Kiev-Podilsky Vvedensky church

The temple was located on the periphery of the historic district of Podil , in the so-called Flat part of Kiev. According to some historians, the pagan temple of the idol Volos mentioned in the annals was originally located here, on the site of which a wooden church was later built in honor of St. Blasia of Sebaste . So, Maxim of Berlin asserted, “ that there was a temple or goddess of the idol of Volos on that site and that since the beaming of the Christian faith the church of St. Blasius was built there, by the similarity of its former name ” ^[1] . A church with that name existed until the middle of the 17th century, but in 1651 it was destroyed by fire.

In 1718, at the expense of the workshop director of the fishing workshop Pavel Lesnitsky, a new wooden church, called Vvedensky, was built on the site of the church of St. Blasius. In memory of the former Vlasievsky church, the icon of St. Vlasius with a particle of his holy relics was kept in the new church. The wooden Vvedensky church was a three-part, three-domed building with a separate bell tower, characteristic of Ukrainian folk architecture. After the redevelopment of Podil and the Flat part associated with the fire of 1811, the churchyard was at the corner of Pochaininskaya and Yaroslavskaya streets.

In the second half of the 19th century, the old church was dilapidated, and parishioners applied for permission to build a new stone church. In 1882, construction work began on a church estate under the project of the diocesan architect Vladimir Nikolaev . Significant donations to the new church were made by famous Kiev philanthropists Fedor Tereshchenko , Semyon Mogilevtsev and others. The stone church was consecrated in 1885 . Her appearance is designed in the "Byzantine style." A single-headed temple with a bell tower above the narthex. In the old wooden church, services continued until the completion of the new one. At the end of 1886, the clergy received permission to disassemble it for firewood. In 1900 from the side of Pochaininskaya st. a two-story wooden building of the parish school was built (not preserved).

The rectors of the Kiev-Podilsky Vvedensky church were prominent Kiev clergy, among whom the name of the new martyr Fr. Jacob Molchanovsky , appointed to the Vvedensky parish in 1914. In 1923, Fr. Jacob was ordained bishop (the name in the monasticism Athanasius); repeatedly subjected to repression by the Soviet government, in 1938 he was shot ^[2] .

In 1921, the Soviet authorities registered the charter of the parish community. But later, an atheistic campaign to close churches organized by the authorities touched the Vvedensky church. In 1935, the Presidium of the City Council decided to demolish the church under the pretext of making way for the construction of a school. At the beginning of 1936, the Vvedensky church was dismantled. In 1937, a kindergarten was built on a graveyard and an adjacent site along Yaroslavskaya Street (since the 1980s its premises have been transferred to SMU).

In 1996, with the blessing of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Metropolitan Vladimir , an Orthodox parish was created, which began to petition for the construction of the Kiev-Podilsky Vvedensky church and parish buildings. The building of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine in connection with its emergency condition was demolished. By the forces of the parish, a temporary church was built on the church site on Pochaininskaya Street, 27, in which the first liturgy was held on September 26, 1999 . From the first days, a parish school and a library for adults and children were formed.

The project of the new stone Vvedensky temple based on historical materials was developed by the Ukrproektrestavratsiya institute. Before construction work, archaeological research was carried out, which confirmed the existence of an ancient church; archaeologists found a well of the 12th century with spring water. The mortgage capsule was consecrated in 2006. By the beginning of the 2010s, masonry was completed, the temple and the bell tower were covered with domes and crowned with crosses.

In 2005, the 120th anniversary of the consecration of the Kiev-Podilsky Vvedensky Church was celebrated. In honor of this event, a reprint edition of the book “The Servant” was carried out.

• Kalnitsky M. Temples of Kiev. - 2nd view. - Kyiv, 2011. - P.143, 144. (Ukrainian)
• Monasteries and Temples of Kiev: Guide-Guide / Comp. Priest Alexander Kandey. - Ed. 8th. - Kiev, 2011 .-- P.25.