Church of St. John the Theologian, Kharkiv

The current Church of St. John the Theologian was built in 1885 in the village of Ivanivka, designed by architect Fyodor Danilov and funded by donations from parishioners.

In his work *Historical and Statistical Description of the Kharkiv Diocese* (1857), Filaret Gumilevsky wrote that the first Church of St. John the Theologian in Ivanivka was built as early as around 1680, it was wooden.

^{Memorial to those who died in the Russian-Ukrainian War. Photo: Ivan Ponomarenko, 2021}

The church’s website states that the congregation consisted mainly of workers from the railway workshops and the Pashchenko-Tryapkin chemical plant. Over time, the settlement became part of the city; its current address is Bolshaya Panasovskaya Street, 105A.

According to the directory of the Kharkiv Diocese (1904), there were 3,822 parishioners, with men and women in nearly equal numbers.

The same source states that there were two altars: one dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist and the other to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. There was also a third altar, but it was consecrated only in 1904, in honor of Saint Theodosius, Archbishop of Chernihiv, and the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. A parish school operated at the church.

The Church of St. John the Theologian was closed in 1930 and, in 1932, transferred to the Department of Transportation and Communications of the City Council for subsequent demolition.

However, only the crosses and the bell tower’s spire were demolished—the church was used as a warehouse. During World War II, the upper part of the bell tower was destroyed.

Until 1992, the church continued to deteriorate; according to a report by the “Ukrproektrestavratsiya” Research Institute, 70% of the church had been destroyed. The frescoes (with the exception of a few fragments), the upper part of the dome and roof, the staircases of the south and north entrances, and the pediments above them were lost. On August 14, 1991, the church was transferred by the authorities to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church community (now the Orthodox Church of Ukraine). Restoration of the church began in 1992, and the work has now been completed.

As a result of Russian rocket attacks on September 9, 2022, the church’s facade was damaged and its windows were shattered.