St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow

Last updated
St Andrew's Anglican Church
N.A.Naidenov (1884). Views of Moscow. 58. Anglican crop.png
A view of St Andrew's Anglican Church
St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow
55°45′30″N37°36′17″E / 55.7582°N 37.6048°E / 55.7582; 37.6048
Address Moscow
CountryRussia
Denomination Anglican
Website moscowanglican.org
History
Status Church
Consecrated 1885
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s) Richard Knill Freeman
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic Revival
Completed1884
Specifications
Materials Brick
Administration
Diocese Europe

St Andrew's Anglican Church in Moscow is the sole Anglican church in Moscow, and one of only three in Russia (The Anglican Church in St Petersburg was established 1723 [1] ). It continues the tradition of Anglican worship in Moscow that started in 1553 when Tsar Ivan the Terrible first allowed the English merchants of the Russia Company permission to worship according to their own beliefs. The Russia Company, now operating mainly for charitable purposes, continues to financially support the Anglican Church in Moscow through the congregation of St Andrew's.

Contents

The current church building dates from 1883 and the parsonage from 1894. During the October Revolution in 1917 the church tower was used as a machine gun post by the Bolsheviks. The church was confiscated in 1920 and the chaplain expelled from Russia. During Soviet rule the church and parsonage were used as a hostel for girls and to house diplomats from Finland and Estonia. Starting in 1964 the state record company Melodiya used the church as a recording studio. Services returned on 15 July 1991, and during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 October 1994 the Russian government agreed to return the building to religious use. Melodiya vacated the premises in 2001.

Early history

Some early records are available through the Russia Company archives in London's Guildhall, [2] and from records sent to the Bishop of London. [3]

External videos
Anglikanskaia tserkov' Sviatogo Andreia 02.jpg
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg St Andrews Overview, 6:31, St. Andrews Anglican Church Moscow [4]

The first Anglican worship in Moscow may have been held in the Old English Yard, now on Varvarka Street, the center of the Russia Company in Moscow. The first English church building in Russia was probably built in Arkhangelsk in the 17th century, with its chaplain serving both Arkhangelsk and Moscow from 1705. In 1754, with most foreigners in Russia residing in the new capital, St. Petersburg, the Moscow congregation was served by the chaplain from St. Petersburg. Services were probably held in the Reformed Church in Moscow's German Quarter.

A c. 1860 photograph of the British Chapel, established in 1828 Kolychev House Anglican church.jpg
A c. 1860 photograph of the British Chapel, established in 1828

Sometime after the city burnt in 1812, services were held on Tverskaya Street in the palace of Princess Anne Aleksandrovna Golitsina. From 1817 to 1818 services were held in the home of the British Ambassador, Earl Cathcart. British, German, and French Protestants all attended the services about this time. In 1825, the Russia Company established an independent chaplaincy in Moscow, and Tsar Alexander I, in one of his last official acts, approved the establishment of a church on 7 September. A chapel was opened, or perhaps re-opened, on Tverskaya Street in November 1825 with 100 of 400 British residents attending. The Russia Company provided £200 to renovate the building, which sat 200 people, with an additional £100 promised annually. The annual expenses were estimated at 4,750 rubles. The Rev. Charles Barton (or Burlton) was appointed by the Russia Company as chaplain in 1825 and the British Chapel was built in 1828 on the current site of St. Andrew's, at 8 Voznesensky (Ascension) Lane. [5]

Angel at St. Andrew's holding a thistle, symbol of Scotland. Other angels at the church hold a rose, shamrock, and a leek, the symbols of England, Ireland, and Wales StAndyThis2.JPG
Angel at St. Andrew's holding a thistle, symbol of Scotland. Other angels at the church hold a rose, shamrock, and a leek, the symbols of England, Ireland, and Wales

By the 1880s the congregation had grown and a building larger than the chapel was needed. The Russia Company gave 25,000 rubles and the congregation raised 188,616 rubles to build the church. It was designed by Richard Knill Freeman, of Bolton, in the Victorian Neo-Gothic style.

At the time, the congregation was evenly divided between adherents of the Church of England and Scots who were members of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. As a compromise, the church was named after St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer was to be used. To emphasise establish St. Andrew's rôle as a church for the whole United Kingdom, national symbols of Scotland (the thistle), England (the rose), Ireland (shamrock), and Wales (the leek) are incorporated into the church architecture.

Jonathan Holt Titcomb, the Bishop of London's coadjutor for North and Central Europe, consecrated the church on 25 January (13 January Old Style) 1885. [6]

Jane McGill paid for the building of the parsonage in 1894. [7] In 1904 she founded St. Andrew's House for indigent governesses and other ladies, on nearby Tverskaya Street. [2]

Confiscation and renewal

During the October Revolution, Bolsheviks mounted a machine gun post in the church tower to stop troops of the Provisional Government from advancing toward the Kremlin. The Bolsheviks were dislodged on 29 October 1917. [6]

According to Herbert North, son of the Anglican chaplain Frank William North "we spent nearly a week in the basement with no light and little food. On emerging from the house at the end of the fighting we found many spent cartridges in the courtyard and two large pools of blood." [8]

St. Andrew's in 2009 Voznesensky 8-5 May 2009 cropped.jpeg
St. Andrew's in 2009

The church was confiscated in 1920 and the Chaplain, the Rev. Frank North, was expelled from Russia. He later served in Helsinki, officially as the Chaplain to Helsinki and Moscow. During the following 71 years, the Helsinki chaplain would occasionally conduct services at the British Embassy in Moscow.

The church and parsonage were used by the Soviets as a hostel for girls and to house diplomats from Finland and Estonia. [9] In 1964 Melodiya took over the church as a recording studio. Dmitry Shostakovich and Mstislav Rostropovich both recorded at Melodiya's St. Andrew's studio. [10]

Following perestroika, on 15 July 1991 the Helsinki Chaplain, the Rev. Tyler Strand, celebrated the first Eucharist at St. Andrew's since 1920. Regular services began soon after. The Rev. Canon Chad Coussmaker was appointed permanent Chaplain in 1993. The Rev. Dr Canon Simon Stephens served as Chaplain from 1999-June 2014. The current chaplain is Canon Malcolm Rogers.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the church on 19 October 1994 and agreed with Russian President Boris Yeltsin that the church would be returned. [11] Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the order to return the property to religious use, [12] though in Russia, all religious property is officially state owned, with the congregation only having the right to use the property. Chernomyrdin's order was not immediately effective, with the property re-registered to the state only in January 2008 [10] and Melodiya occupying parts of the property until about 2001.

Everyone is welcome to attend St. Andrew's, and the congregation includes people from Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Southern Sudan, Kenya and other countries with an Anglican heritage. Attendance is about 150 each Sunday and about 200 at Christmas and Easter. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Lyon Anglican Church is a church of the Anglican Archdeaconry of France, part of the Diocese of Europe and is run by the Intercontinental Church Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tverskoy District</span>

Tverskoy District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: 75,378 (2010 Census); 75,955 (2002 Census).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)</span> Historic church in Wisconsin, United States

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, or Iglesia Luterana San Pedro, is a historic church complex located in the Walker's Point neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Hotovitzky</span>

Alexander Hotovitzky (1872-1937) was a Russian Orthodox hieromartyr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of St Helena</span> Anglican see covering Saint and Ascension Islands in the South Atlantic

The Diocese of Saint Helena is an Anglican diocese within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It covers the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension in the Atlantic Ocean and was created in 1859. St Paul's Cathedral is on Saint Helena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kochurov</span> Russian saint

John Alexandrovich Kochurov, hieromartyr of the Soviet revolution, was one of a number of young educated priests who came to the United States in the late 1890s as missionaries among the émigrés from Carpathian Ruthenia and Galicia. He was active in establishing parishes and aiding communities, mainly in the Midwest. After returning to Russia he was assigned to Estonia where he put into action the teaching skills he learned in America before he was assigned in 1916 to Tsarskoe Selo. Here he was killed during the early days of the Bolshevik revolution. His feast day is celebrated on October 31. He is also commemorated on the Synaxis of the first martyrs of the American lands on December 12 and on the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, celebrated on the Sunday nearest to January 25, which was the date of the martyrdom of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, the first of the new martyrs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mark's Church, Versailles</span> Church in France

St. Mark's Church, Versailles, or St. Mark's, Versailles, is an Anglican church dedicated to Saint Mark in Versailles, France. It is one of the churches of the Diocese of Europe within the Archdeaconry of France. St. Mark's is under the patronage of the Intercontinental Church Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church, Bolarum</span> Protestant church located in Bolarum, Secunderabad, India

CSI-Holy Trinity Church is a church under the auspices of the Protestant Church of South India, a uniting Church. It is located in the Bolarum locality of Secunderabad Cantonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Moscow)</span> Neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral in Moscow

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary is a neo-Gothic Catholic church at Moscow's center, that serves as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Moscow. Located in the Central Administrative Okrug, it is one of three Catholic churches in Moscow and the largest in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia</span> Religious organisation

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, also known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and the Other States (ELCROS), is a Lutheran denomination that itself comprises seven regional Lutheran denominations in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan as well as individual congregations in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Established in its current form in 1999, ELCROS currently has about 24,050 members in more than 400 congregations within its jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. James on-the-Lines</span> Church in Ontario, Canada

St. James on-the-Lines is a historic Anglican garrison church in Penetanguishene, Ontario. The church is still in use today serving as the Anglican parish church in Penetanguishene for services from Easter to Thanksgiving. The church is protected by a heritage conservation easement under the Ontario Heritage Act. There are two suggested origins for its full name. The first suggestion comes from its location on the lines of communication or road from the former military establishment at Penetanguishene to the south. The second possible meaning is from the old Victorian military usage of Lines for the rows of tents or buildings in a military camp. The church was constructed close to the original military establishment buildings which lined the road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molyneux Asylum</span> Asylum for blind females school in Dublin, Ireland

The Molyneux Asylum for Blind Females was opened June 1, 1815 in Peter Street, Dublin, in what was formerly the residence of Thomas Molyneux (1641-1733), whose sister-in-law, Lucy Domville, had been blind. The building had been sold to Philip Astley, operating as Astley's Amphitheatre from 1789 to 1812, then the actor Henry Johnstone, intended to develop it as a theatre, however it reverted back to the Molyneux and was leased to a charity as an asylum for blind women. There was an Anglican church attached to the asylum. Music was an important part of the school and worship in the chapel. R.W. Beaty was an organist and music instructor from 1824. Henry Charles Shellard was organist and choirmaster from 1901 to 1955. The chapel was called the Albert Chapel, honoring the Queen's Husband.

The Anglican Chaplaincy of St Nicholas, Helsinki was established by those who fled from Saint Petersburg during the Russian Revolution. They settled first in Vyborg from where they were forced to flee again during the Winter War and stayed in Helsinki, Finland. The Chaplaincy is part of the Church of England's Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe and works closely with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland under the Porvoo Agreement. Since there are now three independent Anglican congregation in Finland, the Chaplaincy has moved from using the name Anglican Church in Finland and is using its official name under the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Andrew's Cathedral, Tokyo</span> Church in Tokyo, Japan

St. Andrew's Cathedral, Tokyo (聖アンデレ主教座聖堂) is the Cathedral Church of the Tokyo Diocese of the Anglican Church in Japan.

St. Paul's Church is located in the corner of Old Poor House Road, and Bowring Hospital Road, next to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Bangalore Cantonment, India. St. Paul's has the distinction of being the very first Tamil Anglican Church in the erstwhile Mysore State. St. Paul's celebrated its 175th anniversary in May 2014. Like most old churches of Bangalore, the congregation of St. Paul's is spread all across Bangalore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Michael's and All Angels' Church, Oorgaum, KGF</span> Church in Kolar Gold Fields, India

St. Michael's and All Angels' Church is located at Oorgaum, Kolar Gold Fields, India. The church stands on Cooke Road, near the KGF Club, south of the Catholic Mother of Mines Church. The origin of the church goes back to 1899, and was for the exclusive use of the (white) officers of the John Taylor and Sons, London, which owned the gold mines at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Mysore State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Rotterdam</span>

St Mary's Church or the English Church is an Anglican church in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It is part of the Archdeaconry of North West Europe in the Diocese in Europe of the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Alban's, Five Dock</span> Church in New South Wales, Australia

St Alban's Anglican Church is a heritage-listed and active Anglican church at 171 Great North Road, Five Dock in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The property spans back to the early days of British settlement in Australia. The site underwent multiple evolutions and renovations until it became originally included in St Phillip's Parish on 23 June 1802. The foundation stone of the church building was laid on 17 September 1858. The church building was intended to be divided into two parts, as a Parochial School and a Mission Church. The church's life and management relied heavily on the 'mother church' of the district, being St John's, Ashfield which was in close proximity to St Alban's and shared rectors over both sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter and St Sigfrid's Church</span> Church in Stockholm, Sweden

St Peter and St Sigfrid's Church, often referred to locally as the English Church, is an Anglican church in Stockholm, Sweden. It was built in the 1860s for the British congregation in the city and was originally located on Rörstrandsgatan in the Norrmalm district before being moved, stone by stone, to the Diplomatstaden area of Östermalm in 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank William North</span>

Frank William North was a Church of England clergyman who spent most of his career in the countries of Russia and Finland.

References

  1. "The Anglican Church in St Petersburg".
  2. 1 2 Guildhall Library, The English Church in Moscow retrieved August 20, 2008. Original Company records go back to 1666, with some copies of earlier documents.
  3. The story of the English Church in Moscow, Part 1 by Jean Coussmaker, published in 1999 in the church magazine, retrieved August 20, 2008
  4. "The History of St. Andrew's Church". St. Andrews Church and Centre. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  5. Wilson, William Rae (1828). Travels in Russia: &c, &c, Volume 2. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. pp.  72–75.
  6. 1 2 The History of St. Andrew's Published in the church magazine, retrieved August 20, 2008. Text is adapted by James Colley from an article by S.C. Romanyuk in "Architecture and Building in Moscow", 1995, No.3, Pages 42–46.
  7. St. Andrew's History Archived 2011-02-12 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved August 20, 2008
  8. The story of the English Church in Moscow, Part 4 by Jean Coussmaker, published in 1999 in the church magazine, retrieved August 20, 2008
  9. History - Embassy of Finland in Russia In Russian. Accessed March 4, 2011.
  10. 1 2 A Divine Cause Alisa Ballard, Moscow News №26 3 July 2008, retrieved August 20, 2008
  11. The Moscow Times Anglicans To Regain Property, Frank Brown, October 13, 1994, subscription required. Retrieved August 21, 2008]
  12. The Moscow Times, Church Passes To Anglicans, October 25, 1994, subscription required. Retrieved August 21, 2008
  13. Serving the International Community for Christ