The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ on the Blood, or the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg - an Orthodox memorial single-altar church in the name of the Resurrection of Christ; Was erected in memory of the fact that on this place on March 1 (13), 1881, as a result of the assassination, Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded (an expression on the blood indicates the blood of the king). The temple was built as a monument to the tsar-martyr with funds collected throughout Russia .
Located in the historical center of St. Petersburg on the bank of the Griboedov Canal near the Mikhailovsky Garden and Konushennaya Square. The height of the nine-headed temple is 81 m, capacity is up to 1600 people. It is a museum and a monument of Russian architecture.
The temple was erected by the decree of Emperor Alexander III in 1883-1907 on the joint project of architect Alfred Parland and archimandrite Ignatius (Malyshev), who later left the construction. The project is executed in the "Russian style", somewhat reminiscent of the Moscow Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed. Construction lasted 24 years. On August 6 (19), 1907, the cathedral was consecrated. It has the status of a museum (the museum complex "The State Museum-monument" Isaac's Cathedral "- a museum of four cathedrals).
History of the parish of the church
The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was the only one, along with St. Isaac's Cathedral, the church of St. Petersburg, which was on state maintenance . The cathedral was not a parish; He was in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was not designed for mass visits; Entrance was carried out on passes. In it, separate services dedicated to the memory of Alexander II were performed and sermons were daily pronounced .
On September 6 (19), 1907, by the resolution of Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of Metropolitan St. Petersburg and Ladoga (No. 8039), Professor PI I. Leporskiy was appointed head of the cathedral, who was soon ordained a priest (archpriest on October 14 (27), 1907 ).
Since 1909, the clergyman, and then (since August 9, 1923), the rector of the church was Archpriest Vasiliy Veryuzhsky, who at the end of 1927 became one of the active supporters of the Iosiflian movement in Leningrad.
In 1917, the receipt of public funds for the maintenance of the church ceased, in connection with which Petr Leporskiy addressed the inhabitants of Petrograd with the following words: "The Resurrection Church on blood lost the means necessary to provide services in it. The church was built on common folk remedies, decided to address the owner of the temple - the people with an invitation to unite around the temple and, in proportion to their strength and zeal, share the concern for maintaining a magnificent worship service there. Those who wish to enroll in the number of parishioners of the church are pleased to address Archpriest P. Leporskiy (Nevsky, 163) to the Father Superior, or in the temple for candle proceeds, and they will receive the necessary forms for applications ".
At the end of 1919, the department of justice of the Petrograd Soviet received an order to form a "twenty" at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, that is, the parish. In response, on December 2, 1919, Protopriest PI Leporskiy wrote a statement in which he objects to such a decision by the city authorities, "since the church was never a parish," and, in addition, "is administered by the People's Commissariat of Property." However, on December 13, 1919, the College for the Registration and Protection of Art and Antiquities and the Department of Property gave permission for the transfer of the temple to the "twenty", which was done on January 11, 1920 at 12:00 [6].
From July 1922 until July 5, 1923 belonged to the Petrograd autocephaly under the supervision of the bishop of Peterhof, Nikolai (Yarushevich), after which until August 9 of the same year he was renewed.
Since August 1923, after the transfer of the Kazan and St. Isaac's cathedrals to the maintenance of the Renovationists, the church became the cathedral of the "Old Church" ("Tikhonov") of the Petrograd diocese.
From the end of 1927 until the closing of the church, it was the center of Josephis in Leningrad, the rightist movement in the Russian Church, which arose as an opposition to the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) after the publication of the Declaration of Unconditional Loyalty to Our Government (the Communist regime).
October 30, 1930 the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to close the church.
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History after the closure of the parish
In November 1931, the Regional Commission on Cult Issues made a decision on the expediency of disassembling the Savior on Blood, but the decision of this issue was postponed for an indefinite period. In 1938 the issue was raised again and was positively resolved, but with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the city's leadership faced completely different tasks. During the siege, the morgue was placed in the cathedral, the Leningrad prisoners were brought here. After the war, the temple rented the Small Opera House and arranged a warehouse for the scenery in it.
In 1961, a German high-explosive shell was found in the central dome of the church. Probably, he broke through the arch of the dome and got stuck in the ceiling of the vault. No one noticed, the land mine was lying in the rafters for 18 years and was accidentally discovered by the climbers of scientific and production restoration workshops. At the inspection it turned out that this 240-mm high-explosive projectile weighing about 150 kg. Work on its neutralization began under the leadership of the former pyro technician V.I. Demidov on the morning of October 28, 1961, they were conducted by six people: steeplejacks Evgeny Kasyanov, Vyacheslav Korobkov, Vladimir Mayorov, Alexander Matskevich, Vladimir Smirnov and former sapper Valentin Nikolaev. It was a unique operation, demanding from its participants not only mastery, but also extraordinary self-control and courage. With the help of a winch, the projectile was removed, taken out of the city and destroyed in the Pulkovo heights .
View of the Church of the Savior on the Blood from the side of the Griboedov Canal
In 1968, the cathedral was taken under protection by the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments at the Main Architectural and Planning Administration, and on July 20, 1970 it was decided to organize a branch of the museum "St. Isaac's Cathedral" in the building of the former church of the Savior on Blood. The transfer of the temple-monument to the museum's balance took place on April 12, 1971. A big role in this event was played by the director of the museum "St. Isaac's Cathedral" George Butikov. By this time the cathedral was in an emergency condition and required urgent restoration.
In the 1970s, engineering and general construction work was carried out, and much work was done to prepare for the restoration of the interior. Directly the restoration of the temple itself began in the early 80's, the first phase of which ended in 1997.
On August 19, 1997, exactly 90 years after the consecration, the memorial museum "The Savior on Blood" was opened for visitors.
May 23, 2004 Metropolitan St. Petersburg Vladimir (Kotlyarov) in the cathedral was served the first after more than 70-year break liturgy.
On January 21, 2014, the parish of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Blood) was registered .
This is great! I would love to be able to go to St. Petersburg one day. I've been to Russia a couple times already visiting family. So I've gone to Moscow twice and seen the red square and all that. I can't wait for the day I can go here though!
Thanks for sharing :)