The Holy Trinity Cathedral () or the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, is a 19th-century Eastern Orthodoxy cathedral of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in
Dnipro
Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
, Ukraine.
Ludwig Charlemagne-Bode and Peter Visconti designed and erected the church. It was known as the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit or Trinity Church during most of the 1800s.
The cathedral has since become one of the city's historical landmarks.
Design
The cathedral is home to several shrines, including the icons of the
Holy Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
. Additionally, there are two crosses that contain fragments of the remains of saints who are honored in
Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...
. The
iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...
from the
Kazan Cathedral and the tomb from the St. Nicholas Bryansk Cathedral are two of the relics.
The cathedral is surrounded by trees and greenery.
Another notable feature of the Holy Trinity Cathedral is that, in 1909, new icons and paintings were painted by the renowned Ukrainian painter
Ivan Yizhakevych
Ivan Sydorovych Yizhakevych (; January 18, 1864 – January 19, 1962) was a Soviet and Ukrainian painter and writer, People's Painter of the Ukrainian SSR (1951).
Life, education and work
Yizhakevych was born in the village of Vyshnopil, Kiev Go ...
,
who specialized in
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...
and
Ukrainian folklore
Ukrainian folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Ukraine and among ethnic Ukrainians. The earliest examples of folklore found in Ukraine is the layer of pan-Slavic folklore that dates back to the ancient Slavic mythology of the Eas ...
.
History
Cossacks
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...
spent three years building the first church in
Novomoskovsk, from 1775 to 1778. To avoid polluting the sacred site, they made the decision to construct a wooden shrine devoid of any nails.
Back then, the church was a stone home with
Russian-Byzantine architectural details.
In commemoration of the
Our Lady of Kazan
''Our Lady of Kazan'', also called ''Mother of God of Kazan'' (), is a holy icon of the highest stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, representing the Virgin Mary as the protector and patroness of the city of Kazan, and a palladium of all o ...
, the church was erected on the location of the original city church. Forty years after its
consecration
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
on 15 January 1791, the small wooden church began to crumble, prompting the city's merchants to embark on a new building,
east of the Svyatodukhivska Church.
The city's merchants looked to Peter Visconti and
Ludwig Charlemagne-Bode, architects from
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
.
The church was known as the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit or Trinity Church during most of the 1800s.
The church building was dedicated in 1837.
The
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
, which at the time was
Katerynoslav's highest building, was first constructed in 1862. The new temple functioned as both a parish school and a city church. The bell tower and its structures were joined around the end of the 1800s. Subsequently, the
church parish school and the clergy homes were constructed.
Following the
1917 revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a civil war. It ...
, the
diocesan
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
bishop's department relocated to the cathedral following the closure of Transfiguration Cathedral. However, it was likewise shut down in 1934 due to the absence of parishioners. The crumbling church sprang back to life when Germany occupied it. The archbishop's throne and worship were reinstalled in it in November 1941. The Dnipropetrovsk Diocese's presiding bishop's office has been housed under the Holy Trinity Cathedral's vaults ever since.
The church was shut down in the 1930s as part of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
's
campaign against religion, then it served as a warehouse.
Since the
German occupation of the city in 1941, the cathedral began its first
divine services in 1941.
Clergy, cathedral rectors, diocesan bishops, and locals killed in 1941 during the Dnipropetrovsk bombing are interred on the cathedral grounds, alongside a
mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...
next to the cathedral. The renovation of the church officially starts in 1944.
Bishop Irenae has been a source of energy, dedication, and fervent support for the restoration effort that began in 1956 and has since gained personal attention. The exterior and internal decorations of the Trinity Cathedral, as well as the neighboring cathedral, have been restored thanks to the efforts of the rector, Archpriest Vladimir Aksyutin.
Another noteworthy event in the cathedral's history occurred in 1960 when the renowned confessor and confessor Archimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochokin), who started his pastoral career in the
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...
in 1920, returned to the cathedral after being exiled.
The cathedral building is completely rebuilt, and restoration work on the temple starts in the 1990s.
On 16 April 2023 there was a picket outside the cathedral. Protesters requested signatures on a petition to outlaw the denomination's operations in the city and in Ukraine. They also attempted to alert parishioners of the UOC's
pro-Russian leanings. The priest made an effort to speak with the action's participants despite not introducing himself, and questioned the campaigners.
Notable individuals have been drawn to the cathedral. Here, the academician
Dmytro Yavornytsky
Dmytro Ivanovych Yavornytsky (; November 6, 1855 – August 5, 1940) was a Ukrainian academician, historian, archeologist, ethnographer, folklorist, and lexicographer.
Yavornytsky was a member of (from 1885), of All-Russian Archaeological S ...
gathered objects for his scientific research and the
Dmytro Yavornytsky National Historical Museum of Dnipro. The cathedral took center stage in
Oles Honchar
Oleksandr "Oles" Terentiiovych Honchar (; []; 3 April 1918 – 14 July 1995) was a Soviet and Ukraine, Ukrainian writer and public figure. He also was a veteran of World War II and member of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian parliament.
Biograp ...
's book of the same name.
Gallery
File:Свято-Троїцька церква, Дніпропетровськ, Червона пл., 9.JPG, The cathedral's bell tower
File:Свято-Троицкий собор (Днепр) ночью Чуприна Вадим. А.jpg, The cathedral at night
File:Dnp ukr2013 05.JPG, Interior of the cathedral
File:Посеред забудови, що оточує.jpg, The cathedral seen from above
References
External links
{{Authority control
Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in Ukraine
19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings
Buildings and structures in Dnipro
19th-century churches in Ukraine
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) cathedrals
Tourist attractions in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Neoclassical church buildings in Ukraine