Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin (Khanty-Mansiysk)

We did not get accurate information about in which year the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God of the Church was built in Samarovo. From the Kungur chronicles that have come down to us, it is known that in 1582 the Cossack Ermak, after 3 days spent in strict fasting and prayer and hoping for God's help, completely defeated the army of Khan Kuchum near Tobolsk, whose army more than 10 times exceeded the detachment of Cossacks by number. A year later, in 1583, a detachment of Cossacks led by Roman Bryazgi went down the Irtysh and conquered the Ostyaks, whose fortress stood on the spot where the river port now stands. Most likely, it was the Cossacks who erected the first wooden church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, previously standing on the spot where the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God is now located. In the years 1712-14, in the summer, the shimonk St. Theodore Leshchinsky, Metropolitan of Tobolsky, passed through the village of Samarovo, who destroyed pagan temples, baptized Ostyaks and Voguls, erected new churches and churches in his missionary trips around the Ugra. It is possible that it was Philotheus who built the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in Samarovo.

In 1808, residents of the village of Samarovo raised money and wrote a petition to Tobolsk to build a new stone church in their village. The church building was erected by the architect Shangin by 1815.

During the years of Soviet rule, the church was sacked. The walls of the temple were dismantled in bricks and a fish factory was built out of them; a club of fishmen was built on the site of the temple. However, less than half a century later, that club was demolished, instead a new club was built in another place, and a wasteland remained on the site of the old club.

Excavations were carried out in 1994 and the foundation of the temple was discovered. On the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin on September 21, 1996, Priest Sergiy Kravtsov served a moleben and work began on the restoration of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 2001, the church was consecrated and in the same year, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II visited it.

The temple is a three-altar, it has two chapels. The northern chapel is consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker. The southern chapel is consecrated in honor of the Abalak icon of the Mother of God.

The altar is separated from the middle part by an iconostasis consisting of several rows of icons and having three gates. The middle gate is called the Royal. On the Royal Gates from the outside there are icons of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and four evangelists - the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The side doors of the iconostasis on the left and right sides are called the northern and southern gates, respectively (the icons of the Archangels and archdeacons are located on them).

In the first row of the iconostasis are installed the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, the temple icon (that is, the icon of the holiday, in honor of which the temple is called - the icon of the Protection of the Mother of God), and the icons of St. John of Tobolsk and the martyr Hermogen of Tobolsk. In the second row are the icons of the great twelve holy days. In the third row in the center is the Lord Almighty, on the left is the Most Holy Theotokos, on the right is John the Baptist (also called Deesis), Archangels, apostles and saints. In the fourth row are the icons of the prophets of the Old Testament, in the fifth are the icons of the Old Testament forefathers, the ancestors of the human race (who lived before the Great Flood). An icon of the Last Supper is placed above the Royal Gates (that is, the establishment of the Sacrament of Communion by Lord Jesus Christ on Maundy Thursday). The top of the iconostasis is crowned by the Cross.

In the middle of the temple are two large icon cases with icons of the holidays of the Assumption (left) and the Protection of the Mother of God (right). The southern aisle in honor of the Abalatsky Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” (to the right of the entrance). On the icon in the center is the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus, on the left is Nicholas the Wonderworker, on the right is Mary of Egypt. To the right on the analogs are the icons of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice”, the holy great martyr Panteleimon the Healer, the icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. In the northern aisle for lectern - the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Currently, the church celebrates the early Divine Liturgy every Sunday.

• October 14 - Intercession of the Holy Virgin
• August 4 and December 10 - icons of the Abalatsky Mother of God "Sign"
• May 22 and December 19 - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

• Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin
• Semenov O. V. Parish life of the Russian population of Western Siberia in the 17th - early 18th centuries On the materials of the Demyansk and Samarov pits // Bulletin of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - 2013. - No. 2 (44). - S. 118–123.