Description of the attraction
At the very edge of the city, in the part that was formerly called the Upper Posad, and which for many centuries was the largest Christian center of the region, there is the Lazarevskaya Gorbachev Church. In 1775, a decree was issued on the allotment of land for a new cemetery on Gorbaty Pole and on the construction of a temple on it. The cemetery and the church later became known by the name of the area, namely the Gorbachevskys.
In 1777, a winter church was erected, the right side-altar of the newly erected church was consecrated in the name of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki. The left side-altar of the temple was consecrated in the name of the great martyr Theodore Stratilates. At the request of the head of the church, Matvey Fedorovich Kolesov, who turned to the Vologda Archbishop Irenaeus, in 1790, or rather on May 1, the church was consecrated in the name of St. Lazarus the Righteous. Since that time, the church is officially called Lazarevskaya.
It was built of stone, had one floor and was located in a complex with a winter church and a bell tower. The summer church was single-domed, two small chapters decorated the winter one. The heads were wooden, upholstered with sheet iron, topped with forged crosses. A stone octahedral bell tower was added to the church. The bell tower had eight spans, ended with a stone tent and a cupola, which ended with a forged "osmotic" cross.
In the middle of the 19th century, the temple fell into decay, and there was a need to build a new temple. Since 1865, the then rector John Nikolaevich Anuryev began to deal with the troubles regarding the construction of a new church.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Church of St. Lazarus was rebuilt and acquired the form in which it has survived to our time in Vologda. It was built according to the project of the renowned architect, a native of Vologda, Vladimir Nikolaevich Shilknecht. And since 1879, a new period of the existence of the Lazarevskaya church is born. In 1880, a new church gate made of stone, designed by V. N. Schilknecht. In April 1882, a decree followed, authorizing the construction of a new cold church at the Gorbachev cemetery. A construction committee is established. The foundation stone of the temple took place in 1883 on May 8. During the summer period, the church walls were erected, and the building itself was covered with iron. In the summer of 1885, the floor in the new church was made of a Putilov stone slab, which was particularly durable.
In the spring of 1886, work was underway to dismantle the old bell tower and the dilapidated chambers adjacent to it. On April 9, bricklaying of the new bell tower began on the newly prepared foundation. Construction work on both the bell tower and the temple was completed by the spring of 1887. And on May 31, the same year in the week of All Saints, the newly erected church was consecrated in the name of Saint Lazarus the Righteous Four-Day. At the beginning of the 20th century, the walls in the temple were painted with the faces of saints, the painting has survived to the present day.
In connection with the resolution of the city council in August 1937, the church was closed, however, meeting the requests of believers and church communities, in 1938 the authorities transferred the church building to the renovationists, who, in principle, contributed to its closure. The church service was revived only in October 1945. In the 90s, a major overhaul of the temple building was carried out: the roof was blocked, crosses were fixed, the wooden floor was replaced with a tiled one, the iconostasis was renewed and the construction of the church house was activated.
The Church of Saint Righteous Lazarus is located on the outskirts of the city. This remoteness has its own uniqueness. This is the place for unhurried and reverent prayer.
