Before describing the Lazarevskaya Church of Suzdal, let's dive a little into the history of this ancient city, which is mentioned in the annals of 1024 as a major trade and craft center due to its proximity to the Kamenka River. It was along it that the trade route was once laid.
The city of Suzdal under Tsar Yuri Dolgoruky was the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality. In the country residence of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in the village of Kideksha, the beginning of white-stone architecture in the north-east of Russia was laid, since the first church in the name of the holy princes Boris and Gleb was built there (1152).
Lazarevskaya Church. Suzdal. History
Under Andrei Bogolyubsky, son of Yuri Dolgoruky, the capital of the principality of Rostov-Suzdal was moved to the city of Vladimir, and the principality became known as Vladimir-Suzdal. Since the beginning of the XIV century, the city of Suzdal has become the capital of the Suzdal-Novgorod state.
However, history went on as usual, and the Tatar-Mongols came to the city, who burned andthe settlement was plundered, and the local inhabitants were taken into captivity. But Suzdal was gradually revived and, remaining a religious, cultural and craft center in Russia, became part of the Moscow principality.
In the XVI-XVII centuries Suzdal developed and got upset. All existing buildings today are ensembles of the ancient Kremlin, which includes the Spaso-Evfimievskiy and Pokrovsky monasteries. Now Suzdal is a kind of city-museum with 200 architectural monuments. Some white stone monuments are included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Russian architecture
Lazarevskaya Church of Suzdal can be attributed to the amazing pearls of heritage monuments. Officially, it is called the Church of Lazarus of the Righteous Resurrection. It belongs to the churches of the Vladimir diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. This church is located in the central part of the city and stands between the Rizopolozhensky Monastery and the Market Square. This snow-white temple crowned with copper domes is one of the most ancient structures built in 1667 in the urban suburb. The western part of the facade faces Staraya Street, while the eastern part faces Lenin Street.
The Lazarevskaya Church of Suzdal is located at the address: Old Street, 6.
Architecture
The quarter of the main volume of the building of the Lazarevskaya Church is decorated in the form of architraves with three different portals, which are located on each of the facades. Next come wide cornices with horseshoe-shaped kokoshniks and a belt of tiles. On the east side of the building are threeapses. Light elegant drums are made with an arcuate-columnar belt. Inside the temple, the arched vaults are supported by two pillars that form light holes at the central and four corner drums.
Antipievsky Church
Antipievskaya Church, named after Bishop Antipius of Pergamon, built in 1745, is very closely located nearby. Its bell tower has become one of the most prominent in the city, and even today it is a real decoration of the city.
Most likely, it appeared much earlier than the main buildings, and is very reminiscent of the bell tower of the St. Nicholas Church of the city Kremlin, which is an octagon, hoisted on a tetrahedral cage. The tent of the bell tower is concave, has three rows of rounded auditory openings, and the facade is decorated with rustication and decorated with fly.
Antipievsky Church, unlike Lazarevskaya, is a one-story church with one small dome on the drum.
After the revolution, the Antipievskaya and Lazarevskaya churches of Suzdal were closed, and all the decoration and liturgical inventory were stolen. Antipievskaya church was turned into a garage.
But in 1959, under the leadership of A. Varganov, restoration was carried out, during which the exterior coloring of the bell tower was restored in accordance with the sketches of the 17th century. In 1960, local authorities tried to maintain the external decoration of churches due to the fact that the city of Suzdal had become a tourist center.
Early references
The first mention of the Lazarevskaya Church in Suzdalare found in the 15th century in the royal charter of John III, which was presented to the Spaso-Evfimiev monastery monastery in 1495. It said that the temple, along with other churches, was given for the future to Archimandrite Konstantin and the brethren.
The church was originally built from a wooden frame, but then in 1667 a stone church was erected on the same site. And by 1745, the winter Antipievskaya Church was added to it, thus forming an ensemble of paired churches.
The Antipievskaya and Lazarevskaya churches still adorn the city. Photos of Suzdal with these ancient buildings mentally plunge us into the original history of Russia, teach and do not let it be forgotten.
At the very beginning of the 17th century, the Lazarevskaya Church was hipped, that is, with a wooden top, even earlier, it is quite possible that it had a simpler construction - a cage.
In 1996, together with the Antipievskaya Church, it was transferred to the board of the non-canonical Russian Orthodox Free Church, which was later renamed the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC), which was consecrated by Bishop Gregory (Grabe).
Restoration
This church jurisdiction carried out restoration work in the temple, which was even written about in the journal "Orthodox Temples". They were distinguished by clumsiness, and the executed wall paintings simply did not stand up to criticism. The state of the temples belonging to the representatives of the ROAC indicated that the latter had a complete atrophy of the sense of beauty.
On this issue in 2006, the arbitration court of the Vladimirregion, which led to the fact that in December 2009 it was decided to withdraw 13 city churches from the ROAC, including the Lazarevskaya and Antipievskaya churches, and give them to the Russian Orthodox Church. After that, they were assigned to the Archangel Michael Church.
When the representatives of the ROAC left the temple, they took away the royal doors and uprooted the heating pipes.
Restoration of the Lazarevsky and Antipevsky churches began to be handled by Priest Alexander Lisin. Restoration work is underway there today, so the service schedule of the Lazarev Church of Suzdal can be found by phone, as there is no permanent schedule yet.
