Ordinary church. History of everyday churches in Russia

Since the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the Orthodox idea has come to the forefront of the value orientations of the Russian ethnos and has taken a key place in every minute of the believer's life. That is why in the case of saving the village or city from a catastrophe and as a gratitude for the victory over the enemy, believers began to erect spiritual symbols on the site of the event in the shortest possible time. So there was a new type of Orthodox church building - the ordinary church.

The Church as an Invisible Guide to Man

The history of the ordinary church in Russia began in 996, when Grand Duke Vladimir, having escaped with his retinue from the Pechenegs under the shelter of the bridge, built a temple on this site.

However, the spread of ordinary churches as temple buildings in Russia began only at the end of the 14th - the middle of the 15th century, especially in the territories of Pskov and Novgorod.

The notion of "ordinary church" - with emphasis on the third syllable - reveals the definition of the temple building, created in one day, "about one day".

The place of the spiritual beginning in the everyday life of man

Such a high rate of erection of the temple is explained by a simple rule - the church becomes a "pure" blessed place only after its consecration, therefore the work on its erection does not stop for a minute, and the ordinary church remained protected from evil spirit until the very end of construction and sanctification. The collective act of construction, the return of one's spiritual and physical strength, served as an additional guarantee of this security and, at the same time, served as a process of rallying people on the way to achieving divine Grace. One of these temples, rallying hundreds of people and radiating grace every second, is the church of Ilya Obydenny in Moscow.

Creating a temple in gratitude for salvation

All ordinary temples are created as symbols of Divine help and intercession for believing people. Always ordinary temples are created for a great cause - according to the vow of the people given for the propitiation of God, disgust from people of disasters and catastrophes. For example, during the human mora in 1390 in Novgorod in the name of the holy father Athanasius in one day the church was set up and consecrated by Bishop John. A similar church was built by the Pskovites in Pskov during the seas of 1407.

In Moscow in 1553, during the cold weather, Ivan IV the Terrible ordered two wooden churches, built in one day and consecrated in honor of St. Christopher and Cyril Belozersky. This was the first entry in the New City annals, where it was said about the construction of ordinary churches under the decree of the Grand Duke.

Historically conditioned development of Russian temple architecture

Ordinary church on the technique of its erection differs from the Orthodox wooden or stone church. In the carpentry specialized workshops the components of the temple were made in advance, then in the right place and within one day the entire structure was assembled very quickly. Of course, because of its compactness, the ordinary church could not accommodate more than two hundred people. However, this number of parishioners is a medium-sized parish community, nurtured by a priest.

In its modern appearance, the ordinary church can be high - 15 meters high, 80 square meters and with a capacity for up to 150 parishioners - and a low one, whose height is 12 meters, but the area is only 49 square meters.

A wooden temple is made of glued beams or logs. The modern everyday church is most often not placed on the foundation, but is erected on concrete cubes. This is done because its functioning in a new urban or rural microdistrict is calculated on a temporary basis, assuming the movement of the temple to a new location when erected on an old permanent stationary church. The newly appointed temple also requires a period of precipitation in a new place.

In modern Russia, the ordinary church is most actively built in the Far East and Siberia, due to the inaccessibility of standard construction materials for these places and the short time of the year necessary for erecting a stone church.

Artistic design and icon painting of the Russian ordinary Orthodox church

In the modern world, the clergy pays much attention to the interior decoration of the temple, which seeks to get rid of excessive Byzantine luxury, and at the same time look dignified and noble, setting the parishioners to the necessary solemnly attentive mode and striking with the skill of icon painters and architects.

Therefore, despite the more than modest appearance, the ordinary church is a magnificent example of Russian temple architecture, which includes an Orthodox iconostasis, an external thread on the wings of the entrance and a sparkling sunflower.

Of course, ritual objects - censer, font, cross, candles - are purchased in diocesan departments.

The priest either sanctifies the icons donated by parishioners, or the church parish resorts to the services of regular icon painters.

Ilia Obedennyi - invisible patron of the Russian people

Special respect and reverence among the Russian people is enjoyed by the prophet Ilya, who is considered the patron of the airmen-airmen and airborne troops of Russia.

The prophet Ilya, in his lifetime a zealous denouncer of human vices, a widow defender and a formidable avenger of justice, who executed the priests of Yahweh and Baal, is the ruler of drought and rain. The Russians on Ilyin's Day, celebrated on August 2, were forbidden to work, and, according to the belief, the evil spirits went into the water, so until next year the mood was forbidden to swim. This was the date of family feasts, which in many provinces was preceded by a week-long fast.

The Temple of Ilia Obydenny in Moscow

A few temples have a long three-hundred-year history, during which they were periodically ruined and rebuilt. One of these churches is the Church of Elijah the Prophet Ordinary in Moscow. This temple dates back to the 16th century when the wooden church was built by the Grand Duke Vasily III, according to the vow - "mundane", "mundane" - therefore called the temple of the prophet Elijah the Common.

In 1611, the temple was burned by Polish troops, in 1612 there was the headquarters of Dmitry Pozharsky. In the 17th century it already functioned as a solemn chapel of kings, where prayers for rain were also raised during the drought.

In 1706, the Duma clerk Gavriil Fyodorovich Derevnin and his brother Vasily rebuilt the church of Elijah Obydenniy anew, on the territory of which later they were buried. In the same year, to the main cold throne of the prophet Elijah , a warm refectory was built to pray in the winter season, which was badly damaged by the fire and was rebuilt in 1753.

Now inside the temple walls are covered with magnificent paintings, mostly on the themes of the life of the Prophet Elijah. In the temple are the relics of St. Athanasius of Kovrov and the icon of Our Lady of Kazan.

Since 1917, the temple was not closed for a second. Due to its rich history, it is not only a sample of the Russian icon painting and architectural school, but also a great place for the transfer of sacred knowledge - the library, the lecture hall and the parish school work at the temple of Elijah the Prophet.