At the end of 2008, the Chapel dedicated to the Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday was transferred to the Church of Nicholas the Guest in Kolomna, located at the Friday Gates of the Kolomna Kremlin. The history of this chapel is quite interesting. According to a land survey book from the 16th century, there were two churches in Kolomna in honor of this saint. One was located inside the Kremlin, while the other was outside its walls, at the site of the current parking lot at the intersection of Komsomolskaya and Levshina streets. The latter church existed until the first third of the 20th century, while the Kremlin church disappeared in the 18th century. It was this church that gave the Friday Gates their name.
The people of Kolomna, who were actively engaged in trade, especially revered St. Paraskeva, who was considered their patroness. Nikolai Dmitrievich Ivanchin-Pisarev wrote in 1845 that "the people of Kolomna have always been particularly devoted to St. Paraskeva."
It is known that in the first quarter of the 19th century, the brethren of the Bobrenev-Golutvin Monastery built a monastery chapel at the Friday Gates of the Kremlin in the name of the Holy Martyr Antipas of Pergamum. It is possible that the chapel housed icons of both Antipas of Pergamum and Paraskeva Friday. The inventory of the Kolomna Bobrenev-Golutvin Monastery from 1841 states: "Inside the city of Kolomna, at the Friday Gates, there is an ancient stone chapel with one cell next to it for the brethren, covered with shingles." The chapel was built in the 1840s, as it is not depicted in images of the Friday Gates from the 1830s.
The Friday Chapel is an example of mature classicism. Its small volume is characterized by simplicity and solemnity. Built of brick and white stone, it features a semi-vaulted ceiling, on which rises a white stone square drum with a low blind tambour decorated with flutes. Previously, a hemispherical dome with a cross was located on the tambour. Before the revolution, people came to the chapel to pray before the icon of St. Antipas, asking for relief from toothache.
In the 1940s-1980s, a kerosene shop was located in the chapel. Locals say that people came there with toothaches supposedly for kerosene, but in reality, to touch the wall where the icon of St. Antipas used to hang. It is said that this helped. After the shop closed, the chapel was not used. The Orthodox Church received the chapel in a ruined state, with only the facade, two partially destroyed walls, and the tambour above the entrance remaining.
In 2008, the restoration of the chapel began. Members of the St. Nicholas community cleared the area of debris, removing 80 tons of waste. They restored the facade, returned the original shape of the windows, made a pavement from the side of the Moscow River, added a metal staircase, and installed a canopy over the entrance to the basement. A carved wooden iconostasis made by craftsmen from Kursk appeared in the chapel.
On November 10, 2015, Bishop Konstantin of Zaraysk performed the Great Consecration of the Friday Chapel. The Bishop was assisted by the archpriest Vladimir Pakhachev, the rector of the Friday Chapel, Archpriest Sergey Rogozhin, the rector of the Assumption Cathedral, Archpriest Nikolai Kachankin, the rector of the Mother of God Birth Monastery, Igumen Peter Dmitriev, and clergy of the Kolomna deanery. After the service, the Bishop conveyed the blessing of Metropolitan Juvenaly to those gathered and congratulated them on the holiday. In memory of the consecration of the Friday Chapel, he presented the rector with an icon of the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and handed blessed certificates from Metropolitan Juvenaly to the rector and benefactors of the chapel.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.
To leave a comment, sign in with Google.