sobor

 

Address: 1, Sobornaya sq.
Tel.: 00 38 048 729 36 60
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Site: http://sobor.odessa.ua

In August 1794 , during the solemn consecration of Odessa, on the city’s main square (Sobornaya Square) by Metropolitan Gavriil himself was blessed the construction site of a church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and a year later the first stone was grounded . Built soon ( in 1804 ), Orthodox Church became the ancestor of the future Cathedral.

In 1908, the Orthodox Christians widely celebrated a hundred-years anniversary of Orthodox Cathedral (Holy Transfiguration Cathedral) – one of the largest cathedrals in Russia . No one could imagine that in nine years a new chronology would appear: after Bolsheviki came to power, they seized all the church property and in May 1937 the church was blown up. The remains of former archbishops, rested in the lateral limits of the temple at the request of church bodies were transported to Slobodskoe Cemetery. There they stayed for a long time, until a few years ago they were reburied at the cemetery of the Holy Dormition Male Monastery. The bodies of a governor of the NovorossiyskayaTerritory – Count Vorontsov and his wife were abused and thrown into a ditch near the wall of the city cemetery . The remains of the revered citizens of Odessa were secretly buried .

Following the adoption of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 1999 (Odessa Orthodox Cathedral was included in the Program of recovery of outstanding lost monuments of history and culture of Ukraine), the cathedral began to recover and on Christmas Day in 2001 the bell tower was opened.

At September the 2nd, 2004 the mosaic icon of Christ Pantocrator on the Throne was opened on the eastern facade of the Cathedral and Filatov fountain appeared in Cathedral Square . A year later, the lower part of Odessa Transfiguration Cathedral was consecrated in honor of St. Innocent Odessa Wonderworker. In the same year, the remains of the spouses Vorontsov were transferred to the cathedral. On the reburial , in detail repeating funeral of the Count ( procession proceeded from the governor’s Palace to the Cathedral) , gathered about ten thousand of Odessa residents wishing to express respect the Governor-General, who made a lot of good deeds for the glory of the city.

At July 7th, 2007 in the lower church of the Cathedral were re-buried the relics of St. Innocent of Odessa .