The first mention of the wooden “Church of the Great Wonderworker St. Nicholas, and in the border of Ivan the Baptist, which is beyond the Moscow River in Tolmachi” is contained in the Parish Book of the Patriarchal Order for the year. "Tolmachi" - word Tatar origin, this was the name given to interpreters, who were distinguished from those who could write in foreign language. Tolmachi or Tatar settlement was the name given to the area near the road to the Horde, then at a distance from the rest of Moscow, where translators settled - Tatars who spoke Russian, and then Russian translators.
The stone temple was erected in the year by a “guest”, a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, Longin Dobrynin and high altar The temple was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and Nikolsky was moved to the refectory. However, only over the years the church was called “Soshestvenskaya” in business papers and books, and then it began to be registered again as “Nikolaevskaya”.
There is a library at the temple Orthodox literature, children's Sunday School And educational courses for adults "Fundamentals of Orthodoxy".
Abbots
- Vasily Pavlov (mid-18th century)
- Ioann Vasiliev (September 22, 1770 - 1791)
- Ioann Andreev (May 1791 - 1812)
- Nikolai Yakovlev (1813 - ?)
- Ivanovich Smirnov (1816 - 1828)
- Nikolai Rozanov (1828 - 1855)
- Vasily Nechaev (1855 - 1889)
- Dimitry Kasitsyn (1889 - December 3, 1902)
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Tolmachi
M. Tolmachevsky lane, 9, B. Tolmachevsky lane, 14
"Interpreters are interpreters who were distinguished from those who knew how to write in a foreign language."
"It dates back to 1625."
"The church was built by the Dobrynins' guests in 1697 on the site of a wooden one."
“Guest Longin Kondratyevich Dobrynin, a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, did not limit himself to charity for the church of his parish; it was with his help that the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was built.”
“The current stone church was built in 1697 by guest Longin Dobrynin, who, together with his father Kondrat, was also the builder of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi. Since 1697, the main altar became the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and Nikolsky was moved to a one-sided refectory. In 1782 an iron hipped roof was made instead of a roof covering. In 1770, a parishioner, the widow of the merchant E. L. Demidov, built a chapel of the Intercession. On July 11, 1833, a new bell tower and a refectory with two chapels were consecrated. The fence was built in 1836. In 1856-1857 it was rebuilt. main altar and the windows are cracked. Until recently, the main iconostasis was preserved, consecrated on October 5, 1858 and made in the Moscow Baroque style according to the model of the previous one from 1697. In the left Pokrovsky and right Nikolsky aisles, the beautiful Empire furnishings of 1834 were preserved. There were several icons of the 17th and 18th centuries.”
"The church was renewed in 1887."
“On April 6, 1922, 9 poods 22 pounds 1.5 spools of gold and silver items were confiscated from the temple.”
The church was closed in 1929. A true story about this has been preserved from a witness to the ruin - the son of the last rector of the church, Fr. Ilia Chetverukhin:
“At Easter, some people from the Tretyakov Gallery came and said that the general meeting of the Gallery’s employees had decided to demand the closure of the Nikolo-Tolmachevskaya Church and transfer this building to the Gallery to expand the exhibition. The people who came, quite intelligent-looking people, kindly advised to immediately agree with the decision of the meeting and not to protest, not to engage in useless troubles. They made it clear that a good fate awaited the temple, because it would fall into cultural hands.
Among the Gallery employees who lived in the neighborhood, there were many long-time parishioners of our church, who tearfully confessed to the pope that out of human weakness, out of fear, they also voted for...
Having heard the painful, but also surprising for those times, message, the father and the parish council decided to do everything in their power to defend the temple, and God’s will be there! An application was submitted to the Moscow Council, then an appeal to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Every day we prayed intensely for the preservation of the dear shrine. The invited photographer captured as a souvenir the view of the main iconostasis, chapels, paintings, and the pope delivering a sermon, with Mother Lyubov nearby. The whole group of parishioners, led by the pope, took a photo at the northern wall of the main church, and also took a view of the bell tower.
The Lord decided in his own way, and the efforts were not crowned with success, everything was refused...
One day, when dad returned from church from the liturgy, there was a knock on the door. The person who entered said that he was asking the pope to open the temple and get an inventory of the property, since the commission had come to take over the temple. Dad crossed himself, sent me to Mother Lyubov for the keys, took large office books where icons, vestments, utensils, books and lamps that belonged to the temple were recorded, and went to the porch.
On the steps leading to the temple stood strangers, who entered with us into the doors unlocked by Mother Lyubov. Not all of them took off their caps. When we entered, we crossed ourselves.
The church was still warm morning prayer. Somewhere an unextinguished lamp was burning, there was a smell of incense, oil, wax, and bluish air swirled in the sun's rays.
A group of newcomers stood at the entrance, looking around in an unusual environment. People seemed to hesitate, not knowing how to proceed. It seemed to me that they regretted getting involved in this matter, and a fantastic hope began to swell in my soul. I suddenly imagined that the pope would enter the altar, pull back the curtain and say in a melodious voice: “Glory to the holy and consubstantial and life-giving and indivisible Trinity!”, and someone would answer: “Amen!”, and they would light lamps, and put candles, and with An unbearable burden will be lifted from the soul.
But the people at the entrance shook off their momentary stupor, began to move, started talking, Dad said something, gave them books, and he himself unlocked the doors of cabinets and drawers, opened the entrance to the sacristy and the altar gates - and the movement began.
Those who entered scattered throughout the room, looking at icons, chandeliers, candlesticks, counting something and marking it in books. Dad either sent me to the house to take his own liturgical books that were in the church, or to bring church icons from home, which Dad was constantly updating. The royal doors, wide open, turned into ordinary doors and behind them one could see an empty throne, and strangers, irreverent people touched it, put something on it and, leaning on their elbows, wrote.
I watched in horror and waited in shock to see how it would end. But then they called me to the altar for something - I was standing on the pulpit at the Royal Doors - and I looked questioningly at my father. Until now I have not yet dared to go through them. I saw such melancholy on my dad’s face, and he waved his hand at me in such a way that I realized: “darling, it’s all over!” I walked in and something broke inside me. No miracle happened. A calm, monstrous murder of an infinitely dear, living thing took place... My jaw clenched with a spasm. I saw that dad was pale, answering questions in a muffled, colorless voice, his eyes had lost their sparkle... I also walked, talked, showed, carried away, gave something, completely mechanically, experiencing nothing but extreme fatigue...
Finally, the formalities were over, and dad, mother Lyubov and I became redundant.
I stopped at the threshold. I had to make an effort not to cross myself. It was obvious, but I couldn’t comprehend it, that I was seeing all this for the last, last time on earth. That tomorrow none of this will happen...
While the Crucifix was still standing in its place, the eyes of the saints on the icons looked as usual, but instead of incense there was already tobacco wafting from somewhere, a hammer was tapping, the wood being torn off creaked, and someone unceremoniously called out to another from across the room, whistling and stamping their feet.
Dad lay in bed for a week with a heart attack, and I had a nasty feeling of involvement in a crime.
From the first year of our establishment in Zamoskvorechye, when my father took a part-time position as a research assistant at the Gallery, it became dear to us. We would easily come to dad’s office, and he would take us around the halls and show us the treasures stored there. Sometimes dad gathered a whole group of acquaintances and talked so interestingly about paintings and artists that many strangers joined us and did not leave until the end of the amateur excursion.
The gallery was founded by a zealous parishioner of our church, who, perhaps even with excessive zeal, demanded from his employees that they strictly attend divine services.
When dad was forced to resign from the Gallery, we children continued to visit it freely, because we still had many friends there, and they didn’t ask us for tickets.
We were happy, we were proud of such a famous neighbor.
But after the monstrous act that was committed in the name of the Gallery, a shadow fell over her. Love has gone out. Respect disappeared, everything was overwhelmed by the feeling of falseness.
And the new owner, or rather the people who stood at the head of this pride of Moscow, quickly, as if afraid that they would take it away, dealt with the acquisition. They emptied the inside, removed not only the crosses, but also the domes and even the drums, smashed the melodious bells into pieces, and they sobbed hysterically at the same time, and then dismantled the marvelous, slender, finger-like bell tower to the ground.
And instead of all beauty, an ugly, amputated, lifeless stump remained in this area.
The interpreters were closed. They were no longer on earth, and the earth did not become any more beautiful or richer because of this...
The Pope, having recovered from his illness, together with his faithful parishioners took refuge under the hospitable shelter of the Church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea in Polyanka, invited by his good friend, the rector, Father Peter Lagov."
Father Elijah himself soon entered the ranks of the new Russian martyrs:
“Father Ilya Chetverukhin was truly awarded the crown of confessor of God. He was the rector of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi; the parishioners of the temple revered and loved him (“You will stand high, just don’t be proud,” Elder Barnabas warned him). After the revolution, this caused strong discontent with the authorities. , and they paid “special attention to him.” In the 20s, he was arrested twice for “being too popular among the parishioners” - they could not charge him with another crime.
In 1929, the St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi was closed. In 1930, Father Ilya Chetverukhin was arrested for the last time for allegedly “counter-revolutionary agitation and preparation for an uprising” and exiled to Perm camps. In 1932, Father Ilya Chetverukhin died in a fire along with everyone who was in the building of the camp club in the village of Krasnaya Vishera."
“Two icons from the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi were transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery in 1936. These are: 1. The Almighty Savior, 1692, by Nikolai Solomonov with the inscription “In the summer of 7200 (i.e. 1692) this image was painted on the promise of guests Kondratya Markov and his son Login Kondratyev Dobrynin, isographer Nikolai Solomonov, son of the Burgars." 2. The Descent of the Holy Spirit, 1697, Armory School, from the local row of the iconostasis of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, or St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. "The iconostasis was transferred to the HOZO OGPU for washing off the gold, and the upper part of it was sold at the discretion of the Central State Geological Museum and Antiques."
All five domes of the church and three of the four tiers of the bell tower were destroyed - "around 1930." Inside is the Tretyakov Gallery, now located closely, using the temple as a storage room for the painting department. On June 10, 1983, after the foundation of a new one next to the old Tretyakov building, intended for storing funds (as if in mockery, Finnish workers and others were not invited to build it), it was also announced: “The plan includes the reconstruction of the monument architecture XVII in., which will then house a repository of ancient Russian paintings."
Building former temple costs on state security at number 11.
By 1990, the restoration of the temple was in full swing: domes and domes were placed on the church, the second tier of the bell tower was restored. “It is planned to arrange a gallery concert hall in the temple” (! - ).
The first mention of this church became an echo of the history of Zamoskvorechye and the dark years of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The chronicle of Zamoskvorechye began in the 14th century, when the main road to the Horde ran here and the headquarters of the Mongol Khan was located. The tribute collected on Russian soil was brought here, they swore allegiance to the khan and listened to his commands. Since the time of Ivan Kalita, a prince-diplomat who conducted extensive trade with the Horde, peaceful Tatars also settled here, who soon formed a large Tatar settlement - near the road to the Horde and, very importantly, away from the rest of Moscow. Then the translators - interpreters - settled here. At first, these were Tatars who spoke Russian, and the word itself is of Tatar origin. Interpreters were only interpreters: they were necessary during ambassadorial missions, receptions or when concluding peace treaties and drawing up trade letters. Soon Russian interpreters joined them, and at first they lived in the Tatar settlement, in the Old Tolmachi tract.And then, approximately in the 15th or 16th centuries, an independent Tolmatskaya Settlement stood out in Zamoskvorechye, leaving a name for the local alleys, where royal interpreters from all languages lived, who served in the Ambassadorial Prikaz, which stood on Cathedral Square in the Kremlin, and were considered government employees. The settlement of interpreters survived even after the Ambassadorial Prikaz was abolished in the era of Peter the Great. The translators went on to serve in the collegium, but remained to live in the same place in Zamoskvorechye. And in pre-Petrine Moscow, Tolmatskaya Sloboda was officially considered foreign, since it was inhabited mainly by “newcomers” who went into the service of the Moscow sovereign. For its Russian settlers and for those foreigners who accepted Orthodox faith, and a parish church was built in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Tolmachi: its main altar was consecrated in the name of the saint, whom the Tatars called “Russian God.”
First they put wooden church. The first mention of it dates back to 1625: in the Parish Book of the Patriarchal Order it is referred to as “the church of the great Wonderworker St. Nicholas, and in the chapel of Ivan the Baptist, which is beyond the Moscow River in Tolmachi.” (It was meant that there was a chapel with it in the name of the holy prophet John the Baptist.) However, there is a version that the church stood here for a long time, for it is known that in 1657, by sovereign decree, land was taken from it for a new cemetery, since the previous one it became cramped. This means that over the years of the existence of this church with a very small parish, a whole cemetery managed to develop within it, and of such a size that it needed to be expanded.
Already at that time, representatives of the nobility also lived in the parish of St. Nicholas Church. This is evidenced by the fact that in March 1687 Patriarch Joachim himself arrived here and listened to mass here. During the spring thaw, when even ordinary people tried to avoid Zamoskvorechye, the Patriarch came to attend the funeral service of a certain Larion Panin. Who this man was is unknown, but there is an assumption that, since the Patriarch himself came to bid him farewell, he was a noble ancestor of the famous Counts Panins.
At the end of the 17th century, a truly fateful event took place in the history of St. Nicholas Church. Residents of the vast Kadashevskaya settlement, who had as their parish church first the Cosmodamian Church and then the Resurrection Church in Kadashi, were partially attributed to her parish. The rich merchant guests of the Dobrynins, father and son, also lived in the parish of that Resurrection Church. Since ancient times, “guests” were the name given to the top of the merchant class - they were engaged in the largest wholesale and foreign trade, and when the merchant hundreds, the predecessors of the guilds, were created, the living hundred became the highest, so the status of “guest” introduced the merchant into the ranks of eminent citizens. Hundreds of merchants of the drawing room were involved in the sovereign's service, elected to the heads of the jury, to the kissers, to the customs, and had the honorable right to come to the palace with gifts and congratulate the sovereign on Easter, name days, and the birth of an heir. Such guests were the richest merchants Longin and Kondraty Dobrynin, and they were distinguished by “zeal and love for the splendor of God’s churches,” as Elder Alexy, the first historian of the St. Nicholas Church, who was its deacon for 28 years, spoke of them - more about him later.
In 1687, the Dobrynins built at their own expense the stone Resurrection Church in Kadashi, which received the nickname “the big Moscow candle.” And when some of the Kadashevites were assigned to the St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi, the same Dobrynins, already in 1697, built the stone St. Nicholas Church in place of the wooden one. Only at the request of the temple builder, Longin Kondratyevich, the main altar of the newly built church was consecrated in the name of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of St. Nicholas, the chapel was consecrated, probably in order to piously observe the hierarchy of holidays. And also stone temple an interesting architectural detail appeared: its zakomars are decorated with exactly the same decorative shells with pearls as those of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, built by the Italian Aleviz Fryazin. Apparently, the residents of Zamoskvorechye really liked this legacy of the Fryazh master.
The 18th century was significant and difficult for St. Nicholas Church. On a January night in 1765, he was completely robbed. Then the parishioners - and among them were officials from the Armory Chamber and the Military Department - supplied the temple with everything necessary for worship for the first time. The search identified a certain Ivan Ilyin, the owner of a den of thieves, whose guests robbed the church, but it was not possible to return anything stolen, and the temple had to be rebuilt.
But throughout its history, the temple in Tolmachi was guarded by an invisible force. Just 4 years after this incident, the widow of a wealthy manufacturer, Ekaterina Lazarevna Demidova, by the way, a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, wished to build a chapel in the St. Nicholas Church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows.” However, at that time there was a ban on consecrating thrones in the name of icons of the Mother of God, and those who wanted to erect a temple in honor of the Queen of Heaven should have dedicated it to the main Mother of God holidays. Demidova chose the Feast of the Intercession, but in the iconostasis of the newly built Intercession chapel, in the most honorable place - in the local rank to the left of the royal doors - the icon “Quench My Sorrows” has since been installed, in commemoration of the temple builder’s initial desire to arrange such a chapel. Already in 1770, the Intercession chapel was consecrated, and this was considered a good omen: the next year a plague epidemic broke out in Moscow, and in the construction of the Intercession chapel they saw “All-good Providence... to prepare for the brethren encouragement, strengthening and consolation under the shadow of the honorable omophorion of the Queen of Heaven.” . At the same time, the temple itself remained poor again: the plague wiped out its parish and destroyed the wealth of the surviving parishioners. When the construction of the grandiose Orphanage on Moskvoretskaya Embankment began in 1774, the Council of Guardians asked the Consistory to place circles to collect donations for it in those Moscow churches where “great alms” could be collected. St. Nicholas Church was not included in this list. By the way, under Catherine II, who tightened measures against criminals, the rector of the St. Nicholas Church, Father John, was appointed “exhorter” of convicts, so this also did not contribute to the well-being of the temple.
But even with a new disaster - the invasion of Napoleon - a real miracle was shown to the temple. It did not burn at all, while the raging flames destroyed all the houses of the Tolmachevskaya Sloboda surrounding it, and local residents sought to take refuge in the church from the smoke and fire. The property of the temple, securely hidden under the floor, also completely survived, but while defending it, priest John Andreev fell a martyr: the invaders unsuccessfully tortured him where the church treasures were hidden, and soon after the victory he died from his injuries. According to another version, he was killed on the porch and buried in the temple fence.
For more than five months after Napoleon's invasion, there were no services in the St. Nicholas Church. It stood empty, because it had completely lost its parish: not a single house survived. In 1813, the Nikolsky and Pokrovsky chapels were consecrated, but the number of parishioners was only nine courtyards, so the temple was assigned to the Church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea on Polyanka. And then the upset Tolmachevo residents submitted a petition to the Reverend Augustine, with the assurance that the houses in the parish were being rebuilt and inhabited and that the residents were ready to pay any amount for the maintenance of the clergy, if only their parish church would receive “its primitive essence.” The case was set in motion, and it turned out that the Church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea had even fewer parishioners, and the St. Nicholas Church was perfectly preserved after the war. On February 5, 1814, a decree was issued to restore the independence of some churches, including Tolmachevskaya. So the parishioners, in small numbers, defended their temple.
And then a new miracle appeared. In February 1817, after a morning service, the priest and parishioners discovered a bundle near the iconostasis in the Pokrovsky chapel. When it was unrolled, they found in it a wooden ark containing particles of the holy relics of many great saints of God; there were even particles of the Robe of the Lord and the Robe of the Mother of God. The discovery was immediately reported to Eminence Augustine, and he ordered the ark to be sent to the Chudov Monastery before the owner was announced. The mysterious owner never showed up - it became clear that he donated this ark to the temple, wishing to remain anonymous. And then the Tolmachevoites asked to return the shrine to them - “to the glory of the name of the Lord and to the strongest excitement of us in faith and piety.” The request was fulfilled, and the ark became main shrine pre-revolutionary St. Nicholas Church. And the terrible Moscow cholera of 1830 and 1848, one might say, bypassed Tolmachi: during both epidemics, only 12 people died in the parish, while the rector Nikolai Rozanov went to the temporary hospital on Ordynka to care for patients.
The first half of the 19th century was the last milestone in the creation of St. Nicholas Church. In 1833, the old hipped bell tower, connected to the church by a passage, tilted, and the walls of the temple showed severe cracks. Maybe this was some kind of consequence of the shock of 1812, or maybe it was just time, because this bell tower was a century and a half old. Then the parishioners decided to rebuild the entire temple at their own expense, especially since it could no longer accommodate everyone. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, gave permission for this, indicating, as far as possible, to preserve main temple"in the ancient dispensation."
The eminent architect F.M. Shestakov, who was erecting the Great Ascension Church in the same years, was invited for this work. He built a new empire-style bell tower and a refectory with side chapels. Saint Philaret himself came to the consecration of the St. Nicholas chapel and delivered a wondrous sermon “On the abiding of the Grace of God in the Church until the end of the century.” There were no wall paintings in the temple at that time; it was lined with white artificial marble, which, in combination with the gold of the iconostases, created amazing beauty, but soon the shortcomings of artificial marble became apparent: stains from dampness appeared on it, and they decided to cover the vaults with paintings.
The overall reconstruction of the temple took more than 20 years. Only in October 1858 did Saint Philaret consecrate the main church. In its dome was depicted the New Testament Trinity with the upcoming seven Angels in white robes, and on the western wall there was a scene of the expulsion of merchants from the temple, which was forever remembered by those who saw it. “The unquestioning submission of those expelled, the bewilderment and indignation of the Pharisees, the formidable appearance of the Savior, combined with grief over the neglect and neglect of the holiness of the House of the Lord - all this is very successfully depicted in the picture, inspiring everyone who enters the temple to stand in reverence,” he wrote about her future elder Alexy, and then the deacon of the temple Fyodor Solovyov.
And the new “Shestakovskaya” bell tower became one of the high-rise Orthodox silhouettes of the old Zamoskvorechye region, along with the “candle” of the Resurrection in Kadashi and the gigantic temple of the Holy Martyr Clement of the Pope. Of course, all this would not have happened without the prayerful zeal of his priests and without the help of his parishioners.
Tolmachi and Tolmachevites
IN mid-19th century, only merchant houses remained in the parish of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. But all the rich local merchants not only looked after their temple, but were also firmly remembered for their charity: the faith of the Tolmachevites always extended to life in general, to the people around them, without being confined exclusively to temple building. The permanent head of the church, Alexey Medyntsev, who participated in the reconstruction of the temple, remained in the memory of Muscovites for the fact that he willingly lent large sums and always forgave insolvent debtors. A parishioner, honorary citizen Boris Vasilyevich Strakhov was distinguished by helping the poor, setting up canteens for the poor and sending alms to prisoners every Monday, and when there was a famine in Russia in the 1830s, he sent bread to the poor throughout the empire at a cheap price, and to the poor for free, encouraging besides other merchants. And in the 1870s, the merchant Andrei Ferapontov became the headman: according to legend, his grandfather was the first Russian bookseller who opened the book trade in the mid-18th century. The grandson was engaged in distributing only spiritual literature.
But the main ones in Tolmachi were, of course, the Tretyakovs. Alexandra Danilovna Tretyakova, along with her sons Pavel and Sergei, donated money for the reconstruction of the St. Nicholas Church in the mid-19th century. Somehow their family was particularly connected with both St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Zamoskvorechye. The benefactors’ grandfather and his family lived in the parish of the Church of St. Nicholas in Golutvin, and the Tretyakovs settled in Tolmachi in 1851, when the reconstruction of the church was in full swing, and immediately made a donation. They moved here because they wanted to have a large, roomy house: they were preparing for the wedding of their older sister. So Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov became a parishioner of the St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi and remained so until his death in 1898. He was married to Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova, a relative of the famous Savva Mamontov, owner of Abramtsev. His wife's father, Nikolai Fedorovich, ordered a huge painting depicting all the members of his large family, and bequeathed it to be kept in the house of his richest descendant. Once a year, on St. Nicholas’ winter day, all household members were supposed to gather in that house, forgetting anger and displeasure, and make donations to help the poor “in the name of living and dead relatives.” How strong they were in this house Christian traditions!
And Pavel Mikhailovich himself adhered to these traditions. The art gallery created by him alone could perpetuate his name as the greatest philanthropist, but Tretyakov also took care of the poor, donated to the university museum of ancient art - the forerunner of the Museum of Fine Arts on Volkhonka, to the needs of the families of soldiers who died in the Crimean and Russian-Turkish wars, to renovate the St. Nicholas Church, he maintained the Arnold-Tretyakov School for the Deaf and Mutes on Donskaya Street. And back in 1860, he bequeathed his capital not only for the maintenance and development of the gallery, but also for a dowry for marriage to “poor brides, but to respectable people.” By the way, P. M. Tretyakov, being a very patriarchal merchant, believed that his daughters could only marry people of their circle, but the daughters knew how to persuade their father. Vera, whom P. I. Tchaikovsky himself advised to enter the conservatory, married pianist Alexander Ziloti, two sibling S.V. Rachmaninov, Lyubov - for the artist Lev Bakst, and Alexander - for Sergei Sergeevich Botkin, the brother of the last life physician Evgeniy Botkin, who was shot along with royal family in July 1918.
In the house St. Nicholas Church, Pavel Mikhailovich had his own permanent place, now marked with a dark memorial plaque. It is known that he was a deeply, sincerely religious person, a very zealous parishioner, and not only regularly attended church services, but also demanded the same from his employees. Elder Alexy, who, as a deacon of this church, was friends with Tretyakov, said the warmest words about him: “In my mind there arises the image of a man who served as an example of a sober, focused life... combining the possession of external wealth with spiritual poverty. This was evident in his humble prayer.” And Tretyakov’s daughter recalled how unusually he observed the fast - he ordered one dish and ate only that during the entire fast, although he had a peptic ulcer. And Pavel Mikhailovich died shortly before St. Nicholas Day, December 4 (16), 1898. Moscow said goodbye to him in the St. Nicholas Church, and the funeral service was performed by his rector, Archpriest Dmitry Kositsyn. And the proximity to the Tretyakov Gallery will influence the fate of St. Nicholas Church more than once.
In St. Nicholas parish there was another extremely interesting house, the history of which is also closely connected with the temple. This is an estate in Bolshoi Tolmachevsky Lane, 3, where the State Pedagogical Library named after K.D. Ushinsky is now located, and before the revolution there was the 6th Moscow men's gymnasium, where Ivan Shmelev, a native of Kadashevskaya Sloboda, studied. In the second half of the 18th century, the estate belonged to A.D. Demidov: its lattice, included in all guidebooks, was cast at Demidov’s Nizhny Tagil factories. From the Demidovs the house passed to E.I. Zagryazhskaya, the aunt of Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova, and in the middle of the 19th century to Countess Sollogub. The countess’s most famous brother, the Slavophile Yuri Fedorovich Samarin, lived there at the time and opened a literary and philosophical salon in the house. His frequent guests, along with Kireevsky, Aksakov, Khomyakov, Kavelin and the young Vladimir Solovyov, were the priests of the St. Nicholas Church. They came here to serve home all-night vigils, then stayed for a conversation. The young deacon Fyodor Alekseevich Solovyov visited here along with the priests. He was later destined to participate in the most outstanding event of pre-revolutionary Russia - the election of Patriarch Tikhon - and more than once touched upon the fate of his beloved Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi.
He was born in 1846 in the family of an archpriest, rector of the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite in Zayauzye. From early childhood, the boy had a heartfelt inclination towards religion and decided to devote himself to serving the Lord. One day, in the bell tower, the heavy tongue of the bell hit him on the head, and he became blind in one eye, but this did not stop him from going through the great life path. Having graduated from the Moscow seminary, before being ordained, he married his childhood friend, the daughter of a priest, Anna, and five days later, on February 19, 1867, he was ordained a deacon at the Chudov Monastery. Saint Philaret himself appointed him a place of service - his favorite church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Tolmachi. The deacon shared his joys and sorrows with this church for 28 years. In 1872, his beloved wife died. Everyone tried to console the young widower, and the rector, Archpriest Vasily Nechaev (the future Bishop of Kostroma Vissarion), attracted him to the publication of his magazine “Soulful Reading”. And together with Father Alexy (Mechev), also a deacon at that time, Father Fyodor participated in public readings, but never left St. Nicholas Church with his heart and continued its charitable traditions - helping the poor. One day, in the cold, he took off his cassock and gave it to a beggar on the street.
Only in 1895 did he leave Tolmachi and become presbyter of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin - the Metropolitan himself invited him for his powerful voice. There his special veneration of the Vladimir Icon arose Mother of God. In the morning, entering the cathedral, he hurried to her with prayer, after the liturgy he served a prayer service in front of her, and in the evening he lingered with her, asking for help and intercession. The elder later recalled: “You used to enter the cathedral at three o’clock in the morning for the service of Matins, and awe overwhelms you... In the mysterious twilight of the temple, the whole history of Russia rises before you... You can see the covering of the Mother of God from the Vladimir Icon in the time of disasters ... And then I wanted to pray for Rus' and all its faithful children, I wanted to devote myself entirely to God and not return to the vain world.” If only he had known then that it was in his native Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi that the Vladimir Icon would choose its refuge at the very end of the terrible 20th century!
And then, in 1898, his cherished dream came true: he became a monk under the name Alexy in the Zosimova Hermitage, at the Arsaki station behind the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. Crowds of pilgrims flocked to the elder for consolation, so that in the end everyone who came was given special tickets, allowing 55 people a day. At the same time, he became the confessor of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, and among his visitors were Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov. Everyone received help from him. They remember that Elder Alexy was very lenient, understood the penitent and forgave, and people were also drawn to this kindness.
But there were so many pilgrims that in the summer of 1916 the elder, who strived for solitude and silence, went into seclusion. He had to leave it within a year. In the summer of 1917, at the personal request of Metropolitan Tikhon, he participated in the pre-conciliar monastic congress in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and was elected a participant in the All-Russian Local Council, at which they made the historic decision to restore the patriarchate in Russia.
And in the same November, Elder Alexy was entrusted with drawing lots with the name of the new Patriarch in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. For the sake of such an event, the Vladimir Icon was transferred to the temple from the Assumption Cathedral, so that the fate of Russian Orthodoxy would traditionally be decided before it. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev wrote the names of the candidates on three parchments: Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov, Archbishop Arseny of Novgorod and Staraya Russa, and Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow. These notes were placed in the ark and placed on a lectern. After the end of the liturgy and the solemn prayer service, Elder Alexy knelt down in front of the Vladimir Icon, crossed himself three times and, constantly praying, with a trembling hand he took out a note from the ark. Metropolitan Vladimir read: “Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow.” And Protodeacon Konstantin Rozov from the pulpit proclaimed many years to the elected Patriarch.
The names of Elder Alexy and Patriarch Tikhon will be heard more than once in the history of St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi. Elder Alexy will become the spiritual father of its last rector, Archpriest Ilia Chetverukhin, and Saint Tikhon will celebrate the liturgy here during the most formidable years of Russian history.
“Our temple is closed”
The last pre-revolutionary rector of St. Nicholas Church was Archpriest Mikhail Fiveysky, Master of Theology. He was reproached for devoting all his time to science and reducing church services to a minimum, consigning Tolmachev’s traditions to oblivion. Let us mention that it was Father Michael who translated Farrar’s famous book “The Life of Christ” and his book about the Apostle Paul from English. Under Father Mikhail in 1910, the last renovations of the building were carried out, and the temple acquired the final form in which it met the revolution.
The revolution was inexorable to the old Zamoskvorechye, as well as to all of Russia, although in its first years the St. Nicholas Church was still in operation. The fates of the temple, the holy elder Alexy and the last rector were closely intertwined. Events developed sequentially. After the death of Father Mikhail in July 1919, priest Ilya Chetverukhin, a friend of Father Pavel Florensky and spiritual child Elder Alexy, who a little earlier, in February of the same 1919, was tonsured into the schema. Undoubtedly, through his intercession the temple was not only preserved, but was later awarded a great fate.
And then, in the church, left without firewood and bread, church life glowed. In 1922, nine pounds worth of valuables were seized from it. The son of priest Ilya Chetverukhin recalled: “The icons of the bottom row, after the removal of massive vestments in 1922, amazed us with the power of their colors. The eyes of Christ looked attentively, the Mother of God Hodegetria - sympathetically, and St. Nicholas - menacingly.” The abbot decided to serve every day. The parish of the temple changed, because the mansions of rich merchants were occupied by the poor. True, his temporary parishioner was Novgorod Metropolitan Arseny, one of the previous candidates for patriarch, who settled under house arrest in the apartment of the former director of the 6th gymnasium, which was in the house of Countess Sollogub. According to recollections, Vladyka sometimes visited St. Nicholas Church, but never served in it. Gradually, a community of “Tolmachevites” emerged. St. Nicholas Church was called the “Tolmachev Academy” because its parishioners, through the efforts of the pastor, knew the service well, sang thoughtfully, and seriously studied the works of the holy fathers. After the evening service, the pilgrims knelt before the image of the Mother of God and quietly prayed: “We take refuge under Your mercy, Virgin Mary! Do not despise our prayers in sorrow, but deliver us from troubles, O One Pure and Blessed One!” According to legend, this prayer was brought to Moscow by refugees during the First World War, but during the terrible revolutionary years it became dear to the Tolmachevo people. And opposite the temple there is a club named after. Karl Marx. On church holidays from it towards procession A completely different procession was moving, abuse rained down on the pilgrims, and stones were thrown at the priest. The deacon then was Father Pavel Poniatovsky. His son Nikolai, a student at the Military Medical Academy, signed a petition not to close the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and he was expelled from the academy. With great difficulty, he managed to obtain a medical education, and later he became the house physician of Patriarch Alexy I.
The official existence of the temple was difficult. According to the decree on universal labor service, church service was not considered a labor activity, and the priest was ordered to get a job. Here the proximity to the Tretyakov Gallery was very useful - Father Ilya, who knew how to draw well, got a job as a research assistant there. However, in 1924 he was given a choice: either leave the temple or leave the gallery. After Ilya’s father was chosen, he was registered as a “disenfranchised”, the inferior apartment was once again densified, he was subject to multiple taxes for utilities, and his eldest son was not allowed to finish school.
But in the same year, 1924, on the patronal feast day of the Holy Spirit, the holy Patriarch Tikhon came to the church to serve the liturgy. Having examined the church after the service, the high priest “found everything beautiful” and stayed for a festive meal in the rector’s room. They got a beautiful chair for the Patriarch, but he asked for a simple chair. The abbot's youngest son, while playing, took his staff away from him. “Well, be his master!” - the saint joked.
This is how the first years passed Soviet power. And in 1928, Elder Alexy died. A few years earlier, the Zosimov Hermitage was closed, turning it into an agricultural artel, all the inhabitants were expelled, and Father Alexy ended up in Sergiev Posad. According to legend, in the mid-1920s, at a time when the elder suffered greatly due to the opening and confiscation of holy relics by the authorities, he prayed and asked why the Lord allowed such terrible acts against the shrine, he was rewarded with a miraculous vision. One night, when Elder Alexy was praying, the Monk Sergius appeared to him. He quietly stood up to pray with him, and then ordered him to pray and fast for three days, promising to reveal to him what he asked. At the appointed time, the saint again appeared to the elder and said: “When living people are subjected to such a test, it is necessary that the remains of dead people also be subjected to this. I myself gave my body so that my city would be intact forever.” This is a legend about the phenomenon St. Sergius Elder Alexy greatly encouraged believers during the war, when the Germans were rushing towards Moscow.
There is evidence of the existence of Elder Alexei’s will - to remember the powers that be and not to depart from Metropolitan Sergius. And he taught Father Ilya Chetverukhin that unity is above all, that only deviation from dogmas is intolerable, and the rest is up to human conscience. The elder died peacefully on September 19 (October 2), 1928, and Father Elijah was present at his funeral service among the clergy.
And on Easter the following year, 1929, the St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi was closed. This was done at the request of the Tretyakov Gallery (Tretyakov Gallery) team to include the temple building in its composition to expand the exhibition. The priest and parishioners were reassured that the temple would fall into the hands of “cultured people.” The parish did not give up immediately. An application was submitted to the Moscow Soviet, then an appeal followed to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, but everywhere it was refused.
We can say that the temple was lucky, but only partly - it was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery for storage. And it survived, although it was rebuilt beyond recognition: the chapters were dismantled, the top of the bell tower was broken, the bells were broken into pieces, the interior space was divided into floors, the iconostasis was destroyed, and many icons were transferred to the gallery. But still not demolished...
The poet Raisa Kudasheva wrote truly prophetic verses dedicated to the Tolmachs in those days:
Let them be, patient shepherd,
Everyone is saved by the end of days -
And the field given to you by God,
And God's sower is on her
And the rector was transferred with the parishioners to precisely the church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea on Polyanka, to which the temple was almost assigned after Napoleon’s invasion. Already in 1930, Father Elijah was arrested and two years later died in the camps.
For a long time the temple stood empty and disfigured. And only in 1983, when the Tretyakov Gallery was being prepared for major restoration, they decided to restore its building in order to open a concert hall in it. By 1990, the domes and bell tower were restored. And then a miracle happened.
The Miracle of the Tolmachi
The temple was opened for worship in 1993, after, by a special agreement between the Patriarchate and the directorate of the State Tretyakov Gallery, it received the rather unexpected status of the house temple of the Tretyakov Gallery and became a parish church for all its employees. The following year, 1994, the relics of Elder Alexy were found incorrupt and placed in the Cathedral of the Smolensk-Zosimova Hermitage...
September 8, 1996, on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the main altar of the restored temple. The consecration was timed to coincide with this great holiday because the Vladimir icon was kept in the gallery. It was then that she was first brought to the St. Nicholas Church for worship, and this turned out to be a harbinger of the coming celebration.
The complete restoration of the temple, carried out with funds from the Tretyakov Gallery and parishioners, was completed in 1997. Everything possible was recreated in its original form, and the Tretyakov Gallery, in turn, allocated icons from its funds to the temple. The lost painting was also restored. Again on the western wall you can see the scene of the expulsion of merchants from the temple, and the central ceiling is painted on the plot of the Apocalypse: the Savior is depicted on the Throne, surrounded by an eagle, a calf, a lion and an angel, symbols of the evangelical apostles, and He is stood by 24 elders who have laid down their crowns before the Lord – these crown-shaped crowns are located underneath them. On the left side of the temple on the wall is the icon “The Finding of the Relics of St. Sergius,” placed in the 19th century on the relics of the holy wonderworker. It was as if the temple was destined to receive the greatest shrine of Russia under its vaults.
In the early 1990s, at Moscow University and, probably, in other scientific institutions, signatures were collected under a petition not to transfer Orthodox Church from the museum the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and Rublev’s “Trinity”, since it is technically impossible to ensure their safety in churches. Many signed precisely for this reason. I remember how the late professor A. Ch. Kozarzhevsky, banging on the table in the lecture hall, shouted to the students: “An icon belongs on the wall of a holy church, and not on the cold, soulless wall of a museum!” Unfortunately, they did not listen to his words then, not understanding their meaning.
Everyone remembers how in the fateful October 1993 the Vladimir Icon visited the Yelokhov Cathedral, when they prayed before it for the pacification of Russia. It was after this that permission was given to perform divine services in front of the Vladimir Icon - still a museum exhibit. The veneration of the shrine was partially resumed within the walls of the Tretyakov Gallery, when a separate small room was set aside for it, and a huge bouquet of flowers was always standing in front of the icon, stored in a glass stand. But she continued to stay in the museum.
And on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity, this seemingly insoluble issue was resolved in a truly miraculous way, completely extinguishing the controversy. In September 1999, on the feast of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon, the shrine was placed in the house St. Nicholas Church of the State Tretyakov Gallery. They say that the initiator of its transfer was Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who is the head of the gallery’s board of trustees. And the Vladimir Icon took its rightful place in the temple, in a carved wooden icon case with a tent canopy.
We can say that the icon agreed to this transfer, because throughout its history it itself chose its place of residence. As you know, according to legend, it was written by the holy evangelist Luke on the board of the dining table, at which the Savior, the Mother of God and the righteous Joseph had a meal. Holy Mother of God Having seen this image, she said: “The grace of Him who was born of Me and Mine be with this icon.” Transferred from Byzantium to Rus', the icon remained in Kyiv until Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1155 decided to go with it to the Rostov lands. Near the city of Vladimir, horses were carried miraculous icon, stood up and could not move. They did not dare to contradict the revealed will of the Mother of God, and from then on the icon was in the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral until Tamerlane came to Rus'. In 1395, hoping for salvation, Muscovites met her at the place where the Sretensky Monastery was later founded. And until the revolution itself, the icon remained in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, showing its great miracles and saving Russia more than once. These days, she ended up in the modest, old Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi.
Of course, the matter was not limited to simply transferring the Vladimir Icon to the house St. Nicholas Church: it was necessary to ensure a special museum regime in the temple, which was officially given the status of a temple-museum. That’s why you can only enter the church through the doors of the Tretyakov Gallery from Maly Tolmachevsky Lane (next to the bell tower) and before going up the stairs to the church, you must leave your outerwear in the wardrobe. Equipped as a museum hall with advanced technologies, with an artificially created climate, temperature control and alarm system, at the same time it remains an independent temple, where on holidays and weekends services are held, prayers are offered and even candles are lit. For the Vladimir Icon, a special bulletproof icon case was manufactured at the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy plant with the required temperature maintained inside. The main thing, according to Patriarch Alexy II, is now possible not only to look at her, but also to pray in front of her. And even leave her a candle, which will be lit during the service. If the experiment is successful, then the icon of the Trinity created by the monk will be transferred to the temple. Andrey Rublev, but for now it contains a list from it.
The next year after the Vladimir Icon chose St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi as its place of residence, in August 2000, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Elder Alexy was canonized. And in March 2002, Father Ilya Chetverukhin was canonized with the rank of martyr. So the St. Nicholas Church had its own heavenly intercessors; their images are placed on the right wall.
Tolmachevsky Church again became the place of service of His Holiness the Patriarch. On November 23, 2000, the High Hierarch performed a thanksgiving prayer service here on the occasion of the publication of the first volume Orthodox Encyclopedia. And on June 5, 2001, on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, fragments of the original painting “The Last Supper” by G. Semiradsky from the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, preserved in the funds of the State Tretyakov Gallery, were transferred to His Holiness the Patriarch. The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Tretyakov Gallery was also celebrated under the arches of the temple, and the celebration took place on the patronal feast of the temple on May 22, 2006. After the end of the liturgy, His Holiness the Patriarch performed a thanksgiving prayer service on the occasion of the anniversary.
Festive services are held here with the participation of the famous chamber choir of the Tretyakov Gallery under the direction of A. Puzakov, and on the day of memory of P. I. Tchaikovsky his “Liturgy” is performed, and on the birthday of S. V. Rachmaninov his “Vespers” is performed. Of course, pilgrims come first of all to worship Vladimir icon. There is an oral tradition that she patronizes translators. If this is so, then the history of the St. Nicholas Church in Tolmachi and this Zamoskvorechye area has blissfully completed its circle.
Virgo
