The ancient city of Bryansk has been very comfortably located on the right bank of the Desna River since 985. One of the first chronicle mentions of him dates back to 1146. But diligent archaeologists managed to unearth the Chashin mound - a settlement at the mouth of the Bolva River. And this gave reason to say that the Slavs settled here and created their fortifications already around the 10th century. And after the Mongol-Tatars came to these lands, Chashin Kurgan was destroyed and rebuilt on Mount Pokrovskaya.
From that moment the Intercession Cathedral began its history. Bryansk also began its further development from this place. This mountain began to be called so because the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was built in the city fortress. From then until the 18th century, Pokrovskaya Gora was considered the center of Bryansk.
What the Intercession Cathedral looked like: Bryansk
On the photographs of the beginning of the 20th century that have survived to this day, you can see the ancient fortress walls.
At 1500The Bryansk diocese was abolished, and the cathedral was transferred from the Spaso-Grobovskaya Church to the wooden Church of the Intercession of the Bryansk Fortress. During the turmoil of the 17th century, the city of Bryansk was a border city, and the fortress became its most important fortification, which protected the western borders of the Muscovite state.
The main voivode (from 1618 to 1619) then was Boryatinsky Vasily Romanovich. He was from the descendants of Prince Roman of Bryansk and Chernigov. Boryatinsky and became the initiator of the construction of a new stone church instead of a dilapidated wooden one, which was mentioned in 1526 as a fortress. Under the patronage of his relative, the landowner Evstafy Timofeevich Alymov, who had power and owned considerable funds, he began to build a church. Alymov E. T. himself completed the construction, who went down in history as the creator of the cathedral.
New life
When construction work began, workers found old bricks dating back to the 14th century at the site of the former foundation. From this we can conclude that the Church of the Intercession already existed then.
At the end of construction in 1698, the majestic two-story five-domed temple was rebuilt. The lower tier of the first floor (called the warm throne) was consecrated in honor of the Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Alexy, who, while in Bryansk at one time, served the Liturgy in the Church of the Intercession. But the upper tier of the second floor (cold church) was consecrated in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
The construction scheme of the Bryansk Intercession Cathedral was traditional, but still ithad interesting features. Its four domes were not located at the corners of the walls of the quadrangle, as was customary in some Russian churches, but were rebuilt around the walls of the central dome and oriented to the cardinal points. Proportions, decor, window placement, shutters with niches were borrowed from residential architecture. The style intertwined the traditions of the period from the 16th to the 18th centuries, like a brick five-domed pillarless two-story temple.
Dorogobuzh Regiment
In 1798, the Transfiguration Church, which belonged to the Spaso-Polikarpov Monastery, became the Bryansk Cathedral. Intercession at the same time becomes a parish church. A year later, the temple was reconstructed, then the dilapidated bell tower and side domes were dismantled. A new bell tower was attached to the temple on the western side.
In 1876, the Church of the Intercession became attached to the New Intercession Cathedral on Pokrovskaya Hill. And since that period, all services in the church were performed by the regimental priests of the Dorogobuzh regiment, whose barracks have survived to this day. Today, this building houses the Bryansk Theological School and the Diocesan Administration.
In the revolution of 1917, the property of the tsarist army passed into the hands of the godless new government. The temple was closed, all the decoration was destroyed, and the dome and bell tower were demolished. The archive of the October Revolution began to be located here.
New spiritual life
Closer to the 70s, when the temple building began to collapse badly, it was decided to restore it according toproject by E. Kodisov. After the restoration, the Regional Folk Creative Center was located there.
Exactly one thousand years after the Baptism of Russia, serious changes took place in the state policy of the former USSR in relation to the Orthodox Church. People were no longer persecuted for their religious beliefs, and temples and monasteries began to open across the country.
Opening
In Bryansk, at the request of the parishioners, under the leadership of P. S. Podduev, the Intercession Cathedral was the first to be opened. In 1991, the city authorities transferred it to the ROC for unlimited use. And on May 24, 1991, Bishop Paisius consecrated the upper Pokrovsky chapel, and a new spiritual life began for this beautiful and majestic cathedral.
It took two years to arrange the iconostasis and paint the icons. In 1993, on the occasion of the Bright Resurrection, with the blessing of Vladyka Paisios, Divine Services began to be celebrated here again.
On February 25, 1995, the Archbishop of Bryansk Melchizedek again consecrated the lower church in honor of St. Alexei (Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia). In 1996, the upper chapel was consecrated in honor of the Bryansk saints Oleg and Polycarp, where the Sacraments of Baptism for adults and children began to be performed.
Address of the Intercession Cathedral in Bryansk
The temple stores such relics as the relics of St. vmch. Panteleimon, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, St. Luke of Crimea, Patriarch of Moscow St. Tikhon.
There are many more shrines in the temple, and the icons of the Virgin "Inexhaustible Chalice" and "Three Handed" are especially revered by the parishioners. They arethey value these shrines very much and, through the prayers of the saints, receive inexplicable spiritual joy.
About the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Bryansk, the reviews of all visitors are very different - depending on who came there for what. People come here from all over - some to pray, some to feel the historical passage of time, and at the same time no one remains indifferent to this holy and praying place.
Many are also interested in where is the Intercession Cathedral in Bryansk? Photos of him at various times are posted above, and now we present the address: Pokrovskaya Gora 2, Bryansk, Russia.
