Church of All Saints at Kulishki () is one of the oldest churches in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, located at 2

Slavyanskaya Square Slavyanskaya Square () is a square in central Moscow, renamed in 1924–1990 as northern side of Nogina Square (Площадь Ногина); the southern side of Soviet-era Nogina Square reverted to its old name Varvarka Gates Square (Площ ...

. A notable feature of the church is its leaning bell-tower.

History

The first wooden church at this place was built by

Dmitry Donskoy Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (; 12 October 1350 – 19 May 1389) was Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 until his death. He was the heir of Ivan II. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol ...

most likely in 1380 after the

Battle of Kulikovo The Battle of Kulikovo () was fought between the forces of Mamai, a powerful Mongol military commander of the Golden Horde, and Russian forces led by Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, Dmitry of Moscow. The battle took place on 8 September 1380, at Ku ...

. In the 14th century, the place chosen for the church was far away from the border of Moscow and the word ''kulichki'' became a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

for ''at the world's end'' or ''in the middle of nowhere'', but now it is at the historical center of Moscow. The church was completely rebuilt in stone in 1488 and again in the Muscovite Baroque style in 1687–1689. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, the church was looted. In 1930, it was closed and used in the 1930s by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

as the place of mass executions. In 1975, the building was transferred to the Museum of History of Moscow and in 1991, it was returned the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. In 1994, here was placed the cross in the memory of victims of Soviet repressions. On March 31, 1999, the

metochion A ''metochion'' or ''metochi'' ( or ; ) is an ecclesiastical embassy church within Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is usually from one autocephalous or autonomous church to another. The term is also used to refer to a parish representation (or ...

of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria was moved from

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

to Moscow and was placed in the Church of All Saints. On November 25, 2019, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia suspended the work of the Alexandria metochion in Moscow. The reason was the recognition of the

Orthodox Church of Ukraine The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (; OCU), also called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is an Eastern Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It was granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on . Some of the Eastern Orthodox Churche ...

by the Patriarch of Alexandria. On October 11, 2021, by the decree of Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Leonid (Gorbachov) of Yerevan and Armenia was appointed rector of the All Saints church on Kulishki in Moscow. On December 30, 2021, Archbishop Leonid (Gorbachov) announced that the church was designated for the administrative needs of the newly formed Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa.

References

External links

Official information

Official web-site of Church of All Saints, in Russian
{{coord, display=title, 55, 45, 12, N, 37, 38, 6, E Churches in Moscow Churches completed in 1689 Towers completed in 1689 Greek diaspora in Russia Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria Russian Orthodox church buildings in Russia Inclined towers 1689 establishments in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow