The sky-blue church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda has long been pleasing to the eye of everyone passing through the old Vladimir tract, which is now called the Enthusiasts Highway.
Rogozhskaya Sloboda
In 1625, the temple in the name of the Trinity Life-Giving already stood on this site. His parishioners were coachmen who lived here in Rogozhskaya Sloboda. During the French invasion, the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Rogozhskaya, like the whole settlement, burned out. In 1816, parishioners turned to the Holy Synod with a request to dismantle a dilapidated church and build a new one. Permission was obtained and soon the first building stone was laid in the future church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Rogozhskaya Sloboda.
The beginning of the restoration of the shrine
Church adviser Gabriel Petrovich Smolyansky, who had invested all his financial savings on this charitable event, was especially interested in the church of God. But before the church was built, in 1834 it burned down. However, church utensils and sacred vessels were saved. They rebuilt the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda according to the project of the famous architect of the recognized master of the Empire style, Fedor Mikhailovich Shestakov. February 17, 1838 the church was consecrated by the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, St. Filaret Drozdov.
Palekh church painting
The three-story bell tower was built later, in 1864. In 1876, the church was painted by the famous Moscow icon painter Andrei Semyonovich Rogozhkin, as they used to say, in the "Old Orthodox Orthodox style." Now art critics define this style as Palekh. Since the Old Believers lived in the Rogozhskaya settlement, they tried to attract them to Orthodoxy. Icons of ancient letters were purchased in the temple, if they bought new ones, then they were stylized for the 15-16 centuries. It was said that the temple on the Rogozhskaya Sloboda in a collection of remarkable ancient icons could even be compared with the Kremlin shrines. In November 1899, a special place was consecrated in the St. Sergius Church for conversations with the Old Believers, for religious reading and spiritual concerts. Special notes were made for the wonderful choir of the blind, which was considered one of the best in Moscow.
Atheistic Bacchanalia
The revolution and the rampant militant atheism crossed out all the centuries-old works on the improvement of the temple. In 1937, after the arrest of the abbot and active parishioners, the newly arrived atheists chopped old icons with axes. Books and church decorations were burned at the stake. Temple destroyers did not hesitate to burn priceless notes for the blind. What was created and acquired for centuries with love and patience died in a few hours in an atheistic bacchanalia. Only a few old icons were saved. One of them is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy My Sorrows”, which was transferred to the St. Nicholas Church in Kuznets, which is still there.
Soviet past
Since the late fifties of the twentieth century, the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya settlement was used for workshops and warehouses. In the late 70s, welding sparks flew into the central aisle, workers swearing and smoking cigarettes, welded the details of the monument to Gagarin, which now stands on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow. Shower cabins were installed here, where people washed after work. Then no one knew and did not think that all this happens literally on the graves and bones of executed people. The terrible truth about what was happening in the house of God until the fifties was found out only when the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya settlement was given to believers, and only then a serious restoration began.
Scary finds
Restorers of the temple went down to the cellars, and what they saw there shocked them to the core. Stacks stacked bones, lightly sprinkled with sand, and in the skulls - bullet holes. After a request to the relevant competent authorities, it was possible to establish that the temple of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda, for which once the state adviser G.P. Smolyansky spent his entire fortune so that the descendants had spiritual joy and comfort, turned into a training ground for the execution of sentences. The bones of the sufferers were buried according to Christian custom. A cross was placed over the mass grave on which it is written: "They were tortured in order to receive the Resurrection." Memorial services are regularly performed over the grave.
Innocent slaughtered
The temple commemorates the new martyrs, whose fate was directly related to the history of the temple. From 1916 to 1918, he served as a psalmist in the church, the holy martyr Joseph Schensnovich, who was shot in 1937. One of the grounds for the execution was the testimony of a witness that Dyakon Skchensnovich forces his own children to attend church. The holy martyr Konstantin Gusev from 1921 to 1927 served as a deacon in this church, and from 1927 to 1934 a priest, he was shot in 1937. In the same 1937 they were arrested and executed:
• Subdeacon Victor Frolov.
• Janitor Ivan Rybin.
• Songwriter Elizaveta Kuranova.
• Singer Nikolai Kuzmin.
The temple electrician John Malyshev was arrested and died in the camps. The investigation could not find any serious evidence against these people. All cases were fabricated on the testimony of false witnesses. Their fault consisted only in the confession of their faith.
Last Rector
The Cathedral of Russian New Martyrs and Confessors also commemorates the last before the closing of the rector of the church, Archpriest Peter Nikotin. Among the charges brought against Father Peter, there were complaints from a citizen who was refused communion on the grounds that she did not know who Christ was, but she knew perfectly well who Lenin was. The paid informant left for the history the words of the holy martyr Peter: “Without Christ, man cannot live where there is no Christ, there is abuse, fights, quarrels. There is no more shame and honor. ” The same informant accused Father Peter of preaching the church as the only place for the salvation of the human soul. Father Peter was shot along with his parishioners at the Butovo training ground and buried in an unknown common grave. In the temple there is his icon, as well as his image, written in the central aisle.
Shrine revival
December 4, 1991 was a real holiday for all Russian Orthodoxy. Bishop of Solnechnogorsk Sergiy Fomin held a small consecration of the temple. From this time began the revival of the shrine. After several years of hard work, the chapels of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Nicholas the Wonderworker were completely restored. Ancient painting shines again with bright colors. However, the complete completion of all work is still very far away. Very often there is not enough money for everything, so restoration work has to be frozen. According to old photographs, the main iconostasis is being restored. Miraculously, the holy icon of Seraphim of Swarovski, which is written on the wall of the temple, was almost completely preserved. Many fragments of the painting have to be reconstructed.
Special prayers for pregnant women
What else is known for the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhsky settlement? The baptism of a child, special prayers for pregnant women, holding Christian holidays and ceremonies - all this is available to those who want to visit this holy place. A prayer service for pregnant women in the church on the Rogozhskaya Sloboda is held every Sunday at 13-00. After the service, each young mother can stay and ask her question to the priest. The St. Sergius Church in Rogozhskaya Sloboda is always glad to see new people.
Saints image
Through the efforts of parishioners, the temple is gradually replenished with shrines. While there are few of them, they are therefore more expensive for believing hearts. Among them:
• An ancient icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with the hallmarks of life.
• A venerable list of the icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy My Sorrows”, an exact copy of the one that used to be in the temple.
• Icon of the righteous John of Kronstadt the Wonderworker with a particle of hair.
• Particle of the cross of the tree of the Lord, which is stored in the altar and is carried out for worship of believers on holidays.
• The icon of the Mother of God, which originally belonged to the temple, was found among the garbage when the temple was handed over to believers.
• The icon of the Holy Trinity sagged on the facade of the altar of the temple all the atheistic years. Now it is restored and occupies a place of honor at the main altar, and a mosaic copy has been made in its place.
In the aisle of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker, there is an ark with particles of the relics of the saints of God: St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, Great Martyr George the Victorious, Martyr Tryphon, John the Warrior, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, healer and many others, Panteleimon. Next to the ark there is an icon that depicts all of these saints of God.
For pilgrims and tourists
The service in the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh is not held every day, but according to the schedule approved by the rector. Today, many are interested in the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Rogozhskaya settlement. How to get and where is it located? Not far from the metro station "Ploshcha Ilyicha" this holy place is located. Temple address : Moscow, Nikoyamskaya street, 57-59.