Desyatinnaya tserkov
(Khram Uspeniya Presvyatoy Bogoroditsy)
On Starokievskaya Hill in Kiev - the first stone Orthodox church in Russia, erected by Vladimir Svyatoslavich on the site of the death of the Russian first martyrs Theodore Varyag and his son John.
The tithe church is so named because the tithe of the prince's income went to its maintenance. When laying the cornerstone in the presence of Metropolitan Leonty, the Greek and Russian bishops, boyars and countless people, Holy Prince Vladimir said:
The first temple (996-1240)
The beginning of the construction of the Church of the Tithes on Starokievskaya Hill dates back to 989, which was reported in the annals:
In 1169, the church was plundered by the troops of Prince Mstislav Andreevich, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, in 1203 - by the troops of Rurik Rostislavich. In 1240, the hordes of Khan Batu, taking Kiev, destroyed the Tithe Church - the last stronghold of the Kievites. According to legend, the Church of the Tithes collapsed under the weight of local residents who climbed onto the vaults, trying to escape from the Mongols, but Yu. S. Aseev suggested that the building collapsed after the use of battering guns by the besiegers.
Second temple (1630-1828)
At the initiative of Metropolitan Peter Mogila in the 1630s, a small church was built in the name of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in memory of the lost shrine over the southwestern corner of the ancient temple, in which one of the oldest icons with the image of St. Nicholas, according to legend, brought by Vladimir from Korsun.
Third Temple (1842-1928)
In 1824, Metropolitan Eugene (Bolkhovitinov) ordered to clear the foundation of the Tithe Church. The Kiev amateur archaeologist K. A. Lokhvitsky, and then the St. Petersburg architect N. E. Efimov first discovered the plan of the foundations, found the remains of marble, mosaics, frescoes. 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 Russian-Byzantine style and did not repeat the original architecture of the ancient Church of the Tithes. During the construction, the church of Metropolitan Peter the Mohyla of the 17th century was completely dismantled, as well as about half of the foundations of the temples of the century preserved by that time. The construction of the temple cost 100 thousand gold rubles. The iconostasis was made up of copies of the icons of the iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, created by the artist Borovikovsky. On July 15, 1842, the new Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God was consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev, Archbishop Nikanor of Zhytomyr and Bishop Joseph of Smolensk.
