From the history of the intra-temple crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Feodosia city

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of various issues related to the history of the intra-temple crypt in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Feodosia. In the context of the history of the Tauride Diocese, the author provides a brief description of the evolution of the local practice of burial in crypts: from small family to spacious public crypts. He investigates the reasons for the appearance of large crypts on the territory of the Tauride province, studies the question of the cost of burial in the crypt. The article also describes the interior of the intra-temple crypt of the main church of Feodosia, attempts to solve the problems associated with determining the possible and actual number of burials in the crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Feodosia from the moment of its construction in (1873) to the destruction in 1933. Based on the metrical books, name lists of Crimean necropolises compiled at the beginning of the last century by famous historians and genealogists V. I. Chernopyatov and N. P. Chulkov, and other archival sources, the author provides an approximate list of 12 burials in the intra-temple crypt, (7 of them have never been mentioned before) indicating the names of the deceased people, the dates of their death and burial, and also refutes the existing opinion about the burial in the crypt of the cathedral of all 14 officers and cadets of the Kiev Konstantinovsky Military School, who died in the battles at Perekop in 1920.