The history of the village of Krasno, in the Vachsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, goes back more than one century. The first mentions of the village date back to the 17th century. However, at present, what remains of the once large and rich village is a handful of houses, inhabited by summer residents in the summer. As of 2008, only 7 people permanently lived in Krasno. How much now - one can only guess.
History of the Krasnensky Church in the name of Life-Giving Trinity
According to legend, in ancient times, on the site where the village of Krasno is now located, a small women’s monastery was built, surrounded by dense and dense forests. All the wide and deep ravines of these places, through which the rivers flowed: Dobrusha, Tuzha, Malinovka and others, were impassable, overgrown with centuries-old trees and bushes. Over time, lay people began to settle near the monastery. They cut down forests and engaged in agriculture on the lands freed from forests.
The name of the village of Krasno is most likely of common Slavic origin. Derived from the word “krasa” and means “beautiful place.”
The time of the initial founding of the church in Krasno and the formation of the parish is unknown. The first information about both is available in the salary books of the Ryazan diocese for 1676, where it is said that a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in this village. Near that church are the courtyards of the priests Zinovy, Vasily and Ivan; courtyards and malts. Yes, according to the story of the Nikolaev priest Zinovy, the church lands were the Sovereign's salary.
The St. Nicholas wooden church existed in the village of Krasno until 1775, and then the question arose about the construction of a stone church. In connection with this, a brick factory was built near Lazy Mountain. The remains of the plant remained in the mid-20th century. Brick making was carried out free of charge by the parish peasants. Money for the construction of the temple was collected throughout the area. Were selected special people, who were each given iron “circles” sealed with a wax seal, as well as documents for the right to raise money for the construction of God’s temple.
At first, a small cold stone church was built and consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. But worship in winter time since 1797 it was performed in a warm wooden church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
In 1814, a warm meal was added to the stone church. There are two chapels in it - in the name of the Holy Trinity and the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Then the wooden church was abolished.
In 1860-63, the stone church was dismantled and a new one of larger size was built. In 1866-67, the refectory of this temple was dismantled and rebuilt. The new five-domed temple, quite majestic and elegant in architecture, took 12 years to build.
There were three altars in the new church: the main one - in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity, in the warm meal - in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Church parables: two priests, a deacon and two psalm-readers. Their maintenance cost about 1850 rubles. in year. The members of the parable had their own houses on church land.
In the second half of the 19th century, the rector of the Krasnenskaya Trinity Church were priests: Xenophon Smirnov, John Belavin, deacons and psalm-readers: Evdokim Albitsky, Ivan Pobedonostsev, Nikolai and Vasily Orlov, Mikhail Sokolsky and others.
The granddaughters of the priest of the Trinity Church Evgeniy Krasovsky, Nina Sergeevna Pospelova and Tatyana Sergeevna Podzorova, said that the temple was built for about twelve years and consisted of a winter and summer church. The summer church was large and tall, in the form of a cube, topped with five large domes. Inside the building there were four stone columns on which the roof and heads of the church rested. The windows were large and gave in a lot of light.
The inside of the temple is richly decorated with holy icons, and on the walls and ceilings there were artistic paintings on biblical themes. In the iconostasis of the main church, the artistic icons were from the former stone church. According to legend, these icons were painted by order of the temple creator Sinyavin at the Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg. The iconostasis was decorated to the very top with gilded carvings and moldings. The pillars were also painted on religious themes, the church utensils and sacristy were rich. The floor is made of cast iron slabs with beautiful design. The building had good acoustics and during the service, especially when the choir participated, the entire room was filled with solemn sounds, which greatly influenced the mood of the parishioners.
The winter church building was one-story, but tall and large. It adjoined the building of the summer church on the western side and was located in one line from east to west: the summer church, the winter church and the bell tower. The floor area in the winter church was 3-4 times larger than in the summer one. The ceiling and roof were supported by four stone columns, standing two in a row. Columns divided the room into three parts: on the right is the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on the left is the chapel in honor of the Vladimir Icon Mother of God, and the middle part served as an addition to both chapels and at the same time as a passage to the summer church. Rituals such as weddings, prayer services, funeral services, etc. could be performed simultaneously in both aisles. The floor in the winter church was wooden and rose above ground level by more than 1.5 meters. The windows were large, arched and provided a lot of light in the room; their height was more than 3 meters.
The iconostases in both chapels were different, stuccoed, gilded and decorated with expensive icons.
In both aisles there were large chandeliers with tall candles, which were lit in holidays. Candles in chandeliers were lit from below with a special cord. During the service, the church premises were illuminated, in addition to chandeliers, by thick wax candles standing in front of each icon in large candlesticks. The candles in them stood in the center of the candlestick, and around the large candle there were small nests in several rows for small candles.
In addition to candles, some icons also had small lamps hanging, which were filled with church oil. Church oil did not produce soot when burned, despite a large number of candles and lamps. Elderly and wealthy parishioners stood closer to the pulpit and iconostasis, where there was more light and where services were performed. They always stood in the same place. Women and old women stood in the left corner of the chapel.
The church premises were heated by a stove. There was one stove in the altars, and two stoves stood at the back wall of the building. The stoves were large and heated the rooms well in winter. The entrance to the winter church was through the passage in the bell tower, where the porch was located. The bell tower was high in 3 tiers, and at the top there was a tall spire with a large gilded cross. There were many different bells, large and small, on the bell tower. The large bell weighs 613 pounds, the second (old) - 350 pounds, the 3rd alarm bell - 90 pounds (for chiming, alarm during fires and church services) and 7-8 different small bells.
A high brick wall (fence) was erected around the church. At each corner of the fence four round, large towers were built. On the walls of the fence, iron pillars with a diameter of 30 cm are installed at a distance of 4 meters from each other. At the top of them were large multi-colored glass balls: red, blue, green, yellow, black and other colors, which made the fence exceptionally beautiful. Forged iron bars are placed between the pillars. The entire fence gave the impression of a fortress wall.
On the western side of the fence, two small stone houses were built (in common people they were called gatehouses), and between them there was a high stone arch and large and tall iron forged gates.
In addition to the main entrance to the fence, there were also entrances from the north and south - opposite the summer church. There were also stone arches, iron gates and gates, but much smaller in size than the main gate. There was also a gate, an entrance to the fence - from the north side and an alley - from the cemetery. The main gate was opened only on holidays, and the gates on all sides were always open. This was done so that in the event of a fire, one could freely approach the bell tower and ring the alarm bell. In the houses next to the church (gatehouses) they lived: on one side, the church watchman, and on the other, old women who served in the church and collected alms from those praying, on which they lived.
The church and the fence were a great decoration of the village, and they could be seen from all sides at a great distance. And the ringing of bells in the quiet morning could be heard for dozens of miles. There were many different trees growing in the fence and near the church.
Bells were of enormous importance in the lives of villagers and village residents at that time and performed many different functions. In addition to notifying the population about church services, the bells notified about fires and struck the clock in the evening and at night. During snowstorms - rare strikes on a large bell, signaling the direction to the village. A large bell was rung for fires in the village, and an alarm bell was rung for fires in other villages.
The parish consisted of the village of Krasna, the village of Vysokov and the villages of Kurmysh, Zastava, Ivashev, Shchedrin, Pavlikov, Khvoshchey, Sobolev, Zhekin and Vshivkov. In which, according to the clergy registers, there were 538 households, 1413 male souls and 1549 female souls, including 4 schismatic souls.
There was a zemstvo public school and a women's parish school in the village. In the first, in 1896, there were 65 students, and in the second, 19.
According to the church registers, in this parish at the beginning of the last century, Archpriest Xenophon Smirnov, Evgeny Ivanovich Krasovky, Pyotr Smirnov served as priests; psalmists: John Pobedonostsev, Konstantin Lebedev, John Dianin; Deacon Peter Speransky (he was also a priest for some time).
The rector of the Trinity Church, Archpriest K.P. Smirnov, served in this church for 62 years. He died in April 1904, when he was already 82 years old, and was buried in the cemetery in the village of Krasno (church register of 1904 - archive of the Vachsky district registry office).
According to the stories of Anna Pavlovna, a local resident of the village of Krasno Malafeeva, born in 1913, Evgeniy Ivanovich Krasovsky served as the priest of this parish at the beginning of the 20th century. He was an educated man and taught at a parochial school. His daughter Capitolina was her friend. The second priest in this church was Peter Speransky.
In 1937, both of these priests were arrested. The people honored and respected them very much. Parishioners with tears in their eyes accompanied the priests to the village of Pavlikovo. There was a rumor among the people that allegedly Pyotr Speransky secretly sent a letter to his wife, where he indicated their place of stay on Solovki. There was no further news from them.
On December 26, 1937, the priests of the Orthodox Church in the village of Krasno, Evgeniy Krasovsky and Pyotr Speransky, were shot under the article “anti-Soviet propaganda.”
A resident of the same village, Pavlina Vasilyevna Batrakova, said that Pyotr Ivanovich Arshinov served as a deacon in the church, who was arrested in the late 30s of the last century and sent to logging. Having served his sentence, Pyotr Ivanovich returned home, and after some time he went to work on a collective farm.
You also need to pay attention to the fact that Old Believers lived in Krasno. And among them are the wealthy peasants Belyakovs. According to the stories of Mikhail Semenovich, a resident of the village of Fedurino Silantyev (died in 2012), the Belyakovs provided significant charitable assistance in the construction of the Old Believer Church in the name of the Assumption Holy Mother of God in the village of Fedurino (now this temple does not exist).
1. Material from the book: G.A. Arefieva and others. Our history. Description of churches and parishes of the Vach region of the 16th-21st centuries. Application. Book four. - Vacha: VyksaPolygrafIzdat, 2010. - 112 p.
2. Church register books from the archives of the Vachsky District Registry Office.
3. Book of memory of victims of political repression in the Vachsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Compiled by O. K. Mikheeva. N. Novgorod, “BIKAR”, 2010.
4 Stories from the granddaughters of the priest of the Trinity Church in the village of Krasno - Evgeniy Krasovsky.
According to the information that has reached us, the very first church in Krasnoye Selo was St. Great Martyr Catherine, built by order of Empress Catherine I between 1725 and 1727. (i.e. during her tenure on the throne). Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a more precise date for the founding of this church or any information about its decoration. It is only known that the church was wooden and was located on the site where the buildings of the military hospital were subsequently built (the modern address is Vosstanovleniya Street, near No. 13). This temple did not last long - in 1732 it was completely destroyed by fire. In 1733, the St. Petersburg Spiritual Board issued a decree on the construction of a new stone church in Krasnoe Selo, for which Empress Anna Ioannovna allocated 350 rubles from personal funds. A new stone church in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity was founded on August 16, 1733 in the center of Krasnoe Selo and was built according to the design of the architect Ivan Yakovlevich Blank. Two years later, the construction of the temple was completed, and on July 20, 1735, its main altar was consecrated by the rector of St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Joseph Chednevsky. In 1737, the right side chapel was consecrated in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine (the church was originally planned to have two altars). Later, in 1738, a left chapel was added to the church in the name of St. Nicholas, consecrated, however, only in 1761. In 1822, in the middle part of the church, on the right side, a chapel was built in the name of the Holy Righteous Simeon and Anna, consecrated in the same year by the rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Peter and Paul Fortress Archpriest Stakhy Kolosov. In 1851 - 1854 The church underwent partial reconstruction and expansion according to the design of the architect A. I. Rezanov, with the participation of A. M. Camuzzi, remaining in this form over the next century. In the same 1854, the church was surrounded by a fence with a small stone chapel (designed by Rezanov) in its southwestern part. Initially, the rural cemetery was located near the church, and only during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, due to fear that it was close to the Krasnoselsky palaces, the cemetery was liquidated and moved 1.25 miles from the church to a new location. Near the temple, right up to late XIX century, only clergy were allowed to be buried.
The bell tower of the temple was quite high and, together with the spire, had a height of 14 fathoms, 2 arshins (about 32 meters). Being on a hill, the temple was visible for many miles. The main interior decoration of the temple was a high five-tier white iconostasis with gilded decorations. The walls and vaults of the temple were decorated with painted ornaments. At the entrance to the church, on the right side, there was a memorial plaque with an inscription about its foundation. There were a total of ten bells in the bell tower, the largest and oldest of which, weighing 2.68 tons, was cast back in 1764.
From the moment of its construction, the Trinity Church was under the jurisdiction of the Pavlovsk city government and only in 1812 was transferred to the Diocesan department. In 1890, on the initiative of Archpriest Mikhail Smirnov, the first parochial school was opened in Krasnoye Selo, located in rented premises. In 1903, a new wooden building was built for this school, which increased the number of children studying there to 160 people.
In 1912, the Church of the Holy Blessed Princess Olga in Dudergof and the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Gorelovo were assigned to the Trinity Church. In addition to them, two stone chapels were also assigned to the temple - in the church fence and at the site of the discovery of the icon of St. Simeon. This chapel was built in 1865 at the expense of honorary citizen A.N. Borodulin and was located next to the first wooden chapel, built shortly after the acquisition miraculous image. Three more wooden chapels were assigned to the temple, but when they were built and where they were located is unknown, one can only assume that they were in neighboring villages near Krasnoe Selo.
Trinity Church continued to operate in Soviet time, the first repressions against its servants began only in the mid-1930s. Although the church actually ceased to function in 1937, it was officially closed by decree of the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee in 1939 and at the same time converted into a club, which was located in it until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. At the same time, the stone chapel located next to the temple was also demolished. In 1941, immediately after the occupation of Krasnoye Selo, German command allowed to open the Trinity Church, and services were held there for two years. In January 1944, during the offensive of Soviet troops, which fired heavy artillery fire at Krasnoye Selo, the church building was partially destroyed. In the 1960s The dome and the upper tier of the bell tower were demolished. From this time until the mid-1990s. The Krasnoselsky House of Culture was located in the building of the former Trinity Church.
Since 1995, when an Orthodox community was formed in Krasnoye Selo, the administration of the House of Culture gave permission for the joint use of the building. On January 25, 1995, after the rite of minor consecration, services were resumed in the building, and in 1998 it was completely returned to the Orthodox community, and major restoration work began, which continues to this day. In 1996 - 1998 The bell tower of the Trinity Church was completely restored, later the altar apses were rebuilt, in 2002 - 2003. the dome over the main volume of the temple was restored.
In 1995, Trinity Church was included in the list of historical and cultural heritage, as an architectural monument of federal significance.
Church Holy Trinity- the only building in Krasnoe Selo, whose history dates back to the 18th century.
Empress Catherine I (1725-1727) ordered the construction of a church in Krasnoye Selo and the consecration of the throne in the name of the saint whose name she bore.
In 1732, instead of the dilapidated church from the time of Catherine I, which was badly damaged by fire, a new one was erected by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna. Anna Ioannovna herself made the first donation for the construction - 350 silver rubles. On June 22, 1733, permission was received from the Synod to build a stone church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity with a chapel of St. Catherine (in memory of the old Catherine Church).
It was decided to build a new church on Krasnoselskaya (Palace) Mountain, at the intersection of Tsarskoselskaya road and Revelsky tract (now Lenin Ave. and Nagornaya Street). The temple at this location is clearly visible from nearby areas and from the railway line.
The foundation of the church was on August 16, 1733, “under the steward Dmitry Parfentiev and Master Blank,” as reported on the marble plaque in the narthex of the church. The church parish consisted of 277 households. The author of the project is the architect Ivan Yakovlevich Blank (1708-1745) - a Russian architect of German origin, the father of the architect K.I. Blanca. In addition to the Trinity Church in Krasnoe Selo, it is famous for the construction of the Church of the Sign in Tsarskoe Selo, the Chess Mountain and Roman Fountains fountains in Peterhof. There is an opinion that (1731-1734) the architect M.G. Zemtsov was built jointly with I.Ya. In blank. Indeed, these temples are made in the same style, which is striking.
The main volume of the temple building ended with three pentagonal apses in the east. Adjoining it were a refectory and a three-tiered bell tower topped with a spire. The wooden dome did not have a drum and rested directly on the girth arches, which limited the interior space. The exterior decoration of the church consisted of triangular pediments, rusticated pilasters at the corners, arched ends of window and door openings, and lucarne windows. The bell tower of the temple was quite high and, together with the spire, had a height of 14 fathoms, 2 arshins (about 32 meters). The bell tower contained a total of ten bells, the largest and oldest of which, weighing 164 pounds 4 pounds (2.68 tons), was cast back in 1764.
The main interior decoration of the temple was a high five-tier white iconostasis with gilded decorations in the Baroque style.
On July 20, 1735, the construction of the temple was completed. The consecration was performed by the rector of St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Fr. Joseph Chednevsky. On July 19, the Catherine's chapel was illuminated, and on July 20, the main altar of the temple.
The temple was originally planned as a two-altar church. The third chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in 1738 and consecrated in 1761.
In 1815, at the expense of the merchant Vasily Krasheninnikov and by order of the mayor Pyotr Alekseev, repairs were carried out in the church: replacing the wooden roof with an iron one, updating the painting. Trinity Church was “cold” i.e. There was no heating in winter. In the churchyard there was a cemetery, abolished under Emperor Nicholas I due to its proximity to the palace (now lost).
In 1822, in the middle part of the temple, on the right side, a warm chapel of saints was built righteous Simeon and Anna, consecrated in the same year by the rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (in the Peter and Paul Fortress) of St. Petersburg, Archpriest Fr. Stakhy Kolosov.
From 1827 to March 1830 in the church by architect 3.F. Dildin (Dyldin) carried out repairs, as a result of which the floor, frames, ceilings in the choir and bell tower, two dilapidated iconostases, altars and altars in the chapels were replaced, two tiled stoves were installed, and the floor was laid from Putilov slabs.
In 1851-1854, according to the design of the architect Alexander Ivanovich Rezanov (1817 -1887), the temple was partially rebuilt and it remained in this form until 1939. During the work, the temple was expanded by almost a quarter with the dismantling and relocation of the northern and southern walls and the corresponding lengthening of the western and eastern ones. A new brick dome (the same diameter as the old one) was placed on a drum, which led to an increase in the height of the space under the dome. The wooden ceilings of the church were replaced everywhere, except for the side apses. brick vaults. The new decoration of the church was carried out in the Baroque style, so as not to violate the plans of the first architect of the temple. In the same 1854, according to the project of A.I. Rezanov, a small stone chapel was built on the southwest side of the church.
One of the main shrines of the temple was considered a silver, gilded, eight-pointed altar cross, inside of which there was another cypress cross, with 72 different particles of holy relics and other shrines. The original origin of this cross is unknown; it was donated to the temple in 1853 by the Krasnoselsk peasant woman Maria Nikitichnaya Alekseeva. Another, also especially revered shrine, was the icon of the Presentation of the Lord. She was in the icon case on the left side of the chapel of St. Simeon and Anna (now the icon is in the Alexander Nevsky Church of Krasnoye Selo). The icon was found on May 11, 1800, near the road from the Pavlovsky settlement of Krasnoye Selo to St. Petersburg and became famous for the many miracles and healings that came from it. Subsequently, a stone chapel was built at the site where it was found, to which a procession of the Cross was held annually on May 11 from the Trinity Church.
Emperor Alexander II in 1864 donated the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands in memory of the conquest of the Caucasus.
Four chapels were assigned to the Trinity Church (in the southwestern corner of the church fence, a wooden one in the parish cemetery, a wooden and stone one at the site of the discovery of the icon of St. Simeon); three churches: in the name of Equal Apostles. book Olga in Duderhof (1884), St. Seraphim of Sarov in Gorelovo (1905), blgv. Prince Konstantin Yaroslavsky and the Military Medical Center. Barbarians at the Stationery Factory School (1906); parochial school. All of the above-mentioned churches and chapels have now been lost.
Priests Pyotr Smirnitsky (who served from 1801 to 1850), Mikhail Goronovich (1834-1854), Vasily Medvedsky (1876-1899) were buried near the temple.
During Soviet times, the temple was opened until 1939, although repressions among the clergy began already in 1937. In 1939, the temple was finally closed and converted into a club; the stone chapel located next to the temple was demolished.
In 1941, immediately after the German occupation of Krasnoye Selo, the church was reopened. Divine services were held for two years. During the retreat of German troops in early 1944 Soviet artillery The church building was partially destroyed. After the war in the 1960s, the authorities decided to complete the work of the artillery: the dome and the upper tier of the bell tower were demolished. The Krasnoselsky House of Culture began to be located in the building of the temple. In 1995, the Trinity Church, even in such a disfigured form, was included in the number of objects of historical and cultural heritage, as an architectural monument of federal significance.
