The Shepherd, December 2004
ORTHODOX CRIMEA, 4
SAINT VLADIMIR MEMORIAL CHURCHES
Since Chersonesus was the place of the Holy Prince Vladimir’s baptism, it was decided to commemorate this in the 19th century by building a cathedral in his honour in time for the 900th anniversary in 1888. As Chersonesus was uninhabited, a hill in the centre of nearby Sebastopol was chosen as the site. The building was commenced in 1854, and after the Crimean War, the naval heroes of the city’s defence were buried below the church.
It was still felt that a church should be erected nearer the site of the baptism, and after the excavation began at Chersonesus, a large cathedral was built with strong help from the Imperial Family. This was ruined after the revolution and had to be completely restored recently. The magnificent result was finally consecrated in early 2004. It is a source of great local pride.
Now it is generally held that the exact site of the baptistery used for Saint Vladimir’s baptism is a little distance from the memorial Cathedral, and so a cross over a canopy marks this spot. Unfortunately the site is not in church hands and is not treated by visitors (often holiday-makers) with proper respect.
IMPERIAL PALACE OF LIVADIA
Livadia, near Yalta, was the main summer residence of the last three Emperors and their families. The palace of Alexander II was demolished and the building we see today was erected in 1910-11, the last palace ever built in Russia. It is an attractive white stone building, designed by the local architect, Krasnov. After years as a sanatorium, it is now reopened for visitors, partly as a museum dedicated to the Tsar-Martyr Nicolas II and his family and partly in memory of the Yalta Conference of 1945, which was held there.
Orthodox visitors will be interested in two aspects of the museum. Firstly, the rooms used by the last Imperial Family, to which furniture and other original items have been returned from many provincial museums. One can see the Emperor’s desk in his favourite study, the Empress’s paintings, limographs and icons, the family dining room laid for tea and, perhaps most moving, the classroom of the Grand Princesses with watercolours painted by them. Their art teacher was the palace architect, Nikolai Krasnov.
Even more important is the chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This survives from the first palace and is cleverly linked to the newer buildings by an open colonnade. It is very pretty, of white marble, and has been carefully restored as a functioning (and very active) church. Services were resumed here in the Summer of 1991.
A number of important historical events took place in this church - the first pannikhida for Alexander III who died at Livadia, the oath of accession of the Tsar-Martyrs Nicolas II, and finally the reception into Orthodoxy of the Princess Alix of Hesse, who was then renamed Alexandra Feodorovna.
CONCLUSION
These accounts by no means exhaust Crimea’s Orthodox connections, - it covers only those places and shrines visited by the writer - but I hope they will demonstrate that this small spot is a true holy place, which has many claims on the attention of Orthodox Christians living in the West.
John M. Harwood
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