St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk is a small home church in the Soviet district of the city. It was founded on June 30, 1885 and consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker on October 14, 1890. Today the temple is recognized as a monument of culture and architecture of the XIX century and belongs to the Lipetsk diocese.
Temple History
The church was built in 1890 at the request of local merchants and townspeople at the city prison. The building was designed by a young novice architect I. P. Mashkov.
Despite the fact that the St. Nicholas Church was intended for the religious needs of prisoners, almshouses and hospital patients, it was visited by many residents of the city from the poor.
The five-domed Church of St. Nicholas was erected in the pseudo-Russian style. The walls of the building were decorated with bizarre rhizoliths. The cuboid temple was crowned with drums with onions. The second tier is made in the form of an octagon with windows, completed with a high tent.
The facades of the temple were very richly decorated with cornices, pilasters and platbands. The roof was paintedgreen color. St. Nicholas Church was famous for its impressive belfry: the largest of the bells weighed 7 tons.
The parish was very richly supplied with various church utensils, which is confirmed by documents compiled during the closing and seizure of valuables by the state in March 1922.
In 1928, the appearance of the temple was changed. Crosses were removed and all religious symbols destroyed. Church wall paintings were worn out and replaced with decorative paintings depicting the leaders of the revolution.
The building was handed over to the prison department and used for its needs.
After the end of the war, the church was completely disfigured, redesigned and rebuilt into a pre-trial detention center with cells on the first floor and prison administration on the second.
By 1980, new facilities for the penitentiary were built outside the city. The old prison complex was destroyed and demolished. The same fate awaited the St. Nicholas Church, which was in a deplorable state and was a ruin.
Thanks to the efforts of the local population and local historians, the church was saved.
St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk today
In 1991, the Church of St. Nicholas was returned to the diocese, and restoration work began in it. According to the surviving drawings of past years, the building was reconstructed exactly like the original.
An additional two-story building was built nearby, which housed a Sunday school, baptismal, library and belfry. The temple is being improved all the time and every year everything looksprettier.
For a long time, there was a struggle between the parishioners of the church and the public against building high-rise buildings near the temple. After persistent disputes, it was possible to stop the construction of only one high-rise building on the east side of the church. Now St. Nicholas Church is located right in the courtyard of one of the residential buildings.
A Sunday school has been opened at the temple, in which appropriate classes are provided for each age category. The school can be attended by children from the age of four.
Teaching staff is strong, all have either theological or pedagogical education. The school is headed by Archpriest V. Diesperov. In addition to the basics of Orthodoxy, parishioners are taught kliros singing, drawing, icon painting, and playing chess.
A pilgrimage department operates at the temple, which allows believers to visit holy places outside the region. Trips were organized to the shrines of Ukraine, to the monasteries of Russia and abroad.
Pilgrimage trips to the St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk are held all year round and must be accompanied by clergy. This is one of the activities of the church, aimed at the spiritual development of modern parishioners.
Work Schedule
Services in St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk are held from Tuesday to Sunday from 7:30 to 17:00. Services are closed on Mondays.
Sunday School Classes on:
- For children - on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00.
- For adults - eachSunday at 17:00.
Where is it
Address of St. Nicholas Church of the Lipetsk diocese: Sovetsky District, Torgovaya Ploschad, 16.
The current phone number can be found on the official website of the temple.
For guests of the city, the Church of St. Nicholas is of interest as a monument of architecture and national culture and is a point of the excursion program.
