Description of the attraction
John Chrysostom Church, or the temple in the name of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, is an Orthodox church in the historical center of the city of Kostroma. It stands on Lavrovskaya Street, 5. In the Soviet years it was not closed and for more than three decades it was the cathedral of the Kostroma diocese.
For the first time, information about the St. John Chrysostom Church is found in 1628. At the beginning of the 17th century in this area there was an ensemble of two churches built of wood: "winter" - in honor of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus (which served as the name of Lavrovskaya street) and "summer" - in the name of John Chrysostom. In the Kostroma scribe it is said that "in Zlatoustenskaya Street in Kuznetsy, the church is a dumpling of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, and the church site is John Chrysostom." The latter, at the time of compiling the scribe, probably died in a fire, leaving behind a so-called church site.
In the 17th century, the wooden church of St. John Chrysostom was rebuilt, and in the 1750s a 5-headed stone church appeared in its place, which was consecrated in 1751.
The stone Ioanno-Zlatoust and the wooden Floro-Lavrovskaya churches stood not far from each other for about 4 decades. St. John Chrysostom Church was "cold", therefore, in winter, services were held in the wooden church of Flora and Lavra. It finally fell into disrepair by the end of the 18th century. After that, 2 "warm" side-chapels were added to the Church of St. John 3latoust and a bell tower on the western side. These side-altars, each completed with a small chapter (the church has 7 chapters in total), were consecrated in 1791.
During the all-Russian expropriation of temple values in the spring of 1922, about 120 kilograms of silver items were seized from the St. John Chrysostom Church: sacred vessels, frames for icons and icon lamps.
At the same time, the historical cathedrals of the former Kostroma Kremlin fell into the hands of the renovationists, and the church in honor of the holy prophet Elijah became the new cathedral. When in the fall of 1929 it was also abolished, the church of St. John Chrysostom became the cathedral.
In 1959, Bishop Sergiy (Kostin) of Kostroma was buried in the church fence.
In 1964, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ on Debra became the cathedral of Kostroma, and the Church of St. John Chrysostom became a registered one (during the reign of NS Khrushchev, the state was preparing it for closure and demolition). It became an independent parish church only in 1966.
As far as the architecture of the temple is concerned, the first stone church was five-domed, pillarless and one-apse, built in the traditions of pre-Petrine architecture. But in its appearance it was already possible to trace the Baroque style, which took root in Russian architecture in the early 1700s. The new side-altars (each on an octagonal drum) and a three-tiered bell tower, completed with a high spire, were added at the end of the 18th century, were built in the style of early classicism.
Currently St. John Chrysostom Church is active. The rector of the temple is Archpriest Valery Bunteyev.
