House 170. The Archangel Michael Church

In 1800 the Emperor Paul I established the ‘United Faith’ Church. The purpose of this Church was to stimulate Old Believers to become closer to the official Russian Orthodoxy. The ‘United Faith’ allowed its congregation (the former Old Believers) to preserve the old rituals but they had to accept the priests appointed by Synod of the Orthodox Church.  The ‘United Faith’ Achangel Michael Church was consecrated in 1837 at the house of the merchant Michael Pushkov. The special church for the parish of Archangel Michael was built in 1895. The main treasure of the church is the Archangel Michael icon which was a gift of Emperor Nicholas II. In the 1930’s the Old Believers rituals in this church were replaced by the Orthodox service.