The Church of St. John the Theologian on the Ishnya River (церковь Иоанна Богослова на Ишне) is situated several miles west of

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, close to the Northern Mainline. It was built of wood in 1687 as a filial church of the Avraamiev Monastery marking the supposed place where the monastery's founder had met St.

John the Theologian John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian; ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:9 states that John was on Patmos, an Aegean island off the coast of Ro ...

in the early 11th century. The church is an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

with porches crowned by distinctive '' bochka'' roofs and a steepled

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

set in front of the main building. It is the oldest wooden building in

Yaroslavl Oblast Yaroslavl Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by the Tver Oblast, Tver, Moscow Oblast, Moscow, Ivanovo Oblast, Ivanovo, Vladimir Oblast, Vlad ...

and is open as a museum from May to September. In 1562 monk Isaiah from the Avraamiev Monastery carved the ornate

royal doors The royal doors, holy doors, or beautiful gates are the central doors of the iconostasis in an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church. The sanctuary (sometimes called the ''Altar'', which contains the Holy Table) is separated from the nav ...

that served as the main entrance to the altar. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the church's original furnishings, including a set of old icons and the royal doors, were taken to the

Rostov Kremlin The Rostov Kremlin (Russian ''Ростовский кремль'') is an architectural ensemble of four complexes, built during the 16th and 17th centuries in Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. The Kremlin is located in the center of Rostov. Accor ...

museum and replaced with replicas. The original

icon screen In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church. The ico ...

can be seen on

Vereshchagin Vereshchagin () is a Russian masculine surname, its feminine counterpart is Vereshchagina. It was also a name of an old Russian Boyar family. Notable surname bearers * Pavel Vereshchagin, a character from the 1970 Soviet movie ''White Sun of th ...

's 1888 painting in the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

. File:Ростов. Церковь Иоанна Богослова (с. Богослов).jpg, The church in 2017 File:Копия врат.jpg, A copy of the royal doors, 2015 File:El iconostasio de la iglesia de San Juan Evangelista en Rostov.jpg, Vereshchagin's painting File:Церковь Иоанна Богослова на Ишне - 2.jpg, The wooden door File:Памятная табличка о посещении Николаем Вторым.jpg, A plaque commemorating the 1913 visit by

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

and his family

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline, Church of Saint John the Evangelist on Ishnya Wooden churches in Russia Buildings and structures in Yaroslavl Oblast Museums in Yaroslavl Oblast Churches completed in 1687 Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Yaroslavl Oblast