St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk is a small house church in the Soviet district of the city. It was laid on June 30, 1885 and consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on October 14, 1890. Today, the temple is recognized as a monument of culture and architecture of the XIX century and belongs to the Lipetsk diocese.
Temple history
The church was erected in 1890 at the request of local merchants and philistines at the city prison. The building was designed by a young aspiring architect I.P. Mashkov.
Despite the fact that the St. Nicholas Church was intended for the religious needs of prisoners, almshouses and hospital patients, it was visited by many residents of the city from the poor.
The five-domed church of Nikolai Ugodnik was erected in a pseudo-Russian style. The walls of the building were decorated with bizarre rhizolites. The cube-shaped temple was crowned with drums with onions. The second tier is made in the form of an octagon with windows, completed by a high tent.
The facades of the temple were very richly decorated with cornices, pilasters and platbands. The roof was painted green. Nicholas Church was famous for its impressive belfry: the largest of the bells had a weight of 7 tons.
The parish was very richly equipped with various church utensils, which is confirmed by the documents drawn up at the closing and seizure of valuables by the state in March 1922.
In 1928, the appearance of the temple underwent a change. Crosses were removed and all religious symbolism destroyed. Church wall paintings were overwritten and replaced by decorative paintings with portraits of the leaders of the revolution.
The building was transferred to the prison department and was used for its needs.
After the war ended, the church was completely disfigured, re-planned and rebuilt into a pre-trial detention center with cameras on the first floor and the prison administration on the second.
By 1980, new facilities for ITK were built outside the city. The old prison complex was destroyed and demolished. The same fate was expected and St. Nicholas Church, which was in poor condition and was a ruin.
Thanks to the efforts of the local population and local historians, the church was saved.
St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk today
In 1991, the church of Nikolai Ugodnik was returned to the diocese, and restoration work began in it. According to the surviving drawings of past years, the building was reconstructed exactly with the original.
Nearby, an additional two-story building was built, in which there is a Sunday school, a baptismal, a library and a belfry. The temple is being improved all the time and every year it looks more and more magnificent.
For a long time there was a struggle between the parishioners of the church and the public against building up near the temple of high-rise buildings. After persistent disputes, it was possible to stop the construction of only one high-rise building on the east side of the church. Now St. Nicholas Church is located directly in the courtyard of one of the residential buildings.
A Sunday school is opened at the temple, in which appropriate classes are provided for each age category. Children from four years old can attend school.
The teaching staff is strong, everyone has either a theological or a pedagogical education. The school is led by Archpriest V. Diesperov. In addition to the basics of Orthodoxy, parishioners are taught choir singing, drawing, icon painting, and the game of chess.
There is a pilgrimage department at the temple, which allows believers to visit holy places outside the region. Organized trips to the shrines of Ukraine, in the cloisters of Russia and abroad.
Pilgrimage trips of the St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk are held all year round and are accompanied by clergy without fail. This is one of the activities of the church aimed at the spiritual development of modern parishioners.
Work schedule
Divine services at the St. Nicholas Church in Lipetsk are held from Tuesday to Sunday from 7:30 to 17:00. On Mondays, services are not performed.
Sunday School classes are held:
- For children - on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00.
- For adults - every Sunday at 17:00.
Where is
Address of the St. Nicholas Church of the Lipetsk Diocese: Soviet District, Torgovaya Ploshchad, 16.
The current phone number can be checked on the official website of the temple.
For guests of the city, the Church of Nikolai Ugodnik is of interest as a monument of architecture and national culture and is a point of the excursion program.