""With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Nikander of Vladimir and Suzdal, Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, consecrated the foundation stone of the Church of the Nativity of Christ on September 17, 2026, on the territory of the Nikita Mikhalkov "Workshop"12 theater in Moscow.
The service took place in the courtyard of the theater, located at 33 Povarskaya Street. After prayers, the bishop laid the foundation stone of the future shrine.
The history of the Nativity of Christ parish dates back to the 1640s, when a wooden church was built for the local Streletskaya sloboda. In 1693, a stone five-domed temple with a refectory and a tent-roofed bell tower was erected. Subsequently, chapels in honor of the Kazan and Tikhvin icons of the Mother of God appeared in it.
The temple survived the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. After the Moscow fire, the parish lost most of its houses, and the church building was damaged. Thanks to the care of the parishioners, the church was repaired, and in 1815, full-fledged liturgical life resumed. Throughout the 19th century, the church was renovated and decorated several times. She operated an almshouse for elderly women.
After the revolution of 1917, services continued for some time. In April 1922, church valuables were removed from the church, and in 1931 it was closed and demolished along with the adjacent buildings. The territory was allocated for the construction of a Club house for the Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers, designed by the Vesnin brothers. Subsequently, the Theater Studio of the film actor was located in this building, and today Nikita Mikhalkov's Workshop "12" works here.
In the 21st century, the history of the shrine was continued. Nikita Mikhalkov, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, actor and director, received the blessing of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, for the construction of a new church of the Nativity on the territory of the theater. The architectural appearance of the church was designed by the artist Yuri Cooper, based on the traditions of Russian church architecture.
95 years after the destruction of the historic church, a new temple has been built here, which continues the centuries-old spiritual history of this place and preserves the memory of the shrine that unites generations.