Description of the attraction
The nearby temples of Theodore Stratilates and the Archangel Gabriel are called a single architectural ensemble, although their "age difference" is as much as a hundred years. The Church of the Archangel Gabriel was built in 1707 by order of Peter's closest associate Alexander Menshikov, and the temple of Fyodor Stratilates was founded around 1806.
According to one version, the Church of Theodore Stratilates was founded as an independent temple, and according to the other - as an "attachment" to the Menshikov Tower, which required a bell tower. Also, among the researchers of the architectural heritage of the capital, there is no consensus about who was the author of the project of the temple - Ivan Yegotov or Ivan Starov.
Initially, the main altar of the temple was consecrated in the name of the great martyr Theodore Tiron, and the chapel in honor of Saint Theodore Stratilates was built only at the beginning of the 19th century. Both saints lived in the III-IV centuries and were warriors, only Tyrone is revered as the patron saint of horsemen, and Stratilat - as the patron saint of the Christian army.
One of the Moscow legends claims that in 1812 the church did not burn down only because Fyodor Klyucharev, the director of the Post Office, to which the church belonged, bribed the French. The post office building was not damaged for the same reason. By the way, the Post Office was located in the palace, which also once belonged to Alexander Menshikov.
During the second half of the 19th century, the temple was renovated and rebuilt: a chapel was erected in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Unexpected Joy", dilapidated vaults were repaired, the walls were decorated with paintings. It was then that the consecration of the main altar of the church in the name of Fyodor Stratilates took place.
Under the Bolsheviks, the temple was closed in the 30s, but already at the end of the 40s, the buildings of both temples (Fedor Stratilates and Archangel Gabriel), at the request of Patriarch Alexy the First, were transferred to the churches to create an Antioch courtyard. Since then, the temples have not been closed.
In Moscow, both churches are located in Arkhangelsky lane, named after the temple of the Archangel Gabriel.
