On November 24, 2024, in the Week of the 22nd Pentecost, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the great consecration of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra in Biryulevo, Moscow, and the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church.
At the gates of the church, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was greeted by: the dean of the Donskoy church district of the city of Moscow.
At the gates of the temple the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was greeted by: the dean of the Donskoy church district of Moscow, Archpriest Alexander Farko. Archpriest Alexander Farkovets, rector of St. Nicholas Church in Biryulevo Archpriest Vitaly Togubitsky, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation L.E. Slutsky, prefect of the Southern Administrative District of Moscow A.V. Chelyshev, head of the district of Biryulevo Western Moscow S.A. Volkov, head of the administration of Biryulevo West. Moscow S.A. Volkov; students of the Public Educational Institution «Orthodox Education Center of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker»
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At the consecration of the church and at the Liturgy His Holiness was served by: Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in Moscow; Metropolitan Feognost of Kashir, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism; Metropolitan Feognost of Kashir, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism; Metropolitan Nikandr of Naro-Fominsk, chairman of the Financial and Economic Administration of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Alexis of Ramenskoye, personal secretary of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for Moscow; Archpriest Alexander Farkovets, dean of the Don district of Moscow; Archpriest Konstantin Kharitoshkin, rector of the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God in Orekhovo-Borisov Yuzhny, Moscow; Protopresbyter Konstantin Kharitoshkin, rector of the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God in Orekhovo-Borisov Yuzhny. Moscow; Protopriest Oleg Korytko, rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God «Life-bearing Source» in Tsaritsyn, Moscow, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Reference Office, deputy chairman of the Patriarchal Award Commission; Archpriest Konstantin Sopelnikov, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Chertanovo, Moscow; Priest Kirill, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Chertanovo, Moscow. Moscow; Priest Kirill Markovsky, acting chairman of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry; Moscow clergy.
The church was attended by: LDPR chairman, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation L.E. Slutsky; deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, advisor to the mayor of Moscow, advisor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia on construction issues, supervisor of the Program for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow V.I. Resin; prefect of the South Administrative District of Moscow A.V. Chelyshev; head of the administration of the district of Biryulevo Western Moscow S.A. Volkov; benefactors, builders and beautifiers of the newly built temple. Moscow SA Volkov, benefactors, builders and beautifiers of the newly built temple.
The choir of the Svyato-Trinity Sergius Lavra under the direction of Hieromonk Nestor (Volkov) performed the liturgical hymns.
The service was broadcast live on «Soyuz» and «Spas», as well as on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarchy.ru.
At the Litany of Liturgy, special petitions were offered, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill read a prayer for Holy Russia.
Holy Patriarch Kirill read a prayer for Holy Russia.
After the Liturgy, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church ordained Deacon Sergius Preobrazhensky, a clergyman of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the suburb of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in Orekhovo-Borisov, Moscow, to the rank of presbyter.
The sermon before communion was delivered by Priest Dionisy Stefanov, clergyman of the Patriarchal suburb of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God «Skoroposlushnitsa» in Zelenograd, Moscow.
At the end of the service the rector of St. Nicholas church Archpriest Vitaly Togubitsky welcomed His Holiness and presented His Holiness with an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Holy Patriarch Kirill addressed the faithful with Holy Patriarch Kirill's First Diocesan Address.
Holy Patriarch Kirill addressed the faithful with Holy Patriarch Kirill's First Diocesan Address.
The Primate of the Russian Church presented the icon of the Mother of God «Troeruchitsa» to the temple.
According to the decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, in consideration of the work and help in the construction of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra in Biryulevo, the following were awarded:
- Propriest Oleg Vorobyev, dean of the Danilovsky church district, responsible for the construction of churches in the Southern Vicariate, — Patriarchal sign of the temple builder;
- priest Vitaly Togubitsky, rector of the temple, — medal of the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh;
- A.A. Novopashin, deputy chairman of the Council of Veterans of Military Counterintelligence of the Federal Security Service of Russia, — Order of Prince Alexander Nevsky III degree;
- A.I. Nakhodkin, general manager of the construction company «Monolit», — medal of the Order of the Noble Prince Daniel of Moscow.
«Happy holiday to all of you, my dear ones! The blessing of God and the Protection of the Queen of Heaven be upon you all! God bless you!" » — His Holiness exhorted the participants of the service. Vladyka.
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South of Moscow, at the seventeenth verst on the Bolshaya Serpukhovskaya road, on the Gorodenka river, was the village of Biryulevo, Zyuzinskaya volost — the possession of Peter Tatishchev, then Alexander Pleshcheev, and after him Agraphena Obolenskaya. The last owner of the estate was engineer-captain Ivan Romeiko.
In 1900 the Ryazan-Ural railroad passed through these places. The station «Biryulevo» was connected by a branch with the station «Tsaritsyno-Dachnoye» of the Moscow-Kursk railroad and by a railroad track with a large brick factory of engineer Verkhovsky (one and a half versts from the station).
In 1903 at the station «Biryulevo» a railway school was opened. In 1911, at the request of employees and the board of the Ryazan-Ural Railway and with the blessing of the new martyr Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Moscow and Kolomna, a church was built at the school.
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November 8, 1911 the parish was formed. In April 1912 the church was consecrated in honor of the Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Emperor Nicholas II granted a monetary grant to pay debts on the construction of the temple. In 1924 the Alexander Nevsky temple was closed, the premises were transferred to the school administration.
In the same year, with the blessing of St. In December 1924 a new church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built and consecrated near the railway station at the cemetery. Priest Vasily Kanardov (shot in 1937 at the Butovo polygon, rehabilitated posthumously) was appointed the rector.
In the years of the Great Patriotic War, when parishes began to collect funds for the needs of defense, a small village church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Biryuleva donated 102,426 rubles for the creation of tank column named after Dmitry Donskoy. For patriotic activity during the war, the rector of St. Nicholas Church in Biryulevo Archpriest Nicholas Perekhvalsky was awarded the medal «For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 ». .
March 1, 1956 the wooden church completely burned down. Under the house of worship adapted the church gatehouse next to the ashes. Already 10 days after the fire services resumed — Easter service was held on the street, the bells were hung on poles. The authorities forbade the construction of a new church, and all appeals of parishioners were invariably refused. In 1957, the rector Archpriest Vasily Moiseyev and faithful parishioners decided, despite the ban, to begin construction of the church. They worked in secret, at night assembling and painting logs. The walls were moved to a new place and the walls of the gatehouse were dismantled. Then the altar was added. Icons were donated by believers from surrounding villages near Moscow, the iconostasis was assembled by the artist-restorer V.A. Rybakov from parts found in closed churches. December 22, 1957, on the feast day of the icon of the Mother of God «Inconceivable Joy», Protopresbyter John Sobolev, accompanied by several clergymen consecrated the great rank of the wooden church, as well as the former, in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra. Commission, who came to fix the absence of the church and the liquidation of the parish, found a functioning church. The authorities did not dare to demolish it.
So during Khrushchev's persecution of the Church, when all over the country closed and destroyed churches, in Biryulevo by the courage of the rector and parishioners appeared a new church — an event unique for that time. In 1959 in the temple was arranged attached throne of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On December 21, 1997, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church. Beyond the wooden church there are Sunday school buildings with a library and a house of the priesthood, built in 1996-2004. All buildings are owned by the parish. On the church territory there were graves of the famous The church's builder Archpriest Vasily Moiseyev and those clergy and believers whose remains were allowed to be transferred to the church during the liquidation of the Biryulyovo cemetery in the 1970s. During the construction of the church they were moved to the basement of the new building.
In 2000, the parish appealed to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II with a request to bless the construction of a large stone church, because the small wooden church could no longer accommodate the residents of the grown Moscow neighborhood. The Moscow Government received 10,000 signatures of residents in favor of building a new church on the historic church territory.
On December 22, 2012, on the feast day of the icon of the Mother of God «Inconceivable Joy» and the 55th anniversary of the consecration of the wooden church, Archbishop Arseny of Istrinsky, first vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch, performed the rite of consecration of the foundation stone of the new church in place of the burned in 1956. The temple building with a total area of 1466 square meters has now been erected In the new church installed three thrones — in honor of St. Nicholas, Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky. The central part of the iconostasis was donated by the parish of the church of the icon The iconostasis of the Mother of God «Life-bearing Source» in Tsaritsyn. The iconostases of the Intercession and Alexander Nevsky chancel are mainly made of historical icons that were in the old church. To the left and right of the central iconostasis in ciotes installed especially revered by parishioners icons — Mother of God «Skoroposlushnitsa» (painted on the Holy Mount Athos in 1910) and the temple image of St. Nicholas, transferred from the wooden church.
A near the temple there is a granite cross in memory of soldiers and Orthodox Christians buried in the territory of the liquidated Biryulyovo cemetery; on May 9 and on the days of special commemoration of the deceased, memorial services are served here. The first Divine Liturgy in the new church was celebrated on September 9, 2019. Regular services have been held in the new church since 2023. Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
