Church of the Tithes

The Church of the Tithes or Church of the Dormition of the Virgin ( uk, Десятинна Церква, ) was the first stone church in Kyiv.Mariya Lesiv, ''The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation'', (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013), 105. Originally it was built by the order of Grand Prince Volodymyr (Volodymyr) the Great between 989 and 996 by Byzantine and local workers at the site of death of martyrs Theodor the Varangian and his son Johann. It was originally named the ''"Church of Our Lady"'', in honor of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The church was ruined in 1240 during the siege of Kyiv by Mongol armies of Batu Khan.

Volodymyr set aside a ''tithe'' of his income and property to finance the church's construction and maintenance, which gave the church its popular name.

On an initiative of the Metropolitan of Kyiv Eugene Bolkhovitinov, the church was rebuilt in the mid-19th century, but in 1928 it was once again destroyed by the Soviet regime.

Medieval church

By Volodymyr's order, the remains of his grandmother Princess Olga, the first Christian ruler of Rus', were reburied in this church.''The Notion of "Uncorrupted Relics" in Early Ukrainian Culture'', Gail Lenhoff, Christianity and the Eastern Slavs: Slavic cultures in the Middle Ages, Vol. I, ed. B. Gasparov, Olga Raevsky-Hughes, (University of California Press, 1993), 264. Volodymyr and his wife, Princess Anna, the sister of Byzantine Emperor Basil II, were also buried in the Church of the Tithes.

The church was seriously damaged in the fire of 1017 and was rebuilt by Yaroslav and rededicated in 1039.''The Earliest Mediaeval Churches of Kiev'', Samuel H. Cross, H. V. Morgilevski and K. J. Conant, Speculum, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct., 1936), 482. In 1044, Yaroslav would make the church a mausoleum for Kyivan princes, having the remains of Yaropolk and Oleg baptised and interred.

In 1171 and 1203, the church was sacked and in 1240 it was used by Kyivans as the last refuge while the city was being ravaged by the hordes of Batu Khan, when it finally collapsed from fire. Chernihiv's Saviour Cathedral (1036) is an extant structure supposed to reproduce the dimensions and exterior appearance of the original Church of the Tithes.

Replacement buildings

In the early 19th century, another metropolitan bishop, Eugene Bolkhovitinov, had the site excavated. Under his administration, a new church of the Tithes was built in stone (between 1828 and 1842). Its Russian Revival design by Vasily Stasov had little in common with the medieval original. In 1935 Stasov's church was destroyed by the Soviet authorities.

Plans for reconstruction

A plan to rebuild the church is under consideration in Kyiv. Proponents of reconstruction point out the historical and political importance of rebuilding a church so significant in Eastern Slavic history. Opponents refer to the lack of any documentary descriptions or depictions of the original church, and that excavations were unable to determine even the layout of its foundation. Besides, the monumental building of the new church is likely to be in disharmony with the delicate 18th-century St. Andrew's Church, one of the most famous landmarks of Kyiv, located adjacent to the original location of the destroyed Church of the Tithes. Its reconstruction would also require the destruction of the city's oldest tree, a 370-year-old linden.
On 3 February 2005, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, signed a decree on the restoration of the Tithe Church, to which the state budget provides nearly ₴90 million ($18 million). In 2006, an Orthodox tabernacle was established near Desyatynna church. In 2007, a wooden church was built in the location of the tabernacle, consecrated by Primate of the UOC Metropolitan Volodymyr on July 25 of that year.

On July 9, 2009, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it was decided to open the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Desyatynnyi monastery in Kyiv and appoint as governor Gideon Archimandrite (Charon). In January 2010, Kyiv's Head of Urban Planning, Architecture and Urban Environment Design, Sergii Tsilovalnyk, reported that a platform will be built on the ruins of the Tithe church to serve as a foundation for the new church, which will belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).Website Desyatinny Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

List of burials

Within its premises the church had a princely tomb.
* Pope Clement I
* Anna of Byzantium
* Vladimir the Great
* Olga of Kiev, reburied from Vyshhorod
* Yaropolk I of Kiev
* Oleg of the Drevlyans

The remnants of Anna of Byzantium and Vladimir the Great were first reburied in the Church of the Saviour and later in the Dormition Cathedral of Kyiv Caves Monastery. Some remnants were reburied in the Saint Sophia's Cathedral.

External links

Church of the Tithes

3D-model of Church of the Tithes (1.33Mb)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tithes, Church of the
Former buildings and structures of Kyiv
10th-century churches
Vasily Stasov buildings and structures
Religious buildings and structures completed in 996
1240 disestablishments in Europe
Churches completed in 1842
Buildings and structures demolished in 1935
Demolished churches in Ukraine
Stone churches
Churches in Kyiv
Demolished buildings and structures in Kyiv
Volodymyrska Street