Church of the Intercession
Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God
Ukraine, Novhorod-Siverskyi
The Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God is a church in the village of Degtyarevka in the Chernihiv region, built on the initiative and at the expense of the Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Stepanovich Mazepa in 1708. An outstanding monument of monumental architecture of the Ukrainian Baroque era.
The church was built of brick and had five domes. Hetman Mazepa allocated 15,000 gold coins for the construction of this church. The temple belonged to the jurisdiction of the Transfiguration Monastery in Novgorod-Seversk. In the church there was a miraculous icon of the Mother of God. The icon case of the church was also made at the expense of the hetman; it depicted the coat of arms of the hetman Ivan Mazepa.
After the revolution, the Soviet authorities destroyed this church, demolished the domes, plundered the icons. However, they did not manage to destroy it to the end. The question of its restoration is currently being decided.
According to the researcher of Mazepa's hetmanship, Sergei Pavlenko, Hetman Mazepa prayed in this church on the eve of the decision to go over to the side of King Charles XII in the war with Muscovy. It was from here, on October 30, 1708, that Ivan Mazepa sent a letter to Starodubsky Colonel Ivan Skoropadsky about the need to take action against the Moscow Tsar Peter I. Also, 300 meters from this church, the first meeting between Hetman Mazepa and King Charles XII took place. At this place, Novgorod-Seversky local historians erected a memorial sign.