Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist (Uglich): history, architecture

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Uglich is an old Russian Orthodox church. This is a monument of ancient Russian architecture of the 17th century. It is located near the great Russian river Volga in the Yaroslavl region. Next to it is the Church of the Resurrection.

How did the temple come about?

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Uglich was built in two years. Work began in 1689. They were financed by a we althy local Yaroslavl merchant named Nikifor Grigoryevich Chepolosov. He dedicated it to his six-year-old son, who died at the hands of his father's servant Rudak.

Already in the 20th century, in the northern aisle of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Uglich, they found a niche in which Chepolosov's son was buried.

In Soviet times, it was planned to build the Uglich hydroelectric power station near this place. At first they wanted to dismantle the church. However, it was decided that its artistic value was so great that even in Stalin's time, the power plant project had to be redone. For the sake of the church, he was moved upstream the Volga.

Death of Ivan

Ivan Chepolosov, in whose memory the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist appeared in Uglich, was born in 1657. Everyone noted his natural beauty and quick wit.

He was the son of a we althy local merchant. But he lived only six years. Already at that age, he learned to read and write, but somehow disappeared on the way to the teacher. They searched for him in vain in the Volga, thinking that Ivan had drowned.

Later it turned out that he was kidnapped by the clerk Rudak, his father's servant, who was embittered at the merchant. Nearby, in the village of Jerusalem, he kept the child in the cellar for two weeks, letting him out only at night to whip him with a horse whip. The clerk forced him to renounce his parents and recognize Rudak as the father. But Ivan did not agree. As a result, the villain stabbed the child with a knife, inflicting 25 wounds on him. The body was found in a swamp.

Later, Ivan was considered a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. According to life, his body did not change at all a week after death. Shepherds found him. There was a knife in his head that no one could reach. And when the villain appeared, the knife seemed to fall out by itself, pointing to the killer. In a dream, Ivan appeared to his parents and asked for mercy on the robber, he was left alive.

Temple Architecture

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Uglich (pictured above) is a classic example of a five-domed church. It has side chapels, a gate bell tower and a refectory.

The church is located on the basement (this is the basement of the building). Everyone remembersa bell-tower in the form of a tent and an unusual porch, noticeable from afar. Most likely, it was they who saved this religious building from destruction during the Soviet era.

Connoisseurs of Russian art remember this porch well. He was depicted by the artist Nicholas Roerich in his famous painting of 1904.

How to get to the church?

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist is located in Uglich. Address: Yaroslavl region, Uglich city, Spasskaya street, 14.

In order to get to this temple, if you do not have a personal car, you need to take bus number 9. He drives along Proletarskaya, Narimanov and Yaroslavskaya streets. You need to get off at the stop "Narimanov Street".

In the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Uglich, the schedule of services corresponds to the schedule in the main domestic Orthodox churches. Local priests carefully observe all services, church holidays. The day of June 25 is especially honored, when, according to legend, six-year-old Ivan Chepolosov was killed.

Ivan's relics

The main shrine of this temple is the relics of the Uglich martyr John the Infant, as he is called in the Orthodox tradition. The relics were first placed in a wooden church, and later in a stone one. It was alleged that neither the clothes nor the body of the child were harmed, even some time after his death. Only part of the little finger of the child was not preserved. But from the remains of his brother, who was later buried in the same temple, nothing has survived. This is one of the arguments confirming the holiness of Ivan.

The Bishop of the Orthodox Church named Iona Sysoevich, who lived in the 17th century,blessed the illumination of the relics by the monks of the Resurrection Monastery, located in Uglich in the neighborhood. Soon the first information about those healed by holy relics appeared. But the Orthodox did not honor them for long. The Metropolitan issued a decree to lay them under a bushel. The reason is the beginning of the struggle with the Old Believers. And Ivan was baptized just according to old books.

The story of Ivan is known to the general public, thanks to the novel by Vasily Nesterov "The Boy-Martyr. The Uglich Legend". Many famous painters made illustrations for this work, including Vasily Surikov.

The relics of the saint were rediscovered in 1970, during the restoration of the temple. A forensic medical examination confirmed that the cause of death was a wound to the head with a sharp object. The veneration of the saint was officially restored.

At present, the relics have been transferred from the Church of John the Baptist to the Korsun Church, also located in Uglich.