For a long time I planned to go to Sofrino, find and see the Smolensk Church in these places - a wonderful example of the Moscow Baroque, fortunately, preserved to this day.
I already had a large backpack behind me, which could fit a metal detector, a shovel and, of course, a camera. The first time I went with such an impressive set)
Nature had not yet begun to acquire its autumn color (and I went in early September), but the cloudy weather reminded me of the current time of year. Getting to this church is not difficult at all. It takes about an hour to travel by train to Ashukinskaya station, from there it’s another 20-30 minutes walk to the destination. You will first have to walk along a small highway, then turn into a village that has preserved quite a few ancient wooden houses, and after passing through this village you will come out to the church. There she is already peeking out from behind the forest)
Nearby there is a beautiful lake that you need to go around, the landscapes you will see are something like this:
This was once a manor area, but many of the buildings have not survived to this day, including the main manor house.
A little history:
The current village of Sofrino was originally known as Suponevo. The village received its new name - Safarino - from the name of the wealthy merchant Ivan Safarin, who bought it in the 16th century. The village was located on the left bank of the Talitsa River and consisted of a wooden Assumption Church, surrounded on three sides by huts. The ancient Trinity Road to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra ran along the eastern outskirts of the village. A dam with a mill was built on Talitsa. This dam was restored to its old dimensions by local residents in 1968-1969.
At the end of the 1680s, the village, which was owned by the sovereign's court, was granted to boyar F.P. Saltykov, who became the tsar's father-in-law (his daughter Praskovya married Ivan Alekseevich). In 1691-1694, on the right steep bank, opposite the village, Saltykov built two-story chambers. Adjoining them on the eastern side was a house church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. A regular linden park was laid out around the chambers, an orchard was planted and a pond was dug. In addition, a weaving factory, stables and servants' houses were built. In the 18th century, the Safari chambers repeatedly served as a refuge for royalty on their way to a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. As a sign of this, a small crown is placed on the cross of the temple dome.
The last owner of Safarin was the granddaughter of the builder of the chambers, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Yaguzhinskaya (1749-1843), wife of Sergei Pavlovich Yaguzhinsky (1731-1806). She is known for the fact that in 1833 she freed her peasants from serfdom by transferring her lands to them for use. The grave of V.N. Yaguzhinskaya is preserved in the basement of the Smolensk Church.
After the death of the Yaguzhinsky chamber, they gradually deteriorated, the garden fell into disrepair, and some of the trees were cut down. The chambers were dismantled, and some of the bricks were used to build a refectory and bell tower in the 1860s.
In 1902-1905, on the south side of the refectory, the Nikolsky chapel with a parish school was built. Funds for this were provided by the Moscow merchant Vera Abramovna Egorova.
In 1938, the temple was closed, and its last rector, Abbot Platon (Klimov, 1877-1966), was exiled. The building was used for various economic needs, was brought to a state of disrepair and became ownerless. Some utensils, icons, as well as the royal doors of the 16th century, transferred to the iconostasis of the Smolensk Church in 1878 from a dismantled wooden church, were transferred to the Kolomenskoye Museum, where they are still stored.
In the 1970s, under the leadership of I.V. Ilyenko (1921-1996), the temple was restored. Church services were resumed in the 1990s. Work is underway to restore the iconostasis in the ancient part of the temple.
The Smolensk Church with a refectory and bell tower, a pond and a neglected linden park, have survived to this day from the estate, which experienced its heyday in the 18th century.
There is also such a memorial plaque on the church.
The temple in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov rises above the Sofrino enterprise. Majestic, built using elements of ancient Russian architecture, it became an adornment not only of the plant, but of the entire village of Sofrino. The temple is joy and spiritual consolation for those working at the plant, for residents of surrounding areas who attend services on Sundays and holidays.
His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II gave his blessing for the construction of a new church in September 1995, on the day of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the enterprise.
The project of a new church, in which a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov was to take a place worthy of this shrine, was discussed long and carefully. The project was developed at the Central Research and Design Institute for the Reconstruction of Historical Cities. The temple was erected by craftsmen from Nizhneangarsk (JSC Nizhneangarsktransstroy), who had sufficient experience in temple construction.
The temple was built with voluntary donations from the company’s employees and surrounding residents. Philanthropists provided great financial assistance for its successful completion.
Among them are Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov, Ivan Sergeevich Yarygin, Alexander Vasilievich Yakovlev, Nikolai Ivanovich Milov, Alexander Ivanovich Skorobogatko, Vladimir Ivanovich Malyshkov, Anastasia Petrovna Ositis, Konstantin Borisovich Shor, Mikhail Yakovlevich Khesin, Sergei Viktorovich Pugachev and other respected people. The names of the benefactors are immortalized on a memorial plaque installed at the entrance to the temple. The workers of the enterprise are grateful to them for the contribution that they generously contributed to the construction of the temple. Prayer for them is offered to the Lord at every service.
Intensive construction work continued for a year and a half. The temple literally “grew before our eyes.” The builders worked with a sense of great responsibility, from early morning until late evening, in any, even the most inclement, weather.
While the builders were erecting the walls, the workers of the enterprise were diligently engaged in the manufacture of church utensils for the new temple according to individual sketches, putting all their soul and skill into this work. They worked for the glory of God, for the sake of the beauty and splendor of the House of the Lord. The works of their hands are the throne, the altar, the seven-branched candlestick, liturgical vessels and other accessories of the altar; artistically executed lattice on the sole and chandelier, as well as a magnificent carved gilded iconostasis, an image of the Crucifixion, icons located outside the iconostasis, carved icon cases and a funeral table (“eve”).
The author of the iconostasis project was A.N. Moskalionov, who was then the chief artist of the Sofrino enterprise. This was one of the first serious works that laid the foundation for the creation of an iconostasis workshop at the enterprise in the future.
And then the day came when, in gray stormy weather, with a large crowd of people, after a thanksgiving prayer, the dome crowning the temple rose into the sky. And miraculously, the dense clouds gave way to the bright rays of the sun, illuminating the shining golden dome of the new temple.
On May 5, 1997, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, co-served by a host of bishops, solemnly consecrated the temple. On August 1, 1997, the temple became the Patriarchal Metochion.
Stepping onto the stairs leading to the temple, you will certainly look at the beautifully executed wall paintings. The theme of the painting is the life of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov: from the childhood of the youth Prokhor (that was the name of the saint in the world, before he took monastic vows) - to the solemn glorification of the Venerable Elder Seraphim as a saint, which took place in 1903.
The wall painting in the temple depicts the saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, who are the patrons of various church crafts. These saints combined prayerful feats and church service with the practice of church arts. The Venerable Sergius of Radonezh is depicted here, with whose blessing the Bogorodsk school of wood carving began its existence. An ancient monastic legend says that the Abbot of the Russian Land, in short moments of rest, carved toys from wood, which he distributed to children who came on pilgrimage.
Here is the reverend icon painter Andrei Rublev, who created an immortal work that has gained worldwide fame - the icon of the Life-Giving Trinity. For centuries, the works of the holy icon painter have been considered models for those who dedicated their lives to the feat of “icon painting.” Sofrino icon painters also resort to the prayerful help of St. Andrei Rublev.
The heavenly patron of icon painters is also the Monk Alypius of Pechersk, who labored in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in the 11th century. According to the life of St. Alypius, his creations became famous for many miracles.
The Monk Eustathius Zlatar also belongs to the Council of Kiev-Pechersk Saints, who combined ascetic deeds with obedience in creating objects for liturgical purposes and other church utensils. And also the Venerable Nestor the Chronicler, who is revered as his heavenly patron by everyone associated with the publication of Orthodox books, including the workers of the printing house of the Sofrino enterprise.
Those who are engaged in the sewing industry turn their prayers to the Venerable Fevronia of Murom (in monasticism - Euphrosyne), who, like many righteous and pious wives of Ancient Rus', embroidered shrouds, coverings, airs, and shrouds for churches. Among the paintings in the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov are figures of the temple builders: Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, Archbishops of Novgorod Moses and Jonah.
A special place in the painting of the temple is occupied by an event from recent church history - the second discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Patriarch Alexy II is depicted with the archpastors of the Russian Orthodox Church at the shrine with the relics of the saint in the Moscow Epiphany Cathedral.
In May 2012, the deanery of stauropegial churches and Patriarchal Compounds was created, headed by His Eminence Savva, Bishop of the Resurrection, and the church of the plantwas transferred to the new deanery. From this time on, both clergy and parishioners of the Church of St. Seraphim see the fatherly care and attention of the vicar of His Holiness - the Most Reverend Savva, Bishop of the Resurrection. Prayer communication and wisdomBishop's pastoral word to the factory workershave become a good tradition on the throne days of the templeand on holidays of the Sofrino Art and Production Enterprise.
Every day, in the temple of the Sofrino enterprise, a prayer service is held to the heavenly patron of the factory workers, St. Seraphim of Sarov. The service is broadcast throughout the plant; this gives every employee, no matter where he is, the opportunity to sanctify his working day with prayer. Every week on Thursdays, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the church, which is attended in turn by employees of all departments of the enterprise. Many workers got married in the factory church and baptized their children and grandchildren here.
The rector of the church, Archpriest Valery Kuznetsov, is conducting pastoral work on the further churching of workers at the plant. It consecrates finished products, new premises, equipment; participates in the development of new products, monitors compliance with the canons, and advises workers on various issues.
It has become a good tradition for all factory workers to gather with their children and all family members on Easter and Christmas in the house church, pray together and share a festive meal.
Angel days, birthdays, anniversaries, all significant events begin with a thanksgiving prayer in the temple. Another factory tradition is to congratulate Sofrino’s administrative workers here.
For many years, the spiritual nourishment of workers has been provided by His Eminence Vladyka Theognostus, vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The services of Archbishop Feognost of Sergiev Posad are distinguished by special heartfelt prayer. Workers listen to wonderful, wise sermons with special attention. The confessors of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra accept confession, spiritually instruct workers, help to understand difficult life situations and find the path to salvation.
For those who work at the plant, it is always a holiday when the archpastors lead the service in the church. The following people served in the church: Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Mercury, Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon, Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Georgy, Bishop of Solnechnogorsk Sergius, Bishop of Podolsk Tikhon, Bishop of Dmitrov Theophylact. In their sermons, their Eminence bishops address people with words of spiritual support, lovingly bring them the Word of God, strengthen and inspire them.
With special feeling, the workers thank the protodeacons Father Vladimir Nazarkin and Father Nikolai Platonov. Their participation in divine services gives them a special solemnity; their inspired, beautiful voices penetrate into the very hearts of those praying.
During services in the church, students of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary sing. On Easter and on the days of remembrance of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the Sofrino enterprise holds solemn religious processions in which all factory workers participate.
From different parts of Russia, miraculous images are brought to the temple for veneration. The workers greeted the miraculous image of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts” with great reverence.
The church takes care not only of adult parishioners, but also of little ones. There is a Sunday school at the church, for which the management of the enterprise has allocated excellent premises. The priests of the temple talk with children about God, about His Law, about eternal Christian values; instill in them an Orthodox view of the world.
A special feature of Sunday school is teaching children church crafts. The school runs clubs in which children acquire artistic skills. The circles are taught by workers of the enterprise, people with teaching talent. The best masters and craftswomen introduce children to the basics of their art - embroidery, beadwork, wood carving, icon painting and jewelry making. The children visit production workshops, where they observe the work of craftsmen and learn their skills.
Pilgrimage trips to monasteries in the Moscow region are organized for Sunday school students and employees of the enterprise, where they come into contact with ancient church art and plunge into the atmosphere of monastic life. All this allows them to better understand and realize the meaning of the life of an Orthodox Christian.
Temple contacts
Address: 141270, Moscow region, pos. Sofrino, st. Patriarcha Pimen (former Zheleznodorozhnaya St.), no. 3.
Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov is a house temple, built for prayer by employees of the enterprise "KhPP" Sofrino "ROC".
Visiting the temple is possible only with the personal blessing of the rector of the temple.
To visit the temple on Sundays and holidays, you must obtain a pass from the priest.
Telephone:+7 495 993-24-49
Schedule of services in the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov:
The Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov is the home church of LLC "KhPP Sofrino" Russian Orthodox Church." Residents of the village and guests can attend divine services using a pass issued by the priests of the temple.
Mon – Wed: 8:00- Prayer service to St. Seraphim of Sarov at the beginning of the working day
Thu: 8:00– Divine Liturgy for employees of LLC "KhPP Sofrino" Russian Orthodox Church"
Fri: 8:00– Requiem service
Sat: 16:00– All-night vigil
Sun: 9:00– Divine Liturgy
The sacrament of Baptism is performed in the church by prior arrangement. The period and time of public conversations are discussed individually.
Class time at the Sunday School at the temple: Sunday from 11:00 to 14:30.
The current schedule of services for the current month is located on the information board of the temple in the entrance hall of the enterprise.
Contact number: 8-917-586-00-95
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On August 7, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna performed the great consecration of the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Sofrino and led the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated temple.
At the gates of the temple, the Metropolitan was greeted by the ringing of bells: the head of the Pushkin municipal district S. M. Gribinyuchenko, the head of the urban settlement of Sofrino I. A. Gorokhovsky dean of the churches of the Pushkin district, Archpriest John Monarshek (Jr.) and rector of the church, Archpriest Vladimir Goncharov.
Concelebrating with the Metropolitan on this day were Bishop Tikhon of Vidnovsky, the dean of the churches of the Pushkin district, Archpriest John Monarshek (Jr.), the dean of the churches of the Ivanteevsky district, Archpriest John Monarshek, the dean of the churches of the Mytishchi district, Archpriest Dimitry Olovyannikov, the dean of the churches of the Sergiev Posad district, priest Alexander Kolesnikov, and the rector of Smolensk of the church, Archpriest Vladimir Goncharov, the clergy of the Pushkin and Ivanteevsky deaneries.
After the special litany, the Metropolitan offered a prayer for peace in Ukraine.
During the Divine Liturgy, Deacon Vasily Solomakhin was ordained to the priesthood.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Yuvenaly presented awards to the diligent workers and benefactors of the Smolensk Church. The rector of the church, Archpriest Vladimir Goncharov, was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, III degree. The medal “For Sacrificial Labor”, 1st degree, was awarded to S.V. Demidov and S.A. Popov. The rest of the church workers were awarded diocesan medals and metropolitan Blessed Certificates.
Smolensk Church in Safarino. Historical reference.
The monuments of the village of Safarino near Moscow (now Sofrino, Pushkinsky district) attracted the attention of researchers already in the first half of the 19th century. At that time there were two churches in the village: a wooden parish church and a stone house church at the owners’ chambers.
Only the stone Smolensk Church with later extensions, a linden park, and ponds have survived to this day. At the end of the 17th century. the village of Safarino with the villages of Kleniki and Burlakovo was granted to the boyar Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov, whose daughter Praskovya married Tsar Ivan Alekseevich in 1684. The village at that time was located on the left side of the pond formed by a dam on the Talitsa River. In the center there was a wooden church with a graveyard.
On the opposite bank stood the votchinniki's courtyard. We have this information thanks to two maps of the 17th century discovered in the RGADA funds.
We know about the time of construction of the stone Smolensk Church from the temple-created letter of Patriarch Adrian, given to Fyodor Saltykov on August 11, 1691. Addressing the Patriarch, F. Saltykov, as stated in the letter, asked for blessing “for the church building a stone, for a garter and for a circle of forest, We have iron in touch, prepare all sorts of supplies for that brick building.” Construction of the church and chambers began no earlier than the spring of 1692. We do not know the exact date of completion of construction, but this probably happened no earlier than 1694. Indirect confirmation of this date is the inscription on the bell and the dating of icons from the local row of the iconostasis.
The earliest description of the church and chambers dates back to 1742, when the estate was confiscated from the disgraced Count M.G. Golovkin, married to the granddaughter of the builder of the temple F. Saltykov: “The village of Safarino has two stone churches in the name of Hodegetria of the Most Holy Theotokos of Smolensk. Church utensils: carved gilded iconostasis<…>the above-mentioned stone church of God has a stone vault, and above the vault it is covered with plaster and tin. The altar and the refectory above the vaults are covered with planks to protect them from leaks. In the same Church of God there are 29 icons in three tiers; The mica windows in them are dilapidated. Including 5 windows are locked with shutters and those shutters are painted in the likeness of finishing with paint.”
The last owner of the village was Countess V.N. Yaguzhinskaya - nee Saltykova, niece of the builder of the temple - who immortalized her name by the fact that 16 years before the abolition of serfdom, she freed her peasants from serfdom, transferring all the land to them. In 1808 the church became a parish. After the death of V.N. Yaguzhinskaya in 1843, the chambers gradually fell into disrepair, and they were dismantled as unnecessary, and the bricks were used to add a refectory and hipped bell tower in 1862.
In 1868, parishioners turned to the Moscow Spiritual Consistory with a request for permission to install hot-air heating in the church and redo the dome. In 1882-1883 The original iconostasis was replaced with a new one, but with the preservation of the old icons and royal doors of the 16th century, moved here from the wooden church dismantled in 1878.
In 1889, the inside of the temple was painted with oil paintings. In 1902-1904. The Archaeological Society considered the project of the architect G.I. Popov to add an aisle to the church from the southwest and a parish school underneath it and agreed with the proposed plan. As a result, the volumetric composition of the temple acquired its current appearance.
In 1938, the temple was closed, the building was used for various economic needs, and then, brought to an emergency state, it became ownerless.
After the church was closed, its premises were used for a long time for various economic needs: a collective farm grain warehouse, in the summer as a dormitory for students who arrived for agricultural work, a pioneer camp of the Ministry of Meat and Dairy Industry, located in the park adjacent to the church. Without repairs, the church gradually deteriorated and by the middle of the twentieth century fell into disrepair. The unique temple was saved from complete destruction by the restoration carried out in the 1970s, carried out according to the design of the architect-restorer of the Central Scientific and Restoration Design Workshops (Moscow) I.V. Ilyenko (1921-1996) with funds from the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments.
After the restoration was completed, the temple housed a storage facility for the Muranovo museum-estate, which was closed for renovation. In 1994, on the initiative of the dean of the Pushkin district of the Moscow diocese, Archpriest John Monarshek, the newly formed community of the Smolensk Church was registered and priest Nikolai Komaristy was appointed. The first services were held in the open air in the center of the village, and then in the unheated room of the former parochial school under the church. Only after the restoration of the house-museum in Muranovo was completed and the storage facility was returned there, the entire temple was handed over to the community. In October 1996, priest Vladimir Aleksandrovich Goncharov, who still serves in the church, became the rector of the church.
The community had to endure many difficulties. Over the past years, the facades and interiors were repaired twice, natural gas was supplied to the church and the surrounding houses at the expense of the parishioners, the heating system was reconstructed, the 17th century ornamental paintings in the ancient part of the temple were restored, an amazingly beautiful and beautiful building was recreated on the basis of archival materials and analogues. the seven-tiered baroque gilded iconostasis was masterfully crafted; the window blocks in the ancient part of the temple were replaced. At the Department of Church Arts of the St. Tikhon's Theological Institute under the leadership of E.D. Sheko painted icons for the iconostasis in the style of the late 17th century, and copies were made from the icons preserved in the Kolomenskoye Museum. In the St. Nicholas chapel, where services are constantly held, a new gilded iconostasis with icons in the early style was installed. 20th century, all the utensils necessary for the functioning of the temple were acquired.
There are many shrines collected within the walls of the temple. First of all, this is a reliquary with particles of the relics of many saints of God, among which are the relics of St. Peter and Fevronia of Murom, Saints Ignatius Brianchaninov and Innocent of Irkutsk, the blessed Yaroslavl princes Theodore and his children David and Constantine, Rev. Joseph of Volotsky, Saint Philaret of Moscow. In the hotel icon cases there are icons with the relics of three saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, Venerable. Sergius, Rev. Seraphim of Sarov. A stone from the holy Mount Golgotha is inserted into the large floor cross. On the throne of the St. Nicholas chapel there is a small Smolensk image of the Mother of God, famous for its abundant flow of myrrh.
Material provided by the Pushkin Deanery
Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God |
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Sofrino, Pushkinsky district, Moscow region |
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Confession |
Orthodoxy |
Moscow |
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Deanery |
Pushkinskoe |
Architectural style |
Moscow Baroque |
Builder |
F. P. Saltykov |
Construction |
1691-1694 |
Cultural heritage of the Russian Federation, object No. 5010379002 |
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Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in Safarina- an Orthodox church, a monument of Russian architecture of the late 17th century in the village of Sofrino, Pushkin district, Moscow region. The temple in the Moscow Baroque style was built at the expense of F. P. Saltykov in 1691-1694.
Story
The current village of Sofrino was originally known as Suponevo. New name - Safarino- the village received its name from the surname of the rich merchant Ivan Safarin, who bought it in the 16th century. The village was located on the left bank of the Talitsa River and consisted of a wooden Assumption Church, surrounded on three sides by huts. The ancient Trinity Road to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra ran along the eastern outskirts of the village. A dam with a mill was built on Talitsa. This dam was restored to its old dimensions by local residents in 1968-1969.
At the end of the 1680s, the village, which was owned by the sovereign's court, was granted to boyar F.P. Saltykov, who became the tsar's father-in-law (his daughter Praskovya married Ivan Alekseevich). In 1691-1694, on the right steep bank, opposite the village, Saltykov built two-story chambers. Adjoining them on the eastern side was a house church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. A regular linden park was laid out around the chambers, an orchard was planted and a pond was dug. In addition, a weaving factory, stables and servants' houses were built. In the 18th century, the Safari chambers repeatedly served as a refuge for royalty on their way to a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. As a sign of this, a small crown is placed on the cross of the temple dome.
The last owner of Safarin was the granddaughter of the builder of the chambers, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Yaguzhinskaya (1749-1843), wife of Sergei Pavlovich Yaguzhinsky (1731-1806). She is known for the fact that in 1833 she freed her peasants from serfdom by transferring her lands to them for use. The grave of V.N. Yaguzhinskaya is preserved in the basement of the Smolensk Church.
After the death of the Yaguzhinsky chamber, they gradually deteriorated, the garden fell into disrepair, and some of the trees were cut down. The chambers were dismantled, and some of the bricks were used to build the refectory and bell tower in the 1860s.
In 1902-1905, on the south side of the refectory, the Nikolsky chapel with a parish school was built. Funds for this were provided by the Moscow merchant Vera Abramovna Egorova.
In 1938, the temple was closed, and its last rector, Abbot Platon (Klimov, 1877-1966), was exiled. The building was used for various economic needs, was brought to a state of disrepair and became ownerless. Some utensils, icons, as well as the royal doors of the 16th century, transferred to the iconostasis of the Smolensk Church in 1878 from a dismantled wooden church, were transferred to the Kolomenskoye Museum, where they are still stored.
In the 1970s, under the leadership of I.V. Ilyenko (1921-1996), the temple was restored. Church services were resumed in the 1990s. Work is underway to restore the iconostasis in the ancient part of the temple.
The Smolensk Church with a refectory and bell tower, a pond and a neglected linden park, have survived to this day from the estate, which experienced its heyday in the 18th century.
Architecture
The temple is made in the Moscow Baroque style with its characteristic centric composition. The brick building was built like a ship and placed on a high basement. Previously, the temple was surrounded by a walkway gallery, and on the western side there was a passage to the living chambers. Both the walkway and the chambers were dismantled, and instead, in 1862-1866, a refectory with a tented bell tower was added.
The building has a tiered structure, in which four octagons of decreasing size are placed on a quadrangle. Two of them are illuminated and open into the interior of the temple, the third is a belfry, and the last is a drum under the head. When decorating the church, half-columns, triangular pediments, thinly profiled cornices and window casings were used. The triangular parapets of the first and third octagons end with balls, and the second with pinnacles. The head and cross of the temple were remade several times. During the restoration, the shape of the dome and the pattern of the covering in the form of scales were taken according to the model of the Church of the Sign on the Sheremetyevo Yard, the cross repeats the shape of the cross of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Pupyshi.
The church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God is the main decoration of the ancient village of Sofrino (previously called Safarino), located in a picturesque area 35 kilometers from Moscow on the old road to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The construction of the current stone church building to replace the dilapidated wooden one was carried out in 1691-1694. after the sovereign's palace village of Safarino was donated to the boyar Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov, who became related to the royal dynasty at the end of the 17th century. Built in the unusually luxurious “Naryshkin Baroque” style for that time, the Smolensk Church was decorated by the best craftsmen of its time. The last owner of Safarina, Varvara Nikolaevna Yaguzhinskaya, bequeathed the estate and surrounding lands to the peasants after her death (1843).
In the middle of the 19th century, the manor chambers were rebuilt. In 1866, a bell tower with a refectory was erected, and in 1912, a chapel in honor of St. Nicholas was added to the south.
In the 30s of the 20th century, the temple was closed. Part of the iconostasis was taken to the storerooms of the museum in Kolomenskoye, the rest of the decoration was completely lost. The revival of the church began in 1994.
http://agios.itkm.ru/8998
The Smolenskaya Church in the village of Sofrino, Pushkin district, is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated August 30, 1960 No. 1327, Appendix No. 1, Decree of the President of Russia dated February 20, 1995 No. 176).
The Smolensk Church in Sofrin was built in the 1690s through the efforts of the new owner of the former palace village, Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov, who wanted to decorate his estate with a stone house church, the beauty of which would emphasize his high position at the Russian court. The village, located on the ancient Trinity road from Moscow to the Sergius Monastery, was once called Suponev; The name Safarino apparently received at the end of the 15th century, when these lands were acquired by the merchant Ivan Safarin, who traded with foreigners in the Crimea. It became Sofrin at the end of the 19th century. As the possession of Ivan Safarin, the village is mentioned in the spiritual letter of Ivan the Terrible, dating back to 1572, who, in anticipation of the birth of his daughter, promised to transfer to her some villages near Moscow, including “the village of Suponevo, Safarinskoye of Ivan Safarin.” During the Time of Troubles, Safarino suffered greatly, turning into a village, because from the wooden church that previously existed in it, according to the Scribe books of the early 1630s, only a “church place” remained.
In a document of 1677, Safarino is listed as a palace village (that is, the temple was already operating in it), and seven years later it passed into the hands of boyar Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov - by order of sovereigns Ivan and Peter Alekseevich and Princess Sofia Alekseevna. Soon, luxurious two-story chambers rose here, and next to it, literally a few meters east of them, was the beautiful Smolensk Church, made in the forms of the “Naryshkin Baroque”. The temple began to be built next to a dilapidated wooden church and an ancient graveyard. In 1740, it was decided to replace the dilapidated village church with the same wooden one. In one of the issues of “Russian Antiquity in the Monuments of Church and Civil Architecture” by A. Martynov and I. Snegirev (M., 1860), in an article dedicated to the Safarina church, it was indicated that on its bell tower there is a bell, cast according to the inscription on it , in 1694. The icons from the iconostasis dated to the same year. Thus, it is more likely to assume that 1694 is the year the construction and consecration of the Smolensk Church was completed.
The Sofrinskaya Smolensk Church, which stood near the road to the monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh, saw several royal persons within its walls. Over the course of more than three centuries of its existence, it has known times of decline, but has always been revived and renewed. In the 1730s. Safarino ended up in the hands of Count Mikhail Gavrilovich Golovkin, married to V.F.’s niece. Saltykova. In 1741, upon the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, he fell into disgrace and was exiled to Yakutia; Safarino went to the treasury. When the estate was transferred to the treasury, it was described - this is the first surviving description of the chambers and church in Safarina. It indicates some disorder: “In this same Church of God,” it says about the Smolensk Church, “there are 29 icons in three tiers; the mica windows in them are dilapidated. Including 5 windows are missing, those shown in two tiers are locked behind the dilapidation of the windows shutters, and those shutters were painted like window windows." In 1742, Elizaveta Petrovna stopped at Safarino on her way to Trinity. This was not her first visit here - but her first as empress. The condition of the former Golovin estate left much to be desired. The house and the temple urgently needed repairs. Everything was fixed promptly; the famous architect M. Zemtsov played a big role in remodeling the house. But most likely they didn’t get to the church, because according to the 1759 inventory, its condition seems even more depressing: “Yes, on the stone church under the head there is a bell tower, on it there are five bells without weight, and from that church there is a head and a tin and an iron cross from the wind fell and the cross was all broken, and the tin from the head was all torn and broken... And that church, above the stone vaults, was covered with ice and tin; and the altar and the refectory above the vaults were covered with planks; four dilapidated mica ends; and one round window on the right side of the church doors is blocked with boards.” Among other things, this entry makes it clear that initially the Smolensk Church belonged to the type “like bells” - the belfry was built in the upper octagon; It acquired a separate bell tower much later. The last owner of Safarin was Varvara Nikolaevna Yaguzhinskaya. Soon after moving, in 1808, Yaguzhinskaya insisted that the house Smolensk church receive the status of a parish church. In the beginning. In the 19th century, the temple was reconstructed, upon completion of which it lost its bypass gallery.
In the 1860s. the temple was expanded by adding a refectory and a bell tower to its main part; The western wall of the refectory became the former eastern wall of the lord's chambers, from which we can conclude that the dismantling of the palace, using its bricks for the construction of the refectory and bell tower, took place shortly before. Subsequently, work in the temple continued. In the 1880s, at the expense of the merchant V. Aigin, who lived nearby in Talitsy, the iconostasis was replaced, preserving the previous icons of the 17th century; The royal doors of the new iconostasis came from the wooden Smolensk church, which stood in the village until 1878 and was dismantled due to its disrepair. The same merchant donated a 220-pound bell. In 1889, oil painting was done in the church - before that, frescoes decorated only the vault and tromps (there were also ornaments framing the windows). In the early 1900s. a southern extension appeared at the temple - the St. Nicholas chapel was consecrated on its second floor, and the first floor was occupied by the parish school. In this form, the Smolensk Church has survived to this day.
The Smolensk Church, which went through the “confiscation of church valuables” in 1922, remained active until 1938. The former parochial school still occupied the ground floor of the extension, but was converted into a regular Soviet school. It was her teacher who initiated the process of closing the church, justifying the need for this by the fact that “noisy” services with singing and ringing of bells interfere with the conduct of lessons. For Sofrino children, the former temple (or rather, its extension) remained a school until the end of the 1960s. The main building housed a granary for quite a long time, but already in the 1960s. Students mobilized for autumn agricultural work lived in the premises of the former temple. At the same time, the building, devoid of any maintenance, was dilapidated and resembled a ruin - the heads were cut down, bushes grew on the roof, the brickwork was crumbling.
The situation changed in the late 1960s, during the period of active activity of the Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments. After a thorough examination, the Smolensk Church was restored under the leadership of the researcher-architect Irina Valentinovna Ilyenko. The restored church was transferred to the Muranovo Estate Museum-Reserve, which used it as a storage facility. In 1994, an Orthodox community was registered in Sofrino at the Smolensk Church, to which this church was soon transferred.
The Smolensk Church is distinguished by two decreasing octagons, placed on a quadrangle and decorated with characteristic white stone decor (intricately shaped pediments, emphasizing the cornices and resounding with distant echoes of zakomars and kokoshniks). From a formal point of view, there are even four of these eights - the third is the former bell tower, and the fourth is the dull drum of the chapter. The broken-shaped doors that were preserved at the second floor level on the northern and southern facades remind us of the gallery that once surrounded the temple. Above the southern entrance it is difficult to “read” the holy image - as we know from old descriptions, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the northern façade, Saint Demetrius of Rostov, canonized in 1757, was depicted.
In 1912, the Smolensk Church was once again expanded - by erecting a two-story southern extension, on the second floor of which the St. Nicholas Chapel was consecrated. The windows of its first floor are strikingly different from the stylized windows of the second floor - they are quite simple and spacious; and indeed, the first floor was intended for a parochial school. The tented bell tower appeared during the reconstruction of the temple, undertaken in the 1860s, when a refectory was added to the main quadrangle from the west. We should be grateful to the authors of this reconstruction for the fact that in their work they took into account the stylistic features of the “Naryshkin Baroque” and tried not to deviate from its principles. On the eastern side, three powerful apses mark the altar part of the temple. They are slightly lower in height than the main quadrangle. Three-quarter Corinthian columns marking the corners of the masses are an element of Western order architecture, which has now become a sign of domestic temple architecture. The basement of the temple is reinforced with buttresses. Having entered the temple and climbed the steep stairs to the second floor of the Smolensk Church, parishioners from the vestibule entered the refectory. She can tell you something about the original appearance of the estate complex.
The fact is that, as researchers found out, its western wall, until the middle of the 19th century, when the manor house was dismantled, was its eastern wall, and the eastern wall of the current refectory, in turn, was the western wall of the temple. Thus, the length of the refectory is the distance separating the Smolensk Church from the chambers of the owners of Safarin. During the reconstruction of the church in the 1860s. and its expansion, the brickwork of the western wall of the temple, which had an entrance portal and two windows on either side of it, was broken and a wide arch was built here. The remains of windows and their frames were discovered during research work in the late 1960s that preceded the start of restoration - they, as well as the entire wall, were restored to their original form; That is why the current refectory looks unusual, greeting the visitor to the temple with two “street” windows opening into its ancient part. From the refectory, through a door in its southern wall, parishioners entered the late St. Nicholas chapel. It is designed as simply as possible - flat ceiling, low iconostasis; at the same time, it is here that the main part of the modern shrines of the Smolensk Church is concentrated. Another passage, in the eastern wall of the refectory, leads to a narrow room that served before the reconstruction of the 1860s. function of the vestibule. From here, an arched doorway with two more square “windows” on the sides leads to the main room of the temple. It is literally flooded with light pouring through many windows.
The tall, almost to the vault, seven-tiered iconostasis, covered with ornate baroque carvings, is a more or less exact copy of the pre-revolutionary iconostasis erected in the 1880s. In the trompe l'oeil, which serves as a transition from the quadrangle to the octagon, there are images of the four evangelists. There were narrative frescoes here even before the revolution. In addition, the vault of the temple was also painted - now this painting has been restored. In the western wall, above the entrance door, there is a “royal box” intended for the owners of the Safari estate. It is framed by a “gold” ornament; the windows are also decorated with similar ornaments. Most likely, these ornaments were intended to imitate gilded wood carvings, which the customer could see in the richer “Naryshkin” churches in Fili and Trinity-Lykovo.
Magazine: "Orthodox churches. Travel to Holy Places." Issue No. 221, 2016
In the village of Sofrino, Safarino also, in the 16th century. there was the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; when and on what occasion it was destroyed is unknown. In the scribe books of 1631-33. it says: “the village of Semenovskoye is a village, which was the village of Suponevo, Safarino, also, and in it there was a church place, that there was a temple of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a priest’s place, arable land of the church, 2 dessiatines in the field.” In the parish books of the Patriarchal State Order for 1638 it is mentioned that the church land of the Assumption Church was given as rent.
Around 1668, a new Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in the village of Sofrino. In the receipt book of the state order it is written: “in 1677, by decree of the patriarch and according to the note on the extract of clerk Perfiliy Semenikov, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary arrived again from the empty quitrent book in the sovereign palace village of Safarina, which was built on church Assumption land, and on That church of the Assumption was ordered to pay tribute and arrival... 16 altyn 4 money and according to that salary, that money was ordered to be taken according to the records... and the empty church land in the empty book was ordered to be cleared and not written in the future. This money from this church was paid by the priest’s elder Ilyinsky, priest Fedot.”
Under 1702-39. The Assumption Church was built on the estate of the farmer Vasily Fedorovich Saltykov in the village of Safarina. In the second half of the 17th century. in the village of Sofrine, the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria is mentioned, built on the site of the former Assumption Church, but when is unknown. In the census book of 1705 it is stated: “belonging to the handsome Vasily Fedorovich Saltykov, the estate that was granted to him from the palace volosts is the village of Safarino, and in the village there are two churches of the Smolensk Blessed Virgin Mary, one is stone, and the other is wooden.” (On the construction of a stone church, a blessed letter was issued on August 11, 1691, by Patriarch Adrian to the boyar Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov).
After the death of V.F. Saltykov, the village of Sofrino went to his niece, Princess Ekaterina Ivanovna Romodanovskaya, who was married to Count M. Golovkin. The Synodal Treasury Order carried out the matter of building a new wooden church in the village of Sofrin in the name of the Smolensk Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The case began at the request of Count Mikhail Gavrilovich Golovkin. In his petition submitted to the state order on May 18, 1737, he wrote: “in my estate near Moscow in the village of Safarina there is a wooden church in the name of Hodegetria of the Smolensk Mother of God, which has become very dilapidated from its ancient structure and it is impossible to hold services; and now I wish, in place of this dilapidated church, to build again a wooden church in the name of Hodegetria of the Smolensk Mother of God, and without a decree and without the blessing of St. The ruling synod should carry out a dangerous act, and so that a decree should be issued on the construction of a new wooden church in place of that dilapidated church.” Resolution by the Reverend Veniamin, Bishop of Kolomna and Kashirsky: “to give the temple-created charter, May 1737 on the 25th day.” The same year, on July 1, a decree was issued from the synodal government order to Count Golovkin on the construction of the church. The newly built wooden church was consecrated in February 1740.
In 1741, according to a personal decree, all estates belonging to Count Golovkin were ordered to be transferred to Her Majesty. In the inventory books of 1742 there is a description of churches in the village of Sofrino.
Kholmogorov V.I., Kholmogorov G.I. “Historical materials about churches and villages of the 16th - 18th centuries.” Issue 5, Radonezh tithe of the Moscow district. Publication of the Imperial Society of Russian History and Antiquities at Moscow University. Moscow, in the University Printing House (M. Katkov), on Strastnoy Boulevard, 1886.
