The Cathedral of Elijah the Prophet is located in Arkhangelsk.
The basis for its construction is considered to be a decree issued
by the Senate in 1723, which prohibited the burial of people in
cities. This decision was due to frequent epidemics and the
so-called "plague riots". It was the need for the laying of city
cemeteries and the construction of Orthodox churches on them that
prompted the governor of Arkhangelsk, I.P. Izmailov, to rush to
Archbishop Varnava with a request to consider this issue.
The
first cemetery church in this part of Arkhangelsk was built in 1773
by a local merchant Afanasy Yusov and a merchant widow Juliania
Dorofeeva. The temple had 3 thrones. The main throne was consecrated
in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and the rest - in honor
of Saints Nicholas and Stephen of Perm. In August 1806, lightning
hit the church, a fire broke out, completely destroying it. The
residents of the city decided to build two new ones on the site of
the burnt church.
Remembering the recent misfortune, a merchant from Arkhangelsk,
Jacob Nikonov, erected a summer church with thrones in the name of
the Holy Prophets of God Elijah and Elisha. The construction of the
church was carried out in 1807-1809. Consecration was performed in
1809 by His Grace Parthenius, Bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogorsk.
In 1845, a warm adjoining church of the icon of the Mother of God
"Joys of All Who Sorrow" was added to the church, and then Bishop
Varlaam consecrated it.
Next to the Ilyinsky Church, on the
site of the burned down church, a stone church was built with the
main chapel of the Transfiguration of the Lord and thrones in the
name of St. Nicholas on the south side and Three Saints from the
north. In 1811-1815 the temple was built at the expense of the
merchant Vasily Popov and the churchwarden Andrey Ogapov. It was
built of brick by the City Society.
Since 1882, within 2
years, a small side-altar in the name of the holy Apostles Peter and
Cyril was added to the church. There was a beautiful marble
iconostasis and massive bronze Royal Doors, skillfully gilded and
were at that time a great rarity. The exterior of the temple was
very beautiful. It was built in a classical style and is crowned
with 3 blue domes.
A round bell tower was erected immediately
with the temple. A gatehouse and an almshouse were built at the base
of the belfry. Originally there were 6 bells, now there are 2 times
more of them. Now the belfry is a training bell tower for students
of bell ringing.
In the 20s of the XX century, the
Transfiguration Church began to be called the cathedral due to the
fact that the main Holy Trinity Cathedral of Arkhangelsk and most of
the city's churches were transferred to the renovationist clergy.
Thus, the city's cemetery churches became the only churches whose
priests were canonically subordinate to the ruling Bishop-Archbishop
Anthony (Bystrov), a protege of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow. But
by 1937 these temples ceased to function. The Transfiguration
Cathedral was actively destroyed.
The outbreak of the Second
World War served as the basis for the resurrection of church life.
In 1943, Bishop Mikhail (Postnikov) was appointed to the Arkhangelsk
see, who in 1944 awarded the Church of Elias the status of a
Cathedral.
The temple has been repaired many times since its
existence, and almost nothing has remained of its original interior
furnishings. However, the icons, the small "Sorrowful" iconostasis
(1845) and the main "Ilyinsky" iconostasis (1893) are wonderful
examples of the Baroque style. The main shrines of the cathedral are
the image of the Archangel Michael of the 1st half of the 18th
century, located in the main part of the cathedral, and the icon of
the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" of the 19th century.
It is interesting that all the icons were created by local icon
painters and are perfectly preserved. In the old days, there was a
custom to bring the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God to the church
from the Krasnogorsk Monastery (here it was from June 23 to July 1).
Now the Cathedral of Elijah the Prophet is the chair of the
Bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogorsk, and is still one of the
largest temples in Arkhangelsk.