Church of the Miraculous Image of Christ the Savior (Sochi)

During the excavations in the city of Sochi in 2010 ^[1] , the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church of the 9th century were found. It is understood that Christian martyrs were buried there before the foundation of Kievan Rus . The stone, taken from the ruins, was laid in the foundation of the new church on August 29, 2012, on the day of the transfer from Christ to Constantinople of the Holy Face of Christ ^[2] . On the day of the laying with the presence of spiritual and secular persons, Metropolitan Yekaterinodarskog and Kubansk Isidor (Kirichenko) , the rite and liturgy were performed. The choir of the Moscow Sretensky Stavropegic Monastery participated in the service . Later there was a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Construction with the participation of politicians and athletes. On that day, there were spiritual and secular faces ^[3] .

Instead of the construction planned earlier in December 2013, the construction over the temple ended a few days before Christmas in 2014. About 300–400 believers came to the holiday, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov ^{[4] [5]}

On February 2, 2014, Metropolitan Yekaterinodar and Kuban Isidor consecrated a temple in honor of the Holy Face of Christ the Savior ^[6] . Three days later, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed a prayer service with the presence of athletes from Russia, Belarus , Ukraine and Moldova , as well as officials and politicians who contributed to the conduct of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi ^[7] . Prayer for Paralympians was performed on March 6 ^[8] .

According to the Sochi-2013 forum, the total cost of the complex is 478 million rubles ^[9] , funds were allocated from the regional budget, with the help of trusteeship funds ^[1] .

The temple was built in the form of a tetraconch and in the style of the neo - Byzantine border of the XIX — XX centuries. The height of the church is about 43 meters ^[10] . The room inside the foundation, standing on a two-tier stylobate under the church, is intended for holding conferences and exhibitions, for example, on the history of Christianity in the Caucasus ^[11] . The central quadrangle rises above the others, the cone dome is covered with copper. The temple is surrounded by rectangular volumes of anchors on all four sides, the upper tier consists of semicircular apses , covered with copper conchs . On the west side there is a small bell tower , on the east side is the altar apse. Portals in the north, west and south have porticos with short columns and semi gables . In the center of the vault is the image of the Savior and the seraphim around him. Over the temple worked workshop "AS-Pro" under the direction of Fedor Afuksenidi ^{[12] [13]} .

25 artists from the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Ilya Glazunov painted the walls for four months ^[14] . The painting was made in the style of modern or realism , resembling the painting of Viktor Vasnetsov . Images of biblical characters and angels in the frescoes have their own characteristics, in particular, they have large, expressive eyes ^[15] .

The bell weighing 2,000 kg sounded for the first time on February 5 ^[16] .

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