One of the most beautiful examples of temple architecture of the 17th century is the Church of the Archangel Michael, located in the town of Balashikha near Moscow. Having successfully survived all the dramatic turns of Russian history, today, like two and a half centuries ago, it calls on the Orthodox people with the ringing of its bells. Many generations of clergy, nourishing parishioners under its vaults, protected their souls from the harmful influence of the vain world with its coming and perishable blessings.
New life on the Pekhorka River
Starting a conversation about the Church of Michael the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsky, one cannot help but turn to the history of this very picturesque region near Moscow. It is known that it received an intensive impetus for development at the end of the 16th century, when roads were laid through dense forest thickets, and therefore the Pekhorka River, wide and navigable, at that time, lost its transport significance. This made it possible to build dams on it and its tributaries, Vyunka, Malashka, Chernaya and Serebryanka, the water from which drove the wheels of mills,small spinning mills and other handicraft enterprises. So the once remote area gradually became a habitable industrial region.
Church in the forest land
One of the villages located in those parts, mentioned in the written monuments of the 16th century under the name “Stupishino, Zvorykino, too”, belonged to the ancient boyar family of the Turenins. In 1641, the boyar Streshnev bought it from the previous owners and at the same time built a wooden church on its territory, which was consecrated in honor of the Archangel Michael. This is evidenced by an entry made in the “Rejection Book”, dated 1646. It is this building that is the long-standing predecessor of the stone temple that has survived to this day, which will be discussed in the article.
Having bought the village, boyar Streshnev 10 years later, due to a number of circumstances, was forced to part with this property and cede it to Prince Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov. Having sufficient funds, the new owner in 1676 ordered to completely disassemble the church located on the territory of the village, as he considered it to be fairly dilapidated, and in its place to build a new one, also wooden, and re-consecrate it in honor of the Archangel Michael.
Dolgoruki family estate
About the same years, the prince ordered to change the name of the village that belonged to him and continue to call it Arkhangelsk. One of his undertakings was the creation of a system of artificial ponds, covering the area on which the wooden temple was located from three sides. Thanks to this, today the stone church built on the same place is unusually beautiful.looks like during the spring flood, when, surrounded by water, it appears like a ship of salvation, sailing among the sea of life.
It is known that the village of Arkhangelskoye was in the possession of ten generations of representatives of the Dolgorukovs, becoming a family estate. The Archangel Michael was depicted on their family coat of arms, which was one of the reasons for the consecration of the newly built church in honor of this disembodied leader of the Heavenly host.
The pious undertaking of Prince Dolgorukov
In 1748, Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Dolgoruky ─ the great-grandson of Yuri Alekseevich ─ turned to the leadership of the Moscow Spiritual Consistory for permission to build a two-story stone church in his village of Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. It was supposed to replace the wooden church of the Archangel Michael, built earlier and extremely dilapidated by that time.
Despite the fact that his request was met very favorably, the issuance of the relevant documents was delayed, and work began only after 19 years. By this time, a church had burned down in the neighboring village of Nikolsky, and its inhabitants were assigned to the Arkhangelsk parish. The newly formed united parish became known as Nikolsky-Arkhangelsky.
Building a stone church
It is known that the new stone church of Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye) was built much faster than the paperwork required in this case. If the gentlemen of the consistory officialsit took 19 years, the builders of the new temple kept within six. Thanks to this, in May 1773, the stone church was solemnly consecrated. This was most welcome, because three years earlier, a fire had destroyed the very ancient wooden church, which was being replaced by a new building.
However, after some time, it was noticed that ever-increasing cracks appeared between the walls of the main building and its side limits, which indicated a clear mistake by the designer. Since no other solution was found, in 1789 the side limits were dismantled, and, thus, in the Church of Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye) only two altars remained: in the upper floor - the Archangel Michael, and in the lower - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
What does the church in Balashikha look like?
Since then, no significant reconstruction of the building has been carried out, and therefore the description of the Church of Michael the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsky, compiled at the end of the 18th century, generally corresponds to the modern one. The brick plastered building, decorated with white inserts, was built in a style typical of that time, which is commonly called "Moscow Baroque". Does not go beyond tradition and its design. It is a quadruple installed on a high basement (lower floor), overbuilt with an octagon characteristic of that era.
On the eastern side of the church, a low three-tiered bell tower was erected, on both sides of which there are stairs leading tothe top floor of the building. The interior of the temple is richly decorated with stucco and picturesque ornaments. Particular attention is drawn to the wall frescoes and icons located in the upper tier of the iconostasis, since the writing of most of them dates back to the time of the construction of the temple.
Despite the general traditional architectural design of the Church of Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye), there are no temple buildings in the Moscow region that repeat its appearance, so it is unique in its own way. This feature of the church was noted long ago, and there is a lot of evidence that already during the 19th century it was visited not only by regular parishioners, but also by connoisseurs of church architecture who came from various cities of Russia.
The Church Protected by God
Unlike other churches in our country, the history of the Church of Michael the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsky is not marked by any serious upheavals and troubles. From the moment of its construction to this day, it has never burned, and even in the difficult year for Russia in 1812, the Lord saved it from looting and desecration, although the Napoleonic troops, moving towards Moscow, passed through the village.
Her fate was just as successful during the period of godless hard times, when thousands of parish and monastic churches were closed and often destroyed throughout the country. Moreover, the clergy and parishioners managed to keep intact the ancient icons, prayed for centuries, which are to this day the main shrines of the Church of Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye), addresswhich: the city of Balashikha, st. Black Road, 16A
Village turned city
In 1830, the village of Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye, located to the east of Moscow, became part of the newly formed city of Balashikha. This happened after Prince Trubetskoy, together with a local merchant Pavel Moloshnikov, founded a small factory on the Pekhorka River near the village of Bloshino, designed to produce cloth. Their undertaking was successful, and over time, a five-story stone building was erected on the site of wooden buildings, which housed production facilities.
In 1850, more than 500 people worked at the factory, and the former village turned into the city of Balashikha with a population of over 2 thousand people. Over time, the Church of the Archangel Michael, located on its territory, became the main spiritual center of the Balashikha vicariate ─ the church-administrative unit that was part of the diocese.
Center for Religious Education
As mentioned above, the anti-religious campaigns that swept the country during the years of communist rule bypassed it, and the church remained active during all the hard times. During this period, several generations of priests have changed in it, many of whom remain in the memory of the inhabitants of Balashikha as true preachers of the word of God and good shepherds of His flock.
Today, their successors are actively working on the religious enlightenment of the population, so necessary after many years of domination of the materialisticideology. The Sunday school operating at the Church of Michael the Archangel in Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye is one of the fertile sources of knowledge that is so necessary for the young generation of Russians.
