After the patriarch Nikon carried out church reform, which was true in its essence, but untimely and poorly thought out, one of the most dramatic events in the history of Russian Orthodoxy took place - a split between those who accepted all the innovations he established and those who became their ardent opponent, remaining faithful to the old traditions and rites. Today, the monument of those ancient years are the Old Believer churches in St. Petersburg (photo are in the article), Moscow and many other cities of Russia.
Temple at: Tverskaya st., 8 A
A brief overview of the Old Believer churches operating in St. Petersburg today will begin with a church built on Tverskaya Street in 1907 and dedicated to one of the most revered icons in the Orthodox world called the “Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary”.
In the people this church is called - "Znamenskaya". The author of her project was the St. Petersburg architect D.A. Kryzhanovsky, who commissioned it by order of Pomeranian Old Believers-Bespopovtsy (Old Believers, which are one and the same thing), united in agreement or, in other words, a community whose members rejected the priesthood.
In the early 30s, when the country was swept by a wave of repression against religious figures and the most active parishioners, the church was closed and placed at the disposal of a number of business organizations. Its doors reopened for believers only thanks to the restructuring, during which a comprehensive restoration of the entire building was carried out.
Temple of Old Believers
Another, no less famous monument of religious schism is the Old Believer Church in Rybatsky (St. Petersburg). The archival materials have preserved information that Emperor Paul I ordered to settle fishermen near the outskirts of the city, supplying residents with their catch. A place was allocated for their village, and a cemetery was arranged, on the territory of which the wooden Znamensky Old Believer church was built in 1799, since most of the immigrants adhered to the old faith.
However, in 1830, by order of Nicholas I, who was afraid of epidemics, the cemetery was moved away from the banks of the Neva, and there, in a new place, they built the chapel first, and then the church, which has survived to this day and is located at 16 Karavayevskaya St. The creator of her project was the architect L. L. Schaufelberger. It is consecrated in the same way as the temple on Tverskaya Street, in honor of the icon of the Sign, highly revered by the Old Believers.
Temple of the Ligovsky Old Believer Community
Talking about the Old Believer churches in St. Petersburg, one cannot ignore the one located at Transportniy per., 5. It is well known to many residents of the city, despite the fact that it was reopened only in the years of perestroika as a functioning church, and earlier its premises housed a number of state institutions.
The history of the temple dates back to the pre-revolutionary period. It is known that at the beginning of the 20th century among the Petersburgers living in the area of Ligovsky Prospekt, there were many Old Believers from whom over time a religious community was formed. To build their own church, its members in 1915 purchased a plot of land located on Chubarov (now Transport) Lane, which previously belonged to the widow of a real court adviser M.A. Kovaleva.
Designed by the architect P.P. Pavlov, then very famous in St. Petersburg, the Old Believer church was consecrated just a few weeks after the Bolshevik armed coup. In the mid-1920s, it was closed as one of the breeding grounds for “religious dope”, and the building itself was used for completely mundane purposes. For many years, a skin and sexually transmitted dispensary was placed in it. By its current revival, the church owes a change in state policy towards the Church, due to the perestroika processes that swept the country in the early 90's.
Old Believers Church Belokrinitsky consent
Let us also dwell on the history of the Pokrovskaya Old Believer Church, very famous in St. Petersburg. Her address: 20, Alexandrovskaya Farm Ave. It was built in 1896 according to the project of the architect V.A. Kolyanovsky and belonged to the members of the so-called Belokrinitsky consent, which is one of the directions of the Russian Old Believers. The church is consecrated in honor of the heavenly patron of the city - Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky. The place of its construction was the territory of the churchyard, called Preobrazhensky and subsequently renamed the “Victims of January 9th” cemetery.
Stations of the Cross and subsequent rebirth
In 1937, the rector of the church, Archpriest Father Alexy (Chuzhbovsky) was arrested and soon shot on false charges of anti-government activities. After that, the authorities abolished the community and closed the temple, after which it remained oblivious for many years and gradually collapsed. Its restoration began somewhat earlier than the revival of other shrines trampled down by the Bolsheviks, and it was associated with the signing by the Soviet side of the documents of the Helsinki Conference of 1975, concerning the granting of certain freedoms to believers.
In 1982, work began on the restoration of the Old Believer church located on the avenue of Alexander's Farm. In St. Petersburg, her community today is one of the most numerous and influential religious organizations, uniting in their ranks adherents of the ancient - Donikon forms of worship. There is a Sunday school at the temple, teaching in which not only children, but also people of various ages.
Afterword
The addresses given by us of the Old Believer churches in St. Petersburg are far from an exhaustive list of places where adherents of “ancient piety” perform joint services — those who refused to accept the reform of Patriarch Nikon have called their faith since ancient times. Not all of their communities have their own temples, and therefore they have to use living quarters for prayer meetings. However, thanks to the ongoing process of rapprochement between the Russian Orthodox Church and a part of the believers who split from it, one can hope that the picture will change for the better in the coming years.