Temple of Alexis the Man of God in gardeners schedule. Year from the day of the small consecration of the temple of the Monk Alexy, the man of God in the gardeners

The church of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, is located at the corner of Nikoloyamskaya and Malaya Alekseevskaya streets, near Rogozhskaya Sloboda and directly opposite the local church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Rogozhskaya Sloboda.

This is one of the most beautiful and legendary Moscow churches dedicated to St. Alexis. According to legend, it was built on the spot where his tent once stood, from where the Moscow primate oversaw the construction of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, founded by his vow in 1361 for miraculous salvation during a storm. There is another version that he himself stopped in this tent Reverend Sergius, who also followed the construction of the monastery, where his beloved disciple St. Andronicus. However, the church was founded in a historical area closely associated with the life and work of St. Metropolitan Alexy and in memory of him.

Saint Alexy was born in Moscow in 1292 into the family of the boyar Fyodor Byakont, and in 1320 he was tonsured in the Moscow Epiphany Monastery in Chinatown. He put a lot of effort and effort to the victory of Russia over the Tatar-Mongols, to unite the Russian principalities around Moscow and united national resistance to foreign invaders, and at the same time - to establish peaceful diplomatic relations with the Horde.

The authority of the saint was great even there. As you know, in 1357, when the wife of the Tatar Khan, Taidula, suddenly became blind, he summoned the Moscow Metropolitan Alexy to the Horde and asked him to heal his wife. For a miraculous cure, accomplished through prayer, the sight-seeing Taidula presented the saint with the khan's land in the Kremlin, on which he also founded another Moscow monastery, Chudov.

There the saint was buried after his death, which followed on February 12 (25), 1378. After the Bolsheviks demolished the Chudov Monastery, his holy relics were transferred to Yelokhovsky Cathedral of the Epiphany where they rest now.

The main altar was dedicated to the miraculous Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God

However, in honor of St. Alexis in the Moscow church on Nikoloyamskaya, according to tradition, a chapel was consecrated, and the main altar was dedicated to the miraculous Feodorovskaya icon. Mother of God, patroness of the Romanov dynasty. This is the only surviving Moscow church, consecrated in the name of an ancient Russian Orthodox shrine.

This icon, painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke himself, was originally located in the Gorodetsky Feodorovsky Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod, where it stood in the cathedral church of St. Theodore Stratilates. During the invasion of Batu, the inhabitants fled from the devastated town and did not have time to take the revered image with them.

However, the icon itself appeared again in 1239 to the Kostroma prince, who, while hunting in the forest, suddenly saw it on a tree. And it turned out that shortly before that, the inhabitants of Kostroma saw a stranger in rich military clothes walking through the city and carrying this icon in his arms - this man was very similar to St. Theodore Stratilates, as he is depicted on the icons.

The miraculously revealed icon was reverently placed in the Kostroma church - again in the name of St. Theodore Stratilates, which is why it became known as Feodorovskaya. One of her holidays falls on August 29 of the new style in memory of her miraculous appearance and acquisition.

Soon other miracles from the Feodorovskaya icon were revealed. When the Tatars rushed to Kostroma, a radiance came from the image, and this fire burned the enemy hordes, who turned into a stampede. And then the church burned down and people saw miraculous icon, rising above the flame - falling to the ground, they tearfully prayed to the Mother of God not to leave them without the Protection. Then the icon sank to the ground and stood in the middle of the square, where a new stone temple was built for it.

And the Feodorovskaya icon was also a prayer image of the father of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Yaroslav, who received the name Theodore at baptism.

And in March 1613, nun Martha blessed her son, Mikhail Romanov, with it for the kingdom. For a long time he did not agree to ascend the Russian throne, and then the archbishop took this icon in his hands and, together with the mother of the future king, said to him: “If you do not bow to mercy for us, then obey for the sake of the miraculous image of the Queen of all.” And when Michael agreed, his mother fell on her knees in front of the icon and prayed before him with tears: “Behold, to Thee, Most Pure Mother of God, I commit my child. According to Your will, arrange something useful for him and for all Orthodox Christianity.”

Hence, another feast of the Feodorovskaya icon in memory of the election of the king was established on March 27 according to the new style. And the Romanov family decorated the revered image with rich gifts and jewelry.

So, inconspicuously, although in the central part of Moscow, a modest church, associated with such significant events and faces of Russian history, lurked.

Initially wooden, it was built only at the beginning of the 17th century as an ordinary parish church for the local population of the sovereign's settlement, named after the church of Alekseevskaya. So, the construction of the Sloboda church was exactly here, opposite the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery and on the site of the legendary tent of its founder, to honor the memory of the Moscow saint. Moreover, the inhabitants of the settlement were black taxpayers, that is, those who were obliged to perform state duties. Perhaps that is why the main throne of the temple was dedicated to the patroness of the ruling royal dynasty of Russia.

In addition to the settlement, the church gave the old Moscow name to two streets adjacent to it - Bolshaya and Malaya Alekseevskaya. In Soviet times, they were renamed Communist Streets, because it was here, on Bolshaya Street, in October 1917 that the district committee of the party, the Council of Workers' Deputies and the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Rogozhsko-Simonovsky district operated.

And Nikoloyamskaya Street, on which Alekseevskaya Church stands, was named after another local church destroyed after the revolution - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, "what is in the Pits", that is, in the yamskaya settlement, arranged here by Boris Godunov. In Ulyanovsk, it was renamed during the life of Lenin.

In ancient times, until the 15th century, all these lands belonged to the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. Then Grand Duke Ivan III took them for himself and laid out his favorite gardens here. And somewhere here at the beginning of the 17th century, Shuisky's troops fought with the Poles, and since 1671 Moscow archers settled in this area - and all this was long before the establishment of the Old Believer center here. Even when the Old Believers settled here near their Rogozhsky cemetery, Orthodoxy closely coexisted with them - Alekseevsky, Nikolsky, Sergievsky, and Martinovsky churches, and the Church of St. Basil the Confessor, which will be discussed in the March publication, are witnesses to this.

Instead of the first wooden Alekseevskaya church of the beginning of the 17th century, a stone church was built almost a century later, in the earlier time of Peter the Great.

And in the middle of the 18th century, under Empress Elizabeth, the brilliant architect Dmitry Ukhtomsky built the current building of the Alekseevsky Church here, which has survived to this day in ruins. Who would have known that before the revolution, this church was considered the best and classic example of Moscow Elizabethan Baroque architecture. To imagine how it looked (and what it will be like after a modern renovation), one has only to remember that the same master built the famous baroque bell tower in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Red Gate in Moscow, alas, now known to us only from photographs. And almost opposite the Alekseevskaya Church, on the same Nikoloyamskaya Street, Prince Ukhtomsky rebuilt the house of the merchant Fyodor Ptitsyn from ancient chambers - one of the most beautiful buildings on this old Moscow street.

And the interior of the best example of the Moscow Elizabethan baroque left memories of itself. Apollinaris Vasnetsov admired the rich, gilded baroque iconostasis from the side of the altar, in which there were valuable icons of the Novgorod script of the 15th-16th centuries. Moreover, he considered even a late 18th-century wall painting a work of art.

Another attraction of the Alekseevskaya Church was an ancient cross over its central head.- it was moved there from the first, dismantled temple. And in 1747, when Ukhtomsky began the construction of this church, an almshouse for 10 parishioners was set up next to it, where, in addition to the apartment, the old women received another 7-8 rubles in their hands every month. Of course, that the funds for the temple and for charity were collected by its parishioners - and Orthodox parish this church was wonderful. Suffice it to mention the names of the Alekseevs and Chelyshevs.

Alekseevskaya Church, renovated in 1898, was robbed in the spring of 1922 and closed eight years later. In 1931, they began to break it, but, fortunately, they did not break it, although they demolished the bell tower to the second tier, the drum with the head and the cross - thus ancient. In a dilapidated building with chimneys and ugly hinged stairs, it was difficult to guess the church - a factory worked in it, then a repair and construction department.

And during the years of perestroika, they again started talking about the best Moscow monument of the Elizabethan Baroque. And there were plans to arrange a reserved island here, together with neighboring old estates on Nikoloyamskaya. Then there were rumors that there would be Cultural Center French embassies, but in the end a bank was built on the free square, and the Alekseevskaya Church was returned to the believers, and the titanic work of its restoration began.

Based on materials by Elena Lebedeva on the Pravoslavie.Ru website

December 11 is a memorable day for the community of Alekseevskaya Church. Exactly one year ago Metropolitan Istrinsky Arseniy, first vicar His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Russia, performed the rite of small consecration of the church of St. Alexis, the man of God, on Sadovniki Street.

Despite the ongoing construction, the temple is held weekly Divine Liturgy. Every Sunday, about fifty people become partakers of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The number of parishioners is constantly increasing and on holidays people can hardly fit inside the temple. It is gratifying that most of the visitors are families with children.

Dozens of people received the Sacrament of Baptism this year. Among them are both newborn babies and adults who have already taken place. Several people accepted Orthodoxy, consciously converting to it from other faiths. Weddings took place in the temple.

The good tradition, begun even before the start of divine services, continues - to read the akathist to St. Alexis, the patron of the temple, in a conciliar manner. Part of the parishioners united to read the Psalter together about each other's needs. Prayers are offered before the image of St. Alexis donated to the temple.

The parishioners and friends of the parish take care of the beautification of the church: there are many icons in the church, brought as a gift - both recently painted and old, restored by the community.

Much is being done to ensure that children and adults find in the church enclosure opportunities not only for prayer, but also for development and communication. Even before the consecration of the temple, an evangelical circle began its work, where parishioners study Holy Bible and opened in autumn Sunday School for children and adults. In addition to theological subjects, the school also teaches German and needlework. There is a living corner for children.

The Center for Spiritual and Moral Development "Ascension" also operates at the temple. Under the guidance of experienced mentors, the children undergo tourist training, get acquainted with the history of Russia, the basics of medicine. Classes are held in the form of a game. All the acquired knowledge is put into practice in the campaigns, the last of which took place in the vicinity of Sergiev Posad, and the most difficult and memorable - on Elbrus.

An experienced psychologist talks about Christian fundamentals in the classes of the Family Psychological School family life. The parish social worker helps those in need. For those whose relatives and friends suffer from various addictions, conversations with a narcologist are held on the basis of the Alekseevsky Church. It is planned to organize a permanent assistance service for alcohol and drug addicts.

Of course, behind all this is the enormous work of many people, one way or another united within the walls of the Alekseevsky Church. But there is still more to be done to ensure that the community continues to grow.

Today, the primary task is to bring light and water supply to the temple. So far, water for the needs of the parish is brought in canisters, and the available power of electricity is sometimes not enough to uninterruptedly illuminate the temple during the service. The next task is the construction of the parish house and the extension of the bell tower with the throne. The expansion of the temple space is an opportunity for even more people to turn to the Savior and His saints with prayer. All this, however, is difficult to put into practice without the help of parishioners and caring Christians.