Description of the Church of St. Nicholas in

The idea of ​​​​building an Orthodox church in the center of Rome at first seemed completely unrealistic.

In a rented apartment

A Russian Orthodox parish appeared in the Eternal City at the beginning of the 19th century - for the needs of the Russian diplomatic mission. Over time, more and more people from Russia come to Rome and stay here to live. By the end of the century, it becomes clear that the small house church of the embassy is no longer able to accommodate everyone.

“The Throne of God is placed in a rented apartment” - these words began the manifesto of the construction committee, addressed to future patrons of the temple, and in 1913, a collection of money was announced throughout Russia for the construction of a Russian church in Rome.

The construction committee was headed by one of the richest people of his time - Prince Abamelek-Lazarev. But when all the preparatory stages are left behind and the construction itself begins, the prince suddenly dies. This was in the autumn of 1916. Soon a revolution breaks out in Russia, and there is no time to build a temple. Moreover, the house church at the embassy of now Soviet Russia ceases to exist.

The parish becomes part of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Divine services are now held at believers’ homes – sometimes in one apartment, sometimes in another. Finally, in 1931, the community took possession of the Chernyshev Palazzo, the home of the Chernyshev princes, located on Via Palestro in the Castro Pretorio area.

The first floor of the house is being rebuilt as a temple and consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas. True, only the inscription on the facade indicates that there is a church inside the building.

The best of both ways

In 2000, the Orthodox community in Rome, which since the thirties of the last century belonged to the foreign church and then to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, returned under the wing of the Moscow Patriarchate. By this time, the Church of St. Nicholas becomes too crowded for believers. On Sundays it was impossible to enter it - it was so crowded. Rome, like all of Italy, was then flooded with migrants from the former Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan...

A century later, the Russian Orthodox Church faced the same problem: it needed a more spacious church that could accommodate everyone.

“There were two ways to resolve this issue,” says Bishop Anthony (Sevryuk), rector of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine. – The first seemed the most realistic - to take the temple for use from the Catholic Church, the city administration or private owners.

The second way is to build your own temple. At first it seemed completely unreal. The city of Rome is entirely recognized as an architectural monument, and every piece of land is strictly registered. But then something happens that non-believers would call just an accident. But we know that the Lord does not have accidents.

A gift from the archive

Prince Semyon Abamelek-Lazarev, who headed the Construction Committee a century earlier, owned a villa in Rome, not far from the Vatican - a plot of land and several houses. Later, this villa was transferred to the Italian government, which in turn transferred it to the USSR for the needs of the embassy.

Prince Semyon Davydovich Abamelek-Lazaev was passionate about archeology. In 1882, during a trip to Syria, at the excavations in Palmyra, the prince found a marble slab with an inscription in Greek and Aramaic. This find played a big role in the study of the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus Christ.

Today Villa Abamelek serves as the residence of the Russian ambassador. Embassy employees live here with their families, and there is a school. And when working with archival documents, it suddenly turns out that the territory of the villa is much larger than is commonly believed. It extends beyond the fence and covers a vacant lot where a vegetable garden spontaneously arose - local residents set up vegetable beds here. An ideal place to build a temple.

And the legal work began to boil. First of all, it was necessary to obtain permission from local authorities for the construction (albeit on the territory of an embassy, ​​that is, of another state) of a religious building. The authorities, fortunately, are accommodating. The Parliament of the Lazio Metropolitan Region passes the necessary laws.

A piece of homeland

In 2001, on the territory of the Russian embassy, ​​the first stone was laid for the foundation of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine. Five years later, the future Patriarch Kirill (then Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad) performs a minor consecration. From this time on, services in the temple became regular. And in 2009, the great consecration of the temple took place, which was conducted by Metropolitan Valentin of Orenburg and Buzuluk.

The parishioners are very glad that their new temple turned out to be so elegant and Russian in all respects - the familiar tented architecture, traditional decor in the form of kokoshniks, golden onion domes... Far from their homeland, they perceive this temple as a piece of Russia.

The unusual structure for Rome also attracts casual people. Out of curiosity, both residents of Rome and the ubiquitous tourists often come here. Bishop Anthony welcomes everyone equally cordially, answers questions and shows the main shrines of the temple.

Recently, a new icon “The Council of Roman Saints” appeared here, which was painted at the Moscow Theological Academy. It is noteworthy that not all the saints depicted on it have signatures. With this technique, icon painters want to say: in the first years of Christianity in Rome there were so many devotees of the faith that we don’t even know their exact number, not to mention their names.

However, the internal work in the temple has not yet been completed. In the summer the tent had not yet been painted. This work is planned to be completed here by the feast day of St. Catherine - December 7.

At the most significant shrines

You can feel the uniqueness of Rome everywhere. It’s as if you find yourself inside a history textbook, the text of the Acts of the Apostles or the Lives of the Saints. This is a special city for any Christian, and it places special demands on interfaith communication.

Bishop Anthony calls the relations that our clergy has developed with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church very good.

– We, as an Orthodox parish, are allowed to perform services at the most significant shrines. Let's say, on the day of remembrance of Cyril and Methodius, we serve in the Basilica of St. Clement, where the relics of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril rest. We serve in the Roman catacombs, in St. Paul's Cathedral, and even in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on special days we celebrate the Liturgy.

Without dividing into strangers and our own

Today there are two Orthodox churches in Rome - St. Nicholas in a residential building on Via Palestro and St. Catherine in Villa Abamelek. But in essence there are three churches - there is also a lower church on the ground floor of the Church of Catherine, consecrated in honor of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen. Every week the Liturgy is celebrated here in Moldavian.

Bishop Anthony does not separate these parishes, believing that the community of the Russian Orthodox Church in Rome is one. It’s just that parishioners can come to one church today, and a week later to another. By the way, some services are performed in the church with the participation of both parishes, and they also go on pilgrimage trips around Italy together.

About 500 people gather for the Liturgy in three churches in Rome. This is on ordinary days. And on fasting days, over 300 people come to the lower church alone for the Moldavian service. There are many parishioners from Ukraine and Serbia - the only Serbian church in Italy is located in the very north of the country. In the Russian church, the Serbian community celebrates its holidays, and on special days it performs services with its priest and choir.

Salvation Island

Among the Roman parishioners there are almost no descendants of white emigration, who can still be found in Orthodox churches in France and Germany. The core of the community are people who came to Italy from the former Soviet republics in the 1990s in the hope of finding decent work here to support their families back home. But these hopes are not always realized. It's hard to find work here. Most often they offer care for elderly or seriously ill people, and this is not easy both mentally and physically. And when these people come to the temple on their day off, they seek understanding and support here. Often this is the only place where they can speak their native language and meet like-minded people.

“It requires special pastoral sensitivity towards these people in order to find the right word, to encourage, to simply pay attention, which they sometimes lack,” says Bishop Anthony. – Since the composition of our parishioners is constant, we can talk about a real close-knit Christian community. We know well what difficulties there are in this or that family, and we think about how to help each other. This is the real pastoral work that every priest dreams of.

Last year, almost 200 people were baptized in St. Catherine’s Church. A quarter of them are adults. One day they came to the temple to find out where they could find work or get help. Now they are all zealous parishioners.

High bar

The strong community of the temple is the merit of the rector himself. It is difficult to remain indifferent after hearing the sermons of Bishop Anthony.

There are two ways to correct a person. The first is to tell a person how bad (sinful) he is. The second is to remind him what heights he can achieve with some effort. Bishop Anthony himself follows the second path, explaining to parishioners what high service they are assigned to as Christians. And how important it is to live up to this calling.

Last year alone, about two hundred people were baptized in St. Catherine’s Church.

The words and deeds of the apostles, all the saints, the rector says in his sermons, are addressed to all of us now standing in the church. The words of Christ “Go and be witnesses to Me” are about the real calling of every Christian. How will we testify about Christ to those around us? First of all - by your own deeds.

...In noisy and chaotic Rome, the new Russian Church of St. Catherine becomes the place where the Eternal City is still perceived as the city of the apostles.

The history of the construction of a Russian Orthodox church in Rome dates back to the 19th century, when the rector of the Russian embassy church, Archimandrite Clement, managed to convince the highest church leadership of the need for this campaign. Fundraising was supported already under Emperor Nicholas II.

Revolutionary events cooled the ardor; it seemed that the construction of the temple was not destined to be carried out. But His Holiness Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy II again turned to the authorities. Already in 2001, on Christmas, on Easter and on the day of remembrance of St. Great Martyr Catherine, services were held at the site of the future church. Soon the first stone was solemnly consecrated, and then it was the turn of the domes. Since October 2006, regular services have been held in the temple.

Temple of Saturn

In general, the ancient Romans very often erected all kinds of structures in honor of the gods, who, as a sign of gratitude, protected the city from wars and other disasters. Therefore, it is not surprising that after such an important victory, the city authorities decided to pay tribute to Saturn, so that he would continue to protect Rome from cataclysms.

The temple, built in the form of a pseudoperipterus, had two podiums separated from each other by a staircase, and they were decorated with impressively sized columns in the Ionic style. The city's treasury was once kept inside the Temple, along with the accompanying profit and loss papers. There was also a statue of the god of agriculture and gardening, Saturn, which was solemnly carried through the streets of Rome during festive processions. For example, on December 17, a large-scale Saturnalia festival was held near the Temple. Unfortunately, during its existence, Tempio di Saturno survived several fires, and even despite restoration work, only the podium with the colonnade has survived to this day.

Pantheon (Temple of all gods)

The Pantheon, also known as the "Temple of All Gods" is one of the main attractions of Rome and the entire ancient culture. The inscription on the pediment reads: “M. AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT”, which translated sounds like: “Marcus Agrippa, elected consul for the third time, erected this.” The main advantage of the Pantheon is its huge dome, made of monolithic concrete. In the center of the dome there is a round hole framed in bronze. Through it, at midday, the greatest amount of light penetrates into the temple, which is not cut through, but remains in the form of a giant sunbeam. It seems that the light is tangible, and that the Gods themselves descend from Olympus to illuminate this majestic building.

Since 609, the Pantheon was turned into the Christian temple of Santa Maria ad Martires - this is partly why the temple has been so well preserved to this day.

Temple of Vesta

The Temple of Vesta in Rome has been one of the most important and revered buildings in the city since ancient times. The temple was built in honor of the goddess Vesta - the patroness of the hearth. A fire was constantly burning inside the temple, personifying the immortality of Rome and considered sacred for every resident of the city.

The sacred flame was supported by six Vestal priestesses who came from very noble families. The young priestesses lived in a separate house next to the temple and led an ascetic lifestyle, maintaining a vow of celibacy for thirty years. After the end of their service to the Temple, the Vestals became one of the richest residents of Rome and could start a family. Every year, the Romans came to the Temple on July 9 to ask the goddess Vesta for blessings and protection for Rome and their homes.

The round building of the Temple of Vesta is made in the shape of a tholos. It is surrounded by twenty columns, the upper part of which has managed to darken from the flame of the sacred fire. In 394, Emperor Theodosius ordered the closure of the Temple, after which it became fairly dilapidated, but still survived to this day.

After the Russian embassy in Rome became Soviet, they were sold a church plot of land where the domes of the future church would rise. But the Russian Romans were not left without divine services. Back in 1897, Princess Maria Alexandrovna Chernysheva bequeathed to the community her ancient palazzo on Via Palestro, the first mention of which dates back to 1803. But, due to legal difficulties, the parish officially received the inheritance only in 1931.

On April 10, 1932, the newly built church was consecrated in the Chernysheva Palazzo. The left half of the first floor is reserved for the temple. The construction project was drawn up by engineer F. Poggi and Prince V.A. Volkonsky, who cared a lot about temple construction. Initially, a cruciform plan for the church was developed, but, unfortunately, the proximity of the neighboring site did not allow the construction of the left “branch” of the cross. On the side of the courtyard, a special extension was made with a semicircular apse for the front part of the church (starting from the solea). Internal structures and partitions were removed and arches were built, giving the temple a cozy appearance. The altar and pre-altar arches are lined with golden mosaics and green marble, imparting beauty and solemnity to the hall with additional lighting. Princess S.N. Baryatinskaya (in memory of her late husband V.V. Baryatinsky), Princess S.V. Gagarin (in memory of his late parents), as well as Queen of Italy Elena of Montenegro. On the main staircase at the entrance to the church there are marble plaques expressing gratitude to the organizers of the St. Nicholas Russian Church: Archimandrite Simeon, Princess M.A. Chernysheva and Princess S.N. Baryatinskaya.

In the 1960s, the temple was subordinated to the Geneva diocese of the ROCOR. In 1985, the temple came under the jurisdiction of the Western European Exarchate of Russian parishes of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In October 2000, after 15 years in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Russian parish of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Rome decided to return to the bosom of the Mother Church under the Omophorion of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II . From that time on, the parish became stauropegic.

Information from the site: http://zarubezhje.narod.ru/italy/

Replaced Fr. Pimen Archimandrite Clement (in the world Konstantin Bernikovsky) took the initiative to build a Russian temple. This was started by the widow of the court councilor, Elizaveta Kovalskaya, who lived in Italy, and in 1880 she appealed to the Holy Synod with a request for permission to build a church at her expense in the cemetery of St. Lawrence in Verano, in order to “honor the memory of her husband, who served in Rome.” The church authorities decided to make inquiries, and the Russian ambassador, Baron Iskul, responded to the request of the Holy Synod as follows: “A temple in the world center of the Roman Catholic faith must correspond to the high significance of Orthodoxy and, at least, not be inferior in size and elegance to non-Catholic churches, which have been built in Italy since 1870... Kowalskaya’s funds are not sufficient...” As a result, the widow did not receive permission (the Russian ambassador was a Lutheran, and with no less effectiveness prevented the construction of the Orthodox Church in Florence).

Archimandrite Clement (later Bishop of Vinnitsa) from the very beginning of his abbot declared “the need to have an Orthodox church that meets the dignity of Orthodoxy and the greatness of the Fatherland.” Already in 1898, fundraising began, which in 1900 was officially authorized by Nicholas II, who made a “royal contribution” of 10 thousand rubles. A total of 265 thousand Italian lire were collected. Count L.A. Bobrinsky (+ 1915) promised to donate his house and garden in the center of Rome (Villa Malta) for the construction of the temple. The new rector appointed in 1902, Archimandrite Vladimir (in the world Vsevolod Putyata), questioned the value of Bobrinsky's site (Villa Malta went to Bobrinsky's heirs, and then to the Jesuit fathers) and suggested looking for another place. He rejected the original candidate of the architect, M. T. Preobrazhensky, the builder of the Russian church in Florence, and began to promote his own candidate, the architect A. Yu. Yagna. Disputes divided the participants in church construction, but the work still continued: in 1906, the Construction Committee was formed, which included Russian diplomats in Italy, members of the Russian colony and Archimandrite Vladimir.

Based on materials from the parish website

The church in Rome is the oldest existing Russian church in Italy. On October 6, 1803, Emperor Alexander I signed the proposal of the College of Foreign Affairs for its establishment at the Russian mission, accredited to the Papal Throne. From the abolished Zakharyev Church in St. Petersburg and the embassy church that was not sent to Turin (1788), the necessary liturgical objects made of silver, candlesticks and the Gospel in an expensive setting were taken. The iconostasis was made specially. A priest was also appointed - young Fr. Vasily Ioannovich Ivanov. Relations with the Papal State, however, soon deteriorated - it handed over the Russian consul, a French political emigrant, to Napoleon, and therefore the opening of the church in Rome did not take place. In 1805, the prepared decoration was transferred to the temple of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment in St. Petersburg.

In 1828, on the initiative of Prince. According to the design of K.A. Ton, a house church was built in the mission house of G.I. Gagarin. The white and gilded single-tier iconostasis was made according to the sketch of this architect. Local images of the Savior and the Mother of God were painted by P. V. Basin, medallions in the royal doors by K. P. Bryullov, “The Last Supper” by I. I. Gaberzettel, St. Nicholas - F. A. Bruni, St. Alexander Nevsky - A. T. Markov. All of these artists were in Rome as pensioners of the Academy of Arts.

St. Nicholas Church was located until 1901 in buildings rented by the Russian embassy. In 1836-1845 it was Palazzo Doria Pamphili on Piazza Navona, in 1845-1856 - Palazzo Giustiniani on Piazza San Luigi dei Francesi, near the Pantheon, in 1856-1901 - Palazzo Odescalchi on Corso Umberto. In 1867-1870, the St. Nicholas Embassy Church did not function due to worsening relations with the Vatican, and Russians went to Naples for services.

When the embassy moved to Via Gaeta in 1901, the church was placed separately, in Palazzo Menotti, in Piazza Cavour. She occupied three large rooms on the southern half of the lower floor. In a narrow room, on the east side, there was a sacristy and a church library. For the rental of this premises, designed for 300 people, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid 7,500 lire.

The decoration was replenished with valuable donations. The Greek prince Christopher Georgievich presented a reliquary cross, his sister Maria - an icon of St. Olga's own work; 18 small icons of Kyiv saints come from Plakhov’s workshop; four icons in icon cases were delivered in 1893 from the workshop of M. E. Malyshev in Sergiev Posad. The revered icon of the Iveron Mother of God was painted in 1901 by the people of Athos in memory of Emperor Alexander III. After the revolution, a large image of St. came into the temple. Savva Serbsky, performed in Serbia by the Russian emigrant L. I. Rodionova.

According to the staffing table of 1867, the clergy of the church consisted of a rector-archimandrite who knew Catholicism well, a deacon and two psalm-readers. The choir was hired and Italians often sang in Slavic. Usually the rector was appointed for three years, after which he left for his homeland and often became a bishop there. For example, from 1913 to 1916 the rector was Archimandrite. Philip (Gumilevsky), future Archbishop of Zvenigorod. However, some archimandrites remained for a longer period: for example, in 1884-1897, Archimandrite served as rector. Pimen (Blagovo), who compiled the famous memoirs “Grandmother’s Stories” and opened the hospice house of St. Stanisław, who later returned to the Polish Catholics.

Under the rector, Archimandrite Clement (Vernikovsky), later Bishop of Vinnitsa, in 1898 began collecting funds for the construction of a separate Russian church in Rome, since, as noted, “the embassy church very modestly represents the Russian Church, faithful to Ecumenical Orthodoxy, in the center of Latinism.” The Emperor donated 10 thousand rubles. It should be noted that the first attempt of this kind was made earlier - in 1879, when Elizaveta Kovalskaya, the widow of an embassy employee, proposed to build a church in the Verano cemetery, but the Synod rejected her initiative.

In 1902, Archimandrite was appointed rector of Rome. Vladimir (Putyata), who five years later became Bishop of Kronstadt, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese, responsible for Russian churches abroad. He actively took up the construction of the temple, but, being a conflicted person by nature, he rejected the candidacy of the prominent architect M. T. Preobrazhensky, the author of the church in Florence, proposing instead the little-known A. Yu. Yagna. At the same time, the abbot also rejected the building site donated by Count. L.A. Bobrinsky in a prestigious quarter.

Nevertheless, things moved forward: in 1906 a construction committee was formed, in 1913, under the rector, Archimandrite. Dionysius (Valedinsky) was allowed to collect donations in Russia, and on May 14 of the same year, the sovereign approved the preliminary design of the new temple, drawn up by Academician. V. A. Pokrovsky. According to the estimate, it was assumed that construction would cost 450 thousand rubles. The building was conceived in the style of Vladimir-Moscow architecture of the 15th-16th centuries, and consisted of a lower, single-altar church on the ground floor and a three-altared upper church, to which a wide staircase led. The temple ended with a dome on a high drum. The white stone massive building was supposed to look very majestic and expressive, reminiscent of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Soon the First World War began. In 1915 the book. S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev, philanthropist and owner of a magnificent villa in Rome, began preparatory work on a two-hectare plot on the banks of the Tiber, near Ponte Margherita. They were led by the Italian architect Vincenzo Moraldi, but they failed to implement the temple construction project due to the changes that had come in Russia. By 1916, 265 thousand liras were collected. Later, the Soviet embassy, ​​which took possession of the property of the Russian embassy, ​​sold the land it did not need. The Russians then failed to build their own church in the center of Catholicism.

After the revolution, the church continued to operate in Palazzo Menotti, but in 1921 it was converted from an embassy to a parish archimandrite. Simeon (Narbekov). He graduated from the university and the Theological Academy in Moscow, became head of the clergy in Rome in 1916 and served for forty years. Under him, St. Nicholas Church moved to a new building - the Chernysheva Palazzo on Via Palestro, bequeathed back in 1897, but due to legal complications only in 1931 came into the possession of the parish. In this palazzo, on April 10, 1932, the church was consecrated, the construction of which was financially contributed by: Prince. S. N. Baryatinskaya, prince. S.V. Gagarina and Queen of Italy Elena (Njegos), daughter of the King of Montenegro. The adaptation of the lower floor of the mansion into a temple was carried out by the architect Prince. V. A. Volkonsky and engineer F. Poggi. A semicircular apse was added from the side of the courtyard, partitions were removed inside and arches were made, the altar was lined with golden mosaics and green marble, and stained glass windows were decorated with salt. The iconostasis remained the same.

During this period, the parish was under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, directly, until 1985, subordinate to its first hierarch. In 1963 archim. Simeon left the staff, and his place was taken by an expert in patristics, Archimandrite. Ambrose (Pogodin), after whom the white clergy began to rule. It maintained the temple, renting out apartments in the palazzo. In 1966-1984 parishioners - mostly elderly emigrants - were cared for by Fr. Victor Ilyenko, a kind but firm shepherd. Since 1987 this has been continued by Archpriest. Mikhail Osorgin, who came from France, because the community submitted to the Western European Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Under his leadership, in October 2000 it became part of the Moscow Patriarchate and the temple became stauropegial.

Russians who died in Rome were buried mainly in the “non-Catholic” cemetery of Testaccio (with funeral services in the interfaith chapel), as well as in the city cemetery of Verano. Many abbots and elders of the Roman church, representatives of noble families are buried on Testaccio: the Gagarins, Golitsyns, Volkonskys, Stroganovs, Trubetskoys, Sheremetevs and others; artists: K. P. Bryullov, A. I. Ivanov, P. A. Svedomsky, sculptor P. A. Stawasser, singer F. P. Komissarzhevsky, poet Vyach. I. Ivanov (transferred to 1986 from Verano), Tolstoy’s daughter - T. L. Tolstaya-Sukhotina. In the Verano cemetery you can find the graves of gr. A.V. Tatishcheva, E.P. Nosova (nee Ryabushinskaya), Shulginykh, bar. Veidtov.

Currently, services in the Roman church are attended not only by Russians, but also by Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Ethiopians, Greeks and Italian converts to Orthodoxy. In recent years, the community has grown with new emigrants, but not as much as in Russian churches in other European capitals. The service is performed in Church Slavonic.

In 1998, an initiative arose to build a new church, however, its implementation turned out to be very troublesome. According to the project of A. Obolensky, the Church of St. Catherine's church was founded on January 13, 2001 by Bishop Innocent of Korsun at the Villa Abamelek, where the residence of the Russian Ambassador is located. The laying ceremony was attended by the foreign ministers of Russia and Italy, Orthodox and Catholic bishops. Construction work, however, began only on May 6, 2003 after a solemn prayer service and was completed in 2009.

http://www.artrz.ru/menu/1804649234/1805049227.html

The Russian Orthodox Church in Rome is the oldest, in terms of the time of its establishment, of the Russian churches in Italy. On October 6, 1803, on the recommendation of the College of Foreign Affairs, Emperor Alexander I signed a personal decree on the opening of a “Greek-Russian church” at the Roman diplomatic mission. At the same time, a staff was approved with one priest and two psalm-readers. The Holy Synod was instructed by the spring of 1804 to “prepare the church with all its needs.” Initially, it was intended to consecrate it in the name of the Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul - probably due to the fact that the relics of the Holy Apostles are kept in Rome. However, a temporary break in diplomatic relations with the Papal State and the Napoleonic wars prevented the decree from being implemented: the church at the mission opened only three decades later...

The first Orthodox services in Rome were performed periodically in 1827-33. Hieromonk Irinarch (in the world Yakov Dm. Popov, + 1877), first served in the home church of Princess E. Golitsyna-Terzi in Bergamo, and from 1823 - in the embassy church in Florence. In 1833, this remarkable preacher, who ended his life as Archbishop of Ryazan, was appointed to the embassy church in Athens, and he left Italy forever.

In 1836, the abolished church at the Russian diplomatic mission in Florence was transferred, together with its rector, Hieromonk Gerasim, to Rome. It is this date that is considered the beginning of the life of the local Russian parish. The single-altar church, consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, the Heavenly patron of the then reigning sovereign, was initially located in the embassy house in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj on Piazza Navona (subsequently the house church was moved more than once, located in rented premises: in the Palazzo Giustiniani near the Pantheon; in the Palazzo Odescalchi in Corso Umberto; in Palazzo Menotti in Piazza Cavour).

Like all other foreign churches, the Roman one was included in the St. Petersburg diocese, but in many ways, primarily financially, it depended on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was called “embassy”.

In 1843 in Venice, Fr. Gerasim was ordained to the rank of archimandrite, and from that time on, the Holy Synod appointed priests from the “black” clergy, precisely in this rank, as abbots of the Roman Church.

Since 1849, after the death of Fr. Gerasim, until 1852 the rector of the church was a professor of the Kiev Theological Academy, Archimandrite Feofan (Avsenev; + 1852, buried in the Testaccio cemetery), then from 1852 to 1855 - Archimandrite Jacob, who was formerly the abbot of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.

From 1855 to 1860, Archimandrite Zephaniah (in the world Stepan Sokolsky) served here, later - Bishop of Turkestan and Tashkent (+ 1877).

In 1860-64. Archimandrite Palladius reigned in Rome. Archimandrite Porfiry, who replaced him in 1864 (in the world Georgy I. Popov; + 1866, buried in the Testaccio cemetery) was, among other things, a spiritual writer - in particular, he wrote “Letters from Rome”, published in the Orthodox review".

The next archimandrite, Gury (later Archbishop of Tauride), had to experience the hardships of high-level politics: in 1866, there was another breakdown in relations between Russia and the Papal State, as a result of which the Russian priest was expelled from Rome to the Kingdom of Naples just before Easter. The life of the Russian Church has temporarily ceased...

In 1867, Alexander II approved a new staff of the Roman Church consisting of an archimandrite-rector, a deacon and two psalm-readers, but the Russian clergy was sent to the banks of the Tiber only after Savoyard troops and Garibaldians entered the Eternal City in 1870, and he became the capital of the new, united Italy.

The local abbots after this were: in 1871-77. Archimandrite Alexander (in the world Andrei Kulchitsky); in 1878-80 - Archimandrite Nikolai; in 1880-81 Archimandrite Mitrofan; in 1881-1884 - Archimandrite Nikon (in the world Philip Igorevich Bogoyavlensky); in 1884-1897 - Archimandrite Pimen (in the world Dmitry Dmitrievich Blagovo; +1897, buried in the Testaccio cemetery). Archimandrite Pimen occupies a prominent place in the history of Russian culture. Highly educated, from an old noble family, he took monastic vows in 1880. His main literary work, “Stories of a Grandmother, Collected by Her Grandson D. D. Blagovo,” became a kind of monument to an entire historical era. In Rome, Archimandrite Pimen, together with Ambassador N.N. Vlangali, set up the Russian hospice house of St. Stanislaus (now the property of the Polish Catholic Church), collected a valuable library, and wrote memoirs about his Moscow life.

Replaced Fr. Pimen Archimandrite Clement (in the world Konstantin Bernikovsky) took the initiative to build a Russian temple. This was started by the widow of a court councilor, Elizaveta Kovalskaya, who lived in Italy, and in 1880 she turned to the Holy Synod with a request for permission to build a church at her expense in the cemetery of St. Lawrence in Verano, in order to “honor the memory of her husband, who served in Rome.” The church authorities decided to make inquiries, and the Russian ambassador, Baron Iskul, responded to the request of the Holy Synod as follows: “A temple in the world center of the Roman Catholic faith must correspond to the high significance of Orthodoxy and, at least, not be inferior in size and elegance to non-Catholic churches, which have been under construction in Italy since 1870... Kowalskaya’s funds are not sufficient..." As a result, the widow did not receive permission (the Russian ambassador was a Lutheran, and with no less effectiveness prevented the construction of an Orthodox church in Florence).

Archimandrite Clement (later Bishop of Vinnitsa) from the very beginning of his abbot declared “the need to have an Orthodox church that meets the dignity of Orthodoxy and the greatness of the Fatherland.” Already in 1898, fundraising began, which in 1900 was officially authorized by Nicholas II, who made a “royal contribution” of 10 thousand rubles. A total of 265 thousand Italian lire were collected. Count L.A. Bobrinsky (+ 1915) promised to donate his house and garden in the center of Rome (Villa Malta) for the construction of the temple.

The new rector appointed in 1902, Archimandrite Vladimir (in the world Vsevolod Putyata), questioned the value of Bobrinsky's site (Villa Malta went to Bobrinsky's heirs, and then to the Jesuit fathers) and suggested looking for another place. He rejected the original candidate of the architect, M. T. Preobrazhensky, the builder of the Russian church in Florence, and began to promote his own candidate, the architect A. Yu. Yagna. Disputes divided the participants in church construction, but the work still continued: in 1906, the Construction Committee was formed, which included Russian diplomats in Italy, members of the Russian colony and Archimandrite Vladimir.

The first attempt in the history of the Russian Church to establish a Western European episcopal see is associated with the name of Archimandrite Vladimir. This question was first raised in 1897 by Archbishop Anthony (Vadkovsky) of Finland, later Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. The Ambassador to Italy A.I. Nelidov, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, actively supported the idea. The establishment of such a see in Rome could “highlight more clearly the apostasy of the Pope and restore the “fulfillment of the Church”, which is spoken of in the prayer behind the pulpit,” wrote the rector of the Florentine church, Fr. Vladimir Levitsky. At the same time, a practical goal was pursued - the unification of the Russian clergy abroad.

In the summer of 1907, Archimandrite Vladimir was consecrated Bishop of Kronstadt, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese and became in charge of all Russian churches abroad (with the exception of Constantinople and Athens). In 1911, by order of the Holy Synod, he left the banks of the Tiber, and the young Western European diocese was abolished.

Bishop Dionysius (Valedinsky). In the period 1912-1914. was rector of the Roman parish. In the period 1912-14. Archimandrite Dionysius (Valedinsky) served in the Roman church, who, in particular, published “A Companion to the Russian Orthodox Pilgrim in Rome” (1912; republished in 1999). Under him, the construction business did not stop: in the fall of 1913, Nicholas II allowed the collection of donations throughout Russia, and in the summer of 1914, the State Bank opened a special account in the St. Petersburg office. Subsequently, Archimandrite Dionysius became the primate of the Orthodox Church in Poland.

The second priest at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was Fr. Christopher Flerov.

From 1914 to 1916, the church was rectored by Archimandrite Philip, who was killed after the revolution in Russia. In 1915, he formed a new composition of the Construction Committee, with Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev at its head. The Prince imposed on the Committee another, already third, architect - Vincenzo Moraldi. The Italian’s project was subjected to examination and serious criticism by the architect V.A. Subbotin, who then supervised the construction of the Russian church in Bari. At the same time, another project was drawn up by a prominent expert on ancient Russian architecture V.A. Pokrovsky. In the end, the committee nevertheless accepted Moraldi’s project and, with his assistance, acquired a plot of land on the Tiber embankment, near Ponte Margherita (Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia) in the name of the Russian embassy. The death of Prince Abamelek-Lazarev in 1916 and events in Russia interrupted the temple construction that had begun (in 1924 the land plot was seized by the Soviet embassy and then sold).

Archimandrite Simeon (Narbekov). Rector of the church from 1916 to 1969. A new stage in the history of the church is associated with the appointment to Rome in 1916 of Archimandrite Simeon (in the world Sergei Grigorievich Narbekov). Father Simeon served here for half a century: he died in 1969 (buried in the Testaccio cemetery).

In the spring of 1921, Archimandrite Simeon founded a Roman parish, which included about a hundred full members, and organized a Parish Council, headed by the former Consul General G. P. Zabello. Thus, the house church at the Russian (in the future - Soviet) embassy, ​​which was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, became independent, parish. According to L.V. Ivanova, the community then consisted “primarily of old aristocratic monarchists.” Queen Olga Konstantinovna of the House of Romanov also entered the parish as an honorary member (she died in 1926; Archimandrite Simeon performed her funeral service).

A special event for the Russian parish in Rome was the approval of the parish's status as a legal entity by royal decree of November 14, 1929. The next important event was the parish taking possession of the mansion of M. A. Chernysheva (“Palazzo Czernycheff”).

Princess Maria Chernysheva (+ 1919) bequeathed her house on Via Palestro to the Russian church back in 1897, but due to legal complications, the parish officially came into inheritance only in 1931. On April 10, 1932, a newly built church was consecrated in it - the decoration was transferred from Palazzo Menotti to Piazza Cavour. The design of the church was drawn up by the architect Prince V.A. Volkonsky and the engineer F. Poggi. The construction of the new temple was financially helped by Princess S.N. Baryatinskaya (in memory of her late husband V.V. Baryatinsky), Princess S.V. Gagarina (in memory of her late parents), as well as Queen of Italy Elena of Montenegro.

By decree of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia, dated May 5, 1922, Metropolitan Evlogy was entrusted with the management of Russian parishes abroad. At the same time, Archimandrite Simeon became dean of Russian churches in Italy. However, in 1927, as Metropolitan Evlogy wrote, “out of personal devotion to Metropolitan Anthony,” he came under the omophorion of the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia). Due to the special position of the Orthodox community in Rome, until 1985 it was directly subordinate to the Chairman of the Synod.

In the post-revolutionary period, the community received a lot of help from Princess M. P. Abamelek-Lazareva, née Demidova, Princess of San Donato (+ 1955), who lived in Pratolino, near Florence, as well as in her late husband’s villa in Rome (now Villa Abamelek is the residence of the Russian ambassador) . The princess paid maintenance to the abbot and several parishioners. In 1921, she received the honorary title of “temple trustee.” The Serbian and Bulgarian embassies also provided some material support.

The Second World War brought many “displaced persons” (DPs) to Italy, whom the community helped in every possible way. Church life was also temporarily revived by Orthodox Christians from the Allied forces.

Since 1946, in Rome, Archimandrite Simeon was co-served by Abbot (later Archimandrite) Callistus, who was rector in San Remo from 1935 to 1945, and Archimandrite Zosima (+ 1960). When in the mid-1950s. the elderly Archimandrite Simeon retired, Archimandrite Callistus became rector of the church. This priest was also the dean of the Russian parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church and the vice-chairman of the Roman Committee of the Red Cross. Hegumen Callistus regularly performed divine services in the camps of “displaced persons”, in Trieste, in Latino, in Naples and near Turin (Villa Olanda) and distributed benefits and donations among interned compatriots. After his death in 1964, Archpriest Viktor Ilyenko, a graduate of the Irkutsk Theological Seminary, was appointed to St. Nicholas parish in 1966 (back in 1921, having left Soviet Russia, he served for three months as a psalm-reader in a Roman church, listed as positions of church watchman). In the 1960-70s. the community was under the omophorion of Rev. Anthony, Archbishop of Geneva.

Parish of St. Nicholas

The Russian Church in Rome is the oldest of the Russian churches in Italy. On the recommendation of the College of Foreign Affairs, on October 6, 1803, Emperor Alexander the First signed decree 06 establishing the “Greek-Russian Church” at the Roman mission. The Holy Synod was instructed by the spring of 1804 to “prepare the church with all its needs.” Initially, it was intended to be consecrated in the name of the Holy Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul - probably as a sign of recognition of Rome as the owner of the relics of the Apostles and as the See of St. Peter.

The fight against Napoleon distracted Russia from the church “project”: the church at the mission was built only 20 years after the signing of the Imperial Decree - in 1823. The single-altar church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was placed in the embassy house, on Corso 518. Subsequently, the church moved from one house to another: from 1828. she was in Palazzo Odescalchi on the square. Holy Apostles, since 1836 to 1845 - in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Piazza Navona, since 1845. - in the Palazzo Giustiniani near the Pantheon, since 1901. - in Palazzo Menotti in Piazza Cavour and since 1932. - in a modern room.

The Roman temple belonged to the St. Petersburg diocese, was at the same time under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was an embassy church.

A major success was the approval of the arrival of the status of a legal entity, E nte Moga le , by royal decree of November 14, 1929. The next important event was the parish taking possession of the M.A. mansion. Chernysheva (“Palazzo Chernyshev”). Princess Chernysheva (died 1919) bequeathed her house on Via Palestro to the Russian church back in 1897, but due to legal complications, the parish officially received the inheritance only in 1931. On April 10, 1932, a newly built church was consecrated in it - the decoration was moved from Palazzo Menotti to piazza Cavour.

The design of the church was drawn up by the architect Prince. V.A. Volkonsky and engineer F. Poggi. The idea of ​​​​building a cruciform church in plan was accepted, but, unfortunately, the proximity of the neighboring site did not allow the construction of the left “branch” of the cross. On the side of the courtyard, a special extension was made with a semicircular apse for the front part of the church (starting from the solea). Internal partitions were removed and arches were built, giving the hall a cozy look. The altar and pre-altar arches were lined with gold mosaics and green marble, giving the temple - especially with additional consecration - an elegant, festive look. Princess S.N. helped financially with the construction of the new temple. Baryatinskaya (in memory of her late husband V.V. Baryatinsky), Princess S.V. Gagarin (in memory of her late parents), as well as Queen of Italy Elena of Savoy (Montenegrin).

If by the beginning of the 1980s. The Russian community in Rome mainly consisted of old emigration, but already from the mid-1980s, when Rome became one of the transit points of “new emigrants” (former Soviet citizens looking for new opportunities in the West), the number of parishioners began to increase rapidly. Many newcomers received Holy Baptism in Rome, got married, baptized their children, some settled in Italy, others maintained contact with the church in other places of residence.

Although the church was often moved from one place to another and was subjected to robberies, most of the ancient and valuable decoration was still preserved. The iconostasis, built in the 1830s, became the true decoration of the temple. mainly at the expense of the ambassador at the Papal Court, Prince. G.I. Gagarin. The composition of the wooden iconostasis, painted like white marble and sometimes gilded, belongs to architect. K.A. I'm drowning. The single-row high iconostasis in the classical style is reminiscent of the work of this master for the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.On the frieze of the iconostasis is the inscription: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

Among the shrines of the temple:

• Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, painted in 1901 by Athonite monks in memory of Emperor Alexander III (located near the choir),
• four icons (workshop of the artist M. E. Malyshev), painted in Sergiev Posad in 1893: St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Alexander Nevsky (in the right compartment, in icon cases) and two large images of the Savior and the Mother of God (near the left wall);
• an image of St. Joasaph of Belgorod, painted before his glorification;
• a reliquary cross donated by the Greek prince Christopher Georgievich (located in the altar);
• a small icon of Saint Princess Olga, painted for the temple by the Greek royal Mary;
• the image of the Mother of God “Goalkeeper” (“Portaitissa”), painted by the Athonite monk Victor (Karavogeorgas);
• 18 small icons of Kyiv saints, painted in the workshop of L. K. Plakhov;

On the main staircase, at the entrance to the church, there are memorial plaques with the names of the organizers of the temple: Archimandrite Simeon (Narbekov), Princess M. A. Chernysheva and Princess S. N. Baryatinskaya.