The Church of Maxim the Blessed on Varvarka is an Orthodox church in
Moscow, in Kitay-Gorod, on Varvarka Street. It is part of the
Patriarchal Compound of churches in Zaryadye.
The main altar was
consecrated in the name of St. Maximus the Blessed, the south aisle — in
the name of Maximus the Confessor.
The temple is named after the famous St. Maxim of Moscow at the
beginning of the XVI century. He was buried in 1434 on Varvarka near the
church, which used to be called the church of Boris and Gleb. In 1547,
Blessed Maxim was canonized. At the end of the XVII century, after a
fire, a new stone church of St. Maximus the Confessor was erected, its
main chapel was consecrated in honor of St. Blessed Maximus.
The
church was severely damaged in the fire of Moscow in 1676 and after that
it was renovated by Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna.
The new temple
building, built in 1698-1699 with the money of merchants M. Sharovnikov
from Kostroma and M. Verkhovitinov from Moscow, included part of the
temple of the same name built in 1568.
After the fire of 1737,
the temple was renovated in the Baroque style, unusual for the Old
Moscow appearance of Kitay-Gorod.
In 1827-1829, a new, two-tiered
Empire-style bell tower was erected instead of the former belfry. It
consists of two descending tiers with a dome, completed with a spire.
The temple is pillarless, rectangular in plan, two-light, with a
light drum and an onion-shaped head above the central altar and a dome
above the vaulted, single-column refectory. The three—apse lower floor
in the XVII-XVIII centuries was a place of storage of citizens' property
during fires and disasters. The facade has wide window openings and
false windows. The main volume is covered by a closed vault. The south
aisle is combined with the refectory. Internal window slopes with
corners sloping at the top are a technique rarely found in Russian
architecture of the XVII—XVIII centuries.
Fragments of paintings
from the XVIII—XIX centuries and two white stone foundation boards have
been preserved in the temple and refectory.
In the late 1920s,
the young monk Platon, the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Pimen, was the regent in the church.
In the 1930s, the church was
closed by the Soviet government, beheaded and ruined. In 1965-1969,
restoration was carried out (architect Sergey Podyapolsky). Since 1970,
the building has been under the jurisdiction of the All-Russian Society
for Nature Conservation.
Divine services resumed after 1994 and
are held on holidays.