Do you think that Old Believers in Russia can be found only beyond the Urals? Not at all! You can get acquainted with the patriarchal way of life of the Old Believer directly in Moscow. To do this, go to Rogozhskaya settlement. It was once considered a suburb. In 1783, a road pillar was installed there , where it was carved: "Two miles to Moscow." However, now Rogozhskaya Sloboda is almost the center of the city. How to get there? What you need to see in order to fully plunge into the Old Believer atmosphere of the priests? What temples are worth visiting? This will tell our article. But first, tell the story of this settlement. She's pretty interesting.
Posad coachmen
In Moscow, as in any other city, people who belonged to the same profession preferred to settle next to each other. Therefore, streets appeared under the name of "shops": Myasnitskaya, Goncharnaya and so on. At the end of the sixteenth century, a new profession appeared in Russia - the coachman. At first, these people delivered the emperor’s mail, they were messengers, but with their own “vehicle”. Later, the coachmen began to deal with another "cab", delivering goods and passengers in different directions.
Soon there were so many of them that they split along the routes. Those who specialized in trips from Moscow towards the village of Stary Rogozhsky Yam settled on the outskirts of Belokamennaya, closer to the goal of delivering people and goods. These were the surroundings of the village of Andronikha, on the left bank of the Yauza. Later, the Old Rogozhsky pit became the city of Bogorodsky, which in Soviet times was renamed Noginsk. But the Rogozhskaya settlement, populated by coachmen serving this direction, has not changed its name. But the glory of the "holy land" remained with her.
The center of the old inns
For a long time, all cities and even posadas had fortress walls. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Moscow was surrounded by a huge Kamer-Kollezhsky rampart, stretching for 32 miles. He got his name from the fact that there were outposts at different gates. They levied duties on imported goods. Known for this Chamber College, which built the shaft. And this line of fortifications passed along the Rogozhskaya settlement. In the nineteenth century, the need for walls and ramparts disappeared. In place of the old outposts, squares were formed on which fairs and markets were organized on different days.
The most popular trading place was the Rogozhskaya Sloboda, which stood on a large Vladimir tract. To arrive on time for the fair, merchants arrived ahead of time. Where there is demand, there is supply. Sloboda began to be actively built up in inns, in modern language, motels, where the merchants who arrived could accommodate themselves without entering the city. Soon Yamshchitsky houses here decreased. Together with the living rooms and storage rooms, beautiful merchant houses appeared.
Old Believers
It just so happened that from the seventeenth century, that is, almost from the creation of the Rogozhskaya Sloboda, people who were excommunicated from the Russian Patriarchal Church began to settle in it. The old believers believed that the new religion was apostasy and strictly adhered to their way of life. This left its mark on everyday life. The old Rogozhskaya settlement, the photo of which was hardly preserved, was a closed world, radically unlike the rest of Moscow.
It was separated from the capital by the Yauza River. Along the long straight streets stood two-story stone houses on high foundations. Locked gates, rare passers-by - all this did not fit in with the boiling life of Moscow ... The newcomers did not stop here for a long time. Marriages were made only between co-religionists. In 1790, there were 20 thousand parishioners of the Old Believer church, and in 1825 there were already sixty eight thousand.
New history of the settlement
For a long time this place was a kind of reservation. Muscovites from other areas of the city came to look at the Old Believer churches, a cemetery with bishops' graves and the tomb of the Morozovs and other dynasties. But gradually the wind of change touched the Rogozhskaya Sloboda. The Nizhny Novgorod railway was laid, putting an end to the unprofitable Yamshchitsky carriage.
For a long time in Rogozhskaya Sloboda there was a stage (track prison). From here sent sentenced to exile. They were lined up in rows - first convicts with shaved heads and leg shackles, then those who wore only handcuffs, and from the rear - simple settlers. The train was closed by carts, on which the wives and children of the exiled, as well as the sick, rode.
In 1896, the station on Rogozhka was abolished. The line stretched to the Kursk station. The settlement has especially changed with the advent of Soviet power. And not only the streets were renamed. Many temples were destroyed, and new people began to settle on the streets. But still a raid of patriarchal order is present in this area of Moscow.
Temples
The first Old Believer church was erected here at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It was wooden and was consecrated in honor of Sergius of Radonezh. In 1776, at the expense of the merchants, a second church was built in Rogozhskaya Sloboda - Nicholas the Wonderworker. A big scandal broke out in the nineties of the eighteenth century. Then, at the expense of the Old Believer community, the architect Matvey Kozakov built a cathedral in honor of the Protection of the Virgin. It turned out to be not only more beautiful than the temples of the patriarchal church, but also more of them. In size, it exceeded even the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. This haunted the clergy of the great church, which complained to Catherine II of schismatics. And at the direction of the empress, the Intercession Cathedral was "shortened." The altar ledges were dismantled, and of the five domes of the dome, the Old Believers were allowed to save only one. Later, a winter (heated) church of the Nativity of Christ, built in the style of pseudo-Gothic, was erected nearby.
Cemetery and other significant places of the Rogozhskaya Sloboda
In 1771, Moscow was covered by an epidemic of plague. Then the Old Believers asked the authorities for permission to build a cemetery where they could bury co-religionists who died from the plague. The place was chosen near the Vladimirsky tract. At the beginning of the twentieth century, one could see an obelisk above the mass grave of the victims of the epidemic. But even when the plague receded, the cemetery continued to replenish with new graves. The rich Old Believer clans erected their family tombs here. At the cemetery, you can still see the graves of industrialists and merchants Morozovs, Rakhmanovs, Soldatenkovs, Ryabushinsky, Shelaputins and others.
Other significant institutions were also built at the expense of the community: the barracks-hospital arose even during the plague. Now it is a dental clinic. A wooden chapel appeared near the cemetery, which in 1776 was replaced by a stone church in Rogozhskaya Sloboda, lit in memory of St. Nicholas. A printing house for printing Old Believer books, an almshouse, an orphanage, and a teacher's institute were founded. In the last lecture S. Bulgakov, A. Kizavetter, Prince E. Trubetskoy.
Historical and architectural ensemble
Neither under Catherine II, nor during Alexander the First, the Old Believers were persecuted. Therefore, the Moscow Rogozhskaya settlement was growing and decorated with temples. The last church that was built here (St. Nicholas) was and remains "one-believing." This means that priests recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate here serve the liturgy, but according to ancient rites and books.
This church was erected on the site of the chapel of the 18th century in the Byzantine-Russian style. Now the church of St. Nicholas is the only one in Moscow where all Orthodox can pray. In 1995, the Moscow government adopted a decree on the creation of a historical and architectural ensemble in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda. The core of this cultural reserve was to be the estate of the Gusevs.
Unfortunately, the restoration plan for some architectural monuments was canceled in 2011. However, Alexy’s Church in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda, the Resurrection Bell Tower, the Intercession Cathedral and the Nativity Cemetery Church, as well as the entire Rogozhsky Village, were declared cultural heritage sites.
Church of Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, in Rogozhskaya Sloboda
The first sacred building on this site was a small wooden church, built in 1625. It was dilapidated and at the very beginning of the eighteenth century it was replaced by a brick building. Parishioners found the style of the church unsuitable. Funds were raised, and already in the middle of the 18th century it acquired a modern look.
The building was designed by Dmitry Ukhtomsky, choosing for him the late Baroque architectural style. The church was consecrated in the name of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. This saint lived in the thirteenth century and was considered a miracle worker in all of Russia. The metropolitan was canonized six months after his death.
The relics of the saint were stored and revered in various Moscow churches. Since 1947, they have been in the Elokhov Epiphany Cathedral. And the temple of Alexy in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda shared the fate of many sacred structures in post-revolutionary Russia. In 1929, a warehouse and a repair and construction production workshop were arranged here. Restore the church began only in the 1990s.
What was and what does the temple of Alexius look like now
Old Believers were ordered to order icons or buy old images and donate to their churches. Therefore, before the revolution, the church of St. Metropolitan of Moscow in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda was a real museum. It housed the icons of Novgorod and other famous masters, which date back to the 15-16 centuries.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the interior of the temple was complemented by amazingly beautiful wall paintings. After the revolution, church utensils were lost. The temple was destroyed, and only two tiers have survived from its bell tower. But the church is constantly being restored. The main building was restored in 2012. Work is now underway on the restoration of the main exterior facade and the refectory.
Worship services
The Church of St. Alexis in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda is located on the corner of Malaya Alekseevskaya and Nikoloyamskaya Streets. It is easily recognizable by its red-white walls and golden head on the restored bell tower. Currently, this church is assigned to the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Ongoing restoration work does not interfere with worship. On Saturdays and Sundays at 10.00 a liturgy is held. After it, at noon, a prayer service for pregnant women is performed. Divine services are also held on church holidays. Women come here who would like to have children. Prayers for the giving of children are served in the church building. Patronal festivals of the Church of Alexy of Moscow in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda are: February 25 (new style), March 27, May 22, June 2, August 11 and 29, December 19.
Pokrovsky Cathedral
We have already mentioned this church, which in size and decoration turned out to be higher and richer than the temples of the Kremlin. At a time when the authorities favored the Old Believers, they only “shortened” it, making it a meter lower from the Assumption Cathedral. But even in this form, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin at the Rogozhsky cemetery did not give rest to the main Christian denomination in Russia.
In the summer of 1856, Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret ensured that the altars of the Old Believer churches in the capital were sealed. Only with the reforms of 1905, which proclaimed freedom of religion, the temples were returned to the community of priests. In honor of the printing of the altars, the bell tower of the Resurrection of Christ was built.
After the revolution, the Pokrovsky Cathedral wanted to be closed, but it was almost the only church in Moscow that continued to function as a temple. This happened partly because the building, built in the style of classicism, did not at all resemble a sacred structure. Only the only head on the roof betrayed the church in it.
But the church bell tower of the Resurrection of Christ was closed in 1930. You should pay attention to its facade. It is decorated with images of the mythical birds of Paradise - Sirin, Gamayun and Alkonost. The closed church of the Resurrection of Christ did not stand for long. Services in it have resumed since 1947.
Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh
This church, although more modest in size, however, in terms of decoration, a collection of vestments and ancient icons, it is not inferior to Pokrovsky Cathedral. It is said that when Napoleon approached Moscow, the priest of the church, Sergius of Radonezh, ordered to bury priceless church utensils in the cemetery. The invaders were told that the freshly excavated land is nothing but the graves of the dead from the plague. The French were afraid to check whether this was true or not.
Before the revolution, the temple was famous for its wonderful choir of the blind. But what the French did not do, the local lumpen did. In 1922, more than five pounds of silver valuables were removed from the church. What the barbarians could not steal was chopped with axes and burned in bonfires. So many ancient icons and notes for the blind were lost. The church building housed workshops and a warehouse. This caused great damage to the structure.
Only in 1985 it was transferred to the Museum of Old Russian Culture. A. Rubleva. To place an exposition of icons, restoration work was carried out in the temple. Since 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church has owned the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Rogozhskaya Sloboda. The schedule of services in it is simple. The liturgy is held daily at 8:00, except Mondays.
Services are more often held in the Old Believer Cathedral of the Protection of the Virgin. On weekdays, the liturgy is held at 7:30 and 15:30. On the eve of the holidays, the service takes place at 14:00. On Saturday, the morning liturgy begins at seven, and on Sundays - at half past seven.
Rogozhskaya Sloboda: how to get there
The Old Believer village is located between the metro stations Aviamotornaya, Rimskaya, Marxistskaya and Taganskaya. Walking is the shortest route from the first two stops of the subway. Public transportation is available from other stations. So, from the "Marxist" you can get to the Rogozhskaya Sloboda by buses of routes 51 and 169. From the metro station "Taganskaya" trolleybuses number 26, 63 and 16 run. former Voitovich).
It should be said that this village is interesting not only for temples. There is an Old Believer restaurant, church shops, a folk costume workshop, children's and adult Sunday religious schools.