Many Russian churches have been consecrated in honor of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. On this day, the Orthodox Church remembers an important event from the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
Description
Following the ancient Jewish law, the Mother of God on the 40th day after the birth of the baby Jesus brought him to the Jerusalem temple. Then the "Meeting" (which means "meeting") took place between the Savior and the Elder Simeon, the last Old Testament righteous man, who came into the world. God the Father promised Elder Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Savior.
General view of the Sretenskaya Church
Christian tradition believes that the elder died at the age of 300, immediately after the events of the Meeting. In the context of the gospel story, the Presentation symbolizes the meeting of the Old and New Testaments. Humanity, in the person of Elder Simeon, departs in peace to eternity, giving way to Christianity.
The history of the creation of the Sretenskaya Church in Murom
One of the temples, built in honor of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, is located in Murom, on Karl Marx Street. The history of the stone Sretenskaya church dates back to the end of the 18th century, and before that time there was a wooden church in its place in the name of the great martyr Dmitry Solunsky... The mention of the Dmitrievskaya church is found in the hundredth book of the city of Murom from 1574, which gives reason to rank it among the oldest temples in the city. In 1795, a merchant of the 1st guild Ivan Nikiforovich Zvorykin provided an amount sufficient for the construction of a stone building. In place of a dilapidated wooden building, a church with two thrones and a bell tower appeared.
View of the Sretenskaya Church from Karl Marx Street
The main altar of the new church was consecrated in the name of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and the warm side-altar - in honor of Dmitry Thessaloniki. In 1801, the parish of the Church of the Archangel Michael, previously located in the center of Murom and abolished due to dilapidation, was transferred to the Sretenskaya Church. In 1829, in memory of the destroyed church, a chapel was erected in the Sretenskaya Church in honor of the Archangel Michael. The refectory, connecting the main volume of the church with the bell tower, was rebuilt and significantly expanded in 1888-1892.
The architecture of the Sretenskaya church
The Sretensky Church in Murom consists of a main altar, a refectory, two side-chapels and a bell tower. The main side-altar is a cube, covered with a closed vault, on which a round drum with kokoshniks rests, completed with a miniature dome with a cross. The glacier is decorated with oblique stripes, reminiscent of the decor of domes St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The windows are framed by baroque platbands, although elements of classicism prevail in the architecture of the Sretensky Church, such as the division of the facades with pilasters, the use of complex profile cornices.
View of the bell tower of the Sretenskaya church
Relics of the Sretensky Church
Of the old utensils in the Church of the Presentation of the Lord, only wooden vessels have been preserved. The main shrine of the temple was chosen the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, popularly called "Sretensky"... A legend about the miraculous healing of the Murom people is associated with it. Once in Murom there was a terrible pestilence, and one of the residents had a vision that he would be cured if he applied to the cross from the temple of Dmitry Thessaloniki. With the last of his strength, the man crawled to the cross and, kissing it, felt relief. The suffering townspeople followed his example and miraculously recovered. In memory of those events, the street leading to the temple was nicknamed Vypolzovaya, as the townspeople crawled along it for healing. Currently, the Life-giving Cross of the Lord is kept in the Murom Museum of Local Lore. Every year, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (February 15), the clergy and believers of the city perform in the museum in front of the Sretensky cross a prayer service with the singing of an akathist.
