Church of St Eudokia (Kazan)

The Church of St Eudokia, also known as the Church of the Holy Venerable Martyr Eudokia or the Saviour and St Eudokia Church, is an 18th-century Orthodox church in Kazan, on Fedoseevskaya Street in the lower part of the historic centre, not far from the Kremlin. Its main altar is dedicated to the Holy Face of the Saviour. It is a parish church of the Kazan diocese and one of the few Baroque churches in Tatarstan that keep their original appearance.

History

The church was built in 1734. The main altar was consecrated to the Image of the Saviour Not Made by Hands, and the side chapel to the venerable martyr Eudokia of Heliopolis, which gave the church its popular name. The parish was made up of townspeople of modest means and was considered one of the poorest in Kazan.

In 1895 a porch with a tent-roofed chapel was added on the north-west side. The last pre-revolutionary rector, Father Pavel Afonsky, served here from 1906 until the church was closed; his grave lies by the east wall of the side chapel.

In 1932 the church was closed: the authorities decided to pull down several city churches for their bricks, and factory meetings were staged to "demand" that this one be shut as well. The building was handed over to the NKVD and for a time held prisoners. Later it housed an electrical substation and served other utilitarian needs, and the interior was lost.

The church was returned to believers in 1998, on the feast of the icon of the Mother of God "It Is Truly Meet". By 2000 restorers and parishioners had repaired it and installed new iconostases.

Architecture

The brick church is built in the Naryshkin, or Moscow, Baroque style. It is a pillarless church of the "octagon on a cube" type in three parts: a short rounded apse and a rectangular refectory adjoin the low cube. The broad octagon with windows is topped by a domed roof on a cylindrical drum. The bell tower repeats the forms and decoration of the main building but ends in a tent roof instead of a dome.

The facades are modestly decorated with typical Baroque window surrounds. Inside, the main space is covered by an eight-sided cloister vault, with stepped squinches leading from the cube to the octagon. In almost three centuries the church has never been substantially rebuilt, so its compact and coherent composition survives. It is a listed cultural heritage site.

Relics and icons

The venerated icons include the Kazan and Vladimir icons of the Mother of God and an icon of the Annunciation. The church keeps a reliquary with a particle of the relics of St Alexander of Svir.

Legends

According to tradition, the church was built with money from Evdokia Miklyaeva, the widow of the merchant Ivan Miklyaev, which is why the side chapel is dedicated to her patron saint. No documents confirm this. Of the Soviet years it is said that death sentences were carried out in the former church, but this too is known only from accounts.

Getting there

The address is 46 Fedoseevskaya Street, Kazan. The nearest metro station is Kremlyovskaya, about a kilometre's walk away: go round the Kremlin and down to Fedoseevskaya Street. By bus or tram, get off at Kremlyovskaya Embankment or Baturina stops.