“The shrine of the national Jerusalem” - with these words, under the year 945, the ‘Tale of Bygone Years’ announces the first known Orthodox church of ancient Kyiv, St. Elias Church in Podil. Admiring the views of Kyiv, one can recognize it from afar by its large golden dome, which, like a precious signpost, marks one of the oldest holy places in the Ukrainian capital.
It is difficult to say whether the Old Rus church was made of wood or stone. Unfortunately, there is also no information about the further fate of the shrine. Probably, several churches have changed here over the centuries. Documents from 1632 mention one of them. Sixty years later, a stone church was built at the expense of Petro Hudyma, a Kyivan, which still stands to this day. The composition of the church's plan is similar to Ukrainian three-tiered wooden churches and consists of a narthex, a nave, and an altar. Damaged by a fire in 1718, it was renovated in 1755. It is believed that it was then that several new stone buildings were erected in the churchyard. A two-story bell tower with a tent in the pseudo-Russian style was erected just north of the gate. In the second half of the eighteenth century, one-story stone buildings were built on the northern and western borders of the churchyard. The northern one served as a dormitory for students of the nearby Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
During the repair of the church after the fire that occurred in Podil in 1811, stone narthexes were added to the western and southern entrances. Most of the paintings in the interior of the church that have survived to this day were also made after the fire of 1811. Remnants of the previous paintings have survived only in the altar part of the church.
After the establishment of Soviet rule in Ukraine, St. Elias Church was closed and used as a warehouse for a long time. The fate of the buildings, which together with the church formed a single architectural ensemble, was no better. In particular, the bell tower and buildings were used for housing, which resulted in many alterations that were incompatible with the ancient appearance of these premises. It was a real miracle that in 1960, during the era of persecution of the faith, services were resumed in St. Elias Church. In 1992, a new iconostasis was installed to replace the lost ancient iconostasis.
Confession: Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Address: 2 Pochainynska Street.
