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Architecture
Interior
Necropolis of the Assumption Cathedral
Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin- an Orthodox church located on Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (since 1991).
Built in 1475-1479 under the leadership Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti. The main temple of the Russian state.
The oldest fully preserved building in Moscow.
Story
The first stone cathedral on the site of the current one was built at the beginning of the 14th century, during the reign of Ivan I: August 4, 1326 on the site of the former wooden temple The white stone Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in fulfillment of the wishes of Metropolitan Peter of Kyiv and All Rus', who had recently moved to Moscow.
The Assumption Cathedral of 1326-1327 was the first stone church in Moscow. Archaeological research showed that it was a four-pillar, three-apse, three-aisle, one-domed temple, built on the model of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. The temple was built using a technique characteristic of that time: masonry from roughly processed squares of white stone was combined with smooth-hewn elements of architectural decor. The temple was crowned with kokoshniks.
Under Ivan III, the temple ceased to correspond to the status of a cathedral of the strengthened centralized Moscow state. Probably, the temple destined for demolition was no longer repaired, and it became very dilapidated, which is reflected in the chronicles. In the summer of 1471, “Metropolitan Philip began to earnestly think about building a new stone cathedral church in Moscow, for the old one, built by Kalita, was already in danger of destruction from antiquity and from many fires, its vaults were already reinforced, supported by thick trees.”
The construction of a new cathedral of enormous size for that time was entrusted to the Russian architects Krivtsov and Myshkin. On April 30, 1471, the foundation stone of the new cathedral took place. The construction that had begun was not completed, since the temple, which had been built to the vaults, collapsed after the earthquake (“coward”) that occurred in Moscow on May 20, 1474. The chronicler testifies: “there was a coward in the city of Moscow and the church of St. The Mother of God, it was already done to the upper chambers, falling at 1 o’clock in the morning, and the temples all shook, just as the earth shook.”
Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy, who, having completely dismantled the remains of the previous structure, erected the existing building in the likeness of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. The temple was consecrated on August 12, 1479 by Metropolitan Gerontius.
The temple has six pillars, five domes, and five apses. Built of white stone in combination with brick (the vaults, drums, the eastern wall above the altar apses, the eastern square pillars hidden by the altar barrier are made of brick; the rest are round - the pillars are also made of brick, but faced with white stone).
The original paintings of the cathedral were carried out between 1482 and 1515. The famous icon painter Dionysius took part in the painting. In 1642-1644, the cathedral was painted anew, but fragments of the original paintings have been preserved, which are the oldest example that has come down to us fresco painting on the territory of the Kremlin.
The temple suffered from fires many times and was renovated and restored many times. After the fire of 1547, Ivan Vasilyevich ordered the top of the temple to be covered with gilded copper sheets; the relics of Metropolitan Peter were transferred from a silver shrine to a gold one. In 1624, the cathedral vaults, which were threatening to fall, were dismantled and rebuilt according to a changed design, with additional reinforcement with bonded iron and the introduction of additional girth arches.
In 1547, the crowning of Ivan IV took place here for the first time.
The Zemsky Council of 1613 was held in the building of the cathedral, at which Mikhail Fedorovich was elected tsar.
In 1625, the Robe of the Lord, sent as a gift to Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich by the Persian Shah Abbas I, was transferred to the cathedral. In honor of this event, the holiday “Position of the Robe of the Lord” was established in the Russian church (July 10 to Julian calendar). The precious ark with the robe was placed in a bronze tent to store sacred relics.
During the St. Petersburg period, it continued to be the place of coronation of all Russian emperors, starting with Peter II.
In 1812, the cathedral was desecrated and looted by the Napoleonic army, although the most valuable shrines were evacuated to Vologda. Of the tombs of the saints, only the shrine of Metropolitan Jonah has survived. The cathedral was re-consecrated on August 30, 1813 by Bishop Augustin (Vinogradsky) of Dmitrov.
Restorations of the Assumption Cathedral were carried out in 1895-1897 by architect S.K. Rodionov, in the 1900s by architect S.U. Solovyov, in 1911-1915 by architect I.P. Mashkov.
On August 15, 1917, on the patronal feast day, the All-Russian Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church opened here, which in October adopted a decision to restore the patriarchate in the Russian Church; On November 21 of the same year, Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) was enthroned.
Closed to access and worship in March 1918, after the RSFSR government moved to the Kremlin.
The last service before the closure of the temple was performed on Easter 1918 - April 22 (May 5); The service, which served as the initial basis for P. D. Korin’s painting “Departing Rus',” was led by the vicar of the Moscow diocese, Bishop Trifon of Dmitrov (Turkestan).
Current status
Opened as a museum in 1955. In February 1960, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the USSR Ministry of Culture. Since 1991, it has been part of the State historical and cultural museum-reserve"Moscow Kremlin" .
Since 1990, services have been held in the cathedral on separate days with the blessing of the Patriarch; is called the “Patriarchal Cathedral”.
Architecture
The cathedral has a monolithic, laconic appearance. The unity of the building is emphasized by the equal division of the facades using blades. On the smooth walls there are narrow windows and an arcature belt. The apses of the cathedral are relatively low and covered from the south and north by pylons. The cathedral is decorated with five powerful domes, shifted to the east. Contemporaries noted that the building looked “like a single stone.”
Carrying out a daunting task to increase the internal volume of the temple, which his predecessors Krivtsov and Myshkin could not cope with, Aristotle Fioravanti, for the first time in Russian architecture, used cross vaults one brick thick and metal intra-wall and opening connections. But his main engineering idea was that thanks to the construction of additional arches behind the iconostasis, the eastern compartments of the temple actually turned into a monolith that absorbed a significant part of the load from the colossal drums. Accordingly, it became possible to erect relatively thin round pillars in the central and western parts of the cathedral, which created a feeling of lightness of construction and integrity (“solidity”) of the part of the naos intended for worshipers.
Interior
Shrines
The Nail of the Lord and the staff of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' are preserved in the cathedral.
Since 1395, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God has been in the cathedral (since 1930 in the Tretyakov Gallery, in the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi).
The cathedral was the burial place of most Moscow saints before the establishment of the Holy Synod.
Necropolis of the Assumption Cathedral
“In the first stone church of the Kremlin - the Assumption of the Mother of God - the formation of the necropolis began in 1326. Moscow Prince Yuri Daniilovich (his grave was lost in antiquity) and St. were buried here. Metropolitan Peter. The tomb was conceived as a burial place for both secular and spiritual rulers of the Moscow principality, but with the construction of the Archangel Cathedral in 1333, the necropolis was divided. Only the heads of the Russian Church began to be buried in the Assumption Cathedral. A total of twenty people were buried in this temple. Graves of metropolitans XIV - mid. XVI century are located in the altar of the cathedral, in the southwestern corner and along the northern wall of the temple. Russian patriarchs are buried near the southern and western walls XVII century. Most of the burials are located under the floor of the temple and are marked in the interior by low, rectangular monuments with flat lids (in late XIX centuries they were enclosed in metal cases). The tombstones of the patriarchs, unlike those of the metropolitans, retained carved white stone slabs with epitaphs, clearly visible through the glazed frames of the covers. The most revered burials of the Assumption Cathedral are the metropolitans: St. Peter, Theognostus, St. Jonah, St. Philip II (Kolychev) and svmch. Patriarch Hermogenes - committed in crayfish.”
Metropolitans of Kyiv
- Peter (d. 1326),
- Theognostus (d. 1353),
- Cyprian (d. 1406),
- Photius (d. 1431),
- Jonah (d. 1461).
Metropolitans of Moscow
- Philip I (d. 1473),
- Gerontius (d. 1489),
- Simon (d. 1511),
- Macarius (d. 1563),
- Philip II (d. 1569).
Patriarchs of Moscow
- Job (d. 1607),
- Hermogenes (d. 1612),
- Filaret (d. 1633),
- Joasaph I (d. 1640),
- Joseph (d. 1652),
- Joasaph II (d. 1672),
- Pitirim (d. 1673),
- Joachim (d. 1690),
- Adrian (d. 1700).
Rulers of Moscow
- Yuri Danilovich (d. 1325), Prince of Moscow in 1303-1325, Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1319-1322, Prince of Novgorod in 1322-1325 - the grave is lost
reburied
- Alexy (Byakont) - the relics were in the cathedral from 1929 to 1948, now in the Elokhov Church.
Even under Ivan Kalita, on the spot where a wooden church stood in the 12th century.
Over the course of 100 years, the cathedral fell into disrepair, and in 1472, under Ivan III, they decided to build a new Assumption Cathedral. At first it was built by Russian architects, but after 2 years the almost finished temple collapsed. It was rumored that the lime was not adhesive, and the white stone was not durable. Then, on the advice of the wife of Ivan III, the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologus, they invited Italian architect Fiorovanti.
First of all, he went to take measurements from the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, since he was not familiar with traditional Russian architecture and the cross-dome system, when the entire space of the temple is a cross with a dome in the center. Upon returning, the architect immediately began construction. And already 4 years later, on August 12, 1479, the Assumption Cathedral was consecrated.
Fiorovanti used many architectural innovations: the foundation was deepened, oak piles were driven into the ground, the brick walls were lined with blocks of white stone on the outside, and the apses were “hidden” behind pylons.
What is what in the churchThe Assumption Cathedral turned out to be unusual: outwardly similar to a Russian temple, but structurally built differently - like a Russian pie with Italian filling. Inside, this difference is immediately noticeable: instead of the usual square pillars, round pillars divide the space into 12 identical squares. And the height of the vaults is 40 meters, making the temple look like a state hall.
Appearance The temple amazed Muscovites: it seemed huge, but looked “like one stone.” All his lines were clear, and his lines seemed to be drawn using a compass.
By order of Mikhail Fedorovich, an artel of 150 icon painters painted the Assumption Cathedral, creating 250 plot compositions and more than 2,000 individual figures. And the iconostasis was created in 1653 on the initiative of Patriarch Nikon. Its 69 icons illustrate the entire history of mankind according to the Bible.
Last time The domes of the cathedral were gilded under Ivan IV using a technology that is no longer used. This is ebb gilding, or mercury gilding, in which gold is combined in an alloy with mercury. When heated, the mercury evaporates, and the gold is fixed on the surface and acquires a warm tint. But master goldsmiths died after several years of working with mercury.
In the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, metropolitans and patriarchs were ordained and buried, Orthodox Christians were baptized and excommunicated, including the writer Leo Tolstoy.
Guide to Architectural StylesHere Ivan III tore up the Khan's letter, ending the Horde yoke. Also in the Assumption Cathedral, since 1498, the crowning ceremony took place, and before that, Vladimir was “crowned into the kingdom” in the Assumption Cathedral.
This magnificent ceremony seemed to affirm the deification of the person who ascended the throne. Its main element was the Monomakh cap, which was presented as a symbol of wisdom and power to every Russian Tsar right up to Peter I (in 1721 he assumed the imperial title).
And the first imperial coronation in Russia and the first coronation of a woman (Catherine I) took place on May 7, 1724, also in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. During the coronation they used a crown, scepter, orb, mantle, imperial chain, sword, banner, seal and shield. Many of these attributes were made specifically for the ceremony.
In 1812, the French turned the Assumption Cathedral into a stable. They robbed and destroyed everything they could get their hands on, tore apart iconostases, removed frames and took about 300 kg of gold from the temple. The silver was recovered, and after the end of the war the central chandelier of the church was cast from it.
During Soviet times, services in the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin were banned, but in 1990 they were returned to the Orthodox Church. Now there is a museum in the Assumption Cathedral, and services are held on patronal holidays. Moreover, each time before the service the cathedral is consecrated anew.
The Kremlin: a mini-guide to the territoryIn the museum of the Assumption Cathedral you can see, for example, the wooden Royal Seat, or the Monomakh Throne. It was made in 1551 for Ivan IV. This miracle was probably created by Novgorod carvers, since the throne is richly decorated with intricate carvings. And 12 bas-reliefs on the walls of the Tsar’s Place illustrate “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir,” which tells about the bringing of royal regalia to Rus' - Monomakh’s cap, barm (ceremonial mantle) and other items. Hence the second name of the throne. And the tented canopy of the Royal Place is shaped like Monomakh’s hat.
And along the walls of the Assumption Cathedral there are tombs of Russian metropolitans and patriarchs. The temple began to serve as a tomb in 1326, when Metropolitan Peter was buried there. There are a total of 19 burials in the cathedral.
They say that......by order of Ivan III, Aristotle Fiorovanti built a hiding place in the central chapter of the Assumption Cathedral. After the completion of the construction of the temple and the Kremlin dungeons, the architect disappeared. According to the official version, he was attacked by robbers. And according to popular legend, Ivan III demanded that Fiorovanti reveal the secret of obtaining the philosopher's stone, but he refused. The enraged king ordered the architect to be walled up in one of the dungeons, and then Fiorovanti cursed his entire family. That same night, lightning struck the recently rebuilt Assumption Cathedral. The temple caught fire. The fire was extinguished with difficulty, but disasters followed one after another. Then Ivan III ordered to open the dungeon where the architect was walled up, but he was not there - only a torn chain and the ring of King Solomon. Since then, the ghost of the great architect has been wandering around.
...the Byzantine emperors in the 12th century gave the Monomakh cap to Vladimir Monomakh as the heir and successor of the empire - hence the name. But in fact, Ivan Kalita brought the hat from the Golden Horde, and it was listed in the wills as a “golden hat.” Now the regalia is kept in, and it is easy to notice the oriental carpet pattern on it. The cross and sable trim were added simultaneously with the creation of the legend of Monomakh's hat. Moreover, consisting of gold, pearls and precious stones the hat also has great value. In 1812, when the French were plundering the Kremlin treasury, a local clerk risked his life and hid it, and the regalia was preserved.
...the appearance of the expression “Filka’s letter” is associated with the Assumption Cathedral and Metropolitan Philip Kolychev.
At the age of 13, Philip went to the Solovetsky Monastery and subsequently became its abbot. He enjoyed the fame of a righteous man, and in 1566 Ivan IV decided to install him as Moscow Metropolitan. Philip demanded that the oprichnina be abolished. The king was angry at first, but then set a condition: he would listen to the metropolitan’s advice on state affairs, but he does not interfere with the oprichnina and the royal household. Philip accepted the metropolitanate.
For several months the executions and outrages of the guardsmen stopped, then everything went back to the same way. Philip tried to stop the lawlessness, interceded for the disgraced, and the king began to avoid meetings with the metropolitan.
Then Philip began sending letters and letters to Ivan IV, in which he asked him to come to his senses. The Tsar humiliatingly called them “Filka’s letters” and destroyed them.
And one day, on Sunday, during mass, the Tsar appeared at the Assumption Cathedral, accompanied by guardsmen and boyars. The visitors were dressed in clownish, supposedly monastic clothes. Ivan IV approached Philip and stood next to him, awaiting his blessing. But the Metropolitan said that he did not recognize the Tsar in this robe.
The angry ruler left the cathedral and ordered an investigation into the evil intentions of the metropolitan. Under torture, the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery slandered their former abbot. After this, Philip was surrounded by guardsmen during a service in the Assumption Cathedral. They announced his defrocking, tore off Philip's metropolitan vestments, drove him out of the church with brooms, threw him into the woodshed and took him to prison in the Epiphany Monastery. Then he was taken to the prison of the distant Tver Otroch Monastery. A year later, Ivan IV sent Malyuta Skuratov there, and the royal guardsman strangled Philip with his own hands.
Later, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich ordered the saint to be buried in the Solovetsky Monastery. And in 1648, Philip was canonized because it was discovered that his relics healed the sick.
In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the relics of St. Philip to be transported to Moscow. They were placed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and at the place of their meeting outside Moscow, an oak cross with a memorial inscription was installed. The area around later began to be called the “Krestovskaya outpost.” The cross itself stood until 1929, after which it was moved to the nearby Church of the Sign in Pereyaslavskaya Sloboda. There he is still located. And the old name of the area was preserved in the names Krestovsky Lane and Krestovsky Market.
In Moscow, before the reign of Ivan Kalita, the main temple was the Dmitrovsky Cathedral, dedicated to the holy warrior Demetrius of Thessalonica, patron of the defenders of the Fatherland and heavenly patron of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest. Perhaps this temple was a replica of the Dmitrov Cathedral in the capital Vladimir, although not all scientists share this version.
At the beginning of the 14th century, Russian metropolitans preferred to live not in Kyiv, but in Vladimir. However Prince of Vladimir disliked the then metropolitan, St. Peter. On the contrary, the saint had a good relationship with the Prince of Moscow Ivan Kalita. And when Metropolitan Peter came to Moscow for the funeral of his elder brother Ivan Kalita, who was killed in the Horde, the prince invited him to stay in Moscow forever. The saint accepted the invitation in 1325. And his successors immediately came to live in Moscow, which thus became the de facto ecclesiastical capital of Rus'.
Metropolitan Peter then persuaded the Moscow prince to build the Assumption Cathedral on the model of the Vladimir one, wanting the cathedral dedicated to the Mother of God to become the main temple of Moscow. In August 1326, the saint founded the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Then it was a modest one-domed temple, but with it Moscow appeared as the heir ancient Vladimir. The next year after the foundation of the cathedral, Ivan Kalita received from Mongol Khan label for the great reign, and Moscow became the Russian capital.
The Moscow Assumption Cathedral continued the tradition of the first Russian Sophia churches that stood in Kyiv, Novgorod and Polotsk, which were already understood in connection with the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the theological teaching about Hagia Sophia - the Wisdom of God (translated from ancient Greek, “Sophia” means “wisdom”), God, when creating man, already knew about his impending fall from grace. According to the Divine plan, Christ, the Savior of the human race, the incarnate Logos - the Word of God, had to come into the world to perform the atoning sacrifice. The Most Holy Theotokos is the Mother of Christ, and therefore the Mother of the entire Church - the mystical body of Christ. On the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the beginning of Her glorification as the Queen of Heaven is celebrated, when the Divine plan for the salvation of man is fully accomplished.
The Byzantine tradition identified Sophia not with the Mother of God, but with Jesus Christ Himself. And the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople was dedicated to Christ. Since the main Christian temple and the prototype of all Christian churches, the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Jerusalem, was erected on the site of historical events in the earthly life of the Savior, it could not be repeated. That is why they turned to theological interpretation. Thus, in the 6th century, the world's first temple of Hagia Sophia appeared in Constantinople as a symbol of the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection of the Lord.
In Russia, a different, Mother of God, interpretation of Hagia Sophia has developed. If the Byzantine tradition identified Saint Sophia with the Logos-Christ, then in Russia the image of Sophia began to be perceived in connection with the Mother of God, through Whom the Divine plan for the Savior was realized. In Rus' there were two patronal feasts of St. Sophia: in Kyiv - August 15/28, on the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and in Novgorod - September 8/21, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when they honor the appearance into the world of the One who eventually became the Mother of Jesus Christ. The celebration of Hagia Sophia on the day of the Assumption glorifies the incarnate Wisdom of God through the full implementation of the Divine plan, when the Mother of God is glorified as the Queen of Heaven and as the Intercessor of the human race before the heavenly throne of Her Divine Son.
The construction of the St. Sophia temples itself was typical only for early period Old Russian architecture of the X-XIII centuries. The capital cities of Kyiv and Novgorod imitated Byzantium in this. And then the tradition of building cathedrals dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Russian image of Hagia Sophia took root. So the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin became Moscow Sofia. At the same time, it was a theological and urban symbol of Sophia of Constantinople, reinterpreted in the Russian tradition, since Moscow - the Third Rome - was also guided by the symbolism of the Second Rome. Moscow recognized itself as the home of the Most Pure Mother of God with Her main palace - the Assumption Cathedral.
"We see heaven!"
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In 1329, his successor, Metropolitan Theognostus, built a chapel in the Assumption Cathedral in honor of the Adoration of the Honorable Chains of the Apostle Peter - after the namesake of the deceased saint. In 1459, Saint Jonah built a chapel in the Assumption Cathedral in honor of the Praise of the Mother of God - in gratitude for the victory over the Tatar khan Sedi-Akhmat. Thus, a throne appeared at the main temple of Russia in honor of the holiday from which the history of Moscow began, for the legendary meeting of the allied princes Yuri Dolgoruky and Svyatoslav Olgovich on April 4, 1147 took place on the eve of the Feast of Praise. And in memory of the former cathedral church of Moscow in the Assumption Cathedral, the Dmitrovsky chapel was consecrated. (All these chapels were moved to the new temple built by Aristotle Fioravanti.)
Until the end of the 14th century, the main shrine of the Assumption Cathedral was the Petrine Icon of the Mother of God, painted by Saint Peter himself (now it is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery). And in 1395, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was transferred to the Assumption Cathedral, which saved Moscow from Tamerlane and became the main shrine of the Russian state for centuries.
In 1453, Constantinople fell, and Moscow became the historical and spiritual heir of Byzantium. The Tatar-Mongol yoke was nearing its end. Ivan III, having united the appanage Russian principalities under the rule of Moscow into single state, decided to build a new Assumption Cathedral based on the model of Vladimir, which was supposed to symbolize the victory of Moscow.
At first no one was going to contact Italian masters. It was proposed to build the cathedral to the architect Vasily Ermolin, the first Russian architect, whose name has been preserved by history. But he refused because of the “offensive” condition - to work together with another master, Ivan Golova-Khovrin, and the work was entrusted to Pskov architects Krivtsov and Myshkin, since Pskov suffered the least from the Horde yoke and experienced craftsmen remained there.
While the new temple was being built, a wooden church was erected next to it so as not to stop the services. It was here that on November 12, 1472, Ivan III married the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologus. Soon after this wedding, disaster struck: in May 1474, the almost erected Assumption Cathedral collapsed. On the advice of his wife, who lived in Italy before the wedding, Ivan III sent his ambassador Semyon Tolbuzin there with instructions to find knowledgeable master, for the Italians were the best builders in Europe. Tolbuzin invited Aristotle Fioravanti.
A native of Bolonia, he was said to have received his nickname for his wisdom and skill. He knew how to move buildings, straighten bell towers, and he was considered an architect “who has no equal in the whole world,” which did not prevent him from being accused (as it turned out, in vain) of selling counterfeit coins. Offended by his compatriots, Fioravanti agreed to the Russian ambassador's proposal to go to Muscovy. There is a version that the architect immediately offered the Moscow prince the already drawn up design of the Assumption Cathedral, but at the insistence of the metropolitan he still went to Vladimir to study Russian models. He was given conditions - to create a cathedral exclusively in Russian temple traditions and using the most advanced technology, and most importantly, to solve a problem that the Pskov masters could not cope with - to increase it several times inner space Assumption Cathedral compared to the previous temple from the time of Ivan Kalita.
The new Assumption Cathedral was founded in 1475. According to legend, under it the architect built a deep crypt, where they placed the famous liberia brought to Moscow by Sophia Paleolog (it will go down in history as the library of Ivan the Terrible). Three temple chapels were located in the altar part, retaining their dedications (only under Peter I the Petroverigsky chapel was reconsecrated in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul). In the Dmitrovsky chapel, Russian tsars changed their clothes during their enthronement. And in the chapel of the Praise of the Virgin Mary, Russian metropolitans and patriarchs were elected. In the second half of the 17th century, the Pokhvalsky chapel was moved to the very top, to the southeastern chapter of the Assumption Cathedral, a spiral staircase from the altar was built to it, and services were served there only on the patronal feast day.
The ceremonial consecration of the Assumption Cathedral took place in August 1479. The next year Rus' was freed from Tatar-Mongol yoke. This era was partly reflected in the architecture of the Assumption Cathedral, which became the symbol of the Third Rome. Its five powerful chapters, symbolizing Christ surrounded by the four evangelist apostles, are notable for their helmet-like shape. The poppy, that is, the top of the temple dome, symbolizes the flame - a burning candle and fiery heavenly forces. During Tatar yoke the poppy seed becomes like a military helmet. This is only a slightly different image of fire, since Russian warriors considered the heavenly army as their patrons - the angelic forces led by the Archangel Michael. The warrior’s helmet, on which the image of the Archangel Michael was often placed, and the poppy helmet of the Russian temple merged into a single image.
In ancient times on Orthodox churches Greek four-pointed crosses were installed: the connection of the four ends in a single center symbolized that the height, depth, longitude and breadth of the world are contained by God's power. Then the Russian eight-pointed cross appeared, which had as its prototype the Cross of the Lord. According to legend, Ivan the Terrible erected the first eight-pointed cross on the central chapter of the Assumption Cathedral. Since then, this type of cross has been accepted by the Church everywhere for installation on temple domes.
The idea of Sophia is captured in the painting of the eastern facade, facing the belfry, with frescoes in the niches. In the central place is the New Testament Trinity, and in the right niche is Saint Sophia in the form of a fiery Angel seated on a throne with royal regalia and a scroll. According to modern researcher Kremlin churches I.L. Buseva-Davydova, this is how the image of the Wisdom of God is collectively presented: fire enlightens the soul and incinerates passions, fiery wings lift up from the enemy of the human race, the royal crown and scepter mean rank, the scroll - Divine secrets. The seven pillars of the throne illustrate the verse from the Holy Scriptures: “Wisdom made herself a house, and established seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1). On the sides of Sophia are depicted the winged Mother of God and John the Baptist, their wings symbolize purity and angelic life. Contrary to canonical tradition, the Assumption Cathedral is dominated by the southern façade, facing Cathedral Square, which also glorifies St. Sophia. Above its gates is a huge Vladimir image of the Mother of God - in honor of the Vladimir icon, which was within the walls of the cathedral.The famous Korsun Gate is installed in the southern portal of the cathedral. There was a legend that they were brought from Korsun (Sevastopol) by the holy Prince Vladimir. In fact, the gates were made in the 16th century, and the scenes embossed on them are dedicated to the birth of the Savior into the world as the embodiment of Divine Wisdom. That is why among the characters depicted are the Mother of God, biblical prophets, ancient sibyls and pagan sages who predicted the Nativity of the Savior from the Virgin. The gates are overshadowed by the Savior Not Made by Hands, revered as the defender of the city.
The southern portal was the royal entrance to the Assumption Cathedral, it was called the “red doors”. After the coronation, sovereigns were traditionally showered with gold coins here - as a sign of wishes for prosperity and wealth to his state. The western facade served for ceremonial processions during coronations and religious processions. Previously, he was overshadowed by the image of the Dormition of the Mother of God in accordance with the temple dedication. And the gates of the northern façade, facing the patriarchal chambers, served as the entrance for the highest clergy, since it was closest to the metropolitan court. In the northwestern corner there is a small white stone cross: this is how the place inside the cathedral is marked where St. Jonah, the first Russian metropolitan, installed in Moscow by a council of Russian bishops without the Patriarch of Constantinople, is buried.
The interior of the cathedral echoes general idea. The first painting was completed as soon as the walls were dry, in 1481 by the great icon painter Dionysius. She was so beautiful that when the sovereign, the metropolitan and the boyars examined the cathedral, they exclaimed “We see heaven!” However, the cathedral did not have heating for a long time, sudden changes in temperature harmed the paintings, and in 1642 it was painted anew: it is believed that the old frescoes were transferred to paper, and the painting was created anew based on them. It is interesting that, together with boyar Repnin, the work was supervised by the steward Grigory Gavrilovich Pushkin, the poet’s ancestor. The cathedral's paintings partly capture its era. The southwestern dome depicts the God of Hosts in an eight-pointed halo, with only the seven ends of the halo visible. After all, the earthly history of mankind will last seven conventional millennia from the creation of the world. The millennium was symbolically identified with the “century”. And the seven visible ends mean that God is the ruler of all the “seven ages” earthly history, and the invisible eighth end symbolizes the “eighth century” - “the life of the future century” in the eternal Kingdom of God. This topic was very important in Rus' at the end of the 15th century, when the fateful seventh thousand years and the end of the world in 1492 were expected.
Most The southern and northern walls are occupied by the Theotokos cycles - images dedicated to the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and images on the theme of the akathist to the Mother of God, where the Queen of Heaven is glorified as the Intercessor of the human race. The lower tier of the walls depicts the seven Ecumenical Councils. The western wall is canonically given to the image Last Judgment, and heretical foreigners in European suits with white round collars are also depicted as sinners.
The Assumption Cathedral was a symbol of the unity of Rus', united around capital Moscow. The local rank of the iconostasis contained icons brought from appanage principalities and the most revered images.
The iconostasis that is now in the cathedral was created in 1653 at the behest of Patriarch Nikon and captured the innovations of his era. In the most honorable place, to the right of the royal doors, where the image of the Lord Jesus Christ is always located - ancient icon“The Savior of the Golden Robe,” also known as the “Savior of Emperor Manuel.” It is possible that Ivan III took it from the Novgorod Church of St. Sophia, but it is more likely that Ivan the Terrible brought the icon to Moscow after his campaign against Novgorod in 1570. The name “Golden Robe” comes from the huge gilded frame that previously covered the image of the Savior. In the 17th century, the royal master Kirill Ulanov, restoring the image, carefully painted the robe of Christ in gold, trying to restore the ancient iconography. According to legend, this image was painted by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel. The Savior was depicted according to the canon - blessing, with his right hand raised. But one day the emperor unleashed his wrath on the priest. And then the Lord appeared to him in a dream, pointing his fingers downward, as an edification about the humility of pride. Waking up, the shocked emperor saw that the Savior on his icon had actually lowered right hand. Then the emperor allegedly gave the image to the people of Novgorod. Patriarch Nikon deliberately placed this particular icon in the most honorable place in order to establish his teaching about the superiority of spiritual power over secular power.
The temple image of the Assumption was painted by Dionysius, although earlier its authorship was attributed to St. Peter. This is the iconographic type of the “cloud Assumption”: here the apostles are depicted miraculously transported on clouds to the bed of the Most Holy Theotokos, when She wished to see them all before departing from the world. Behind the southern door is the icon “Presta Tsarina”, also taken from Novgorod. According to legend, it was written by Alypiy, the first famous Russian icon painter, a monk of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery. The Lord is depicted in the vestments of a priest, at the same time reminiscent of the robes of an emperor, which symbolizes the fusion in Christ of spiritual and secular power and the symphony of Church and state. Above the rightmost door leading to the Pokhvalsky chapel is the famous “Ardent Eye of the Savior,” painted by a Greek artist in the 1340s for the old Assumption Cathedral from the time of Ivan Kalita.
The image to the left of the royal doors is the second place of honor in the iconostasis, where the image of the Mother of God is traditionally placed. It was here from 1395 until October revolution there stood the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, who always chose her own place of residence. In the terrible Moscow fire of 1547, only the Assumption Cathedral, in which the shrine resided, remained unharmed. Metropolitan Macarius, having served a prayer service, choking in smoke, wanted to take the icon out of the fire, but they could not budge it. Nowadays it is in the Zamoskvorechsky Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Tolmachi - the home church of the Tretyakov Gallery, and in the Assumption Cathedral its place was taken by a list (copy) executed by a student of Dionysius in 1514. Above the northern doors of the iconostasis is another image of the Dormition of the Mother of God, written, according to one legend, on a board from the font where the Most Holy Theotokos was baptized, and according to another, on a board from the tomb of St. Alexis of Moscow. Over time, the board dried out and bent, which is why the icon is called “Bent.”
The leading row in the iconostasis is the Deesis rank. Here, standing before the Lord, according to the tradition introduced by Patriarch Nikon, all 12 apostles are depicted - the so-called “apostolic deesis”. Previously, only the two supreme apostles, Peter and Paul, were depicted in the Deesis rite, and they were followed by images of the Church Fathers. The central icon, “Savior in Power,” is also unusual. On it, silver halos indicate the symbolic images of the four evangelist apostles: a man (Matthew), an eagle (John the Theologian), a lion (Mark) and a calf (Luke). The symbols were borrowed from the Revelation of John the Theologian: “And in the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature was like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Rev. 4:6-7). According to the church interpretation, these apocalyptic animals personify the “created world” - the universe with four cardinal directions. In Christian iconography, they were symbolically identified with the four evangelist apostles who preached the Good News to the four corners of the world, that is, throughout the world.
Along the walls and in the glass windows of the cathedral are no less symbolic images.
On the southern wall is a huge icon of Metropolitan Peter with his life, written by Dionysius. The Moscow saint is depicted in a white hood, which was worn only by Novgorod bishops, while all other bishops had to wear a black hood. According to legend, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great sent white hood Pope Sylvester in those days when Rome had not yet fallen away from Orthodoxy. After the division of 1054, an angel ordered the Pope to return the white hood to Constantinople, the capital of Orthodoxy, and from there it was allegedly transferred to Novgorod, to the Church of Hagia Sophia. After Moscow conquered Novgorod, the white hood began to symbolize the greatness of the Third Rome.
At the southern wall in a glass case there is the famous image of “Savior of the Golden Hair” beginning of XIII centuries: the Savior's hair is written in gold as a symbol of Divine light. Here you can also see the ancient icon “The Appearance of the Archangel Michael to Joshua,” according to legend, painted for Prince Michael Horobrit, brother of St. Alexander Nevsky, who probably founded the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin in honor of his name day. On the northern wall of the Assumption Cathedral there is an unusual icon of the Old Testament Trinity. On the table are depicted not only bread and grapes - symbols of Holy Communion, but also radishes, probably symbolizing an ascetic, fasting lifestyle. The most remarkable icon in the northern showcase is “Savior’s Watchful Eye.” The young Christ is depicted reclining on a bed with an open eye - as a sign of the Lord’s vigilant care for people. On the western wall there is a spare Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God from the early 15th century: it was carried during religious processions in bad weather to protect the original. It is unusual in that the gaze of the Mother of God is not turned to the person praying.
The Assumption Cathedral housed the greatest shrines that were in Russia: the robe of the Lord - a piece of the clothing of Jesus Christ and the original nail of the Lord, one of those that pierced the hands and feet of the Savior on the cross. Both shrines were brought to Moscow from Georgia in the 17th century. According to legend, the Lord's robe was brought to Georgia by a soldier who was present at the crucifixion of Christ. It was kept there until 1625, when the Persian Shah Abass, who conquered Georgia, sent the robe as a gift to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, and with a warning: if a weak person touches the shrine with faith, God will have mercy on him, and if without faith, he will go blind. The Lord's robe was met in Moscow at the Donskoy Monastery outside the Kaluga Gate and its authenticity was “checked”: by order of Patriarch Philaret, a week-long fast with prayers was established, and then the robe was placed on the seriously ill, and they all received healing. And then the Lord’s robe was brought to the Assumption Cathedral and placed in a copper openwork tent, symbolizing Golgotha, which now overshadows the tomb of the holy Patriarch Hermogenes.
IN late XVII century, in the altar of the Assumption Cathedral, a nail of the Lord was laid, one of those that the Byzantine queen Helen found on Mount Golgotha. Her son Emperor Constantine gave this nail to the Georgian king Miriam, who was baptized. And when in 1688 Georgian king Archil moved to Moscow, he took the shrine with him. After his death, the nail was sent to Georgia, but Peter I ordered the procession with the shrine to be stopped and transferred to the Assumption Cathedral. According to legend, the nail of the Lord protects the place where it resides.
And there were also relics from the Holy Land in the Assumption Cathedral. Boyar Tatishchev, ancestor famous historian, donated to the cathedral a piece of stone from Golgotha, stained with the blood of the Lord, and a stone from the tomb of the Mother of God. Prince Vasily Golitsyn presented part of the robe of the Most Holy Theotokos, which he brought from the Crimean campaign. Mikhail Fedorovich was sent the right hand of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called as a gift. His fingers were folded into the three-fingered sign of the cross, which later made it possible to denounce the schismatic Old Believers.
In the sacristy was kept the “Augustus Crabia” - a vessel made of jasper, according to legend, which belonged to the Roman emperor Augustus Octavian. According to another legend, the Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos sent this crab to the prince of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh along with royal regalia, crown and barmas. From crabia, Russian monarchs were anointed with holy myrrh in the sacrament of coronation. Until 1812, the cross of Constantine, sent from Mount Athos to Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, was also kept here. According to legend, it belonged to Emperor Constantine the Great. In Moscow, according to tradition, this cross was sent with the sovereign on military campaigns, and it saved the life of Peter I in Battle of Poltava: there was a trace left on it from a bullet that was supposed to pierce the royal chest, but hit the cross. A spoon made of “fish bone” - a walrus tusk, which belonged to St. Peter - was also a relic. The cathedral also kept date branches braided with velvet and brocade. They were brought to Moscow from the Holy Land so that the crowned heads could celebrate with them Palm Sunday.
Under the shadow of the Assumption Cathedral
The tradition of burying Russian archpastors in the Assumption Cathedral began with its founder, St. Metropolitan Peter. When his relics were transferred to the new cathedral, the saint performed his first posthumous miracle: he rose up in the grave and blessed the Muscovites. Now he rests in the altar part behind the iconostasis. Scientists believe that his tomb remained closed until the invasion of Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382, when he opened the burial of the saint in search of gold, and since then the relics of the saint have long rested openly. At the tomb of Metropolitan Peter, appanage princes, boyars and all ranks swore allegiance to the sovereign. However, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the tomb was sealed again. According to legend, Saint Peter appeared in a dream to Queen Anastasia and commanded that she forbid the opening of his coffin and put her seal on it. Anastasia, fulfilling her revealed will, sealed the relics of St. Peter, and the coffin remained hidden until 1812. According to custom, poods of wine were lit in front of him. wax candles.
In the south-eastern corner, also hidden, rest the relics of St. Philip (Kolychev), a martyr from the time of Ivan the Terrible, buried under Alexei Mikhailovich exactly in the place where he was captured by the guardsmen. The last patriarch of Peter's era, Adrian, the “confidant of the king,” whom young Peter revered, is buried near the western wall. Contemporaries said that it was no coincidence that the tsar founded a new Russian capital after the death of the patriarch. He would certainly have persuaded the sovereign not to create the main city of Russia without Moscow shrines.
The royal place reminds of the messianic idea of God's chosen Moscow - the famous “Monomakh Throne”, placed by order of Ivan the Terrible at the southern doors near the royal entrance to the cathedral. This is a miniature symbol of the idea of Moscow - the Third Rome. According to legend, this throne was made during the time of Vladimir Monomakh, and he was on it during services in the Kiev Church of St. Sophia. Andrei Bogolyubsky allegedly took the throne with him to Vladimir, and Ivan Kalita ordered it to be moved to Moscow. Scientists have established that the throne was made in 1551 by Novgorod craftsmen to glorify the first Russian Tsar, who had just been crowned on the throne. 12 bas-reliefs are carved on its walls and doors, depicting scenes from “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” - literary monument the turn of the XIV-XV centuries, where it was argued that the Rurik dynasty comes from the family of the Roman emperor Augustus Octavian, during whose reign the Savior was born in Palestine. The central place is occupied by the story of how the royal regalia were brought to Rus' from Byzantium - a crown and barmas, allegedly sent by Emperor Constantine Monomakh to his grandson, Prince of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh. (In fact, Constantine Monomakh died when his grandson was about two years old, and the legend that the regalia was sent to Rus' by another Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnenos is closer to reality.) In any case, all this testified to the continuity of Moscow power from the First and Second Rome. The tent-like canopy of the throne, erected as a sign of the sacredness of the place being shaded, resembles the shape of Monomakh's hat. And the throne itself stands on four supports in the form of fantastic predatory animals, symbolizing state power and its strength. In 1724, they wanted to remove the Monomakh throne from the Assumption Cathedral, but Peter I did not allow it: “I revere this place more precious than gold for its antiquity, and because all the sovereign ancestors - the Russian sovereigns - stood on it.”
The place for the queens at the left pillar was moved under Alexei Mikhailovich from the palace Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Senya. Then the icons of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of John the Baptist were placed above it, to commemorate the prayer for the continuation of the royal line. And at the right south-eastern pillar there is a patriarchal place. Near the patriarchal seat stood the staff of St. Peter. It was presented to all archpastors appointed to the metropolitan and then patriarchal sees. In 1722, when the patriarchate was abolished, the staff was removed. Due to its venerable age, it needs museum storage conditions and is now in the Armory Chamber.
The main celebration that took place under the arches of the Assumption Cathedral was the crowning of Russian sovereigns. The “planting” of the first Moscow princes and Ivan Kalita himself on the throne took place in the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. There is evidence that Vasily II was the first to change this tradition back during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. In 1432, he was solemnly “placed on the throne” at the doors of the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral by the Horde prince Mansyr-Ulan, and then entered the cathedral, where the Moscow clergy offered prayers for him. Ivan the Terrible was the first to be crowned on the throne by a church sacrament, and Saint Metropolitan Macarius presented him with a cross and a crown as signs of the king's dignity.
Here, in the Assumption Cathedral, in February 1613, the first Romanov was popularly proclaimed tsar. According to legend, the young man, having come to the Assumption Cathedral for the wedding, stopped on the porch, shedding tears before accepting the burden of power, and the people kissed the hem of his clothes, begging him to ascend the throne. In 1724, Peter crowned his second wife Martha Skavronskaya, the future Empress Catherine I, here. Now scientists believe that he was going to transfer the throne to her, which is why he arranged this coronation. After all, the sovereign abolished the previous order of succession to the throne, and did not have time to draw up a will, but, apparently, he chose his wife as his successor.
Sometimes monarchs interfered with the coronation ceremony. Anna Ioannovna, for example, demanded a European crown and an ermine robe. Catherine II laid the crown on herself. Paul I was crowned in a military uniform. For sovereigns, a throne place was placed in the Assumption Cathedral for coronation, but according to tradition, all of them necessarily ascended to the Monomakh throne.
The last coronation celebrations in the Assumption Cathedral took place on May 14, 1896. Sovereign Nicholas II was in the uniform of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was in a brocade dress embroidered by the nuns of the Moscow St. John's Monastery. It's amazing that the last Romanov wished to be crowned on the throne of Mikhail Fedorovich - the first Romanov, and for the empress he ordered the installation of a throne that, according to legend, belonged to Ivan III- the same one that Sofia Paleolog brought as a gift to her husband.
The weddings of sovereigns were also celebrated in the Assumption Cathedral. Vasily III got married here to Elena Glinskaya, Ivan the Terrible - to Anastasia Romanova. The pious Alexei Mikhailovich began to baptize his children here. (The heir to the throne was also announced for the first time in the Assumption Cathedral, when he turned 10 years old.) And Empress Catherine II accepted Orthodoxy in the Assumption Cathedral in June 1744: the young Princess Fike was named Ekaterina Alekseevna and the next day she became engaged here to the future sovereign Peter III.
Many great celebrations were celebrated under the arches of the cathedral: the fall of the Horde yoke, the conquest of Kazan, victories in the Northern War and over Turkey.
In the terrible July of 1812, Emperor Alexander I, venerating the relics of the saints in the Assumption Cathedral, made a vow here to repel Napoleon. The enemy briefly entered the Kremlin walls. Then, in search of treasures, they opened the shrine of St. Peter, sealed by Queen Anastasia. Since then, it was no longer closed until the revolution - “for the glory of the shrine, untouched by wickedness.” They also opened the shrine of St. Philip. Thus, the prediction of Metropolitan Plato, who occupied the see during the time of Catherine II, was fulfilled that the relics of St. Philip would appear when the enemies took Moscow. Only the silver shrine containing the relics of St. Jonah remained untouched. According to legend, the French tried to open it several times, but each time they fell into indescribable fear. Napoleon allegedly found out about this and personally went to the cathedral, but he was overcome by such horror that he, shuddering, ran out of the cathedral, ordered it to be locked and a sentry to be placed to guard the doors. Another legend says that, having opened the shrine of Metropolitan Jonah, the invaders saw the saint’s finger threatening them. This frightened Napoleon, and he ordered not to touch this tomb. Leaving the Kremlin, Napoleon nevertheless ordered to blow up the Assumption Cathedral, but the ignited wicks were extinguished by the miraculously gushing rain. That same October, having returned to Moscow with the shrines, Archbishop Augustine entered the cathedral through the “bishop’s” northern doors. Then they were afraid of the last enemy intrigue, whether there might be a mine planted in these doors, which should explode when the doors are opened. But the archbishop sang the psalm “May God rise again and His enemies be scattered” and calmly entered the temple.
After the victory, the Assumption Cathedral was decorated with a giant chandelier “Harvest”, cast from captured silver captured in Moscow by Napoleonic hordes and recaptured by the Cossacks. Its secular name is full of religious meaning: a sheaf of wheat ears is entwined with garlands of grapes - these are symbols of Holy Communion. On April 23, 1814, a “song of praise to the Lord” was sung in the Assumption Cathedral in honor of the capture of Paris and the deposition of Napoleon.
And then, under the arches of the Assumption Cathedral, another significant event took place. historical event. His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin once presented the ark-tabernacle in the form of the sacred Mount Sinai to this temple. At the foot of the ark, in the altar, the most important state documents were kept, such as the letter of election to the throne of Mikhail Romanov, the order of Catherine II for the Legislative Commission and the act of Paul I on succession to the throne. One of the documents was the act of abdication of the throne of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, brother of Alexander I. In 1822, he abandoned the throne for the sake of a love marriage. Alexander I bequeathed the throne to his younger brother Nicholas, about which he also drew up a corresponding act and placed it in the Assumption Cathedral. All this was kept in strict confidence. That is why, after the sudden death of Emperor Alexander I in November 1825, an oath was given to Konstantin Pavlovich. When he refused a second time, he was required to swear allegiance again to another sovereign - Nicholas I. This, as is known, was the reason for the Decembrist uprising. And on December 18 of the same year, in the Assumption Cathedral, in the presence of members of the Senate, military officials and ordinary Muscovites, Archbishop Filaret, the future Metropolitan of Moscow, took from the altar the will of Alexander I on the transfer of the throne to Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich and read it out. After reading the document, Muscovites began swearing an oath to the legitimate sovereign Nicholas I.
Here in the Assumption Cathedral in February 1903, the act of excommunication of Leo Tolstoy from the Church was read. That is why Lenin wanted to erect a monument to the writer not just anywhere, but in the Kremlin.
After the Bolshevik government moved to Moscow in March 1918, services in all Kremlin cathedrals were prohibited, but with the special permission of Lenin, a service was still held on Easter in the Assumption Cathedral. It was led by Bishop Trifon of Dmitrov (Turkestan), and the moment of the end of this Easter liturgy became the plot of Pavel Korin’s unfinished painting “Departing Rus'.” Lenin himself came out to look at procession and said to one of his comrades: “This is the last time they go!” This was by no means a demonstration of the religious tolerance of the Soviet regime, but a rather cynical step. Lenin gave permission for the last Easter service in the Kremlin to stop the spread of rumors that the Bolsheviks were desecrating, destroying and selling Orthodox Russian shrines abroad. And this was just around the corner. The sacristy of the cathedral paid indemnity for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the value of an item was determined not by its value, but by weight. In 1922, 65 pounds of silver were confiscated from the Assumption Cathedral. Many icons ended up in the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Armory Chamber.
There is a legend that in the winter of 1941, when the Nazis stood near Moscow, Stalin ordered a prayer service to be secretly served in the Assumption Cathedral for the salvation of the country from the invasion of foreigners.
Since the 1990s, divine services have been regularly held in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.