Church of the Holy Trinity. Photo from the 1910s
According to the information that has come down to us, the very first in Krasnoe Selo was the church of St. Great Martyr Catherine, built by order of Empress Catherine I between 1725 and 1727 (that is, during her stay on the throne). Unfortunately, a more accurate date of foundation of this church and any information about its decoration could not be found. It is only known that the church was wooden and was located on the site where the buildings of the military hospital were subsequently built (the modern address is Restoration Street, near 13). This temple did not last long - in 1732 it was completely destroyed by fire.
In 1733, the St. Petersburg Spiritual Board issued a decree on the construction of a new stone church in Krasnoe Selo, for which Empress Anna Ioannovna allocated 350 rubles from her personal funds. A new stone church in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity was founded on August 16, 1733 in the center of Krasnoye Selo and was built according to the design of the architect Ivan Yakovlevich Blank. Two years later, the construction of the temple was completed, and on July 20, 1735, its main altar was consecrated by the rector of St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Fr. Joseph Chednevsky. Apparently, in the same year, the right chapel of St. Great Martyr Catherine (the temple was originally planned to have two altars). Left aisle of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was added in 1738, but consecrated only in 1761. In 1822, in the middle part of the temple, on the right side, a chapel of the holy righteous Simeon and Anna was built, consecrated in the same year by the rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (in the Peter and Paul Fortress ) of St. Petersburg, Archpriest Fr. Stachy Kolosov.
In 1854, according to the design of the architect Alexander Ivanovich Rezanov, the temple was partially rebuilt and expanded, remaining in this form for the next century. In the same 1854, according to his project, a small stone chapel was built on the southwestern side of the church.
The bell tower of the temple was quite high and, together with the spire, had a height of 14 fathoms, 2 arshins (about 32 meters). Being on a hill, the temple was visible for many miles. The main interior decoration of the temple was a high five-tier white iconostasis with gilded decorations. The walls and vaults of the temple were decorated with painted ornaments. At the entrance to the church, on the right side, there was a memorial plaque with an inscription about its foundation. There were a total of ten bells on the bell tower, the largest and oldest of which, weighing 164 pounds 4 pounds (2.68 tons), was cast back in 1764.
One of the main shrines of the temple was considered a silver gilded eight-pointed altar cross, inside which, in turn, was another - cypress, with 72 different particles of holy relics and other shrines. The original origin of this cross is unknown, but it was donated to the temple in 1853 by the Krasnoselskaya peasant woman Maria Nikitichnaya Alekseeva. Another, also especially revered shrine, was considered to be located in the icon case on the left side of the chapel of Sts. Simeon and Anna, a small icon of the Presentation, depicting St. Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver with the Infant Jesus in his arms, decorated with a silver chasuble with diamonds and precious stones. This icon was found on May 11, 1800, near the road from the Pavlovsky settlement of Krasnoe Selo to St. Petersburg and became famous for many miracles and healings that were from it. Subsequently, a stone chapel was built on the site of its acquisition, and annually on May 11, a procession was made from the Trinity Church to it. Currently, this image is in the Alexander Nevsky Church (see No. 2).
Initially, the rural cemetery was located near the church, and only during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, due to fear that it was close to the Krasnoselsky palaces, the cemetery was liquidated and moved to a distance of 1.25 miles from the church to a new location. Until the end of the 19th century, only priests were allowed to be buried near the temple - priest Peter Smirnitsky (who served from 1801 to 1850), priest Mikhail Goronovich (who served from 1834 to 1854), priest Vasily Medvedsky (who served from 1876 to 1899).
From the moment of construction, the Trinity Church was under the jurisdiction of the Pavlovsk city government and only in 1812 was transferred to the Diocesan Office.
According to the parish register, in 1912 the Church of St. Blessed Princess Olga, who was in Duderhof (see No. 11), and the Church of St. Reverend Seraphim of Sarov in the village. Gorelovo (see No. 10). In addition to them, the two stone chapels mentioned above were also assigned to the temple - in the church fence (built in 1854) and at the site where the icon of St. Simeon the God-bearer. This chapel was built in 1865 at the expense of the honorary citizen Arseniy Nikolayevich Borodulin and was located next to the first wooden chapel built shortly after the acquisition of the miraculous image. According to the same statement, three more wooden chapels were also assigned to the temple, but when they were built and where they were located is unknown, we can only assume that they were in neighboring villages near Krasnoe Selo - Mikhailovka, Konstantinovka, Nikolaevka, Mukholova, Perekyuly, Koyerova, Gorskaya, Kavelakhta, Gorelovo, Pigelevo and others, whose peasants made up the parish of the Trinity Church.
Interior of the Trinity Church. Photo from the 1910s
In 1890, on the initiative of Archpriest Mikhail Smirnov, the first parochial school was opened in Krasnoe Selo, located in a rented building. In 1903, a new wooden building was built for this school, which made it possible to increase the number of children studying in it to 160 people.
The Trinity Church continued to operate in Soviet times, the first repressions against its ministers began in the mid-1930s, when in March 1935 the church psalmist Mikhail Mikhailovich Bezpalov was expelled from Leningrad. His further fate is unknown. In August 1937, the priest of the Trinity Church, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bezpalov, was arrested, and a month later, the remaining clergy - the rector of the temple Vasily Grigorievich Krylov and deacon Peter Mikhailovich Bezpalov. On trumped-up charges, they were all sentenced to capital punishment and shot on October 21.
Church of the Holy Trinity. Photo 2001
Although the church ceased to operate in fact since 1937, it was officially closed by decision of the Leningrad Executive Committee only in 1939 and at the same time it was converted into a club that was in it until the start of World War II. At the same time, the stone chapel located next to the temple was also demolished. In 1941, immediately after the occupation of Krasnoe Selo, the German command allowed the Trinity Church to be opened, and in it, as well as in the nearby Alexander Nevsky Church (see No. 2), services were held for two years.
At the beginning of 1944, during the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops, who were firing heavy artillery fire at Krasnoye Selo, the building of the Trinity Church was partially destroyed. In the 1960s, the appearance of the temple was mutilated again - the dome and the upper tier of the bell tower were demolished. From that time until the mid-1990s. in the building of the former Trinity Church, the Krasnoselsky House of Culture was located.
Since 1995, when an Orthodox community was formed in Krasnoye Selo, the administration of the House of Culture gave permission for the joint use of the building, and in 1998 it was completely returned to its rightful owner - the Russian Orthodox Church, and capital restoration work began in it, continuing and currently. By 1998, the bell tower was completely restored, and later the church apses. In 1995, the Trinity Church was included in the number of objects of historical and cultural heritage, as an architectural monument of federal significance.
Modern interior decoration of the Trinity Church. Photo 2001
On January 25, 1995, the newly appointed rector, St. Alexander Ganzhin. Inside the temple, only the main chapel of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity has been equipped to date, where there is a white wooden iconostasis, the restoration of which is taking place in stages, according to the surviving old photographs. On the walls and columns of the temple, in glazed icon cases, there are several large icons of modern writing. Since 1997, a Sunday school for children has been operating at the church, and in 2000, the clergy began publishing their own parish newspaper, Svecha.
At present, the church also plans to start restoring the destroyed chapel at the lower (former military) cemetery, which until 1918 was assigned to the Alexander Nevsky Church (see No. 2).
From 1995 to the present, the rector of the Trinity Church has been Archpriest Alexander Ganzhin. The modern address of the temple is Lenin Ave. (former St. Petersburg St.), 108.
magazine "St. Petersburg Diocesan Gazette", 2002
The village of Krasnoye was founded by Peter I in 1709, when, on his instructions, peasants from the Krasnoye Selo near Moscow were resettled near St. Petersburg in order to increase the Russian population of these places, which were noticeably depopulated during the years of Swedish rule. Russian settlers formed three settlements in the new place, corresponding in name to the settlements of Krasnoye Selo near Moscow - Pavlovskaya, Bratoshinsky and Kolomenskaya. Peter the Great presented Krasnoye Selo to Empress Catherine I, who built a palace and a wooden church here in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine.
In 1733, the ecclesiastical board issued a decree to "build a stone church in Krasnoe Selo, in the name of the Holy Trinity, with a chapel of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine." Empress Anna Ioannovna allocated 350 rubles from her personal funds for its construction. The construction of the stone church was carried out according to the plan of the architect Blank, and on July 20, 1735, its main altar was consecrated by the rector of St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Joseph Chednevsky.
Trinity Church in Krasnoye Selo is one of the oldest churches in St. Petersburg.
Among the historical sights of the Krasnoselsky temple, of particular interest are the sacred vessels and the Gospel, brought as a gift by Bishop Veniamin of Arkhangelsk and Olonets. Also remarkable is the image of St. Simeon the God-Receiver with the Eternal Child, which entered the Krasnoselsk church in 1800 at the behest of Emperor Pavel Petrovich. To decorate this image, Empress Maria Feodorovna granted her diamond ring. The icon was found on May 11, 1800, near the road from the Pavlovskaya Sloboda of Krasnoe Selo to St. Petersburg and became famous for many miracles and healings from it. Subsequently, a stone chapel was built at the place of its acquisition, and annually on May 11, a procession was made from the Trinity Church to it. Currently, this image is in the Krasnoselsk Alexander Nevsky Church.
In addition, a copper cast gilded chandelier deserves attention, on the large ball of which there is the following inscription: “This chandelier of Her Imperial Majesty, the All-Blessed, Most Autocratic Grand Empress of All Russia Elisaveta Alekseevna, Koporsky district, to the village of Krasnoye, to the Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity, Discharged from Stockholm in 1750, taken out on a ship from St. Petersburg merchant Ivan Chirkin.
One of the main shrines of the temple was considered a silver gilded eight-pointed altar cross, inside which, in turn, was another - cypress, with 72 particles of holy relics and other shrines. It was donated to the temple in 1853 by the Krasnoselskaya peasant woman Maria Nikitichnaya Alekseeva.
The temple was originally planned to have two altars. But later, in 1738, the left chapel of St. Nicholas was added to the church, consecrated, however, only in 1761. The chapel of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine was consecrated in 1737. In 1822, in the middle part of the temple, on the right side, a chapel of the Holy Righteous Simeon and Anna was built, consecrated in the same year by the rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress, Archpriest Stakhiy Kolosov. In 1851 - 1854, the church was partially rebuilt and expanded according to the project of the architect A.I. Rezanov, with the participation of A.M. Camuzzi, remaining in this form for the next century. In the same 1854, the church was surrounded by a fence with a small stone chapel (designed by Rezanov) in its southwestern part.
The bell tower of the temple was quite high and, together with the spire, had a height of about 32 meters. The temple, located on a hill, was visible from afar. The main interior decoration of the temple was a high five-tier white iconostasis with gilded decorations. The walls and vaults of the temple were decorated with painted ornaments. At the entrance to the church, on the right side, there was a memorial plaque with an inscription about its foundation. There were a total of ten bells on the bell tower, the largest and oldest of which, weighing 2.68 tons, was cast back in 1764.
In 1890, at the initiative of Archpriest Mikhail Smirnov, the first parochial school was opened in Krasnoye Selo, located in a rented building. In 1903, a new wooden building was built for the school, which made it possible to increase the number of children studying in it to 160 people.
Trinity Church continued to be active until the mid-1930s. In 1939, the church was finally closed (services in it were stopped in 1937) and converted into a club that was in it until the start of World War II. At the same time, the stone chapel located next to the temple was also demolished. In 1941, German troops occupied Krasnoye Selo, and the German command allowed the Trinity Church to be opened, in which services were held for two years after that. At the beginning of 1944, during the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops, who were firing heavy artillery fire at Krasnoye Selo, the church building was partially destroyed. In the 1960s, the appearance of the temple was mutilated again - the dome and the upper tier of the bell tower were demolished. From that time until the mid-1990s, the Krasnoselsky House of Culture was located in the building of the former Trinity Church.
In 1995, an Orthodox community was formed in Krasnoye Selo, which received permission from the administration of the House of Culture to share the building. On January 25, 1995, after the rite of small consecration, divine services were resumed in the building. In 1998, it was completely returned to the Orthodox community, and major restoration work began in it.
In 1995, the Trinity Church was included in the number of objects of historical and cultural heritage, as an architectural monument of federal significance.
The first Divine Liturgy after the rite of small consecration was performed on January 25, 1995 by the rector of the church, Father Alexander Ganzhin. Since 1997, the church has run a Sunday school for children. In 2000, the clergy began publishing their own parish newspaper Svecha.
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