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Transfiguration Church in Neshcheriv

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The first mention of the Orthodox Spaso-Transfiguration wooden church in the village of Neshcheriv dates back to 1735. In 1742, the church suffered from a fire, but in 1746, thanks to the efforts of Kyiv Cossack captain Pavlo Hudym and other benefactors, it was restored on the same site. In May 1751, Pavlo Hudym, the owner of Neshcheriv, appealed to Metropolitan of Kyiv Timofei Bolkhovitinov for a blessing for priest Stepan Andreev's trip to Zaporizhzhia Sich to collect donations. The metropolitan granted permission, and the names of the Cossack donors were recorded for remembrance in the church. In 1794, the construction of a new stone Spaso-Transfiguration church began in Neshcheriv, completed in 1796. The church was built through the efforts of Ivan Pavlovych Hudym-Levkovych, who bequeathed to his heirs the care of its maintenance and repair. The stone church was erected on a sandstone foundation, made of yellow brick, and was initially unplastered. The outer walls are one and a half meters thick, while the inner walls are over a meter thick. The church is covered with a wooden roof and is an architectural monument: a rectangular body without a protruding altar apse, with four pillars and a pear-shaped dome. In the eastern part of the church, there are high vaulted windows, while in the western part, there are two-tiered windows. The bell tower is located in the southwest corner of the building. In the western part of the church, on the second floor, there are living quarters. The church had three altars: the main one dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord, a side altar to Saint Paul the Confessor and Saint Thecla, and a third warm chapel in honor of John the Baptist. In 1798, a temporary iconostasis is mentioned, and in 1799, an iconostasis from the abolished Kyiv-Pechersk Ascension Monastery was installed. The church was richly decorated, and its church vessels are mentioned in the early 19th century. To this day, a Gospel with silver fittings, gifted in 1864, has been preserved. In 1856, Neshcheriv belonged to Mykhailo Petrovych Hudym-Levkovych, and in 1859 to his sister Maria Petrovna Brakker. In 1875, she sold the estate to Mykhailo Vasylievych Hudym-Levkovych. Mykhailo was married to Yuliia Mykolaivna Bakhmetieva, and their family was connected to the Kyiv secular society. Until 1917, the church was richly decorated, but in December of the same year, it was reported that it had become impoverished. In 1923, a collective farm named after Stalin was established in Neshcheriv, and in 1936, the church was closed and used for grain storage. In October 1941, German troops allowed the church to reopen for services, but the property was simple, and the iconostasis was made of plywood. In 1949, services were conducted only in the main part of the church, as the rest of the space was occupied by the collective farm. In 1951, the condition of the church was described: floors made of metlakh tiles, wooden stairs, plastered facades. In October 1961, the church was closed and handed over to the village school. In 1969, a monument protection plan was adopted, providing for the repair of the church to create a museum. However, no work was carried out until 1989, when the Obukhiv City Council determined the customer and contractor for the restoration. Residents of Neshcheriv and the village of May 1 participated in the work to save the church. During its construction in 1796, the church had a small chapel dedicated to Saint Paul the Confessor and the first martyr Thecla. The iconostasis was transferred from the Ascension Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery. During the restoration, it was decided not to restore this chapel but to install the iconostasis according to the church's painting project. The painting work began in 2007 and continues to this day. The Precursor chapel was restored in the western part of the church, with its paintings done in the Byzantine style by a team of icon painters from Kharkiv. A separate room has been set up for the baptism of adults. In the crypt, there is a church in honor of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. The first liturgy was held in 2013. The iconostasis of the church is made of brick, and the paintings are by icon painters from the Dochiariou Monastery on Mount Athos. In the church of the New Martyrs, there is an icon depicting more than a hundred new martyrs. The bell tower of the church has three large and eight small bells, the largest weighing 3.5 tons. In 2020, a clock mechanism was installed in the bell tower to mark the time. South of the monastery garden is a chapel built in memory of those resting in the church cemetery. Behind the altar of the church is an ancient cemetery, serving as a brotherly burial site for the Holy Trinity Ionin Monastery. Here lie symbolic graves of the founders and clergy of the church. Under the pear tree near the cemetery is the grave of Soviet soldiers who died in 1941. During the Soviet era, a stela was erected here, and now there is a granite cross. In 2006, a cross from the Cossack cemetery, transferred from a private collection, was installed at the entrance to the monastery.

Geo point

Церковь Спаса Преображения в Нещерове

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