Contents

Foundation of the Transfiguration Church
Architecture
Interior of the Transfiguration Church in Zamostye
Murals in the Transfiguration Church
History of the Transfiguration Church

Current Status of the Church
Priests Who Served in the Church

Services at the Transfiguration Church
Address of the Church

Foundation of the Transfiguration Church
The village of Zamostye, now located in the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region of Russia, was founded as a suburb of the Cossack town of Sumy. The history of the Spaso-Transfiguration Church in Zamostye dates back to the 17th century.

The history of the Transfiguration Church in Zamostye begins in 1664. The wooden church was located behind the Sudja River between the Sudja and Smerditsa rivers, near the Moscow and Belgorod roads. The church was dedicated to the Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

According to a reference book on churches from 1908, the Transfiguration Church was built in 1865. In the clerical records from 1916, the church is considered to have been built in 1875.

The Transfiguration Church in Zamostye was erected through the efforts of the parishioners and was consecrated by Bishop Sergey of Kursk and Belgorod on October 24 of the same year.

On the church grounds were a house, a watchman's lodge, and a small watchman's lodge.

Architecture
The Transfiguration Church in Zamostye is a stone five-domed church, three-nave, six-pillar, and covered with iron. It was surrounded by a stone fence. On the church grounds were a "watchman's house" and a "small watchman's lodge," also stone and covered with iron. The stone bell tower housed six copper bells and one small copper bell by the window. Their total weight was 420 poods.

The side domes of the church were blind. A three-tiered tent bell tower was attached to the church from the west. For a long time, the church remained unpainted.

Interior of the Transfiguration Church in Zamostye
Before the murals, the interior of the church was decorated as follows.

Against the white walls were placed icons, some of which repeated the architectural features of the church. One such icon has survived in the northern unpainted chapel of the church. It was painted by the Sudzhansky icon painter P. K. Likhine in 1915.

A larger-format icon of St. John the Baptist, painted on canvas, completely covers the arch of the northern chapel. Its semicircular upper completion fits perfectly into the semicircular altar arch.

The church has three altars:

the central, main one, in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord in a metal frame;
in the right chapel, in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God;
in the left, in the name of the Nativity of the Honorable and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John, both wooden in brocade vestments.

In the inventory of church property compiled in 1857 and verified in 1890, there were 16 icons in silver vestments, 6 in metal, 18 various kiots with icons, and 30 liturgical books.

Murals in the Transfiguration Church
The murals of the church were completed in 1922 by P. K. Likhine in collaboration with F. I. Nesterov and V. S. Klimenko, as evidenced by the author's inscription in the altar. The work on the monumental murals was not completed. The side naves of the church remained unpainted, and two murals were left in the initial sketch stage. The unfavorable political situation in the country in the 1920s likely caused the incompleteness of the murals.

The author of the murals, Pyotr Konstantinovich Likhin, was born in July 1879 in Sudja.

During the Soviet era, the church in the village of Zamostye and the murals covering its walls were not destroyed. Despite a number of thematic borrowings, the Transfiguration Church presents an original iconographic program.

The murals cover the dome, ceiling, walls, and pillars of the church with a continuous carpet. In the dome is the mural "The New Testament Trinity" in the iconographic type of Sroprestolye. In the window spandrels of the drum are depicted angels with raised hands and wings. Such poses of the angels are meant to express the glorification of the Holy Trinity by heavenly forces. Due to the narrowness of the spandrels, the author unusually incorporates the figures. In the spandrel are placed the legs and torso of an angel, while the head, arms, and wings are painted above the window.

In the pendentives of the church are depicted the Evangelists. The figures of the Evangelists are inscribed in round medallions, and the medallions are in an ornamental composition consisting of stylized peacock feathers. Here is a replica from early Christian iconographic symbolism: the peacock, a symbol of eternal life. In the vicinity of the images of the Evangelists, this symbol takes on a more understandable reverence for the 20th-century parishioner: eternal life is possible only through following the Gospel truths.

The supporting arches, on which the drum with the dome is placed, are painted with round medallions depicting Old Testament prophets Moses, David, Isaiah, and Daniel. The medallions are woven into ornaments of grape clusters. Among the clusters are images of the Gospel and the Tablets of the Law.

At the base of the arches are painted cherubim. In the upper wings, the cherubim hold chalices, under the lower wings are four-pointed crosses. On one side of the arches, the thorns of a crown are depicted on the crosses, on the other, a copper serpent. At the base of the cross, seven six-pointed stars are arranged in a semicircle. The paintings of the arches were meant to visually testify to the Old Testament expectations of the coming of the Messiah, whose coming is already testified by the Evangelists, the images of whom are placed above, in the pendentives. The altar pillars are dedicated to the meeting of the Old and New Testaments, on which, instead of the traditionally depicted Annunciation, is the painting of the Meeting.

On the northern pillar is depicted the Mother of God with Joseph, on the southern Simeon with the Christ Child in his arms and Anna the Prophetess. The Annunciation has been moved to the arch behind the iconostasis.

In similar arches, on either side of the central iconostasis, are placed the paintings of Christ with the disciples (south) and the Last Supper (north).

On the sides of the altar arches facing the iconostasis are the paintings of the Nativity of Christ (southern pillar) and the Baptism (northern pillar). On the inner sides of the altar arches, paired images of doves are included in the ornaments, an early Christian symbol of the Old Testament sacrifice to God.

On the central pillars (T-shaped in cross-section) are the following scenes: on the southern, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (eastern side), the Descent into Hell and Archangel Michael (northern side), the Youth of St. Sergius (from M. V. Nesterov) (eastern side). On the northern: the Transfiguration (western side), Christ healing the sick (southern side), unfinished painting (?) (eastern side).

On the western wall is the painting of the Carrying of the Cross, flanked by smaller paintings: "The Betrayal of Judas" (on the southern side) and "The Mother of God and Mary Magdalene" (on the northern).

History of the Transfiguration Church
From March 28, 1912, to August 16, 1913, repairs were made in the church. A church-parish women's school operated at the church, where 121 girls were educated in 1916.

The law of God was taught by parish priest Alexander Pavlovich Solodovnikov, and the teacher was Ivan Ivanovich Pykin, who graduated from the Kursk Teacher's Seminary.

After the issuance of the decree of the SNK of the RSFSR on January 20, 1918, the Transfiguration Church continued to operate according to the charter of the religious society of the village of Zamostye. In 1924, the religious society of the Transfiguration Church of the village of Zamostye was re-registered in the Sudzhansky district executive committee.

According to the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of February 23, 1922, 12 silver vestments and 2 silver crosses were removed from the church. At the request of the faithful, the icons of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the iconostasis, the Savior, and the Mother of God were left in the church. In August 1923, an inventory of church property was compiled with a note about the removal. Among other confiscated silver items were 10 icons in silver vestments.

In 1933, the community of believers disbanded, and according to the act of April 21, 1934, most of the church building was transferred to the Sudzhansky grain procurement organization for use as a grain storage facility. From August 1937, the church was completely closed due to the absence of a clergyman.

On February 12, 1940, at a general meeting of collective farmers, a decision was made "On the purchase of the church building by the Lenin collective farm for conversion into a cultural center." By the decision of the Kursk regional executive committee on May 28, 1940, the church was closed, and the building was transferred to the district council executive committee for cultural purposes.

Services in the church resumed during the Great Patriotic War. On March 5, 1945, the religious society "Transfiguration Orthodox Church" was registered in the Sudzhansky district executive committee with 800 believers. The parishioners of the church were residents of the villages of Zamostye, Makhnovka, and the Dmitryuk farm. During the war, Father Grigory Travkin served in the church.

As of January 14, 1948, the Transfiguration village of Zamostye was included in the "List of architectural monuments under special registration of the Department of Architecture under the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR." In 1949, the church was removed from the register of architectural monuments.

From 1951, the Transfiguration Church was completely occupied as a warehouse by the Grain Procurement Organization. In 1953, half of the building was freed. In 1954-1955, repairs were made to the church, and its good condition was noted.

In 1963, the question of merging the parishes of the churches in Sudja, the village of Zamostye, and the village of Goncharovka was considered. However, the merger did not take place: in the documents of the archive from the 1970s, the churches in the village of Zamostye and the village of Goncharovka are listed as active churches.

In accordance with the RSFSR Law "On Freedom of Conscience" of October 25, 1990, upon the application of the manager of the Kursk-Belgorod diocese, on January 3, 1992, the charter of the religious association was registered, the Orthodox parish of the Holy Transfiguration Church of the Kursk-Belgorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). According to the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" of September 26, 1997, the religious organization, the Transfiguration parish of the village of Zamostye, was registered (certificate dated November 16, 1999, No. 135r).

Current Status of the Church
By the decree of the governor of the Kursk region dated October 30, 1998, No. 566, the ensemble of the Holy Transfiguration Church, consisting of the church building, church-parish school, watchman's lodge, and fence with gates, was placed under protection as a monument of cult architecture of regional significance. The house of the priest, which is part of the church ensemble, is included in the "List of identified cultural heritage objects representing historical, scientific, artistic, or other cultural value."

Priests Who Served in the Church
Some names of priests who served in the church over the years are known: Alexey Grigoryevich Dyakonov (1899-1920), Alexander Pavlovich Solodovnikov (1901-1906), Pyotr Polyakov (1917-1922), Flegont Antonov (late 40s, early 50s), F.V. Besov (1950-1954), I.V. Dunai (since March 1954), S.I. Buchkovsky since 1962, Alexey Mikhailovich Kononov (from 1967-1990).

Services at the Transfiguration Church
Services are held on Sundays and holidays.

In the morning at 9:00 and in the evening at 17:00.

Rector: Archpriest Pyotr Nemeryshin.

Feast Days:

Transfiguration of the Lord, August 19.

Address of the Church
307820, Russia, Kursk region, Sudzhansky district, village of Zamostye, Lenin Street, 31.