We are building a temple of the miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khoneh. We are building a temple

The temple on Russian soil has long been, and to this day, the center of church life and Orthodox culture. Many temples have been preserved on the territory of Russia, some were erected in ancient times. Today we will talk about how temples were built.

Wooden temples

In 988, under Prince Vladimir, the Baptism of Rus' took place, and already next year Greek architects arrived from Constantinople to Kyiv, and they founded the first stone church. It was the holy Prince Vladimir who became the first Russian Christian prince who gave a decree that after the baptism of the people and the Russian land, architects began to cut down churches in Russian cities.

This is how wooden temples began to appear. But the most ancient chronicle sources claim that wooden churches in Rus' were built long before Epiphany. Wooden temples have always been easier to build than stone ones, since the material for construction was more accessible. Moreover, wooden architecture has long flourished in Rus' and Slavic craftsmen built temples almost by eye, without using precise measurements and complex architectural plans.

Stone temples

However, after Epiphany, the first stone churches began to appear in Rus'. In 989, the year after the Baptism of Rus', Greek architects who arrived from Constantinople in Kyiv laid the foundation for the first stone temple of the Old Russian state - the Church of the Tithes.

This church was erected by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir on the site of the death of the first martyrs Theodore and his son John. During the construction of the Tithe Church, it was the largest Kyiv temple. From the chronicles, information has reached our days that the Tithe Church was called “marble”, since the interior of the temple was richly decorated with marble.

In 996, the construction of the Tithe Church was completed and the temple was solemnly consecrated. Long tradition to donate to the temple, she convinced Prince Vladimir to donate tithes to the erected church, after which it was remembered in the chronicles as Tithes.

After the construction of the first stone church, other stone churches began to be built. It is important that it was in the image of the Church of the Tithes that the subsequent main churches of Russian cities and monasteries were built.

Where were the temples built?

Together with the Baptism of Rus' and the beginning of the construction of churches on Russian soil, new life. For a long time, on the site of a future settlement, and primarily a city, architects were looking for a special place to build a temple - not every land was suitable for this. First of all, the builders were looking for land that was not swampy or too dry for construction.

Moreover, the temple had to be built in a prominent place, in the main part of the settlement, so that every resident could reach it. The temple was necessarily built on an elevated, “red” place, which meant the most beautiful one.

So, first of all, the temple was built, and only after that a settlement began to grow around it. The church occupied the most important role in the life of Russian people, living both in cities and in villages.

People gathered in church for services on Sundays and other days; the Russian people always went to church on great church holidays. There, in the churches, children were baptized, newlyweds were married and funeral services were held for deceased relatives.

Moreover, thanksgiving and petitionary prayers, public meetings gathered near the temple.

Architecture and construction of temples of Ancient Rus'

The main type of construction of an Orthodox church is a cross-domed one. It was this type of temple that dominated in architecture Ancient Rus'. It was this type that was erected the first stone church - Tithes.

From ancient times to this day in Rus' and in modern Russia Temples and cathedrals are being built and restored according to the construction projects of cross-domed churches. The technique of constructing stone cross-domed churches was borrowed by the architects of Ancient Rus' from Byzantium.

Since the first churches after the Epiphany were built by invited craftsmen, their work laid the foundation for the tradition of building churches under the influence of Byzantine architecture. However, soon, when Russian architects themselves began to build stone churches, their own, traditionally Russian, local style was added to the Byzantine style, which remained forever in Orthodox churches.

Since churches in Rus' played vital role For Orthodox people, then all the best was collected to decorate the temples. Temples were decorated with gold and precious stones. One of the most valuable elements of each temple were the icons, which were painted by talented icon painters.

Churches in Rus' were also built from bricks, but before that, in most cases, plinth was used for construction.

Russian craftsmen adopted plinth masonry from Byzantine builders. And until the 15th century, plinth was mainly used in the construction of churches in Rus'.

Plinth is a fired brick with approximately equal sides. Its size was usually 40x40 cm in length and width. The thickness of the brick was 2.5-4 cm, and the brick itself was light pink. Usually the plinths were held together with a thick layer of mortar, giving the building a striped appearance.

The mortars that were used for the construction of the temple, connecting the rows of plinths, were a mixture of lime, sand and crushed brick. It is known that more people built from plintha in the south of Russia, and in the north, closer to Kyiv, they preferred stone.

Later, at the end of the 15th century, appeared in Rus' new material- brick. These are molded bricks, reminiscent of modern ones. Since such brick was cheaper and much more accessible than stone, it became widespread for the construction of temples.

The brick was fired by the builders, and a special sign was placed on it, indicating the classification of bricks for laying in a specific place of construction.

Meanwhile, wooden temples also did not stop building. However, the architecture of wooden churches also changed. All over Rus' they began to build single-domed churches, erected by builders on a powerful, massive square.

Each temple took a different amount of time to build. The simplest temple could take about a year to build, while more complex ones could take more than six years. Everything depended on the number of craftsmen building the temple.

Wooden churches in Rus' were built faster, since wooden architecture had long been developed in Rus'. The construction of stone and brick churches required more time; for example, the Church of the Tithes took about seven years to build. Other temples with more complex design and expensive materials could take more than ten years to build.

The small temple was erected by builders and craftsmen, of whom there were at least 10-12 people. For construction large temples many more masters were invited, about thirty.

To whom were the temples dedicated?

Temples in Ancient Rus' were dedicated Life-Giving Trinity, Christ the Savior, the Mother of God, as well as numerous saints. Moreover, many temples were dedicated to great church holidays— Intercession and Dormition Holy Mother of God, Ascension of the Lord and many others.

Soon, in Ancient Rus', a tradition arose of erecting monument temples in places where particularly important, memorable events took place - military victories, great battles or the deaths of those who laid down their lives for their faith and the Fatherland.

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Video: Vladimir Budko

Neglect these rules, the centuries-old traditions of the Orthodox church architecture- a huge mistake, because the building of the temple is almost as sacred for believers as the icons with images of saints. According to leaders of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches and experts in church architecture, the construction of new churches must be accompanied by compliance with the following principles.

Traditionality

The appearance of an Orthodox church must strictly comply with the canons of religion. For centuries, the construction of churches was carried out according to strictly defined rules, and the classic appearance of church buildings was practically not changed. Sometimes there are significant differences in architecture Orthodox churches. However, they have a significant background.

For example, they may depend on the functional purpose of the building: a cathedral, a monument temple, a parish church - they all have their own architectural nuances. The climatic characteristics of the country or region in which the construction of temples takes place can also have an influence; some decorative elements may be determined by the trends of the era or national characteristics. But, one way or another, the architectural formation of the temple always occurs according to established canons

Functionality

The internal architecture should be as convenient as possible for conducting religious sacraments and worship, in addition, the church should include all the necessary auxiliary premises, and also meet the requirements relevant to any building, such as safety and Symbolism. It is advisable to build on a hill so that the temple can be seen from afar, and the ringing of bells can be heard as far as possible. The shapes chosen for the construction of the temple are symbolic.

The shape of the ship is a symbol of salvation: in the Church of Christ, parishioners are saved from spiritual death, from the kingdom of darkness. This shape symbolizes the ark of Noah, who slept from the flood, physical death, people who did not give up on God. The shape of the octagon symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem, which led the Magi to the cave with the manger where the Savior of the world, Jesus, was born. The Church is a guiding star leading believers to salvation, to life with Christ. Cross shape. At the foundation of the church they place the Cross of Christ, a shameful instrument for execution, which became a symbol of salvation through painful death, Jesus Christ crucified on it. The shape of the temple in the form of a circle is a symbol of the eternity of the Church, since it has no beginning or end.

Churches of Ukraine

Modern stone and wooden churches in Ukraine, as a rule, include three main zones. They are divided into an altar, a middle part and a vestibule. Moreover, the creation of these parts of the temple is thought about at the design stage, which underlies the construction of the entire structure. And, also, when developing a project, specialists must ensure that the altar of the temple faces the east - this requirement applies to absolutely all Orthodox churches.

Stages of construction of Orthodox churches

Building design;

Laying the foundation (and equipping basements, if provided for by the project);

Construction of walls (including work on thermal and waterproofing);

Roof installation.

The temples are crowned with domes depicting the sky, on the dome there is a head with a cross glorifying Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. One chapter on the Church points to Jesus Christ. Two chapters point to the natures of Jesus Christ the God and Jesus Christ the Man. The three chapters on the temple are a symbol of the Holy Trinity. The five chapters symbolize Christ and the four evangelists. And the seven crosses at the church speaks of the seven Sacraments and the seven Ecumenical Councils. Nine chapters talk about the nine ranks of angels. Thirteen chapters on the temple talk about Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles.

Next, they move on to the external and internal design of buildings. Moreover, speech in in this case not only about various finishing works (although this must also be done) and about laying communications, but also about equipping the temple with special church utensils, lamps and other specific interior items.

Sometimes, there are two-story temples. The lower floor symbolizes the earthly, militant Church. Top floor - Heavenly Church, triumphant

Where to start?
It is important to begin the construction of the temple with the blessing of the ruling bishop of the diocese. Since the temple is not built for itself, but for church community, then if there is no such community in a city or village, it needs to be created and registered. To register a community, it must include at least ten people - the so-called “ten”. A community is a legal entity and is registered with the federal registration service.

A holy place should not be empty
When the community is registered and has received the blessing of the bishop for the construction of the temple, it is necessary to contact the local authorities with a request to provide a plot of land for this. If this is, for example, a district city, then to the city or district administration, it is best to go straight to the head of the administration. Better yet, draw up an official letter from the bishop and contact the authorities with this letter. The community must understand in advance what kind of temple it would like to build, for how many people, in what style, and in whose honor the main altar will be consecrated.

In different places, the allocation of land by the authorities may occur in different ways. Somewhere, the administration is inspired by the idea of ​​​​building a temple in its area, takes into account the opinion of the rector of the community, allocates a beautiful site in the city center; somewhere they give what they give, often this is an area where construction is difficult - for example, there is a ravine nearby, and then before you start building, it will be necessary to strengthen the soil.
As Svetlana Pokrovskaya, executive director of the legal company “Business Consultations”, which deals with real estate, explained to us, if next to the proposed land plot there is a forest park area or a river, or there are important communications underground, and in the future it is planned to build a road nearby, all this can be very complicate the approval process.

To obtain a building permit, you need to collect a package of documents, including a very important cadastral passport. The passport must indicate the type of permitted use of the land plot - specifically for the construction of a temple.

On the advice of Priest Daniil Sysoev, rector of the community of the Prophet Daniel on Kantemirovskaya, which has been building a temple on the outskirts of Moscow for five years, it is better to ask for land with a small reserve, because if you ask back to back, the plot may be given a little less, and there will not be enough land.

Project
The design of the temple is done by an architectural design studio. The problem may be that there are not many workshops that specialize specifically in the construction of temples. How do you know which one is best to contact? As Priest Daniel advises, the first thing you need to do is find out whether the workshop has a state license, and a new one, since the licensing form has recently changed.

The project is approved and agreed upon by various authorities: in the general plan, in the local committee for architecture, etc. - therefore, it makes life very easy if the architectural studio has access to organizations that will conduct various examinations for approval.

Father Daniel advises to beware of architects who, instead of taking into account the wishes of the parish when designing, begin to engage in self-expression and the embodiment of their creative ideas - the result may be something that does not look very much like a temple. It is best, of course, for the church to be designed by an architect who has experience in building churches.

Construction
The question of where to find good workers in the regions is often one of the most difficult. Hieromonk Bartholomew (Kolomatsky), who was building a church in honor of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky in the city of Neya, Kostroma region, brought workers from Ukraine: even though they had to be registered as foreigners from afar, he knew them as experienced and conscientious builders.

Large design workshops often have a construction license, so both the design and construction work can be ordered from the same organization, on a turnkey basis.

Where can I get money?
The Temple of the Prophet Daniel on Kantemirovskaya is valued at half a billion rubles. “This is because we have a very difficult place for construction: there is a river flowing nearby, a slope, a ravine,” says Father Daniil. “And in general, in Moscow many things are more expensive than in the regions, for example, just connecting a church to electricity costs one and a half million rubles.” According to Svetlana Pokrovskaya, in the regions everything may be different - and for three million rubles you can completely build a temple somewhere.

Where to get money? The temple in honor of the Cathedral of Moscow Saints in Moscow Bibirevo has been under construction since 2002, now the walls have already been built, and it is planned to finish the roof by the end of the year. The temple currently has no major sponsors; construction is being carried out with donations from private individuals, plus the community has a publishing house and a subsidiary farm in the Moscow region - this way they earn money for construction, and business is moving, albeit slowly. “Everything is done with the help of God, both money and people are found,” says Hieromonk Sergius (Rybko), rector of the temple. — One architect did the project for us free of charge, now we have a team of builders working for us. The company that allocated it to us has practically nothing from this, only the workers themselves receive wages - this is the decision of the head of the company (by the way, he immediately received a lot of good orders).”

The area in the Kostroma region where Father Bartholomew is building the temple is very poor, and the local funds raised, according to the priest, are the widow’s contribution. But the construction is being helped by one wealthy person who venerates St. Spyridon - thanks to him, the construction is moving forward. “What is associated with the construction of a temple is always a miracle. The miracle is how the money is found, how all sorts of approvals are resolved. It seems to me that it is not we who are building the temple, but Saint Spyridon himself,” says Father Bartholomew.

In the church under construction on Kantemirovskaya, the issue of money is resolved as follows: “We call and send letters to various organizations, asking for help,” says Tatyana Predovskaya, assistant to the church elder. -- If you just send a newsletter and wait for a response, only one percent of organizations respond. If you call and communicate individually, they respond much more often.” Residents of the surrounding houses also help as best they can: many people want to be involved in the construction of a temple in their area.

Eat interesting way to raise funds for the temple - personalized bricks. A person pays a certain amount, and his name is written on a personalized brick, which is then built into the temple.

“The eyes are afraid, the hands are doing”
How long does it take to build a temple? In rural areas, this issue, as experience shows, is resolved more quickly: in the city of Neya, Kostroma Region, the first pit bucket for the foundation was removed in June 2006, and today all that remains is to build a bell tower and carry out internal work. In Moscow, everything is not so fast: the community of the Temple of the Prophet Daniel on Kantemirovskaya was created in 2003, and the collection of documents and funds immediately began. By now, a large stage - pre-design work - has almost been completed. The construction itself has not yet begun; the service is being held in a small temporary church nearby, but although slowly, things are still moving.

Association of Restorers. Workshops of Andrey Anisimov. Design and construction of chapels.

The whole world is building a chapel in the Arctic Circle

The construction of a temple-chapel in a village beyond the Arctic Circle required time, effort, and unforeseen financial costs. But he also generously rewarded me with meetings with people who, having learned why their help was needed, provided it without hesitation.

A large stand, visible from afar, at the intersection of Stroiteley and Montazhnikov streets reports that the construction of the first chapel-temple in Iskatel, a settlement of geological explorers, began in July 2015. There is also a mandatory line on such information tablets about its planned completion. However, the date is wisely not specified - it depends on many circumstances. It is not for nothing that it has been said since ancient times that man proposes, but God disposes.

Cossacks love it

By the standards of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Iskateli is a huge settlement. Almost eight thousand people live there. However, there has never been a church in the second largest settlement of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Even after the Orthodox Annunciation parish was created here on July 10, 2012, and in the spring of 2014 it was generously allocated for construction in the center of the village temple complex 16 thousand square meters of land and the old barracks on the allocated site were demolished; for a long time, people were forced to habitually get to church services at the Naryan-Mar Cathedral. In any weather, the old women patiently waited at the bus stops for the regular bus to the regional capital. And young families with children who were being taken to communion who had not acquired personal cars asked to be fellow travelers with friends with cars, or spent money on a taxi.

The northernmost diocese of Russia does not have the money to raise a temple in the Seekers. The initially cherished dream of a stone structure had to be abandoned.

However, a wooden building also requires 6 million rubles - by northern standards, the funds seem to be small, but they also need to be found somewhere...

“I don’t even want to discuss how they plan to arrange the temple grounds in the Seekers.” To say in the current conditions that we will do this and that is irresponsible. I am planning! What next? – Bishop Yakov of Naryan-Mar and Mezen was not so much answering my question as he was thinking out loud. – Our region is an oil region, but the diocese currently has no real help from oil workers. Thank God, we receive some small grants from the district for the formation of a library and missionary activities, otherwise it would be very difficult. We don’t give up: we do what we can. And, of course, we count on the support of caring people. But there are such people, and there are many of them.

Realizing that the construction of the temple had a chance to drag on for an indefinite period of time, the head of the Seekers, Grigory Kovalenko, helped with the premises for creating a house church. It has been in effect since December 2014. Divine services are held every Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Blacksmith Maxim Chalenko and his comrades from the local Cossack society “Stanitsa Pustozerskaya” made and installed a stylized dome with a cross on the building. In his workshop they built a belfry, three small bells for which were given to the young parish from Epiphany cathedral. And now the parishioners in the village are calling to common prayer bell ringing, never before heard over the Seekers.

The only problem is that the house church is cramped. About fifty people will come to the liturgy, standing close together. Last Easter there were 59 Orthodox Christians, so crowded you can’t cross yourself properly. But parish life needs to be developed. It's time to open Sunday school for children and adults, a library of spiritual literature. But where, even if the priest is forced to conduct Sunday conversations in the vestibule (to put it simply, a tiny corridor) of a room adapted for a church?!

“If we don’t manage to master the planned solid temple, 12 by 12 meters at the base, we will build a small temple-chapel, fortunately there is a log house for it,” Bishop Jacob decided.

Cossacks of “Pustozerskaya Stanitsa”, having gathered a circle ( general advice), unanimously shouted “Love!”, unanimously supporting the proposal of Ataman Viktor Obidin to provide all possible assistance to the initiative. And how could it be otherwise? Not the Cossack who wears a hat, but who justifies this proud title with his deeds. Especially if they concern the revival in the Arctic Orthodox faith- There is no Cossack without her.

For a good cause

We prayed at the site of the future church-chapel and, with God’s help, set out.

Any construction begins with a vertical layout of the territory. This took a lot of sand - 15 MAZ trucks, since it was necessary to fill up the hole left on the site of the demolished barracks. They took him from a quarry owned by Maxim Doronin, one of the village residents. Of course, he didn’t take a penny for it. For density, sand was mixed with asphalt chips. Three cars of this goodness, also free of charge, were provided by the director of Naryan-Mardorstroy, Vladimir Nizyev. In the summer, the company actively repaired roads in the city, so there was an abundance of broken asphalt. The prepared reliable foundation for the building was also strengthened with thick concrete slabs, again fitted by Doronin. Well-known entrepreneur in the Nenets District, Anatoly Kurlenko, helped with construction equipment: a loader with a bucket that leveled and compacted the bedding, a truck crane, a manipulator (a mechanical arm with a platform) - it was needed to install the dome.

But we've gotten too ahead of ourselves.

A good deed, as a rule, is not easy and quick. Before the golden dome with a cross now crowns the chapel, the Cossacks still had a lot to overcome.

It won't work, it won't work!

Having prepared the site for development, the Cossacks with a light heart We left for the summer holidays - after all, people are families, with children. Someone went to accompany a multi-ton truck with humanitarian cargo collected by Stanitsa Pustozerskaya with the help of district residents in support of Donbass: the fighting in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions had already begun to decline, but the blockade of the rebellious south-west of Ukraine by the Kyiv regime was flaring up.

Having gathered again in the Seekers in September, the men began to think deeply. As it turned out, there was no time to waste without them. A foundation made of reinforced concrete, the highest quality in Naryan-Mar, was already ready for the chapel - the Verso M company did not spare four cubes. The filling was supervised by Vladimir Pastukhov, head of the site of the Moscow company Promkapstroy, which is now building the spiritual and educational center “Arctic Cathedral” in the polar capital for the newly formed diocese.

The only trouble is that experienced builders did everything according to the finished drawing provided to them, but the measurer missed.

As a basis, he took the length of the logs from end to end, without taking into account the fact that when assembling the log house, a groove-lock would have to be cut out on each one. Naturally, they then did not coincide with the foundation. Yes, not just a little, but firmly, you could easily stick a couple of fists into the gap between the lower logs and the base prepared for them. In order to somehow improve the situation, they decided to expand the foundation using brick columns and pieces of concrete piles. And they already managed to put five crowns on them...

The Cossacks looked at this obscenity, thought about it and rendered a verdict. Would you do this in your own backyard? No! Well, why build a temple-chapel in a crooked way?!

It is necessary to obtain longer logs for the end walls and redo everything according to the mind.

This proposal was addressed to the ruling bishop of the Naryan-Mar diocese. Bishop Jacob at first doubted: wouldn’t it turn out that you would roll out the finished part of the log house, and then everything would stop? However, when the Cossacks vowed not only to raise the frame before the New Year, but also to crown it with a dome and a cross, they blessed it.

Golden logs

24 logs were required and they had to be purchased in Arkhangelsk. We took calibrated ones, made to size - albeit expensive, but of excellent quality. Including delivery, they cost one hundred thousand rubles. The Cossacks chipped in.

– No one is in poverty in Stanitsa Pustozerskaya. Everyone works, with a salary, there are investors, heads of small and medium-sized businesses - Maxim Doronin smiles widely. - Well, yes, times are difficult. There was a time when I couldn’t pay my employees on time. But if they decided to build a chapel on the circle, then failure cannot be allowed. And the Cossacks gave their word to the ruler...

Maxim was working on the logs. This 35-year-old dark-haired tough guy is just a motor. No matter what you take on, everything turns out smoothly, oh well. That’s why the ataman focused on him collecting humanitarian aid for Donbass; he knew he wouldn’t let him down. And how quickly Max acted with a nail puller, a hammer and a crowbar when the Cossacks staged a cleanup day at the only stable in Naryan-Mar, where the horses of the former equestrian club “Dream” were left unneeded by anyone except their owner. Then they repaired all 18 dilapidated stalls - enclosures for loose horses, strengthened the ceiling and gates, raised the fallen fence, chipped off the ice that had grown on the pasture, whitewashed the walls, and brought in a supply of hay.

Actually, Doronin is not a natural Cossack. Pomor. Grew up in Arkhangelsk. But for ten years now the donkey has settled firmly in the Seekers. And after the public association “Stanitsa Pustozerskaya” was organized here, he became a registered Cossack. This free tribe, as far as one can look into the history of the Cossacks, has never been a closed caste. They accepted into their ranks the decision of the village circle and non-residents - newcomers who shared their views, were ready to fight for the Cossack idea and proved themselves to be deserved and worthy of respect citizens.

As I can understand, Maxima also leads through life by the example of her father. Sergei Yakovlevich Doronin is a businessman. But he is not fixated on increasing his personal capital. Their family, as far as Maxim remembers, has always been very devout; he was taken to church from a young age. Now my father is the church warden of the Assumption Church in Arkhangelsk. There, on Svoboda Street, he is building the Temple of the Sign Mother of God. He restored a church destroyed by the Bolsheviks in his wife’s homeland in the village of Morilovo near Kholmogory. He himself comes from the small village of Shoina, nestled on the shores of the White Sea. He plans to build a chapel there for his fellow countrymen. The mortgage cross is already ready.

The already golden logs for the seeker’s temple-chapel, in theory, should have become even more expensive.

However, having learned what the logs were intended for, the Arkhangelsk company Polar Trans attached the cargo to one of the two ships that made their way to Naryan-Mar at the beginning of last November through the ice that had already bound Pechora.

Given that this was the last flight of the final navigation, and for the delivery of vital cargo to the polar capital, in particular flour for the Naryan-Mar bakery, other clients had to pay at an increased rate, but here, consider it for nothing.

The whole world

Having received the logs at the seaport, throwing them into a heavy truck and bringing them to the construction site, the Cossacks had a little argument - what to do next? Although they are handy men, no one has built log houses before. And in this case, as, in fact, in every case, there are enough secrets. It’s impossible to live without a good carpenter, but we couldn’t find one ahead of time.

– The specialist turned out to be great! I’m ashamed to admit, they never bothered to ask him for his last name: Nikolai and Nikolai... But the Lord simply sent him to us,” says Ataman Viktor Obidin. “I can’t imagine how we would have managed without him.” We agreed for two days, but worked together for a month and a half.

This is exactly how long it took to raise the chapel to the dome. The frame of 14 crowns measuring 4.20 by 6 meters took exactly two weeks to assemble. Friends helped the Cossacks lay the logs; their wives and children prepared caulk. There was something for everyone. However, it was not possible to grow more than a crown per day. November turned out to be frosty, the power tools could not stand it and often broke down. I constantly had to repair a powerful drill.

But still, the main problem was the lack of material. After all, the log house was received without a floorboard, which is necessary for arranging the roof of the forest and various other things. It’s good that, having dropped the bill once again, we bought a fifty-fifty floorboard for 25 thousand rubles. The rest was not available in city construction stores. You can’t bring it from the mainland either: Naryan-Mar does not have year-round land connections with the mainland, but navigation is already closed, and the winter road is not yet operational.

The administration of the Seekers led the Cossacks to entrepreneur Ramzan Sagaev. A Chechen by nationality and a Muslim by religion, he provided the lumber and metal tiles to choose from that were needed for the construction of the roof of the Orthodox chapel.

He resolutely refused the money offered. Another business man, Valery Vinogradov, pulled out from his turnover five cubes of boards and beams for ceiling beams that were much needed by the Cossacks. Denis Ozhigin, housekeeper of the Naryan-Mar diocese, brought rolls of insulation.

– I look back now. It happened, and it was a little difficult, but in the end everything invariably worked out,” Maxim Doronin philosophizes. “Bishop Jacob is overseeing the progress of construction. We decided to somehow please him that we had finally found the boards of the required cross-section necessary for installing the rafters. They called, but the bishop corrected: “You didn’t find it, but the board itself found you.” From that time on, we stopped “yaking” and “mooing.” Everything is God's will...

Safety margin

The diocese ordered the dome with the cross from the Perm region. The price in the catalog is 90 thousand rubles. They explained to the owner of the local enterprise, Evgeniy Solovyov, that the parish in Iskatelya is small and there are not enough funds. He dropped 10 thousand. He apologized that he couldn’t do it anymore and paid half the cost of transporting the purchase to Kirov. Further, to Naryan-Mar, the dome was delivered in a Kamaz by local businessman Ruslan Yakush.

Initially it was assumed that the octagonal drum under the dome on the chapel would be built of wood. However, Maxim Chalenko protested. An experienced blacksmith argued that it was much more practical to make a drum from metal corners and then cover it with tin. Yes, it’s even more beautiful; bad weather, in any case, won’t lead or distort it.

Since Chalenko had no experience in making such structures, the dome was brought to his workshop. Where they began to create with their Cossack friend Vasily Sklyarenko, in the world - deputy for production of the general director of the Zapolyar-Trans-Service company.

For strength, we went through the bends of metal corners and electric welding, and adjusted the fastenings. After Chalenko’s daughter, schoolgirl Katya, treated the resulting 16 legs with an anti-rust agent, one end of them was attached from the inside of the dome, and the other to a specially made frame. And she, in turn, was firmly screwed to a table prepared in the attic of the chapel.

– Was it difficult because you’re not used to it? – asked Maxim.

– What difficulties might the Cossacks have? – he just shrugged his shoulders. - Everything was done in good faith, in accordance Orthodox traditions and with a tenfold safety margin.

The dome on the chapel was installed by the ataman of “Stanitsa Pustozerskaya” Viktor Obidin with the Cossack Vasily Sklyarenko. Just as they gave the words to the bishop, even before the new year...

“Yes, everyone must be indicated,” asks the chieftain. “Many people helped us with the chapel, but still the Cossacks bore the brunt of it on their shoulders. Everyone worked conscientiously: Mikhail Komnatny, brothers Nikolai and Ivan Egorov, Nikolai Golovkov, Alexey Usov...

And the Cossacks want to make one more change to the design of the temple-chapel. Convert the provided open porch into a warm porch with windows and a door. This will allow the transverse blank log wall inside to be converted into an arched opening, freeing up more space for worshipers. Money has already been set aside for this.

In principle, there is still enough work. But the Cossacks assure that they will do everything in their power to ensure that the first church service in the church-chapel was held on the coming Easter, which this year falls on May 1.

They have already established a good tradition - starting their pilgrimage trips from the walls of the chapel. Not long ago, Bishop Jacob blessed them here on their long journey along the winter road to Antoniyevo-Siysky monastery, which is one and a half hundred versts from Arkhangelsk.

“It so happened that many people were going on the trip, but only a small group was able to go,” says Victor Obidin. “However, they took with them the banner of Stanitsa Pustozerskaya.” This means that all our Cossacks were invisibly with us.

Naryan-Mar

Special for the Centenary

Near the temple Venerable Mary Egyptian has begun construction of a new big temple in honor of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khoneh. The ancient Moscow Miracle Monastery, founded by St. Alexy of Moscow in 1358, was also dedicated to this event, in commemoration of gratitude for the help and miraculous healing wife of the Tatar Khan Janibek Taidula, during the difficult times of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus'. In honor of the same event, the cathedral (i.e. main) church of the monastery was consecrated. Many historical figures and events are associated with the Chudov Monastery, since it was located inside the Moscow Kremlin. In old times, the majestic Kremlin monastery was called the “Great Lavra”. After the destruction of the monastery in 1929 - 1932, there were no churches left in Moscow dedicated to the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khoneh, and there are few such churches throughout Russia.

This miraculous event itself happened in ancient Byzantium, in the 4th century. In Phrygia, not far from the city of Hierapolis, there was a temple in the name of Archangel Michael; A healing spring flowed near the temple. This temple was built by the zeal of one of the residents of the city of Laodicea in gratitude to God and the holy Archangel Michael for the healing of his dumb daughter with the water of the spring. Archangel Michael, appearing in a dream vision to the father of a mute girl, who had not yet been enlightened by holy Baptism, revealed to him that his daughter would receive the gift of speech by drinking water from the spring. The girl actually received healing at the source and began to speak. After this miracle, the father and daughter and his entire family were baptized, and through the zeal of the grateful father, a temple was erected in honor of the Holy Archangel Michael. Not only Christians, but also pagans began to come to the source for healing; many of the pagans renounced idols and turned to faith in Christ.

In the church of St. Michael the Archangel, a pious man named Archippus performed the service of sexton for 60 years. By preaching about Christ and the example of his godly life, he led many pagans to faith in Christ. In their anger at Christians in general, and primarily at Archippus, who never left the temple and was an exemplary servant of Christ, the pagans decided to destroy the temple and at the same time destroy Archippus. To do this, they connected two mountain rivers into one channel and directed their flow towards the temple. Saint Archippus fervently prayed to Archangel Michael to prevent disaster. Through his prayer, Archangel Michael appeared near the temple, who, with a blow of his staff, opened a wide cleft in the mountain and commanded the waters of the seething stream to rush into it. Thus the temple remained undamaged. Seeing such a wondrous miracle, the pagans fled in fear, and Saint Archippus and the Christians gathered at the temple glorified God and thanked Saint Michael the Archangel for his help. The place where the miracle happened was called Khona, which means “hole”, “cleft”.

Personalized brick - your contribution to the construction of the temple

Every day the Church prays for the creators, benefactors, and decorators of the temple. These prayers will be offered to the throne of God as long as the temple will stand on earth. This also applies to owners of a “personal brick” - a certificate of donation for the construction of the temple of God. At each liturgy, prayers are offered “for the creators of this holy temple,” “for those who bear fruit and do good.” That is, about people who make donations to the temple of God, and also, through their deeds, contribute to the affirmation of the faith of Christ.

Saint John Chrysostom wrote: “There are always prayers, praises and celebrations for you; an offering for you every Sunday. Think that by erecting an altar to God, even before the coming of Christ, you will have reward.”

During the construction of the temple, if desired, you can see the signed bricks. But then the walls will be plastered, after which the names of the benefactors will not be visible to anyone, which is in accordance with God’s commandment that believers keep their good deeds secret. Deeds of charity performed in secret, which, of course, include donations for the construction of the temple, attract the grace of God to the one who does them, which brings about the salvation of a person, cleansing his heart and reviving his faith (James 2:26).
You can buy personalized bricks next to the temple under construction, in the Church of St. Mary of Egypt.