Early church in ancient Russia. Cathedrals and temples of ancient Russia

The first temple of ancient Russia

One of the most famous architectural and historical monuments in Kiev is the remains of the foundation of the Tithe Church. The first stone temple of Ancient Rus was built in the 10th century. He witnessed many historical events and trials that befell the mother of Russian cities. And even those few traces that have survived to this day can tell a lot to an attentive observer.

The tithe church is the first stone church in Russia, erected in 989-996 with funds from the prince's income (that is, for tithes). It is interesting that the funds allegedly allocated for the construction of the temple were actually intended for the development of the entire church infrastructure of the then Russia, and the church only played the role of the treasury. The church, erected after the baptism of the pagans, was consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. According to historians, it was here that Vladimir the Baptist and his wife, the Byzantine princess Anna, were buried. And also the brothers of the Grand Duke Vladimir - Yaropolk and Oleg. His grandson, the son of Yaroslav the Wise Izyaslav, also rests here.

In memory of the martyrs

The chronicles tell that the place for the construction of the temple - on Starokievskaya Hill, near the princely chambers - was not chosen by chance. It was there that the court of the first Varangians-Christians - Theodore (Tura) and his son John, who were killed by pagans in 983, stood. Prince Vladimir decided to atone for the death of the Kiev martyrs and began the construction of the Church of the Tithes.

During excavations in 1908, below the foundations of the main protrusion of the church, archaeologists found the remains of a 10th century log house, which, as they suggest, could have been the home of Theodore and John. It is possible that their relics were in the newly erected Christian shrine.

It is believed that the first stone church of Kievan Rus became a burial vault for many Kievan princes. However, on this issue, the opinions of historians and archaeologists were divided. Scientists admit that, yes, burials were found that are identified with the graves of Princess Olga and Vladimir Svyatoslavich, as well as the brothers of Vladimir - Yaropolk and Oleg - and the son of Yaroslav the Wise Izyaslav. But the relics have not survived, and the tombs that are exhibited in Sofia are also not completely identical. Where it was, outside or within the cathedral, is an open question. The idea that it was the remains of the princes were found, the researchers were prompted by marble sarcophagi. And practically no more facts ...

Until the appearance of the St. Sophia Cathedral, the Church of Prince Vladimir served as a cathedral church. Like the brainchild of Yaroslav the Wise, she had her own prototype in Byzantium. The tithe was built on the model of the church at the imperial palace in Constantinople. But the masonry technique is already the merit of the master builders of Kiev. Mixed plinth and stone masonry using the hidden row technique was not found in the Byzantine buildings of that time.

None of the researchers dares to assert exactly what the Church of the Tithes was originally. Their conservative assumptions are based on written sources, as well as on materials from archaeological excavations. Many fragments of marble columns, slabs, carvings, mosaics and frescoes were found in the ground. Now they are kept in the funds of the Sophia Kievskaya National Reserve.

Unfortunately, from the very beginning, this magnificent temple was haunted by troubles. The first damage to the Tithe Church occurred in the distant XI century, during a large fire. Subsequently, it was rebuilt and surrounded on three sides by galleries.

100 years later, in 1169, the church suffered during the attack on Kiev by the troops of Andrei Bogolyubsky, and in 1203 - by Rurik Rostislavich. In 1240, Kiev was captured by the Mongol-Tatar Horde. The Tithe Church became the last stronghold of the city's defenders. The people of Kiev hid there along with their property. But the structures of the building, considerably weakened by the recent earthquake, could not stand it and collapsed. Other sources claim that the church fell under the onslaught of the Basurman.

A holy place is never empty

In 1635, the Metropolitan of Kiev Peter Mogila "ordered the Church of the Tithes of the Blessed Virgin to be dug out of the underground darkness and opened to the light of day." That is, the Nikolskaya Church, as it was called among the people, was erected on the site of the old one. But was it really so? At the time of Peter Mogila, the southwestern corner of the Tithes Church was completely preserved. At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, the rear opening was closed with a wooden wall, forming a small chapel, in which, according to a document from 1616, they served only on holidays.

It was this old wooden wall that the Tomb dismantled, replacing it with a new brick one. The dismantled wall dates back to the times of ancient Russian repairs made several decades before the invasion of the Mongolian commander Batu.

Consequently, Metropolitan Peter Mogila did not build a new church, but, on the contrary, “mothballed” and preserved the remains of the Old Russian church, dismantling the old wooden structures and strengthening the remaining remnants of the medieval walls. By the way, it was under his leadership in 1635 that marble sarcophagi with male and female skeletons were found, which the Tomb proclaimed the relics of Prince Vladimir and Princess Anna.

In the 19th century, the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Yevgeny (Bolkhovitinov) made his contribution to the study of the church. He organized excavations, thanks to which the foundation of the Tithe Church was discovered. Based on the data of archeology, the story of the discovery of the remains of Prince Vladimir by Metropolitan Peter Mogila cannot be true. The relics that are now being passed off by the Orthodox Church as the remains of Prince Vladimir most likely belonged to one of his distant descendants.

The next and last restoration of the Church of the Tithes took place on August 2, 1828, based on a project by the St. Petersburg architect Vasily Stasov. The project of Andrey Melenskoy from Kiev (the author of the project of the church on Askold's grave and Gostiny Dvor on Podol) was rejected.

The construction of the temple, which lasted 14 years, took more than 100 thousand rubles in gold, but the resulting "monument of Russian Orthodoxy" was subjected to crushing criticism. Firstly, it was built with deviations from the planned Russian-Byzantine style and did not save the old masonry due to fears of precipitation. Secondly, the church turned out to be rather heavy, especially in comparison with the neighboring Andreevskaya one. In 1936, the church was dismantled on the occasion of the construction of a government quarter in the area. Fortunately, then we managed to save the St. Sophia Cathedral.

Mystical connection

The fate of many people related to the Church of the Tithes was dramatic. Its founder, Prince Vladimir, died, intending to go to war against his son Yaroslav. And after the death of the Baptist of Russia, his sons immediately got involved in a bloody fratricidal war.

It is worth remembering the Kursk landowner Alexander Annenkov, who initiated the restoration of the Tithe Church in the 19th century. Even then, historians began to suspect that his good intentions were only a cover. In fact, he was driven by the desire for material gain - he was looking for the legendary ancient Russian treasures. And even, according to rumors, he found it. However, the treasures found did not bring happiness to Annenkov: he himself drank himself, squandered his property, did not leave a good memory, and his only pride - the rebuilt church - was destroyed.

Archaeologist Kondrat Lokhvitsky in his essays absolutely did not hide the fact that he began to engage in amateur archeology for the sake of fame, honor and awards. However, his plan for the restoration of the Tithe Church was not recognized by either Metropolitan Eugene or the imperial commission due to numerous shortcomings. But the Russian professor of architecture Nikolai Efimov made a really quite accurate plan of the foundations of the church. However, his project did not work either.

The fate of a number of archaeologists who investigated the shrine at the beginning of the 20th century was quite tragic. Dmitry Mileev died of typhus during excavations. Sergei Velmin and Feodosiy Molchanovsky were repressed in the 1930s. The only "lucky" from this group of researchers of antiquity was the Leningrad archaeologist Mikhail Karger. But his archive with all the results of the excavations of the Tithe Church disappeared without a trace.

Alexandra SHEPEL

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Church in ancient Russia.

Many studies have been written about the adoption of Christianity in Russia, based on both ancient Russian chronicles and foreign sources. Numerous works by domestic and foreign researchers show that the most complex process of establishing Christianity in Russia, which began long before St. Vladimir. However, Orthodox Christianity became the state religion only as a result of Vladimir's adoption of some political decision on the official baptism of Rus, which marked the beginning of his administrative reforms.

However, the new diocese became an integral part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. And since their clerical cadres appeared much later, all the first bishops and even priests were Greeks. Fortunately, there were a great many of them in Byzantium. Bishops alone up to 6,000! It was these "surpluses" that poured into Russia, onto new Russian bread. They were appointed and ruled from Byzantium by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Sources indicate that during the entire existence of the Kiev principality, there were only two Russians metropolitans: Illarion under Yaroslav the Wise (1051) and Klim under Izyaslav (1148). The Patriarch of Constantinople could even send bishops without the consent of the metropolitan. And, of course, he carefully monitored the timely receipt of payments, the sources of which were direct fees of parishioners, income from the church court and monasteries.

The emergence of the first metropolitanate in Kievan Rus took place in the 9th century. The Nikon Chronicle reports on the activities of Metropolitan Mikhail Sirin, who was appointed to Russia by Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in 862. In any case, a number of historians believe that there was no need for Byzantium to create a metropolitanate after the baptism of Vladimir. Some of them put forward the hypothesis that the metropolitanate was not in Kiev, but in Pereyaslavl. Metropolitan Leon of that period had the title "Leon Metropolitan of Russia of Pereyaslavl". It is assumed that the metropolitan at the time of the baptism of Russia was John, with whom Vladimir apparently had a ruined relationship as a result of his previous policy of anti-Christian terror. The first metropolitan after the act of the baptism of Rus', which does not raise doubts in reality, was the Greek Theopempt.

The structure of the Byzantine Church was such that the presence of a metropolitanate gave the right to create episcopates. During the time of Vladimir and Yaroslav, bishops were created in all major administrative centers: Novgorod, Belgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl. As new territories were colonized, new bishops appeared. In the Rostov land, a bishopric was created to accelerate the process of involving local residents of Slavic and Finnish origin in the orbit of influence of the state and the church. In Galich, Smolensk, Ryazan, bishops appeared during the XI-XIII centuries.

After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, as we remember, a triumvirate of princes arose: Izyaslav in Kiev, Svyatoslav in Chernigov and Vsevolod in Pereyaslavl. The beginning of the feudal fragmentation of a single state was reinforced by the creation of two new metropolises: in Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. The influence of the new metropolises was enormous. The Chernigov diocese, for example, covered the area from Chernigov in the west to Ryazan and Murom in the northeast. The emergence of new metropolises was apparently connected with Vsevolod's very close relations with Byzantium: he was married to the daughter of the Byzantine emperor.

But after Vsevolod became a Kiev prince, he achieved the unification of the church leadership headed by the Kiev metropolitan. Andrey Bogolyubsky's attempt in the 60s of the XII century to create a metropolitanate in Suzdal was not crowned with success. The Byzantine emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople did not approve of the intentions of Prince Andrew, who understood that this action could withdraw part of the church hierarchy from subordination to Constantinople. Only in Novgorod was it allowed to create an archdiocese, which achieved the right to elect hierarchs locally, and not by appointment from Kiev.

The role of the church at different stages of its development was different. In the first decades of its existence, when the church did not yet possess its own property and means, it was largely dependent on princely politics. So judicial rights were granted to the church by the princely power. The wealth of monasteries originated in the Orthodox faith that the prayer of monks for the salvation of the soul is stronger than the good deeds of a deceased Christian. Therefore, every wealthy person tried to save his soul, making contributions of land or money to existing monasteries, or even founding them. When the church received its sources of income, its dependence on secular power diminished.

And nevertheless, the presence of a unified management of the church with the center in Kiev allowed the church not only to resist the centrifugal forces of princely strife, but also to exert a decisive influence on the formation of a single social consciousness, writing, literature, art, culture in general. The Church has taken over the judicial resolution of many civil cases related to family relations. Moreover, as strange as it may seem, the church has expanded its rights to such a specific institution as the service of weights.

Of course, as a rule, bishops defended the interests of their appanage princes, but the Kiev metropolitan tried to influence the resolution of inter-princely conflicts. Each achievement of a peaceful agreement was accompanied by a kiss on the cross. However, the influence of the hierarchs of the church was not always decisive. So the participation of the clergy in the council convened by Yaroslav Osmomysl did not become an obstacle to the transfer of power after the death of Yaroslav to Vladimir, and not to Oleg.

Thus, we see that, in contrast to the specific order of reign in Kievan Rus, the church organization was unified, subordinate to the Kievan metropolitan. And in this respect, until the Mongol-Tatar defeat, the structure of the church did not change. This church can be called Ukrainian or Russian only by a person experiencing a complex of national inferiority and striving by any means to prove the advantages of his nation retroactively and through fantasies. Moreover, as will be seen in the future, even in the Polish period, the difference was largely not in nationality, but in religion. During this period, the Orthodox Church became a bastion that prevented the complete dissolution of Ukrainians (this is already the 15th-16th centuries) in the Polish environment.

Unified culture of Ancient Russia.

Even by modern standards, the territory of Kievan Rus is huge. It is difficult even to imagine how the squads of Kiev princes and merchants moved across such vast expanses. And nevertheless, the cities and villages scattered at such a huge distance from each other were united by a single faith and a single culture. Of all the diversity of cultural ties, we will consider only architecture. Note that temple architecture came to Russia from Byzantium, that is, the first architects were Greeks, and for this reason the first temples were the last architectural achievements of Eastern Orthodoxy. The so-called cross-domed composition, which is the skeleton of a building in the form of a cube, dissected by 4 pillars (Greek cross), on which the central light drum rests, has become a classic temple structure throughout the territory of northern and southern Russia.

Of course, Russian craftsmen introduced into the temple architecture elements characteristic of their vision, corresponding to the nature of Russia, and building technologies of that period. Over the course of two or three decades of the 11th century in Kiev, Novgorod and Polotsk, the cathedrals of St. Sophia, similar in structure and of the same name, were built. Sophia Kievskaya had 13 domes, Novgorodskaya - 5 and Polotskaya - 7. The appearance of three churches of the same type and the same name marked the political and cultural unity of Russia. In general, the presence of majestic temples was a kind of visiting card for the princes, a testament of wealth and strength. The princes competed not only on the battlefield, but also in the construction of temples, in the manufacture of symbols of princely power from silver and gold.

Within the framework of the published work, it is not possible to dwell in detail on a comparison of the features of cathedrals and churches being erected. Let us note only the main thing. Practically the entire XI century throughout the entire territory of Russia, Orthodox churches soared upward, emphasizing the idea of \u200b\u200bthe unity of the state of Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh. But, starting from the end of the 11th century, during the height of the internecine wars, two directions were formed in the architectural style. On the one hand, princes and architects strove to return to forms reminiscent of the greatness and power of Yaroslav's times, and on the other, to forms that demonstrate the originality of the concept. In other words, there was a struggle between political and creative principles in temple architecture. It is no coincidence that Vsevolod the Big Nest began in 1185 to rebuild (after a fire) the one-domed Uspensky so that it resembled the Metropolitan Cathedral of the times of Yaroslav the Wise.

Each theme of the times of Kievan Rus is inexhaustible. We leave out of the scope of consideration such important components of culture as ancient Russian literature, philosophy, everyday writing and many others. We also leave such an important topic as double faith, that is, a bizarre and, no doubt, original for each locality, a combination of a borrowed Christian worldview and ingrained traditions of paganism.

From the moment of its creation, the Russian Orthodox Church began to be considered as part of the Ecumenical, Constantinople Church. Wishing to control the policy of the Kiev principality, Byzantium, more precisely, the Patriarch of Constantinople, appointed the head of the Russian Church - a metropolitan. However, Russian foreign policy retained its independence thanks to the tenacity of the first princes. Yaroslav the Wise was the first to appoint the Russian priest Hilarion as Metropolitan, thus putting an end to the dispute with the Greeks.

In the ancient Russian state, the Church grew richer faster (due to tithes and the economic activity of monasteries) than the grand dukes, since the struggle for power bypassed it, there was no destruction of material values \u200b\u200beven in the later years of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

Christian morality made its own adjustments in political life: the relationship of domination and subordination began to be viewed as correct and godly, and the Church received the place of guarantor and arbiter in political reality. Tribal separatism and liberties were suppressed. One faith and one ruler of all Russia - this is the formula for the new religion.

The Church made a huge contribution to the culture of ancient Russian society: the first holy books appeared; brothers-monks Cyril and Methodius from Bulgaria created the Slavic alphabet. The number of literate people has grown among the population of the Kiev principality.

If Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich did not know how to read, then his son Yaroslav himself could enjoy the works of ancient Greek poets.

For the Slavs, who lived according to the laws of the pagan world, Christian norms seemed unusual: "Non-killing", "Do not steal" - and formed a new pattern of behavior. Christianity provided an opportunity for all Slavs to feel like subjects of one country, united by one religion, language and spiritual fathers.

The international authority of the Kiev principality increased: the royal houses of Europe wished to become related with the Russian princes as equals. The daughters of Yaroslav the Wise became the spouses of the French, Hungarian and Norwegian kings, and he himself was married to the Norwegian princess Ingiggrd.

August Yulievich Davidov

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