The Fyodorovskaya Church (Фёдоровская церковь) is a penticupolar parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 Russian Orthodox church built by ordinary parishioners on the right bank of the Kotorosl River in Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...

 between 1682 and 1687. It is dedicated to Theotokos Feodorovskaya, a miraculous icon from nearby Kostroma

Kostroma

Kostroma is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian towns, it is located at the confluence of the Volga and Kostroma Rivers...

.

The building is notable as the first church in the region to be returned by the Soviets to the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

 (in 1987). It served as the cathedral church of the ancient Yaroslavl-Rostov eparchy until the restored Dormition Cathedral was consecrated in 2010. During this period the relics of St. Theodore the Black

Theodore the Black

Duke Theodore Rostislavich nicknamed Theodore the Black Феодор Ростиславич Черныйis a saint of the Russian orthodox church and was a ruler of Smolensk and Yaroslavl. His father Prince Rostislav died in 1240. Theodore was Duke of Mozhaysk from his youth. In 1260 Theodore married Maria Vasilievna,...

 and other local saints were kept there.

History

A parish chronicle from the 18th century survives. It indicates that it was the Mother of God who appeared to a paralyzed parishioner, Ivan, and commanded the building of a church in Her name. Ivan was instructed to sail down the Volga to Kostroma and ask Guriy Nikitin, a famous icon painter, to make a replica of the miraculous icon of the Theotokos. This new image eventually helped cure Ivan, among many others.

The parishioners decided to model the new church on that of the Ascension of Christ

Ascension Church, Yaroslavl

The Church of the Ascension of Christ is a four-piered penticupolar Orthodox church erected in Kondakovo, a western suburb of Yaroslavl between 1677 and 1682....

. Its exterior ornamentation is basic but proportions are graceful. The elongated drum

Tholobate

A tholobate or drum, in architecture, is the upright part of a building on which a dome is raised. It is generally in the shape of a cylinder or a polygonal prism....

s and dome

Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....

s are considerably higher than the cuboid structure of the church that supports them. An enclosed gallery and a porch

Porch

A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...

 were added to the main cube in the first third of the 18th century.

The interior is of traditional design. It has four piers and is entirely covered in fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es dating from 1716. The intricately carved icon screen was made in 1705. Some of the icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

s are noted for their complex calendar and cosmological codes.

The church compound is fenced and has a smaller church with a belfry

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 on the north side. This single-dome Penskaya church

Church of St. Nicholas Pensky

The Church of St. Nicholas "Pensky" is a smaller church of Fyodorovsky parish on the right bank of the Kotorosl River in Yaroslavl, in the district formerly known as Tolchkovo....

 is dedicated to St. Nicholas, a patron saint of merchants. There is also a baptistery

Baptistery

In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...

of recent construction on the grounds.