Church of St. Paraskevi of Iconium in Podil (Sergiyev Posad)
127 Krasnoy Armii Avenue, Sergiyev Posad.
The Church of St. Paraskevi of Iconium in Podil is one of Sergiyev Posad's oldest churches.
Originally, in Podil, there stood the wooden Church of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, which had a side-chapel of Paraskevi the Great Martyr; build probably as early as 15th century, this church served as a parish church for the "servants" of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (officials who managed the Lavra's vast economy).
Later, a monastery for men appeared in Podil; the monastery depended on the Lavra. In 1547, the funds of the Trinity Monastery and of "lovers of Christ" (voluntary donators) were used to erect St. Paraskevi's Church.
After the 1608–1610 Polish-Lithuanian siege, the Trinity Monastery, according to Priestmonk Arsenius, a librarian at Moscow Theological Academy, "healed the wounds that had been inflicted on the Podil Monastery." In 1611, St. Paraskevi's Church was renovated and consecrated.
A 1641 register reads: "by the Trinity, outside of the town ... there is a monastery and the Church of the Entry of the Mother of God in it, of stone, its roof is covered with batten, its dome and cross are covered with German iron ... There is also another heated church, in the name of St. Paraskevi the Great Martyr, with a refectory, also of stone, its roof is covered with batten, its dome and cross are covered with German iron, ... and the churches were built by the Monastery. And, on the same church, bellmakers made... And there are thirteen cells in the Monastery, female elders live in them, and the cells were built by the elders themselves..."
Later, having fallen into decay, the Monastery was dissolved. Since the Lent of 1679, the Church had become a parish church of Nizhnyaya Sluznyaya Village. Apparently, it was also at that time that the new, now-existing, St. Paraskevi's Church was built.
In 1928, the Church of St. Paraskevi of Iconium in Podil was shut down.
On 1 June 1929, the city authorities let the Church out to the board of the Smychka Cooperative Society to be used as a warehouse. During the time when the Society owned the Church's building, it fell into a state of extreme neglect. Only as late as 1960s, when the Church was handed over to Zagorsk (the then name of Sergiyev Posad) Museum-Reserve, research and restoration works started. As a result, it was discovered that St. Paraskevi's Church dated from the second half of the 17th century. Researchers are divided on the issue of whether it was rebuilt from scratch or redesigned in the late 17th century.
In 1991, Zagorsk Museum handed the Church over to the Lavra.
Situated to the north of the Church of the Entry of the Mother of God, the Church of St. Paraskevi of Iconium, is a three-part church built to resemble a ship, which is typical of parish church architecture. The Church consists of a rectangle with a protruding semicircular apse, a square pillarless refectory and a bell tower, which are connected to form a single volume and are aligned along the east-west axis.
The Church has a rectangular plan, it is pillarless, covered with a cloistered vault and crowned with a round blind drum and an onion dome. The bell tower adjoining the refectory is an "octagon on square" (a compositional technique whereby an octagonal volume is put on top of a rectangular one). It is supported by two pylons and the refectory's western wall, with stairs set up in the wall.
St. Paraskevi's Church is gaily decorated. Divided into three curtain walls with pilaster-strips, the Church's walls are crowned with blind arches with mouldings and bands of small keel-shaped niches and a brick course. Rich architraves in the form of pointed kokoshniks decorate the windows of the Church and of the refectory. The rowlock-arched entrance portal is decorated with curious geometric carving. The bell tower is decorated with numerous decorative elements distinguished by their somewhat "broken" character.
Thus, the smart and cosy St. Paraskevi's Church, the volumes of which look as if they are threaded onto a horizontal axis, differs significantly from the neighbouring slim and magnificent Church of the Entry of the Mother of God. While the architecture of the latter intertwines ancient and recently built parts, St Paraskevi's Church is a complete monument of the new architecture of the 17th century; the Church has largely preserved its original appearance that met the taste of the settlement's residents.