The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God () is a Russian Orthodox Church building in Saint Petersburg. Its construction started in 1894 when monks from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra decided to expand the monastic branch of the monastery. Work on the construction lasted six years, and the church was designed in the neo-Byzantine style by Vasily Kosyakov.7 June 1886 Old Style = 19 June 1886 New Style.5 June 1892 Old Style = 17 June 1892 New Style.
History of the Metochion
Trinity and Pskov Metochions n 1721 on Vasilievsky Island, in accordance with a decree by Peter I, the construction of episcopal metochions for members of the Most Holy Synod began. A building on the corner of the Neva embankment and 15th Line was purchased from the Naryshkin family by the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. However, by the mid-18th century the monastery had moved its metochion to the Fontanka River Embankment and left the rebuilt house with its house church of the Nativity of Christ on Vasilievsky Island. In 1756, an advertisement for the sale of the first building was published in the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. For ten years, the metochion could only be leased to the Academy of Sciences, and no buyer was found. This situation led to Catherine II issuing a decree on 10 April 1766Dates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style. transferring the building to the Pskov Eparchy for the establishment of a metochion.
The metochion of the Pskov Archbishop's House was used mainly for the residence of Synod bishops coming to Saint Petersburg for meetings. Income was small, and it was difficult to control activities from Pskov. As a result, in 1854, at the request of the temporary administrator of the Pskov Eparchy, Archbishop of Riga and Mitau Platon (Gorodetsky), the Most Holy Synod took over the management of the metochion. In return, the Pskov Archbishop's House began receiving an annuity from 1856. The change in management did not alter the economic situation of the metochion. On 11 August 1872Dates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style. it was decided to sell it.
Kiev Metochion To avoid transferring the complex with its house church to another department, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Arseniy (Moscvin) proposed selling it to serve as a metochion for the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. On 11 June 1875Dates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style. the Highest permission was received to sell the land without auction for 86,000 rubles.
At the time of purchase, the metochion consisted of a plot built up with a two-story main building with a semi-basement, which had been repeatedly altered. It contained the house church of the Nativity of Christ. In the courtyard were several small service buildings and a stockpile of building stone, confiscated by the police as the owner could not be established. At the entrance was a public "latrine" spreading a stench, and a rubbish pit. The Metropolitan planned a complete reconstruction of the metochion, but he soon died, and, due to the lack of approved projects, the work was not carried out.
As the metochion was poor, its living and utility premises were rented out to lay people. Cosmetic repairs were started, and buildings were added and rebuilt; in 1879, according to the project of P. I. Shestov, a new one-story wing was built along 15th Line, called the "Spare House". However, all this was insufficient for the status of a metochion which housed monastics and where Kiev bishops resided for extended periods. The house Nativity Church could no longer accommodate all worshippers by that time, and the premises themselves were a fire hazard. In 1883–1885 an attempt was made at a major reconstruction of the main building according to the project of N. A. Melnikov, but it did not add comfort. The premises remained semi-dark, the evenness of walls, floors and ceilings was disrupted; and in the metropolitan's chambers, to prevent the ceiling from collapsing, cast-iron columns were installed as supports. In 1893, a chapel was built at the corner of the "Spare House" according to the project of civil engineer A. M. Vorobyov.
In 1894, an architectural competition was held for the construction of a new complex of church buildings here. Projects by architects A. M. Vorobyov, V. A. Demyanovsky, V. A. Kasyakov, O. I. Thibault-Brignolle and M. A. Shchurupov participated. As a result, the project by V. A. Kasyakov (with the participation of B. K. Pravdzik) was accepted. According to the project, the new church was to become the main architectural dominant of the metochion and this part of the Neva embankment; most buildings were to be built anew. In 1894–1895, on the site of the demolished building on the embankment, a new two-story house was built, housing the rector's apartment and the metropolitan's chambers with a balcony on the main facade. From his rooms, the metropolitan could go directly into the church. The other servants of the metochion were accommodated in a two-story courtyard wingLater built up with two more floors.. The Spare House was built up with a third floorDates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style.. Three years later, the garden and two courtyards were replanned; a shed with storage rooms and a stable were built. In 1900, a fence was erected. In the basement premises, semi-automatic anti-flood shutters were installed on the windows and doors.
Thus, the metochion was a closed complex of buildings with separate entrances for the brethren, the metropolitan, and visitors. The Spare House was rented out. Besides the rector, about 15 monastics permanently resided at the metochion. The brethren mainly worked on church obediences. On 22 January 190322 January 1903 Old Style = 4 February 1903 New Style. Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Feognost (Lebedev) died at the metochion. In 1915, the rich library of Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) was stored in the basements of the metochion, which perished nine years later during a flood.
From 1919, a gradual "compaction" of housing began, monastics were moved from cells to small rooms. Classes of the Petrograd Theological Institute were held in five rooms. In the early 1920s, the rector Father Trifilliy (Smaga) actively opposed the activities of the renovationist Supreme Church Administration, citing the autonomy of the metochion, which belonged to the Ukrainian part of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, under the threat of the Vasileostrovsky Dean, Archpriest Nikolai Platonov, to liquidate the metochion, he formally recognized the Supreme Church Administration and agreed to commemorate Bishop Artemy (Ilyinsky). Such an act was not accepted at the Lavra, and Father Trifilliy, after explaining to the spiritual council of the monastery the circumstances of his submission to the renovationists, received a blessing to adhere to Bishop Manuil (Lemeshevsky). In 1923, the brethren of the metochion were received into communion with the Patriarchal Church. On the night of 2–3 February 1924, Father Trifilliy was arrested together with Bishop Manuil.
After the closure of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra on 29 September 1926, the metochion continued its existence independently. Subsequently, a small part of the brethren supported the Josephite movement. On the night of 23 August 1930, some monastics and part of the parishioners were arrested on charges of "systematically withholding small silver coinage, thereby undermining monetary circulation in the USSR." They were convicted under articles 58-10 and 59-12 of the 1926 RSFSR Penal Code with subsequent dispatch to camps. The last members of the brethren were arrested and sentenced to exile in Kazakhstan by March 1932. The metochion effectively ceased to exist.
Optina Metochion By the end of the 1980s, the complex of the former metochion was occupied by various organizations and communal apartments. The Spare House was built up with a fourth floor, the cell wings with two floors and replanned. The monastery garden lost its integrity and regularity.
In 1988, Optina Monastery was reopened. In the autumn of 1990, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Evlogy (Smirnov), appealed to the Leningrad authorities to consider the possibility of transferring one of the city's churches (including closed ones) for the establishment of a monastery metochion. Among the proposed churches was the Dormition Church, on which the abbot made his choice. From that time, the restoration of the church and the recovery of the metochion premises began by buying out and resettling communal apartments. The vacated premises were again replanned for the needs of the metochion.
History of the Church
Construction
Construction started 1895. Concrete was used instead of bricks to speed up construction of its main arches. In September 1896, a temporary church was erected inside the temple under construction, where services were constantly held. On September 14, 1897, crosses were placed on the domes. The main chapel was made in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was consecrated on December 18 1897. In the summer of 1898, the domes were gilded. In 1903, the church was completed.7 June 1892 Old Style = 19 June 1892 New Style.
1900-1935 The new church in the name of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and the venerables Anthony and Theodosius, the Miracle-Workers of the Caves, was founded on 15 August 1895Dates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style. by Archimandrite Feognost (Pashkov). Construction work continued without interruption from early morning until nightfall. To speed up the process, it was decided to use concrete instead of brick for the main arches. In September 1896, a temporary church was erected inside the building church, where services were constantly held. On 14 September 189714 September 1897 Old Style = 26 September 1897 New Style. crosses were raised onto the domes. The main altar in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos was consecrated on 18 December 1897Later built up with two more floors. by Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Ioannikiy (Rudnev), and the side altar, in honor of the Venerables of the Caves, on 19 DecemberDates before 1918 are given in the article in the Old Style (Julian calendar). This date is 21 April 1766 in the New Style.. In the summer of 1898, the domes were gilded and finishing works were carried out. After the consecration, a temporary iconostasis from the old house church of the metochion was installed in the church. Finishing works and painting were completed by 1903.
Liturgy was served daily in the church, and on Sundays and holidays twice a day: the early one in the chapel of the Venerables Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, and the late one in the main chapel of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. The weekly singing of the akathist to the Dormition of the Mother of God, a tradition established back in the 1870s, was popular among the people. Periodically, the akathist was served by the Kiev metropolitan himself.
Soviet period
In the spring of 1922, a chalice, a cross, and the setting from the altar Gospel were stolen from the altar of the church. The church's "dvadtsatka" (group of twenty parishioners responsible for the church) was accused of improper storage of property. In the 1930s, the parents of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundyaev and Raisa Vladimirovna Gundyaeva (née Kuchina), served as choir singers in the church.