Tithe Church under which prince. History of Kyiv: Tithe Church
First known stone temple Ancient Rus' - Tithe Church in Kyiv (late 10th century)
The first monumental churches in Rus' were built according to the Byzantine model. Thus, according to the Russian chronicle, the first brick church of ancient Kyiv - Tithe(989-996) - built by “Greek masters” who came from Byzantium. The Tale of Bygone Years reports about this event in detail, unusually for ancient Russian chronicles: “In the summer of 6497 (989)... Volodimer... thought of creating a church, the Most Holy Theotokos, and sending masters from the Greeks. And I began to build it, and when I died, decorate it with icons...”. The later chronicle - Degree Book - reports in more detail "... came from Greece to Kyiv to the autocratic lover of Christ Vladimir, masters of wisdom, who were skilled in building stone churches and roofs, and with them were stonecutters and other workers". After the fire of 1017, this church appears to have been significantly rebuilt. The Church of the Tithes has not survived to this day. Its original name was Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, It was called Tithe because Vladimir I gave a tenth of the income of the princely treasury for its maintenance. In 1240 the building was completely destroyed. The interior view of the Church of the Tithes amazed the people of Kiev both with its complex, multifaceted organization of space, which is not typical for wooden churches, and with the richness and colorfulness of its decoration.
The church was built not as a simple palace temple, but as a cathedral; This is exactly what the chronicler Nestor calls it in his “Reading about Boris and Gleb.” For the second time, apparently after some reconstruction, the church was consecrated in 1039 under Yaroslav the Wise. Chronicles report the burial of princes in it, the repeated defeats and sad fate of this building, which served as the last stronghold of the heroic defenders of Kyiv in the tragic December days of 1240. Batu's hordes, who broke into Detinets through the Sophia Gate, besieged the Tithe Church, where many people locked themselves. The Tatars began to destroy the building with battering guns until the vaults collapsed.
Based on the remains of the ancient structure, we can conclude that it was a monumental six-pillar temple, surrounded by galleries - “gulbischi” (a later echo of ancient colonnades). According to written sources, the temple had twenty-five domes. Some decorative details of the Tithe Church have been preserved: fragments of marble columns with carved capitals, remains of slate (slate) ornamental bas-reliefs, parts of marble mosaic floors, a detail of a profiled pillar, fragments of frescoes and mosaics.
The main cross-domed building of the church was divided by pillars into three longitudinal naves and on the eastern side ended with three altar semicircles - apses. On three sides, except the eastern one, the building was surrounded by a gallery, in the western part of which there was a baptismal chamber and a staircase tower for ascending to the second tier - choirs.
It was possible to install a brickwork system for the building - “with hidden rows of bricks.” Later, such masonry was used in Rus' throughout the 11th century. Bricks used in Byzantine architecture, as well as in Rus' in the 10th-11th centuries. - "plinth"- had a small thickness (2.5-4 cm) and a shape close to a square. The dressing of the seams was achieved in this way: if in one row of masonry the ends of the bricks faced the front surface of the wall, then in the next, adjacent row, they were moved somewhat deeper. Thus, not all rows of bricks faced the facade, but only through one row, while the intermediate rows were “recessed” into the wall and covered with mortar from the outside. And since the thickness of the mortar joints was approximately equal to the thickness of the bricks, on the front surface of the walls between the rows of bricks there were strips of mortar equal in width to approximately three times the thickness of the bricks.
This seemingly purely technical technique was used by architects for artistic purposes. Wide stripes of pink mortar (lime mortar mixed with cement, i.e., crushed brick) alternated with thin rows of bricks, creating a peculiar striped surface of the walls, elegant and decorative.
The inside of the temple was decorated with frescoes, mosaics, and marble panels. The floor was inlaid with multi-colored marbles forming geometric patterns. The church was called “marmorian”, which is confirmed by numerous finds of marble details.
This magnificent church became the court temple of the Grand Duke. Perhaps its prototype was the church of Theotokos Pharos, which was part of the palace complex of the Byzantine emperor. It is believed that she was chosen as a model by Anna, the wife of Vladimir, the former sister of Emperor Vasily II.
There are several reconstructions of the plan and volume of the Tithe Church, but the construction of its western part still remains unclear. Thus, it is difficult to establish whether the structure of the foundations was complicated as a result of later reconstructions or whether there were changes in the plan during the construction process.
The significance of the Tithe Church, which became the burial place of Prince Vladimir, in the history of ancient Russian architecture is extremely great. Its construction was the first school for ancient Russian architects, and its architecture served as a model for subsequent church buildings, in particular, already at the beginning of the 11th century - in Tmutarakan and Chernigov (
From the heart of ancient Kyiv - the Tithe Church, which today is exactly 1020 years old (from the date of completion of construction) - now only the foundation remains, but, according to archaeologists, the temple was one of the largest in its time Christendom: his actual sizes were approximately 44 by 30-32 meters, which is larger than even the Vladimir Cathedral on Blvd. Shevchenko. Prince Vladimir decided to build a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos after his baptism in Korsun. Russian and Byzantine masters fulfilled his wish in 988-996. To the luxurious decoration of Desiatinnaya different time The Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and the Polovtsians made an attempt, but the original temple was destroyed during the invasion of Batu Khan. Then it was recreated twice for a short time.
Church of the Tithes in Kyiv, 10th century. - the first monument of ancient Russian monumental architecture, the attention to which - not only scientists, but the public and politicians - does not weaken due to its exceptional role in the history of Ancient Rus'. "The Church of the Tithes is located on the Starokievskaya Hill, in the part from where St. Andrew's Descent leading to Podol begins. At this place, according to legend, during the time of the great Vladimir, the first martyrs in Rus' John and his son, Fedor, Christians, lived and suffered for Christ -Varangians. Being a pagan, Prince Vladimir once wanted to make a human sacrifice to Perun. To choose a person for this sacrifice, they cast lots, and the lot fell on Fyodor. But when they turned to John with the demand that he give up his son, John not only did not give it up. Fyodor, but immediately delivered a fiery sermon about the true God and with a sharp denunciation against the pagans. An angry crowd rushed and destroyed the house of John, under the rubble of which these first passion-bearers in Rus' received the crown of martyrdom. After his baptism, Prince Vladimir built a church on this site. and gave a tenth of his income [tithe] in favor of it [for the construction and maintenance of the church], which is why it received the name “Tithe”” (“Guide to Kyiv and its environs,” 1912).
The beginning of the construction of the Church of the Tithes dates back to 989, which was reported in the “Tale of Bygone Years”: “In the summer of 6497...Volodimer thought of creating the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos and sending masters from the Greeks.” In other chronicles, the year of foundation of the church is also called 986, 990 and 991. It was built on the basis of the ancient Temple of the Tithes by ancient Russian and Byzantine craftsmen in Kyiv in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary (therefore, in ancient sources it is often called the Church of the Virgin Mary) during the reign of Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir the Great Svyatoslavovich. Construction of the Tithe Church, the first stone church Kievan Rus. was completed on May 12, 996. The first rector of the church was one of the “Korsun priests” of Vladimir - Anastas Korsunyanin, to whom, according to the chronicle, in 996 Prince Vladimir entrusted the collection of church tithes.
The church was a cross-domed, six-tiered stone temple and was built as cathedral not far from the princely tower - a stone north-eastern palace building, the excavated part of which is located at a distance of 60 meters from the foundations of the Church of the Tithes. Nearby, archaeologists found the remains of a building considered to be the house of the church clergy, built at the same time as the church (the so-called Olga's tower). Prince Vladimir also transferred here from Vyshgorod the remains of his grandmother - the relics of Princess Olga. The Tithe Church was richly endowed with mosaics, frescoes, carved marble and slate slabs. Icons, crosses and dishes were brought from Korsun (Chersonese Tauride) (a region of modern Sevastopol) in 1007. Marble was abundantly used in interior decoration, for which contemporaries also called the temple “marble”. In front of the western entrance, Efimov discovered the remains of two pylons, which presumably served as pedestals for bronze horses brought from Chersonesos.
“Somewhere right there was “Babin Torzhok” - a market and at the same time a forum - Vladimir brought from Chersonesos and erected ancient sculptures here - “divas”. Hence ancient name Church of the Tithes - “The Mother of God at the Divas”, hence, obviously, the “Babi market” - wrote Viktor Nekrasov in “City Walks”. In addition to the main altar, the church had two more: St. Vladimir and St. Nicholas.
Some scientists believe that the church was dedicated to the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It contained the relics of the holy martyr Clement, who died in Korsun. In the Tithe Church there was a princely tomb, where Vladimir’s Christian wife, the Byzantine princess Anna, who died in 1011, was buried, and then Vladimir himself, who died in 1015. Also, the remains of Princess Olga were transferred here from Vyshgorod. In 1044, Yaroslav the Wise buried the posthumously “baptized” brothers of Vladimir - Yaropolk and Oleg Drevlyansky - in the Tithe Church. During the Mongol invasion, the princely relics were hidden. According to legend, Peter Mohyla found them, but in the 18th century. the remains disappeared again.
In 1039, under Yaroslav the Wise, Metropolitan Theopemptus carried out a re-consecration, the reasons for which are not known for certain. In the 19th century, it was suggested that after the fire in Kyiv in 1017, the church underwent significant restructuring (with three sides galleries have been added). Some modern historians dispute them, considering this to be an insufficient reason. M. F. Muryanov believed that the basis for the second consecration could have been a heretical or pagan act, but a more reliable reason is now considered to be the establishment of the celebration of the annual renovation of the temple, characteristic of the Byzantine tradition and including the rite of consecration (this version was proposed by A. E. Musin ). There is another opinion that the re-consecration could be caused by non-compliance with Byzantine canons during the first consecration.
In the first half of the 12th century. The church again underwent significant renovations. At this time, the southwestern corner of the temple was completely rebuilt; a powerful pylon supporting the wall appeared in front of the western facade. These activities most likely represented the restoration of the temple after a partial collapse due to an earthquake.
"In 1169, the church was plundered by the troops of Andrei Bogolyubsky, in 1203 by the troops of Rurik Rostislavich. At the end of 1240, the hordes of Batu Khan, having taken Kyiv, destroyed the Tithe Church - the last stronghold of the people of Kiev. According to legend, the Tithe Church [more precisely, the choir] collapsed under the weight of the people who had crowded into it, trying to escape from the Mongols [however, there is a version that it was destroyed by the horde]. there was a small wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas." ("Guide to Kyiv and its surroundings", 1912)
Only in the 30s of the 17th century. The reconstruction of the Tithe Church began, the history of which can be very reliably restored from a number of references in written sources. Thus, according to Sylvester Kossov, in 1635 Metropolitan of Kyiv Petro Mogila “ordered the Church of the Tithes of the Blessed Virgin to be dug out of the underground darkness and opened to the light of day.” From the ancient church at that time, “only ruins remained, and part of one wall stood, barely protruding to the surface.” This picture of desolation is confirmed by an independent description by the French engineer Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan: “the dilapidated walls of the temple, 5 to 6 feet high, are covered with Greek inscriptions ... on alabaster, but time has almost completely smoothed them out.” This description appeared no later than 1640 (the year the manuscript appeared), but not earlier than 1635, since G. Boplan already mentions the finds of the remains of Russian princes near the church - that is, the excavations carried out by Peter Mogila (which are mentioned in Kiev Synopsis of 1680 and Description of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of 1817).
Until 1636, among the ruins of the ancient Church of the Tithes there was a wooden church, known as St. Nicholas of the Tithes. Since 1605, the church was in the hands of the Uniates, and in 1633 it was returned by Peter Mogila to the Orthodox Church. The protest of the Uniate Metropolitan Joseph of Rutsky dates back to 1636 about the dismantling of the wooden church on the orders of Peter Mogila, who on March 10 of this year “motsno, kgvalt, with his own person and with the capitula, with servants, boyars and his subjects... came upon the church of the holy Mykola, called Desetinnaya, was in union for centuries under the Metropolitan of Kiev... which the church was devastated, and all the belongings and treasures of the church were taken for a hundred thousand gold... and his grace Father Rutsky, for the calm holding and getting along of that church, knocked out. ..". According to S.P. Velmin, Petro Mogila specially dismantled the wooden St. Nicholas Church in order to reject the claims of the Uniate Church to return the temple, and in its place he erected a new, stone one. However, there are no direct indications in the sources regarding the exact location of the wooden church.
In 1635, Metropolitan Petro Mogila founded a small church in one of the surviving areas (a small church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built over the southwestern corner of the ancient temple) in memory of the destroyed shrine and placed in it one of the oldest icons with the image of St. Nicholas , brought by Prince Vladimir from Korsun. At the same time, on the initiative of the Metropolitan, excavations of the ruins of the temple began. Later, Petro Mogila found the sarcophagus of Prince Vladimir and his wife Anna in the ruins. The prince's skull was placed in the Church of the Transfiguration (Savior) on Berestovo, then it was transferred to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The hand and jaw were transferred to St. Sophia Cathedral. Everything else was buried again.
During the Metropolitan's lifetime, the construction of the new stone church was not completed. It is known that in his will in 1646 Petro Mogila wrote down a thousand gold pieces in cash from his casket “for the complete restoration” of the Tithe Church. The completion and consecration of the church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary probably took place shortly after the death of Peter Mogila, since already in 1647 a noble infant was buried at the church. In 1654, after the construction of a new throne and renovation of utensils, the church was re-consecrated. In subsequent years, by 1682, a “wooden refectory” was added to the church on the western side, and by 1700 the eastern part was built with a wooden tier, in which a chapel was built in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul. During these same years, the addition of a western wooden vestibule, modeled on the Russian “meal”, was probably carried out.
In 1758 the church was already very old and needed restoration. It was conducted under the supervision of the nun of the Florovsky Monastery Nektaria (Princess Natalia Borisovna Dolgorukaya). The crack in the altar wall was repaired and façade work was carried out.
By the beginning of the 19th century. The Mogila church was, according to I.I. Fundukley, a rectangle measuring 14.35 x 6.30 m elongated from west to east with beveled eastern corners forming a triangular apse. The western part looked like a tower, covered with a hipped roof and topped with a lantern, a dome and a cross. A small stone extension adjoined the eastern part from the north. Adjoining the western façade was a wooden annex (“meal”) with a triangular end on the west, symmetrical to the eastern stone apse. Wooden extension had an entrance from the south, decorated with a small vestibule. In the interior of the temple, “a depression was visible on the southern side in the image of the Kyiv Lavra caves, prepared for the relics,” according to the author of the “Plan of the Primitive Kyiv Tithe Church,” built for the relics of Princess Olga, allegedly found during the excavations of Peter the Mogila.
In the descriptions of the Mohyla church, attention is drawn to the mention of an inscription made of stone blocks included in the masonry of the southern facade. N.V. Zakrevsky writes that “...according to the news of Archpriest Levanda, one can guess about the facade of this church that it had an architrave decorated with a Greek inscription and large round mural rosettes, like stucco work.” Almost all descriptions of the Greek inscription state the impossibility of reading it due to fragmentation due to reuse blocks. Researchers' opinions differed as early as the beginning of the 19th century about when these blocks fell into the masonry. The anonymous “Brief Historical Description of the Church of the Tithes” of 1829 sets out the following version of the reconstruction of Peter the Mogila: “... in 1635, the southwestern corner of it [the ancient Church of the Tithes] barely remained, with the walls adjacent to it, to this remnant, the then Metropolitan Kiev Peter Mogila, having attached the sanctuary side, built a small church... Around 1771, from under the plaster, from the outside on the southern wall, Greek letters were accidentally revealed, carved on stones inserted into the wall...” In a critical response, "Notes on short description", the authorship of which, most likely, belongs to Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov), this thesis is supported: "This piece [of the ancient Tithe Church] in the Mogilina Church was remarkable in the south side, according to the trace of the church choir vault resting on it, and when broken, its masonry found from antiquity, very strong and flat." At the same time, Metropolitan Eugene had a different opinion about the time of the appearance of the inscription: "... it is more likely that the Grave itself, having found these fragments in the rubble from the ancient Church of the Tithes, ordered, as a monument, to smear them clearly on the southern wall. And there was no noticeable plaster near its fragments...Probably, the full inscription was on the western entrance, or some other wall of the ancient church." M.F. Berlinsky also pointed out that Peter Mogila “built the northern and altar sides from the remaining bricks, and built the front wooden chapel.” N.V. Zakrevsky, in his large-scale description of the Church of the Tithes, analyzing the sources available to him, not only insisted on the antiquity of the masonry with an inscription included in the Mogilyansk church, but also accused A.S. Annenkov, the builder of the church of the 19th century, of destroying these most valuable statkov. The description of the ruins of the Church of the Tithes by G. Boplan, made even before the reconstruction of Peter Mogila and mentioning Greek inscriptions, further confirms the version that significant parts of more ancient masonry were preserved as part of the Mogila building. Relatively recently, M.Yu. Braichevsky drew attention to the mention of G. Boplan and compared it with surviving drawings of the 19th century. The researcher came to the unexpected conclusion that the Tithe Church underwent the first reconstruction almost two centuries before Peter Mogila, under Simeon Olelkovich (1455-1471). During these repair work, according to M.Yu. Braichevsky, the wall masonry of the southwestern corner of the ancient temple was repaired, into which blocks with Greek letters were included. Subsequently, these walls became part of the Mogila church and were recorded in drawings of the 19th century. However, the researcher’s only argument for dating the masonry to the 15th century. were the “Gothic” lancet finishes of the windows in one of the drawings.
The figure shows an engraving from the 19th century: “The most important objects found during excavations of the former Church of the Tithes, produced in the 30s of the 19th century by the Right Reverend Eugene, Metropolitan of Kyiv.” On the left, see No.6, are depicted “the remains in the tomb of St. Vladimir; THE HONORABLE HEAD, kept in great church Pechersk Lavra, and hand brushes; one of them, as is known, is located in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv." In the center is shown "a view of the church erected in the 30s of the 19th century on the site of the former Temple of the Tithes." In the middle of the bottom row, see No.9, is depicted "tomb of red slate stone, St. Vladimir."
Another drawing of the “unreadable inscription” found in the Church of the Tithes, see No.3,4.
In 1824, Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov) ordered the foundations of the Tithe Church to be cleared. Excavations were carried out in 1824 by the Kyiv official Kondraty Lokhvitsky, who, as his diaries show, began to engage in amateur archeology for the sake of fame, honor and rewards, but his plan for the Church of the Tithes was neither recognized as accurate by the metropolitan nor taken into account by the imperial commission when considering the restoration project Tens. Therefore, in 1826, the excavations were entrusted to the St. Petersburg architect Nikolai Efimov. During the excavations, a fairly accurate plan of the foundations was discovered for the first time; many valuable fragments of floor mosaics, fresco and mosaic decorations of the temple, stone burials, remains of the foundation, etc. were found. However, Efimov’s project did not pass either.
On August 2, 1828, the beginning of the construction of a new church was consecrated, which was entrusted to another St. Petersburg architect, Vasily Stasov. An absurd temple in the Byzantine-Moscow style - a variation on the theme of his own design for the Alexander Nevsky Temple in Potsdam (1826) - which had nothing in common with the ancient Russian architecture of the original Tithe Church, was built on the site of ancient foundations at the cost of the complete destruction of the surviving ancient Russian walls from which The foundation of the Stasov church was laid. “This temple, however, has nothing in common with the ancient temple: even part of the foundation of the ancient temple, during the construction of a new one, was dug out of the ground and replaced with a new foundation. What survived from the ancient temple: a) part of the Greek signature, found in the ruins of the temple and inserted , no one knows why, in the southern wall of the new church and b) in front of the throne and on a mountainous place, the remains of a mosaic floor, discovered under piles of stones and debris, remaining from the Vladimirov Church. Other remains of the temple, also not representing anything special, were extracted from the ruins, all. collected in a small [glass] cabinet inside the new church [near the right choir]." (“Kyiv, its shrines and attractions”, historical essay from the book “Biography of Russia”, volume 5, edition approximately 1900) During the construction, the church of Metropolitan Peter Mohyla of the 17th century was completely dismantled, as well as about half of those that had survived by that time foundations of a 10th century temple. Old Russian frescoes with images of saints were simply thrown into garbage pits, one of which, filled with the remains of Old Russian painting, was examined much later, in 2005. The construction of the temple cost 100 thousand gold rubles. The iconostasis was made from copies of the iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, created by the artist Borovikovsky. On July 15, 1842, the new Tithe Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary was consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev, Archbishop Nikanor of Zhitomir and Bishop Joseph of Smolensk. This church has 3 altars, the main one in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. At the northern wall, hidden under cover, is the tomb of St. Princess Olga, and the southern one - St. Prince Vladimir; above them there are tombstones with bronze decorations.
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| Tithe Church in the 19th century. |
In 1908-14. the foundations of the original Tithe Church (where they were not damaged by the Stasovsky building) were excavated and examined by a member of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, archaeologist D. V. Mileev, who rediscovered the remains of the eastern, apsidal part of the ancient temple, and also discovered the remains of the foundations of two large civil buildings end of the 10th century near the walls of the temple. Near the Church of the Tithes, the ruins of princely palaces and boyars' homes were discovered, as well as craft workshops and numerous burials of the 9th-10th centuries. According to Kyiv researcher K. Sherotsky, at the same time, under the southeastern wall of the temple, the remains of a wooden structure were found - the supposed dwelling of the first martyrs. Unfortunately, the materials from the excavations of the early 20th century have not been fully published.
In 1928, the Tithe Church, like many other monuments of culture and art, was demolished by the Soviet government. And in 1936, the remains were finally dismantled into bricks. In 1938-39 A scientific group from the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences, under the leadership of M.K. Karger, conducted fundamental research on all parts of the remains of the Tithe Church. The expedition of Professor Karger, which began excavations on the Kyiv Mountain in the late thirties and then continued them after the end of the Great Patriotic War, like all Soviet archaeological groups, did not act in the old way, not by laying individual narrow trenches at random. Trenches are not only unreliable, but also dangerous: they often destroy and spoil the most valuable finds. Now Soviet archaeologists, having determined what area they are interested in, remove layer by layer all the earth in this territory. With this method nothing can be missed. And no wonder: all the land, covering an area of entire hectares, is sorted out, handful by handful, by hand, sifted through sieves. Finding a needle in a haystack is nothing compared to this work! During the excavations, fragments of fresco and mosaic decoration of the ancient temple, stone tombs, remains of foundations, etc. were again found. In addition to the Church of the Tithes, ruins of princely chambers and boyar dwellings were found, as well as workshops of artisans and numerous burials of the 9th-10th centuries. At the same time, Soviet archaeologists found a burial in a wooden sarcophagus under Desyatinka. Inside it is a male skeleton buried according to Christian customs in a church - with a sword in a wooden scabbard with a silver tip. Soviet scientists attributed the grave to Rostislav Mstislavovich, who died in 1093 and was buried in Tithe Temple the last of the members of the princely family (it is believed that Vladimir, his wife Anna, his mother Princess Olga, princes Yaropolk and Oleg Svyatoslavovich and Yaroslav’s son Izyaslav are also buried in Desyatinnaya). The debate is still ongoing, but no one has yet been able to refute the assumption. Archaeological finds are stored in the St. Sophia Cathedral reserve and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, as well as the State St. Petersburg Hermitage (where fragments of frescoes from the Church of the Tithes found by Soviet archaeologists are exhibited). The foundations of the original Tithe Church, preserved underground, indicate that its architecture was intermediate in nature between the basilica and the central type. The plan and the rescued parts tell about the art of Chersonesus and early era Byzantine style.
MASTER MAXIM
In 1240 he lived in Kyiv, in the old city of Vladimir, near the prince’s court, a man well known to many Kiev residents.
His name was Maxim, and he was a “goldsmith” - he cast all kinds of jewelry from bronze or gold: patterned “kolta” pendants - star-shaped, with simple ornaments, and others with images of mysterious animals, various bracelets and wrists, and most often beloved in antiquity beautiful three-bead earrings.
In his half-hut, half-dugout, located very close to the Church of the Tithes, Maxim lived and worked. Here he kept his simple property; blanks for work, material and the most valuable thing, the most expensive for him - carefully made casting molds from slate. Without them, the master felt like he had no hands. We can say directly: if trouble happened - a fire, flood or earthquake - Maxim, before saving grain supplies, clothes, dishes, would grab his molds. That's just the way he was.
But which chronicler told us about this man? Nobody. His name does not appear in any ancient charter. No ancient songs mention him. And yet we know that everything said about him is true. And we know that he died a tragic death.
On the terrible St. Nicholas Day in 1240, a misfortune, although long expected, as always happens, struck Kyiv sooner than expected. The prince fled the city long ago, leaving the governor Dmitry in charge. The Kievans defended themselves on the ramparts of the new Yaroslavl city and were pushed back. The ancient borders of the Vladimirov city also could not be defended. It became clear that a fierce enemy was about to break into his borders.
In the center of the city stood a revered church Mother of God, Tithe, with its mighty walls and high arches. People poured there because Dmitry and his squad had locked themselves there, preparing for inevitable death. The goldsmith Maxim also ran there, seeking salvation. His path was truly terrible. The last fights have already begun in all the narrow alleys. Many dugouts were on fire. From one of them, in which lived a man well known to Maxim, a fellow craftsman, a skilled artist, the desperate meowing of a cat could be heard. But there's a lock on the door, you can't knock it down...
And who will feel sorry for a cat if fire is crackling all around, if desperate girls’ voices are heard nearby, in another hut, and the screams of Tatars intoxicated by battle are heard closer and closer...
The goldsmith Maxim managed to get to the church and hide in it. There was a great crowd of people there. Even all the church galleries - mosquitoes - were crowded with people and their belongings. And the Tatars were already bringing their battering machines-vices to the last stronghold of the Kievites, already crushing the walls with heavy blows... What to do? Where to hide?
In one of the corners of the church, for some reason, a deep, almost five-meter well-cache was dug in the ground. The abbot could not, of course, hide all those who had fled there: even in such a terrible moment, he opened this refuge only to a small number of the richest and most noble. But, finding themselves at the bottom of the hole, the people decided to dig a horizontal passage out of it to the hillside and get out to freedom. With two spades, in cramped conditions and darkness, they began this desperate and completely hopeless work. They pushed each other, got in each other's way... Someone's dog was getting tangled underfoot, squealing. The earth had to be lifted up using a rope. Having made his way to the entrance to the hiding place, Maxim began to help the unfortunate people.
One could certainly say that hopes were in vain: the huge thickness of the earth would not be able to be penetrated before the enemies broke into the church. And suddenly the church vaults collapsed. A column of brick and mortar dust rose; fragments of the “plinf” - the flat brick of that time, pieces of marble cornices, rubble - all this fell on the heads of the people huddled in the hiding place. Maxim apparently managed to fight this avalanche for several seconds. But then a fragment of the vault hit him too, he fell down, and bricks, marble, and rubble fell on top of him with an irresistible weight. It was all over forever...
Seven hundred years passed before people of our century uncovered the ruins of the Church of the Tithes. In the 19th century, scientists tried to get to them, but then a tasteless Stasovsky building was piled on the ruins - the new Church of the Tithes. No one would allow it to be destroyed.
Only after the Great Patriotic War, the ruins of Batu’s time were excavated from under the ruins left by the Nazis. The ancient Church of the Tithes and its mighty foundations emerged from the earth. That same hiding place was also discovered. At the bottom of it were preserved scraps of expensive clothes embroidered with gold and silver - the clothes of rich Kiev residents - and many other items. In the started and unfinished digging, both spades and the bones of a dog that died along with the people were found. And above, on a two-meter layer of collapsed mass of fragments, lay a human skeleton next to many fragments of casting molds. Thirty-six of them were discovered, but only six were able to be completely assembled and glued together. On one of them, scientists read the word “Makosimov” based on barely noticeable scratches. A peculiar stone device, even the real name of which is now unknown to us (we called it a “casting mold”), has preserved for us the name of its hardworking owner.
But how did you find out that this man lived not far from the Tithe Church? In one of the many dugouts, along with craft blanks and other traces of the foundry’s work, archaeologists came across another mold, the thirty-seventh one, which had obviously fallen somewhere on the fateful day. It is enough to look at it to determine that it is from the same set. There is no doubt - the goldsmith Maxim lived here. Things buried in the ground tell about him, about his labor-filled life, about his sad end, which coincided with the end of his native city. Their story excites, touches, teaches.
Uspensky Lev Vasilievich, Schneider Ksenia Nikolaevna. Behind seven seals (essays on archeology)
On November 26, 1996, the National Bank of Ukraine introduced 2 commemorative coins"Tithe Church" made of silver and copper-nickel alloy, dedicated to the millennium of the construction of the Tithe Church in Kyiv.
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| Church foundation during excavations in 2008 |
In 2006, a tabernacle temple was installed on the museum grounds near the Church of the Tithes, the legality of which was doubted. In 2007, on the site of the temporary temple-tabernacle, a wooden temple was erected, which was consecrated by the Primate of the UOC-MP, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, on July 25 of the same year. July 9, 2009 at a meeting Holy Synod The UOC MP decided to open the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Monastery of the Tithes in Kyiv and appoint Archimandrite Gideon (Charon) as its vicar. In January 2010, the head of the Main Department of Urban Planning, Architecture and Design of the Urban Environment of Kyiv, Sergei Tselovalnik, announced that a platform would be built on the ruins of the Tithe Church on which there would be a new church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Later they announced their refusal to build new facilities on foundations in connection with the conventions signed by Ukraine. At the same time, the competition commission, by definition, future fate remains of the foundation of the Tithe Church announced two projects as the winners of the competition, one of which involves the restoration of the temple, and the other - the preservation of the foundations as an archaeological monument with the construction of a chapel nearby. The initiative of the UOC MP also does not find full support from society and is criticized by scientists due to the fact that information about the external The form of the temple has not been preserved and authentic reconstruction is impossible.
Historian and political scientist Alexander Paliy asks the question: “What relation can the Moscow Patriarchate have to a church built a century and a half before the first mention of the village of Moscow, 300 years before the birth of the Moscow Principality and 600 years before the formation of the Moscow Patriarchate?” Pyotr Tolochko (director of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, chairman of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, member of the Academy of Europe and the International Union of Slavic Archeology, laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology) said that he does not know who allowed the trailers to be placed near the remains of the church . According to him: “We have our own base on Vladimirskaya Street, 3, so we don’t need any trailers, even if we carried out research there,” said the chief Ukrainian archaeologist. “So I don’t know who started this provocation. The Institute of Archeology has long been suggested that it is only possible to museumize the remains of the foundation of the Tithe Church. This is our official idea. And also, there is no need for a church at the Tithe Church, since there is St. Andrew’s Church nearby, then let him go there. Because if there is only one confession there, the rest will be unhappy, and we will create another point of instability in the state." According to the Chairman of the Kiev City Council Standing Committee on Culture and Tourism, Alexander Briginets, on May 26, 2011, the monks of the monastery illegally established next to the Tithe Church made an attempt to enter the territory of the archaeological excavations of the Tithe Church. When asked how the monks got the keys to the territory, they referred to St. Peter (who holds the keys not only to heaven).
On June 3, 2011, Viktor Yushchenko denied accusations that he allegedly provided permission to hold construction work on the site of the Tithe Church. As the third President of Ukraine V. Yushchenko noted in relation to the Tithe Church: “[The good intentions of many people] today are cynically and rudely used by businessmen who associate themselves with the Moscow Patriarchate... These people have nothing to do with faith. Their behavior is unworthy, and, in fact, blasphemous. These are conscious schismatics of our people.”
On June 24, 2011, the International Commission of UNESCO, as well as ICOMOS, opposed plans to build a temple on the foundations of the Tithe Church. Experts from UNESCO and ICOMOS emphasize: “Such construction will change the skyline of the existing urban landscape and may affect the visual integrity and outstanding universal value of the property (the buffer zone of Sophia of Kyiv).”
Of course, the discussions around the need to revive the church have not yet reached an end. But when discussing, it is very important to call all things by their proper names. For example, for some reason, especially active protests are voiced against the revival of churches in the unique Byzantine-Ukrainian style. By the way, this applies not only to the Tithe Church. Previously, many objections resulted in the Kyiv Pirogoshcha, the Spassky and Boris-Gleb Cathedrals in Chernigov, the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir-Volynsky and many others. At the same time, almost no one pays attention to the numerous similar structures of modern church buildings that cannot be identified. Thus, the fate of the Tithe is still unclear. But I would like to give one more quote from Dmitry (Rudyuk): “If at least one soul is destined to be saved in this temple, it must be revived.”
Subsequently, a historical museum building was built nearby, and the remains of the foundations of the church and neighboring princely palaces were laid out with stone - this is how a small historical park turned out. Since 2011, the foundation of the Tithe Church has been open to everyone to view. In 2012, the Museum of the History of the Tithe Church was created. On the night of December 15, 2012, a fire occurred in the chapel built next to the foundation of the Church of the Tithes. The possible cause of the fire is arson...
Previously, on the site of the holy church in the 10th century there was also a large pagan cemetery where ancient Kyivans were buried. During all the archaeological excavations, about a hundred of them were found in the area of the Tithe Church. This 10th-century female burial was one of the last to be discovered, just a meter from the wall of the Tithe Church. It turns out that the then residents of Kyiv were buried under earthen mounds from 1.5 to 3-4 meters in height. They were placed in the ground on their backs and, almost like now, with their arms folded or straightened on their chests. The coffins were different: pagan Kievites were simply placed in the ground, covering the hole with boards, or buried in logs (they sawed a tree trunk lengthwise, cut a hole in one of the halves, where the deceased was placed, and then covered it with the other half of the trunk). During the funeral, the future grave was “cleansed” by fire and animals were sacrificed over it to the gods. All the most “necessary” things in the next world were placed in the graves for a person: archaeologists found in the graves jewelry, household utensils, money, festive clothes, and sometimes all this was placed not in the grave itself, but in the earthen mound above it.
One of the most interesting finds of recent years can easily be called the Kochedyk. This bone horn was found near the church in one of the pagan burials. It was made in the middle of the 10th century and placed in a mound above the grave. On the kochedyk, Scandinavian craftsmen, with whom the ancient Kievans traded, carved mythical animals and intricate plant patterns. It has survived to this day a little charred: archaeologists believe that it became a participant in a pagan ritual and even visited a funeral pyre. They wore a kochedyk on their belt as a decoration, but it also had a benefit: with its help, a person could untie knots on his clothes, shoes and bags. They also wove bast shoes with kochedyk, and there was even a proverb: “he is so hard-working that he died with kochedyk in his hands.”
In my opinion, the more interesting find is the sword scabbard. Its upper part is also decorated with the heads of birds of prey (falcons). The dating is earlier - the 10th century (1015-1093). Pay attention to the characteristic wickerwork at the bottom! Comparing products X - beginning. XI centuries, including the Srebrenik of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, in addition to searching for the similarity of the plot itself, one can find an interesting detail that is invariably present on all these objects. It's about about a characteristic knot that was always placed in the center of the plot, woven into it with a trident, a falcon, or simply a floral ornament. This item characterizes the development of Old Russian ornamental art of the 10th - early. XI centuries It is present both on a coin - an attribute of princely power, and on the tip of a scabbard from the Princely burial. The same symbol is present on trapezoidal and coin-shaped pendants, hooks and other Old Russian plastic.
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| Excavations of the temple by Vikentiy Khvoyka |
The famous linden tree of Peter the Mogila is also shrouded in legends. He planted it in 1635 in honor of the partial restoration of the Tithe Church. This year the linden tree will turn 376 years old, but there are versions that it almost caught the last ones alive Kyiv princes. Its height is 10 m, trunk girth is 5.5 m. Kiev residents have long asked this mighty tree for the fulfillment of romantic and mercantile desires: to do this, you need to come to her at dawn or sunset and ask for what you want, thanking the tree at parting.
The Tithe Church (Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in Kyiv is the first stone church of Kievan Rus, erected by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir on the site of the death of the first martyrs Theodore and his son John. The beginning of the construction of the Church of the Tithes dates back to 989, which was reported in the chronicle: “In the summer of 6497 ... Volodymyr thought of creating the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos and sending masters from the Greeks.” — “The Tale of Bygone Years”
In other chronicles, the years 990 and 991 are also called the year the church was founded. Construction was completed in 996. The church was built as a cathedral near the prince's tower - a stone north-eastern palace building, the excavated part of which is located 60 meters from the foundations of the Church of the Tithes. Nearby, archaeologists found the remains of a building considered to be the house of the church clergy, built at the same time as the church (the so-called Olga's tower). The church was consecrated twice: upon completion of construction and in 1039 under Yaroslav the Wise. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who ruled at that time, allocated a tenth of his income - tithe, where its name came from - for the maintenance of the church and the metropolis. At the time of its construction, it was the largest Kyiv temple. The chronicles reported that the Church of the Tithes was decorated with icons, crosses and precious vessels from Korsun. Marble was used abundantly in decorating the interior, for which contemporaries also called the temple “marble.” In front of the western entrance, Efimov discovered the remains of two pylons, which presumably served as pedestals for bronze horses brought from Chersonesos. The first rector of the church was one of the “Korsun priests” of Vladimir - Anastas Korsunyanin.
Some scientists believe that the church was dedicated to the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It contained the relics of the holy martyr Clement, who died in Korsun. In the Tithe Church there was a princely tomb, where Vladimir’s Christian wife was buried - the Byzantine princess Anna, who died in 1011, and then Vladimir himself, who died in 1015. Also, the remains of Princess Olga were transferred here from Vyshgorod. In 1044 Yaroslav the Wise buried the posthumously “baptized” brothers Vladimir - Yaropolk and Oleg Drevlyansky - in the Tithe Church. In the first half of the 12th century. The church has undergone significant renovations. At this time, the southwestern corner of the temple was completely rebuilt; a powerful pylon supporting the wall appeared in front of the western facade. These activities most likely represented the restoration of the temple after a partial collapse due to an earthquake. In 1169, the church was plundered by the troops of Prince Mstislav Andreevich, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, and in 1203 by the troops of Rurik Rostislavich. In 1240, the hordes of Batu Khan, having taken Kyiv, destroyed the Tithe Church - the last stronghold of the people of Kiev. According to legend, the Church of the Tithes collapsed under the weight of the people who climbed onto the vaults, trying to escape from the Mongols, but Yu. S. Aseev suggested that the building collapsed after the besiegers used battering rams.
In 1824, Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov) ordered the foundations of the Tithe Church to be cleared. The Kyiv amateur archaeologist K. A. Lokhvitsky, and then the St. Petersburg architect N. E. Efimov, first discovered the plan of the foundations, and the remains of marbles, mosaics, and frescoes were found. On August 2, 1828, the beginning of the construction of a new church was consecrated, which was entrusted to another St. Petersburg architect Vasily Stasov. The temple was built in the Byzantine-Moscow style and did not repeat the original architecture of the ancient Church of the Tithes. During the construction, the 17th-century Metropolitan Peter the Mohyla Church was completely dismantled, as well as about half of the foundations of the 10th-century church that had survived by that time. The construction of the temple cost 100 thousand gold rubles. The iconostasis was made from copies of the iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, created by the artist Borovikovsky. On July 15, 1842, the new Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was consecrated by Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev, Archbishop Nikanor of Zhitomir and Bishop Joseph of Smolensk.
In 1908-11 the foundations of the original Desyatinnaya Church (where they were not damaged by the Stasovsky building) were excavated and examined. The remains of the foundation were studied only in 1938-39. after the final demolition of the new church. Under Soviet rule, in 1928, the second Tithe Church, like many other cultural and artistic monuments, was demolished. In 1936, the church was finally dismantled into bricks.
It was built by Prince Vladimir. The temple was built for only 5 years, from 991 to 996. Unfortunately, its fate was quite tragic; already in 1240 it ceased to exist. Some remains of the church have survived to this day and today are located in the estate of the Historical Museum.
During the period when it was just beginning, the construction of the church was very important. It was built on the model of the Constantinople temple at the court of the emperor. The Tithe Church was built by craftsmen specially invited from Byzantium from completely new finishing materials. The place for its construction was not chosen by chance. Two Christian martyrs, killed by pagans, used to live there. To atone for such a sin, Prince Vladimir decided to build a temple.
The Tithe Church is so called because the prince allocated a tenth of his property for the construction of churches, and it was the main treasury. It is known that its structure and size were very impressive; only Sophia of Kiev was better than this church. Many written sources of those times call the Tithe Church marble, apparently because it had many columns, frescoes and mosaics made of marble. In terms of decorative design, it was one of the best.
The Tithe Church in Kyiv initially guarded the peace of Prince Vladimir and his wife Anna, and a little later the remains of Oleg and Yaropolk - the brothers of Vladimir, and then Izyaslav Yaroslavovich and Rostislav Mstislavovich - were transferred. The temple did not stand for long; in 1240 it attacked Kievan Rus with its own army. All the Kiev residents tried to take refuge in the church, but it could not withstand such a load, the walls collapsed, burying all the people under it.
The Tithe Church (or rather its ruins) stood until the 19th century. Several attempts have been made to study it. Archaeologists noted that the walls of the temple are covered with inscriptions in Greek. During the excavations, sarcophagi with the remains of the princes, as well as the gold jewelry that were on them, were also discovered.
There have been repeated attempts to revive the Tithe Church. This first happened in 1636, when it was built small temple; and in the 30s of the 19th century a new tithe church was built, but in architecture it did not at all resemble its predecessor. Many Kiev residents considered it a disgrace and an insult to the great temple of Prince Vladimir. Therefore, no one was very upset when in 1936 the church was completely destroyed, dismantled brick by brick.
In 2005, the government signed a decree on the restoration of such an architectural monument and Ukrainian shrine as the Church of the Tithes. Kyiv is a great city with dozens of beautiful churches, but nevertheless, by raising this church from the ruins, it will become even more beautiful and interesting. But the fate of the temple is not yet known, since construction has not yet begun. There are fierce debates about what the Tithe Church should be like - restore its original appearance or build a completely new structure. Whether the parties will come to a compromise and whether the shrine will be erected, only time will tell.
in Kyiv, the first stone temple of Dr. Rus', dedicated to one of the Mother of God holidays (see below), erected in 990/1-996. by order of Equal. book Vladimir (Vasily) Svyatoslavich on Starokievskaya Mountain, near the princely residence.
Pre-Mongol period
Archaeological studies of Starokievskaya Mountain revealed that D. c. was erected on the site of a vast burial ground (about 150 burials were discovered), created during the 10th century. (Arabic coins minted in 961-976, oval Scandinavian brooches from the mid-2nd half of the 10th century, weapons, etc. were found in the burials). According to archaeologist K. A. Mikhailov, the temple was built on the “ancestral burial site of representatives of the Kyiv princely house or members of the Rurik family who died before the official adoption of Christianity in 988,” which explains the “unusual preservation large number lush pagan burials under the foundations" D. c. (Mikhailov. S. 37, 42).
For the construction of D. c. book In 989, Vladimir sent ambassadors to K-pol, who were brought to Kyiv by “masters from the Greeks” (PVL. p. 54). These source data are confirmed by numerous Greek. graffiti, which were noticeable in the preserved southwest. parts of D. c. back in mid. XVII century In terms of D. c. (42´ 34 m) a compositional core is identified - a 3-nave temple with a large (7´ 6.5 m) domed square and a narthex. The structure was surrounded on 3 sides by galleries with many additional volumes. After research con. 30s XX century it was believed that these extensions appeared under St. book Yaroslav (George) Vladimirovich. However, during architectural and archaeological research in 2005-2006. it was established that the galleries were erected at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, under Prince. Vladimir Svyatoslavich. D. c. was located in the center of the architectural ensemble, which included several. stone buildings may have been a princely palace cathedral. The destruction of most of the temple's foundations complicates its reconstruction original plan and appearance (at present there are 15 reconstructions of the D. c.). Mn. the issues of volume-spatial reconstruction of the cathedral (number of chapters, location of stairs to the choir, etc.) remain unresolved.
The temple was exquisitely decorated: the walls and vaults were covered with frescoes and mosaics, the floor was paved with mosaics and stone slabs. Carved marble slabs of the pre-altar barrier and choir fences, columns of the triple arcades of the choir, use local breeds stone - pyrophylite slate, red quartzite, limestone - gave the interior of the cathedral a solemn appearance.
Back in 995/6, by order of Prince D. Ts. was entrusted to Anastas Korsunyanin (who was, apparently, the steward of the church), the clergy was made up of priests who came from the prince. Vladimir from Korsun (Chersonese); next to D. c. to last third of the 11th century a domestic courtyard was built on the mountain (PVL. p. 27, 86), which indicates the presence of a choir in the cathedral. In 996, after completion of construction, Prince. Vladimir invested in D. ts. icons, vessels, “honorable crosses”, as well as “two copper temples and 4 copper horses, which even now stand behind the Holy Mother of God, as if I were ignorant of the fact that I exist in marble,” taken by him after July 27, 989 from Korsun (Ibid. pp. 52, 54). After the consecration of the temple, Prince. Vladimir “on that day was a bolyar and an elder of the city, and distributed a lot of property to the poor” (Ibid. p. 55). Day of consecration of D. ts. was celebrated by the Russian Church on May 12, as evidenced by records in ancient Russian. parchment month books, Prologues and everyday books (Loseva O. V. Russian month books of the 11th-14th centuries. M., 2001. P. 338).
There are several hypotheses regarding the dedication of the temple. Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov) believed that D. ts. was consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy. Mother of God. This t.zr. received support in later historiography (Voronin N.N. Architecture of Kievan Rus // History of Russian Art. M., 1953. T. 1. P. 117; Ilyin. 1965. P. 266-268; Rapov. 1988. P. 242-244; Kuchkin. 1997. P. 178, etc.). D. c. called Uspenskaya in Great Russian. sources of the 16th century: in the Tverskoy collection. (1534), in the Chudovskaya edition of the Life of St. Vladimir, in some versions of the prologue Life of St. Vladimir, as well as in southwestern Russian sources of the 17th-18th centuries, in particular in the memorial of the Kiev-Pechersk archimandrite. Joseph (Trizny; 1647-1655) (Kuchkin. 1997. P. 221). The opinion that D. c. could have been dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mother of God, relies on allusions to the service of this holiday, contained in the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Met. Hilarion, which was probably pronounced in D. ts. In addition, since the 17th century. Feast of the Nativity of St. The Mother of God was the throne church for the D., which was reflected, in particular, in the name of the site of wooden-earth fortifications built in the 2nd half. XVII century in the Upper Town of Kyiv. It should be mentioned that Bp. Thietmar of Merseburg in his chronicle (1018) calls D. c. the temple of the “martyr of Christ Pope Clement” (Nazarenko. 1993. P. 136, 141; Other Rus' in the light of foreign sources. 2000. P. 319). Apparently, he repeated the everyday name of the temple - after the relics of the revered saint located here.
According to the chronicler, in D. c. after the completion of its construction (996), the Charter of the book was put into storage. Vladimir about granting her tithes of princely income: “I give this church to the Holy Mother of God from my estate and from my cities a tenth” (PVL. P. 55; the original text of the Charter has not been preserved, the archetype of the existing editions dates back to the middle - 2nd half . XII century). Anastas Korsunyanin was entrusted with managing the tithe. It can be assumed that it was intended not only for the maintenance of the temple, but also for general church needs; its distribution was carried out under the direct control of the princely authorities (cf. Florya B. N. O material support Churches in Rus' and Western Slavs. state-wah during the period of feudalism // DGSSSR: 1985. M., 1986. P. 117). Later material well-being of D. c. was supported not only by tithes, but, obviously, over time it was replaced by another form of support, less costly for the princely power. So, for example, in 1170 South Russian. the chronicler notes that the Polovtsy robbed the rural area of the cities of Polonnoy and Semych. It is noted that in Polonnoye there was a church of St. Mother of God, and the city itself belonged to D. c. (PSRL. T. 2. Stb. 556).
In 1039 Metropolitan. Theopempt in the presence of Prince. Yaroslav the Wise again consecrated the D. ts. As far as can be judged from the surviving foundation masonry, to D. c. During this period, no new objects were added, but this does not exclude the possible restructuring of the upper parts, interior, etc. In 1018, during the strife, Anastas of Korsun left Kyiv, taking to Poland the treasury seized in the capital of Rus' by Boleslav I the Brave ; in 1026 the princely civil strife ended and the prince established himself in Kyiv. Yaroslav the Wise.
In the 1st half. XII century D. c. has undergone significant restructuring. Sections of the foundations and walls adjacent to the southwestern corner of the building, in front of the west, were rebuilt. a new porch appeared at the entrance. In the galleries, the floor was decorated with glazed tiles, the variety of shapes of which (square, 3-gonal and octagonal) made it possible to imitate marble floor mosaics from the time the church was built. According to the list, “to all the Russian city, far and near” (the original edition dates back to the last third of the 14th century), “the Holy Mother of God of the Ten Stones was about half a third (25.- A.K.) verses” (PSRL. T. 3. P. 475; according to a number of researchers, such a number of “tops” seems excessive). In chronicles from the 2nd half. XII century D. c. bells are mentioned. In the XIX-XX centuries. In the immediate vicinity of the cathedral, 2 bells were found, which obviously belonged to this temple.
March 8-10, 1169, during the capture of Russia. princes of Kyiv, the city was severely devastated, among the victims were the Southern Russians. the chronicler notes “and the Virgin Mary of the Tithes.” The winners “bared the churches with icons, and books, and vestments, and bells, wore them out... and took away all the holy things” (Ibid. Vol. 2. Stb. 545). In 1203, during the capture of Kyiv, Prince. Rurik (Vasily) Rostislavich, “the Metropolitan plundered St. Sophia, and plundered the Tithe Holy Mother of God, and plundered all the monasteries, and destroyed icons, and took others, and honorable crosses, and sacred loans, and the books and ports of the blessed first princes, who hung the hedgehog in churches of the saints as a memento for themselves, then having put everything in full for themselves,” the clergy were either killed or taken prisoner (Ibid. T. 1. Issue 2. Stb. 418-419).
In the beginning. Dec. In 1240, the Horde captured the main part of Kyiv. The last defenders of the city, led by Voivode Dmitry, held out for about St. Sophia Cathedral, where they created a defensive line, but after a fierce battle they were knocked out of there and took refuge in D. c. Due to a large crowd of people, including townspeople, many of whom brought property with them, the vaults of the temple collapsed (“those who fled against the church, and against the church and with their goods, from the burden the church walls fell down with them” - Ibid. T. 2. Stb. 785). (According to the assumption of M.K. Karger, the cause of the collapse of the church was the action of battering guns. However, the chronicler, who described in detail the siege and storming of Kyiv, does not mention this fact; moreover, during a siege, the doors of the church would have been knocked out, but not the thick ones stone walls.) It is possible that after the destruction of the temple, the ruins were cleared and the bodies of the dead were removed, as evidenced by a large mass grave discovered in front of the apses of the temple. Only a small part of the shrine survived - the west. third south galleries (survived thanks to renovations in the 12th century?).
Shrines and princely burials in D. c.
In the temple there were brought St. Vladimir from Korsun relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, and his student Thebes. About their widespread veneration in Kyiv in Domong. time there is a number of evidence, including foreign ones: book. Yaroslav “showed” the heads of the saints Pope Clement and his disciple Thebes to members of the French embassy (including Bishop Roger of Chalons), who arrived to woo the prince. Anna Yaroslavna for the French. cor. Henry I (Ancient Rus' in the light of foreign sources. 2000. P. 354). Jacob Mnich and the author of The Tale of Bygone Years mention the relics of “other saints” brought by the prince. Vladimir to Kyiv from Korsun, perhaps they were also in D. c. and were lost in the 2nd half. XII - 1st half. XIII century The Tale of Bygone Years says that in 1007 “the offering of holy things to the Holy Mother of God” was carried out, but it does not say whose relics these were (PVL. p. 57).
According to the legend originating from the Kiev-Pechersk monastery about the first Kiev Metropolitan. St. Michael, “the high priest died in 992 and was buried in the Church of the Tithes; then, around 1103, under the Pechersk abbot Theoktiste, his relics, found incorrupt, were transferred to Anthony’s Cave, and from here, already in 1730, by the Highest Decree, they were transferred to the main church of the Kyiv Lavra” (Makariy. History of the RC. Book 2. pp. 28-29). The book Degree of the Royal Genealogy (mid-16th century) reports the transfer to D. c. book Vladimir and Met. Leontius (Leontius) of the relics of St. Kng. Olga (Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) dates this event to 1007), the relics rested in a stone sarcophagus, after. were lost (these facts are not reflected in the memorial of Archimandrite Joseph (Trizna). In 1011/12 in D. c. was buried by St. Kng. Anna, in 1015 - her husband, equal to the Apostles. book Vladimir.
Their remains rested in 2 marble sarcophagi in the middle of the temple (which does not correspond to Byzantine practice), and were lost after the destruction of the church in December. 1240 During the dismantling of the ruins of D. c. in 1632/36, according to Metropolitan. Samuil (Mislavsky), Metropolitan. St. Peter (Grave) found the supposed coffins of the prince. Vladimir and king. Anna.
The main part of the burials of the 11th century. in D. c. (During the excavations, Karger discovered 8 sarcophagi in the temple and 2 sarcophagi outside the temple) belongs to representatives of the princely dynasty. Memorial to Archimandrite Joseph (Trizna) reports in 1007 about the reburial in the temple of the bodies of 2 Polotsk princes, descendants of St. Vladimir, - Izyaslav Vladimirovich († 1001) and his son Vseslav († 1003) (RSL. Trinity. F. 304/I. No. 714. L. 361 vol. - 362). In 1044, by order of the leader. book Yaroslav Vladimirovich over the remains of his pagan uncles - the Kyiv prince. Yaropolk Svyatoslavich and the Drevlyan prince. Oleg Svyatoslavich - the baptismal ceremony was performed, after which they were buried in the D. c. Oct 3 1078, the Kiev prince, who died in the battle on Nezhatina Niva, was buried in the temple in a marble sarcophagus. Izyaslav (Dimitri) Yaroslavich (PVL. P. 86). One of the last burials in D. c. The burial took place on November 16. 1093 book. Rostislav Mstislavich († 1 Oct. 1093), grandson of the great. book Izyaslav Yaroslavich (Ibid. P. 95).
In XI - mid. XIII century D. c. was one of the centers of pilgrimage to the South. Rus'. So, in 1150, the Galician prince. Vladimirko Volodarevich, touring the Kyiv shrines, first went to Vyshgorod, where he venerated the relics of St. princes Boris and Gleb, returned to Kyiv and “came to Saint Sophia,” and then “went to the Holy Mother of God of the Tithes, and from there went to the Holy Mother of God Pechersk monastery” (PSRL. T. 2. Stb. 403).
2nd half XIII-XX centuries
After the collapse in 1240, the temple was not restored. XVI - beginning XVII century The church, called the Church of St. Nicholas the Tithe after the temple icon, belonged to the Uniates; around it there was a large city cemetery, where burials took place in the 16th-18th centuries. In 1635, thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan. Peter (Mogila), the temple became Orthodox, repairs were made to it, and the ruins were dismantled. In the beginning. XIX century, as shown by archaeological research and analysis of images of D. ts., in the church of the time of Metropolitan. Peter's the walls of the ancient cathedral were used. At the same time, the altar part was probably cleared and a search for mortgaged shrines was carried out on the site of the thrones. This is evidenced by excavations in the central parts of the apses, discovered during excavations in 1908.
After the occupation of Kyiv in 1654 by Moscow troops during the Russian-Polish war. war updated D. c. was consecrated. According to the “Mural List of Kiev 1700”, from the west. On the side of the stone church there was “a wooden table attached and at the top there was a chapel of the supreme holy apostles Peter and Paul.” In the 18th century D. c. several was repaired several times, in particular in 1758 at the expense of the Monastery. Kyiv Frolov Monastery of the KNG. Dolgorukova. In 1828-1842. according to the project of architect. V.P. Stasov built a new church in the “Russian-Byzantine style”, which was inferior in size to the building of the time of the prince. Vladimir. During its construction old temple dismantled, the building materials (brick of the 10th-12th centuries, stones) were used in the new foundation. This church was destroyed in mid. 30s 20th century, parts of the foundations and individual interior details, found during excavations in 2005-2006, have been preserved. Several fragments of plaster. types with remains of wall paintings from ancient D. ts. (based on materials from the Karger 1948 collection) are stored in the State Hermitage.
Archaeological study of D. c. carried out in the 20s. XIX century (K. A. Lokhvitsky and N. E. Efimov), in the beginning. XX century (D.V. Mileev), on the eve of the Great Patriotic War (T.N. Movchanovsky, Karger) and in 2005-2006. (G. Yu. Ivakin, V. K. Kozyuba).
Source: Golubev S. T . Materials for the history of Western Russia. Churches // CIONL. 1891. Book. 5. P. 5-192; aka. Historical and topographical research and notes about ancient Kyiv // TKDA. 1899. No. 12. P. 574-599; Priselkov M. D. Trinity Chronicle: Reconstruction of the text. M.; L., 1950 (by decree); DRKU (by decree); Nazarenko A. IN . German Latin-language sources of the 9th-11th centuries: Texts, trans., commentary. M., 1993; PVL. St. Petersburg, 19962 (according to decree); Kuchkin V. A . Princely memorial as part of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon of Joseph Trizny // DGVE, 1995. M., 1997. P. 220-221, 172, 177-180; PSRL. T. 1. Issue. 1-2; T. 2; T. 3 (according to decree); Dr. Rus' in the light of foreign sources / Ed.: E. A. Melnikova. M., 2000; Boplan G. L., de. Description of Ukraine / Transl. from French: Z. P. Borisyuk. M., 2004.
Lit.: Brief history. description of the Tithe Mother See cathedral church in Kyiv. St. Petersburg, 1829. Poltava, 18492; L[ebedinets] in P . G . Why is the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv known among the people under the name of St. Nicholas of the Tithes // Kyiv. old man. 1883. No. 8. P. 755-757; Ainalov D. IN . On the issue of the construction activities of St. Vladimir // Sat. in memory of St. equal to book Vladimir. Pg., 1917. Issue. 1. pp. 21-39; Karger M. TO . Princely burial of the 11th century. in Desyatinnaya Ts. // KSIIMK. 1940. Issue. 4. pp. 12-20; aka. Archaeological research. Dr. Kyiv: Reports and materials (1938-1947). K., 1950. P. 45-140; aka. Ancient Kyiv. M.; L., 1958. T. 1; 1961. T. 2; Korzukhina G. F. Towards the reconstruction of Desyatinnaya Ts. // Sov. Arch. 1957. No. 2. P. 78-90; Ilyin M. A . About the name of the Tithes. // Ibid. 1965. No. 2. P. 266-268; Shchapov Ya. N. Princely charters and church in Dr. Rus', X-XIV centuries. M., 1972. S. 33, 35, 38, 40, 49-50, 63, 76, 99, 116, 123-132, 303, 307-308; aka. Church in the state system authorities Dr. Rus': Tithe and its origin // “The Baptism of Rus'” in the works of Russian. and owls historians: [Sb. Art.]. M., 1988. S. 245-257; aka. State and Church Dr. Rus', X-XIII centuries. M., 1989. P. 7, 11, 28-32, 38, 42, 76-77, 79, 87, 89, 125, 137, 193; Muryanov M. F. About the Tithe Church of Prince Vladimir // East. Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages: Sat. Art. M., 1978. S. 171-175; Krasovsky I. WITH . Reconstruction of the foundation plan of Desyatinnaya Center. in Kyiv // Sov. Arch. 1984. No. 3. P. 181-189; aka. About the plan of Tithes. in Kyiv // Ross. Arch. 1998. No. 3. P. 149-156; Putsko V. G . “Theotokos of Tithes” and early iconography of the Intercession // FS für F. von Lilienfeld. Erlangen, 1982. S. 355-373; aka. “Our Lady of the Tithes” - myth or historical reality? // Ruthenica. K., 2006. T. 5. P. 162-169; Tikhomirov M. N. About general glory. basis of the institution of tithe // “The Baptism of Rus'” in the works of Russian. and owls historians. 1988. pp. 258-264; Logvin N. G . The original appearance of the Tithe Church. in Kyiv // Antiquities of the Slavs and Rus': [Sb. Art.]. M., 1988. S. 225-230; Rapov O. M. Rus. Church in the 9th - 1st third of the 12th century: Adoption of Christianity. M., 1988. S. 240-244; Kämpfer F. Eine Residenz für Anna Porphyrogenneta // JGO. N. F. 1993. Jg. 41. S. 101-110; Church of the Virgin Mary of the Tithes in Kiev: Up to 1000 years of consecration. K., 1996; Mednikova E. Yu., Egorkov A. N. On the technology of painting the Tithes Church: (Based on materials from the collection of M.K. Karger, 1948) // Ros. Arch. 2000. No. 2. P. 61-69; Kozak N. Litopics “Maistry from the Greeks” and the Church of the Tithes near Kiev // Bulletin of Lviv University. Ser.: Mysticism. Lviv, 2002. VIP. 2. P. 115-122; Mikhailov K. A . Kyiv pagan necropolis and c. Our Lady of the Tithes // Ros. Arch. 2004. No. 1. P. 34-45; Richka V. Kiev - Another Jerusalem: (From the history of political thoughts and ideologies of middle Russia). K., 2005; Alexandrovich V. “Our Lady of the Tithes” - a poseable Old Kiev relic // Ruthenica. K., 2005. T. 4. P. 161-168; Kozyuba V. [K.] The history of the garden of the Church of the Tithes near Kiev in 1908-1914: (For the materials of the schodenniks of D.V. Mileev) // Ibid. pp. 169-214.
A. V. Kuzmin