Transfiguration Cathedral

The Transfiguration Cathedral is the main temple of the Belgorod and Staro-Oskol diocese. Its history goes back centuries. For the first time the Transfiguration Church was mentioned in 1626 in the earliest source on the history of Belgorod - the Pissovskiy books of V.A. Kerekreysky.

Later, in 1813, on the site of a dilapidated wooden church designed by Kharkiv architect Yevgeny Alekseevich Vasiliev, a stone cathedral was erected and consecrated at the expense of parishioners, built in honor of the victory of the Russian army over Napoleon.

In the late 1920s, in connection with the closure of the Trinity Cathedral, the Transfiguration Church received the status of a cathedral. To save from destruction one of the main shrines of the Belgorod land - the icon of Nicholas Ratny - the faithful secretly took it from the Trinity Cathedral and transferred it to the Preobrazhensky. In 1962, the Transfiguration Cathedral was among the churches to be closed and was transferred to the Belgorod Regional Museum of Local Lore.

In September 1991, the relics of the wonderworker St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod, were transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral, which today are the main shrine of the Belgorod and Staro-Oskol diocese. Largely due to this event, the transfer of the cathedral to the diocese accelerated.

Particularly revered shrine of the Transfiguration Cathedral is the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas, called “Nikolai Ratny”, which is more than 500 years old.

Another shrine of the Transfiguration Cathedral is the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”.

In 1992-1994, the walls of the temple were strengthened, new domes were installed, a fence was built. The interior design of the cathedral also changed: a new two-tiered gilded iconostasis was made, the dome of the temple was painted. Work on painting the walls of the temple continued in 2000 and 2004.