Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (Moscow)

The church community was formed in 1626 , when a new community was separated from the old Moscow Lutheran community of St. Michael under the leadership of Pastor Jacob Neuenburg. In 1632, the first community church near Chistye Prudy was demolished. The second church stood for just over 10 years. At the initiative of General Nikolai Bauman in 1647, near the bridge on the Yauza River , the "Officer Church" was erected, but this place was taken away from the community. In 1649, Europeans were banned by the Council Code from buying property in the capital.

General Bauman, together with the artist Peter Inglis, bought a new construction site in the German settlement . There a Lutheran house of worship was founded a second time, on the site of which in 1664 a small wooden church appeared. In 1667, this church was demolished and in the same place a large wooden church was built, as well as a pastor's house and a school building. The consecration of the church took place in 1669 . In 1670, the land plot on which these three buildings were located was transferred to the official possession of the community by the tsarist Alexei Mikhailovich .

In 1694, in the presence of Peter the Great , the foundation was laid for the construction of a new stone church with a bell tower, and in 1695 it was consecrated in the name of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. This "New Church" burned three times (in 1711 , 1737 and 1748 ), but it was always restored. However, after a severe fire of 1812 , when most of Moscow burned down, restoration was not possible. The community, led by the pastor of the church, Friedrich Goering, found temporary shelter in the built prayer house, which was consecrated on December 13, 1814 ^[1] .

In Kosmodamiansky (Starosadsky) Lane

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  Church in 1835

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  Church in 1888

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  Postcard beg. XX century

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  Photo beg. XX century

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  The funeral of Bishop Dyckhoff , 1911

In 1817, the community bought the Lopukhins' estate near Pokrovka Street in Kosmodamiansky Lane ( Starosadsky Lane since 1922). On June 15, 1818, in the presence of King of Prussia Frederick William III , the church of St. Peter and Paul. With the money of the King of Prussia, as well as of Emperor Alexander I , who provided a loan in the amount of 40,000 rubles, of which the community only had to repay 33,000 rubles, the reconstruction of the purchased house into a church, the construction of a dome and a cross began. On August 18 (30), 1819, this new building was consecrated. Peter and Paul Parish became the largest among the Protestant parishes of Moscow. Among the community there were many wealthy industrialists, financiers, and representatives of the noble family. In February 1837, an organ sounded for the first time in the church, and on May 4, 1843, an organ concert by Franz Liszt took place in the church.

When in the middle of the XIX century the number of parishioners exceeded 6 thousand, a decision was made to reconstruct the temple according to the plan of the architect A. A. Meingard in the Neo-Gothic style, which ended in January 1862. In 1863, a bell was presented to the tower, presented by Kaiser Wilhelm I. In this church in 1896 an organ concert was given by the organist of the church of Saint Sulpice , professor of the Paris Conservatory Charles-Marie Vidor ^[2] .

By the end of the 19th century, the community numbered 17 thousand people (14 thousand Germans , 2 thousand Latvians , 600 Estonians , 150 Finns and Swedes ). Divine services were performed not only in German, but also in Latvian and Estonian . In connection with the increase in the number of parishioners, the question arose of restructuring the church with a view to expanding it. In 1898, the decision to build a church for 1700 seats followed, which in 1903-1905 was carried out according to the project of William Walcot by the architect V. A. Kossov . After the refusal of V. A. Kossov, caused by a conflict with builders who ignored the statement of the author of the project about deflection in the arch of the building, the construction of the church was led by engineer A. F. Loleit ^[3] .

On December 5 (18), 1905, the church was consecrated as a cathedral of the Moscow Consistorial District. On April 20, 1908, the cathedral celebrated the 50th anniversary of the clergy, Chief Pastor Heinrich von Dickoff , known in Moscow for his charity ^[4] . In the same year he received the honorary title of bishop. After his death in 1911, a farewell took place in the cathedral, after which he was buried at the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow.

In May 1915, a wave of anti-German pogroms swept across Moscow, causing material damage to the cathedral.

After 1917

In connection with the decree " On the Separation of the Church from the State and the School from the Church " of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of January 23, 1918 , all property was nationalized , despite the fact that the parishioners of the church were mainly subjects from Germany and other foreign states, and church utensils for the most part was acquired with voluntary donations and foreign funds. In addition, educational institutions attached to the church ceased to exist. The Moscow City Council demanded from the arrival of St. Peter and Pavel to hand over all securities and cash to the bank within three days, and in the summer of 1918 all members of the church council were fined 100 rubles each for refusing to recognize church property as state property, which was interpreted as “failure to comply with the orders of the Moscow City Council legal department.” Further use of the building of the cathedral was under an agreement ^[5] .

In 1924 , after the transfer of the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow , the Lutheran Church of Saints Peter and Paul received the status of the cathedral, the main Lutheran cathedral in the USSR. The church center was moved to Moscow - the bishop's residence and the Supreme Church Council. In the first years of Soviet power from the richest cathedral of St. Peter and Paul were seized values, the number of parishioners was reduced.

Despite protests from members of the community, in 1928 the Lutheran Church of St. Mikhail in the German settlement , from which the altar Bible of 1665, the baroque altar of 1764 , the organ of Wilhelm Sauer in 1898, as well as the cross of Bishop Mayer, are preserved — all these relics are currently in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. In November 1936, Pastor Alexander Shtrek, together with members of the church council, were arrested and executed, and services were terminated. At this, the existence of the community ceased. On July 17, 1938, the Moscow City Council and the Moscow Region Executive Committee united by decree No. 20 on the basis that “the church is inactive and destroyed ^[6] , the building was transferred to the Krasnogvardeisky district council for a cinema. Three months later, the district council was allocated funds for the conversion of the church into a cinema, which the Moskino trust was commissioned to open for the next anniversary of the October Revolution . The opening of the cinema, which took place in May 1939 , was condemned in the German magazine Christian World ( German Die christliche Welt ), which noted that where the cross used to be, “now the red flag is fluttering” ^[7] .

Then the cathedral was transferred to the Filmstrip studio, which redesigned the building: the main volume was divided into several floors, and the interior of the cathedral was completely destroyed. Before the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957, the spire of the cathedral was dismantled.

Community Revival

Legally, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia never closed, but as a result of repression it actually ceased to exist by the end of 1938 . After 50 years, in 1988 the church was again constituted, headed by Bishop Harald Kalnins . In 1990-1991, a new page also opened in the life of the community of Sts. Peter and Paul. In May 1991, the initiative group submitted registration documents to the Justice Department of the Moscow City Council, and on June 7 of the same year, the community received a registration certificate.

The filmstrip studio, which at that time managed the entire complex of buildings, was ready to provide a small room for worship. On September 4, 1991, Bishop Kalnins and Pastor Stefan Raeder performed the first service in the studio’s viewing room, located on the site of the current organ choirs. Since that time, services were held every Sunday, and in 1992 the first permanent pastor, Gunnar von Schlippe, appeared in the community.

In July 1992, by decree of the Government of Moscow , the building of the cathedral was transferred to the Lutherans for use, then, in several stages, several more buildings of the complex. However, there were problems with the resettlement of "Filmstrip", which could only be resolved by mid- 1997 . In the same year, restoration work began in the altar of the cathedral, where a church hall with 200 seats was consecrated, consecrated on the first Sunday of October 1998 . In this hall, services were held until the summer of 2004.

Restoration of the cathedral

Until 2004, pre-restoration work was carried out to dismantle the communications remaining after the "Filmstrip". With the support of the city, a new electrical substation was installed, the insulation layer of the arches and roof were replaced, and the western facade with the main entrance and the neo - Gothic rose window were restored on the basis of old photographs.

In 2004 , when the cathedral found sponsors among individuals and organizations, it became possible to begin large-scale work to restore the historical appearance of the cathedral, taking into account modern technical requirements. For the period of the work, the community returned to the chapel building.

In 2004-2008, the hall was freed from unnecessary ceilings and partitions, the arch, walls and heavily damaged columns were restored. The gallery was restored, encircling the hall on three sides, new ones were made and old doors were restored, new oak benches were installed. Installation of the restored organ, marble floor and stained-glass windows in the apse windows was carried out. In addition, work was carried out on the restoration and waterproofing of basements, the installation of electricity, heating and ventilation systems. The territory surrounding the cathedral has undergone changes: many years of asphalt layers were removed in the courtyard, as a result of which its level dropped almost to the level of 1905.

On December 18, 2005 , on the day of the centenary of the day of the first consecration, the re-consecration of the throne was made. On November 30, 2008, on the 1st Sunday of Advent , during the solemn service, the consecration of the cathedral took place. In January 2010, the spire was completely restored, the height of the cathedral with a spire was 62 meters.

In July 2011, students of the Riga Art School installed in the cathedral made of precious oak, linden and pine, a new neo-Gothic altar with carved lancet arches and spiers, a hanging pendant with a canopy, a new font, an easter candle stand, as well as a balustrade that separates the altar part from the central nave, thereby transforming the altar space of the cathedral.

On October 25, 2017, in the presence of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier , the cathedral hosted a symbolic ceremony of transferring the church into the ownership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia ^[8] .

In 1892, the parish acquired a new 42-register three-manual organ from the famous German company E. F. Walker ”from Ludwigsburg ( German: EF Walcker, Ludwigsburg ), which became the best concert instrument in Moscow. Despite its modest size, it was not inferior either in beauty or in technical indicators to the organ of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory . Being twice as compact, the German instrument “lagged” by only 8 registers ^[9] . During the war, in 1941, the church organ was taken to the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater , where it was destroyed (partly put into scrap metal, partly at the scenery).

In 1996, the revived community of Sts. Peter and Paul was transferred to the historical romantic organ of the firm " William Sauer ." The history of this body begins in the Lutheran Church of St. Mikhail in the German settlement, in which in 1898 it was originally installed. In 1928, after the church was closed, the organ was transferred to the 1st Moscow crematorium . In 2005, the company Reinhard Hüfken ( German: Reinhard Hüfken ^[10] ) from Halberstadt underwent a major overhaul of the organ, after which on December 2 of the same year, the organ installed in the Cathedral sounded again.

The historical organ of the Wilhelm Sauer firm of the Lutheran Cathedral in Moscow is one of the 4 church organs in Moscow and one of the oldest organs in Russia. By the number of registers, he currently occupies the 6th place in Moscow ^[11] , after the bodies established in the House of Music , Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky , the Catholic Cathedral , the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the Baptist Church (formerly Reformed ).

The Cathedral has always played an important role not only in the religious, but also in the cultural life of Moscow - prominent Russian and foreign musicians performed in it. Currently, the body accompanies worship services every Sunday and holidays. The cathedral regularly hosts concerts of organ music, vocal, instrumental and choral concerts for adults and children, as well as international music festivals with the participation of Russian and foreign performers: the International Art Festival "Road to Christmas" , "Music in Exile", the International Bach Festival , musical installation project “Night in the Cathedral”, “Choral Assemblies in the Cathedral” , etc. The actual concert program is presented on the official website of the Cathedral.

• Franz Lefort - patron of the community ^[15] , Russian statesman and military leader, admiral general, associate of Peter I.

Pastors

Organists

• 1872-1915 Ivan Augustovich Bartz ^[18] ( German: Johannes Bartz )
• 1926-1936 Ernst Hörschelmann ^[19] ( German: Ernst Hörschelmann )
• 2002—2011 Julia Nikolaevna Lotova
• 2011-2012 Dmitry Feliksovich Ushakov
• since 2012 Irina Shashkova-Peterson

Famous Community Members

• Lavrenty Alfer'evich Blumentrost (1619-1705) - court physician; buried at the church ^[20] .
• Johann Gottfried Gregory (1631–1675) is one of the organizers and directors of the first theater in Russia.
• Lev Gerasimovich Knop (1821-1894) - the 1st guild merchant, a representative of the Russian Jewish baronial family, who converted to Lutheranism.
• Anna Ivanovna Mons (1672 or 1675-1714) is the favorite of Peter I.
• Boris Viktorovich Rauschenbakh (1915-2001) - one of the founders of Russian cosmonautics, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, academician of the RAS

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  South side of the cathedral

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  Portal

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  Windows of the right nave

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  Sacristy

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  Apse outside

• Ivanovo hill
• Khitrovskaya Square
• Charitable Foundation "Belcanto"

• Litsenberger O. A. Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Soviet State. - M .: Gothic, 1999 .-- 432 p. - ISBN 5-7834-0034-3 .
• German settlement // History of Moscow regions: encyclopedia / under. ed. K.A. Averyanova. - M .: Astrel, AST, 2008. - S. 84-95. - 830 s. - ISBN 978-5-271-11122-8 .
• Protestantism in Russia // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Sizova A. I. “You lit our light in our souls ...”: About the founder of the Moscow school for blind children, Henry Dickoff. - M. , 1998.
• Toman I. B. Monuments of history and culture of Moscow Germans. - M. , 2013.
• Tsvetaev, Dmitry Vladimirovich . Book one. Protestant churches and clergy // From the history of foreign confessions in Russia in the XVI and XVII centuries: Issled. Dm Tsvetaeva. . - M .: Univ. typ., 1886. - 462 s.
• Tsvetaev D.V. Protestantism and Protestants in Russia before the era of transformation. - M. , 1890.
• Fechner A. Chronik der evangelischen Gemeinden in Moskau .. - M., 1876. - T. 1-2.

Articles

• Bobylev A.V. Moscow Evangelical charitable institutions before the revolution // Our Church. - 1996. - No. 3-5 . - S. 22-25 .
• Bobylev A.V. Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Moscow // Our Church. - 1995. - No. 1/2 . - S. 49-52 .
• Bugrov A.V. Bobylev A.V. First Lutheran churches: how they looked // Our Church. - 1996. - No. 1/2 . - S. 35-39 .
• Bugrov A.V. Pastor Johann Gottfried Gregory // Contact. - 1995. - No. 6 . - S. 8 .
• Lomtev D. G. Organ Russia: customers and manufacturers of tools. Series "Culturology. Art criticism. Museology ”// Bulletin of the Russian State Humanitarian University. - 2010. - No. 15 (58) . - S. 211—223 .
• Toman I. B. Germans in Moscow: the experience of a national guide // Moscow Journal. - 1991. - No. 10, 12 .
• Bobyljow AV Der deutsche Dom in Rußland (German) // Neues Leben. - 1994. - Nr. 41 .

• The official website of the cathedral (neopr.) .
• Official site of the ELC (Neopr.) .
• Cathedral on WikiMAPIA
• YouTube.Com: Inside View of the Cathedral
• Restaurierung der Sauerorgel in der St. Peter- und Paul-Kirche in Moskau (German) . Orgelbau Reinhard Hüfken.