Description of the attraction
The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is located 120 km from St. Petersburg, in the Kingisepp District, in the old village of Kotly. The name of this village may have come from the "boilers" or pits that were used to cook tar, or from the nature of the area in the form of a hollow. In the vicinity of the village, there were vast deposits of brown iron ore, therefore, since the 15th century, most of the local residents have been engaged in iron ore mining, as well as forcing tar. At that time, Kotly became the center of the Kotelsky volost.
Since 1730, the Albrechts' estate was located in Kotly. She was rebuilt more than once. Her remains have survived in Kotly to this day. This ruined building with outbuildings and the remains of a once beautiful park dates back to 1820. The authorship of the stone two-story estate of the Albrechts with a belvedere belongs to the architect A. I. Melnikov (who also built St. Nicholas Church of the same faith in St. Petersburg). In these places, Christianity has spread since the 12th century. Until now, many burials with stone crosses have been preserved here. For example, next to the Catherine Cathedral in Kingisepp, there is a 12th century stone cross brought from the village of Voynosolovo from the grave of the servant of God Tarasiy (this is next to the Kotly).
In 1500, a population census was carried out in the Novgorod principality. The lands of the principality were divided into five. The parish was then in the Vodskaya pyatina ("vod" - the Finno-Ugric people). The Nikolskaya church is mentioned in the scribes of the Vodskaya pyatina.
In 1870, the Kotel peasants petitioned the Spiritual Consistory to build a church in their village, since the old one was already dilapidated. On the site of the dilapidated wooden St. Nicholas Church in the period from 1881 to 1888, donated by local peasants, as well as the Albrechts, the owners of the estate, according to the project of the architect N. N. Nikonov, a stone Nikolskaya church with one dome and a bell tower was built. It was executed in the Russian-Byzantine style. When the construction was completed, the temple was consecrated by Father John of Kronstadt. The church was built on the landlord's land, out of the blue. A stone fence was installed on the front side of the church.
In 1937, the temple was closed. In the period from 1941 to 1942, the German fascist invaders organized a concentration camp in Kotly; Soviet prisoners of war were kept in the premises of the church and nearby buildings. In 1942, during the German occupation, the church was given to the believers, but due to the absence of a priest, a nun, who arrived with the prisoners of war, performed the lay service.
In the period from 1945 to 1959, the services were conducted by different priests, the latter being Father Grigory Potemkin, who did a lot to restore the temple. In December 1959, the temple was closed, and in the period from 1960 to 1991 there was a village club.
In May 1991, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was returned to the believers. It has been renovated. In the church there is a reliquary with a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - the same as in Staraya Ladoga, in the St. Nicholas Monastery. The local pious ascetic Yekaterina Zharova is buried near the altar of the church. Even as a teenager, her parents sent her to a small monastery near Koporye, where she lived for 39 years. In 1917, after the closure of the monastery, she made a pilgrimage on foot to Jerusalem, as well as to other shrines. God rewarded Catherine with the gift of clairvoyance. During the Great Patriotic War, she prophesied that the victory over Nazi Germany would occur in the year when Easter coincides with the holiday of St. George the Victorious, which happened on May 9, 1945. The ascetic asked to be buried next to the church in Kotly. And so they did. And now people from different places come here to pray.
There is a holy spring nearby in the village of Pillovo.
