Tserkov' Vozneseniya Gospodnya. Yelagino Urochishche. Razrushennyy Khram

In the outback of the Pestrechinsky district there is an amazing stone church in the name of the Ascension of the Lord with a chapel in the name of the Beheading of John the Baptist. This temple was built by the landowner and landowner of the Russian village of Khodyashevo Nefed (Methodius) Nikitich Kudryavtsov in 1760. The bell tower was built in the middle of the XIX century at the expense of parishioners and church clergy. A similar temple in its original form can be seen in the village of Astrakhan in the Laishevsky district. In the temple was a particularly revered image of the prophet and baptist John the Baptist, which, according to legend, was bestowed by Tsar John the Terrible himself in order to establish a monastery here. For an unknown reason, the king’s plan was not implemented, and the icon became a local shrine. Inside the throne church was a four-tier iconostasis, and in the chapel church - a two-tier iconostasis. An authentic 19th-century cross has been preserved on the temple dome. The walls of the interior of the church were decorated with paintings, from which only one image was preserved on the arch of the passage of the royal gates. The temple was closed in the late 1930s and transferred to collective farm needs. In the 1970s, people began to leave Elagino, the village fell into decay and eventually ceased to exist. The fact that people used to live here recalls only the majestic silhouette of the temple among the vast plain and forests.

... dusk is approaching, a bird's fry is chirping somewhere on the bell tower, a pigeon hides under the brick dome of the temple, it lights up with my flashlight, finds a barred aperture, flies away ...

Judging by the pictures, an interesting place. We will definitely go.