Diocese of Mari: history of origin

The Yoshkar-Ola and the Mari Diocese were established on June 11, 1993. By the decision of the Holy Synod and with the blessing of the patriarch herself, she was selected from the composition of the Kazan diocese. In the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Semenovka village, Patriarch Alexy II performed the rite of dedication of Archimandrite John (Timofeev) to the bishop for the service of the Divine Liturgy. By the end of the nineties, the Diocese of Mari (the full and correct name - Yoshkar-Ola and Mari) numbered a dozen urban and five dozen rural churches. There was also rebuilt the Myrrh-bearing Monastery and founded the Virgin-Sergius Hermitage.

The Diocese of Mari, its main management center, was established in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, and its cathedral was the Ascension Cathedral.

History of creation. Repression

The 19th century is considered very fertile and rich for temple construction for this land. A third of all these structures were created between 1811 and 1829. It was at this time that the future diocese of Mariysk rebuilt the temples of the villages of Pokrovskoye, Sotnur, Upper Ushnur, Kuknur, Novyi Toryal, Semenovka, Kozhvazhi, Morki, Pektubaevo, Arda, Elas, Tokteibelyak, Korotni, Arino, Paigusovo.

In the 20-30s, the time of the most terrible repressions began, which affected the whole clergy (both monastics and laymen). Throughout the country, powerful waves of destruction and devastation of holy monasteries and temples swept.

In Yoshkar-Ola, the Entry-Jerusalem and Trinity temples were destroyed. The executive bodies, under various pretexts, terminated agreements with religious communities and demanded the return of all religious buildings to them. In 1938-1940 the rural churches were massively closed. According to statistics, in the Mari region before the revolution, there were 155 Orthodox monasteries, but then only 9 remained. However, divine services were forbidden in them.

Abode

Yezhovskaya Myriositskaya monastery and the Virgin Mary-Sergius Hermitage deserts of the Mari diocese became operational monasteries, and inoperative - Vvedensky Vershino-Sumy, Gornocheremisskiy Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk, Muserskaya Tikhvinskaya Pustyn.

On January 7, 1938, the last vicar bishop, the martyr Leonid (Antoshchenko), received martyrdom. After the Great Patriotic War, all parishes of the MASSR remained under the administration of the Gorky Eparchy (from 1957 to 1993). In 1993 the Mari diocese became independent.

For many years, the Diocese of Mari has been administered by Archbishop John Ioanovich Timofeev, who began with novitiate in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, then graduated from a theological seminary and an academy in Moscow. Statistics show that today there are 92 temples in the diocese, 104 parishes, 2 monasteries, 41 chapels. 41. The diocese has an official Internet resource, a monthly print edition of the Myrrh-bearer Gazette, television and radio programs Transformation and The Blagovest. "

Ascension Cathedral. Yoshkar-Ola

The cathedral, which will be discussed next, is the cathedral of the Yoshkar-Ola and the Mari diocese since 1993. Ascension Cathedral Yoshkar-Ola appreciates as a monument of Russian architecture of the 18th century. The date of its foundation is considered to be 1756. Under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, at his own expense, the merchant Pchelin Ivan Andreevich built his house, the house of which is still next to the church. In 1915, its territory housed a higher primary school, a real school, a parish school and a women's gymnasium. In the early 20-ies the clergy of the church moved to the Renovationists, but then, according to the demands of the parishioners, they offered a penitential prayer (for this they traveled to Nizhny Novgorod to Metropolitan Sergius Starodsky).

New owners

But then new trials came for the clergy - years of hard times, arrests, exile and shootings. In 1935, the temple was handed over to the Renovationists, and as a result, in 1937 it was closed, the abbot Margaritov Peter was shot. In 1938 the church was handed over to the radio committee, then there was a beer warehouse in the temple, in 1940 - the "Mari Artist" partnership, later the beer factory became its owner. The temple came to a complete decline: the drum with the head was demolished, the bell tower, the stone fence, the wall murals were destroyed, a two-story building of the factory workshop was attached.

The life of the parish resumed in the 90s. It was restored, and in 2009 the church belfry was rebuilt.