At the entrance to the city of Kostroma, under the mountain, on the bank of the Volga River, the famous Church of the Resurrection in Debrya, surrounded by ancient lime trees, raises its domes and crosses high to the sky. It is a great Orthodox sacred place of the Kostroma Region and a prominent monument of the 17th-century Russian artistic culture.
The Church's name "in Debrya" means that there was dense, thick forest in ancient times. Two Debryas, Lower and Upper, were known in Kostroma. The Resurrection Church was constructed at the foot of the hill, in Lower Debrya.
According to legend, the first wooden church was built there as early as 13th century by Kostroma prince Vasily Yaroslavich (1248–1276), the youngest son of Yaroslav II.
In the 15th century, a settlement appeared in Lower Debrya. Since the 17th century, it had been known for its leather dressers. According to the 1628 Kostroma cadastre, a wooden, tented-roof church of the Resurrection of Christ with a side chapel of St. Catherine was situated where the now-existing church is. There was also another wooden church of SS. Cosmas and Damian with a refectory and a side chapel dedicated to St. George. Thus, the tented-roof Church of the Resurrection was unheated. In winter, services were held in the nearby Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian, patron saints of craftsmen. A stone church was ordered by merchant Kirill Grigoriev, son of Isak, and parishioners living in Lower Debrya. He heavily traded leathers and was a member of the Moscow Gostinnaya Sotnia. According to legend, money for construction was received unexpectedly. Kirill Isakov ordered paints from England. One of the delivered drums was full of gold instead of paint. This gold was contributed to the Church's construction. The high altar was dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ as it was in the wooden church. The side chapels were consecrated in honour of St. Catherine (the southern side chapel in the diaconicon) and the Three Holy Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom.
According to the 1628 cadastre, St. Catherine's side chapel existed in the previous, wooden church. However, it was preserved in the new building and the new side chapel of the Three Holy Hierarchs was consecrated by request of the customer, since his mother was named Catherine in honour of St. Catherine and his father's name was Gregory, his patron saint was Gregory the Theologian, one the Three Holy Hierarchs and church teachers.
The construction was finished by 1645. As it is supposed by modern researchers, seven years later, the Church was painted by a team of Kostroma painters supervised by talented Kostroma artists Vasily Zapokrovsky (gallery paintings) and Gury Nikitin (the Three Holy Hierarchs' side chapel paintings). However, Kirill Isakov was never to see the Church in all its beauty. Shortly before the consecration, he died and was buried in the basement. In 1645, his brother donated a silver communion cross for Kirill to be mentioned in prayer.
The five-dome cubic church on the basement originally had a vaulted roof. The side chapel of the Three Holy Hierarchs was crowned with a pyramid of small kokoshniks. The gallery, surrounding the Church from three sides, had open arches. In the late 17th century, the Church's facades were obviously painted with diamond-shaped bossage (diamond-shaped bossage or rustic work means that walls are painted with rectangular or square blocks diagonally separated into four triangles of different colours, which creates 3D effect) and "grasses", which made it even more beautiful. At the same time, when the Church was constructed, the Holy Gates with three hip roofs and arched passages appeared. Originally, it was an independent building, later connected with the Church's gallery and its western porch. The Gates were adorned with white-stone inserts. Each insert had images of a lion, a unicorn, a siren, an owl, and a double-headed eagle, which had a symbolic value and related to the Resurrection feast. Lion personifies the upcoming Resurrection and is a watchful guard of the sacred place. Unicorn symbolizes purity and virginity.
After a century since the construction, the Church was rebuilt. In the 1740s, the quadrangle's windows were enlarged; the vaulted roof was replaced by a pyramidal roof; the gallery's arches were bricked up to keep the interior from snow in winter and dampness in autumn time; kokoshniks of the side chapel of the Three Holy Hierarchs were hidden by a slopped roof.
In 1871 and 1872, a sacristy with a semi-circle altar-like projection was added to the south-eastern corner of the Church. At the same time, the ancient painting was repainted in oil.
The Our Lady of the Sign Church, situated to the south, and the Resurrection Church are a single architectural ensemble. Once, the both churches were surrounded by a common forged fence with figured columns, created in 1878. It is not known for sure when the Our Lady of the Sign Church was constructed. It was built if not simultaneously, then soon after the Resurrection Church, as a winter church. This helped to preserve monumental paintings, icons and other decorations in the summer church's interior very much. A multi-tiered bell tower adjoined the Our Lady of the Sign Church from the west. At that time, it was the Church of St. George with two side chapels dedicated to SS. Cosmas and Damian in the refectory and St. Procopius of Ustyug under the bell tower. Creation of the latter side chapel was, probably, connected with the customer's business. He traded with towns situated along the northern riverway including Veliky Ustyug, where holy fool Procopius, who once was a rich merchant as Kirill Isakov, worked. From 1799 to 1802, St. George's Church was completely reconstructed. Then it was consecrated again and dedicated to the Our Lady of the Sign Icon. The side chapels were combined and moved to a new Church's octagonal, where parishioners could enter through an open passage above the refectory's roof. It is most probably, that the Epiphany Cathedral of the Kostroma Kremlin was used as a prototype to arrange the side chapel.
When the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov was celebrated in 1913, Emperor Nikolay II and his family visited Kostroma. On the afternoon of 20 May, he and his daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia saw round the Church of the Resurrection and bowed to its sacred objects.
In the early 1930s, church services were stopped in the Our Lady of the Sign Church and then in the Resurrection Church too. By God's grace, bellicose atheists could not raise their hands to destroy the Resurrection Church, as they destroyed the Our Lady of the Sign Church, which is still ruined. The Church's basement was used as military warehouse; and the Church itself was occupied by a granary.
Church services were resumed in 1946 under Bishop Anthony of Kostroma and Galich, who consecrated the Church on 28 July 1946. The Church did not have floor, window frames, icons of the bottom tier, and the Beautiful Gates; iconostasis's carving was savagely broken. With the help of parishioners the Church was gradually put in order. However, the short period of loyal attitude of the Soviet authorities to the Orthodox Church changed into oppression and persecution again. The Resurrection Church was not an exception.
In the late 1950s, they tried to close the Church supposedly "by request of the believers". However, Bishop Sergius of Kostroma and Galich and parishioners made a stand against this. Archpriest Serafim (Borisov) was appointed dean of the Church. Farther Serafim's monastic life began in the Zheleznoborovsky Monastery. After it was shut down, he spent 16 years in camps and prisons including the Solovki labour camp.
In the early 1960s, in Bishop Nikodim's time (the metropolitan of Kharkov and Bogodukhovsk), the Church of the Resurrection became a cathedral instead of St. John Chrysostom's Church situated in the city centre. In 1964, the main sacred object of Kostroma Region, the wonder-working Icon of Fyodorovskaya Theotokos, was moved there from St. John Chrysostom's Church. It was kept in the Church until 1991. On 29 August 1991, a religious procession transported the Icon to the just opened Theophany Convent, which became a cathedral.
The Resurrection Church, ancient and prayerful, is specially loved by Kostroma citizens and guests of the city. Some people visit the Church taking an interest in history and culture, while many others come there to join salutary religious ordinance and see historical and artistic sights of the Church as ancient Orthodox holy objects.
The walls and vaults surrounding the Church's gallery quadrangle were painted with oil in the 1870s and hid the original frescoes. On the left of the western portal, there is an image of Sophia and a large composition with scenes of the Revelations dated back to 1652 in an icon case. On the right, there is an honourable fresco of the Saviour dated back to the same period. The southern porch has an image of the creation of the world and key events of the first people's life. Ecumenical councils are depicted on the northern porch. On the right of the southern portal, in the icon case behind the iconostasis, there is an honourable fresco of Our Lady of the Sign. The eastern part of the gallery is occupied by St. Catherine's side chapel arranged in 1946. Originally, the side chapel was situated in the diaconicon of the high altar behind the iconostasis. There is still an ancient icon of St. Catherine painted, supposedly, in the late 16th or early 17th century for the first iconostasis of the wooden church.
Door ways, adorned with white-stone dynkas and stone cornices with finely carved florets, lead to the Church's quadrangle and the side chapel of the Three Holy Hierarchs. The forged iron doors with latches and iron "ropes" and the Church itself are of the same age. The quadrangle's walls are completely covered with oil paintings of the Gospel. The ancient iconostasis was replaced with the present one with old icons included in 1852. Lower-tier icons had not survived and were replaced with other icons collected when the Church was opened. Ancient icons of the second half of the 17th century deserve special attention. The icon of St. John the Baptist with 40 border scenes of his life; the icon of SS. Paul and Peter with Moscow holy hierarchs; two icons of the Old Testament Trinity; the 18th-19th-century icon of Fyodorovskaya Theotokos with 26 border scenes of the Kostroma history; and the 17th-19th-century icon of St. Nicholas with 40 border scenes of his life. On the left of the holy door, in the icon case in front of the solea, there is a copy (dated back to the mid-19th century) of the wonder-working Icon of Fyodorovskaya Theotokos in an elegant framework decorated with enamels. This icon took part in many religious processions. In a separate case on the left, there is the icon of St. Nicholas with eight border scenes, a copy of the wonder-working icon.
Attention is attracted by the Theotokos of Tolga (1862) in a beautiful framework adorned with beads, a copy of the wonder-working icon, which is situated near the northern choir.
Relics of the Kiev-Pechersk saints rest in a specially made reliquary in front of the iconostasis. They are Venerable Ilya Muromets; Venerable Prokhor of Pechersk also named "pigweed-eater" because he used pigweed instead of bread; Venerable Damian the Healer who "healed the sick with prayers and holy oil"; St. Nifont, Archbishop of Novgorod; St. Mark of the Caves; and Venerable Spyridon the Prosphora-baker, who learned to read being not so young and read the entire Psalter daily.
Quite big picturesque icons of the 17th century, including the Praises of the Theotokos, St. Nicholas with the hagiography, the Our Lady of Smolensk, and the Old Testament Trinity, situated in icon cases around the columns, also deserve attention.
A true treasury of the Old Russian church art is the side chapel of the Three Holy Hierarchs with a five-tier iconostasis of the 17th century and monumental mural paintings dated back to 1652, which are ascribed to a prominent Kostroma painter Gury Nikitin and his fellow artists. The paintings are devoted to the Holy Hierarchs' lives and martyr's death of the Apostles.
The holy door, its canopy and the iconostasis's templon are covered with fine ornamental carvings painted in many colours, gold and silver. The templon at the foot of the Deesis tier is supported by square pillars ending with carved hands. In 1873, the iconostasis was restored by Bolshesolsk carver Trubnikov. The iconostasis is peculiar for its rare icons placed above the bottom tier: O Monogenes Yios and the Apostles' Sermon (17th century). Traditionally, on the right of the holy door, there is the church icon of SS. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom dated back to the mid-17th century.
With time, many works of church art were collected under the vaults of the Resurrection Church including those brought there from other churches closed during the persecution years. When Moscow Holy Danilov Monastery and later Kostroma Theophany Convent were opened, some icons and utensils were donated for these temples. The Church has been continuously reconstructed under supervision of experienced specialists of the Kostroma Restoration Workshop. Thus, the icons and monumental paintings were restored by artists under the direction of A. Malofeyev; carvings and gilding of the iconostasis — by carvers and restorers headed by N. Sharov; historical and archival researches were made by Y. Kudryashov.
In 1998, it was decided to reconstruct the bell tower of the Our Lady of the Sign Church, which was completely destroyed in the 1930s. On 26 September 2001, the reconstructed bell tower was consecrated by Archpriest Alexander of Kostroma and Galich.
In the early 17th century, two suburban wooden churches stood on the future site of the Monastery in Sovetskaya Street (then Proboynaya Street), the Church of Resurrection and the Church of SS. Cyril and Athanasius. According to legend, the construction of the Monastery is connected with the deliverance of the city from the pestilence in 1612, when...
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