In the northern part of Moscow, on the territory of the district called Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo, there is the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is both a vivid example of Russian temple architecture and a unique monument of the past of our Motherland. Its creation is associated with one of the most dramatic pages in Russian history.
Residence of the Liberator Prince
The Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo is located on the territory where there was once a village that belonged to the liberator of Moscow from the Poles - Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky. In cadastral books dating back to 1623, it is mentioned under the name Medvedevo, but not because of the abundance of bears found in those parts, but by the name of its first owner, Vasily Fedorovich Medved-Pozharsky. Later, it passed into the possession of his heir, the national hero-liberator.
According to legend, in August 1612, the regiments led by Prince D. M. Pozharsky camped on the very spot where they are nowThe Church of the Intercession is located in Medvedkovo, and from there they launched a victorious attack on Moscow. The success that accompanied the militias prompted the prince to single out this previously inconspicuous village from among other possessions and equip it with his main residence near Moscow.
Monument of Glorious Victory
In the same place, by his order, in 1623, a wooden hipped-roof church was built, consecrated in honor of the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. A special bell was raised to its bell tower, cast in memory of the expulsion of the Polish invaders. In addition, in this church - the predecessor of the current stone church in Medvedkovo - there was a chapel in honor of the Hieromartyr Peter of Alexandria, who was the heavenly patron of the son of D. M. Pozharsky from his first marriage.
Considering the erection of a wooden church as an insufficiently complete expression of his gratitude to the Heavenly Forces for Their patronage in the fight against foreigners, in 1634 the prince ordered it to be demolished and a stone temple to be built on the same place, with its grandeur more corresponding to the significance of the events. Work began immediately, and six years later the bulk of the work was completed.
The last one-tent temple in Moscow
The new stone Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo was erected on a high basement and, in accordance with the traditions of ancient Russian architecture, ended with a tent, at the base of which were installed kokoshniks - semicircular decorative elements. On the eastern side of the building there was a three-part apse - a ledge of the wall, consisting of threesemicircle, behind which were the altars, and the roof was crowned with four cupolas. On the western side was a belfry. An outdoor open gallery completed the look of the structure.
It is interesting to note that the newly erected stone Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo became the last one-tented church in Moscow, since soon after its completion, Patriarch Nikon by a special decree imposed a ban on the construction of such structures, which, in his opinion, contradict church canons.
Subsequent owners of the village of Medvedkovo
After the death of Prince D. M. Pozharsky, which followed in 1642, the village of Medvedkovo, together with the previously erected church, was inherited by his sons - Peter and Ivan, and after their death it passed into the possession of the widow. Its last owner was the uncle of the liberator of Moscow, Yuri Ivanovich, but he died childless, and the famous family of the Pozharsky princes was interrupted on him.
Due to the lack of heirs, the village became the property of the state, and the then-ruling Princess Sophia granted it to her favorite, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, who then took over a large plot of land and many serfs. But the fate of the dexterous courtier turned out to be changeable. In 1689, after the overthrow of Sophia and the accession of the brothers Peter and Ivan, he fell into disgrace and, deprived of his title, and at the same time of all his property, ended his life in a distant Siberian prison.
Reconstruction of the temple
However, even for such a short period of time, the Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo, located onlands belonging to him, has undergone significant reconstruction. So, by order of the prince, the number of aisles located in it was reduced. Of the five originally equipped, only three remain: in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Nine Martyrs, and the Sign of the Lord.
In addition, a new iconostasis has appeared in the temple, made by Karp Zolotarev, master of the Kremlin Armory. A very remarkable detail characterizing the conceited nature of Prince Golitsyn is the replacement of the old bells installed by Dmitry Pozharsky in memory of the liberation of Moscow with new ones, one of which was decorated with a magnificent vignette with an inscription certifying the right of the favorite to the village granted to him.
Property of the Naryshkin family
It is known that the temple in Medvedkovo received a unique thing as a gift from an unlucky favorite - an altar Gospel with miniatures, made, according to legend, personally by Tsarina Sophia. This relic was kept in the altar of the temple for more than two centuries, but with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, it disappeared without a trace, and, despite the efforts made, its trace could not be found.
Two years after the fall of Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the village of Medvedkovo that belonged to him passed into the possession of Fyodor Kirillovich Naryshkin, the uncle of Peter I, and until the end of the 18th century was the property of members of this famous aristocratic family.
An ancestral village that has become a holiday village
Throughout the following XIXFor centuries, this landed property has been repeatedly sold, inherited and, as a result, passed from one owner to another. By a happy coincidence, the troubles that hit Russian cities and villages during the Napoleonic invasion did not touch Medvedkovo, since the invaders did not reach it and did not damage either the temple or the local residents.
In the 1980s, the Moscow merchant of the 1st guild, N. M. Shurupenkov, became the owner of the land plot. There is evidence that such famous figures of Russian culture as the poet Valery Bryusov and the artists Mikhail Vrubel and Konstantin Korovin repeatedly spent their summer seasons here.
Testimony of contemporaries
A description of the Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo, made in those years by one of the residents of this holiday village, has been preserved. It testifies to the significant changes that its exterior and interior decoration has undergone over the past decades. In particular, it speaks of large-scale work on the restoration of the main iconostasis and the replenishment of previously lost fragments of carving and gilding. In addition, a number of newly painted icons are mentioned, some of which served as a replacement for old images that did not represent artistic value and lost their former colors.
The appearance of the temple has also partly changed. The old belfry, erected in 1640, was dismantled and a new bell tower was built in its place, infashionable then style of classicism. At the same time, the Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo also suffered a significant loss: the unique royal doors, made in the middle of the 16th century, were removed from it and sent to the house church of the Moscow Governor-General Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
In the era of the Bolshevik hard times
As you know, the coming to power of the Bolsheviks was the beginning of a long period of persecution of faith. Temples and monasteries were closed en masse throughout the country, and clergy and the most active parishioners were subjected to repression. However, as in the time of the Napoleonic invasion, troubles bypassed the church in the village of Medvedkovo, and throughout all the decades of the communist regime, it continued to operate, not closing even during the Great Patriotic War.
In the 70s, when Moscow was engulfed in large-scale work on the implementation of the urban plan, the buildings that once made up the village of Medvedkovo began to be demolished, and multi-storey residential buildings were erected in their place. Gradually, this entire vast territory moved to the North-Western Administrative District of the capital, becoming one of the densely populated urban areas, but retaining its former name.
The revival of the former appearance of the temple
During this period, on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, a comprehensive restoration of the Church of the Intercession in Medvedkovo was carried out. The architect Nikolai Nedovich, who was appointed head of the work, made every effort to restore her original appearance. On his initiative, manythe latest elements of the exterior and interior decoration were removed and replaced with analogues of those that were previously available. At present, the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Medvedkovo is one of the leading spiritual centers belonging to the Moscow City Diocese. It is led by Archpriest Valentin Timakov.
