Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) and its history

Volga cities for centuries were famous for their numerous Orthodox churches. The mighty river, which was the main navigable artery of the country, brought a considerable income and enabled pious inhabitants to erect on its shores marvelous monuments of orthodox architecture. One of them will be our conversation.

Intercession of the Queen of Heaven

One of the most revered shrines in Syzran is the icon of Kazan Mother of God, and it is no coincidence. In 1830, a terrible disaster struck the city - an epidemic of cholera, and only the intercession of the Queen of Heaven, which she manifested after the honest procession with her faith, put an end to the disaster.

Since then, it has become a custom in the city on the Volga on October 22 to perform the processions in commemoration of that momentous event. The very same icon was kept in a small wooden church, in place of which in July 1866 was laid a new stone Kazan Cathedral (Syzran). The necessity of construction was caused by the extreme dilapidation of the old church and the fact that due to the rapid growth of the city, its main church at that time, the Nativity of Christ, could not accommodate all pilgrims. The situation and the other three temples that existed in Syzran did not save the situation. A large and capacious cathedral was required.

Solving financial and other problems

To implement the plan, a trustee council was established, which, in addition to the rector of the future church, included the most respected and influential townspeople. Among them were representatives of the bureaucracy, able to provide assistance in the event of administrative difficulties, and merchants, personifying the material basis of the whole enterprise.

When in six years the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) was completed and consecrated, the final calculation of the funds expended during this period showed that of the seventy thousand rubles spent for construction, almost ten percent were received as a result of the lug collection. This is a fairly large amount, given that it consisted of five-copeck coins and ten-kopecks made by ordinary townspeople and the local poor. The main part of the expenses went to the diocesan treasury and voluntary donors from the environment of the Volga merchant class, which for centuries was famous for its zeal in the affairs of piety.

Picturesque decoration of the temple

At the time when the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) was still gaining its future outlines, the creation of eighty-seven icons for the design of its interior and main facade began. This grandiose work was commissioned to the icon painter from the village of Palekh NM Safronov. At the same time, a carved iconostasis was created, which was to accommodate the works of the Palekh master.

In 1880, when the walls of the newly erected cathedral gave the necessary shrinkage, Moscow painters E. Antonov and A. Storozhenko were invited to the city on the Volga. They made a painting of the walls of the interior of the temple, combining the usual in such cases biblical scenes with a rich decorative ornament.

Further plans for the parish

After the completion of the works, the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) became one of the most visited in the city. As evidenced by the preserved temple chronicle, at the end of the XIX century, its arrival numbered nearly nine hundred people, among whom were representatives of the most diverse social strata of society. Even several schismatics are mentioned.

Pious parishioners decided to give their cathedral even greater splendor, and with this purpose in 1882 they undertook the construction of a bell tower and an annex to the main building of the refectory. Money was collected again by the whole world, and the shortest amount, as in the previous time, was made by rich donors.

The disaster that befell the city

Both buildings were completed and consecrated in the same way in eight years, but the transfer of bells from the old bell tower to a new one for a number of reasons was carried out only in May 1906. On the day of the celebrations held on this occasion, no one suspected that in just two months the city would suffer the greatest misfortune in its history.

July 5, 1906 in the city a terrible fire broke out, destroying a significant number of its buildings and costing the lives of many residents. Fortunately, the Lord did not allow fire to spread to a newly built holy object, and the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) was not damaged.

In the years of timelessness and modern life

After the revolution, the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran), whose history in many ways resembles the fate of most of the temples and monasteries of Russia of those years, was closed. But the God-fighting authorities did not stop at this - in the following years the remaining fifteen city churches stopped working. Only in the war years, together with a small number of Russian churches, the Kazan Cathedral (Syzran) was re-opened. The schedule of services appeared again on its doors, but it was extremely difficult to conduct them, because after only two and a half decades of desolation, only walls remained intact.

During the next fifty-two years, this temple was the only one functioning in the city, and only in the years of perestroika, churches and cathedrals that had been taken away from the faithful began to open one by one. Today, they again unite people in faith and serve the search for truth and good. As before, it strikes all the majestic beauty of the main temple of the city, which is rightly proud of Syzran, - the Kazan Cathedral.

The schedule of services posted on its doors and presented on Internet resources notifies that during the week the morning services begin at 8:00 and the evening services at 17:00. On Sundays and holidays, two liturgies are held: early at 7:00 and late at 9:00. The schedule of evening services remains unchanged.