of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to the palace estates near Moscow.
The construction of the bell tower should also be included among her benefits. One of the reports from 1761 said that “in the Church of the Nativity of Christ and in the chapel... the wooden bell tower is dilapidated and is swaying in the wind and is dangerous, so that it does not collapse and cause damage to the bells.”
In this regard, it was ordered to correct the church building, build a stone bell tower instead of a wooden one, and re-cast the old bells with more copper. In 1761, a three-tiered stone bell tower, originally topped with a spire, was built on an old stone foundation. New bells were cast for this bell tower at the end of the 18th-19th centuries.
Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God
In 1771, the miraculous glorification of the Izmailovsky copy of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God took place. The image from which this list was made was located in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. It was lost during the Napoleonic invasion.
His two lists, Izmailovsky and Bronnitsky, became famous for numerous miracles in the Moscow province and far beyond its borders. The Izmailovsky list was created in 1679 for the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Izmailovsky Island.
When a severe pestilence began in 1771, which claimed the lives of many Muscovites, daily prayer services began to be held in front of this image, after which the icon was raised and carried around the village. Thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God and the care of the village manager Ivan Savich Brykin (1706-1821), who placed quarantines around it and took strict measures to combat the epidemic, the plague passed from Izmailovo.
In 1804, the icon was moved to the Church of the Nativity. This happened due to the fact that two other churches on Izmailovsky Island were in disrepair. The Church of St. Joasaph, Prince of India, was closed by the end of the 18th century, after a lightning strike struck the head of the temple. Regular services in the Intercession Cathedral ceased.
Interesting facts about the temple
Next to the temple is the Izmailovskoye cemetery, founded in 1972. It was on its territory that a wooden and then a stone church was built. In 1935, the cemetery was included in the list of Moscow cemeteries.
The temple in Izmailovo is almost a record holder for the number of surviving icons, surviving paintings and preserved utensils. The temple was almost not damaged during Soviet rule, and even during the confiscation of church property, an unknown benefactor returned the silver chasuble from the icon of the Mother of God, although in all documents the chasuble is indicated as confiscated.
19th century
In 1812, Napoleon occupied Moscow. By the fall, separate parts of the army reached Izmailovo. Among others, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was damaged. Abbot John Postnikov hid in advance and thereby saved everything he could: antimensions, vessels, arks, crosses, icons, vestments. The French burst into the House of God like robbers, breaking the doors.
Some of the remaining property was taken away, and what was considered unnecessary was simply destroyed. After such a visit, Father John asked for a blessing for the consecration of the temple from Bishop Augustin (Vinogradsky) of Dmitrov, administrator of the Moscow diocese. And at the end of November 1812, the temple was consecrated with the rite of the Lesser Consecration.
Under the same rector, the temple was brought into proper shape and decorated. This became possible thanks to the help of parishioners, whose number by 1833 was more than 1,100 people. Among them, the number of wealthy peasants who worked in their own or neighboring home wool weaving factories increased noticeably.
At the expense of believers in 1815, vestments were placed on the icons at the royal gates of the St. Nicholas chapel: the Almighty Savior and the Mother of God “Gracious Heaven”. In August 1822, parishioners signed a petition from elder Prokhor Petrov to Bishop Dmitrovsky, Vicar of Moscow, Most Priest Athanasius (Telyatyev), asking for permission to build a gatehouse in the southwestern corner. In 1827, a “barn” was built to store utensils. Now the room is used for the sacrament of Baptism. Under the patronage of the merchant of the second guild, former peasant Ivan Kurdyukov, a bell weighing 3,440 kilograms was cast in March 1830.
School in Izmailovo
In the 20s, two more wonderful images appeared. Folding with the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God with a particle of the relics of the Apostle Thomas and the icon of the healer Great Martyr Panteleimon. On the back of the Vladimir Icon there was an inscription telling about the miraculous discovery of the image on May 9, 1748 on the site of a burnt Moscow house. Izmailovo manager Ivan Brykin kept it for 72 years. Shortly before his death, he transferred his soul to the Church of the Nativity for remembrance. Nowadays the miraculous image stands above the royal doors of the Kazan chapel.
In the second half of the 19th century, the clergy of the Church of the Nativity began to pay significant attention to the education of peasant children. Now, not only in church, but also in school classes, the priest communicated with his flock. The first Izmailovo school was created in 1868 (according to other sources in 1870) by the rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ, priest Ioann Alekseevich Irisov.
It was private in nature: it was organized at his expense. Classes took place in his house, which stood opposite the church (where the tennis courts are now). Instead of a private school, in 1876 the Izmailovo Zemstvo Primary School was founded, the teacher of which was Father John until the 90s of the 19th century.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the next stage of repair and construction work began in the Church of the Nativity of Christ. By that time, Izmailovo had become a large industrial village. A special contribution to the decoration of the temple belongs to the merchant and manufacturer Ivan Vasilyevich Butyugin. He was born into a family of wealthy peasants, some of whom had their own wool weaving factories in Izmailovo and Moscow.
By order of his relative, Arefiy Kirovich Butyugin, the owner of a brick factory in the village of Cherkizovo, on June 22, 1864, a cross was created for the Nativity Church (transferred in 2000 to the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Silver Island). At the main entrance to the Church of the Nativity, double iron doors are still preserved, created in 1894 according to the design of the architect Pavel Petrovich Salnikov (1864-1901) at the expense of Ivan Butyugin.
Sunday School
In 1991, a Sunday school began operating in the Church of the Nativity. Students are divided into 5 groups and form 5 main classes. A wide range of teachers provide lessons to students: lessons are taught by professional school teachers, as well as members of the clergy.
Children are taught lessons in the Law of God, Church Slavonic reading, liturgics, religious studies, the basics of moral living, and lessons in the lives of saints. A children's choir has also been formed from students. Those who are not involved in singing still participate in the Liturgy: they read the hours and the apostle, ring the bells, and perform the duties of sextons.
In addition to classes, children are offered a variety of clubs to choose from: a singing and vocal club, a fine arts club, various sports activities and hiking trips around the area.
As an additional club, there is also a music group, which consists of students. The ensemble performs various patriotic songs and not a single school performance takes place without its participation. The performances themselves are organized regularly on every major holiday through the efforts of parents and children under the guidance of experienced teachers.
XX century
In 1905-1906, the famous icon painter Vasily Guryanov re-painted the church. The Moscow Archaeological Society, which at that time controlled all church repair and construction work, rated the master’s work rather low. A. However, the painting has not been changed. The same master in 1905-1906 carried out a complete restoration of the iconostasis and individual icons in the main and side areas.
In 1911, with the permission of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, the walls were whitewashed, the roofs and the dome of the Church of the Nativity were covered with verdigris. In 1912, water heating was installed.
On July 19, 1915, on the day of St. Seraphim of Sarov, a memorable event took place - in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, St. Macarius (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, celebrated the Divine Liturgy with Archimandrite Nikodim of the Moscow Vysokopetrovsky Monastery. This was the first service in the Moscow Metropolitan Church in 200 years. Of course, before this time, some bishops visited the Church of the Nativity of Christ, for example: Bishop Nikolai (Sokolov) (May 21, 1834) and Metropolitan Leonty (Lebedinsky) (June 9, 1892).
1917 At first, the red wave of the revolution did not seem to reach Izmailov. But this is at first. Already in 1918, on the basis of the Decree on the separation of church and state, the village lost its parochial school. The clergy stopped teaching classes on the Law of God at the Izmailovo Zemstvo Primary School.
In 1918-1919, the Intercession Cathedral and the Church of the Venerable Tsarevich Joasaph of India were closed. The rector, Archpriest Mikhail Volkov, together with the believers in 1918, transferred the miraculous Jerusalem image of the Mother of God from the Intercession Cathedral to the Church of the Nativity of Christ and placed the icon next to its copy in the central church.
Interior decoration
At the entrance of the temple, double doors made of iron have been preserved, the author of which in 1894 was P. Salnikov. Three temple iconostases for each chapel were created by a master from Kostroma S. Rozhkov in 1678 and have still been preserved in their original form.
In 1735, the icons in the iconostasis were replaced with new ones, painted by F. Piskulin, and even later carvings were added to the temple on icon cases and individual parts of the iconostasis. In 1905, it was decided to update the icons and attract artists for new painting.
Due to a lack of funds, it was not possible to fully follow the plan proposed by the Moscow Archaeological Society, and the temple was painted by the Moscow icon painter V. Guryanov with icons from various Russian artists. The walls inside are decorated with various floral patterns, as well as images of revered saints.
Many icons copy the work of Repin and Bronnikov. In general, the temple retains its color and antiquity: there is a low vault, arched passages and large icons located on the walls.
Confiscation of valuables in the temple
On May 4, 1922, valuables were confiscated from the temple. This is how Lenin’s call was fulfilled “to give the most decisive and merciless battle to the Black Hundred clergy and suppress their resistance with such cruelty that they will not forget it for several decades.”
The rector, Father Mikhail, and two members of the community, Pavel Mikhailovich Tarazanov and Sergei Fedorovich Tyurin, were allowed to attend. A total of 196 items were seized. The greatest indignation among parishioners was caused by the removal of the robe from the miraculous image of the Mother of God of Jerusalem. The commission members began to trample on it to remove the precious stones.
By the end of the twenties, Izmailovo, like the whole country, was harshly and obsessively covered with red. Many newcomers appeared in the village, settling in factory buildings, barracks, buildings of the workers' town on Izmailovsky Island and the Izmailovsky village of the People's Commissariat of Railways.
Few of them became parishioners of the temple. At the same time, the most economically strong and religious families of local residents were dispossessed and deported. What can we say about priests...
The repression of the Izmailovo clergy began after Izmailovo entered the city in 1935. Archpriest Mikhail Volkov was the first to be repressed. In 1939, priest Sergius Sokolov was repressed. He was not saved even by the fact that back in the early 1930s he resigned from the priesthood so that his children would not be considered the children of a “disenfranchised.” That was the name of the person deprived of civil rights at that time, and they were able to get an education (during this period the clergy was forced to pay for the education of their children).
Information for pilgrims
You are not allowed to take photographs on the temple grounds without a blessing. This can damage ancient icons and frames. For photos, you must obtain permission from a priest from the clergy.
It is not recommended to visit the temple in an inappropriate manner; women should not wear makeup or be without a hat or headscarf. Shorts and open T-shirts are not recommended for men. In the temple you can order services, such as reading the psalter or the magpie.
Father Pavel
The Church of the Nativity did not close. Services, prayer services, even religious processions did not stop. Priests from closed, ruined churches came here to serve. In 1935, parishioners met Archpriest Pavel Ansimov, who had already been arrested twice and experienced all the delights of interrogations. In June 1930, while imprisoned in Butyrka prison, an OGPU investigator proposed to “leave” the priesthood and join the OGPU as an accountant. For his refusal he was severely beaten. And an investigation began into the case of “organizing a sisterhood at the Church of St. Nicholas in Pokrovsky, engaged in anti-Soviet activities on religious grounds.
The people of Izmailovo really fell in love with the kind, cheerful priest. When they asked what happiness was, he answered: “Happiness is a person’s ability to rejoice in everything that the Lord gives him.” In the church, Father Paul was helped in everything by young parishioners. And he, in turn, encouraged people as best he could during that terrible time of persecution.
Social work, everyday life
The Church of the Nativity in Izmailovo regularly provides spiritual and material assistance to all those in need. The parish of the temple provides targeted humanitarian assistance to low-income and large families, and provides patronage assistance to the elderly and disabled.
The parish of the temple provides transportation assistance and helps to interact with medical and legal institutions in the area, providing free legal services. Clergy and parishioners of the temple regularly visit and provide social assistance at the Boarding House for Labor Veterans, the city children's hospital, clinical hospitals, and the social service center.
As a form of catechetical work, general communions and unctions are regularly held, and, if necessary, baptisms are held in all of the above institutions. Orthodox literature, prayer books, Bibles, and children's books are donated to school and city libraries.
The temperance society “Sobriety” also operates at the temple. The brotherhood holds regular meetings, gives lectures, publishes literature and participates in various city events aimed at combating alcohol and tobacco addiction.
God grant...
“Greetings to little Zhenya,” he wrote to one such parishioner. – May this day remind you of that happy, innocent childhood, when the soul was pure, and all thoughts were good and bright, and God grant that the communion of the Holy Mysteries will renew your soul and make it pure and young, capable of receiving the grace of God so what she is. I will, as always, pray to God, may He protect you from all evils and all the hardships of life, and draw you to Himself for the salvation of your soul. God grant that your Christian heart constantly burns with love for God and your neighbors and encourages you to do only good and good, avoiding evil. God bless you. Sinful prayer book and well-wisher Archpriest Pavel Ansimov. 1936."
And in 1937, informants reported that the priest made anti-Soviet interpretations in his sermons. Father Pavel was arrested along with a group of believers. The crosses on the domes silently watched the future martyr. As the archpriest himself once did, in 1931, standing in the rain, shuddering and silently watching the “dancing” of workers on the dome of the Church of St. Nicholas, trying to pull off the cross...
On November 19, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced Pavel Ansimov to death. On November 21, 1937, the sentence was carried out at the Butovo training ground. Canonized as the holy new martyrs of Russia by a resolution of the Holy Synod in 2005.
From Father John to Father Leonid
Life went on as usual. Archpriest Mikhail Speransky and Archpriest John Kedrov continued to serve in the Nativity Church, and a strong parish remained. During the Great Patriotic War, the duties of the rector of the temple were performed by Archpriest Mikhail Nikolaevich Preferansov.
Since October 25, 1945, the future elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, Father John Krestyankin, has been serving in the church. According to him, in the first post-war years, about 50 people were baptized daily, and on Sundays - up to 150. Even then, many came to Father John for pastoral instructions.
On the night of April 29-30, 1950, Father John was arrested for active pastoral work in the Church of the Nativity. According to the verdict, he was sentenced to seven years in forced labor camps.
Father John forever preserved the memory of the place of his first service. In the altar of the Church of the Nativity there is kept the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God with his own handwritten inscription: “To the Moscow Church of the Nativity in Izmailovo, the cradle of my priestly ministry, from Archimandrite John Krestyankin. 12/25.10.1998.”
From 1946 to 1971, the rector of the Church of the Nativity was priest Viktor Vasilyevich Zhukov. Despite the fact that during this period new persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church began in the Soviet Union, repairs were carried out in the temple. A second floor was built above the baptism room. We installed central heating and running water.
During these years, people went to church, knowing that some elders were forced to report to the district executive committee about those who were baptized and married. Many services were performed daily in the church and in the parishioners’ homes. On Sundays, prayer services were always held with the blessing of water and custom akathists.
The rector of the church since 1982 is Archpriest Leonid Roldugin, dean of the Preobrazhensky deanery district. Under Father Leonid, the temple was re-roofed, painted, the domes were gilded, the wall paintings and iconostases were renewed, and the thrones in the altar were renewed.
The difficult and sometimes tragic life path of the Church of the Nativity of Christ reflects the path of the Russian state like a mirror. You just have to come closer and take a closer look. As in one good song about the churches of Rus' - come up and ask about a lot: there is a heart and veins in these walls.
Elena Yachmentseva
Photo: Alexander Chebotar
Clergy and mentors
The Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo has a full-fledged parable, consisting of a rector, 2 archpriests, 2 priests and 2 deacons.
The rector of the temple is the mitered Archpriest Leonid (Roldugin), who was awarded many church awards, such as the Order of Prince Vladimir, III degree for church services, the Order of St. Innocent, II degree for 40 years of church service, and the Order of Daniel of Moscow, II degree in memory of 1,000 years of the baptism of Rus' .
Members of the parable of the temple are also Archpriest Evgeniy (Zuev) and Archpriest Vladimir (Kutikin). Father Eugene also holds the position of director of a Sunday school. Father Vladimir is engaged in spiritual care for the Kenozersky region.
The serving priests of the temple are Father Victor (Rodin), a participant in the program for the construction of Moscow churches, and Sergius (Meleshko), who is involved in the spiritual care of Moscow prisons and pre-trial detention centers. Deacons also belong to the parable; deacons Sergius (Shmonin) and Vladimir (Isakov), who take an active part in social work, also serve.
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