Since the adoption of Christianity in Russiathe Orthodox idea came to the forefront of value orientations of the Russian ethnos and took a key place in every minute of the believer's life. That is why in the case of saving the village or city from a catastrophe and as a gratitude for the victory over the enemy, believers began to erect spiritual symbols on the site of the event in the shortest possible time. So there was a new type of Orthodox church building - the ordinary church.
The history of the ordinary church in Russia began in 996, when Grand Duke Vladimir, having escaped with the Pechenegs escort under the shelter of the bridge, built a temple on this site.
However, the spread of ordinary churches as temple buildings in Russia began only at the end of the 14th - the middle of the 15th centuries, especially in the territories of Pskov and Novgorod.
The notion of "ordinary church" - with emphasis on the third syllable - reveals the definition of a temple building, created in one day, "about one day."
Such a high rate of erection of the templeis explained by a simple rule - the church becomes a "pure" blessed place only after its consecration, so the work on its erection does not cease for a minute, and the ordinary church until the very end of construction and sanctification remained protected from evil spirits. The collective act of construction, the return of one's spiritual and physical strength, served as an additional guarantee of this security and at the same time served as a process of rallying people on the way to achieving divine Grace. One of these temples, rallying hundreds of people and radiating grace every second, is the church of Ilya Obydenny in Moscow.
All ordinary temples are created as symbolsDivine help and intercession for believing people. Always ordinary temples are created for a great cause - according to the vow of the people given for the propitiation of God, disgust from people of calamities and disasters. For example, during the human mora in 1390 in Novgorod in the name of the holy father Athanasius in one day a church was set up and consecrated by Bishop John. A similar church was built in Pskov at the time of the sea of 1407 by the Pskovites.
In Moscow in 1553, during the cold weather,Ivan IV the Terrible ordered to put two wooden churches, built in one day and consecrated in honor of St. Christopher and Cyril Belozersky. This was the first entry in the New Town annals, where it was said about the construction of ordinary churches under the decree of the Grand Duke.
The usual church in the technique of its erectiondiffers from the Orthodox wooden or stone temple. In the carpentry specialized workshops in advance the components of the temple were made, then in the right place and within one day the entire structure was assembled very quickly. Of course, due to its compactness, the ordinary church could not accommodate more than two hundred people. However, this number of parishioners is a medium-sized parish community, nurtured by a priest.
In its modern appearance, the ordinary churchcan be high - 15 meters in height, 80 square meters in area and capacity for up to 150 parishioners - and low, whose height is 12 meters, but the area is only 49 square meters.
The wooden temple is made of laminated veneer lumberor logs. The modern ordinary church is often not placed on the foundation, but is built on concrete cubes. This is done due to the fact that its operation in a new urban or rural neighborhood is calculated on a temporary basis, assuming that the temple will be moved to a new place during the construction of the old permanent stationary church. The new temple also requires a period of precipitation at a new location.
In modern Russia, the ordinary church is the mostis being actively built in the Far East and in Siberia, due to the inaccessibility for these places of standard building material and the short time of year required for the construction of a stone church.
In the modern world, the clergy pays great attentiongiven to the interior of the temple, seeking to get rid of the excessive Byzantine luxury, and at the same time look decent and noble, setting the parishioners to the necessary solemn and attentive mood and striking the skill of icon painters and architects.
Therefore, despite the more than modest externalThe appearance, an ordinary church, is a magnificent example of Russian temple architecture, which includes an Orthodox iconostasis, external carving on the wings of the entrance and a gleaming glittering sun.
Of course, ceremonial objects - censer, font, cross, candles - are purchased in the diocesan offices.
The priest either consecrates icons donated by parishioners or the church parish uses the services of full-time icon painters.
The prophet Elijah, who is considered the patron saint of the soldiers-aviators and airborne troops of Russia, enjoys special respect and reverence for the Russian people.
The prophet Elijah, during the life of a zealous accuserhuman vices, the protector of widows and the formidable avenger of justice, who executed the priests of Yahweh and Baal, is the ruler of droughts and rains. For Russians on Ilyin, the day celebrated on August 2 was forbidden to work, and also, according to belief, evil spirits went into the water, so until the next year it was strictly forbidden to swim. This was the date of family feasts, which in many provinces was preceded by a week-long post.
Few temples have a long three-century historyduring which they were periodically ruined and rebuilt. One of these temples is the Church of Elijah the Prophet Ordinary in Moscow. This temple conducts its history from the 16th century, when a wooden temple was built on this place by Grand Duke Basil III, according to a vow, “commonplace”, “everyday” - therefore called the temple of Elijah the Prophet.
In 1611 the temple was burned down by Polish troops, inIn 1612 here was the headquarters of Dmitry Pozharsky. In the 17th century, it already functioned as a solemn chapel of the kings, where prayers for rain were also raised during the drought.
In 1706, the Duma Duc Gabriel FedorovichThe villager and his brother Basil rebuilt the church of Elijah the Casual again, on whose territory they were later buried. In the same year, a warm refectory temple was added to the main cold throne of the Prophet Elijah to perform prayers in the winter season, which was badly damaged by fire and was restored in 1753.
Now the walls inside the temple are covered with magnificent paintings, mainly on themes from the life of the prophet Elijah. In the temple are the relics of St. Athanasius Kovrovsky and the icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
Since 1917, the temple did not close for a second.Due to its rich history, it is not only a sample of the Russian iconographic and architectural school, but also a great place to transfer sacred knowledge - there is a library, a lecture hall and a parochial school at the Church of Elijah the Prophet.
