The Yoshkar-Ola and Mari Diocese was established on June 11, 1993. By the decision of the Holy Synod and with the blessing of the patriarch himself, she was separated from the Kazan diocese. In the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Semenovka, Patriarch Alexy II performed the rite of consecration of Archimandrite John (Timofeev) to the bishop while serving the Divine Liturgy. By the end of the nineties the Mari diocese (the full and correct name is Yoshkar-Ola and Mari) consisted of a dozen city and five dozen rural churches. The Mironositsky Monastery was also rebuilt and the Virgin-Sergius Deserts was founded.
The Diocese of Mari determined its main administrative center in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, and the Ascension Cathedral became its cathedral.
History of creation. Repression
The XIX century is considered to be very fertile and rich in temple construction for this land. A third of all these structures were created between 1811 and 1829. It was at this time that the future diocese of Mari rebuilt the churches of the villages of Pokrovskoye, Sotnur, Upper Ushnur, Kuknur, Novy Toril, Semenovka, Kozhvazhi, Morki, Pektubaevo, Arda, Elasy, Toktaybelyak, Korotni, Arino, Paygusovo.
In the years 20-30, the time of the most terrible repressions began, which closely affected the entire church clergy (both monks and laity). Powerful waves of destruction and ruin of holy monasteries and temples swept across the country.
In Yoshkar-Ola, the Entrance Jerusalem and Trinity Churches were destroyed. The executive bodies, under various pretexts, terminated the agreements with religious communities and demanded that all religious buildings be returned to them. In 1938-1940, rural churches were massively closed. According to statistics, before the revolution, 155 Orthodox monasteries operated in the Mari Territory, but then only 9 remained. However, worship was prohibited in them.
Cloister
The Yezhov Mironositskaya monastery and the Virgin-Sergius deserts of the Mari eparchy became active monasteries, and the Vvedensky Vershino-Sumsky, Gornocheremis Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk, Muserskaya Tikhvin deserts became inactive monasteries.
On January 7, 1938, the last vicar bishop, the holy martyr Leonid (Antoshchenko), was martyred. After World War II, all parishes of the MASSR remained under the control of the Gorky Diocese (from 1957 to 1993). In 1993, the Mari diocese became independent.
For many years, the Diocese of Mari has been ruled by Archbishop John Ioanovich Timofeev, who began with obedience at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, then graduated from the theological seminary and academy in Moscow. Statistics show that today there are 92 churches in the diocese, 104 parishes, 2 monasteries, 41 chapels. The diocese has an official Internet resource, the monthly print publication Mironositsky Vestnik, and the TV and radio programs Transfiguration and Evangelism. "
Ascension Cathedral. Yoshkar-Ola
The cathedral, which will be discussed later, has been the cathedral of the Yoshkar-Ola and Mari diocese since 1993. The Ascension Cathedral of Yoshkar-Ola is valued as a monument of Russian architecture of the 18th century. The date of its foundation is considered to be 1756. Under Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, at his own expense, it was rebuilt by the merchant Pchelin Ivan Andreevich, whose house is now located next to the church. In 1915, a higher primary school, a real school, a parish school and a female gymnasium were located on its territory. In the early 1920s, the clergy of the church went to the Renovationists, but then, according to the requirements of the parishioners, they brought a penitential prayer (for this they went to Nizhny Novgorod to Metropolitan Sergius Starodsky).
New owners
But then new trials came for the clergy - years of hard times, arrests, exiles and executions. In 1935, the temple was handed over to the Renovationists, and as a result, in 1937 it was closed, rector Margaritov Peter was shot. In 1938 the church was handed over to the radio committee, then there was a beer warehouse in the church, in 1940 the Mari Artist partnership, and later the brewery was its owner. The temple fell into complete decline: a drum with a head, a bell tower, a stone fence were demolished, wall paintings were destroyed, a two-story building of the factory floor was added.
The life of the parish resumed in the 90s. It was restored, and in 2009 the bell tower of the temple was rebuilt.