Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "Red Chime" (Moscow)
9A Nikolsky Lane, Moscow, Metro station: "Kitay-gorod".
The Church of St. Nicholas "Red Chime" is located in Kitay-gorod, one of the Moscow oldest historical districts, in Yushkov Drive (later known as Vladimirova Drive, and since 1992 as Nikolsky Lane) connecting Varvarka Street and Ilyinka Street. The church was first mentioned in the 16th-century chronicle.
The name of "Red Chime" was given to the Church because of its unusual and beautiful bell ringing (the Russian word "krasniy" ["red"] is derived from the word "krasiviy" ["beautiful"]). The bell tower had bell made in either 1573 or in 1473 with an inscription in some foreign language. After the church was closed in 1927, the bell was donated to the museum of Kolomenskoye village.
It is known that the church has been stone since 1561. It was built by merchant Grigory Tverdikov. There is a legend, that the church was founded by Metropolitan St. Philip of Moscow in memory of the days he spent in Solovetsky Monastery. It is also known that in 1625 the church was stone.
In 1626, it was burned down and reconstructed.
In 1691, it was renovated again, but still looked like a 16th-century building. Later in the year, the church was consecrated by the last Patriarch of the pre-synodal time Adrian.
There was a bell in the bell tower with an image of three lilies, letters "ET", 1575 mark, and an illegible inscription. It was apparently one of the captured bells taken under Tsar Aleksey Romanov during the war against Poland to liberate Little Russia (modern Ukraine) and White Russia (modern Belorus).
It is mentioned by many historical sources that there is an ancient family cemetery behind the church altar. Among the graves of notable parishioners and sponsors, a head of the quartered rebellious boyar Alexey Sokovnin was buried there. He was executed for the attempt on Peter the Great's life.
In 1858, the old church and its surroundings were demolished, and the current church was built there by the merchant Polyakov.
In the 17th century, the church was mentioned as "the one that is located near Red Bell Towers in Posolskaya Street", called this because of the Legation Court, a complex of buildings situated at the corner of Ilyinka Street ("Posolskaya" is the Russian word for "legation").
The designer of the church is unknown for sure. It was either A. Shestakov, who estimated the construction, or N. Kozlovsky, who undoubtedly designed the icon stand.
The church is built in the spirit of eclecticism. Some of the elements remind the Old Russian architectural style. The church is crowned with five big, astraddle domes upon drums decorated with kokoshniks. The bell tower has a marquee atop. In the old days, a slim vertical line of the bell tower played a significant role in the view of Kitay-gorod.
The central side chapel, dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, was arranged in the old church by S. Narishkin before 1705. The southern side chapel is of St. Nicholas, the northern one is dedicated to SS. Zosima and Sowatiy.
A carved gilt icon stand made in Kiev and the Hodegetria icon by Simon Ushakov were recorded in the 1663 census of the church property.
In late 1922, the church was captured by Free Labour Church of Father Joannicius Smirnov and poet-anarchist Alexey Svyatogor. "The agreement with the believers of St. Nicholas Church "Red Chime" located in Yushkov Lane near Ilyinka Street was cancelled because of non-compliance with it. The church was given to another group of believers who wished to take it." (1923–1924).
In 1925, it was decided to destroy the church, but it was saved by a miracle. About 1927, the church was closed.
In 1964, it was repaired. Some institution occupied the church. In 1967, the institution was evicted; the windows were bricked up, the church was concreted and used as a power station. Later, a new building was attached to the church from the north. It was included in a complex of new buildings belonging to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
By 1990, the domes rusted through. The crosses remained on the central dome and the bell tower; the four side domes had only pillars without crosses. The church is neither protected by the State nor included in the list of monuments. It is filed only as a building to be protected by the State in Moscow and dated as "1681–1691, 1846, end of the 19th–20th century". By the decision of the Moscow City Hall of 25 July 1991, the church was returned to the believers. On 19 December 1996, the church was consecrated again.
Recently, the church was repaired and renewed. The interior, completely destroyed during hard times, was reconstructed. The belfry was activated again. In 2001, seven new bells, cast in Ural, were purchased.
Regular church services were resumed in the central part of the church (the altar dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin). In the side chapel of SS. Zosima and Sowatiy of Solovki, baptism is performed.
In 2001–2003, several icons were painted for the church including the Black Madonna of Czestochowa (it is prayed for solvation of modern Russia), the icons of Royal Martyrs, and the icons of Russian New Martyrs Seraphim Chichagov and Konstantin Bogorodsky, and St. Anne. The church's sacred object, the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, is the only icon dated from before the 1917 Russian Revolution.
The original church with a high altar dedicated to SS. Boris and Gleb was there since the second half of the 14th century (to the south of the now-existing church, as archaeological data evidence) and appeared, most likely, as a house church of a rich estate owned by merchants. The wooden church was named after SS. Boris and Gleb. It was first ment...
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