Church of All-Merciful Savior (Nizhny Novgorod)

The Nizhny Novgorod merchants decided to build a temple in honor of the Savior near the city ​​prison . In 1888, fundraising was opened, and the most wealthy industrial financiers were included in the Fundraising Commission: N. A. Bugrov , N. E. Bashkirov , A. A. Blinov , A. M. Gubin , V. A. Sobolev and others.

In 1897, the Construction Committee was created, which was headed by Y. E. Bashkirov . The following year, a competition was announced among the members of the Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Architects to design a temple for Nizhny Novgorod. Among the projects of the 18 most recognized architects in the country, the first prize was awarded to the project of A. M. Kochetov .

On June 7, 1899, His Grace Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas laid the first stone in the foundation of the church. The temple was laid nine years after the railway disaster in memory not only of the miraculous salvation of the royal family, but also to "perpetuate the memory of the Tsar the peacemaker, who had reposed Alexander III in Bose," who died on October 20, 1894.

Academician of architecture V.P. Zeidler supervised the construction. On August 26, 1903, the last big bell was raised on the bell tower of the church, and on October 12, the bishop of Nizhniy Novgorod and Arzamas Nazariy consecrated the church.

The official Report of the Construction Committee for 1904 states that an unknown Nizhny Novgorod citizen donated a bell weighing 54 pounds in 1902, and all other bells were cast in Yaroslavl. According to the inventory of church property, 8 bells sounded on the bell tower of the church before the revolution, the largest of them weighed more than 2.5 tons.

In 1912, the painting of the temple was completed. The paintings were made on cardboard by the works of Russian artists V. M. Vasnetsov , I. E. Repin , V. V. Vereshchagin , G. I. Semiradsky (“Christ at Martha and Mary”), F. A. Bronnikov , N. I Kosheleva , A. T. Markov for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and Kiev Vladimir Cathedral . The ornaments are made in the Byzantine style according to the sketches of academician A. M. Kochetov . Artwork was carried out by Nizhny Novgorod masters under the guidance of A.O. Karelin . ^[one]

After the revolution, the temple remained one of the few active parishes of the upland part of the city. For some time, from the beginning of the 1920s, a bishop’s chair was located here, then headed by Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) (1924-1934). From 1924 to 1926, Vladyka was listed in the clergy of the Spassky Church.

The first attempt to liquidate the church was made in 1930 . The official reason for the liquidation of the temple was the trumped-up appeal of citizens to the authorities. But thanks to the efforts of the rector of the church, Archpriest Nikolai Bogolyubov and members of the Parish Council, this decision was appealed and canceled at the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in Moscow, where community members went with the corresponding request. Then only part of the church cellar was occupied by the warehouse of the Red Cross society. Also in the basement of the church, according to the documents of 1935, members of the clergy and their families continued to live: priests Pyotr Sakharovsky and new rector Archpriest Nikolai Vinogradov, widow of the priest Nikolai Bogolyubov, and the wife of the convicted deacon D.K. Obodov with five children.

After the arrest in 1937 of the last clergymen of the Spassky Church (rector Archpriest Nikolai Vinogradov, holy martyr Archpriest Peter Sakharovsky and Protodeacon Nikolai Savkin), the church services ceased. Subsequently, the premises of the temple were used as a warehouse of the sewing enterprise "Spring".

The modern revival of the parish is due to the active participation of Mikhailova Maria Sergeevna (06/15/1905 - 02/15/1996). Before retiring, Maria Sergeevna held the position of head. Department of English of the Gorky Agricultural Institute , she defended her dissertation and wrote a number of scientific papers. With a group of like-minded people, Maria Sergeyevna collected and handed over to the authorities the documents and signatures required for the opening of the church. Maria Sergeyevna was a constant parishioner of the church, where she was inveterate after her death. ^[2] In the spring of 1992, the Church of the Savior was returned to the faithful and consecrated again, and in 2003 - the rank of Great Consecration. On April 19, 1992, the first Divine Liturgy was served on Palm Sunday .

• the miraculous icon of the martyr Paraskeva Friday , the icon of the Most Merciful Savior , the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign ”;
• the cross from Jerusalem ;
• particles of the relics of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov , the Monk Sergius of Radonezh , the Monk Alexei and German Zosimovsky , the Monk Zosima of Vladimir , Varlaam the Wonderworker , St. Alexy of Moscow, the righteous Theodore of Sanaksar , the righteous Alexy of Bortsurmansky.

Before the closure of the temple in 1937, it served:

Nizhny Novgorod Bishops :

• Bishop Vladimir (Nikolsky),
• Bishop Nazarii (Kirillov) ,
• Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) (since 1943, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia ).

Priests:

• 1903-1906 - Archpriest Alexander Grigoryevich Troitsky (rector);
• 1907-1911 - Archpriest Nikolai Roslyakov;
• 1910-1921 - Priest Alexander Strelnikov;
• 1915-1921 - Archpriest Vladimir Sergievsky
• 1913-1935 - Deacon Dmitry Obodov
• 1920-1921 - Deacon John Avrov
• 1921-1925 - Archpriest Pavel Almazov
• 1925-1928 - archpriest Nikolai Bogolyubov (father of academicians Nikolai and Mikhail Bogolyubov),
• 1935-1937 - Archpriest John Runovsky.
• 1930-1937 - Archpriest Nikolai Vinogradov,
• 1934-1937 - Holy Martyr Archpriest Peter Sakharovsky,
• 1922-1937 - Protodeacon Nikolai Savkin.

Since the revival of the temple in 1991 , its rector is Archpriest Igor Ponomarev (currently secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese ). Also in the 1990s and 2000s. the clergy consisted of Priest Mikhail Gushcho, Priest Vladimir Abramov, Priest Evgeny Gusev (died in 2007 ), Priest Sergiy Kutlakov, Deacon Vladimir Shashkov, Deacon Dimitri Yusov, Metropolitan Archpriest Konstantin Minyukhin, Prot. Anatoly Meshkov and others

Sunday School for Children was revived in 1997 .

On Saturdays, an adult educational lecture is available.

In 2010, the publishing council of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese published a book compiled by historian and local historian Olga Degteva, “The Church of the All-Merciful Savior in Nizhny Novgorod” ^[3] .

• on the website of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese :
  • Church of the All-Merciful Savior (Savior on Poltava)
  • Church in the name of the Most Merciful Savior on Poltava street
• Main Ward Site