Church of the Tithes

Church of the Dormition of the Virgin
The ruined Church of the Tithes in the 1650s, drawn by Abraham van Westerveld.
Religion
AffiliationEastern Orthodox Church
ProvinceKyiv Metropolis
RiteEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Statusdestroyed
Location
LocationKyiv, Ukraine
Architecture
TypeCathedral
Completed996
MaterialsStone
Church of the Tithes
Church of the Tithes is located in Ukraine Kyiv
Church of the Tithes
Shown within Kyiv
LocationKyiv, Ukraine
Coordinates50°27′28″N 30°31′03″E / 50.4577777878°N 30.51750001°E / 50.4577777878; 30.51750001
TypeBuilding
History
BuilderVolodymyr of Kyiv
Founded10th century AD
PeriodsKievan Rus
CulturesOld Ruthenian
Site notes
ConditionRuined

The Church of the Tithes or Church of the Dormition of the Virgin (Ukrainian: Десятинна Церква, Desiatynna Tserkva;) was the first stone church in Kyiv.[1] Originally it was built by the order of Grand Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr) the Great between 989 and 996[1] by Byzantine and local workers at the site of death of martyrs Theodor the Varangian and his son Johann. It was originally named the "Church of Our Lady", in honor of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The church was ruined in 1240 during the siege of Kyiv by Mongol armies of Batu Khan.

Vladimir set aside a tithe of his income and property to finance the church's construction and maintenance, which gave the church its popular name.

On an initiative of the Metropolitan of Kyiv Eugene Bolkhovitinov, the church was rebuilt in the mid-19th century, but in 1928 it was once again destroyed by the Soviet regime.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Mariya Lesiv, The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation, (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013), 105.