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Church of Alexander Nevsky in Berezovka

Фото 1
By the time the first settlers arrived in Berezovka, Christianity was already widespread in the district. In the 1840s and 1850s, Upper and Lower Berezovka were part of the lands of Prince Sergey Grigorievich Golitsyn. According to data from 1676, the villagers were attached to the parish of the Meshcherskaya Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin. The residents of Berezovka decided to build a church in Lower Berezovka for three villages: Upper Berezovka, Lower Berezovka, and Fedorovka, where about 1,000 people lived. This decision was approved by district, provincial, and diocesan authorities, and in 1872, construction of the church began with funds from rural communities, donations from wealthy individuals, and the Golitsyn family. The bricks for the construction were produced at the factory of peasant Pyotr Grigorievich Zheludkov from Lower Berezovka. The construction lasted 9 years. In 1881, the refectory church was completed, but the main temple was never finished even at the beginning of the 20th century. The church was equipped with utensils, vestments, holy icons, and liturgical books. The altar in the refectory was consecrated in honor of the holy and righteous Prince Alexander Nevsky. It is likely that with the opening of the attached Berezovskaya church on the southern outskirts of Lower Berezovka in 1881, a cemetery was organized where parishioners from Upper and Lower Berezovka and the village of Fedorovka were buried.

From 1881 to 1896, the church was a dependent parish of the Meshchersk parish and did not have its own clergy. The Berezovka parish became independent only in 1896 and belonged to the second Monakovsky deanery. The parish included the village of Berezovka and the village of Fedorovka, where according to clerical records in 1897, there were 480 men and 520 women. In 1897, the clergy consisted of a priest and a psalmist. Their maintenance was provided by a salary from the treasury of 392 rubles, as well as income from services, sacramental rites, land, and grain collection up to 200 rubles. Church houses were built for the clergy's residence. The land plot near the church consisted of 1475 fathoms of homestead land, 30 desyatinas of arable land, and 3 desyatinas of haymaking land, but there was no plan for this land. The church at that time was a center of education. Around 1897, the Zemstvo Berezovskaya school began operating, initially located in one of the church buildings.

The church was officially closed in 1939 and was desecrated. Church utensils, icons, and books were dispersed among homes. After the closure, services were conducted at the homes of S.P. Promov in Lower Berezovka and I.Ya. Makarov in Upper Berezovka.

In the early 1960s, the unfinished main temple of the church was completed, and its two-story building housed an elementary school, a rural library, and a midwifery station. Unlike other villages, the church in Berezovka was not destroyed, but the bell was removed. A rural goods store from the Davydovsky rural consumer society was opened in it, which operated until 2011.

According to the Vachsky division of Nizhny Novgorodstat as of January 1, 2010, the village of Berezovka belongs to the Filinskaya rural administration. There are 93 households here, with a population of 175 people, including 83 men and 92 women.

Geo point

Церковь Александра Невского в Березовке

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