Little do people know that the cult of St. Nicholas was disseminated throughout Eastern Europe thanks to the efforts of Kyivan Prince Volodymyr the Great, who brought the icon of St. Nicholas from Chersonese in 988. The Kyiv ruler began popularizing St. Nicholas and the people began attributing all good deeds to his efforts.
For example, Kyivans believed that St. Nick saved a child that fell out from the boat into the Dnipro River, helped someone in Podil to get back a debt and even detained a robber. Kyivans even gave the attentive and caring patron the nickname �quick to helper�. So it should come as no surprise that over a thousand years a lot of places were named - right up until the first quarter of the 20th century - after St. Nicholas.
Mykilska Sloboda
Before the invention of the railway the way from Moscow to Kyiv was rather long. Travelers preferred taking a coach � the most popular form of public transport of the time � or enjoyed their own carriage. The end stretch of the way went along the Brovary Highway near one the current Metro stations in Kyiv. Many of the villages along this stretch were named after St. Nicholas, who greeted all guests to Kyiv and protected them from mishaps.
Travellers made their last stop before getting to Kyiv at a small roadside inn and tavern in the suburban town of Mykilska, where they could have a hearty meal and rest up for the night. Guests could also pay a visit to the St. Nicholas Church near the present-day Livoberezhna Metro.
After travelers left Mykilska they had to cross the Mykolayiv Chain Bridge connecting the left and right banks of the Dnipro River. This bridge was a true wonder of architecture wonder and one of the many hallmarks of Kyiv. Each of the five sections of the bridge featured an arch with two towers on both sides done in the style of medieval English castles. The arches were joined by thick chains (hence the name of the bridge), each link of which weighed 12 poods (195 kg). The Mykolayiv Bridge was the only one in the world connected by junks of chains of such length!
At the end of the bridge visitors to Kyiv were greeted by the Chapel of St. Nicholas the Miraculous with its five stunningly beautiful cupolas. The chapel was built on the initiative of Kyiv Governor Gen. Ilarion Vasylchikov. From there the road ascended along a picturesque alley today known as the Dniprovskiy Ascent. The alley was especially built to make the ride from the Dnipro River to the main strategic object in Kyiv � the Pechersk Fortress � more comfortable.
Hetman sanctuaries
In those times the Pechersk district of Kyiv ahead of others in terms of the number of objects honoring St. Nicholas. After crossing the bridge and passing the chapel, travelers would carry on towards Pechersk. The first building along this path was the St. Nicholas Church on Askold�s Grave. Time permitting one could visit the church�s cemetery, which at that time had the same status that the Baikove Cemetery has today. It is precisely here that the most respected and wealthiest Kyiv residents are buried.
Further along Mykolayiv�s Descent, the visitors would come out onto the present-day Ploshcha Slavy (Glory Square), where the colossal Viyskovo-Mykilskiy Cathedral built by Hetman Ivan Mazepa at the end of the 17th century rose up to the heavens right before their very eyes. The size of this cathedral was impressive for its amazing and unique Baroque iconostasis, which towered 15.5 meters high and was 22 meters wide.
From there the path went along Mykilska St. from the Great Nicholas (this was the name Kyivans gave to the Viyskovo-Mykilskiy Cathedral) to the Small Nicholas (the Svyato-Mykilskiy Pustynniy Monastery) near the present-day Arsenalna Metro station. The monastery was named after the uninhabited area, pustyn, on which it was built in the 12th century. The Zaporizhzhian Cossack Army protected the monastery since St. Nicholas was traditionally considered the defender of prisoners of war. As legend has it, it was St. Nicholas that freed the glorified Ataman Samiylo Kishka from Turkish captivity.
Today you can go down Mykilska St. by trolleybus or car but will not see the either of the chapels Great Nicholas nor Small Nicholas here and the name of the street was changed on several occasions. Most recently, it was renamed in honor of Hetman Mazepa.
In the days of yore when the only form of transportation at the time was a horse-drawn carriage, the only way to get to Podil from the fortress was Mykilska St. through the Mykilski Gates. What this meant was that everybody passing through the Mykilski Gates was blessed by St. Nicholas.
If to tally up, there were a total of six places named after St. Nicholas on the relatively small territory of Pechersk. But the list does not end there. For example, there was Mykilskiy Alley (today Sichneviy Alley) and the Mykolayivskiy Hospital-Monastery in the Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra. Russia�s Tsar Nicholas I, whose celestial patron was also St. Nicholas, initiated the construction of the New Pechersk Fortress.
In a high-risk zone
If to take a walk through the trading district of Podil one can easily understand why living in there was of higher risk than the aristocratic military district of Pechersk. For instance, the threat of flooding was much greater due to Podil being situated right along the Dnipro River. Since the buildings were mostly made of wood in those times the threat of fire was quite real as well. Finally, due to the fast and turbulent pace of trading there one was always at risk of going bankrupt. Beggars and orphans also fancied Podil because it offered the greatest number of shelters for the needy in Kyiv.
On Pokrovska St. there was a refuge for about 800 people in the Church of Mykola Dobriy (Nicholas the Benevolent). A Kyiv scholar of the 19th century Pavlo Dolzhykov explained: �This was one of the reasons that a church was named Dobro-Mykolayivska�. In his outstanding novel The White Guard the legendary Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov alluded to his wedding in this church in April of 1913.
The Nicholas Naberezhna Church was so named as it is located in place where legend holds that there was a wharf for merchants that transported their goods to Kyiv by ship. Unlike other Kyiv temples named in honor of St. Nicholas that the Soviet regime shut down or destroyed, this one remained intact and active quite a number of years. It was only in 1960 that masses were suspended and the church was transformed into a concert hall and recording studio. The church�s status was restored only in 1990 with the breakup of the Soviet Union.
There is the old Church of Mykola Prytysko near the Zhytniy Market. It is famous for being designated in 1934 a city cathedral for a short time. After the St. Sofia Cathedral and the Pyrogoshcha were shut down, the Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Ivan Pavlovskiy moved his pulpit there. However, in 1935 the Church of Mykola Prytyska was shut down and the metropolitan was exiled from the nation�s capital.
The small Prytysko-Mykilska St. on which the Mykilska Roman-Catholic Church of a Dominican Monastery was located in the first half of the 17th century goes from this temple. The prior of this monastery built himself a country villa in the present-day Kurenivka district, which he named Priorka. Today the entire district is named after this though the villa is longer standing.
Watching for hoarfrost
St. Nicholas the Miracle-maker was honored not only in the districts of Pechersk and Podil. The Mykolayiv Cathedral of the Pokrovskiy Convent is one of the most dominating and the largest religious temples in Kyiv. Tsar Nicholas �� took part in establishing this church, which was built at the expense of the famous Kyiv sugar baron and a patron of the arts Mykola Tereshchenko. The cathedral also went down in the history books for being the first concrete construction in the Russian Empire. Yet another coincidence is that the surname of the architect of the Mykolayiv Cathedral was Nikolayev.
One of the most beautiful buildings in Kyiv, the Mykolayiv Roman-Catholic Church, is situated near Palats Ukraina (Palace of Ukraine). This structure is a wonderful example of Gothic pseudo-architecture of the 19th-20th centuries. Its construction was based on the unique technology of Kyiv engineer Anton Straus, which was applied for the first time in Europe on this scale. The famous architect Vladislav Horodetsky was its chief architect.
The Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-maker built in 1916 to honor the victims of World War I is another temple dedicated to St. Nicholas. This unfinished construction � maybe the oldest in town - can be seen today towering atop Mt. Zvirinets.
Finally, the residents of Kyiv of the olden days knew St. Nicholas to be an accurate weather forecaster. On �Mykilski� days (December 18-19) Kyivans attentively watched the weather especially hoarfrost. There were sayings: �If there is hoarfrost before Nicholas Days, the oats will be beautiful� or �Let there be hoarfrost on Nicholas Days for a good harvest.� Who knows, perhaps it was St. Nicholas that gave the life of old Kyivans that sentimental note that today is nostalgically referred to as �the good old days�.
Stanislas Tsalyk
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