In the village of Pavlovskaya Sloboda, on a high hill on the right bank of the Istra River, one of the most beautiful temples of the Moscow Region rises. The ensemble is an example of Russian architecture and an architectural monument of federal significance. The Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda was built in 1650 by the boyar Boris Morozov.
The first written mention of the church dates back to 1593. It is described as wooden and single-headed, but decorated with tiers and zakomaras, which are very similar to girl's kokoshniks. Such details are characteristic of Russian wooden architecture of the late fifteenth century.
Wooden temple
The first church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda was built by the boyar Yakov Morozov. There is a legend about the motives of the building. Tsar Vasily the Third was angry with the nobleman and sent him into exile in the Moscow Region.
A year later, the sovereign had a son, John, who later became Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Basil the Third, according to tradition, declared an amnesty and returned the disgraced boyar to Moscow. Yakov Morozov, wishing to please the tsar, ordered to build a wooden church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda.
The beginning of the Romanov dynasty
After the death of Ivan the Terrible, noble clans fought for the Russian throne. The Great Troubles began in Russia. The deceased king left two sons - Fedor and Dmitry. The eldest of the princes could not independently manage the state, as he was not healthy, and according to some sources, suffered from dementia. The youngest son was only two years old. The boyars were seated on the throne of Fyodor Ioannovich, but they were appointed guardian of Boris Godunov.
But the struggle for power did not stop, forcing the royal brother-in-law to weave intrigues. A year later, the closest rivals in the struggle for the royal throne were eliminated. Exile, forced tonsure of monasticism, poisoning and accidental deaths on the hunt allowed Boris Godunov to take the Russian throne after the death of Tsar Fedor. In addition, the uncle of the prince is credited with the murder of the second son of Ivan the Terrible - Dmitry. But in general, historians evaluate the period of Godunov’s reign positively. It was under him that the patriarchate was founded; Job was the first in this post.
After the death of Boris Godunov, the struggle for power broke out with renewed vigor. And there would have been a new turmoil in Russia if the son of Patriarch Filaret, Mikhail Romanov, had not put an end to these mournful events.
Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich
Boyarin Boris Morozov was not an ordinary prosperous nobleman. In the sixteenth century, those who were owned by three hundred or more peasants were considered as such. Morozov had more than five thousand souls, each paying the boyar to file. In addition, Boris Ivanovich had a pronounced entrepreneurial streak. Under him, the village of Pavlovskoye became the first industrial center of Russia.
Mikhail Romanov entrusted Boris Ivanovich with the education of the heir - Tsarevich Alexei. Boyarin was very smart, well-read, traveled a lot, studied culture, architecture and industrial affairs in Europe. Boris Morozov managed to transfer many knowledge to Tsarevich Alexei. He did not have his children, so he put his whole soul into the future sovereign and the development of his possessions.
In the seventeenth century, the boyar provoked a riot in Moscow. The government introduced a salt tax, which condemned the vulnerable to starvation. People could not endure this and broke into the Kremlin with a demand to abolish the tax. Alexei Mikhailovich made concessions and exiled Morozov to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. However, after four months, the boyar was already developing the first set of laws in Moscow.
Summer palace
The reason for the construction of the stone church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda was the new residence of the king in Kolomenskoye. The style, largely borrowed from foreigners, so impressed Boris Ivanovich that he decided on something similar.
Indeed, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda has features similar to the palace. This building was the last thing in the life of an enterprising boyar, but he did not manage to consecrate the church. Boris Ivanovich Morozov was buried a year before the completion of the construction of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda. On his deathbed, he bequeathed to his wife Anna to complete what she had begun, which she did.
Architectural monument
Anna Morozova was honored to receive royal persons within the walls of a huge temple ensemble. The building, standing on a high basement, has seven makovoks, a refectory, the aisles of the prophet Elijah and St. Nicholas. The construction was completed by a high hipped bell tower, demolished during the war years.
In this form stood the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pavlovskaya Sloboda until the early thirties of the twentieth century. In godless times, the church was closed, and then ruined.
A sewing artel is located in the building, and later a dormitory was arranged. But at the end of the century the temple was miraculously returned to the hands of the Russian Orthodox Church and restored. The first Divine Liturgy took place in the summer of 1992, on the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist.