Lost, and again revived Spassky Cathedral (Penza)

In 2011, on one of the main squares of Penza, still called the Soviet one, the construction of the Spassky Cathedral, which was here in previous years and was blown up during one of the anti-religious campaigns, unfolded. About the history of this, once revered by the people of the shrine, our story.

Good beginning of the diocesan lord

In October 1799 the head of the new newly formed diocese Bishop Gaius arrived in Penza. His residence was a huge, empty until now the governor's house, in front of which the Cathedral Square was stretched. Her name at that time clearly did not justify, since there was no cathedral on it, and only in the middle stood the bell tower, which was silent for the simple reason that there was nowhere to call for prayer with the bells ringing.

On the spot where the Spassky Cathedral (Penza) was later erected, there was only a foundation, but such a huge size that the incoming bishop doubted the reality of building such a grandiose structure on a meager means of county soil. Being a practical man, he urged the city's husbands to reduce their ambitions and approach the cause more soberly.

With the world in a thread

After the stone foundation of the future shrine was brought in the proper proportions, construction began. The Diocese of Penza and Saratov, on whose territory the works were developed, was only a short time before formed and had no opportunity to provide any serious financial assistance to this good undertaking. There was no money in the city budget either.

It's a shame, since there is no money, but the Rus-Mother keeps holding on, for ever since, overcoming this ever-present attack by the generosity of her loving merchant class. Here and this time the spirit of the Penza ruler did not lose heart, but, having addressed to trading people, the very first has given to them an example, having introduced a triumphal, for those times, the sum.

The beginning was laid, and the flowing river flowed into the ringing merchant's tchervontsi, and behind them a peasant, inexpensive but abundant stream of pennies. To this day, parochial books have been preserved, among which two most zealous are signified among the benefactors-Mikhail Semyonovich Lyubovtsev, who contributed a thousand rubles, and Nikifor Petrovich Somov, who has donated (alas!) Ten thousand.

The erection of the cathedral, which took three decades

Thus, by the grace of God and the cares of His zealous minister of Bishop Gaius, the financial issue was successfully resolved, after which the Spassky Cathedral (Penza) began to be built next to the bell tower, which had been erected before.

The work that began in 1800 and was carried out without fuss and haste stretched for three decades, but the main throne of the lower church was consecrated much earlier - already four years after the construction began, and then regular worship services began there.

The next important stage in the erection of the cathedral was in 1812, when the right side-chapel, consecrated in honor of the Great Martyr Catherine, was added to it. The choice of this holy heavenly patron was due to the suffering that the Napoleonic invasion brought to Russia. After nine years, the construction of the upper church dedicated to the All-Merciful Savior was completed, and in 1832 a left chapel in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God appeared in the lower church.

After that, the Spassky Cathedral (Penza) got its final look. The only change in it was made at the end of the XIX century, when the bell tower was built up, making it more harmonious and corresponding to the general architectural composition.

The cathedral, which became a spiritual and cultural center

The cathedral, once erected by the works of Bishop Gaius, for many years was not only a worthy decoration of the city and its spiritual center, but also became a kind of art gallery. His interior was decorated with eighty large-scale murals on biblical subjects. Before the eyes of the parishioners moving from the entrance to the altar, the entire Old Testament and New Testament history appeared.

The creators of such an impressive exhibition were the head of the Saransk Art College Kuzma Aleksandrovich Makarov and a group of his pupils. The son of the artist Ivan Kuzmich also took part in the work, in later years, after the death of his father, repeatedly refreshing the painting and making certain changes in it.

Shrine given by the sovereign

Spassky Cathedral (Penza) in many respects gained fame due to the fact that it contained one of the most revered in the city shrines - the Kazan icon of the Mother of God, presented to Penza by the prince Alexei Mikhailovich and miraculously saved her from the raid of nomadic tribes in 1717. Thanks to this, the icon, according to the prayers before her, the intercession of the Queen of Heaven, and also to the numerous healings of the suffering, the icon began to be considered a miracle-working icon, and crowds of pilgrims were invariably sent to it.

The relic of the shrine and its rebirth

When the turbid wave, raised by the October coup, reached Penza, most of the city's temples, including the cathedral, were closed. The Bolsheviks seizing power tried to establish a new religion based on the infallibility of the ideas of the Marxist-Leninist ideology, and anything that did not conform to its dogmas was cruelly eradicated.

In 1934, by the decision of the city council, the Spassky Cathedral (Penza), whose address: Soviet Square, 1, "according to the numerous requests of labor collectives," was blown up. On the site of the former architectural landmark, which was both an adornment of the city and its spiritual center, there remained only a dusty mountain of broken bricks and construction debris.

In the years following the announcement in the country of perestroika, the Diocese of Penza and Saratov has exerted a great deal of effort to revive their former shrines, partly taken away from it, and in the majority mercilessly destroyed. Among them was the cathedral, so famous in the past.

Spassky Cathedral (Penza): phone and address

In 2000, on the site of the destroyed shrine, the Spassky chapel was built, and then they began to raise funds for the implementation of the main building. Until this day, the work has not yet been completed, and parishioners gather for prayers in the temporary wooden Annunciation church at the Spassky Cathedral. Her photo is presented above. In it, all comers have the opportunity to make donations to the Spassky Cathedral (Penza). Telephone for information about the construction and schedule of services: +7 (927) 289 23 04. The address near the cathedral under construction is the same: Soviet (former Sobornaya) square, 1.