On May 6, 2024, Monday of Holy Week, the day of the memory of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas performed in Nizhny Novgorod the great consecration of the church in honor of the holy prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and the holy martyr Lyudmila, Princess of Bohemia.
Ahead of the consecration, Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas performed the great consecration of the church in honor of the holy prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and the holy martyr Lyudmila, Princess of Bohemia.
Before the consecration there was a solemn meeting of the ark with parts of the relics of Blessed Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and the holy martyr Ludmila, Princess of Bohemia. «With the care of archimandrite Seraphim, representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, we are today welcoming with spiritual joy the ark with the relics of the Holy Blessed Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and the Holy Martyr Ludmila of Bohemia. The relic will forever rest in the church built in honor of these God-pleasers», — said Metropolitan George.
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Afterwards, the head of the Nizhegorodsk Metropolitanate celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church. Gorodetsky and Vetluzhsky Paramon, vicars of the Nizhegorodsky Eparchy Bishop Ilia of Balakhna, Bishop Innokenty of Sormovo, as well as Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky), representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Archpriest Sergius Matveev, secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod diocesan administration, Archpriest Vyksun Diocese, Archpriest Demetrius Ivin, Bishop Ioann Revyagin, dean of the Nagorny District, Priest Ioann Evdokimov, rector of the newly-consecrated church, and other clergy of the diocese.
The abbots and prioresses of the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis, as well as pupils of Orthodox gymnasiums of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese prayed at the Liturgy together with the parishioners.
The service was attended by the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod region Yuri Balashov, the head of the district administration Alexander Ivanov, the head of the military hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in Nizhny Novgorod Oleg Tutaev, the district prosecutor Tatiana Voronina, the head of the district police department № 7 Sergey Savoskin, the director of the consumer cooperative TIZ «Novoye Pokrovskoye» Mikhail Anyanov, the head of the local community. of the City Resource Center for Spiritual and Moral Education and Civic Education, Valery Malinin, director of School #187, Alexey Antsiferov, head of the Nizhny Novgorod icon painting workshop «Ark» and benefactors.
Volunteers from the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese helped organize the service.
Volunteers of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese helped to organize the service.
After the Liturgy, the archpastors congratulated the head of the Metropolis on his namesake and presented a bouquet of flowers. Abbess of the Svyato-Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevsky Monastery Hegumeness Sergia (Konkova) congratulated His Eminence on behalf of the monks and presented him with a mitre. Archimandrite Seraphim congratulated Metropolitan George on behalf of His Beatitude Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. Then the Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod accepted congratulations from other participants of the service.
Metropolitan George was congratulated on behalf of Metropolitan Rostislav.
The head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis thanked the co-serving bishops for the opportunity to share the joy of prayer with them and, as a token of gratitude, presented each of them with an icon of the holy martyr Lyudmila and Blessed Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia.All parishioners were also given icons of the Holy Martyr Ludmila and St. Blessed Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia in memory of the consecration of the church.
This is the so far the only church in Russia consecrated in honor of these saints. The wooden church has one throne and can accommodate up to 300 people. The peculiarity of this church is the unique concept of painting — the iconostasis and kiosks are decorated with khokhloma.
Creation of the iconostasis in Khokhloma painting — is a joint work of the icon painting workshop «Kovcheg» and Semyonov factory «Khokhloma painting». The workshop was engaged in creating the sketch part, writing icons, making blanks for painting, and the factory specialists carried out the painting. According to the head of the diocesan workshop «Ark» Alexei Antsiferov, the idea to realize a unique iconostasis was voiced by Metropolitan George three years ago.
The temple in honor of St. Blessed Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and St. Martyr Ludmila of Bohemia is decorated in red tones, so the iconostasis in Khokhloma painting perfectly matches the external appearance of the temple. Solemn red color symbolizes the blood shed by the martyrs for Jesus Christ.
The iconostasis in the Khokhloma painting, despite its unusual nature, was created according to the Church-wide Orthodox canon. This unique temple in folk style is the only one not only in Nizhny Novgorod, but also in Russia.
In 1993, the residents of the Individual developers' associations «Novoye Pokrovskoye» took the initiative to organize an Orthodox parish in their village. In 2014, a plot of land was allocated for the construction of the church, which it was decided to dedicate to the memory of St. Prince Vyacheslav of Bohemia and St. Martyr Ludmila, Princess of Bohemia. The church was laid on August 14, 2015. The rite of laying the foundation stone was performed by the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis. On December 2, 2021 the consecration of the domes and crosses of this church took place. The consecration rite was led by Metropolitan George.
Nizhegorodsky Metropolis/Patriarchy.ru
