The temples of Brest: St. Nicholas Brethren Church

St. Nicholas Brethren Church is situated in the center of Brest on Soviet Street. The name of the street was different at the end of the 19^th century, but the church had already stood, then it was wooden. But the scourge of all wooden city buildings, fire, wiped it from the face of the earth. It was decided to build a stone church. The then governor P. A. Stolypin supported this idea and contributed a lot to the construction.

Funds for construction were being collected by the whole world: donations of the society, the funds of the Sacred Synod, the money from the related churches of Serbia and Bulgaria, from the brotherhood of Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas is a patron of sailors so that the heroes of the Russo-Japanese War, the natives of Brest, took an active part in fundraising.

After learning about such a charitable initiative of the city, Emperor Nicholas II gave money from the Treasury.

The archietectural features of the iconic sight of Brest

The style of the building is Byzantine, some elements are the echo of Moscow Church architecture. The Grodno architect I. K. Plotnikov was invited to realize the project. He implemented the idea of building a magnificent temple-ship.

The Church majestically cleaves through space as if a regal ship cleaves through the ocean water. The bell tower as high as a mast resists head wind and five onion domes, crowned with Golden crosses, pierce the firmament right behind it. A noble combination of blue (bluer than the sky is), orange (like flowers), white (purer than the soul of the righteous), golden (like the precious word of God) – here is the color scheme of St. Nicholas Brethren Church in Brest.

The history of the St. Nicholas Brethren Church in Brest

The Church withstood two wars. It lost the bells during the Great Patriotic War, because the invaders commandeered them to smelt for the needs of their army, but nevertheless continued to serve the Orthodox faith.  

The Church survived in the Atheistic hard times. Crosses were removed from the domes and the facades by the militant theomachists, the building was taken away from the Church and handed over to the state to keep archives.  But the Church survived and was revived in the same appearance in the 1980. The crosses were returned back. Services were resumed in 1996. The Church is beautiful, shines with colors and gladdens with sublime architecture as it was before.   

The parishioners honored their fellow countrymen, participants of the battle of Tsushima in 2005. There were about 90 people, more than half died. A monument to the heroic sailors was unveiled near the temple in honor of the centennial anniversary of the famous naval battle, two plaques in their honor, a plaque of gratitude and commemoration one, were installed in the narthex of the Church.

Come for an excursion to see temples of Brest

At all times, the Church of St. Nicholas supported and instructed believers, helped those who were in need.  Sunday school, Church library and the Sisterhood of charity are working under its guidance, as well as a newspaper is being published now. The Church has the most revered images with parts of the Holy relics, the cross with a stone of Jerusalem hill of Golgotha.

St. Nicholas Church in Brest is one of the most interesting sights of Belarus. Despite the fact that most tourists come here to visit places of military glory - in the Brest Fortress, the religious architecture of Brest also deserves attention. The program of our sightseeing tours in Belarus with departure from Minsk includes visiting the main temples of Brest: St. Simeon's Cathedral, St. Nicholas Brethren Church, Resurrection Cathedral and other architectural monuments.