Since ancient times, Russia has a tradition of building churches dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, near the rivers. This is due to the fact that since ancient times he was considered the patron saint of travelers and floaters, as well as the savior of drowning people, without whom, alas, far from every voyage does. An example of such a building is the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church, erected in Murom.
Church on the banks of the Oka
The name of the church "Embankment" is due to its location on the high and picturesque banks of the Oka. By the way, in the people it is often referred to as "Nikola wet." The church received this somewhat familiar name because during stormy spring floods, water rises to its very walls.
Just below the church, at the foot of the hill on which it is located, there is a source recognized as miraculous. The giving tells that beside him the pious pilgrims repeatedly appeared St. Nicholas himself. Legends have been circulating about the many healings that have come after immersion in its healing waters. Today, the spring is equipped with a well-maintained swimming pool, and a staircase leads to it, by which you can go straight down from the walls of the temple.
The wooden predecessor of the current temple
As it often happened, the predecessor of the present stone church was a wooden church, about the time of construction of which information was not preserved. The first mention of it in historical documents that have come down to us dates back to the 16th century. It is only spoken of in passing, and the document does not allow a complete picture.
More informative in this regard was the so-called Pistsova book of the city of Murom, the compilation of which began a century later. It is clear from it that the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church had two chapels, and next to it was another one, the same wooden one, but consecrated in honor of the Solovetsky saints Zosima and Savvaty.
The pious undertaking of a loving son
The following is known about the history of the erection of a stone church in honor of St. Nicholas. In 1700, priest Dimitry Khristoforov came from Moscow to Murom. He was inspired by the idea to perpetuate the memory of the recently deceased father, who served as the rector of the same wooden St. Nicholas church, which was discussed above. And he decided to do this with the scope appropriate to the capital's dweller - in those years, Moscow was the capital of Russia.
A loving son and an exemplary Christian decided to build a new stone church on the site of a very dilapidated church by the time in which his father served. Obviously, such a good intention had a sufficient material base, since huge funds were required for the construction. Then he turned to the leadership of the patriarchy for permission to conduct work.
Contrary to the sovereign decree
Consideration of this issue was a certain difficulty, and a blessed diploma, and simply speaking permission, Father Demetrius received only seven years later, in 1707. The fact was that at that time the decree of Tsar Peter I was in force, prohibiting the construction of stone structures throughout Russia with the exception of its future capital, St. Petersburg.
Thus, such a request could be considered as impudence, and an attempt to erect a stone temple as unacceptable disobedience. But one way or another, it was possible to agree, and a blessing was received. Then, without hesitation, the priest began to carry out his plan.
Completion of major works and further renovations
It is not known how the stone Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church was built and whether the pious temple-maker himself (as the builders of the temples were called in the old way) covered all the costs or volunteers helped. However, things were going their own way, and seven years later, in 1714, a carved iconostasis was installed under the arches of the newly-built and barely liberated from the forests church.
In those years, the famous Russian icon painter Alexander Ivanovich Kazantsev lived and worked in the Annunciation Monastery of Murom , who earned fame for the extraordinary originality of his work. For the new Church of St. Nicholas erected on the banks of the Oka River, he performed the image of twelve Sibyls - ancient soothsayers who predicted the appearance of Jesus Christ many centuries before his birth.
It is known that over the years of its existence, the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church was rebuilt a little due to the poverty of its parishioners, but nevertheless, in the XIX century, certain works were carried out in it. Back in 1803, the church was replenished with a refectory with a chapel in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and after almost half a century another appeared, consecrated this time in honor of the patron saint of animals, the great martyr Blasius. This was done at the request of wealthy donors - the merchants of the Suzdaltsevs, large Murom herders.
The fate of the church in the Soviet period
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the Murom diocese suffered the same troubles as all of Russian Orthodoxy. The Church of St. Nicholas was not left aloof from them. She was only relatively lucky that she managed to remain among the few active temples until 1940. Then, shortly before the war, it was closed, and services did not resume even at a time when, in order to raise the patriotic spirit and unite the nation, Stalin, during the most difficult battles, ordered the faithful to be returned some of the temples taken from them.
The sacked and empty Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church (Murom) stood until the beginning of the fifties, when it occurred to the city authorities to set up a poultry farm in its walls. After that, for twenty years, the vaults, which had once heard only prayer chants, were read out by the cackling of hens.
Then, a new building was built for the feathered farm, and the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church in Murom was adapted for the warehouse of the city museum, in which samples of wooden sculpture were stored. At one time, within its walls, they tried to open an exposition devoted to the role played by the Oka in the economic and cultural life of the country, but the efforts that began in connection with this did not end there. Until the beginning of the nineties, the temple was abandoned and stood in desolation.
Restructuring
When, finally, as a result of new perestroika trends, the state’s policy regarding the church changed and even those who had previously fought with the religious dope on duty began to believe, the looted and desecrated churches began to be returned to their former owners. Among them was the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church, the history of which since then has become a reflection of the processes that swept the whole country in the nineties.
The return of the former appearance of the temple
In 1991, the church became part of the Vladimir-Suzdal diocese, and from that time its restoration began. In particular, a large amount of restoration work was carried out, which allowed it to return to its original form. As a result, today the Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church, the photo of which is presented in the article, fully corresponds to the appearance that it acquired during the last reconstruction made in the middle of the XIX century.
Despite the fact that the building is based on the five-domes traditional for central Russia of that period, art critics nevertheless attribute the style to Moscow Baroque. This is mainly due to the decorative features of facades and interior spaces.
The saint who gave people mercy
Among the many churches of Murom’s land that are currently operating, one of the most visited is the St. Nicholas Church. The reviews left by those who attended her services, testify mainly to the religious feelings that embrace all who came to bow to the relics of the holy righteous Juliana Lazarevskaya, transferred here in 1993.
This servant of God, who made her life's journey to the cruel and inhuman era of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, when all the principles of Christian humanism were violated, was awarded the crown of holiness precisely for kindness and mercy. Having devoted her life to helping the unfortunate and destitute, she proved that regardless of the realities of the world around him, a man is the crown of God's creation, he can and must preserve the likeness of Christ in himself.
And finally, for everyone who is interested in the St. Nicholas Embankment church, we’ll consider how to get to it. Residents of the capital can take trains leaving the Kazan station in the Kazan direction. They all follow through Murom. It also provides rail and bus routes from St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir and several other cities. It is not difficult to find a church in Murom itself; the main thing is to remember the address: ul. Plekhanova, d. 27a.