6 historical churches of the Russian Cossacks (PHOTOS)

1. Patriarchal Ascension Military All-Cossack Cathedral, Novocherkassk

The main church of the Don Cossacks. Count General Matvey Platov, the ataman of the Don Cossack Army and the founder of the city itself, Count General Vasily Orlov-Denisov and General Ivan Efremov, heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, all rest there. The paintings in the choir of the cathedral are a picturesque chronicle of the history of the Don Cossacks: from Yermak's campaign and the Azov “siege” to Matvey Platov's meeting from Paris.

The church is one of the largest in Russia. It can accommodate up to 5,000 worshipers. Among its relics are the Don and Aksay icons of the Mother of God. 

2. Cossack Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, St. Petersburg 

The first church on this site appeared in the early 18th century. In 1851, a large stone Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross was opened and consecrated there. Its parishioners were Cossacks of the Life Guards Cossack and Ataman regiments. They did not have a regimental church, so they chose the nearest one to their barracks. 

On the occasion of their return from campaigns, services were held in the cathedral. As General Pyotr Krasnov recalled in his book about the regiment's history and the meeting of the Cossacks after the Russo-Turkish war, the parishioners brought them “bread and salt on silver dishes, three icons and two magnificent silver banners with gilding”. 

Among the relics of the church are the banners of the Holy Cross Cossack Brotherhood, the All-Revolutionary Army of the Don and Kuban troops. There is also a copy of the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin. 

3. St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Cossack Army, Omsk

The oldest church in the city was built in the mid-19th century with donations from the Siberian Cossack Army. The cathedral housed Yermak’s banner with images of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, striking the Tatar Khan with a spear and Archangel Michael fighting with a monster. According to legend, it produced such a stunning effect that it turned the troops of Kuchum Khan into flight. Today, there is a copy of this relic there. 

4. Resurrection Military Cathedral, Starocherkasskaya

Until 1805, this cathedral in the village of Starocherkasskaya was the main church of the Don Army. The original wooden church was built there back in 1650. The so-called military circles, general meetings of the Cossacks, where important issues were decided, gathered in front of it.

The nine-domed stone church was built in the early 18th century. Today, trophy cannons are installed in front of it and part of the fortress gates remain. On the wall at the entrance to the church hang chains, in which, according to legend, legendary Cossack rebel Stepan Razin was chained before his execution. 

The lavish decoration of the cathedral is amazing. The five-tiered gilded iconostasis was created by Moscow master Yegor Grek – he painted 149 icons for it. Metal plates indicating that emperors and grand dukes once prayed there are embedded in the floor. 

5. Military Cathedral of Prince Alexander Nevsky, Krasnodar

The stone military church of the Kuban Cossack army was built at the end of the 19th century on the Bazarnaya Square of Yekaterinodar (as Krasnodar was then called). It had a choir, which served as a model for the creation of the famous Kuban Cossack choir.

In the early 1930s, the cathedral was destroyed, but, in 2005, it was completely restored.

6. Cossack Church of the Icon of the Mother of God ‘Joy and Consolation’, Moscow 

The church on Khodynsky Field in Moscow was built with funds from Ivan Kolesnikov, a native of the Don Valley, for the Cossack and artillery regiments, whose barracks were located nearby. “This church is being built in honor of the icon of the Mother of God, called ‘Joy and Consolation’. May our dear Cossacks and artillerymen in this church receive in prayer ‘comfort’ for their labors and ‘consolation’ in the event of grief befalling them,” Kolesnikov wrote in his petition.

The church is dubbed a memorial church of Russian grief: it was dedicated to the memory of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and all those who fell at the hands of revolutionaries in the service of the tsar. 

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