And a temple will appear from ruins

The idea of revival of the Stritenska church in Kyiv belongs to father Sergiy (Tkachuk). Here is what he told:

– It was the spring of 1992. Beatific memory Saint Patriarch Mstyslav Skrypnyk, a nephew and adjutant of Symon Petlyura, finished the process of sanctifying of the cross on the ruins of Mykhaylivskyi cathedral on beginning of works from renewal of the temple. I was a novice then at just revived Mykhaylivskyi monastery and a student of seminary. And I still remember this unusual service which inspired to everyday work.

I began the search of area from the research of the destroyed temples of Kyiv, as I thought that at the beginning of spiritual revival of Ukraine it is needed to rebuild our sacred places, and then to build new ones. Thanks God I found Yuriy Paskevych, a leading official of “Kyivproject”, and he acquainted me with the architect Yanush Vig who advised me to take an interest in history of Stritenska church on Lvivska square of the capital.

As it turned out this temple had an extraordinarily rich history. The first mentions concerning it achieve princely times yet. In 1037 Yaroslav the Wise, the son of saint Volodymyr the Great, enclosed new city boundaries with a defensive wall and built western city gate – later the well-known Lviv gates. Then the first wooden Stritenska church, which crowned the building site of Kyiv to the west from Saint Sophia, was built.

Mykola SLAVYNSKYI