Ancient church of St. Nicholas in Lipna. History of erection

The Church of St. Nicholas on Lipna took refuge on a small hill of the picturesque island of Lake Ilmen. It is right at the mouth of the river called Msta. The place is located 8 km from Veliky Novgorod. This Orthodox church, built in the late 13th century, is a monument of stone architecture. His main throne is consecrated in honor of Nicholas of Myra, and the limit is in the name of St. Clement.

Church of St. Nicholas on Lipna in Novgorod

According to ancient chronicles, this magnificent temple was created in 1292 (this is what the Archbishop of Novgorod Clement ordered to do). With this moment, a very surprising story is connected.

In 1114, the pious Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich ordered the church to be laid by St. Nicholas in gratitude for the healing. As history recalls, one day the prince overcame a serious illness, and he began to diligently summon the name of the Wonder-worker for help. And on one of those days the prince had a vision: St. Nicholas the Wonderworker himself appeared to him, who ordered his messengers to go to Kiev for their icon, while he pointed out to them its form and measure.

Miracle-working icon

Sitting in boats, the envoys went to Ilmen, but as soon as they approached the island of Lipno, they were detained for four days by a violent storm. And then on the water they found the icon on a rounded board, where Nicholas the Wonderworker was depicted. In her vision, Prince Mstislav saw it, and it was she who came to them from Kiev herself. The messengers immediately brought her, Veliky Novgorod, directly to the prince who, with prayer, kissed her and received a miracle of healing.

On the site of the phenomenon of this icon was arranged a monastery in which the main shrine was first the wooden church of St. Nicholas, and then the white stone.

Temple architecture

The architects started to work, focusing, first of all, on one of the last churches of the pre-Mongol period, which was called the "Church of the Nativity of the Pereski Skete." It became the Novgorod processing of the principles of Smolensk architecture. Here we have in mind a square, four-pillar, cruciform, single-head, one-domed temple, only it was further expanded (10x10), with decorative blades present at the corners of the three-lobed facade.

In the original form, the facades were without plaster, the walls were made of shell rock and slab of various shades and sizes. The window arches were decorated with brick blocks, only of a darker color. It was a modern innovation of that time (before that they were made from other materials: limestone and plinth).

In addition to all this, the temple is decorated with small niches with relief crosses above the western gate of the niche entrance with frescoes.

At the base of the dome, in the upper part of the drum, above the eyebrows of small windows and under trilobate contours, it was possible to examine the arcuate belts, according to researchers whose analogs are found in the Romano-Gothic architecture of Livonia.

The Church of St. Nicholas on Lipna near Novgorod (1292)

When all the stone works of the temple were finished, it was painted with frescoes, not only from the outside, but also from the inside.

It is known that somewhere in the middle of the XIX century the artist G. Filimonov witnessed and painted all the murals on the eastern wall, just between the shoulder blades and the apse, the semi-circular serving part of the church. And these were compositions in the form of the image of the Mother of God and Savior, protected by special visors.

In the church, the limit of the Archbishop of Novgorod Clement was also immediately established.

In 1528, Archbishop Makarii in Lipensky Monastery was introduced dormitory charter.

Traces of history

The church of St. Nicholas on Lipna was painted with frescoes in the period 1293-94. During the clearing of the walls in 1930, well-preserved frescoes were found, one of which is the "Annunciation" composition, located on the pillars on the east side.

The monastery almost did not suffer in the Swedish occupation of 1611-1617.

By 1763 in the monastery there were: the refectory of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and the Church of the Holy Trinity, the stone church of St. Nicholas, the abbot case of two floors, a bunk wooden bell tower with 5 bells and a wooden fence.

But then came not the best of times: in 1764 the monastery was abolished and attributed to the Skovorodsky monastery. Almost all buildings were dismantled by bricks. The remaining church of St. Nicholas in Lipna by the XIX century with time, decayed and came to complete desolation. Divine services there were very rare.

After the revolution of 1917, because of the distance from the city, the temple was completely closed, and the church building suffered greatly from this. The two-tiered bell tower was demolished.

Patriotic War

During the Second World War here, on the island, on the territory of the monastery, the observation post of the Soviet army was located, so the Germans, standing 6 km away, subjected the area to constant bombardment. The temple was partially destroyed: only 65% of the masonry survived.

Surprisingly, in 1945, restoration work was carried out on the frescoes, and in 1954-56 after the capital restoration, its original appearance was restored.

Today, the place where the Church of St. Nicholas on Lipna is located is a protected area where an elderly and very strict caretaker lives with her family.

By the way, it's not so easy to get here. The whole problem is that there is neither road nor regular transportation to Nikola's temple. Curious tourists usually get to it either by boat or by boat, or by skiing or by walking on ice in winter, when the river and the lake freeze.