The city of the Icon of the Roman Empire is the birthplace of the holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday, who lived there in the III century. Paraskeva, born in the family of Christians, wholeheartedly was devoted to this religion, went because of it to martyrdom, and will forever remain in the memory of Christians. Temples and chapels were built in her honor.
Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva
Paraskeva Friday is considered the patroness of agricultural workers. Industrialists, traders and travelers also consider themselves to be under her care and care. In pre-revolutionary Russia there was not a single retail space where the Church of St. Paraskeva Friday would not stand, in Moscow alone there were 4. The name Friday was given to her by her parents in memory of the day of the
crucifixion of Christ. Paraskeva in translation from ancient Greek means "holiday eve." In the Orthodox Church, the day of remembrance of this great martyr falls on October 28. On this day, it is customary to bring fruits to the altar for consecration and store them until the next harvest, thus ensuring its subsequent abundance. This saint is prayed for both the harvest and the prevention of cattle mortality.
In humans, it is able to heal severe ailments - both mental and physical. In addition, centuries-old experience contributed to the formation of a tradition of asking girls for holy assistance in a speedy and successful marriage. Therefore, each temple of the Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday is popular. On the icons the saint is always depicted with a cross in her hands and a red maforia. It is always strict and severe, and in the paintings associated with the Passion of Christ, it represents Great Friday, the day of the crucifixion of Christ. Among the Orthodox, her image was intertwined with Mokosha, a pagan deity, also the patroness of fields and cattle, which was also dedicated to Friday.
The emergence of Butovo
The Paraskeva Friday Church in Butovo is one of many places of worship dedicated to this great martyr in
Moscow. The church has a rich history, which began three hundred years before the emergence around the enormous area of Northern Butovo. Since XVII, the concept of “Seltse” existed in Russia, which is a very small settlement, literally several yards. But it must have included a chapel. Such a village in five yards - 3 peasant and 2 bobyl, that is, having no land allotments, was Butovo, owned by the clerk Samoilov. It arose on the site of the burnt down village of the landowners Shcherbatovs, who owned these lands since the 15th century.
Chapel, church, temple
There was a wooden church on their estate, which also burned down during the Polish-Lithuanian invasion in 1612. Decades later, namely in 1694, a new stone church was built here, built in the new Russian style by the architect Blagoveshchensky. The Paraskeva Friday Temple in Butovo was small, and in the XVIII century the chapel of the Nativity of the Virgin was added to it. Now there could be up to 400 believers. In 1903-1904, the temple was updated. Nearby, in the village of Znamenskoye Sadki, the estate of the Trubetskoy princes, there was also a church, but it did not survive. Together, these two places of worship were united in one parish, then disconnected.
The Paraskeva Friday Church in Butovo got its name from the roadside chapel, many of which were called in honor of this saint from ancient times, and it was popular in Russia even in pre-Mongol times. How could it be otherwise - after all, she patronized the traveler and merchant! Her icon in a glazed icon case, such a peculiar chapel, is nowadays located on the outside of the temple. The church is very beautiful. It, along with temples dedicated to this saint, erected in ancient Chernigov and Smolensk and preserved to this day, are monuments of architecture. The tomb of the last rector Nikolai Bogoyavlensky is located near the altar, on the east side.
Years of hard times
All the hardships of the 30s fell on the Paraskeva Friday Church in Butovo when churches and their ministers were destroyed. It was closed, desecrated and plundered. Then, for many years, there were either warehouses or sewing workshops in it, and later the temple completely burned down. Destroyed, without windows, doors and roofs, it began to be restored in the 90s by the forces of the community to which it was transferred, and in 1998 the church was consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow. Believers brought icons, new ones were ordered for donations. When there was no huge residential microdistrict Severnoe Butovo, several villages were located at this place - Kiovo, Bitsa, Kachalovo. Therefore, the Friday Church in Butovo has another name, so to speak, a synonym - the Paraskeva Friday Church in Kachalovo.
It is very popular among the local population, but small. Therefore, the construction of a new large religious structure, named after the Prophet Elijah, is planned in this area .
New trends
Among the elders of the temple are people who were in the past both the captain of the voyage, and the military, and the children's doctor. Maybe this affects the active church life of the temple. He has a Sunday school, whose students, along with the study of religion, take part in sports competitions. The temple provides effective assistance to orphanages, is engaged in the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts.
Among the shrines of the temple there are such rarities as the icon of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina (Georgian saint), the icon of the Mother of God “Inexpressible Chalice”, the icon of Seraphim of Swarovsky.