Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Ilyesha description and photos - Russia - Leningrad region: Volosovsky district (Topic)

Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Ilyesha description and photos - Russia - Leningrad region: Volosovsky district. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is located in the Volosovsky district of the Leningrad region, namely in the village of Ilyesha. The earliest mentions of the church were written sources dating back to 1500. In those days, the church was consecrated in honor of St. Gregory, which, in turn, stood on the site of a previously existing church. It is worth noting that the name of the village indicates the ancient veneration of the Prophet Elijah in this area, which ranks the village of Ilyesha among the ancient graveyards of the northwestern part of the country.

The prehistory of the appearance of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was the legend of the appearance and acquisition of the icon of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva, soon named Friday. A significant event took place about three hundred years ago, when on Ilyinsky Friday one of the shepherds noticed a girl on a birch, dressed in strange clothes. He tried to help her down the tree. But nothing came of it. After one of the local priests learned about this case, the icon was found, appearing at the roots of a tree. A chapel was built next to the holy place, after which the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared here.

From 1792 to 1798, a stone church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was erected. In 1824, a fire broke out in the church, and already in 1832 it was again rebuilt with the chapel of the Great Martyr Paraskeva. After a while - from 1855 to 1864 - the temple was rebuilt again, according to the project of local architects K.E. Yegorov. and Brandt K.I. with the addition of another chapel in the name of Elijah the prophet. Two more chapels were attributed to the temple. There is information that by 1899 the following villages were in the parish: Lugovitsy, Ilyeshi, Khimozi, Goliatitsy, Gorki, Knyazhevo, Cherenkovitsy, Izotkino, Ozertitsy, Tukhovo, Ushchevitsy, Pruzhitsy. There were always a lot of people in the church, because the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was a large structure.

In 1937, the church was closed, but already in the 1940s, church services were resumed here again. There is an opinion that the icon was taken away several times, although each time it came back again. For a long period of time, local parishioners collected icons at the very place where the icon of Paraskeva Friday was found.

For the purpose of destroying the veneration of the faith in 1962, the temple was blown up, and the adjacent territory was completely distorted by tractors. The holy stone, which collected water in itself, was overturned and mixed with boulders so that no one could find it among other stones. After all these actions, the source completely disappeared, and its location is forever lost.

On the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus in 1988, the icon of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva, which was kept in the Russian Museum, with the help of the rector Vladimir Kuzmin, was donated to the Holy Trinity Monastery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

In the 20th century, the village of Ilyesha became quite depopulated. Today, there are approximately twenty permanent residents. But, despite this, the tradition of the procession on Ilyinsky Friday around the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is still alive.

In the spring of 2008, the foundation was laid for the reconstruction of the chapel of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. This event coincided with another holiday - the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. A place, intended for the construction of the chapel, was consecrated in advance. Today, the road to the place of the appearance of the holy icon has been preserved. Many boulders are scattered in the local forest, therefore, among this variety of stones it is impossible to find the stone from under which the holy spring gushed. Near the place where the icon of the Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa appeared and was found, there is now a birch stump, which is decorated with a wide variety of souvenirs and ornaments of pilgrims who come to these places. Divine services are still held in the temple, which are held on Saturdays.

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Topic: Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Ilyesha description and photos - Russia - Leningrad region: Volosovsky district.