Before you begin the story of how the Transfiguration Cathedral of Vyborg was created Deanery, let's talk about his predecessor - the Lutheran Cathedral, which later became known as the Church of the Nativity of Christ. The fates of these two temples are closely interconnected. Local history tells that initially the first Orthodox church in the once Swedish, and later Finnish city of Vyborg appeared after it was conquered by the Russian troops of Peter the Great in 1710.
Lutheran Cathedral
In 1350, a wooden Lutheran church was built in the city. Due to the constant wars of conquest, its walls often collapsed, and over time the building very quickly fell into disrepair. But in 1494 a magnificent Lutheran cathedral was rebuilt on this site, which during the siege of the city by the military detachments of Peter I due to artillery fire was also very badly damaged and could hardly be restored.
Residents of Vyborg at the end of hostilities submitted a document to the Russian military administration, where they presented a list of city buildings destroyed during the fighting, which they would like to repair and use in the future. But Tsar Peter I was surprised that he did not see in this list the main shrine of the city - the cathedral, and then he decided to take it into his jurisdiction and build an Orthodox church in it.
Church of the Nativity
In 1720, he issued a decree for the Holy Synod on the restoration of the former Lutheran Cathedral, in which the Church of the Nativity of Christ was to open. Externally, the building was not changed, only inside its eastern part was an iconostasis and an altar made for worship. The former greatness and wealth, as before, were no longer in the church, since there were few parishioners at first. She inherited from the old cathedral two cups for the sacrament of 1651, the old work of the ark, a silver dish on which Jesus Christ was depicted, and the gospel of 1703. Later, in 1746, nine chandeliers appeared on a small scale, which the Russian officer Nikita Rusinov donated to the church to commemorate his soul.
Many years after the next fire, the church was transferred to the warehouse of a military garrison, by this time a decision had already been made to build the Transfiguration Cathedral next to it.
Background
But the appearance of the Transfiguration Cathedral was preceded by one event. In the summer of 1783, Empress Catherine II went on an official visit to the Swedish king Gustav III. The retinue of the Russian ruler consisted of important government officials - E.R.Dashkova (president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences) and A.A. Bezborodko (chairman of the board of foreign affairs). In the carriage with a Bezborodko, a certain N.A. Lvov rode, having nothing to do with the royal retinue. He was a diversified, very talented Petersburg architect, engraver, draftsman and musician.
He created a preliminary design, according to which they later built the Transfiguration Cathedral. The city of Vyborg, I must say, was mentioned in his reports to Catherine II by Governor V.K. Engelhardt. In them, he testified that in this village it is necessary to build a new Russian Orthodox church.
In the drawing, an analogue of the dome-apse layout of the temple from ancient Rome was originally reproduced. N.A. Lvov in the early 1780s visited Italy, and then acted as a translator of the scientific work of architectural solutions of the Renaissance architect A. Palladio. This greatly influenced a number of buildings of N. A. Lvov, who was not a certified architect.
Transfiguration Cathedral: Vyborg
In December 1786, the Russian empress issued a decree on the construction of an Orthodox cathedral church in Vyborg. In the same year, Johann Brockman, appointed provincial architect, came to the construction department of the governorship. He took advantage of the sketch design of N. A. Lvov, without changing anything in the architectural scheme of the church, simply reduced its size. By the way, these drawings are still kept in the Finland State Archive.
Start of construction: Transfiguration Cathedral (Vyborg)
So, the construction of the temple began. In its original form, the Transfiguration Cathedral (Vyborg) - the photograph shown below indicates this - had a dome-apse part of the building, which with a hemispherical coating and side vestibules had a cuboid shape. Entrance doors were located on the north and south sides of the building.
Archpriest Fedor
The first archpriest of the cathedral was Vasily Fedorov. And already in 1804, the new archpriest of the church Fyodor Loginovsky filed a report on the repair of the church. In the early summer of 1806, a decree from the Spiritual Consistory allowed us to correct the dilapidated building. In 1811, there was an acute need to buy a dwelling for clergy. But the funds were constantly lacking, but the priest’s perseverance brought results, and in 1816 the Transfiguration Cathedral of Vyborg received a good amount from the Commission of Theological Schools. With this money, the cathedral was completely updated.
Improvement and reconstruction of the temple
After repair, he retained his former shape in the form of an elongated cross. In September 17, 1817, the cathedral was consecrated in a festive atmosphere with a large number of parishioners. A gilded copper cross of St. Petersburg master S. D. Gusev was hoisted above it. Archpriest F. Loginovsky received great gratitude for the effective care of the church.
In 1838, a new bell was cast - a gift from the merchant F.N. Nabilkin. The artwork was carried out by the painter of the Imperial Academy of Arts S.V. Postemsky.
A few years later, when the Transfiguration Cathedral was reconstructed in 1889, a gatehouse was added to the bell tower. In 1892, the Vyborg diocese was established and the cathedral received the status of a cathedral. The last time it was redone according to the drawings of the ten's foreman A. Isakson.
In 1937, the Transfiguration Cathedral celebrated the 150th anniversary, and in 1987 - the 200th anniversary. In 2017, the temple will celebrate 230 years.
Address
You can always visit such an spiritual and cultural heritage of our ancestors as the Transfiguration Cathedral (Vyborg). Temple address: st. Cathedral 1.
The temple is located in the central part of the Old Town between Fortress and Watchtower streets. From the historic building, called the Round Tower, it can be reached in a few minutes. The temple is open daily; all the ritual ceremonies performed are performed in it. Any believer who through the power of his sincere prayer and faith will receive invisible divine grace can bring his repentance and confession in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Vyborg.