The Church of the Dormition in Pechatniki is situated in Moscow at the corner of Sretenka Street and Rozhdestvensky Boulevard. The area called Pechatniki was named after print workers (Russian "pechatniki") who lived there and worked in the Moscow Print Yard.
No documents about time and facts of the original church in Pechatnaya Sloboda have survived. For the first time it was mentioned in 1631–1632 list of churches.
The Church's archival records evidenced that the first church in Pechatniki was wooden and dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
In approximately 1695, a new one-dome, stone church of the Assumption was built without side chapels but with a refectory and a tent-like bell tower.
In the 18th century, two chapels were arranged in the Church. One side chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist was added to the right side of the refectory. Another side chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas was made inside the refectory, on its left side.
In the 18th century, two disasters happened in Moscow — the 1737 Holy Trinity Fire and the 1771 pest epidemic. Fortunately, the Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki suffered from neither of these. It had not been included in a list of burned churches submitted by Adjutant General Saltikov to Empress Anna of Russia. When the pest epidemic struck the city, the Church escaped the common lot of 75 churches, which were closed because their priests died. After the epidemic, in 1774, it was in top 55 of 260 parish churches.
The late 18th and early 19th centuries were the most prosperous period in the history of the Church. By efforts of Priest Vasili Komarov, who was a church warden for more than 15 years, and Deacon John, a silver case for the Church's Icon was arranged; the Gospel, a reliquary, a cross, and vessels were purchased; a sacristy was improved.
In 1794, the unheated church was painted for 700 roubles. In 1795, painter Nikolai Tyapkin painted the heated church for 400 roubles. In 1798, a big bell of 177 poods (2,900 kg or 6,390 lb.) and two small bells were cast for 3,417 roubles. In 1805, a new icon stand was made by a parishioner, Moscow merchant Dmitriev, for 1,500 roubles and mounted by Easter. All icons, except the lower tier, were painted by Peter and Mikhail Ivanovs for 1,000 roubles.
The year of 1812 put an end to the Church's welfare. On 2 September, the French marched into Moscow and approached the Sretenskiye Gates. On 5 September, the church was looted by the enemies and set on fire on the other day. Holy altars, icon stands, icons, holy vessels, and most of the library were burned down. The church warden, Moscow merchant Grigory Dmitriev, salvaged and buried some vessels. Later he gave them to parishioners. The church warden did not leave the Church and lived in the bell tower. On 11 October, when Napoleon's army retreated from Moscow, he saved the Church from plunderers who tried to break the door and steal things hidden in the Church. The buried Church's property did not suffer and first was handed over to Sretensky Monastery for safekeeping. Houses owned by church servants and church stores burned away. Only eight of 45 houses survived.
After the invasion, an icon stand was made in the side chapel of St. John the Baptist and consecrated on 30 March 1813. Later, the side chapel of St. Nicholas was renovated and consecrated on 24 April 1814.
From 1900 to 1902, the reconstructed church was decorated from both inside and outside. The interior decoration was made by the best experts supervised by architect V. Iordan. The walls are covered with Russian and Byzantine ornaments and adorned with holy images. Some of the most recent paintings are remarkable for their artistic performance and greatly impress. These include images of evangelists on the ceiling and the Annunciation on the front plafond above the arch by A. Korina, a depiction of the Saviour in front of Pontius Pilatus on the rare plafond above the door by Strunnikov, and St. Nicholas on the northern plafond by I. Bogdanov. Icons were painted again by artist S. Shvarev. Everything was done by efforts of church warden Pavel Sevostianov. The reconstruction works cost over 50,000 roubles which were contributed by parishioners, benevolent sponsors, the Church, and the church warden himself.
The Church was shut down in 1917. The building was occupied by Arktikproekt Trust. On 12 January 1960, an exhibition "The USSR Marine", telling about the Russian shipbuilding history from the first dugouts to state-of-the-art atomic ships, was opened.
In 1991, it was decided to hand over the Church to the brotherhood of the neighbouring Sretensky Monastery. It was done in 1993. In 1994, the exposition was removed from the Church.
In 1995, the Church celebrated its 300th Anniversary.
According to legend, a decrepit-looking old man and a young girl got married in the Church. A famous painting "The Unequal Marriage" by Vasili Pukerev was based on this event.
A Jewish silver coin, paid to Judas for Christ as legend says, is kept in the Church's sacristy. According to archaeologists, this coin undoubtedly dates back to the time of Gaius Julius Caesar.
During Soviet times, the chapel in Ilyinsky Square seemed to be a strange monument of far-off years. It was a real miracle that it remained standing there between the buildings of the Central Committees of the Communist Party and Komsomol. There was hardly anyone who could remember the words said by Lieutenant Colonel I. Sokol on the opening day: "...
The Church was built in 1657 (the lower Church of St. Nicholas) in Pokrovka Street in Klyonniki, the maple grove (some people think that the word "klyonniki" was transformed from the word "blinniki" in the 18th century), close to the wooden Church of St. Simeon of the Wonderful Mountain built by Tsar Ivan III in 1468 (the Church has not preserved)....
The now-existing SS. Cosmas and Damian Church in Maroseyka Street was built in 1793. However, a church had already existed at the same place before. Thus two churches are distinguished: the old and the new one.
It is not known for sure when and by whom the old SS. Cosmas and Damian Church was built. It is known for certainty though that the chur...
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