Church of St. Peter the Metropolitan
(Built in 1585)
The Church of St. Peter the Metropolitan is located in the historical
center of Pereslavl, in proximity to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration
of the Savior. A legend says that the site of the church witnessed the
trial and acquittal of metropolitan Peter by the Pereslavl Synod in 1310.
Originally the church was built of wood and only in 1584 the construction
of a stone church of the same name was financed by Ivan the Terrible. The
Church of St. Peter the Metropolitan is one of the most beautiful
architectural monuments of the town. Three sides of its elegant tented
roof are circled by an open walking gallery. The stepped rising arches
augment the decorative look of the church. The church is one of the latest
constructions of the classic period of ancient Russia’s architecture.
St. Nikita Monastery
St. Nikita Monastery, the most ancient in the Pereslavl territory, is in
the northen part of Pereslavl not far from the Troytskaya Sloboda.
Allegedly, it stands on the site of an ancient pagan place of worship. The
Monastery is commonly believed to have been founded in the 11th century.
None of the old wooden constructions survived.
In the 16th century Ivan the Terrible and his wife Anastasiya Romanovna
funded the construction of the stone monastery. The royal couple
frequently came there to pray, and it is said those prayers were answered
when the tsarina conceived and, later on, when the heir to the throne made
a complete recovery from a severe illness. Legend says Ivan the Terrible
built the Monastery as a back-up refuge in case of treason at the
Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. Of particular interest are the monastery’s 14th
century walls and towers, and the five-domed St. Nikiita Cathedral with
its pointed arches and vaulted ceilings. Built in 1564, it is being
restored.
Alongside the cathedral is the Annunciation Church, its contemporary, with
a belfry and a frater that were rebuilt in the second half of the 17th
century. The Monastery is associated with the name of the first of the
Seven Holies of Pereslavl, Nikita of the Pillar, who had been a tax
collector for Pereslavl Princes in the 12th century. Numerous sins of this
man brought him to the monastery where he shut himself up in an earthen
cell. Nikita, who cured many people, dug a well beside the cloister, the
water of which is believed to be holy even today. Nikita was killed
because of his iron fetters, which his killers mistook for silver. He was
buried in the monastery and in the 16th century was officially canonized.
In the year 2000 his relics were unearthed and now rest in the
Annunciation Church.
St. Nicola Convent St. Nicola
Convent built “on the swamp” was presumably founded in 1348. The founder,
Dmitry Prilutskiy, was a follower of the Saint Sergey Radonejskiy who
himself visited the convent several times. In 1348 its wooden structures
were destroyed by the tartars and during the Time of Troubles by the
Lithuanians and Poles. The end of the 17th and the middle of the 18th
century saw stone facilities appearing within the Convent’s walls.
In the first decades of the Soviet Union the enclosure wall, the tented
bell-tower dated back to1693, and the Nicola cathedral built in 1721 (the
money came from the Muscovites Obuhovi), were dismantled. What has
survived from the monastery are the Annunciation Church with epigraphs of
old times, the St. Peter and Paul’s gate church built in the middle of the
17th century, fragments of the monastery wall with the gates, and a cell
constructed in 1894.
The original sanctuary is now being actively restored. Not only its old
facilities are undergoing reconstruction but also new ones appeared
instead of those which had been ruined. The money for restoration of the
enclosure wall, the bell tower and the Nicola cathedral came from V.I.
Tirishkin. The Nicola Cathedral, the main church of the sanctuary, was
built in the image of the Uspenskiy Cathedral of the Kievsko-Pechorskaya
Laura (The architect is V. Izhikov, 1999–2003). The churches of the
sanctuary are a place where the relics of the two Pereslavl Saints – the
blessed prince Andrey Smolenskiy and the reverend Korniliy Molchalnik –
lie. Today, admiring a beautiful ensemble of the Nicola Convent it is not
easy to believe that it endured more devastation than any other Pereslavl
sanctuary in the years when the religion was not in favor. Fifteen years
ago you could hardly identify two dilapidated churches and a small section
of the wall with the old monastery.
The 20th century plays a particular role in the history of the Russian
Orthodox Church. At the beginning of the century the convent was one of
the richest cloisters of Pereslavl.
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Church of St. Peter the Metropolitan
St. Nicola
Convent built “on the swamp” was presumably founded in 1348. The founder,
Dmitry Prilutskiy, was a follower of the Saint Sergey Radonejskiy who
himself visited the convent several times. In 1348 its wooden structures
were destroyed by the tartars and during the Time of Troubles by the
Lithuanians and Poles. The end of the 17th and the middle of the 18th
century saw stone facilities appearing within the Convent’s walls.
