Temple of the Epiphany Revolution Square. Temple of the Epiphany of the Lord of the former Epiphany Monastery. Prince Daniil Alekseevich
The Temple in honor of the Epiphany is the only structure that remains from the oldest monastery in Moscow, founded in 1296. The temple, located in the center of the capital, still attracts many believers and tourists.
History
The Epiphany Monastery was founded in Kitay-gorod even at. The youngest son of the faithful, having received Moscow in his possession, tried to decorate it with churches and monasteries, one of which was the Epiphany monastery.
Temple of the Epiphany of the former Epiphany Monastery, Moscow
In this monastery, located now on Revolution Square, the main temple was the Epiphany. Originally wooden, after the fires of 1340 it was erected in stone and became one of the first stone structures erected outside the Kremlin.
According to legend, the first abbot of the monastery was a brother - hegumen Stephen. The name of Saint Alexy of Moscow, very revered in Russia, is also associated with the temple, who took monastic vows here and led a monastic life.
The Temple of the Epiphany was badly damaged several times, but it was restored:
- in 1451, during the invasion of the Tatar prince Mazovsha, it mostly burned out, but was restored soon;
- after the Great Moscow Fire in 1547 and the invasion of Devlet-Girey in 1571, the monastery and the temple had to be rebuilt again;
- after the Time of Troubles, the entire monastery suffered greatly, and the new Russian sovereigns had to rebuild the central monastery of Moscow.
After all the events, the Epiphany Church was built from scratch in 1624. Having become the main temple of Moscow and the burial vault of representatives of the Romanov family, it underwent a complete restructuring in the "Naryshkin Baroque" style in the period from 1686 to 1694. It was then that he acquired the form that it currently has.
Other Orthodox churches in honor of the Epiphany:
A large necropolis was located at the monastery, where representatives of such noble families as Sheremetyevs, Golitsyns, Menshikovs, Repnins were buried. Among the burials was the grave of Father St. Alexis of Moscow, Theodor Byakont. Unfortunately, all the gravestones above these graves were lost during the Soviet period.
State of the art
The closure of the temple in honor of the Epiphany fell on 1919. From that time on, its destruction began. In 1941, a shot down German bomber fell near the temple. The blast wave destroyed the upper part of the temple. But in the 1980s, the restoration of the temple began, it dragged on for a long time.
Only after the transfer of the temple to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991, restoration work accelerated. Soon the temple of the Epiphany of the Lord in Epiphany Lane was completely restored, including the Alekseevsky side-altar in its original form.
Floor and hanging icon cases in the temple of the Epiphany of the former Epiphany monastery
Currently, regular services are held in the temple.
Attention! The schedule of services for the Church of the Epiphany on Revolution Square is as follows:
- Matins and Liturgy are performed daily at 8.30, except Monday and Tuesday;
- Vespers or before the holidays starts at 17.00;
- on holidays and Sundays starting at 9.30.
Shrines
Each church has its own shrines, especially revered icons, relics or relics associated with one or another shrine.
More interesting articles about Orthodoxy:
In the temple of the Epiphany, the main shrine is the Iverskaya chapel, where the revered one is located. This chapel is located within the former monastery.
Patronal feasts
In the life of each church, a special place is occupied by the holidays associated with the thrones consecrated in honor of certain saints, the Mother of God or the Lord's great holidays, of which there are only twelve throughout the year.
The Temple of the Epiphany of the Lord, the former Epiphany Monastery, in Kitay-Gorod is located not far from the Moscow Kremlin, between Ilyinka and Nikolskaya streets.
From the metro station "Revolution Square" (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line):
Exit to the city "to Red Square, Nikolskaya and Ilyinka streets, the Chamber Musical Theater, shops: GUM, Detsky Mir, Gostiny Dvor". The temple is located opposite the metro exit.
From the Kitay-Gorod metro station (Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya or Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya lines):
Exit to the city "To the New Square, streets: Ilyinka, Maroseyka, Polytechnic Museum, Gostiny Dvor". Go up the stairs, turn left and go up the escalator. In the long passage, turn left and walk to the end, then go up the right exit to the street. Walk along Ilyinka Street to Epiphany Lane (second on the right side). Landmarks: Exchange Square, Gostiny Dvor (a large blue corner building), the building of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in apricot color.
From the Lubyanka metro station (Sokolnicheskaya line):
Exit to the city “on the square: Lubyanskaya, Novaya, to Teatralny proezd, to the streets: Pushechnaya, Rozhdestvenka, Nikolskaya, b. and m. Cherkassky side-streets, the Chamber Musical Theater, the Museum of the History of Moscow, the Polytechnic Museum, air ticket offices, pharmacy No. 1, the Detsky Mir department store. Exit to Lubyanskaya Square, turn left onto Nikolskaya Street, which starts right next to the metro station, and walk along it to Bogoyavlensky Lane (second turn to the left).
Divine services
Tuesday: 17.00 - Evening service.
Wednesday: 8.00 - Confession; 8.30 - Hours and Divine Liturgy; 17.00 - Prayer singing with akathist before the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and Prayer singing about the increase of love - alternately.
Thursday: 17.00 - Evening service.
Friday: 8.00 - Confession; 8.30 - Hours and Divine Liturgy; 17.00 - Evening service.
Saturday: 8.00 - Confession; 8.30 - Hours and Divine Liturgy; 17.00 - All-night vigil.
Sunday: 8.00 - Confession; 9.30 - Hours and Divine Liturgy (from May to October - 8.30).
The day before church holidays at 17.00 - All-night vigil (from May to October - at 18.00), on the very day of the holidays at 8.00 - Confession, at 8.30 - Divine Liturgy.
All church services are performed.
Thrones:
Upper Temple:
Epiphany (main throne); the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called; Holy Hieromartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia.
Lower temple:
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God;
Saint Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow.
Patronal feasts:
Epiphany - January 19 (main throne);
Saint Andrew the First-Called - December 13;
Holy Hieromartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia - February 7;
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God - November 4;
Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow - June 2.
History
The Temple of the Epiphany of the former Epiphany Monastery was built in 1693-1996 in the Naryshkin Baroque style, as the main temple of the Moscow Epiphany male monastery founded in 1298-1299 by the Monk Prince Daniel of Moscow. The trustees of the monastery, starting from the 14th century, were St. blg. Prince Ioann Kalita and Moscow boyars Vorontsov-Velyaminovs, Pleshcheevs, Dolgorukovs and Galitsins. The patrimonial necropolis of the trustees was also located here. The Monk Stephen asceticised in the monastery, brother Saint Sergius and the Monk Dionysius Svyatorets, the Monk Gabriel (Zyryanov), the Monk Confessor Leonty (Stasevich). In 1313, the future Saint Alexy Metropolitan of Moscow took monastic vows at the monastery.
The monastery was closed in 1919, but church services continued. In 1929, the temple was closed, the building was used as a warehouse, a dormitory, a printing house, and later the temple was transferred to the State Academic Russian Choir of the USSR. A. Sveshnikov.
In 1990, the temple was transferred to the Russian Orthodox community Orthodox Church, and on January 19, 1991, the first divine services were performed there. On May 31, a small consecration of the chapel in honor of St. Alexis of Moscow was performed; On April 25, 1992, the altar table was consecrated in honor of the Martyr Vladimir of Kiev; On January 14, 1998, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia performed the Great consecration of the main altar of the upper church in honor of the Epiphany; On October 31, 2003, the throne was consecrated in honor of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called in the northern gallery of the upper church; On March 6, 2011, the main altar of the lower church was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
In 1995-1999, work was carried out to recreate the drum and dome of the temple, destroyed in Soviet time, and the facades of the temple. The altar parts of the Alekseevsky and Alfeyevsky side-altars of the lower church were rebuilt, the iconostases of the upper and lower temples were restored.
Shrines
External Cross with a part of the Honest and Life-giving Tree of the Lord's Cross;
Reliquary cross with a cathedral icon and particles of relics: Saints Apostle and Evangelist Luke, Apostle Barnabas, Saint Basil of Ryazan, Saint Mitrophan of Voronezh, Venerable Agapitus the unmerited physician and Damian the healer of the Kiev Caves, Venerable Euphrosyne of Suzdal;
Kasperovskaya icon of the Mother of God with particles of holy relics: Schmch. Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens, St. Innokenty of Irkutsk, naval center. Barbarians, St. John of the Ladder, prmts. Book. Elisabeth and nun Barbara, Sts. blgg. Book. George Vladimirsky and Prince. Peter and Prince. Fevronia of Murom; and with particles of the Holy Sepulcher, the oak of Mamre and a stone from Mount Golgotha.
Icons with particles of holy relics:
o Apostle Andrew the First-Called;
o Apostle Barnabas;
o Vmts. Catherine;
o Vmch. Demetrius of Thessaloniki;
o Martyrs 14000 infants, slaughtered by Herod in Bethlehem;
o Right. the warrior Theodore Ushakov;
o Right. Martha;
o Prmtsts. led. book Elisabeth and nun Barbara;
o St. Alexy Zosimovsky;
o St. Aristoklia of the Elder of Moscow;
o St. Varlaam of Suzdal;
o St. Gabriel isp., Melekessky;
o St. German Zosimovsky;
o St. German Zosimovsky;
o St. John Climacus;
o St. Job of Pochaevsky;
o St. Lawrence of Chernigov;
o St. Maxim the Greek;
o St. Pimen the Great;
o St. Roman Kirzhachsky;
o St. Sophia of Suzdal;
o St. Stephen Makhrishchsky;
o St. Theodore Sanaksarsky;
o St. Alexander (Orlova) isp., Presbyter of Maccabeus;
o St. blg. book Oleg Bryanskiy;
o St. blgv. led. book Andrey Bogolyubsky;
o St. blgv. led. book Georgy (Yuri) Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky;
o St. blgv. book Alexander Nevsky;
o St. blgv. book Daniel of Moscow;
o St. blgv. Tsarevich Demetrius of Uglich and Moscow;
o St. blzh. Andrey Simbirsky;
o St. blzh. Basil, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, Moscow;
o St. vmts. Barbarians;
o St. Sergius (Pravdolyubov) isp., Presbyter Kasimovsky;
o Sts. blgv. book Constantine (Yaroslav) and his children Mikhail and Theodore, Murom;
o Sts. blgv. book Peter, in the monasticism of David, and Prince. Fevronia, in monasticism Euphrosyne, Murom wonderworkers;
o Sts. blgvv. book Theodore of Smolensky and his children David and Constantine, Yaroslavsky;
o St. Innocent, bishop Irkutsk;
o St. Innocent, Bishop of Penza;
o St. Innocent, Met. Moscow;
o St. John, Bishop of Suzdal;
o St. Luke isp., Archbishop. Simferopol;
o St. Nikita, the hermit of Pechersky, bishop. Novgorodsky;
o St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia;
o St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia;
o St. Theodora, bishop Suzdal;
o St. Theodosius of Chernigov;
o St. Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky;
o St. Filaret, Met. Moscow;
o Schmch. Vladimir, Met. Kievsky and Galitsky;
o Schmch. Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop Athenian;
o Schmch. Sylvester, Archbishop. Omsk.
Icons with particles of covers from holy relics:
o St. Elijah Muromets, Pechersky;
o St. Spiridon of Trimifuntsky;
Relic with particles of holy relics: St. James of Nizibis, St. Ignatius, bishop Rostov, reverend fathers slain by Chosroes, martyrs of Nicomedia, martyrs of Jordan,
Icon equal to the ap. Nina, the enlightener of Georgia with a particle of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Cross. Nina.
At the temple there are:
Sunday School for children and adults, studio choral singing and drawing(Sunday School enrollment is done on Sundays in September);
Parish library;
Lecture hall on topics dedicated to spiritual life, the basics of Christian morality and the principles of building relationships in an Orthodox family - on Wednesdays at 19.00, Archpriest Gennady Nefyodov;
Evening singing-regency courses(one-year education in the specialty of a singing church liturgical choir) and amateur choir(teaching the skills of church choral singing to all comers, recording in September each year based on the results of the interview);
Icon painting studio(3-year training for those interested in the basics of icon painting; recruitment based on the results of an interview, checking professional skills and viewing works - once every 3 years).
The huge Epiphany Cathedral has not lost its significance in modern Moscow. There is no longer a monastery as such, new buildings have appeared nearby, but it still rises among the surroundings, claiming to be of central importance in Kitay-gorod. Its powerful dome is perfectly visible from Zamoskvorechye and is able to compete even with the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square.
The Epiphany Monastery is rightfully considered one of the oldest in Moscow: it was founded by the first Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich in 1296 - only the Danilov Monastery is older than him. At first, all the buildings of the monastery were wooden, but in 1342, the first stone cathedral of the Epiphany was erected with donations from the boyar Protasius. In the future, all the reconstruction was carried out on the basis of this building: in 1571 after the invasion of the Crimean Khan Devlet-girey, then in 1624 after the end of the Time of Troubles. Finally, in 1693-1695, the existing building was erected on the foundations of the old cathedral. Subsequently, it was updated several times, but the structure has not changed again.
Built in the Naryshkin Baroque style, the Epiphany Cathedral is oriented vertically: an octagon is placed on the four, which, in turn, is crowned with an elongated drum with an octagonal head. The facades are lavishly decorated with white stone carvings; large window frames with figured columns and ridges look especially magnificent. The faces of the octagon are also crowned with combs, and the corners of the quadruple are decorated with stylized vases. The upper half of the quadrangle is cut from the north and south by double windows, the basement windows are smaller and decorated more modestly, but also with elements of Naryshkin Baroque. The refectory and the quadrangle are interconnected by a wide gallery, on which additional side-altars appeared later. A bell tower crowned with a spire was built over the western entrance. In the interior, attention is drawn to the large sculptural compositions "The Crowning of Our Lady", "Christmas" and "Epiphany".
In the lower church, consecrated in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, there was previously an extensive necropolis: here were the tombs of the most noble families of Russia - the Golitsyns, Sheremetevs, Dolgorukovs, Saltykovs and many others. The cathedral was badly damaged during a fire in 1812: an explosion in the Kremlin broke the iron ties in the building, flew out glass and frames, and bent the cross on the bell tower in half. Over the next few years, the building was cleaned up.
The Epiphany Monastery was also one of the centers of education in Russia XVII century. In 1685, scholars-monks from Greece - brothers Sophronius and Ioannikiy Likhudy - settled there. Here they founded their own school, in which they taught Greek, grammar, poetics, rhetoric, logic and other sciences. Two years later, in 1687, the school moved to the neighboring Zaikonospassky monastery and was transformed into the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy - this was the first higher educational institution in Russia.
In addition to the cathedral, there were two more gate churches in the monastery: the first, in the name of the Nativity of John the Baptist, was dismantled in 1905 (despite the protests of the Moscow Archaeological Society) for the construction of a tenement house on Nikolskaya Street; and the second, the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, was lost in the early 1920s after the closure of the monastery.
Services in the cathedral stopped after the revolution, its decoration was badly damaged, and it itself was consistently used as a hostel, production facilities and a rehearsal room. Some of the gravestones from the lower church and the basement were transferred to the Donskoy Monastery, which then belonged to the Museum of Architecture.
During the Great Patriotic War the cathedral was almost lost: in its immediate vicinity, at the corner of Nikolskaya and Epiphany lane, a German bomber fell. The buildings standing on this place were completely destroyed, and the cathedral itself lost its head with a drum - they were demolished by the plane during the fall. After the war, the area was cleared and built up with a massive building in the Stalinist Empire style.
Since 1991, a gradual process of revival of the Epiphany Cathedral began. Monastic life has not been restored, so the cathedral functions as a parish church. In 2007, a monument to the Likhud brothers was erected in front of the altar of the cathedral in Epiphany Lane.
Address: Epiphany per., 2
The Epiphany Monastery is considered the second oldest after the Danilov Monastery, although a number of researchers consider the Epiphany Monastery to be the first monastery in Moscow.
Epiphany was located in the very center of Moscow. But if you do not know exactly where, then this dream, perhaps, will never be found. However, we will give you a hint: here you go from the Ploschad Revolyutsii metro station straight to Bogoyavlensky lane. And across the road, opposite and a little to the left, you see the most wonderful - pink and white - temple in the style of the so-called "Naryshkin or Moscow Baroque". This is the Epiphany Cathedral - the main, and, in fact, the only surviving temple of the monastery. But how handsome he is!
By the way, one more evidence that you came out correctly: in front of the cathedral there is a monument to two Greek monks - the Likhud brothers. It seemed - why would all of a sudden? Yes, from the fact that it was they, and it was here, in the Epiphany Monastery, that founded the school, which later became the famous Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. And later it was transformed into the Moscow Theological Academy.
You can talk a lot about the monastery and about the people whose names are associated with it. These are Saint Alexy of Moscow, and Metropolitan Philip, and Abbot Stephen, brother of Sergius of Radonezh ...
But here's what I want to say. There is clearly some mystery connected with the monastery, something special that has not come down to us. There was something that made the sovereigns of Moscow themselves treat the monastery in a special way, with extraordinary respect.
After all the upheavals, fires, plunders of Moscow, the Epiphany Monastery was restored almost in the first place, and it was at the will of the ruling sovereigns. Why?
The abbots of Bogoyavlensky played key roles in numerous coronation ceremonies of Moscow princes and tsars. Why?
Not only tsars, but also many noble persons donated money and estates to the monastery, so much so that in this sense Epiphany clearly stood out among other, no less glorious monasteries. And again - why?
From the very first years of its existence - and the monastery was erected more than seven hundred years ago - it was the Epiphany and the main boyar burial vault. The Sheremetevs, Dolgorukiy, Repnins, Yusupovs, Saltykovs, Menshikovs, Golitsyns rested here ... And again questions ...
Such a mystery monastery once existed where only the handsome Epiphany Cathedral has survived ...
Isn't there a reason to worship this mysterious and holy place?
Contacts: Epiphany monastery
Address: Epiphany per., 2
How to get to:
From the metro station "Revolution Square":
There are two exits from the station. You need an exit marked with the following sign: "EXIT TO THE CITY: TO RED SQUARE, NIKOLSKAYA STREETS, ILYINKA STREETS, CHAMBER MUSIC THEATER, STORES: GUM, CHILDREN'S WORLD," GOSTINY DVOR ". Go up the escalator, exit the metro - and right in front of you is a tall, beautiful temple.
From the Kitay-Gorod metro station:
At this station, two different lines converge. Regardless of which line you arrived on, you need to turn to the exit with the stairs (as opposed to the opposite exit with the escalator) under the sign: "EXIT TO THE CITY: TO A NEW SQUARE, STREETS: ILYINKA, MAROSEYKA, POLYTECHNICAL MUSEUM, GOSTINOMY DVOR" ... Climb the stairs, turn left and go to the escalator. Climbing the escalator and leaving the station, you find yourself in a long passage - you need to turn left and walk to the end, then go up the right exit to the street. Ilyinka street starts right next to the metro exit. You need to follow it to Epiphany Lane. He will be the second on the right. Landmarks: Exchange Square, Gostiny Dvor (a large blue corner building), the building of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Turning right into Epiphany lane, you will immediately see the temple.
From the LUBYANKA metro station:
Arriving at the station, go to the exit marked with a sign: “EXIT TO THE CITY: ON THE SQUARE: LUBYANSKAYA, NOVAYA, TO THE THEATER'S LIDGE, TO THE STREETS: PUSHECHNAYA, CHRISTMAS, NIKOLSKAYA, B. AND M. CHERKASSKY MUZYUALKAMUALKAMNO MOSCOW, POLYTECHNICAL MUSEUM, AVIACONS, PHARMACY No. 1, DETSKY MIR STORE. After climbing the escalator, turn left and walk until you reach the street. Going out into the street, you will see Lubyanskaya Square in front of you. Turn left again onto Nikolskaya Street, which starts right next to the metro, and walk along it to Bogoyavlensky Lane (second turn to the left). Soon you will see the Temple of the Epiphany.
Driving directions:
Epiphany for the Bargaining, or behind the Betoshny row. Male, 2nd class, uncommunicative monastery. Located between Nikolskaya and Ilyinka streets, it was formed, according to the Novgorod Chronicle, at the end of the 13th century, shortly before the death of the Moscow prince Daniel Alexandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky. During the years of foundation and construction of the Epiphany Monastery, its western part adjoined Red Square with stalls and rows of stalls. The northern side was bordered by a busy road to Rostov Veliky, Suzdal and Vladimir (Nikolskaya St.). All buildings were erected from wood, the first stone building - the Church of the Epiphany was built in 1342 under the supervision of the boyar and the thousand Protasius.
In 1624, a new stone cathedral with the Church of the Kazan Mother of God was built in the monastery on the site of the Epiphany Church, which had stood for nearly 300 years. Later, in the lower tier (in the basement), a church was built in the name of the icon of the Appearance of the Kazan Mother of God, consecrated on December 29, 1693, and twenty years earlier, when the noblewoman Ksenia Repnina was the widow of the prince and governor Boris Aleksandrovich Repnin-Obolensky, one of the leaders of the boyar duma , a participant in the struggle against the Polish invaders - presented the monastery with land adjoining it from Nikolskaya Street and Epiphany Lane, the monastery built here the main Holy Gates with access to the busy Nikolskaya Street and the gateway church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
At the end of the 17th century. in the monastery they built stone brotherly cells along the line of the Vetoshny row and at right angles to them inside the courtyard - the abbot building (1693-1697). The cathedral was also rebuilt at the same time. The temple has acquired an elegant appearance of the construction of the Moscow baroque. The outer walls of its apse and the refectory, decorated with the same decorative finish, gave the impression of rich decoration, and the double windows of the quadrangle, cornices and window frames on the octagon, made up of several tiers of small profiled details, and a light figured spire gave a special festivity to the whole structure.
In the summer of 1782, the Epiphany Cathedral was refurbished from top to bottom, both outside and inside, and by the end of the century in the buildings facing Torgi and Nikolskaya, the first floors were taken over for haberdashery shops. 18 years after Napoleon left Moscow, in the bell tower above the Holy Gates, at the expense of the guards captain Evdokia Vlasova, the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands was erected instead of the Church of Boris and Gleb desecrated by the French. Almost 40 years later, in the upper tier of the cathedral, a chapel was erected in the name of the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God.
In 1870, a three-story fraternal building on the west side and a two-story abbot’s house on the north side, standing at right angles to each other, were thoroughly rebuilt. On the south side, instead of dilapidated outbuildings, three-storey commercial buildings were erected and the galleries connecting the buildings with the cathedral were dismantled. Epiphany warm shopping arcade have survived to this day. The improvement of the monastery was completed by the creation of the Church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon in the side-altar of the upper tier of the cathedral (1873).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, commercial activity also took over the monastery. The corner buildings and the gateway church with the Holy Gates (1905) were demolished, and five years later a four-storey trading building with an Art Nouveau facade on Nikolskaya Street was erected in their place.
The previously existing Church of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands was located in the Epiphany Monastery above the gate under the bell tower. The bell tower was built in 1739-42. The church was first consecrated in honor of Boris and Gleb, and after the renovation in 1830 it received its current name. On the belfry there are 4 bells of the 17th century, of which one large was marked in 1616.
The previously existing chapel of the Epiphany Monastery on Nikolskaya Street was built on the occasion of the arrival in 1866 from Mount Athos of part of the relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon and the Icon of the Mother of God of the Hearted Hearts. It was consecrated on February 11, 1873. When the Panteleimon Monastery built its own chapel at the Vladimir Gate, the Athonite shrines were transferred there.
"Index of Churches and Chapels of Kitay-Gorod". Moscow, "Russian Printing", B. Sadovaya, no. 14, 1916
The Epiphany Monastery in Moscow ranks second after the Danilov Monastery in antiquity. These Moscow monasteries had one founder - Prince Daniel Alexandrovich. Prince Daniel was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky and became the first Moscow prince, under whom the city became an independent appanage principality, separated from Vladimirsky.
The exact date of the foundation of the Epiphany Monastery is unknown. It is believed that it was founded in 1296, when Daniel accepted the title of Prince of Moscow, but with the same degree of probability the monastery could have been built in the period before 1304. The place chosen for the construction of the monastery was the best suited for this. It was located not far from the Kremlin, on the main road to Suzdal and Vladimir, in addition, the Neglinka flowed here, and this was very convenient for arranging the Jordan on the patronal holiday. The fact that the area was a hill also played an important role - at that time both temples and monasteries preferred to be built on the hills.
The Epiphany Monastery grew up on a posad, then not yet fenced off by the wall of Kitai-Gorod. Artisans and merchants lived in this place, the main Moscow market was located. In the beginning, the monastery was called “The Monastery for the Bargaining”. The details of the first years of the life of this monastery in Moscow have not been preserved. It is only known that even then he enjoyed the respect and attention of high-ranking and even royal persons, he was used for the grand ducal pilgrimage. The monastery possessed vast estates, which allowed it to expand. In addition, the grand dukes and the Moscow nobility presented significant donations to the monastery, thanks to which it could prosper.
At the beginning, the monastery and the temple of the Epiphany with the Annunciation side-chapel were made of wood, so it is not surprising that it soon burned down. After that, in 1340, the son of Prince Daniel, Ivan Kalita, founded the white-stone Epiphany Cathedral in the monastery, which became the sixth stone church built by him. In addition, it was the very first stone structure outside the Kremlin, built at a time when the Kremlin walls themselves were still oak.
The abbots and monks of the Epiphany monastery have always been distinguished by outstanding qualities, they were true devotees of the faith. Here lived the elder brother of St. Sergius of Radonezh Stephen, who at first was a monk, and then became hegumen of the Epiphany Monastery. Here the boyar son Eleutherius Byakont took monastic vows, who enjoyed the confidence of Ivan Kalita himself, and arrived in Moscow during the reign of Daniel.
The deeds of the monks more than once saved the monastery from disasters. Frequent fires surprisingly bypassed the monastery. When Khan Tokhtamysh was raging in Moscow, in an attempt to avenge the lost Battle of Kulikovo, he personally ordered the Epiphany Monastery to be set on fire, but the monastery still survived. Of course, the situation was not always happy for the monastery. In 1451, he burned down together with the Moscow posad - this happened during the invasion of Tsarevich Mazovsha from the Golden Horde. After that, the monastery was rebuilt Grand Duke Vasily II, and his son, Ivan III, ordered the supply of "annual food" to the Epiphany Monastery to commemorate the parents and to pray to the holy elders for the health of the sovereign. Ivan III presented the Epiphany Monastery with rich estates, in which it was forbidden to beg, curmudgeon, stand up and demand carts even for the sovereign. At the same time, a refectory was built on the territory of the monastery, made of brick, which was distinguished by its special strength, which was produced at the Kalitnikovsky plant according to the recipe of Aristotle Fioravanti especially for the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral.
In 1547, a massive fire inflicted huge damage on the monastery. It happened six months after the accession to the kingdom of Ivan the Terrible. During the reign of this Russian tsar, the Epiphany Monastery became the place of imprisonment of the disgraced Metropolitan Philip (Kolychev), who publicly condemned the tsar for the anti-popular oprichnina. The guardsmen seized the saint in the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral, on the feast of the Archangel Michael. When the Metropolitan was taken to the Epiphany Monastery, people ran after the sleigh in order to receive the last blessing from the lips of their spiritual mentor. There is a legend about miracles that accompanied the stay of the Metropolitan in the Epiphany Monastery. Once, the guards who came to him found that the chains had miraculously fallen from the captive. The second time, when Ivan the Terrible ordered a hungry bear to be sent into the dungeon with the priest and left for the night, in the morning they found that the bear was sleeping quietly in the corner, and the arrested man was safe and sound.
Ivan the Terrible venerated the Epiphany Monastery. By his order, a significant rent and food were supplied to the monastery, and when in 1571, during the invasion of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, the monastery burned out in a fire, the monastery was rebuilt by the order of the tsar. During the Time of Troubles, the Epiphany Monastery found itself at the center of the battles for Kitai-Gorod, which took place in March 1611 and in the fall of 1612.
The Poles completely ruined the monastery and the Romanovs had to revive it. In 1624, a new cathedral was built in the Epiphany Monastery, and the monastery flourished at the end of the 17th century. Then, under Patriarch Andrian, with his blessing, a magnificent cathedral in the "Moscow Baroque" style was built here, which can be seen today. Who was the author of this cathedral is unknown; by the similarity to the Trinity Church in Lykovo, some experts suggest that the architect could have been Yakov Bukhvostov. This Epiphany Cathedral is two-tiered. In the first tier there is a church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which served as a symbol of the miraculous salvation of Moscow in 1612.
In the 17th century, the fate of the monastery was extremely successful. In 1672, the noblewoman Ksenia Repnina presented the monastery with an extensive courtyard on Nikolskaya Street, which doubled the territory of the monastery, and in addition, the monastery received access to Nikolskaya. It was here that the first holy gates of the Epiphany Monastery were built with the gateway church of the Nativity of John the Baptist. It was in the Epiphany Monastery in 1685 that the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was temporarily equipped, to which students from the school located in the Andreevsky Monastery were transferred.
At the beginning of the 18th century, when Peter I was on the Russian throne, craftsmen from Switzerland decorated the Epiphany Church with beautiful alabaster sculptures. And recently, documents were found in the archives indicating that the great-grandfather of A.S. Pushkin and the godson of Peter the Great, the then young Abram Hannibal. But it was in the Petrine era, after the death of Patriarch Adrian, that the first secularization was carried out: now the monastic income went to the Monastic Order, and the monks were paid a meager salary, which was barely enough to live on. When the archimandrite turned to the king with a request to increase the amount of this salary, he was refused. But despite the difficulties, there were also joyful events in the life of the Epiphany Monastery. So, after the fire of 1731, Archimandrite Gerasim managed to restore the monastery and build over the second gate another gate church with a bell tower in the name of Boris and Gleb, which was consecrated in 1742. On this bell tower there were 9 bells, each of which was cast for the sake of the soul. By the end of the 18th century, the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow became the seat of the vicar bishops of the Moscow Metropolitan.
The reign of Catherine II brought absolute secularization to the Epiphany Monastery. Basically, the monastery existed due to the fact that here the members of many noble Russian families found their last peace, making donations to commemorate the souls of their loved ones. Almost from the moment of its inception, the Epiphany Monastery was the main boyar burial vault after the Kremlin one. In total, the church-tomb contained more than 150 graves with unique tombstones, which were destroyed in the Soviet years. The Sheremetevs, Dolgorukiy, Repnins, Yusupovs, Saltykovs, Menshikovs, Golitsyns were buried here, an associate of Tsar Peter the Great, Prince Grigory Dmitrievich Yusupov, was buried.
Before Napoleon's troops entered Moscow, the archimandrite of the Epiphany Monastery managed to take out the sacristy of the monastery, and the treasurer and the monks hid the rest of the treasures in the church wall. Neither threats nor torture helped the French soldiers find out where the monastery's values had gone. The Epiphany Monastery was saved from ruin and destruction by the fact that one of Napoleon's marshals stayed here. After Napoleon's army left Moscow, the Epiphany Monastery was in fairly good condition.
In the second half of the 19th century from the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, an icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear" was brought to the city, as well as parts of the relics of the healer Panteleimon, a cross with a particle of the Life-giving Tree, a particle of the Holy Sepulcher stone. People from all over Russia flocked to the Epiphany Monastery to venerate these relics. In 1873, the chapel of St. Panteleimon was built in the monastery, and the Athos chapel was built on Nikolskaya Street. The chapel was small and could not accommodate all the visitors, so in 1880 the brother of the abbot of the Athos Panteleimonov Monastery donated a plot on Nikolskaya Street to the monastery for the construction of a new chapel.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a number of works were carried out in the Epiphany Monastery to repair and improve churches and premises, which, on the one hand, brought comfort and beauty, but on the other, they destroyed rare architectural values. When steam heating was carried out inside the temple, ancient burials and the remains of ancient structures were destroyed, but this was only the beginning. In 1905, despite the stormy protests of the Moscow Archaeological Society, the gate church of the Nativity of John the Baptist was demolished, and in its place it was decided to build a tenement house. In 1919, the Epiphany Monastery was closed, and the cathedral and the Church of the Savior were made parish - they continued their activities for some time. In 1922, all the silver was taken out of the monastery. And seven years later, the Epiphany Cathedral was closed. In his tribute, at different times there was a flour warehouse, then a Metrostroy warehouse, and even a metalworking workshop. The most valuable items were transferred to various museums, and the rest was damaged and desecrated. Various disordered outbuildings disfigured appearance temple, the building began to collapse. In 1941, a shot down German bomber fell near the cathedral and was blown away by a shock wave. upper part temple. After the end of the Second World War, the administrative building of the NKVD was built on the territory of the monastery, and of all the valuable buildings, only the Epiphany Cathedral was more or less preserved.
In 1980, gradually began to restore the surviving Epiphany Church, it was handed over to the choir. A.V. Sveshnikov, a rehearsal and concert hall was set up here. In 1991, the temple was returned to the believers. Started new era in the life of an ancient temple. The restoration work even touched upon what was damaged during the Napoleonic invasion. In the upper church, a multi-tiered iconostasis, stucco molding, sculptures of the Peter's period, and the royal gates in the form of a cross were restored. The restored upper church was consecrated in 1998 by Patriarch Alexy II. In 1998, the Moscow Regent-Singing Seminary began to operate at the Epiphany Monastery, and the Red Bell Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kitai-Gorod and the Church of Cosmas and Damian in Starye Panekh were assigned to the Epiphany Cathedral. By 2014, it is planned to complete the restoration work, which is carried out at the expense of funds from state budget... In its course, the fence will be restored and the adjacent territory will be landscaped.
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