The temple of Boris and Gleb in Degunino, as well as churches in many other places in Russia, are dedicated to the children of Grand Duke Vladimir. They are famous primarily for the fact that they became the first Russian saints. Boris and Gleb were canonized by both the Russian and Constantinople churches.
The first Russian saints
Why are they martyr-martyrs? Because they were treacherously killed by their own brother Svyatopolk, nicknamed the people because of this, "Cursed." The brothers accepted death voluntarily, knowing about it in advance. Boris and Gleb did not raise their hands to their older brother. An integral part of the Christian faith - non-resistance to evil by violence - was a curiosity for pagan Russia, which had just converted to Orthodoxy. The fratricide Svyatopolk fled to Poland from the troops of Yaroslav the Wise, but, like Cain, he could not find a place anywhere. According to legend, even from his grave came a stench. And Boris and Gleb after canonization became patrons and keepers of Russia. They began to be honored immediately after death.
The Prayed Church
The Temple of Boris and Gleb in Degunino was first mentioned as destroyed by the Polish-Livonian troops. It happened in 1585. The village itself is mentioned for the first time in 1336 in the letter of Ivan Kalita. It is impossible to admit the idea that there was no temple in the village, all the more so in 1394, the village went to the church for 400 years. The village near Moscow, at the base known as Deguninsky, ceased to exist in 1960. It became part of Moscow, constantly expanding its borders. The temple of Boris and Gleb in Degunino is famous for the fact that it was destroyed several times, exposed to fire. But each time on the site of the destroyed temple, a religious building made of wood is erected again. This happened, perhaps due to a lack of funds for the construction of a stone building. For example, in 1633 the church was built with the money of a local priest.
Always reborn from the ashes like a phoenix
The newly erected church according to documents (1676) is listed as the church of Saints and Honorable Boris and Gleb with the chapel of St. John the Evangelist, Evangelist and Apostle. Under Peter I, in the first years of his reign, namely in 1700, by the decree of the then Patriarch Andrian, the village and the church of Boris and Gleb in Degunin were transferred to the Alekseevsky monastery, founded in 1360 by Metropolitan Alexy. To this day, the legendary Starodevichy Convent has not been preserved, in its place now is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. During the invasion of the Napoleonic troops, when the whole of Moscow was burning , the temple of Boris and Gleb in Degunino survived. Probably because in those days the village was considered a remote suburbs. It should be noted that the stone Borisoglebskaya church in this village opened its doors to parishioners only in 1866.
Again wooden
And in 1762, a completely old dilapidated church was rebuilt. However, a new temple is being built again from wood. Two years later, Degunino, which stands on the river Likhoborka, was removed from church ownership and transferred to civilian jurisdiction, that is, secularized. From 1843 to 1851, the construction of the railway connecting Moscow with St. Petersburg was carried out in Russia. The branch passed through the lands belonging to the village, for which the community was paid a fairly large amount of compensation for the alienated land. This prompted the Degunians to think of a new stone temple. The appeal of parishioners and the head priest of the church, Simeon Florovich Strakhov, to Metropolitan Filaret, Vladyka of Moscow, was sent in 1863. In the neighboring village of Verkhny Likhobory, there was a stone factory, and its owner, a merchant of the 1st Guild V.A. Prorekhov, provided the necessary construction quantity of bricks in the amount of 360,000 pieces for future construction. That was the biggest contribution to this good deed.
Handsome stone
Stone Temple of St. Boris and Gleb in Degunin grew up next to an old wooden church, dismantled in 1884. It was executed in the pseudo-Russian or Russian-Byzantine style. The three-altered massive temple turned out to be beautiful. It was erected in the form of a parallelepiped with a single internal space. There is a refectory and a bell tower with two large bells. The temple is decorated with a high semicircular apse adjacent to the main semicircular, lowered part of the building. This is usually an altar ledge. At the time of the opening, the walls and arches of the church were very beautifully painted, the iconostasis was rich. 1887 was the year of the renewal of the three iconostases of the temple in Degunino.
Temple Martyr
The fate of the church is traditional. The era of atheism came, but the church of the noble princes Boris and Gleb in Degunin operated until 1930, when services ceased due to the absence of priests. The church was officially closed in 1941, and until that time the Deguninsky parish seemed to exist. And it should be noted that in the 20-30 years, church life in the village continued. Thus, the community requested permission to carry out religious processions at the homes of believers. And in 1925, the Charter of the Borisoglebsk Orthodox Community was registered. After the official closing, the church was adapted to the needs of the outpatient clinic. The homeland of disabled people “Rodina” moved into the walls of the former church in the 60s of the last century. In order to rebuild the building for the production workshop necessary for the artel, the upper tiers of the bell tower were demolished, the building was surrounded by annexes and surrounded by a reinforced concrete fence. The factory was here until 1985. Further worse. A garage of the interdisciplinary scientific and technological complex “Eye Microsurgery” was placed in the church.
New Life of the Borisoglebskaya Church
The temple began to revive after the new registration of the community and the transfer of the church building to it in 1990. The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the church in 1991 on July 14. And the gradual restoration of the Borisoglebsky religious building began. From 1994 to 2005, the walls were painted twice, the tents of the bell tower and the temple building were restored, the roof and appearance were updated, the iconostasis was restored. This temple can also be called a martyr, as those saints in whose honor it was originally erected, the Good-natured Boris and Gleb. This Orthodox church is located at: st. Deguninskaya, 18a.