The cathedral was erected on the site of a wooden church built in 1715. The cathedral was constructed between 1765 and 1771 with funds from the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, Count Kirill Razumovsky, under the direction of the local architect Yanovsky. The design of the church was developed by Rinaldi, or according to another version, Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe. Consecrated in 1765, the Resurrection Cathedral is connected to the ancient history of the city, if not by its appearance, then by its material — it was built from bricks taken from the dismantled Menshikov Palace. The cathedral was built by the last Hetman of Ukraine, Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky. Catherine II abolished the hetman title along with Ukraine’s autonomy but granted as compensation extensive lands in perpetual ownership, including Pochep and its surroundings. The Resurrection Cathedral was built in memory of these events. According to one legend, the iconostasis of the Pochep cathedral was transferred from the church in the village of Perovo near Moscow, where Princess Elizabeth supposedly secretly married Alexei Razumovsky. As for its appearance, the city can be proud: the cathedral’s design captures two eras of domestic architecture — Russian Baroque and Classicism. The cathedral’s architecture is a farewell song to Baroque and simultaneously a welcoming hymn to the emerging Classicism. It is gratifying to realize that one of the first examples of early Russian Classicism is located in Pochep.
The cathedral’s plan corresponds to the traditional cross-domed system. It has the shape of an elongated cross with rounded apses at the ends of three arms of the cross and a rectangular refectory. Attached to the latter is a square narthex — the lower tier of the bell tower, and to it on the west side is an octagonal porch with a round staircase leading to the second floor. The plan, with its favored Baroque rounded forms, overall carries the strictness and clarity of a classical character. But above this plan is created a volumetric composition rich in the complex plasticity of Baroque architectural forms. Three apses with helmet-shaped roofs and circular lucarnes embedded in their attics adjoin the elevated volume of the temple. These forms beautifully connect the apses with the main volume and the central dome rising from it. The dome is small and occupies a subordinate position as a plastic transition to the two-tiered drum with a domed roof, crowned by a tiny decorative drum with a cross. In addition, the dome is used to create an impressive typical Baroque wreath of eight lucarnes with round windows at the base of the drum. The exterior decoration of the temple is executed in the style of Russian Baroque. Straight, inward angles are softened by rounding; protruding corners have rustication and chamfers. The facades are articulated by Ionic pilasters grouped in bundles of three, two, and half-pilasters, with a third pilaster imposed on them — with rustication above them, an entablature, and a higher attic. Between the pilasters and in the upper part, the wall field is decorated with panels in which windows are set: rectangular, arched, and round. Above the narthex and high above the cathedral rises a slender, graceful bell tower. It consists of four successively narrowing tiers, a dome, and a tall spire. The architecture of the bell tower reveals the classical clarity of its construction, clear separation of tiers by cornices, greater strictness in the use of architectural orders, and simplicity of forms. Later, with the construction of a palace next to the cathedral, these new architectural qualities of the bell tower served as a good link with the palace’s architecture — the architecture of mature Classicism. The cathedral’s exterior architecture, organically combining two stylistic directions, enchants with the balance of mass groupings, the plasticity of volumes, and the elegance of decoration.
The interior of the cathedral is impressive with its freely flowing space and architectural design, the culmination of which is the magnificent three-tier iconostasis, whose composition fully belongs to the Baroque style and resembles the brilliant works of Rastrelli.
The church houses an icon of Saint Theodosius of Chernigov, with a dedicatory inscription that reads: “This icon and the kiot for it were made through the efforts of Count Konstantin, Countess Ekaterina Kleinmikhel with their children, parishioners, and the rector of the Resurrection Church, priest Alexander Pomerantsev, in 1898.”
After 1917, the church was looted by Red Army soldiers.
From 1934 to 1937, the church was served by rector Archpriest Isaac Kozlov and Archpriest Leonid Lapchinsky. The church elder was Efrem Medvedev. In 1937, they were arrested and executed, after which the church was closed. During the Great Patriotic War, it was briefly reopened. After the war, the church was closed again.
Services resumed in 1990, and in 1999 the iconostasis icons, which had been kept in restoration workshops in Moscow, were returned.
Sources:
https://libryansk.ru/pochepvoskreseniya.21286/
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Воскресенский_собор_(Почеп)
