Prophet Elijah Church (Scharkent)

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The Church in Honor of the Prophet Elijah ( Russian Храм во имя Пророка Божия Илии ) is a Russian Orthodox church building in the Kazakh city ​​of Sharkent . The wooden church , built in 1892, belongs to the Astana and Almaty eparchy .

history

Just a few months after Scharkent was founded in 1882, the local Cossacks raised the question of building a church in the village. They were supported in their endeavors by Pavel Belojarow, a clergyman from Gulja . Belojarov himself contributed several thousand rubles for the construction, and a businessman also donated money. However, as these donations were insufficient, the construction of the church was delayed. After the construction of the Scharkent mosque began in 1887, construction work also began on the Russian Orthodox Church. After around five years of construction, the structure was completed in 1892. It was consecrated on December 22, 1900.

When the Bolsheviks came to power , religious activities were increasingly exposed to state persecution and many places of worship were closed. In 1918 the priest and 14 other townspeople were executed in the Scharkent cemetery by Red Army soldiers . The building was then used first as a grain store, then as a sports hall for a local educational school. Over the years the building deteriorated increasingly. In 1991 the building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. It was re-consecrated on July 26, 1994 by the Archbishop of Almaty and Semipalatinsk. In the following years it was restored.

description

The building is made of Tien Shan spruce on a limestone foundation . The outer and inner walls are plastered. The floor plan corresponds to the shape of a cross . There is a larger main dome on the roof, which is surrounded by four smaller domes at the corners of the structure. A bell tower is built on the west side . There are crosses made of gilded iron on the five domes and the bell tower. In the church are the relics of the holy martyr Vasily, the priest of Sharkent, who was shot together with 14 other people in 1918.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Маленькая родина: Жаркент - восточные ворота. , accessed April 26, 2020 (Russian).
  2. ↑ Храм во имя Пророка Божия Илии, город Жаркент. mitropolia.kz, accessed April 26, 2020 (Russian).

Coordinates: 44 ° 10 ′ 9.3 ″  N , 79 ° 59 ′ 47.3 ″  E