In the city of Vladimir, on Krasnoselskaya Street, stands the
Orthodox Church of Michael the Archangel. The church is located in
the eastern part of the city on a small hill under the peculiar name
Cucumber Mountain, in the previously existing village of Krasnoye,
which has long been part of the city and is now completely built up
with multi-storey buildings.
The village of Krasnoe is one of
the oldest in the Vladimir region, although today it is not
indicated on the map. The first mention of it dates back to 1515.
The date of the formation of the village is listed in the letter
addressed to the Dmitrievsky Cathedral, but there is no mention of
the construction of the Church of Michael the Archangel in it. Thus,
it remains to be assumed that the temple already existed at the end
of the 1490s, but this is only an assumption, not documented.
In the last years of
the 16th century, the village of Krasnoye was mentioned as the
possession of the sovereign - a record of the nearby
Tsar-Konstantinovsky Monastery indicates that the village was a palace.
The first mention of the temple appears in the patriarchal books
dating back to 1628. Initially, it was wooden and consecrated in honor
of Michael the Archangel. In the 17th century, the village of Krasnoe
again passed into private ownership, which was in the hands of several
owners. One of the owners was a prince named Yuri Baryatinsky, who in
1658 sold his possessions to Nikita Minov. It is worth noting that Minov
left a significant mark on the history of the village, because the
results of the reforms he developed are still alive in some corners - at
one time there were fierce skirmishes and acts of disobedience, leading
to bloodshed.
Prince Baryatinsky sold his possessions to
Patriarch Nikon, who immediately after the purchase stopped being a
patriarch and left the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery, founded by
himself. A small part of the village went to the Resurrection Monastery.
Six years later, Nikon returned to Moscow again, because the thirst
for power did not leave him. But upon arrival in the capital, he was
sent back. Between 1666 and 1667, Nikon was defrocked, after which he
ended his days, staying until 1681 in the village of Belozerskoye at the
Ferapontov Monastery.
The Michael-Arkhangelsk temple, built of
wood, very quickly fell into disrepair, which is why it required
immediate repair. In 1652, the temple was completely rebuilt, but its
construction was carried out anew in the subsequent time.
In
1731, the first information about the renovated church appeared. In the
same year, an answer was filed to the petition of the rural owner-major
by Bishop of Yaropolsky and Vladimir Petrunkevich Platon. The signing of
the necessary charter for the construction of the church on the site of
the previously existing wooden one took place. The consecration of the
temple took place in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord; it is
assumed that the church was warm, because services were held in winter.
In 1788, a stone church with a large refectory room and a hipped
bell tower was built in Krasnoye with the money of numerous
parishioners. During the consecration, the main throne remained in its
former name, namely in the name of the Archangel Michael. The southern
throne was consecrated in memory of the former wooden church in the name
of the Transfiguration of the Lord. From that moment on, a new northern
chapel appeared in the village, consecrated in honor of the Protection
of the Mother of God.
Descriptions of the church dating back to
the 19th century have come down to us. There were 42 icons of saints,
apostles and forefathers in the temple. The parishioners especially
revered the cross, which contained particles of the relics of the
saints, found in 1812 by a righteous peasant.
For a long period
of time, only the village of Krasnoye was a church parish, but in the
second half of the 18th century it increased significantly, and the
villages of Mikhailovka and Arkhangelovka were included in it.
In
1943 the temple was closed. In the early 1990s, it was again handed over
to the Russian Orthodox Church. After carrying out minor repairs in
1991, the first service was held. Today the church operates, which
pleases many parishioners.