On June 23, 2018, the fourth annual festival classical music. It will traditionally bring together a unique performing staff from the professors of the Moscow Conservatory and also traditionally delight the audience with new participants. Among the new guests of the festival in 2018 is the Tarusa Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ivan Velikanov.
Yuri Martynov, Ivan Sokolov, Petr Aidu, Ekaterina Derzhavina - these masters of piano art need no introduction. Music lovers know that the meeting of performers of this magnitude on the same stage is an event in itself. It is doubly surprising when the steps of a temple located in a village on the banks of the Oka, a hundred kilometers from Moscow, become this scene.
Haydn and Schubert, classical and baroque music - the listeners of such a day-long program sit not in the velvet chairs of the capital's hall, but on the benches of the "natural amphitheater" around the village temple. Its steps become a stage hosting professors of the Moscow Conservatory and other eminent guests.
For several years of the festival's existence, thanks to its quality and the enthusiasm of the participants and organizers, it has become an event federal scale– guests from all over Russia come to listen to outstanding musicians. In 2017, the festival received more than 3,000 spectators. As a result of the festival, reports were published on TV Kultura and Euronews, interviews with organizers and participants were published by leading Russian publications (Kolta, PravMir, etc.).
The organizers of the festival do not hide the fact that its starting and main idea was and remains the popularization of the unique Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Podmoklovo - a monument of Petrovsky Baroque, a unique architectural gem worthy of special attention. The fact that the temple itself and the landscapes of the historical park surrounding it ( former estate Prince G.F. Dolgorukov) become scenery for classical and baroque music, emphasizing the authenticity of the event. This idea is also served by the already traditional invitation to the festival of the next "chief guest" - a historical piano from the collection of musical restorer Alexei Stavitsky. This time, the music of great composers, contemporaries of this instrument, will sound on the Diederichs Freres grand piano, made in 1895.
Holding an event of this magnitude becomes possible thanks to the support of the district administration and the sincere participation of a team of volunteers. At the same time, the organizers emphasize that the entrance to the festival has always been and will be free.
This year, as in the past, we are raising funds for the festival on the planeta.ru crowdsourcing platform (https://planeta.ru/campaigns/podmoklovofest). The scale to which our event has grown includes new level financing. But we consider it right to look for it, thinking more about some sponsors or patrons. Free entrance to the festival is our principled position. We want the inhabitants of Podmoklovo and the surrounding villages to have no barriers to meeting the world of classical art.

Daria Roshenya

Priest from Podmoklovo:

We will have baroque music
in Roman ruins

How temple XVIII century, overgrown with birches, became the center cultural life

Sunday, June 25, in the village of Podmoklovo there will be a festival classical music. Under open sky in front of the unique church of the Nativity of the Virgin of the XVIII century, the stars of the performing arts will play baroque music. Why bring a piano to a rural temple, which makes the teachers of the conservatory play music on fresh air And what does classical music have to do with Orthodoxy? The rector of the temple tells about this to the correspondent of Pravmir, Daria Roschenya Archpriest Dionisy Kryukov.

Stone apostles stand like parishioners

A hundred kilometers from Moscow, on the high bank of the Oka, there is a temple. A white rotunda with a green dome, decorated with sixteen figures of the apostles, towers over the village of Podmoklovo. Three hundred people live in the village, and the same number come from Moscow for the summer. Nightingales sing here, lilacs and hydrangeas bloom luxuriantly, and unmowed glades are covered with forget-me-nots and dandelions. The ruins of the old castle do not particularly attract anyone, even if they remember a lot. But from the buses that park near the walls of the temple, every now and then new groups of tourists come out. They come on excursions to the rector and get some air.

Thirty years ago, overgrown with weeds and young birch, with rare sculptures on the arcade, the temple looked more like an old beggar with a gap-toothed smile than bold for Peter's time architectural solution. At the end of perestroika, the authorities undertook restoration, restored the church in rough form and soon handed it over to the Church, although there were few parishioners - the fingers of one hand would suffice.

The temple is cold. It's big on the outside and compact on the inside. The walls are without paintings, they will still be restored. On both sides of the entrance original sculptures of those that were not destroyed by vandals. The stone apostles stand like parishioners. I find the abbot right away. There is no hiding place in the round temple. He smiles welcomingly and says: "Let's go on the air?" And we go. From open gallery, blown by all the winds, offers a stunning view of the expanses beyond the Oka.

– Many parishioners?

- I wish there were more...

Instead of a concert, I went to listen to the kliros

“I was lucky to be born into a family of believers,” says Father Dionysius. – My grandmother worked in the diocesan administration in Alma-Ata, where in the sixties and seventies two significant figures for the Russian Orthodox Church served: Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) of Alma-Ata, who baptized me, and Archimandrite Isakiy (Vinogradov).

From childhood, my father knew the service, read on the kliros, loved to sing. But in youth, when he entered the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, he departed from the faith. Became a mathematician. I returned to church life when I was five years old. And the history of his return demonstrates how great is the role of culture in the process of churching.

My father came to Pushchino with his family. Our town is small, and he began to miss good concerts. It is clear that in the 70s there was no developed cultural life in the academic campus, so my father decided to just see how they sing in the surrounding churches. The closest and only one was in Serpukhov, the church of Elijah the Prophet that never closed. It was 1975.

Father came to listen to the kliros, but, as he later told, he was amazed at the faces. “Wow, they sing so well,” he recalled, “while their singing was something more than a means to earn money, than just creativity. These were people inspired by prayer.” He said to himself: “I want that too,” and asked to join the kliros.

My father still has a wonderful baritone, so they took him quickly, and children's experience contributed. At first he traveled for the sake of creativity, but already with a certain aim to return to the Church. Probably, he himself did not expect that everything would spin so rapidly and by the ninetieth year he would ripen to go to the monastery. This is doubly surprising, because all this time my father was engaged in modeling the processes of consciousness, an area at the intersection of physiology and mathematics. He described the processes occurring in the brain in mathematical language. And then suddenly the monastery. With the blessing of the rector of the St. Danilov Monastery, he continues his scientific research even now.

I was lured to church only with gingerbread

- When you returned to the Church, did your father bring you back?

- His means of education were soft. Without any whip, only with a gingerbread he tried to lure me to church: sometimes with sweets, sometimes with a promise to go to a cafe after the service. To a young man, just out of childhood, it impressed. However, I also had my youthful boom, my departure and my conscious return to God.

One conflict situation I saw that my father did not use force, but humbled himself before me. Having the right to insist on his own, he yielded and even asked for forgiveness. It was a revelation. I suddenly felt a strong desire, like him, to sing in church, to serve God, and to gain this freedom of spirit.

I was told musical life. True, I began to study music late, at the age of ten, for a professional career this is close to disaster. But I entered School of Music, then to the Gnessin Academy, where he met his wife. And our family turned out to be musical: one daughter is a postgraduate student at the Moscow Conservatory, and the second is in the same place in her second year, the third is an icon painter, but the fourth decided to devote her life to folklore ...

Tension between faith and reason

- How did you become a priest?

- In the perestroika years, when life began to crush and crush everyone under it, I began to sing in the kliros. And closer and closer to the Church. At some point, I suddenly realized that I was already on the threshold of the priesthood. And so it happened: yesterday I was a pianist, and today I am a priest without any education. I had to study at the seminary in absentia.

the nineties were difficult years. There were few priests, and there was an acute need to plug the holes, well, at least by someone. I was assigned to the parish in Pushchino. It was mine hometown, Center for Academic Research. In part, this contributed to my activity, but still I, young musician, it was difficult. With obviousness, I discovered the notorious conflict between the intelligentsia and Orthodoxy.

There are now more conscientious parishioners in the city than in the countryside. And they fast there stricter, oddly enough, and pray longer

- What was the conflict like?

“Obviously, there is a certain tension between faith and reason. We often use the common thesis: reason is one thing, faith is another. Reason tells how the world works, faith - why it is so arranged. This is an apologetic alphabet.

In the distant 90s, along with the revival of Orthodoxy, oriental cults, esotericism, extrasensory perception, palmistry were popular, which was just not there. Do not forget that the intelligentsia quite broadly interprets the concept of spirituality, so any limitation of oneself, and even more so by any one area, was perceived by it with a minus sign.

The problem was this: faith is hard to feel, even harder to prove. And when a person began to become churched, it seemed to him that not only was nothing happening to him, but no one was giving any guarantees. In fact, this conflict was mainly manifested.

Now, when I simultaneously serve in the academic campus and in the rural church in Podmoklovo, I see that something is changing. There are now more conscientious parishioners in the city than in the countryside. And they fast there stricter, oddly enough, and pray longer. And in the countryside, unfortunately, the feeling that all this is not just neglected, but frankly alien to people.

- Having received an appointment to the parish in Pushchino, did you feel the resistance of the local intelligentsia?

– No, I didn’t feel it, it was felt more by my predecessor, then already elderly Archimandrite Jacob, who had just begun the construction of a church in Pushchino.

Vladyka Jacob was a simple man. It was hard for him to find mutual language with the local intelligentsia. He was simply not accepted. He loved nature, loved to mow. Got cows, goats. In the middle of an academic city, such a free treatment of nature seemed rather strange to many.

We ourselves discovered fellowship as a form of churching

When I replaced him, my father, by that time Hieromonk Feofan, helped me in my development as a priest and rector. “Don’t change anything, in time everything will fall into place by itself,” said the father. Gradually there was a parish, appeared Sunday School. We talked a lot with young people, discussed Scripture over tea, art films. Now it's a habit educational form at the parish, and at the time when I became rector, there was nowhere to learn this. We ourselves discovered fellowship as a form of churching. And everything with us was built on bare enthusiasm.

- It turns out that there were no difficulties after all?

- But why? They were just different. I had to continue building the temple. Historically, there was no temple in the academic city. There was only a temple at the estate in the village of Pushchino, and in the city itself, which is very young, they had to build a church with their own hands, diligence and the grace of God. And we built a very beautiful temple designed by Viktor Varlamov. It doesn't look new at all. We had the opportunity to invite significant masters of modern art to decorate it. church art: Alexander Sokolov, Alexander Chashkin, Alexander Lavdansky, Igor Samolygo and others.

When I realized that the construction work was nearing completion, the experience accumulated, and I was left with a creative itch to participate in cultural program, I began to dream of a church in Podmoklovo and gladly accepted the blessing of Vladyka Yuvenaly on the rectorship. The parish here was not crowded, restoration work was not actually carried out.

Our priest brother is not very versed in culture

What attracted you to the temple?

- Architecture. Same outstanding monument, which is alone in national culture costs. Like any Pushchi dweller, I knew from childhood about the round temple, overgrown with birch and elderberry. At that time, Father Victor served here, with whom we had good friendly relations. I visited him often.

In general, this architecture cannot leave indifferent those for whom it is integral part internal device.

But our brother priest is not very versed in the intricacies of culture. I speak of this with regret. I am convinced that priests need to be seriously educated.

I remember once they brought me old books, which one priest was ready to piously send into the oven. Well, what to do when the book has no beginning, no end, no reading, no adaptation to worship. I looked, and something stopped me from disposing of them. I found that they were decorated in a suspiciously beautiful and archaic style. Studying the temple, I suddenly found out that the books brought to me were from the seventeenth century. You see, we have no icons of the 17th century left, but I won’t say anything about books at all. But for many priests these unique monuments Russian culture - waste material.

I was so carried away by books, so deeply immersed in their history, that I wrote a work on early printed books and the psychology of the reader of that time: “The book is like a shrine.” Books were what shaped people's lives.

Serve just enough so that the Gifts do not freeze

– But not every priest will ask for a temple overgrown with forest. Recovery takes effort and money. It's easier to take a good income ...

“My friends supported me. They promised to help. Then there were more and more people who were ready to engage in the restoration of the temple every day. Finally, in 2009, the temple got into state program restoration. I really did not have a period of vegetating on a pile of stones, like many priests who pray for a long time that the Lord would send them someone to help them. In that sense, I'm spoiled by the way things worked out so well. People just showed up.

My predecessor, Father Victor, had a hard time. In black the temple was rebuilt at the end Soviet period, albeit not actually high level.

The restorers then really saved the temple: they collected five broken sculptures thrown by vandals from the gallery. They even planned to open a sculpture museum here. But in 1992 the temple was handed over to believers. It was unheated, and somehow Father Victor confessed to me: “In winter, my task was to serve just as long as Dary would not freeze.”

- Do I understand correctly: did you have an inner conviction that the temple, half an hour away from Serpukhov, where there are dozens, if not hundreds of large and small churches along the road, in a village in which almost no one is left, needs to be dealt with? In the sense that he is able to attract people and a full-fledged parish can arise here?

- Yes exactly. To be honest, the local population is scarce, but they go to church. If there are ten people in winter, we are glad.

I don’t know if it was just interest that moved me, or whether it was a stimulus for my own development. Perhaps the genes of a researcher have awakened in me. As a musician, I like everything related to art and culture, and as a scientist, it is interesting to dive into the study of things. More and more I was fascinated by this masterpiece of the early Petrine era with an ensemble of the first Russian sculptures created from local material by Ivan Zimin and his comrades. From this temple, in general, you can start counting Russian round plastics.

The temple in 1714 began to build Prince Grigory Fedorovich Dolgorukov, former ambassador in Poland. He built it intermittently for twenty years. He was his calling card. The tradition of building temples as a presentation of the owner has been known since the late Middle Ages.

So, the temple in Podmoklovo was a demonstration by the customer of his capabilities, his cultural orientation, taste, political weight in the state, characteristic of the era. By the way, this topic also became the subject of my scientific research: how the individuality of the customer is manifested through architecture. In a word, I have a lot of things started to turn out. Moreover, I was not alone in my zeal.

How the apostles rehabilitated foreign languages

– Surely there are many legends around such a temple?

There are many legends, but even more truth. Andrey Pilipenko, a colleague from the Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum, helped me to study it. He revealed, for example, that the sculptures are according to a certain program. There are twelve apostles and four evangelists (two apostles - Matthew and John - are repeated). And the apostles even in the pre-Petrine time, under Alexei Mikhailovich, were the image of the intelligentsia.

- Where is the connection?

– In the classical Russian Middle Ages, foreign languages ​​were treated as demonic occupations. We still use the etymology of that time when we call the inhabitants of Germany Germans, that is, dumb. And even earlier they said "he babbles like a Latvian." But in the era of Alexei Mikhailovich, the attitude towards foreign languages ​​changed to a more attentive one. Perhaps because it has already been conquered former territory Commonwealth. And where is Polish, there is Latin, and before European languages near.

In order to rehabilitate foreign language classes, attention was paid to the apostles who received the gift of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. In fact, the temple in Podmoklovo is a miracle of Pentecost. The apostles in the gallery are in an order that corresponds to the text of the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which describes how the apostles gathered in the Zion upper room and the Holy Spirit descended on them. They began to speak in unknown tongues and went to preach. Sixteen figures on the arcade indicate the direction of movement of the apostles in all directions of the earth.

Moreover, they are mentioned in pairs in the text. And on the temple they stand in pairs, in accordance with the text, and each pair forms the diameter of a circle. "...Where two are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them." The middle of the diameter is the center of the temple. In other words, this temple was an image of the apostolic preaching.

In Peter's time foreign languages became a symbol of the Age of Enlightenment. Moreover, in the early time of Peter the Great, enlightenment was not yet tinged with atheistic shades. On the contrary, the aristocracy was extremely religious, and Tsar Peter himself sang in the kliros. Enlightenment was inextricably linked with faith.

– To what extent was this place visited and did contemporaries read all these symbols?

- Of course, people of Dolgorukov's circle read it. Baroque is always allusions and subtexts. This is the era of a certain pictorial language. They all understood perfectly well what the circle means, why it is used here.

Here is an octagon on a quadruple - one of the most common architectural compositions For late XVII – early XVIII century. The octagon is an eight-part structure, the figure eight is a symbol of infinity. For people who were initiated, who knew the cultural and theological language, all this was obvious. Therefore, when they came to the temple in Podmoklovo, they saw these eight axes, it became clear to them that the temple is an image of paradise. And for Peter's time - the theme of paradise. Peter built Petersburg as his own paradise. In fact, Peter's baroque is very optimistic and conveys the idea of ​​building new Russia, which will be the image of the earthly paradise.

missionary bait

- That is, the temple was still not naked aestheticism and fashion trend. Did people perceive all these images?

– Yes, this is obvious to me, although it would probably be too bold to say that all segments of the population could consider these meanings. Local serfs were not taken into account. They had their own wooden temple in the center of the village. And the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was a brownie, a manor, even a palace. A colossal amount was spent on it - 1375 rubles - the annual salary of Grigory Fedorovich at the beginning of his career. Enormous money was invested in the temple, while the manor house was wooden, with nine windows. Not a palace, in a word.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, aristocrats first built a temple, and then luxurious housing. To build a temple was a life program for a person who thanks God for his well-being. The temple in Podmoklovo belongs to this category.

- Did you start reviving the temple in the hope that the local villagers would penetrate the essence of the sculptural decorations and see the image of paradise?

- You know, to each his own. Christianity, Orthodoxy - it is for all segments of the population: for aesthetes, and for the simple, for academics, miners, for the young, for the old, for Russians, for the French. Orthodoxy is universal. This is faith that can find its way to the heart if a person is ready to open his heart. And this architecturally grandiose temple can be a home for both local villagers and people with a high educational level and great aesthetic demands.

Orthodoxy is for all segments of the population: for aesthetes, and for the simple, for academicians, miners, for the young, for the old, for Russians, for the French

I believe that the cultural potential of the temple in Podmoklovo is a way to make it a missionary "bait". Someone will come to admire the beauty and marvel at the place, and then they will be imbued with the service, or maybe they will see how the parish communicates. Here we arrange open-air festivals, meals, youth labor gatherings. Such communal life, if you get to know it, can make you feel what Christianity is in its essence.

Music festival in ancient ruins

– How and why did the idea of ​​a classical music festival come about?

- My daughter, Vera Voronezh, suggested. By virtue of my work, I am not prone to adventures, but Vera was persistent. She really wanted to organize a festival for fellow students and acquaintances. She insisted for a long time. I scoffed and agreed.

- You wanted to arrange a concert in the temple?

- No, outside, near the walls. This was in 2014. The temple was in the woods. On reflection, we decided to hold the first festival of classical music near the ruins of the manor house. With this long-suffering manor house, we depicted ancient ruins. And I must say, the festival, made in a week, on its knee, unexpectedly gathered a lot of spectators.

– Were they lovers of baroque music?

- Not only. The fact is that baroque music is Vera's area of ​​interest, as is her authentic performance. This direction implies the performance of Beethoven not on the Steinway piano, but on the hammerklavier, and Chopin - on the instruments of his time - early pianos. Of course, they were grand pianos, but they are seriously different from modern ones in terms of mechanics. And although Yamaha and Steinway are universal instruments, but from the point of view of the truth of performance, musical truth, it is necessary that the music sound on those instruments that then existed, at least on their replicas.

Vera offered to play baroque music in the "Roman" ruins, since we have our own harpsichord, and her friends play ancient wind and string instruments. And it turned out good festival. Small, literally three hours. But the people liked it.

The next time, already in 2016, we decided to reach a new level and hold two festivals at once: baroque and folklore with a difference of a week.

And this year, Vera has a new adventure. And I believe in the musical flagship of our family, especially since the organization of the entire musical part lies with it. She even organized crowdfunding and managed to raise funds for our new project.

Piano on the porch, stalls on the grass and music as a donation

- What is the adventure of the third festival?

– We decided not just to hold a festival, but to bring a whole piano. Moreover, the grand piano is historical - "Becker" of 1900, which we will put under the gallery. The natural amphitheater will auditorium, and the porch of the temple - an impromptu stage. We even have an unspoken playful name for the program - "piano on the porch". At the same time, we will not deviate from tradition. authentic sound. All baroque music will be played on ancient instruments, and on the Becker piano - works by more than late period.

Moreover, outstanding performers, teachers of the Moscow Conservatory, those who now teach musicians and are the core of the Faculty of Historical Performing Arts of the Moscow Conservatory responded to our idea: Alexei Lyubimov, Ekaterina Derzhavina, Olga Martynova and the Gnessin baroque ensemble, Les Moscovites, Yuri Martynov and others . Their participation is an honor, joy and pride for us. Musicians participate in the project for free. They donate their performing arts to the temple. Knowing perfectly well that people will be attracted by their names, that the temple will gain additional fame, they participate, and this is their form of manifestation of Christianity.

– And you don’t feel a contradiction here: classical music on the porch Orthodox church. Doesn't the neighborhood of these two concepts cause dissonance?

- Well, what here can be a contradiction?

“Music itself is a rather passionate phenomenon. A temple is a place where we meet with God.

- I understand what you're talking about. Yes, there is such a view. But in fact, classical music is always serious, even when it's entertaining. She always says something deep to your soul. That is why this music is eternal. Like classic literature like high works visual arts, although it is not directly "texts" on a religious plot or on religious occasions, it is deeply meaningful. In general, we know very little about music.

For example, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is a sound gospel. Bach used certain musical rhetorical figures creating this harmonious system. And these figures not only carried semantic load and symbolism, they were perceived by people literally as a text. The Well-Tempered Clavier we know from music school as a student work, was a deeply religious work.

- Are you saying that this is not a “musical multiplication table” and not an essay for kneading fingers?

– No, this is a work for kneading the soul. This is a kind of prayer, because each prelude and fugue is associated with a certain passage from the Gospel. It is known that the C major prelude and fugue, which is often performed as “Ave Maria”, is a symbol of the Annunciation. There's a scene doomsday, the Sermon on the Mount, and in fact the entire Gospel.

Very many spiritual people have noticed that cultural figures are most sensitive to religious issues, that is, those who have artistic taste who understands what is good and what is bad, who distinguishes halftones and nuances. And why? Because they have already worked their soul. In this sense, music is quite an ascetic exercise.

– Do you want to say that your festival is also a form of preaching?

- Undoubtedly. At the most superficial level, this is drawing attention to the temple, the second level is our desire to show that parish life can acquire the most different forms. Well, the third layer is the desire to give people the opportunity to work mentally.

- Work hard, because listening to classical music is difficult?

Everything authentic requires work and immersion. True art requires work, as does our faith. Here people come to us and say: oh, what an unusual temple, oh, how wonderful. But few people notice that it has eight axes. Few people think that cute flying angels are not “putti” at all. Even less often, they notice a stone block with bunches of grapes, placed at the very height, under the arch. And rarely does anyone bring it together and think: why, why all this? But because everything was created not for itself, but for God. Art has always been a means of giving thanks to God. 'Cause it's high and hard work.

… we have a small request. More and more people are reading the Orthodoxy and the World portal, but there are very few funds for the editorial work. Unlike many media outlets, we do not offer paid subscriptions. We are convinced that it is impossible to preach Christ for money.

But. Pravmir - these are daily articles, its own news service, this is a weekly wall newspaper for churches, this is a lecture hall, own photos and video, these are editors, proofreaders, hosting and servers, these are FOUR editions of the site, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru, Pravmir.com. So you can understand why we are asking for your help.

For example, is 50 rubles a month a lot or a little? A cup of coffee? Not much for a family budget. For Pravmir - a lot.

If everyone who reads Pravmir subscribes to 50 rubles. per month, it will make a huge contribution to the opportunity to spread the word about Christ, about Orthodoxy, about meaning and life, about family and society.

In the south of the Moscow region, in the Serpukhov district, in the village of Podmoklovo, a classical music festival was held, which is organized by the family of the priest Father Dionysius. With the daughter of father Dionisy, musician Vera Voronezh, we are before the festival. Father Dionysius - Rector Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Podmoklovo, near which, in fact, the festival takes place.

The festival "Classical Music in Podmoklovo" was held on June 25, in one of sunny days this summer, and gathered, according to the organizers, about three thousand Human. Beautiful nature, a wonderful baroque temple, brought into the Russian landscape as if from another planet. The architecture of the temple and music - all this creates a special atmosphere around itself, which, perhaps, would not be possible in another place. A whole eight hours of classical music performed by great musicians is definitely worth seeing, hearing, this is an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in the baroque atmosphere on the banks of the Oka.

Podmoklovo - in the 18th century - the estate of the senior branch of the princes Dolgorukov, located in the southern part of the district, on the right bank of the Oka. The book “Parishes and Churches of the Tula Diocese” (Tula, 1895) states that “the village of Podmoklovo received its name from the flood of the Oka River, which during the spring flood floods the buildings of the named village.” Based on materials archaeological sites known settlement Podmoklovskoe (beginning of the 1st millennium AD), located on the right bank of the Oka to the east of the village of Pomoklovo, the population of which was the pre-Slavic tribes of the Iron Age. The hill fort belongs to the archeological monuments of federal importance. In the VIII-IX centuries, the Slavic population, the Vyatichi, penetrated the banks of the Oka.

Serpukhov archaeologist Artem Pavlikhin, after several expeditions, found that near the village of Podmoklovo there was ancient city Nerensk, mentioned, among other things, in the Ipatiev Chronicle.

From 1656 to 1723 The village was owned by Prince Grigory Fedorovich Dolgorukov. Then the estate passes to his son, Prince Sergei. After the death of Peter II, during the time of Empress Anna Ioannovna, the Dolgorukov family fell into disgrace, the estate was arrested. Prince S. G. Dolgorukov was exiled and then executed, as a case was opened about his participation in the preparation of a false will of Emperor Peter II. Empress Elizabeth returned Podmoklovo to his son Nikolai Sergeevich, who began to equip the estate with stone buildings. The two-storey stone manor house has not been preserved. In the 19th century, the two-story northern wing of Catherine's time, built in a transitional style from Baroque to Classicism, was used as such. As of beginning of XXI century is a ruin.

A well-known landmark is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1714-1722), made in the Italian Baroque style. It is one of the most interesting buildings of the Petrine era, which embodies the features of the Western European Baroque. The church was started at the expense of Grigory Fedorovich Dolgorukov (1656-1723), completed by his son and grandson, consecrated in 1754. It was made in the form of a two-height brick rotunda, over which a spherical dome with lucarnes and a massive light drum were built on.

In addition to the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, a large terraced landscape park with linden and poplar alleys and cascading ponds separated by a dam survived (partially) from the estate. Service buildings of the XVIII-XIX centuries. overhauled and great interest do not represent. In 1781-1833. the village was owned by the children of Faddey Tyutchev, Peter and Anna, then (from the 1840s) the son of the latter, Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilchikov. In 1894 the estate and adjacent lands were sold to the Serpukhov manufacturer P. I. Ryabov. When the October Revolution happened, his son S. P. Ryabov owned the factory near Moklovsky. IN Soviet time in the territory manor estate was an orphanage. In 1975, the territory was transferred to the state farm "Zaoksky", whose management actually abandoned all buildings, ponds, parks and gardens to their fate. In a matter of years, the two-story outbuilding was looted, one of the ponds was destroyed, the gardens became wild and perished.

Despite ongoing Soviet authorities the policy of persecution of the church, church services in churches were carried out until 1936. But already in 1937 the temple was closed and used for household needs, like a granary.

In the early 1980s, the temple was attacked by vandals, 5 out of 16 statues decorating the temple were destroyed. Subsequently, the destroyed statues were restored by specialists of the All-Russian Artistic Research and Restoration Center named after I. E. Grabar. The statues were restored from 1988 to 1995. The restored statues were kept in the Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum, but in 2016 they were returned to their original places.

From 1983 to 1994, the temple building was restored by specialists from the Mosoblrestavratsiya trust. After the restoration work was completed, the arches of the ring porch were reopened near the temple. After the restoration of the church, it was planned to organize a museum of Russian sculpture in it, but already in 1992 the temple was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and since 1993 it has again become an active temple.

In 2009, restoration work began again in the temple, which has been going on for 7 years. In the same year, activities began to include the temple in the list world heritage UNESCO.

Through the efforts of Father Dionysius and his family, with the participation of caring people and with the involvement of a state grant for restoration, the church was restored anew. We managed to ask a couple of questions to Father Deonisy and Vera Voronezhskaya.