From a book I was reading back home on martyrs of the
Ukrainian Catholic church there were approximately 80,000 churches in Ukraine
before the October Revolution. Today
there are fewer than 8,000. I don’t know
of that surviving ten percent what number are government buildings or
museums. From reading through Old
Mariupol and walking around town I’ve discovered three of those churches
destroyed during the Soviet times.
Church of Mary
Magdalene
Church of Mary Magdalene is now Theater Square and the
public gardens. This is the high point
along Lenin Avenue where the road splits with the public garden in the
middle. Now there is a nice fountain, a
classic theater building built in 1960 and then an open square. Becky and I often finished our nights here either
shooting an AK-47 pellet gun or getting an ice cream from the Polish\Ukrainian
couple in the blue tent. The park has a
little carnival atmosphere every night as long as there is no rain. There are karaoke machines, punching\kicking
bags, and even a hammer thermometer.
From Old Mariupol: “Years have gone out to build a new
church. Three chapels crowned this magnificent temple. The main limit was in
honor of Mary Magdalene, right in the memory of the Protection of the Blessed.
Mary, left - in honor of St. John the Baptist. According to the recollections
of old residents, were kept in the church altarpieces icon of the Savior's
time, and an old, beautifully embroidered shroud. The yard was in 1897. In the
same memorable year in October, arrived in Mariupol Bishop Simeon, bishop of
Ekaterinoslav Taganrog "in order to survey the church and the school
district of Mariupol." October 16, 1897 Simon consecrated the new temple
of the Holy Equal of the Apostles of Mary - Mary Magdalene and the Divine Liturgy
celebrated. It also held all-night vigil, and the church took its full life.
The next day, October 17, his Eminence was consecrated by Chief Simeon limit of
Mary of Magdala, the church and the Divine Liturgy.” [sic. Google Translation]
The above picture shows the Church of Mary Magdalene looking
west and up Lenin Avenue from where the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Harlampy
would have looked over the Kalmius river port area. It would have been sometime around the end of
the nineteenth century. Our adoption
apartment building is a third or less way up the hill on the left side of the
street with the black roof (maybe I think).
These two churches would have made for nice anchors between the harbor
area where the city was founded and the high point of the growing city.
Sometime in the year 1934 the church was dynamited by the
state.
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| The square today |
Cathedral of St.
Harlampy (СОБОР СВЯТОГО ХАРЛАМПИЯ)
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| From the Hotel Continental |
From Old Mariupol: “The
main altar was consecrated in the name of the martyr Harlampy, right aisle - in
honor of the miraculous icon in the name of the Great and George the
Victorious, and the left - in the name of Saint. Nicholas, taking into account
that "the saint is venerated Russian parishioners." This temple was
the largest in the city, accommodating more than five thousand people. [sic.
Google Translate]
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| From St. Catherine's Church |
The cathedral was destroyed in 1930. In its place is now an eight story government
building in the Soviet style “DOSAAF - Voluntary Society of Assistance to the
Army, Air Force and Navy, the aim of which was in Soviet times, promote the
country's defense and the training of workers to defend the Fatherland. Among
the inhabitants of Mariupol building now bears the same name, although at
present there are offices of various organizations.”
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| Older file photo of the present building |
“In the original draft it was supposed to be a four and is
said to builders, extended in a straight line: thus, they say, would be cheaper
for its construction. When the project has shown the first secretary of Party
Committee V.M.Tsybulko, he said, after some hesitation, he asked: "What
used to be on the site, where you're going to put the house of the
military-technical school?" They showed him the pre-revolutionary postcard
with a picture of the Cathedral of St.. Harlampy. "You see, the architects
of the past knew how to decorate the city, and your work only brings boredom.
Make the main avenue of the city began with a perceptible building high-rise.
" If after this conversation, and there was eight-vertical box with two
wings of four stories each.”
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| Looking down Lenin Avenue |
Church of St.
Catherine
The Church of St. Catherine (originally St. Harlampy) was
the original Greek church that later became the Catholic church in Mariupol.. Buried there was Metropolitan Ignatius the man
who led the Greeks in the Sea of Azov, on the eastern custom, in a sitting
position. Before destroying the church
the tomb was opened and the chair removed display in a museum. Another interesting note at the start of the
report from Old Mariupol is the mention of the church cornerstone: “On the hottest day in 1780 a tireless
Metropolitan Ignatius laid on the site of a former Cossack Palanca Center
(Catholic) church for novoustroennogo Greek society.” [sic. Google
Translate]. Maybe I can find out more
about the Cossack and the Catholic references.
St. Catherine can been seen in the below to the left by a block or two
of the larger St. Harlampy.
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| From the Cathedral bell tower |
In reading about the construction of the larger and newer
Greek Cathedral to St. Harlampy I have figured out the above Catholic
reference. This church was first built
Greek Orthodox but was transferred to the Catholic community of Mariupol once
the new Cathedral (just a block away) was constructed. Until 2004 when Mary Mother of God church was
established there was no Catholic church in Mariupol. In Soviet Union the few churches that weren’t
destroyed or turned into state run museums were limited to private
worship. No ministry work like hospitals
or orphanages as that was all moved to the state. Does any of this sound familiar at all back
the US today?
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| Both chruches are visibile here Photo taken from the general direction of our apartment but south off Lenin |
Kaplichka
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| From the gardens (park) near the fountains |
There isn’t much on Old Mariupol about this church but from
the photo I can tell that it was just across the street from yesterday’s Church
of Mary Magdalene and today’s garden fountains.
In background of the photo you can see Mariupol’s Winter Palace the Hotel Continental (left) with the pointed corner roof and the cathedral at
the bottom of the street. That hotel is
kiddy corner from the building where our apartment it looks empty today. In 1932 kaplichku (chapel) was destroyed,
because "it hampered the movement of the toiling masses."
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| West from the fountains today |
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