Церковь Дмитрия Солунского, Orthodox church in Morevo, Oryol Oblast, Russia
The Church of Demetrius of Thessaloniki in Morevo is a brick cross-domed church built in 1703–1711 over a spring, so that water flowed out from beneath its walls. Its quadrilateral main volume is covered by a closed vault with an octagon, and the facades carry paired columns with corner ridges, window surrounds topped by broken pediments, and four decorative zakomary. The refectory walls were reinforced with buttresses to keep the building from sliding toward the river.
A wooden church dedicated to Saint Demetrius is documented in Morevo from the 1620s. The stone church was built between 1703 and 1711 over a spring whose water flowed out from beneath its walls. In 1723 the body of Dmitry Kantemir, founder of Dmitrovsk, was buried here because the town's own church was unfinished. Closed in the 1930s, it served as a warehouse after the war and was returned to believers in the early 1990s.
The church is a designated federal cultural heritage site and functions as a filial church of the Saint Demetrius Church in Dmitrovsk. Services are held only on major Orthodox holidays, led by archpriest Valery Borisovich Palkin. The parish was officially registered on 30 May 2014.
The church is a dependent parish of the Church of Saint Demetrius in Dmitrovsk, and services are held only on major Orthodox holidays. The building is not open daily; access to the interior depends on the parish. The church stands above a spring whose water flows from beneath its walls, so the ground around the foundation can be damp.
The church stands over a spring: it was built so that the spring water flows out from beneath its walls. According to tradition, the architect came from Greece and tried to imitate the Church of Saint Demetrius in Thessaloniki, which Emperor Justinian had built over a spring. The water later weakened the walls, and buttresses were added to the refectory to keep the building from sliding toward the river.
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