St. Matthew’s Church

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Religious Architecture (see also Religion.Church)
Categories / Religion. Church/Places of Worship (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
ST. MATTHEW’S CHURCH, located at 35 Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street/ 5 Lenina Street, was located on Petrogradskaya Side. It was built in commemoration of capture of Narva by the Russian Army on 9 August, 1704 (the feast day of the Holy Apostle Matthew). In 1720, the wooden St Matthew’s Church was transferred from St. Peter and Paul Fortress to this site in the settlement of the Belozersky Infantry Regiment, and was consecrated. Shortly afterwards, the heated wooden Holy Virgin Intercession Church was constructed next to it. It was replaced by the five-dome stone church of the same name in the 1790s (architect L. I. Muller) and consecrated in 1806 as St. Matthew’s Church (the early 18th century iconostasis was taken from the demolished wooden church). Blessed Xenia was a parishioner of St Matthew’s Church. In 1889-90, two side-chapels were attached to the church and a two-tier bell tower was constructed (architect G. I. Karpov). In 1910, the Congregation of Zealous Orthodox Believers of the Crucified Christ functioned at the St Matthew’s Church. From 1914, the building housed the first St. Petersburg Missionary Congregation of the Holy Resurrection. The charitable society patronised a women’s hospice and an orphanage. In 1923, the St Matthew’s Church acquired the status of a cathedral, in 1932 it was closed down and blown up, there is now a public garden in its place.

Reference: Антонов В. В., Кобак А. В. Святыни Санкт-Петербурга: Ист.-церков. энцикл. СПб., 1994. Т. 1. С. 192-194.

V. V. Antonov. Karpov Grigory Ivanovich
Miller Lavrenty Ivanovich
Xenia Blazhennaya (real name Petrova Xenia Grigorievna)
Bolshaya Pushkarskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 35
Lenina St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Антонов В. В., Кобак А. В. Святыни Санкт-Петербурга: Ист.-церков. энцикл. СПб., 1994 St. Peter and Paul fortress
St. Peter and Paul fortress