Catherine christian learning center: Catherine Christian Learning C – Care.com Brandywine, MD

How to get to the monastery

1 History

1.1 Foundation of the monastery

1.2 XVII-XVIII centuries

1.3 XIX – early XX century

1.

4 Soviet period

In the winter of 1915, the staff of the Krasnostok Convent arrived in the city from Grodno. The sisters were sent to the Alexandria Palace on the territory of the Neskuchny Garden, and a few years later they settled in the Catherine’s Convent.

90,002 monks who did not leave the monastery were sent in 1918 to a number of monastic complexes near Moscow.

164 nuns became residents of the Catherine’s Convent. After the fall of the tsarist regime, it was closed. According to the new law, the monastery acquired the status of a labor artel. However, the temple still operated on its territory – like an ordinary parish church.

Life

At first, life there was incredibly hard. The nuns had to endure times of famine and cold. However, they did not give up. These steadfast Christian women had to plow the ground, uproot stumps, and saw down trees.

Their labors were not fruitless. The economy in the monastery reached such a level that its workers supplied all the nearby villages with food, and those of them who had medical experience also treated sick residents.

The authorities forbade walking with a miraculous image on the outskirts. But on the other hand, night services became available to the villagers, at which Easter and Christmas were celebrated. People even came with their babies. Fairs were also held on Peter’s Day.

But, despite all the benefits brought by the monastery to society, some atheists mocked the priests and sisters in Christ. In addition, the Soviet authorities constantly sent new decrees that ran counter to Christian life.

Interesting fact

In 1931, an order came from the capital to leave all the buildings of the monastery for a day. The situation of the nuns was aggravated by the fact that they could not return to their relatives. In 1922, their hometown of Krasnostok was already part of Poland and – accordingly – the possessions of the Catholic Church.

As soon as the monastery was completely closed, Mother Superior Elena was taken into custody. She and several other arrested nuns were taken to Kazakhstan. Someone died without leaving the place of detention. In 1934 the abbess returned and was sent to Maloyaroslavets (Kaluga region). The nuns took care of her needs, and she remained their spiritual guide until her death in 1937.

After that, a hunt began for the most active Christians in the city. For example, father Zosima (Trubachev) , who buried abbess Elena, was arrested and shot near the capital.

Gate Church

But even after that, for four more years, the gate church operated on the land of the monastery.

The buildings of the monastery were given over to a place of detention, which for the most part kept people arrested for minor crimes, such as petty theft or begging.

The Peter and Paul Church was given over to a club, where performances of artists and concerts were held in the evenings, and court hearings were held here during the day. T also a colony for juvenile delinquents appeared on the territory of the monastery.

Two towers of the monastery fence, 2010

After the church was closed, the icons were taken to the nearby village of Ermolino. The servants of God were again subjected to arrests and mass executions.

Interesting fact

In 1935, the lands located near the estate of Sukhanov, which included the hermitage of St. Catherine, were declared reserved.

At the end of 1938, on the initiative of NI Yezhov , a prison for political prisoners was set up in the desert. Since the Sukhanovo estate was located nearby, they began to call it Sukhanovskaya. The public was not informed of its existence. Two years later, Yezhov himself became one of its victims. His position passed to Beria.

In official documents this place was listed as a dacha of the NKVD. Those who were kept here called it a summer house of torture.

Among the prisoners were:

• political and public figures;
• writers, poets and other cultural figures;
• army officers up to admirals and generals;
• students and even pregnant women.

Here are just a few of the outstanding people who went through the horrors of this prison: writer I Sahak Babel, writer Sergei Efron, director Vsevolod Meyerhold and others.

Interesting fact

52 types of torture were used in Sukhanovskaya prison. It was considered the most terrible of all places of detention in the USSR.

Subsequently, the department of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate was located there.

1.5 Restoration of the monastery

In 1992, the procedure for transferring the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church was launched. In the spring, finally, the long-awaited prayer was said in the sacred building. Hieromonk Tikhon was appointed rector.

The first monks lived in the temple dome. In early 1993, they equipped the cells, after which they began to repair the abbot’s chambers. By the beginning of winter, the number of novices increased by 5 people.

In 1994, the building of one of the educational institutions of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate was removed from the territory. The monastery began to flourish, not without the help of benefactors. In August, work began on the construction of a refectory and a church in honor of St. Tikhon.

Fraternal corps. Photo credit: Burov.yl — Own work

In the middle of 1995, the Training Center of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate completely left the monastic lands. In winter, a Christmas spiritual concert was organized. In the future, work on the restoration of the buildings of the monastery continued.

Nowadays, only the museum created by the novice Victor, an artist by education, reminds of the Sukhanovskaya prison.

For Viktor Zhizhirin, the museum in the monastery has become a matter of life Photo: Yury Martyanov

Such museums – dedicated to the history of the Gulag – are rare.

One cell allocated for the institution. Lay people don’t come here often.

There are very few exhibits here:

• photographs of prisoners;
• parquet from the personal office of Lavrenty Beria;
• aluminum bowls from which the prisoners ate;
• telephone, through which orders for executions were transmitted;
• revolver, from which they were performed;
• paintings by novice Victor on a prison theme;
• wax figure of Beria.

Corridor of St. Catherine’s Monastery, there were prison cells. Photo of the early 90s

In the center of the monastery is St. Catherine’s Church – an example of classicism. Signs of style are porticoes with columns and a large porch. The walls are decorated with icons made in a mosaic style. The church has five additional altars.

On the territory of the complex there is also a tomb, farmsteads, buildings for bishops and brothers and the following churches:

• St. Chief Apostles Peter and Paul. On the ceiling, murals from the century before last have survived;
• Moscow Patriarch Tikhon;
• Dimitry of Rostov;
• John the Warrior (this building is wooden).

In Stalin’s times, in the dungeons of the Sukhanovskaya prison, without a court verdict, people were kept and tortured for years, whom the then authorities considered dangerous for their regime. Between 1938 to 1952 about 35,000 people have been here. The vast majority of them died.

Interior decoration Temple app. Peter and Paul

On the territory of the monastery you can find a burning bush and a healing spring. In 2010, when the relics of St. Catherine were brought, pink-purple flowers appeared on the bush, which were not there either before or after this event.

The monastery houses many shrines. Including arks with particles of the relics of St. Catherine and Seraphim of Sarov, the relics of the elders of the Optina monastery.

Relics of St. Catherine

There are also revered icons:

• Nicholas the Wonderworker.
• St. Spyridon Trimifuntsky.
• Saint Innocent.

The oldest in the world – the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai

All week, with the exception of Sunday, you can attend the service in the monastery from 8:00. From this time on, the liturgy is celebrated and the parishioners go to confession.

From 16:00 – evening service.

On the last day of the week, the service is conducted differently:

• from 8:00 a.m. — prayer service for the blessing of water;
• from 9:00 – liturgy;
• from 16:00 – prayers with an akathist directed to St. Catherine.

Internet users are enthusiastic about visiting the famous monastery.

So, Ekaterina Savina wrote that she really liked the monastery. Despite the fact that the decoration has been updated, there is no feeling at all that this is a new building.

Elena Belova admired the skill of those masters who created the splendor of the monastery. She noted that peace is felt on its territory.

User with the nickname Shelma paid tribute to the well-groomed and beautiful territory of the monastery. She was fascinated by the inner beauty of the temple, its choir and belfry.

Vera Stepanova noted that when visiting the monastery she felt the silence of the soul and spirit. And at the time when one of the monks was talking about the monastery, she “smoothed her soul.”

The history of St. Catherine’s Monastery is striking to the core. The monastery, created for the glory of the God of love, was turned by atheists into the most terrible place in Russia, where evil, violence and impunity triumphed!

At that terrible time, not only faith was destroyed, but also human godlikeness. Rejecting the fear of the Lord, the atheists destroyed temples and monasteries or used them for unspiritual and even impious purposes.

But the militant atheists did not celebrate the victory for long. Their hatred could not destroy the faith and love for Christ in the hearts of his true disciples.

The history of St. Catherine’s Monastery is similar to the history of our world. Created by order of a grateful king, he suffered humiliation, but was recreated and regained his former spiritual and visible splendor. This inspires confidence that our world, defiled by sin, will be healed and restored at the return of our Savior.

Viktor Glebov

December 7 – name day of Yekaterinburg. History of the Grado-Ekaterinburg Catherine’s Mining Cathedral

December 7 is the feast day of St. Catherine the Great Martyr. The temple in her honor – Catherine’s Mountain Cathedral (Cathedral in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine) – the first Orthodox church built in Yekaterinburg in 1723. It stood in the center of the city, on the left elevated bank of the Iset River, to the east of the Cathedral, on Catherine’s Square (now Labor Square).

Ekaterininsky Mountain Cathedral

More than a hundred years ago there were about 20 churches in Yekaterinburg, but a special place among them was occupied by the “Grado-Ekaterinburg Ekaterininsky Mountain Cathedral”. It was located at the intersection of Main Avenue and Pushkinskaya Street. The people of Yekaterinburg have always considered the Catherine Church to be the main one. It was erected by the first builders of the factory-fortress and for more than 20 years remained the only temple of the new city. One of the prominent modern specialists in the history of Yekaterinburg, N.S. Korepanov, in his article, noting the exceptional role of the Catherine Cathedral, wrote: “The Church of St. Catherine in all historical eras remained perhaps the most important symbol of Yekaterinburg. According to his state or in relation to him in society (regardless of his physical presence), it was always possible to indirectly judge the spiritual state of society itself. An integral part of the idea of ​​the founders of the first industrial city in Russia about the exemplary “capital” of the region of mining plants was the construction of the main temple of the factory department. Therefore, the very specific history of the construction, reconstruction, destruction, and possibly the restoration of the Catherine’s Church is also the development of the embodied “internal idea” of Yekaterinburg.

At the beginning of 1723, on the banks of the Iset River, Wilhelm de Gennin began the construction of a fortified plant for processing copper and iron ore. According to the imperial decree, “the new fortress, which was built in the Ugrian province near the Iset River, and in it factories with various factories and manufactories, was named in the name of Yekaterinburg, for the memory of eternal childbirth and for the eternal glory of Her Majesty, the Most Gracious Empress Empress.” However, almost two months before the imperial decree, on October 1, 1723, on the left bank of the Iset, not far from the dam, the priest of the Tobolsk regiment Ivan Efimov consecrated the laying of the first church of the plant under construction in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine. “In general, every plant was considered built when it began to operate. When the chest windows were unlocked in the dam, and water flowed through the chests onto the wheels, and war hammers began to beat. It was clear to everyone that, for political reasons, such an event in Yekaterinburg should be timed precisely to the day of St. Catherine – November 24th. On October 1, regimental priest Ivan Efimov consecrated the foundation stone of Catherine’s Church. On November 7, the hammers were launched. Just for two days: the blast furnace was still under construction, there was no metal of its own, there was nothing to forge … On St. Catherine’s Day – on the name day of the newborn city – a cannon fired with a blank charge, the soldiers of the Tobolsk regiment with swollen joints and torn veins roared and sobbed “Hurrah” and drank wine at public expense.

From that time on, Saint Catherine the Great Martyr became the heavenly patroness of the fortified plant, and the day of her remembrance, December 7 (November 24, according to the old style), was one of the main holidays of the city, to which the most important events were timed.

The First Catherine’s Church was wooden and dilapidated already 4 years after the consecration, and since 1730 it has already undergone almost an annual serious repair.

The decision to build a stone church in Yekaterinburg was taken by the Senate on July 5, 1732 in response to the proposal of V. de Gennin (after removal in 1729d. a ban on urban stone construction in connection with the mobilization of forces and means for St. Petersburg)). In 1743, the architect Johann Werner Müller even received an order to design the building of a new stone church, and in 1746 an estimate for its construction was drawn up and sent to the Berg Collegium, however, for various reasons, the construction itself was postponed.

On September 26, 1747, the hut church was destroyed by fire, which of course moved the construction of the stone church off the ground. Finally, in the second half of the 18th century, according to the project of the talented Yekaterinburg draftsman A. Kichigin (the building designed by Muller could no longer accommodate everyone, since the city was developing dynamically and its population was growing), a magnificent stone cathedral in the name of St. Catherine was built, which was the main symbol of the city until the 30s. XX century. The church bell tower also performed a secular function: it had a clock with chimes so that the working people could navigate in time.

In 1761, a decision was made to create a chapel under the bell tower in honor of the newly canonized saint, Saint Demetrius of Rostov. In 1834, the chapel of Demetrius of Rostov was rebuilt, expanded and in June consecrated in honor of the Holy Trinity.

In the summer-autumn (July 22 and September 23), 1763, Archpriest Theodore Kochnev, with the blessing of Metropolitan Pavel of Tobolsk and Siberia, consecrated the northern (in the name of the First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen) and southern (in the name of the Apostle John the Theologian) limits. The consecration of the main limit by a crowded gathering of people took place on September 22, 1768. The solemn service was officiated by Archpriest Theodore Kochnev, then head of the Ekaterinburg Spiritual Administration.

Starting from the first half of the 19th century, the mountain cathedral was repeatedly rebuilt and lost its original appearance (the need for changes was dictated by the active life of the parish). During the reconstruction carried out by the famous architect M. P. Malakhov, the side aisles were extended towards the bell tower and built up to two floors. Thus, the outbuildings went beyond the original line of the facade, new wide stairs to the second floor were built inside them. Due to the rebuilding, the temple lost its original harmony, its facade became a little bulky and no longer harmonized with the thin spire of the bell tower. In addition, classicist porticos, beloved by Malakhov, were added to the building, which also partly violated the unity of his style.

The main shrine of the temple was a part of the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. Therefore, the days of memory of the righteous Simeon gathered here a huge number of worshipers.

Catherine’s Church was considered, as it were, “departmental” for all mountain employees (which was also recorded in the name of the cathedral “mountain”), as it was in it that mining engineers took the oath. And since the XIX century – at the request of the military authorities – and recruits. Behind the right kliros of the main temple was kept the banner granted by Emperor Alexander II to the Ural mining battalion on January 1, 1861 in connection with its centenary. Obviously, this battalion originates from the 10th Yekaterinburg mining company. Its core was made up of “hereditary” soldiers, and some of them were the grandchildren of the first builders of the city – the soldiers of the Tobolsk regiment. And, of course, many factory workers and residents of the city came here to the Catherine’s Church on Sundays and holidays. Ekaterinburg merchants, gold miners, prominent public figures and ordinary people actively participated in the parish life of the church. So, in the 80s – early 9In the 0s of the 19th century, many famous Yekaterinburg residents baptized their children in the Catherine’s Cathedral, for example, mining engineer A. A. Iossa, official of the Yekaterinburg District Court D. M. Pavlinov, hereditary nobleman S. I. Hertz, merchants V. P. Zlokazov and P. A. Podvintsev. At the same time, in church documents there are requests for issuance of certificates from parish registers and from former soldiers of the Yekaterinburg Mining Battalion and ordinary city dwellers.

Many famous people in the city got married in the Catherine’s Cathedral. So, in 1872, British citizen mechanical engineer John Thomas Wilkinson and the daughter of the collegiate secretary, D.F. Ponomarev, were married, in 1875 – the collegiate secretary P.M. Vologodsky and the daughter of the state councilor, A.I. Neiberg, in 1880 – Ekaterinburg district doctor V. S. Buinitsky and daughter of a real state councilor, E. I. Ivanova, in 1884 – nobleman A. P. Lodyzhensky and daughter of a paramedic, A. N. Kataeva, in 1886 – doctor V. A. Paduchev and the daughter of a hereditary honorary citizen, A.I. Balandin.

At the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century, Collegiate Councilor V.M. Malakhov (son of a famous Ural architect), State Councilors A.I. Krasnopevtsev and A.F. Chubarkov, brother of the owner of the famous “Sevastyanovsky” house, titular councilor, were buried in the cathedral A. I. Sevastyanov, head of the women’s gymnasium E. I. Cook, merchants A. A. Korobeinikov and P. A. Podvintsev, Ekaterinburg firemaster A. I. Petrov.

For the parish cemetery of the Catherine’s Cathedral, a place was allocated to the left of the Tobolsk road behind the Olkhovka river, but there were burials near the cathedral. Photographs from the early 20th century show two tombstones near the north wall of the church. In 1774, a member of the Yekaterinburg Mining Chancellery, assessor Mikhail Ivanovich Bashmakov, who took an active part in the fight against the Pugachev uprising in the Trans-Urals, was buried here. Another burial, surrounded by a cast-iron grate, belonged to Archimandrite of the Hilandar Slavic-Serbian Svyatogorsk Athos Lavra Sofroniy, who died on February 7, 1863. The epitaph placed on the marble plaque of his grave read:

“He knew how to subdue all passions

And shunned fuss

He began to live as a recluse

And died as a wanderer. ”

A noticeable trace in the history of culture and education of the city was left by the clergy of Catherine’s Cathedral. Many were educated people of their time and left a wonderful mark, not only in the life of the cathedral, but also in the life of the city, in particular in the activities of the famous Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers (UOLE), which formed the basis of the modern museum of local lore. The parish also carried out social service to the best of its ability, so the funeral of the dead in the Ryazanov hospital for the poor was assigned to the Catherine’s Church.

The schools that functioned at the cathedral at different times were of great importance for urban education. From about 1824 until the middle of the 19th century, a two-year parish school functioned at the Catherine’s Cathedral, which was the first stage of the system of spiritual education, preparing for study at the district religious school.

In 1887, a men’s parochial school was opened at the temple, in which up to 60 boys studied, and in 1894 a women’s school for 65 girls. Total at 19In 08 the school had 174 students. Church education in pre-revolutionary Russia not only provided knowledge on the Law of God, but on a whole range of secular disciplines, taught to count, read, write, giving primary education to a wide circle of citizens.

The parish library played a certain role in the educational environment of the city. According to the inventory of 1920, it contained 1237 books.

In 1894 Catherine’s parish guardianship was established. The main task of the guardianship was to support the development of school education, including through the appointment of an annual allowance to increase teachers’ salaries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, women began to create their own parish public organizations, which were called “sister brotherhoods” or “sisterhoods”. A similar organization was created in Catherine’s parish. Unfortunately, only one mention of her has survived – this is the inscription on the icon of St. Catherine, donated to the Catherine Cathedral on October 1 (14), 1923 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the temple. The gift was made from the church-religious community, the council (i.e., the leadership of the community) and the sisterhood (i.e., the Catherine Sisterhood continued to exist in the early years of Soviet power). Apparently, in terms of its functions, it partially replaced guardianship, which ceased to operate with the outbreak of the civil war.

To get an idea of ​​the range of activities of the Catherine Sisterhood, you can refer to the charter of the Exaltation of the Cross Sisterhood. Such organizations united pious women at least 18 years old. Their goals were to maintain the cleanliness and splendor of their parish church, help the poor, bury the homeless poor and “good influence on the parish through personal example, word and free distribution among the people of leaflets and brochures of religious and moral content.” As a rule, parish priests led the sisterhoods. Prior to the beginning of the activities of the zemstvos (70s of the XIX century), parish churches were almost the only educational centers for the dissemination of elementary medical knowledge. And this was the case not only in rural areas, but also in factory towns and cities.

Now, it is even hard to imagine that in Yekaterinburg in the late 70s of the 19th century, women did not want to resort to the services of the city maternity hospital, which was founded by Dr. zemstvos. And here the doctors were counting on the educational assistance of the clergy of the Catherine’s Cathedral, referring to the fact that they know more than anyone else, they need the population.

After the revolution, the cathedral shared the fate of Russian society and the Church. The outbreak of activity of parishioners in the early 20s of the 20th century was first suppressed by the rigidity of Soviet legislation, the unceremonious seizure of church valuables (allegedly for the starving), under pressure from the Soviet authorities, the church was transferred by the inspired OGPU to the “renovationist schism”. Humiliated, but not broken, the temple continued to operate. However, he could not survive the Soviet cultural revolution as part of Russian society, Russian culture and science.

In 1930, during an active anti-religious campaign, the Cathedral of St. Catherine the Great Martyr was demolished, making room for the building of the Ural Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Stone Flower fountain (it was opened in September 1960 (architect Petr Dmitrievich Demintsev), which, together with a small square is still located on the site of the majestic building of the cathedral.At the same time, the oldest square in Yekaterinburg in its left-bank part, formerly called Church, Cathedral, Ekaterininsky, became known as Labor Square.0003

In the very center of the square there was a fountain in the form of jets of water spouting from concrete. In September 1962, the Stone Flower fountain appeared (architect Petr Dmitrievich Demintsev). The round pool is decorated with high quality marble. The flower itself, cast from iron in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky, has eight massive petals. Wheat ears rose above. And at the very top – the core of the flower, giving birth to a tight stream of water. The pedestal was made at the Siberian stone quarry.

Chapel of St. Catherine the Great Martyr

A new period in the history of our Church began during the perestroika period. A landmark event was the year of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. The persecution of the faith gradually ceased, now Orthodox people could freely declare their religious feelings. And first of all, they tried to restore the memory of the desecrated shrines of the city. There was a proposal to erect a cross on the site of the once majestic Catherine’s Cathedral. However, it was necessary to clarify its location. The architect A.V. Dolgov undertook to help the believers in this matter, who, on the basis of archival research, was able to accurately determine the place of the temple, in particular the altar, on the site of which they planned to install a worship cross. The fact is that after the destruction of the temple, the landscape was changed, part of the elevation was moved by bulldozers, so the foundation of the temple was practically not preserved. So, in as early as August 1991 years on the site of the main altar of the Catherine’s Cathedral, a worship cross was installed. One of the initiators of the installation of the cross was the People’s Artist of Russia Tamara Nikitichna Voronina. It was installed by Anatoly Mikhailovich Verkhovsky.

In the mid-1990s, believing residents of the city did not forget the holy place, and tried to read weekly akathists to the holy great martyr at the worship cross. Hope that a temple, or at least a chapel, will be erected on this site. In preparation for the celebration of the 275th anniversary of the city, the question of the church of St. Catherine again arose.

In 1997, the head of the city of Yekaterinburg signed a decree on the construction of an Orthodox chapel in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine on the site of the Catherine’s Cathedral. The construction was initiated by a group of believers, Bishop Nikon of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye blessed the good undertaking, and the public charitable foundation Institute of History and Archeology undertook to finance the construction. The work was carried out according to the design documentation agreed with the Main Department of Architecture and approved by the town planning council. The main work was completed at 1998 – to the 275th anniversary of the city.

The well-known Yekaterinburg architect Alexander Dolgov became the author of the project for the construction of a stone chapel with five domes. It was he who at one time supported the initiative to install a worship cross on the site of the altar of the Catherine’s Church and helped to accurately determine the location of the cathedral. The construction of the chapel had to be completed as soon as possible, in the conditions of the outbreak of the 1998 crisis. Therefore, the project was not fully implemented, all the planned mosaics were not completed on the outside, and the interior decoration conceived by A. V. Dolgov was not implemented at all. The chapel is located not on the site of the main altar, but to the right of it on the site of the altar of the southern limit in the name of the Apostle John the Theologian.

Together with the chapel, on August 14, 1998, a monument to the founding fathers of the city V. N. Tatishchev and V. I. de Genin (architect P. Chusovitin) was erected on Labor Square.

For many citizens and guests of the capital of the Urals, the chapel has become a favorite place of prayer. Especially believers revere the image of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, painted specifically for the chapel in the late 1990s. Based on the stories of miraculous events that took place through prayers to the patron saint of our city, a book has been written that has already gone through two editions (the second, corrected and significantly expanded). For many years, people brought butts to icons, and in 2015, the venerated image was decorated with a gilded basma, halos and a cross, and placed in a new beautiful kiot adorned with a silver stretcher.

From 1998-2011, prayers with an akathist to the patron saint of the city were regularly performed in the chapel of St. Catherine. Since 2011, a small group of parishioners of the Church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon began to gather in the chapel every Sunday at 19:00 for a prayer service with an akathist to St. Catherine the Great Martyr. Gradually, more and more people came to the Akathist, united by the desire to pray to the patron saint of the city. Over time, a friendly initiative group of parishioners was formed, which later became the core of the future parish of the Cathedral of the Great Martyr Catherine in Yekaterinburg.

On December 24, 2012, Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye blessed the creation of the parish. Gradually, the need for the advent of liturgical life began to be realized. On April 20, 2014, on the day of the Lord’s Pascha, the first Divine Liturgy in many years took place in the chapel of St. Catherine. Since then, it has been performed in the temple weekly. In 2015, a wooden iconostasis was installed, decorated with images of the Savior and the Virgin.

Thus, we see that Catherine’s Cathedral, having lost its walls, still lives. He lives not only in the form of a small chapel on Labor Square, which has become a home for its parishioners, lives in the hearts of those who honor the memory of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, lives in active controversy over its restoration. It connects us, modern residents of Yekaterinburg, with our ancestors, who created and built this city under the protection of St. Catherine.

In October 2019, in Yekaterinburg, for the first time in Russia, a survey of citizens was conducted to choose a site for the construction of the Church of St. Catherine, in which almost 100,000 people took part. The majority of Yekaterinburg residents voted for a site in the historical center of the city, at 17 Gorky Street. Catherine, possessing rare beauty and intelligence, brilliantly educated, confessed her faith in the One True God before the persecuting emperor of Christians, speaking out against sacrifices and the veneration of idols. The wise virgin exposed the errors of the pagans and convinced the 50 most learned men of the empire of the correctness of the Christian teaching. Neither persuasion and exhortation, nor torture, nor the threat of death forced her to renounce the truth. Saint Catherine firmly confessed her fidelity to her Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ, giving her earthly life for Him.

Saint Catherine, who is the patroness of sciences, knowledge and learning, crafts and mining, brides, is a very revered Christian saint in the world. Her Christian feat is sung in prayers, poems and songs. Her marvelous image is captured not only on icons, but also in the paintings of outstanding artists of the Renaissance. The colleges of Cambridge and Oxford bear her name and symbol on their coat of arms. Temples and cathedrals in honor of St. Catherine were erected all over the world – from Europe to India. About a hundred cities and other settlements of the world consider St. Catherine their patroness, Yekaterinburg is the largest of them.