The Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Białystok (; ) is an historic Orthodox cathedral in Bialystok, Poland
St. Nicholas is the cathedral of the Bialystok-Gdańsk diocese of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the seat of the Bialystok parish of St. Mikołaj (in the deanery of Białystok). It is the largest Orthodox cathedral in the city.
The current St. Nicholas building was erected between 1843 and 1846 on the site of an Uniate church from the early 18th century. St. Nicholas was consecrated as a church by the Vilnius and Lithuanian metropolitan Józef. During the interwar period, St Nicholas was one of two Orthodox churches in Bialystok.
In 1951, St. Nicholas became the cathedral of the Białystok-Gdańsk diocese. Since 1992, the cathedral has been the resting place of the relics of Gabriel of Białystok.
The cathedral building represents the classical style, typical of the church architecture of the Russian Empire in the late 18th century and the early 19th century.
The cathedral is located in the center of Białystok at Lipowa Street 5. It entered in the register of monuments on January 24, 1957, under the number A-200.
History
The first church of St. Nicholas
The first church of St. Nicholas in Bialystok, located near today's cathedral, was a branch of the Orthodox temple in Dojlidy.
According to some sources, St. Nicholas already existed in the 16th century. According to others, the marriage of Jan Klemens and Katarzyna Barbara Branicki founded the Uniate church of St. Nicholas before 1727 - this year comes a document in which Branicki offered 25 zlotys for her pastor for the deceased from his family. This is the oldest mention of the functioning of the temple of this rite. Probably, however, the foundation of the Uniate church took place at the end of the 17th century, in the years 1694–1696. Funding it, Stefan Mikołaj Branicki built a church for new residents arriving in the city. Such a hypothesis, presented by Przemysław Czyżewski, is evidenced by the inscription on the church antimine, which was signed by bishop Leon Załęski in 1708.
The old St. Nicholas church building was located at Choroska Street, at the Choroska Gate [4]. It was wooden, painted yellow and gray, and had red domes. From 1748 comes the first information about the vicar parish in Dojlidy, whose duty was to service the church of St. Nicholas. In 1773 the building was described as follows:
wooden, plastered with lime, roofed tiles, with three domes, with iron crosses, gold-plated knobs.
In the same description, which is part of the inspection protocol of the Dojlidy parish, it was written that St. Nicholas had three altars: the main one with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with two silver crowns and two side ones, dedicated respectively to Christ the Savior ("Spasytel") and Saint Nicholas. Architecturally, the church was very similar to the Roman Catholic churches built at the same time: it had a square vestibule on the west side, a rectangular nave and a narrower presbytery. It was 14.2 meters long and 6.2 meters wide.
Under the Russian partition
A new St. Nicholas church was built due to the rising population of Białystok as a result of the development of local industry. Another factor was the increase in the number of Orthodox Christians, resulting from the liquidation of the Uniate Church in the Russian Empire and the influx of Russian officials.
In October 1838, the design of the St. Nicholas church was entrusted to the architect, Mikhailov, but there is no clear evidence that he is the author of the building plan [4]. In 1840, a new church design was approved. On March 21, 1843, the superior of the new church was dedicated by the superior of the monastery in Supraśl, Archimandrite Nikodem.
Between 1843 and 1846, the new St. Nicholas was erected next to the old church, which was demolished. The cemetery, which originally surrounded St. Nicholas, and the preserved tombstones were moved to the hill with the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. The total cost of construction was over 36 thousand. silver rubles, of which less than 3 thousand transferred the state treasury. St. Nicholas became the seat of the Orthodox parish, taking over the functions of the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky in the Branicki Palace.
The new St. Nicholas church was built in the classical style, with elements referring to the architecture of antique, as well as to Byzantine cross-dome temples. Dawid Zabłudowski managed the construction works. In 1846, St. Nicholas was commissioned and blessed by the Vilnius and Lithuanian metropolitan Józeft.