The history of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Batyushkovo, Dmitrovsky district (XVII-XIX centuries)

Chuvilkina Yuliya Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0002-1801-2785 PhD in Cultural Studies Senior Researcher at the State Historical and Art Museum "New Jerusalem" 143500, Russia, Moscow region, Istra, Novo-Ierusalimskaya emb., 1. chuvilkina.julia@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Image 1. Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (St. Nicholas Church) in the village Batyushkovo, Moscow region (1952). Personal archive of A. N. Kalinina.

This article will focus on the architectural monument, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built in the village of Batyushkovo, Dmitrovsky district in the XVII century. The pillar-less, brick-built temple has a closed vault and five chapters, has a two-tiered tent bell tower and a refectory connecting it with the church. Portals and windows are decorated with carved platbands with a keeled top. The building was partially rebuilt in the 19th century, renovated in the 1970s. The architecture of the temple is characteristic of the Moscow patrimonial (Posadsky) architecture of the middle of the XVII century.

One of the first people who became interested in the history of this region were the brothers V. and G. Kholmogorov, who at the beginning of the XX century published "Historical materials on churches and villages of the XVI-XVIII centuries."^[4]. No less important publications are the works of Tikhomirov M. N. "The city of Dmitrov: from the foundation of the city to the half of the XIX century"^[14], "The Russian state of the XV-XVII centuries"^[15].

The first information about the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Batyushkovo dates back to 1627. This year, the village was bought or received as a dowry for his wife (nee Batyushkova) by the clerk Ivan Minich Nesterov [Nesterov Ivan Minich is the head of the siege, the provincial head in Dmitrov, was in charge of the court there (1616), the clerk of the Streletsky and Foreign orders]. In the following 1628, the nobleman Mikhail Danilovich Batyushkov [Kostromich Mikhail Danilovich Batyushkov is recorded in the Yard Notebook (1537)] gave the Grigorkovo wasteland to the church "according to his soul"^[4].

The church in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker with the chapel of Sergius of Radonezh was at that time, apparently, wooden and very small (according to the parish salary books of the patriarchal State order, the tribute for 1628 was only "half a third of altyn" (0.5 kopecks), and there were so few parishioners that only the main St. Nicholas Church was used for divine services - The chapel was turned into an archive and a sacristy. The new owner of the village actively undertook the reconstruction of the property, populated it with new serfs, peasants, as a result of which the expansion of the church was required ^{[1, l.14]}.

In 1635, the patriarchal state order sealed the "blessed letter on the petition of deacon Ivan Nesterov" - apparently, at the same time a new chapel was consecrated in the name of the martyr "Mina the Egyptian - holy" Father Ivan Minich, since there is a note in the parish salary books of the order about a one-time fee received for the three-altar church - ten altars. In addition to the addition of the chapel in the church, there were obviously significant alterations^[4].

In 1642-1676, the village of Batyushkovo was the patrimony of Ivan Minich Nesterov's son, the Duma nobleman Afanasy Ivanovich Nesterov. During this period, the village is flourishing: in 1666, a stone three-altar church was built in it in the name of the same saints ^{[4, p.198]}.

Afanasy Ivanovich Nesterov^[22] - a confidant of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, served as a solicitor, was a duma nobleman. He was married to Evdokia Ivanovna Nesterova. He participated in diplomatic trips to Sweden, represented the interests of the state in Poland and Turkey, and served as a voivode in Arkhangelsk. He was a comrade of the ringmaster and armourer B. M. Khitrovo. In 1677 Khitrovo bought the village of Batyushkovo.

Bogdan Matveyevich Khitrovo is one of the most influential people of his era. In the last decades of his life, he was in charge of the Armory, which included the Armory Order, the Order of Gold and Silver Affairs, and the Icon Order. Russian Russian Museum has done a lot for the development of the main Russian treasury: during this period, a school of Russian icon painting was established at the Armory, armory and jewelry workshops operated.

Practically nothing is known about the state of the church during the period of its ownership. B. M. Khitrovo bought the village at an advanced age, at the end of his turbulent political activity. He probably had no desire to rebuild anything in a well-maintained property chosen to his liking. It is only known for certain that during the reign of B. M. Khitrovo, church utensils and bells were replaced in the said church ^{[1, l.14]}.

After the death of B. M. Khitrovo, the village passed to his widow, Maria Ivanovna Khitrovo (?-1693), nee Lvova (former widow of Prince Yu. P. Buynosov - Rostovsky), and after her death, for lack of heirs, it was sold to one of the courtiers of the pre-Petrine period, Prince F. S. Urusov.

Fyodor Semyonovich Urusov, in turn, was one of the confidants of Tsar Fyodor III Alekseevich. He became a boyar on his wedding day to Fekla Grushetskaya, the sister of Agafia Grushetskaya (the first wife of the tsar). Thus, the influence of the Urusovs at the court increased significantly. F. S. Urusov constantly accompanies the sovereign on trips, is appointed first as a voivode in Novgorod, then as the head of the Reitar, Foreign and Pushkar orders, directs military reforms in the early years of Peter I's reign. After Urusov's death, the village of Batyushkovo passed to his widow. ^{[1, l.14]}

Table 1: "The owners of the village of Batyushkovo in the XVII century."

In 1718, Urusov's widow, Princess Fekla Semyonovna Urusova (Grushetskaya), gave the village to her daughter, Princess Maria Feodorovna Kurakina. Maria Feodorovna's daughter, Ekaterina Borisovna Kurakina (wife of Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1694-1727)), sold the village to Ivan Ilyin Syanov in 1726^[4].

There is no historical information about the state of the church for the period from XVII to the beginning of XIX. However, it can be assumed that the church, provided with proper care and timely maintenance, hardly needed alterations and alterations.

At the beginning of the XVIII century, the village of Batyushkovo changed owners five times. These circumstances could not have a favorable effect on the state of the church. In 1726, the new regular owner of the village, N. I. Syanov, died almost immediately after its acquisition. After that, Batyushkovo was in the hands of his heirs for many years (no less than until 1751, the village was owned by Syanov's widow Praskovya Fedorovna, with her daughter Stepanida Ivanovna; then, no less than until 1785, by S. I. Tarakanova (ur. Syanova) ^[4].

S. I. Tarakanova's husband, Captain Ivan Vasilyevich Tarakanov, had an ancient family, known since the XVII century. His family owned the village of Tarakanovo in the Dmitrov district, in which they built the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. The Tarakanov family had two houses in Moscow. At the expense of Stefanida Ivanovna, the Church of the Little Ascension on Bolshaya Nikitskaya was repaired and rebuilt in 1764. The couple had no children ^[21].

During this period, the church belfry in the village of Batyushkovo was replaced by a bell tower (most likely - before 1743 - the oldest bell dates from this year). There was obviously no general repair of the church in the XV century ^{[1, l.14]}.

Information about the owners of the village in the second half of the XVIII - early XIX century is sketchy: from the metric books we can only find out surnames and initials, which do not always give an idea of the status and type of activity of the owner. Apparently, during this period there was a fragmentation of the territory between several owners. So, in 1784, we find mention of the owner, colonel and nobleman Ivan Tikhonovich Tishkov^[17] (he received the estate no earlier than 1767). In 1779, he was elected Leader of the local nobility^[12]. In 1788-1791, he was a county deputy of the nobility of Dmitrov County. In 1789, he was a class official^[13].

Already in 1785, a certain landowner P. F. Silkova owned the village^[20].

Table 2: "The owners of the village of Batyushkovo in the XVIII century."

The revision tale of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Batyushkovo dated July 19, 1811 gives information that in 1811 ^{[11, l.1]} the village was owned by Elizabeth Andreevna Arakcheeva. E. A. Arakcheeva - the mother of Count Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev, one of the confidants of Paul I and Alexander I, the Minister of War and reformer. "She was the wife of Lieutenant Andrei Andreevich Arakcheev, who was "of an obscure and poor family." His military career did not work out, and after serving for ten years in the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky regiment, he retired only with the rank of lieutenant, which did not allow him to claim a pension. Andrey Andreevich returned to his homeland, where he barely made ends meet, owning two dozen serfs and a small village..."^[19]. Elizaveta Andreevna was also from a family of small-scale nobles, by that time greatly impoverished. Her mother, Nadezhda Yakovlevna Vetlitskaya (ur. Tishkova), apparently, was a relative of the previous owner of Batyushkovo, I. T. Tishkov, as a result of which Arakcheeva received the estate, living out the last years of her life in it.

In 1816, Prince Andrey Andreevich Golitsyn bought most of the estate. The second part of the estate was owned by Captain Mikhail Ilyich Durnov (o) ^[4]. Confession sheets and metric books of the church mention A. A. Golitsin as the owner in 1820, 1821, 1833, 1836, 1850^[5]. It is not known when part of the estate of M. I. Durnov (in) was sold to them, however, it is known that Mikhail Ilyich Durnovo was the son-in-law of A.A. Golitsyn. He was married to his daughter, Elizaveta Andreevna Durnovo (ur. Golitsyna), who died in 1827. Apparently, after the death of his daughter and, consequently, the termination of the marriage, the life paths of the father-in-law and son-in-law diverged, and part of the estate was resold.

In the 1820s, the estate gradually fell into disrepair, and the church was in poor condition, it can be assumed that this lasted for quite a long time. Even the western part, recently fortified in connection with the construction of the bell tower, which rested on the wall, was destroyed. The western pillars of the bell tower were reinforced with buttresses. The eastern altar part was in such a state of disrepair that, apparently, it could not be strengthened. The apses were simply dismantled, their brick (along with the new brick) it was used in new construction^[16].

From the report of the church priest, it can be seen that the picture of disasters was terrifying: in the main church - "the iconostasis was twisted and prone to fall", "in the altar in a high place above the window there are 8 large gray hairs", "the vault began to fall, even it glows through, there is also a great danger above the altar from those gray hairs", altars both chapels are so dilapidated that they are dangerous for "the priesthood." The service had to be banned first in the St. Sergius chapel, then in the entire church. The village, apparently, is very impoverished. Its owner, Prince A. A. Golitsyn, avoided repairing the church for many years ^{[1, l.16]}.

In 1849 ^[5] there is a mention of V. A. Dregalova, as a co-owner of A. A. Golitsin in the village of Batyushkovo. There are discrepancies in the sources: in different records she is referred to as the titular adviser of V. A. Dregalov, then as the collegiate assessor Varvara Ivanovna Dregalova ^{[4, p.198]}. Nevertheless, the data on its existence is confirmed by the presence in the Dmitrovsky Kremlin Museum- reserve of drawings of the St. Nicholas Church by the famous architect Vasily Grigoryevich Dregalov (1792-1858). Apparently, the Dregalovs were married and made efforts to repair the church.

Image 2. MBU "Dmitrovsky Kremlin Museum-Reserve". MZDK KP OF 11862 Architect Vasily Dregalov. Sketch of the southern facade of the church in the name of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Batyushkovo. 1853

Image 3. MBU "Dmitrovsky Kremlin Museum-Reserve". MZDK KP OF 11863 Architect Vasily Dregalov. Drawing of the section of the southern facade along the A. – V. (west-east) line of the Church of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Batyushkovo. 1853.

Image 4. MBU "Dmitrovsky Kremlin Museum-Reserve". MZDK KP OF 11864 Architect Vasily Dregalov. The plan of the church in the name of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Prince Golitsyn's Batyushkovo. 1853

During this period, two altars were built (with a very significant expansion) on the site of all three altars - the northern one, the side one - in the name of the martyr Mina, and the main one - in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker; a warm chapel in the name of Sergius of Radonezh was rebuilt from the south, and a covered porch with four columns was added to it; A four-pitched roof was replaced with kokoshniks, and the windows of the central light drum were laid^[10].

In 1850, the "Bulletin on the parishioners of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Batyushkovo who were not at confession"^[3] tells about the new owner - Varvara Yevgrafovna Chertova (nee Mosolova) ^[8]. The wife of the General of Infantry, Senator P. A. Chertov, she is a well-known philanthropist, a Cavalier Lady of the Order of St. Catherine, the founder of the Moscow Alexander-Mariinsky Institute, chairman of the Moscow Council of Orphanages, vice-chairman of the Ladies' Trusteeship for the Poor. Through her efforts, almshouses and house temples, shelters and shelters for the terminally ill are being created in Moscow. Whether Prince A. A. Golitsin remains the owner of the estate after 1850 is unknown.

In 1862, the owner of the village was the maiden Alexandra Grigoryevna Tovarova (there are discrepancies in the sources - A. A. Tovarova is also present) ^[9]. Tovarova A. G. is the daughter of collegiate assessor Grigory Grigoryevich Tovarov (1786-1839) and Countess Praskovya Ivanovna Tolstoy (1801-?), was a Moscow philanthropist, at the end of the XIX century she owned an estate in Maly Kiselny Lane.

The records of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the village of Batyushkovo for 1872, 1876, 1880^[6] indicate that during this period the estate was owned by Sergei Dmitrievich Shiryaev (1811-1891) ^[18]. The personality of the merchant of the 1st guild, the Moscow mayor, deserves special attention. The hereditary honorary citizen won national love for his useful deeds for the city. His main business was the trade in manufactured and paper goods in Kitay-Gorod, but his vigorous social activity spread far beyond the industry. In different years of his life, Shiryaev was the treasurer of the Ladies' Trust for the Poor in Moscow, promoted the passage of railway tracks through Moscow, improved the work of the city police, and established a bank under the Moscow City Duma. Since 1860, he has been a member of the Moscow Art Society. S. D. Shiryaev was also an agent of the Moscow Committee for Begging, in 1856 he became a churchwarden at the Church of Peter and Paul, since 1861 - a member of the Commission on the revaluation of all estates in Moscow. He was a member of the Moscow Art and Industrial Museum, and was one of the flag bearers of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

It is difficult to explain why the church was so significantly expanded in the middle of the nineteenth century for such a small parish in the village of Batyushkovo. Perhaps the Shiryaevs were going to start some kind of "business" in the village.

Table 3 "Owners of the village of Batyushkovo in the XIX- beginning. XX centuries".

According to the residents of Batyushkov, we also know the last owners of the village. Starting in 1890, they were Dmitry Sergeevich (son of S. D. Shiryaev) and Lyudmila Semyonovna Shiryaev. D. S. Shiryaev had brothers - all of them were owners of several shops in Moscow ^{[1, l.18]}.

According to the memoirs of Maria Grigoryevna Gudkova, the former landowners (Shiryaev), who lived out their lives in the village after the revolution, were on good terms with the population. Residents considered it an honor to help them, and on the feast of Bright Easter, L. S. Shiryaeva gave all the girls of the village cotton fabrics from old stocks, from which in those years they had the only opportunity to sew new aprons for school uniforms. D. S. Shiryaev died shortly after 1917, he lived out the last years of his life in the family home Korshunov, in the village of Batyushkovo. According to the memoirs of the owner of the house, "the master often went hunting with him." Shiryaev's wife died around 1922.

After the revolution, in the 1930s, the church, like many others, was closed, and the church property was nationalized. The church building served as a warehouse of the local state farm "Borets" for many decades. In 1997, it was again handed over to believers.

Currently, the church is operational, Sunday and festive services are held in it, the building has been restored.