In the north-east of the capital, a unique building has been preserved: the Transfiguration of the Lord Church in Bogorodsky. This is the only church in Moscow with openwork carvings of cornices, carved columns, lace platbands on the windows, elegant porches, domes.
The temple is a wooden miracle of the century before last and was consecrated on August 17, 1880 with the blessing of Metropolitan of Moscow Macarius.
Temple construction
At the beginning of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the temple in Bogorodsky did not have its parable, but was assigned to the temple of the Prophet Elijah. The services were performed by Ilyinsky clergy. In summer, services were held every day, and in winter only on holidays, as summer residents were considered the main parishioners of the temple.
In 1887, the Bogatyr plant was built in Bogorodsky, which produced rubber shoes: galoshes, boots, and bots. Hundreds of workers and families moved to the village, and the temple could no longer accommodate all the pilgrims. We decided to attach two side aisles to it. The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God was placed in the right chapel of the church, which was consecrated in her honor in 1897, and a year later the left was consecrated in honor of the Prophet of God Elijah and St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow.
Priest Alexy Dobroserdov
The first rector of the church was Archpriest Kolychev Alexander Tikhonovich, and in 1902 the young deacon Alexy Ivanovich Dobroserdov joined the service, who later, by the will of God, had to play a huge role in the history of the church.
Since 1917, Alexei Ivanovich became rector of the church and served in it for 47 years. Father Alexy was a very zealous priest and strictly followed the liturgical charter. In fierce, atheistic years, the priest never took off his cassock and fearlessly blessed all who came to him.
Godless years
The Transfiguration of the Lord Church in Bogorodsky managed to defend only thanks to the authority of Father Alexy and his ability to unite people. In the difficult years of the beginning of the twentieth century, when people were waiting for death or exile only because they were believers, in Bogorodsky, the Soviet government was unable to close the church. A crowd of thousands of factory workers surrounded the temple and did not allow the worshipers. For many days, from morning till night, people were on duty at the church to inform the workers at the first danger, since they, in turn, categorically declared: if the Transfiguration of the Lord’s church was closed in Bogorodsky, then none of them would go to work. Fearing a strike at such a large plant, the chairman of the CEC canceled the decision to close the temple.
During the Second World War, the windows of the church were darkened during the fascist bombing, and continuous prayer was pouring in the church itself for the people, for the country. From prayer it became much easier and calmer than the soul.
After the victory, in 1945, the church council began to work on building a house for the abbot. In the future, the father left a will so that this building after his and mother's death remains for the needs of the temple.
Now the church of the Resurrection deanery, or the deanery of the Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, also includes the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Bogorodsky.
Temple fire
In 1954, on August 14, shortly before the feast of the Transfiguration, a miracle happened that will forever remain in the history of the temple. Deep in the night before the holiday, a fire occurred in the temple. A taxi driver, passing by, noticed a flame breaking out from under the dome, and called firefighters. When the firemen put out the fire, a sad picture appeared in front of them: everything around was burned out, the iconostasis, icons, even the chandelier burned, but ...
The Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God and the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker remained unharmed. Everything around was blazing with fire, and these two large icons were not even touched by the flame. On the same day, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy the First visited the church and promised to assist in every way in rebuilding the church.
Temple restoration
Soon, gilded iconostases were brought from Peredelkino, which, surprisingly, approached all three chapels of the church. Obviously, at that time the icon of the holy martyr Tryphon was donated. Now the church has many icons painted after the fire or received as a gift. Among them - the icon of the Mother of God “The Horny”, the icon of the Prophet Elijah, the icon of the Matronushka with a particle of relics and the icon of Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of relics and so on.
A service is held every day in the temple. The temples of the Moscow Diocese are not only a meeting place for believers and services to the Lord God, but also living monuments of the history of the Russian Orthodox people, which you need to know and protect.