One of the most beautiful examples of temple architecture of the XVII century is the Church of the Archangel Michael, located in the town of Balashikha near Moscow. Having safely survived all the dramatic turns of Russian history, today, like two and a half centuries ago, it calls Orthodox people to ring their bells. Many generations of clergy, feeding their parishioners under its vaults, guarded their souls from the harmful effects of the vain world with its coming and perishable goods.
New life on the Pekhorka river
Starting a conversation about the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in St. Nicholas-Arkhangelsk, one can not help but turn to the history of this very picturesque region near Moscow. It is known that he received an intensive impetus for development at the end of the 16th century, when roads were laid through deaf forest thickets, and therefore the wide and navigable river, at that time, the Pekhorka River lost its transport significance. This allowed her and her tributaries Vyunka, Malashka, Chernaya and Serebryanka to build dams, the water from which powered the wheels of mills, small spinning mills and other handicraft enterprises. So the once deaf region gradually became an inhabited industrial region.
Church in the woods
One of the villages located in those parts, mentioned in the written monuments of the 16th century under the name “Stupishino, Zvorykino identity”, belonged to the old boyar clan of the Turenins. In 1641, it was bought from the previous owners by the boyar Streshnev and at the same time erected a wooden church on its territory, which was consecrated in honor of the Archangel Michael. This is evidenced by the record made in the “Failure Book” dated 1646. It is this building that is the long-standing predecessor of the stone temple that has survived to this day, which will be discussed in the article.
Having bought the village, the boyar Streshnev after 10 years, for a number of circumstances, was forced to part with his property and cede it to Prince Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov. Having sufficient funds, the new owner in 1676 ordered to completely dismantle the church located on the territory of the village, as he considered it dilapidated, and in its place to build a new one, also wooden, and to consecrate it in honor of Archangel Michael.
Family estate Dolgoruky
Around the same years, the prince ordered to change the name of the village that belonged to him and henceforth to call it Arkhangelsk. One of his undertakings was the creation of a system of artificial ponds, on three sides covering the site on which the wooden temple was located. Thanks to this, today the stone church built on the same place looks unusually beautiful during the spring flood, when, surrounded by water, it appears as a salvation ship sailing in the midst of the sea of life.
It is known that the village of Arkhangelsk was in the possession of ten generations of representatives of the Dolgorukovs, becoming a family estate. The archangel Michael was depicted on their family coat of arms, which was one of the reasons for the consecration of the newly built church in honor of this ethereal leader of the Heavenly Rat.
The pious undertaking of Prince Dolgorukov
In 1748, Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Dolgoruky ─ great-grandson of Yuri Alekseevich ─ turned to the leadership of the Moscow Theological Consistory for permission to build a two-story stone church in his village near Moscow Arkhangelskoye. He was supposed to replace the previously erected and extremely dilapidated wooden church of the Archangel Michael.
Despite the fact that his request was received very favorably, the issuance of the relevant documents was delayed, and it was possible to start work only after 19 years. By this time, a church burned down in the neighboring village of Nikolsky, and its inhabitants were assigned to the Arkhangelsk parish. The newly formed united parish became known as Nikolsky-Arkhangelsky.
The construction of a stone church
It is known that the new stone church of Mikhail the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoye) was able to be built much faster than the execution of the necessary documents in this case. If the gentlemen of the conservatory officials took 19 years, then the builders of the new church met in six. Thanks to this, in May 1773, the stone temple was solemnly consecrated. This was very opportune, since three years before the fire destroyed that same ancient wooden church, which was replaced by a new building.
However, after some time, it was noticed that between the walls of the main building and its lateral limits there were increasing cracks, which indicated a clear mistake of the designer. Since no other solution was found, in 1789 the lateral limits were dismantled, and thus, only two thrones remained in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoe): the Archangel Michael was on the upper floor, and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was on the lower floor.
What does a church located in Balashikha look like?
Since then, no significant reconstruction of the building has been carried out, and therefore the description of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsk, compiled at the end of the 18th century, is generally modern. The brick plastered building, decorated with white accents, was built in the typical style of the time, which is commonly called the “Moscow Baroque”. Does not go beyond the tradition and its design. It is a quadruple mounted on a high basement (lower floor), built up with an octagon characteristic of that era.
On the eastern side of the church, a low three-story bell tower was erected, on both sides of which there are stairs leading to the upper floor of the building. The interior of the temple is richly decorated with stucco and paintings. Particular attention is drawn to the wall frescoes and icons located in the upper tier of the iconostasis, since the writing of most of them dates back to the construction of the temple.
Despite the general tradition of the architectural design of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoye-Arkhangelskoe), there are no temple buildings in the Moscow Region repeating its appearance, so it is unique in its own way. This feature of the church was noted a long time ago, and there is considerable evidence that during the 19th century it was visited not only by regular parishioners, but also by connoisseurs of church architecture who came from various cities of Russia.
Church kept by God
Unlike other churches in our country, the history of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsk is not marked by any serious upheavals and troubles. From the moment of construction to this day, it has never burned, and even in the difficult year of Russia for 1812, the Lord saved it from plunder and scolding, although the Napoleonic troops, moving towards Moscow, passed through the village.
Her fate was just as fortunate during the period of godless recession, when thousands of parish and monastery churches were closed and often destroyed throughout the country. Moreover, clergy and parishioners managed to preserve the ancient, prayed for centuries icons, which are still the main shrines of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Nikolskoe-Arkhangelskoe), whose address is: Balashikha, st. Black Road, 16A
The village has become a city
In 1830, the village of Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye, located east of Moscow, became part of the newly formed Balashikha. This happened after Prince Trubetskoy, together with a local merchant Pavel Moloshnikov, founded a small factory on the Pekhorka river near the village of Bloshino for the production of cloth. Their undertaking was a success, and over time, on the site of wooden buildings, a five-story stone building rose, in which industrial premises were located.
In 1850, more than 500 people were already working at the factory, and the former village turned into the city of Balashikha with a population exceeding 2 thousand people. Over time, the Church of the Archangel Michael located on its territory became the main spiritual center of the Balashikha Vicariate ─ the church-administrative unit that was part of the diocese.
Center for Religious Education
As mentioned above, the anti-religious campaigns that swept the country during the years of communist rule bypassed it, and the church remained active during all the hard times. Over this period, several generations of priests were replaced in it, many of which remained in the memory of the inhabitants of Balashikha as true preachers of the word of God and good shepherds of His flock.
Nowadays, their successors are actively working on the religious education of the population, which is so necessary after years of domination of materialistic ideology. The Sunday school operating at the Church of Mikhail the Archangel in Nikolsky-Arkhangelsk is one of the blessed sources of knowledge that are so necessary for the younger generation of Russians.