There is a worthy mother of God church. Icon of the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat

The Church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "Merciful" (It is worthy to eat) was built in memory of the coronation of Alexander III. This temple with a large dome was larger and more majestic than the Trinity Church in the Gavan (now lost), nevertheless, until 1923, it obeyed her and did not have its own clergy.

For the first time, the church at the Galernaya harbor appeared in 1725, when a linen church was moved here from the Malo-Kalinkin bridge for the "galley eshkadra of ministers". Since 1733, the church was housed in a wooden barrack.

In 1792, according to the project of the architect J. Perrin, a wooden church of the Holy Trinity was built. Further, the idea to erect a stone temple arose more than once. The first donor was the skipper of the Rowing Port MF Kirin. In 1822, he bequeathed capital to the Trinity Church, which by 1887 had grown to 76 thousand rubles, which allowed the clergy to think about building a new stone church for the population of Gavan, which at that time was about 15,000 people. Already in 1866, Metropolitan Isidore petitioned for this, and the following year the City Duma even allocated land for the construction of the parish church of St. Nicholas.

It was decided to build the temple in memory of the coronation of the Emperor, who donated 25 thousand rubles for the construction. In this regard, the belfry was later decorated with a large gilded crown.

In 1886, a petition was filed for the allotment of a plot of land. In 1887, the project of the temple was approved, its authors were the architect V.A.Kosyakov and the engineer D.K. Prussak. This was their first major work.

The stone church, crowned with five domes, is designed in the style of the temples of ancient Byzantium and is a bit like the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The height of the church from the surface of the earth to the foot of the cross on the main dome reaches 42 meters. The black domes are smooth, spherical. The central dome, which is much larger than the others, rises upward and is, as it were, supported from below by four small domes, only half protruding from the building in the form of apses. In ancient Byzantine architecture, such domes are called conchs. The drum of each dome is surrounded by an arcade from the windows, which was very characteristic of the Byzantine style. There are 18 windows on the drum of the main dome, and 8 windows on the conchs. The bell tower, which is equal in height to the small domes, is also designed in the same style. Instead of windows, it is surrounded by an arcade of 6 openings for the belfry.

On June 11, 1887, the construction site was consecrated. Work began in 1888 with a temporary wooden chapel, where an icon of the Mother of God of Mercy was installed (It is worthy to eat), brought from Athos by Hieromonk Arseny, a famous preacher and missionary. The icon gave the name of the future church. The funds for the chapel were donated by the merchant D. Zaikin, the tutor of the temple under construction.

On May 29, 1889, the consecration of the foundation stone of the Temple by Bishop Mitrofan of Ladoga took place. By that time, the foundation and part of the walls had already been built. The three-aisled temple for 1800 people was built on a swampy area, therefore, in 1888, under the leadership of FS Kharlamov, an embankment was built, other work was carried out to strengthen the soil under the foundation. In the fall of 1892, the building was brought under the roof. Iron for the domes was donated by Countess N.A.

In 1892 the Temple was roughly finished, but then the lack of funds greatly slowed down the work. Only the energy of the Chief Prosecutor KP Pobedonostsev, who understood the great importance of the church for the workers' outskirts, moved the matter. In 1894, crosses were installed on the domes. The interior decoration continued for another 15 years.

On December 15, 1896, Bishop Nazarius of Gdov consecrated the left (northern) side-chapel of the church in the name of St. Andrew of Crete and the prophet Hosea in memory of the salvation of Alexander III in the railway accident in Borki. Also, in memory of this event, in 1891, according to the project of V.A. Kosyakov on Staro-Peterhof Avenue, a chapel was built in the name of the Icon of the Mother of God Merciful.

After that, the temple was accepted by the naval department, which transferred funds to complete the construction.

Two more years passed before, on October 25, 1898, Bishop Benjamin of Yamburg, together with Archpriest John of Kronstadt (now glorified as a saint), in the presence of Pobedonostsev, consecrated the main chapel. A single-tier iconostasis of bog oak from the workshop of PS Abrosimov was installed here with images based on the "Athos model" by the Moscow icon painters. Modeling in the interior was performed by OS Konoplev.

On March 28, 1900, Metropolitan Anthony consecrated the right (southern) side-chapel in the name of Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Theodosius of Chernigov, but only three years later in the church work was completed on the gilding of the cross, facing the stairs with granite, and installing the fence. At the same time, the icons of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov and the icon of the Mother of God "Tenderness", consecrated on the saint's shrine arrived from Sarov. The icons of the 18th century: the Savior and the Mother of God, as well as the gilded cross of 1727 were transferred from the Havana church to the temple. manufacturer T. T. Chupyatov, later a chandelier made of gilded bronze weighing 10 pounds was brought up.

In 1903, the bell tower was crowned with a golden crown. Along the road in 1903, a metal fence was erected on a granite plinth (lost). A garden was laid out around the temple. Epiphany consecration of water took place on the seaside, where the procession was going. Since 1910, the Nevsky Orthodox Brotherhood has been operating at the church.

Priest in the church of Fr. Dimitri Vasilievich Arkhangelsky.

The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God has become the dominant feature of the area. The height of the building was 42 meters. Based on the experience gained here, the architect V.A.Kosyakov built the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt. There is a cathedral in Novosibirsk, which is an almost complete repetition of the St. Petersburg church.

After the consecration, a charitable society was opened at the church, containing a school for orphans, an orphanage and an almshouse.

In 1932, the temple was closed and transferred to a training diving squad. Training equipment was installed in the temple: a diving tower, a torpedo tube, a damage control compartment, a pool and other devices for conducting experiments and training. A museum exposition dedicated to the rescue equipment of submariners is located in the north aisle.

In 2006, the parish of the temple was registered.

On December 19, 2012, the temple was officially returned to the Church. The symbolic keys to it were handed over today by representatives of the RF Ministry of Defense to the clergy of the St. Petersburg diocese. The order on the transfer of the temple was one of the first documents signed as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Athos stood firmly between heaven and earth in order to reconcile the human race with God and to hold back the righteous judgment of God against a multitude of people, excited by human betrayal.

Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

There are places on earth that, like lonely candles, light up the darkness of our sinful life. The Holy Fathers, who were vouchsafed to see the world with spiritual eyes, say that they are connected with the heavens by certain pillars of light. The Holy Mountain is such a place. For the second millennium, the great devotees of Athos have been praying for our land. The Most Pure Virgin herself took the Holy Mountain under Her special protection.

Venerable Peter the Athonite

In the year 667, the pious monk, the Monk Peter of Athonite, saw in a subtle dream the Mother of God, who uttered: “The Mount of Athos is My lot, given to Me from My Son and God, so that those who withdraw from the world and choose for themselves an ascetic life according to their own strength, My name is those who call with faith and love from the soul, there they spent their lives without sorrow and for their godly deeds they would receive eternal life. I love that place very much and want to multiply the monastic rank on it. The mercy of My Son and God will endure forever to those who will monasticize there, if they fulfill the commandments of salvation. And I will spread them in that Mountain to the south and north, and they will prevail over it from sea to sea, and I will glorify their name throughout the sunflower, and I will protect those who will fight there in fasting and patience. " Arriving on Mount Athos at the behest of the Lady, the Monk Peter spent more than half a century there in a cave, not seeing any of the people and talking only with God, the sea and the stars.

Many of the miraculous icons of the Theotokos shone on Athos: Iberian, Tsaritsa, Jerusalem, Economissa and others. Our story about the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat"("Merciful"). This miraculous image resides in the amazing, unique city in the world - in the administrative center of the Holy Mountain, which bears the name of Kareya. Once it was here on the site of a pagan temple that the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great erected in 335 the first temple on the Holy Mountain in the name of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is still the spiritual center of Karea. The first Athonite inhabitants gathered around him. The Kareyskaya Lavra, which emerged here later, flourished, its abbot became the leader on Athos and was called "proto" - the first or the oldest. At Protest, a Council or Synod of honorary elders gathered. The general meeting of the monks of the Holy Mountain traditionally took place in Karya on her patronal feast, on the day of the Dormition of the Most Pure.

This continued until the 17th century, when the Turks imposed such an unbearable tribute on the Lavra that this monastery was forced to sell separate plots of its land to other monasteries, which thereby became independent, while the Lavra ceased to exist as a whole. Then the Cathedral of the Holy Mountain decided to transform Kareya into a city - the center of the spiritual administration of the monastic republic. To this day, on Athos, the common affairs of all the monasteries of the Holy Mountain are governed by the Holy Assembly, or Kinoe, which gathers in the building of Protat. The spiritual center of Kareya remained Protaton - a temple dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, more than once destroyed and reborn again. Already in 362, he was burned at the behest of the Emperor Julian the Apostate. In the 10th century, under the Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas, the temple was restored; in the XIV century it suffered greatly at the hands of the Latins, then it was recreated again by the diligence of the Bulgarian kings. Inside the cathedral there are priceless frescoes by the famous 14th century Byzantine iconographer Manuel Pansenilos.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Kareya

Since 982, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" has been in the altar of the Assumption Church on a high place. Together with the church, she survived many hardships, but remained unharmed, and for the second millennium it has illuminated the entire Orthodox world.

As its name suggests, the history of this icon is associated with the Orthodox chant "It is worthy". In the 10th century, in a cave not far from Kareya, a certain old priest and novice asceticised. Once on Sunday, June 11, 982, the elder went to the monastery for an all-night vigil, while the novice remained at home. Late at night an unknown monk knocked on the door. The novice was not surprised at this - there are many monasteries on Athos, many hermits also live in the mountains, sometimes going down to their fellows. The novice bowed to the stranger, gave him water to drink from the road, offered to rest in his cell. Together with the guest, they began to sing psalms and prayers. However, while singing the words "Most Honest Cherub", the mysterious guest unexpectedly noticed that in their places this song was sung in a different way, adding before the "Honest" the words "It is worthy to eat, as indeed blessed You, the Mother of God, Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate, and the Mother of our God ".

The miraculous icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy"

And when the monk began to sing these words, the icon of the Mother of God "Merciful", standing in the cell, suddenly shone with a mysterious light, and the novice suddenly felt a special joy and sobbed with emotion. He asked the guest to write down the wonderful words, and he traced them with his finger on a stone slab, softened under his hand like wax. After that, the guest, who called himself the humble Gabriel, became invisible, and the icon continued to emit a wonderful light for some time. Shocked, the novice waited for the elder, told him about the mysterious stranger and showed him a stone slab with the words of a prayer. The spiritually experienced elder immediately realized that the Archangel Gabriel had come to his cell, sent to earth to proclaim to Christians a wondrous song in the name of the Mother of God - another in the line of those that people learned from the angels ("Glory to God in the Highest", "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts ", the Trisagion" Holy of God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us ").

Since then, the angelic song "It is worthy ..." has been sung during every Divine Liturgy around the world - wherever there is at least one Orthodox See or at least one Orthodox Christian lives. The elder and the novice told the proto about what had happened. He gave his blessing to gather a Council of Elders, at which the wonderful messenger and his words were told. Here, at the cathedral, they offered up the prayer to the Theotokos "It is worthy ...", and the stone with the words inscribed on it was sent to the Patriarch in Constantinople as evidence of a miracle. And the icon, before which this prayer was sung for the first time on earth, since then began to be called "It is worthy to eat." Soon the icon was honorably transferred to the cathedral church of Kareya, where it still stands to this day.

Not far from Kareya, on the eastern slope of the Holy Mountain near the Aegean Sea, there is the Russian St. Andrew's skete, and near it there is that narrow ravine with a rushing stream of water, near which stood the cell where the heavenly messenger descended.

More than a thousand years have passed since then. During this time, the icon left Athos only four times in order to console, support, and admonish those Orthodox Christians who have no opportunity to come to it themselves.

The first time this happened only in 1963, when the millennium of the Holy Mountain was celebrated and on the occasion of this anniversary, the miraculous visited the Greek capital of Athens.

The second, in 1985, when, on the occasion of the 2300th anniversary of the city of Soluni (now Thessaloniki), she was brought there.

For the third time - in the fall of 1987, when the shrine again visited the capital of Hellas, it was honored at the pier of the port suburb of Athens, Piraeus, with a solemn procession with banners, candles, wreaths of fresh flowers, and for eighteen days it stayed in the Church of the Annunciation, day and night accepting those who aspired to venerate her. All this time the monks of the Holy Mountain were constantly at the icon.

Finally, in the fall of 1994, the wonderful guest visited the city of Larnaca on the island of Cyprus. By God's providence, it was then that a ship with pilgrims from Russia stood in the port of Larnaca. In the evening, just an hour before the departure of the ship, the pilgrims hurried across the city to venerate the miraculous, but they saw a long line extending beyond the horizon. But the crowd of pious Greeks suddenly parted, allowing Russian Orthodox pilgrims to go to the great shrine.

Religious procession with the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" on Mount Athos. Photo: Vitaly Kislov / Pravoslavie.Ru

Since olden times, Her Most Pure Mercy has been poured out on Russian Christians. Lists of the miraculous image "It is worthy to eat" were available in St. Petersburg, in the Galernaya harbor, where there is a majestic pseudo-Byzantine temple built in honor of the Mother of God. And on June 16, 1999, another copy was delivered to the Moscow courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra from Mount Athos, made by the same iconographers - inhabitants of the Athos Nikolsky Skete ("Belozerki"), who also painted the image of the Iberian Icon, donated by the Apostles to the restored Iverskaya Chapel in Moscow.
According to iconography, the image of the Mother of God is a half-length image of the Most Pure One, on Her right hand sits an Infant clinging to Her with a scroll in hand. The celebration of this wonderworking takes place (June 11, O.S.) on the very day when the heavenly guest visited the Athonite monks:

Archangel Gabriel was sent from heaven from You, the Mother of God,
to the humble novice of Mount Athos,
in a desert cell who sang Ti songs of praise before Thy holy icon,
let him teach him to sing the song of heaven, the angels in Zion with the heavens glorify it.
The same, we dolnyi, remembering such Thy goodness about people,
with thanksgiving to Ty site:
Rejoice, worthy praise from the Archangel and Angel;
Rejoice, delighted with all heavenly powers.
Rejoice, Most Blessed and Most Immaculate;
Rejoice, Mother of our God.
Rejoice, Honest Cherubim;
Rejoice, most glorious without comparison Seraphim.
Rejoice, having given birth to the Word of God without corruption;
Rejoice, truly the Mother of God.

Nadezhda Dmitrievafrom the book "He rejoices in You"

Sretenskaya church and (to the right of it) a chapel church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy". 1910s

There are many pages in the spiritual history of our ancient city that make all of us living today take a different look at the life and spiritual activities of our predecessors. Through the efforts and efforts of these people, this spiritual history was created as an integral part of the common history of our region and state. The more we delve into our past, the clearer and more distinctly the images of our ancestors arise before us, having a living, unfeigned Faith that burned in their hearts and warmed many. It was this Faith that gave our people strength in times of difficult trials, it was she who brought light and love to their souls.
The year 1871 was difficult and terrible for our city. And not only for him. A terrible pestilence plague, cholera, swept across the Tambov region, which claimed many thousands of lives. (The city of Borisoglebsk at that time belonged to the Tambov province) On June 8, 1871, the epidemic began in Borisoglebsk. A summer fair has just opened in the city. One of the visiting merchants fell ill and soon died. Since that time, cholera began to spread in the city with incredible speed - up to two hundred people died a day.
From the memoirs of a resident of the city, teacher Maria Grigorievna Zlatoustovskaya (now deceased): “I remember this terrible time well. Rows of coffins stood near the Assumption Church and the New Cathedral. People sometimes died in whole families, and there was no one to bury them. Coffins were brought from the City Council and the police. There were so many victims that after a few days the dead were no longer brought into the church, and the funeral was performed right outside the cemetery.
I remember the incident with one of the priests of the city, Father Sergiy Guryev. Batiushka, admonishing the dying or singing the funeral service to the deceased, was very afraid of being infected, and every day, when he came home, he wept bitterly, asking God for intercession and mercy. But, apparently, the Lord God was so pleased - the priest really fell ill and died on July 20. From that day on, the epidemic in the city began to gradually subside.
The days were hot, the heat was stifling. The streets of the city were deserted. People sat in their houses with shutters and gates closed. There were no medications and pepper vodka was used for treatment. The sick were flogged with nettles. But all this could hardly help. From the Council and the Zemstvo, resin barrels were burned in the streets to disinfect the air. " Where to look for hope for salvation in such a harsh and terrible time ?! In days of calamity and sorrow, the Orthodox Christian in all centuries and times of his history pinned more hope on the help of heaven than on his own feeble human strength. And the Merciful Lord, as a loving Father - punishing, but merciful, heeded the tears and prayers of the suffering people according to His Word - "Ask and it will be given to you ...".
The inhabitants of the city tearfully asked the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, our Intercessor and Intercessor, for mercy and help. The temples of the city were constantly open, a prayer was offered here for the health of the living and the repose of the dead.
One of the major merchants of the city, Stefan Timofeevich Ivanov, back in the 60s of the nineteenth century, ordered for his family an icon of the Mother of God, especially revered by him, called "Worthy Is" or "Merciful". The merchant wanted this icon to be painted on Mount Athos, famous for its ancient and special tradition of icon painting. It was in Greece, on the Holy Mount Athos, in 335 A.D. that this holy icon was glorified. The wish of the merchant was fulfilled and since then the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" stayed in our city in the Ivanovs' merchant house.
But then hard times came and this shrine was brought to the city square, where a prayer service was served in front of it in front of a cathedral of the clergy of all city churches. People asked the Mother of God for intercession and intercession at the Throne of His Son. The suffering people cried out for help. And the Holy Lady heard the mournful voice of the people. After the prayer service and the fervent prayer of the inhabitants of the city, the pestilence abruptly subsided. The last person to fall ill on August 1 was the psalmist Ivan Nikitovich Markov. After that, the cholera completely stopped.
How could one fail to thank the Most Holy Theotokos for showing such great mercy to our city ?! Grateful residents, in commemoration of this great miracle, decided to erect a chapel in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" on the site of the prayer service.
The stone chapel was built with the care and efforts of the merchant Stefan Ivanov. On November 19, 1873, the solemn consecration of her throne took place with a huge crowd of people. The chapel building, relatively small in size, had a majestic and complete architectural appearance, was quite high. (It is currently impossible to judge the exact dimensions of the chapel, since the plan of the initial construction burned down in a fire on August 17, 1876. The chapel building was located at the intersection of the present-day Blanskaya and Tretyakovskaya streets, partly on the territory of the Boiler-Mechanical Plant). The chapel was assigned to the Transfiguration Cathedral of the city, whose clergy performed divine services in it.
For the worship of believers, a wonderful Athonite image of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" was placed here, before which the townspeople prayed and which the merchant Ivanov, at the behest of his heart, donated to the church and the city. Before this image, the inhabitants of the city offered up incessant thanksgiving prayers to the Heavenly Lady.
The number of people resorting to the shelter of the Mother of God increased and a larger wooden extension was made to the stone building of the chapel. The chapel gradually began to look like a full-fledged temple. Tambov Bishop Vitaly (Iosifov), who visited Borisoglebsk in the mid-80s of the 19th century, made a remark about the cramped premises of the chapel and expressed a desire to expand the building even more, since the influx of worshipers was quite large. This was also the wish of the believers. It should be noted that by this time the chapel had already formed its own, rather large parish, numbering on average up to 1500 people. In 1884, the chapel received the status of a church and began to be called the Chapel, and in official documents the Chapel of the Theotokos Church. From that moment on, registers of births were kept in the temple. The church did not have manor and arable land.
On August 15, 1884, the Borisoglebsk merchant of the second guild Mikhail Alekseevich Gavrilov became the elder and trustee of the Chapel Church. In 1886, he asked Vladyka's blessing to expand and rebuild the church building. A local technical engineer Leonid Vasilyevich Mizerovsky was involved in the work, who became the author of the project for a more extensive wooden extension to the stone building. The project of L.V. Mizerovsky, perfectly fit into the overall architectural ensemble of the church. From a relatively small building, the chapel turned into a rather extensive temple, the wooden walls of which were plastered on both sides with a thick layer of felt using alabaster. The building was heated by three stoves, it was solid and reliable in all respects. The internal dimensions of the church premises were approximately 26 x 23 meters, the height of the refectory was 5 meters.
In the summer of 1886, under the leadership of engineer Mizerovsky, construction work began on the construction of an extension. The construction contract was awarded to Yakov Dmitrievich Shokin.
The temple was built mainly at the expense of the headman and trustee of the chapel, the merchant M.A. Gavrilov. The plan was created and the work was supervised by engineer L.V. Mizerovsky free of charge, for the Glory of God.
A special word must be said about Mikhail Alekseevich Gavrilov. Having been the trustee of the Chapel Church for many years, he annually spent significant sums from his own funds on the maintenance, splendor and beautification of this church. The chapel temple was fully equipped with expensive church utensils and vestments of priests, had a wonderful choir, for the maintenance of which Gavrilov spent up to 3000 rubles annually.
Despite its solidity, the building annex to the church had the status of a temporary one, since at that time on the Novo-bazaar square of the city, in the immediate vicinity of the chapel, the construction of the majestic temple of the Presentation of the Lord was going on. The most active part in ensuring its construction was taken by M.A. Gavrilov. The existence of the wooden annex was planned until the completion of the construction of this new temple.
But, probably, any charitable deed done by a person from the heart and soul, driven by love for God, inevitably comes up against many obstacles and temptations that are raised by the enemy of the human race. The construction of an annex to the chapel was not without obstacles on the part of the secular authorities. The bureaucratic apparatus of that era, unfortunately, was characterized by excessive inertia and administration in decision-making, no matter what area they concerned. On the part of the authorities, the trustee of the Chapel Church M.A. Gavrilov and engineer L.V. Mizerovsky had to endure many trials. They were accused of carrying out illegal construction and civil engineering incompetence. Gavrilov and Mizerovsky even had to prove their case in the World Court. The litigation lasted about 4 years, during which construction work was suspended (it must be said that by this time the construction was already at the completion stage). But, with the help of God, justice prevailed. The construction was successfully completed and the Chapel Temple appeared to the eyes of the faithful in its new form. The warm, spacious and light building of the church welcomed its parishioners.
The spiritual labors and efforts of the headman of the Chapel Church were highly appreciated. For the expansion of the church building and the purchase of church utensils for it, the merchant M.A. On February 24, 1895, Gavrilov was awarded the Imperial Gold Medal on the Stanislavskaya ribbon to be worn around the neck.
The construction of the large Sretensky temple was completed in 1901. On December 12, 1902, it was solemnly consecrated. By the decision of the diocesan authorities, the locally revered icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" was reverently transferred to this new church. The chapel church remained in its former form and was a parish church until its closure during the years of theomachy power.
Talking about the history of the Chapel Church of the Theotokos, one cannot fail to mention the clergymen of this temple known to us. As mentioned above, until 1884 the chapel was assigned to the Transfiguration Cathedral of the city, the clergy of which performed services here. Since 1884, when it received the status of a Chapel Church, there was one priest, one deacon and one psalmist in the staff. On January 26, 1884, Archpriest Matthew Grigorievich Nikolaevsky was appointed rector of the Chapel Church in Borisoglebsk, who was transferred here with the blessing of Vladyka Palladium II from the Church of the Archangel in the village of Chigorak. Father Matthew was awarded priestly ordination from the hands of Vladyka Theophan himself in 1860 (St. Theophan the Vyshensky hermit. Commemorated on 23.01. And 29.06.). The priest zealously fulfilled the position of rector of the Chapel Church until 1896, combining it with the position of Dean of the 1st church district. From 1875 to 1891, Father Matthew was a missionary in the Borisoglebsk district; he personally converted a large number of sectarians and gentiles to Orthodoxy. He was a wonderful preacher who wrote the Words and Conversations of his own composition. In 1888 the priest became a member of the district branch of the Diocesan School Council. By the general choice of the city clergy, in July 1893, Father Matthew was approved as the spiritual father of the Deanery. For many years of impeccable service, the zealous pastor was awarded a large number of both church and state awards and encouragements.
In 1896, the priest Mitrofan Timofeevich Tikhomirov became the rector of the church. Even as a deacon, Father Mitrofan began his ministry in the Chapel Church, here on February 1, 1896 he was ordained a priest. Father Mitrofan headed the “Sobriety Society” created at the church, supervised the work of the Literacy School, for the fruitful activity of which he was repeatedly encouraged by the diocesan authorities. Father Mitrofan combined his pastoral ministry with active teaching, for many years being a teacher of the religion of the male parish school at the Assumption Old Cathedral Church, the first Borisoglebsk parish school, the parish school at the Sretenskaya Church, taught the Law of God to the lower ranks of the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment.
On October 14, 1900, priest Aleksey Lukich Voinov was appointed rector of the Chapel Church. Father Mitrofan Tikhomirov became the second priest of this temple. In 1902, Father Alexy was appointed rector of the Sretensky Church, at the same time being the rector of the Chapel Church. He was a highly educated pastor who graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in 1887 with the degree of Candidate of Theology. He was a teacher of the Hebrew language at the Tambov Theological Seminary, assistant editor of the Tambov Diocesan Gazette. In 1903, Father Alexy Voinov was elected a spiritual and judicial investigator of the Borisoglebsk urban district.
Several non-parish and regular priests were assigned to the Chapel Church. In particular, the non-parish archpriest Nikolai Ivanovich Smirnov and the regular clergyman of the diocese Timofey Afanasyevich Tsvetkov.
The deacon service here at different times was performed by: Dmitry Matveyevich Nikolaevsky, Sergey Petrovich Magnitsky, Nikolai Fedorovich Zhdanov. The psalmists of the temple were: Ivan Vasilyevich Guryev, Ivan Socratovich Lyubomudrov, Dmitry Stefanovich Konstantinov, Grigory Nikitovich Arkhangelsky, Ilya Sergeevich Talinsky, Ivan Alekseevich Moskalev and Sergei Vasilyevich Krasotin. Russian churches - these pillars of Orthodoxy, scattered throughout the face of our long-suffering Fatherland, together with our people, shared the painful burden of persecution, religious oppression, desecration and desecration of everything that was created by our ancestors for centuries for the salvation of their immortal Soul. The age-old Christian shrines of their own people became unnecessary for the newer government, which brought the ideology of destruction. Among 12 churches in Borisoglebsk, the Chapel of the Theotokos became one of the first churches to be desecrated and destroyed. It was completely destroyed in the early 1920s. A remarkable monument of temple architecture of the late XIX-early XX century and the beauty of the city - the Sretenskaya Church - was dismantled into bricks in 1934. Everything that was a spiritual treasure for the ancestors became dust in the eyes of the descendants. Today we all pay a dear price for the once desecrated temples of our souls.
Historical memory is a necessary value for any self-respecting state and society. Even more valuable is the restoration of historical truth and the search for spiritual truth. Today we all need this in order not to extinguish the flame of Faith in our souls, blown out by the violent winds of everyday storms. So that we do not become Ivans who do not remember our kinship and do not repeat the unsightly pages of our history, from which our hearts still tremble.
Times and generations change, but the Truth of God remains eternal, which is for every Christian the measure of the actions and aspirations of his whole life. Today, asking the Lord for forgiveness, we also pray to His Most Pure Mother, who once saved our city from great misfortune, for the granting of our shrine to us again - the icon of the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat”, lost during the years of persecution. We believe that by the grace of the Heavenly Intercessor, the icon will be found again and will return to us as a cover and protection for today's city.

Icon of the Mother of God " It is worthy to eat”Is located on the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Kareysky monastery on Athos.

One Sunday, the elder who lived not far from Kareya went to the monastery for an all-night vigil. A novice remained in the cell. At nightfall, an unknown monk knocked on the door. During the All-night Vigil, when it was necessary to sing "The Most Honest Cherubim ...", both stood in front of the icon of the Mother of God, called the Merciful, and the guest noticed that at first they were singing "It is worthy to eat ..."

While singing this unheard-of song, the icon of the Mother of God shone with heavenly light, and the novice cried with emotion. At his request, this wondrous song, in the absence of paper, was written on a stone, softened like wax, under the hand of a wonderful singer.

Calling himself Gabriel, the wanderer became invisible. The icon of the Mother of God, before which the song "It is worthy to eat" was first sung, was transferred to the cathedral church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kareya (the administrative center of Athos).

The slab, with the song inscribed on it by the Archangel Gabriel, was transferred to Constantinople during the patriarchate of St. Nicholas Chrysoverg (+ 995, Comm. 16 December). Numerous copies of the icon "It is worthy" ("Merciful") are sacredly revered in Russian churches.

In the Galernaya harbor of St. Petersburg, a five-domed church was erected in honor of the Merciful Mother of God, in which the blessed icon "Merciful" sent from Athos was placed.

About the miraculous origin of the Arkhangelsk song "IT IS WORTHY ..."

In the 10th century, between the monastic huts near Karea (Athos), there was a cell with a small temple of the Assumption of the Mother of God. An old man with a novice lived in it. The monks rarely left their secluded cell and only for special necessity.

It happened that the elder once went to a Sunday all-night vigil at the Protat Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos; his disciple remained to guard the cell, having received the order from the elder to perform the service at home. At nightfall, he heard a knock at the door and, opening the door, saw an unfamiliar splendid monk, whom he received respectfully and cordially. When it was time for the all-night service, they both began their prayer chants.

It is worthy to eat, as indeed ...

When the time came to dignify the Most Holy Theotokos, both stood before Her icon and began to sing: "The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim ..." We sing before: "It is worthy to be truly blessed Theotokos, the Most Blessed and Most Immaculate, and the Mother of our God" - and after this song we add: The most honest cherub ... "

The young monk was moved to tears, listening to the sounds of a pure angelic voice and previously unheard chants, and began to ask the guest to write him, so that he too would learn to magnify the Mother of God in the same way. But there was no ink or paper in the cell.

Then the guest said: "So, for your memory, I will write this song on this stone, and you memorize it, and sing it yourself, and teach all Christians, so that they glorify the Most Holy Theotokos." The stone, like wax, softened under the hand of the wondrous guest. Having inscribed this song on him, he gave it to the novice and, calling himself Gabriel, instantly became invisible.

The novice spent the whole night in praise before the icon of the Mother of God, and by morning he sang this Divine song by heart. The elder, returning from Kareia, found him singing a new wonderful song. The novice showed him a stone slab and told everything how it happened. The elder announced this to the council of the Apostles, and everyone, with one mouth and one heart, glorified the Lord and the Mother of God and sang a new song. Since then, the Church has been singing the Archangelic song "It is worthy to eat", and the icon, before which it was sung by the Archangel, was transferred to the Protat Cathedral in a solemn procession of the cross.

Male choir. Optina Pustyn. It is worthy to eat - Aksion Estin

ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD "WORTHY IS"
Troparion, voice 4

There are all the Athonite fathers, / gather together, truly celebrating, / this day, joyfully and brightly exclaiming, all in joy, / God's Bo Mati is now gloriously sung from the Angel. / The same, like the Mother of God, we always glorify this.

Another troparion, voice 4

As a priest, faithfulness, with boldness / to the Merciful Queen Mother of God / and affectionately cry out to Her: / send down upon us your rich mercy: / keep our church, / keep our people in prosperity, / save our land from every situation, / grant peace to the world / and salvation for our souls.

Kontakion, voice 4

All Athos is celebrating today, / as the song is wonderful from the Angel / For You, Pure Mother of God, All creation honors, praises you.

Another kontakion, voice 8

The voice of the Archangel, crying out to Ty, the Tsaritsa: / is worthy, as if truly, / blessed Ty, the Mother of God, / Most Blessed and Most Immaculate / and the Mother of our God.

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The miraculous icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy" is located in the capital of Athos Kars on the high place of the altar of the cathedral church.

She appeared in about 980, and was glorified in 1864. This icon is especially revered for this occasion.

At the end of the 10th century, there lived an old hermit with his novice near the Athos Karei monastery. Once the elder went to the all-night vigil in the church, while the novice remained in his cell to read the prayer rule. When night fell, he heard a knock at the door. Opening it, the young man saw an unfamiliar monk in front of him, who asked permission to enter. The novice let him in, and they began to sing prayer chants together.

So their night service proceeded in its own order, until the time came to magnify the Mother of God. Standing in front of Her icon "There is a Merciful One," the novice began to sing the generally accepted prayer: "The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim ...", but the guest stopped him and said: "Our Mother of God is not called so" - and sang a different beginning: " It is worthy to be, as indeed, blessed Theotokos, the Most Blessed and Most Immaculate, and the Mother of our God. " And then he added to this "The Most Honorable Cherubim ..."

The monk ordered the novice to always sing in this place of worship the hymn he had just heard in honor of the Mother of God. Not expecting that he would remember such wondrous words of the prayer he had heard, the novice asked the guest to write them down. But in the cell there was no ink or paper, and then the stranger inscribed the words of the prayer with his finger on the stone, which suddenly became soft like wax. Then the monk suddenly disappeared, and the novice only managed to ask the stranger his name, to which he replied: "Gabriel."

When the elder returned from the church, he was amazed to hear the words of a new prayer from the novice. After listening to his story about the wondrous guest and seeing the letters of the song written in a miraculous way, the elder realized that the celestial being who had appeared was the Archangel Gabriel.

The rumor about the miraculous visit of the Archangel Gabriel spread rapidly across Athos and reached Constantinople. The Athonite monks sent to the capital a stone slab with the song of the Mother of God inscribed on it as proof of the truth of the message they were transmitting. Since then, the prayer "It is worthy to eat" has become an inseparable part of Orthodox divine services. And the icon of the Mother of God "Merciful" along with its former name began to be called and "It is worthy to eat."

Photo by I. Suvorov

An old church has survived in Russia icons of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" in the village of Porez, Kirov region., also called after one of the thrones of the Mother of God. This vast brick church in the form of the Russian-Byzantine style, built in 1859-1878. A four-pillar five-domed church with a refectory and a four-tier bell tower with an onion dome. Closed in the late 1930s. In 1997, it was returned to believers and is being repaired.
Address: Kirov region, Uninsky district, s. A cut.

There are also modern churches. it


Photo by O. Shchelokov

Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat", built in 1999-2001 in the village them. Vorovskogo Vladimir region.
Address: Vladimir region., Sudogodsky district, pos. Vorovsky.

Photo by A. Alexandrov

Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat" of the Assumption St. George Monastery, erected in 2002-03.
Address: Republic of Bashkortostan, Blagoveshchensky district, p / o s. Usa-Stepanovka, monastery.