Church of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple in Podil (Sergiyev Posad)
127 Krasnoy Armii Avenue, Sergiyev Posad.
The Church of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple in Podil is one of Sergiyev Posad's oldest churches.
Originally, in Podil, there stood the wooden Church of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, which had a side-chapel of Paraskevi the Great Martyr; build probably as early as 15th century, this church served as a parish church for the "servants" of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (officials who managed the Lavra's vast economy).
Later, a monastery for men appeared in Podil; the monastery depended on the Lavra. In 1547, boyar Ivan Khabarov put up money for construction of a stone version of the Church of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple in Podil.
After the 1608–1610 Polish-Lithuanian siege, the Trinity Monastery, according to Priestmonk Arsenius, a librarian at Moscow Theological Academy, "healed the wounds that had been inflicted on the Podil Monastery." In 1621, the Church was renovated and consecrated. A 1641 register reads: "by the Trinity, outside of the town ... there is a monastery and the Church of the Entry of the Mother of God in it, of stone, its roof is covered with batten, its dome and cross are covered with German iron ..."
Later, having fallen into decay, the Monastery was dissolved. Since the Lent of 1679, the Church became a parish church of Nizhnyaya Sluznyaya Village.
The church parish existed until 1896, when it was shut down because of the paucity and poverty of the parishioners. When this happened, the building, along with the surrounding area, was handed over to the Lavra.
The 1917 events brought about a change in the Church's fate. In 1919, it became a parish again, but was completely closed in 1928.
On 1 June 1929, the city authorities let the Church out to the board of the Smychka Cooperative Society to be used as a warehouse. During the time when the Society owned the Church's building, it fell into a state of extreme neglect.
In the 1960s, when the Church was handed over to Zagorsk (the then name of Sergiyev Posad) Museum-Reserve, research and restoration works began. As a result, it appeared that the existing 1547 Church of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple was an example of peculiar interweaving of ancient pieces. It was discovered that the main Church's volume, up to the second tier of vaults, dated back to the 16th century.
In 1991, the Zagorsk Museum handed the Church over to the Lavra.
The Church is a cross-domed Orthodox church. It is a rectangular, slim two-story building with three high semicircular apses (altar projections). It has a vaulted roof crowned with a drum and a gilded onion dome. The lower tier (a basement) includes four columns that support the vaults. Only two of four interior columns with an altar barrier between them survived on the eastern side. Two western columns were dismantled in 1740, when a new vault, drum and dome were constructed.
The facades are decorated with slim shaped pilaster strips and a frieze band of keel-shaped niches on the top of the walls. The apses are adorned with vertical bands connected by small inverted arches with carved inserts. Remains of a terracota frieze featuring relief images of dolphins survived above the apses.
On the whole, the Church of the Entrance of the Holy Theotokos into the Temple was built after the 1476 Church of the Holy Spirit. It reproduces the plan, size, proportions and decorations of its prototype and combines architectural traditions of the 15th, 16th, and 18th centuries.
The Church of St. Paraskevi of Iconium in Podil is one of Sergiyev Posad's oldest churches.
Originally, in Podil, there stood the wooden Church of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, which had a side-chapel of Paraskevi the Great Martyr; build probably as early as 15th century, this church served as a parish church for the ...
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