Temple in the name of the Kazan Mother of God. Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Kolomenskoye: opening hours, schedule of services, address and photo. Icon of the Kazan Mother of God
He wished to perpetuate the memory of the country’s liberation from the Polish intervention, and in honor of this event he ordered the foundation of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. However, his good undertaking was destined to come true only during the subsequent reign under his son, Alexei Mikhailovich. The reason for this was the birth of his first-born, Tsarevich Dimitri.
Historical documents indicate that in 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree establishing church-wide veneration of the image of the Virgin Mary, revealed in Kazan. Its consequence was the construction of a brick church in the Yaroslavl convent, in addition, the temple of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God was built and consecrated in Kolomenskoye, a village near Moscow, where the wooden royal palace was located. Its construction was completed within four years.
Temple - memory of past victories
This five-domed brick church, decorated with a hipped bell tower, has survived to this day almost unchanged. There is information that under the cross of its central head there was an inscription stating that the icon of the Mother of God was erected on the site of a wooden church that had previously been located here in honor of the centenary of the capture of Kazan. This fully corresponds to the historical chronology - the capital of the Volga Tatars was recaptured in 1552, respectively, the centenary of this event coincided with the period of work.
As for the wooden church that previously stood on this site, we are probably talking about the Kazan Church, built in the thirties of the 17th century and mentioned in a number of documents. Church tradition on this matter says that at one time he set up his camp here. It was the memory of the expulsion of the impostor from Kolomna that prompted the tsar to erect a kind of monument to the events of those years.
The temple is part of the palace complex
The new temple in the village of Kolomenskoye served as a house church at the sovereign's palace and was connected by a covered passage to the queen's chambers. This was done taking into account all the requirements of convenience and comfort. The Polish envoy, who visited Kolomenskoye in 1671, in his diary describes a number of passages covered with felt for warmth and convenience, muffling the steps of those walking. Their total length was fifty meters and their width was three.
It should be noted that the features given to the temple were very characteristic of buildings of this kind in the middle of the 17th century. According to many art historians, the dignity of the temple lies not in the originality of its architectural design, but in bringing previously developed forms to perfection.
When construction was completed, Kolomenskoye was decorated with luxury befitting its status. As one of the elements of the royal palace complex, it was decorated with rich paintings, expensive fabrics and carpets. The floor of the central part of the temple and its outskirts was insulated with felt, and the icons were decorated with shrouds and towels. Many of them were kept in carved icon cases made by the best Russian craftsmen.
Church of the Mother of God in the capital
Shortly before the creation of the royal house church in Kolomna, the temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was also erected. Its appearance is also associated with the beginning of church-wide veneration of this holy image, recognized as miraculous. It is known that the first wooden building was erected in 1624. The construction was carried out at the expense of Dmitry Pozharsky according to his vow. Unlike many information about the life of this patriot and defender of Russia, this information is gleaned from documentary sources.
It is assumed that, after existing for about ten years, this temple burned down, and in its place the construction of a new brick one began. This building was erected at the expense and by order of the pious sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich and was completed in 1834. Being an architectural decoration of the square, the temple eventually became an important religious center.
Events of the last two centuries in the life of the temple
In the pre-revolutionary period, the life of the temple flowed peacefully and measuredly. It was completed and updated several times with funds from wealthy donors. The fire of 1812 also spared him. A striking event in the history of the temple was the sermon delivered there in 1918 by Patriarch Tikhon.
But in 1936, by government decision, it was demolished as inappropriate for Red Square, the center of public processions and celebrations. In the vacant place, the city leadership planned to create an assembly hall for the reception of pioneers, but limited themselves to what was built. Only in the early nineties was the cathedral rebuilt according to the drawings and sketches of previous years. Like the Church of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God in Kolomenskoye, it reminds of the liberation of the Russian land from the Polish invaders.
Cathedral on the banks of the Volga
Continuing the conversation about the veneration of this holy image, one cannot help but remember that in 1926 it was completely destroyed, and for many years its territory was used for economic needs, but in November last year it was decided to recreate it in the form in which it was before.
The history of its creation is very interesting. It is associated with the discovery of the holy image of the Mother of God in 1579. Subsequently, by decree of Ivan the Terrible, the Mother of God Convent was founded on this site, where a log church was founded - the predecessor of a large stone cathedral. It is interesting to note that many Orthodox people have settled within this Muslim city since ancient times. This is largely due to the fact that they were engaged in trade, and the Volga was an important transport artery along which a significant amount of goods was rafted. Naturally, they needed a temple.
It was erected in 1595. The reason for replacing the wooden structure with a stone one was the frequent fires that occurred in the city and caused significant damage to it. It underwent a major restructuring during the reign of Empress Catherine II, when significant funds were allocated for its reconstruction, and during the subsequent reign, under Paul I, it was completely demolished and rebuilt on the basis of an improved and more modern design.
In the post-revolutionary period, the cathedral shared the fate of most church buildings: at first it was nationalized and used for economic needs, and then blown up. And now work begins to recreate it. Soon the Orthodox residents of Kazan will find it in its original form. Fortunately, a significant number of photographic documents and construction drawings have been preserved in state funds and private collections, with the help of which this difficult task will be completed.
The Kazan Cathedral on Red Square is a functioning Orthodox church, built in memory of the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders by the Russian army led by Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin. The history of the Kazan Cathedral is tragic and, at the same time, happy: it was destroyed to the ground, and then reborn like a phoenix from the ashes.
The temple was consecrated in the name of the Kazan Mother of God, with whose icon in 1612 the Russian militia under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky set off on a liberation campaign against Moscow occupied by Polish interventionists. In gratitude for the help and intercession of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, in 1625 the prince, at his own expense, built a wooden cathedral in the name of this shrine. In 1636, a stone cathedral was erected on the site of the burnt temple, which became one of the main churches in Moscow.
Under Soviet rule, under the leadership of the architect Pyotr Baranovsky, the Kazan Cathedral was restored, but soon, by order of the authorities, it was closed, and a canteen and then a warehouse were placed in the temple building. In 1936, the year of its 300th anniversary, the Kazan Cathedral was demolished to the ground. In its place, a temporary pavilion of the Third International with a fountain was first built, then a summer cafe, and in place of the altar there was a public toilet.
In 1990-1993, with donations from citizens and funds from the Moscow government, the temple was restored according to the design of Baranovsky’s student Oleg Zhurin, and on November 4, 1993, the Kazan Cathedral was consecrated.
The Kazan Cathedral on Red Square is one of the most notable masterpieces of Moscow church architecture, and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered in the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Kazan Cathedral, consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, was built on Red Square in the second quarter of the 17th century in gratitude for the deliverance of Russia from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders in 1612 and in memory of the Russian soldiers who died in this war. This is the first temple restored in Moscow from shrines destroyed by the Bolsheviks.
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered in Moscow. She was found in Kazan on July 8, 1579: according to legend, the nine-year-old girl Matrona saw the Most Holy Theotokos three times in a dream, who showed her the place under the ruins of the house where Her miraculous image was located. The girl told the local priest Ermolai about this vision, and the icon was indeed found in the indicated place.
30 years passed, and the Kazan priest Ermolai became the famous Patriarch Hermogenes. In the terrible Time of Troubles for Russia, he led the fight for the preservation of Russian statehood and was the ideological inspirer of the Russian militia. Starved to death by the Poles in the Kremlin Chudov Monastery, he refused to bless the invaders until his last breath.
It was on his order that the recently acquired icon of the Mother of God was delivered from Kazan to help the defenders of Russia. In March 1612, she was met in Yaroslavl II by the Russian militia under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and went with her on a liberation campaign against Moscow, occupied by Polish troops. In October, after a long siege of Kitay-Gorod, it was decided to take it by storm, and a prayer service was served in front of the Kazan Icon. According to legend, on the same night the Greek Archbishop Arseny, imprisoned in the Kremlin, appeared in a dream, the Monk Sergius of Radonezh and said that “through the intercession of the Mother of God, the Judgment of God for the Fatherland has been transferred to mercy, and Russia will be saved.” On October 22, 1612, the militia entered Kitay-gorod, and five days later the Poles, tortured by hunger in the Kremlin, surrendered.
In gratitude for the help and intercession, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, at his own expense, built a wooden cathedral in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the 20s of the 17th century. The temple was consecrated by the patriarch in the presence of the tsar and Pozharsky himself, who brought the icon in his arms from his home on Lubyanka, where it was kept in the Vvedenskaya Church until the construction of the Kazan Cathedral.
An ancient legend has been preserved that the Kazan Icon is not located in the temple itself, but above the bell tower in the middle of the cross, and that the holy icon was brought into the cathedral several times, but each time it appeared again on the cross of the bell tower. One cannot help but see the analogy with the legendary Iveron Icon, located next door.
Previously, on the site of the Kazan Cathedral, one of the Trading Rows was located in a stone building. And after the construction of the temple, near its fence they continued to trade - wax candles, baked bread, rolls and apples. Quarrels between traders and buyers were sorted out in the old days at the Poteshny Court in the Kremlin, and for a long time merchants were sworn in in the Kazan Cathedral.
Soon the wooden temple burned down, and was restored from royal brick in 1635 by masters Semyon Glebov and Naum Petrov (according to another version, by the royal master Abrosim Maksimov) and consecrated in October 1636. In the 19th century, the cathedral was rebuilt, but the modern building almost completely corresponds to the original appearance of the cathedral.
If the Intercession Church symbolized the Heavenly Jerusalem, then the Kazan Cathedral can be considered a symbol of the Church Militant. Researchers have noted the similarity of Russian warriors to angelic cavalry, expressed by the colors of the military dress uniform of the 17th century - “gilded armor, red cloaks and white wings with gold tips.” These colors correspond to the description in the Apocalypse of Christ's Heavenly Host fighting the Beast and his false prophet. The “King of kings and Lord of lords” is seated on a white horse and dressed in “robes stained with blood.” His armies in white robes (fine linen) follow him also on white horses. The main color scheme of the Kazan Cathedral - a combination of red, white and gold - coincides with the colors of the clothing of the Russian cavalry and the apocalyptic Heavenly Army and in this case symbolizes the Army of Christ.
In Byzantine Orthodox aesthetics, colors had a certain symbolic meaning. Gold was a symbol of Divine radiance, God himself. The red color expressed flame, fire, punishing and cleansing. He was also a symbol of the blood of Christ, atonement for the sins of mankind. White color is the color of holiness and purity, detachment from the worldly, striving for spiritual simplicity and sublimity. The depth of the symbolism corresponds to the ideological concept of the Kazan Cathedral as a military temple of Orthodox Moscow - the “shield and sword” of all Russia and the entire Christian world.
In the Apocalypse, the battle of the Heavenly Army with the Antichrist and the victory over the devil precede the description of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The composition of Red Square, from the entrance through the Resurrection Gate with the Iveron Goalkeeper, opened with the Kazan Cathedral and unfolded towards the Execution Place - the Moscow image of Golgotha, a symbol of the victory of Christ and ended with the image of the City of God - the Church of the Intercession on the Moat. The Russian Orthodox army fought with the enemies of Russia under the protection of the Mother of God and prepared, with Her help, to fight the Antichrist, and the Pretender False Dmitry was perceived in the Russian religious consciousness as one of his forerunners. Renouncing your real name, given at baptism, meant renouncing your personality and replacing it with a “mask.” The Antichrist, falsely posing as the Messiah, will be the last Pretender on earth, and the hope for the salvation of Orthodox Russia and all Christians from the liar of the world in recent times was pinned on the Kazan Icon, which saved Russia from False Dmitry.
Twice a year, on July 8 and October 22, a solemn religious procession was organized from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral with the participation of the Tsar. With the blessing of the patriarch, part of the clergy, separating from the main procession at the Execution Place, walked “through the cities” - along the fortress walls of Kitay-Gorod, Bely and Zemlyanoy, sprinkling them with holy water.
In the middle of the 17th century, Archpriest Ivan Neronov and then Avvakum served in the Kazan Cathedral - “zealots of piety” who did not accept the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, which marked the beginning of the split of the Russian Orthodox Church into Nikonians and Old Believers. Nikon sent his first letter here demanding that the two-fingered sign of the cross be replaced with a three-fingered one and kneeling with a bow from the waist. From here Ivan Neronov and Avvakum were sent to prison.
In the time of Peter the Great, by order of the Tsar, the Kazan Icon was taken to the new capital of St. Petersburg, where the Kazan Cathedral was later built for it on Nevsky Prospekt.
In the building of the Zemsky Prikaz, which once stood directly opposite the Kazan Cathedral, on the site of the current Historical Museum, on April 26, 1755, the grand opening of Moscow University and two gymnasiums took place. Since the university did not yet have its own house church, the festive prayer service was held in the Kazan Cathedral, and at first students and teachers went to services in this temple. And although the university began searching for its own church immediately, the very first pages of its history turned out to be connected specifically with the Kazan Cathedral. By a mystical coincidence, the first rector of the Tatian Church of Moscow State University, re-opened in 1995, Rev. Maxim Kozlov was the priest of the Kazan Cathedral, which had been restored shortly before, and the first prayers for the return of Moscow University to its home church on Mokhovaya were also held again in the Kazan Cathedral.
Here, until 1812, popular prints were sold, and just before Napoleon’s accession, caricatures of the French and their emperor, drawn by artists Terebenev and Yakovlev. All of Moscow was going to relax here, looking at them. The famous anti-Napoleonic, or as they were also called “Rostopchin” posters, written by the Moscow mayor F.F. Rostopchin, who lived in a house on Lubyanka, rebuilt from ... the chambers of Prince Pozharsky, were also distributed here.
In the menacing days of the autumn of 1812, a prayer service for the salvation of the Fatherland was served in front of the Kazan Icon, which was attended by M.I. Kutuzov.
It turned out to be easier for Russia to cope with foreign barbarians than with its own. After the revolution, the cathedral shared the sad fate of most Moscow shrines, which interfered with the implementation of the world revolution. True, in the 20s, the martyr and devotee of Russian culture, architect P.D. Baranovsky, managed to restore its original appearance of the 17th century and take priceless drawings and measurements. Then he was imprisoned for refusing to participate in the demolition of the Church of the Intercession on the Moat. The Kazan Cathedral was closed and first turned into a canteen and warehouse, and in the summer of 1936 it was demolished, thus celebrating its three hundredth anniversary.
A year later, a temporary pavilion of the Third International appeared in its place, built according to the design of Boris Iofan (the architect of the failed Palace of the Soviets). Later, a summer cafe was opened here, and on the site of the altar, a public restroom, called a dog, was built.
By decision of the Moscow government, the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square was restored according to the design of Baranovsky’s student Oleg Zhurin.
On November 4, 1990, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II laid the foundation stone of the cathedral, and three years later he consecrated the newly built temple.
In 1610, False Dmitry II encamped with the commander Sapega in the village of Kolomenskoye. In memory of the deliverance of Moscow from the Poles and from the Tushinsky Thief, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich ordered the foundation of a five-domed temple here in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, who provided assistance to the Russian army. The temple was consecrated only under Alexei Mikhailovich. And under the cross of the church an inscription appeared that it was built in honor of the centenary of the capture of the Kazan Khanate in 1552.
In the Dmitrovsky chapel of the Kazan Church there is a list with miraculous Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, revealed in Kolomenskoye in 1917.
For centuries, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God has been one of the favorites in Rus' in general and especially in the capital city of Moscow - after all, it was the miracle of the Kazan Icon that was associated with the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612.
Where to venerate the Kazan Icon in Moscow?
Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
In Moscow today there are many revered and miraculous lists of Kazan. On the holiday we will walk through the center of the capital. And we’ll start our walk from Red Square - that’s where the cathedral in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is located, built in 1636 and destroyed three hundred years later. Only in 1993 the church was restored. In the cathedral there is a revered image of the Mother of God “Kazan”.
Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on Red Square
From Red Square through Manezhnaya, along Mokhovaya Street, and from there along Volkhonka Street we will slowly reach the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In the lower Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord there is a simple new icon of the Mother of God “Kazan” - it is greatly revered by parishioners.
Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Let's cross Soimonovsky Proezd and walk to the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane - here, among the many shrines of the temple, there is the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (as well as other revered icons: Vladimir, Feodorovskaya and the most famous shrine of the temple - the miraculous image of “Unexpected Joy”).
Temple of the Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane
Let's go out onto the Boulevard Ring - we'll go to the end of Gogolevsky Boulevard, turn into Maly Afanasyevsky Lane, and from there into Filippovsky Lane. In the Church of the Resurrection of the Word (Jerusalem Compound), in the iconostasis of the left side chapel of the Holy Apostle Philip, there is the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
Church of the Resurrection of the Word in Filippovsky Lane (Jerusalem Compound)
Let's get to the Arbatskaya metro station, go to the Baumanskaya metro station and walk to the Yelokhovsky Cathedral. The main Moscow temple of the Soviet period is a treasury of many shrines. Among them is the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
Elokhovsky Epiphany Cathedral
Not far away, between the Kurskaya and Taganskaya metro stations, on Lyshchikov Lane, there is the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Lyshchikova Mountain. It contains many shrines - including the revered images of the Intercession, Tikhvin and Kazan (also in the temple are the relics of the holy confessor Roman (the Bear), glorified among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia).
Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God on Lyshchikova Mountain
Let’s take the metro again, drive along the “ring” and get off at the Novoslobodskaya metro station. Two hundred meters from the metro station, on Novovorotnikovsky Lane, stands the Church of St. Pimen the Great (Life-Giving Trinity) in Novye Vorotniki. Here is the revered image of the Mother of God “Kazan”, painted on glass.
Temple of St. Pimen the Great (Life-Giving Trinity) in Novye Vorotniki
And we will return either along the ring (to Oktyabrskaya), or along the Serpukhov-Timiryazevskaya “gray” line (to Borovitskaya) and by trolleybus - to a point located very close to the place from which we began our journey. The Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevskaya Embankment is one of the most “traditional” in Moscow. There, in addition to particles of the relics of St. Theophan the Recluse and the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, the revered Kazan Icon of the Mother of God also resides.
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Bersenevskaya Embankment