John's Church under the Elm. Church of St. John the Theologian, which is under the elm tree. Who came to you at these street services

The story of the return of the Church of the Apostle John the Theologian, near Elm, worried the Orthodox community of the capital for a whole year. But on the day of its heavenly patron, the Russian Orthodox University found its real home - for the first time in 85 years, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the church on New Square. The RPU rector, Abbot Peter (Eremeev), commented on the Pravoslavie.ru portal about this, without exaggeration, a historical event.

- Father Peter, the day before the first liturgy took place in the church. But somehow I don’t want to believe that 19 years have passed from the moment the temple was handed over to the Church until the first service. This is a record worthy of the Guinness Book of Records...

Indeed, this is a rare case in the modern history of the Church. In 1992, a decree of the Moscow Government was issued, according to which the temple was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church for free use. Certificates of use rights and a Security Agreement were obtained. The only and, as it turned out, the biggest problem was that the Museum of the History of Moscow, which had occupied these premises since 1934, had nowhere to move. The then city authorities recognized that their own resolution had to be implemented, but for almost 20 years the matter never came to the point of moving the museum. For example, before the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow, the mayor's office asked His Holiness the Patriarch not to force the move, since the museum was involved in exhibition programs dedicated to the anniversary of the capital. But the anniversary passed, and the museum was still in the temple, while the exhibitions themselves occupied a small area in the complex.

In 2006, the federal authorities handed over to the city the “Provision Stores” complex on Zubovsky Boulevard, designed by the famous architect Vasily Stasov. The mayor's office decided to transfer there all the exhibitions of the Moscow History Museum, which were scattered throughout the city center. Then everyone thought that the Church of St. John the Theologian was about to be given away, because the new museum area was ten times larger than the space of the church buildings. But we had to wait another two years until the Provision Stores complex was renovated and adapted for organizing exhibitions. But even after the new museum complex opened, the temple still continued to be used for the needs of the museum. The move was constantly postponed under the pretext of lack of space necessary for this.

When you started coming to the temple and praying on the street, many decided that this was some kind of political action, an attempt to put pressure on the museum.

We did not demand that the museum vacate the premises, although the parish, as a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate, had an obvious right, because we had in our hands documents certifying the rights of use and a Security Agreement. Moreover, we proposed that the temple remain part of the museum while the conditions for the move are provided. They were ready to serve by agreement within the framework of the museum’s work schedule so that the church space would become not only a place for prayer, but also, as it were, a functioning exhibition hall showing the traditions and culture of Moscow church life. We were ready to completely comply with the requirements of the museum and not even light candles during the service, in accordance with fire safety requirements. Liturgy and prayer life in this holy place were important to us. But the museum management then unconditionally refused us.

Due to the impossibility of performing divine services in our own church, we performed prayer services to the Apostle John the Theologian on the sidewalk near the altar wall. These regular Sunday services began on October 9 last year. This happened in the heat, and in the cold, and in the rain, and in the snow. And of course, this was not a demonstration of a position, it was not some kind of public statement. It was service to God and a prayerful appeal to our heavenly patron. Along with the heartfelt need for such prayer, it was also our sacred duty. After all, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, by his decree, entrusted the responsibility for the resumption of liturgical life in the church to our community and to me as rector.

-Who came to you at these street services?

These were mainly students, teachers and staff of our university. Sometimes up to 200 people gathered, and sometimes no more than 20. We did not force anyone to come to these services. All the worshipers, despite the fact that they are parishioners of different churches located in different areas of Moscow, came on their own. Passers-by and students from other universities located nearby often joined the services. Sometimes employees of the Moscow History Museum came to us to pray. They, as a rule, were favorably disposed towards us, agreeing that the temple was not at all a suitable place for exhibition activities.

- How often can you serve in this temple now?

We firmly intend to perform divine services in the temple, where the throne and altar have already been installed, every Sunday. And although our church is already called the home church of the Russian Orthodox University, it will be open to everyone.

When preparing the first service, we specially brought tables and chairs to the church in order to create a space in a separate part of the church for meetings dedicated to conversations about Orthodoxy. In cramped conditions for now, but at least under a roof, we intend to organize social life in the church along with prayer.

- Now the dome is all scaffolded, and the upper aisle is still under repair. Where will the services be held?

- In the lower church, consecrated before the revolution in honor of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. We don’t have an iconostasis there yet, but the room is fully suitable for services. For the patronal feast day we were given several icons. They will become the first shrines of the temple.

The entire temple complex requires major renovation. Now you can see with the naked eye how several layers of plaster are peeling off from the brick wall. Of course, the entire volume of space will need to be put in order. It will be necessary to replace the electrical wiring and all communications. Now the mayor of Moscow has set the task of developing a plan for the restoration of the entire temple complex. This work is in the area of ​​responsibility of the Moscow City Heritage and Moscow Restoration. The temple and parish buildings must regain their original appearance, because these are historical and cultural monuments. Thanks to this, the temple complex on New Square will once again become one of the most beautiful places in the capital.

We are grateful to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin for his decision to move the museum to new buildings and restore the temple. That is why, during the first service in the church, all our parishioners sincerely wished him and his co-workers prosperity and strength.

- What restoration work has already begun? What, besides the temple building, did you inherit?

In the short period that has passed since the museum left, the façade of the temple was repaired and the roof was repaired. Now the construction of the drum with a dome and a cross is being completed - upon completion of these works the temple will take on a finished appearance. The work is progressing. Communicating with the leadership of the Moscow City Heritage, I see that the serious attitude towards solving the problems of the previously crumbling temple complex comes from the understanding of the capital authorities that the revival of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, which is near Elm, is now a matter of honor.

In the meantime, we are serving at the antimension from the house church of the Faculty of History and Philology of our university. We will not be able to approach the consecration of our own altars in the temples of the complex so soon. Work in the upper and lower temples, according to various estimates, may take from two to three years.

In addition to the temple, the parish buildings are also being returned to the Church - these are four more small buildings. We expect to house here the rectorate of the Russian Orthodox University and the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian, as well as the Faculty of Religious Studies, Ethnocultural Studies and Regional Studies, which is now being actively created with the blessing of His Holiness.

- What place does the temple occupy in the lives of RPU students? After all, you do not have a seminary, but a secular educational institution.

In theological seminaries and academies, the temple occupies a central place in the lives of students. In these church universities, full board is provided for students, and it turns out that students actually live at the church and visit it every day. This, of course, is both useful and convenient for the growth of future shepherds. But in our case, the life of an educational institution is structured somewhat differently.

We cannot pretend that a young man or girl who comes to us, having a native community, their own parish, where they were baptized and have a confessor, will immediately leave everything and come to us. Our spiritual life is built in conditions of personal freedom and independent choice. But over the year of our joint work at the university, I notice that more and more students and teachers willingly come to the university’s common worship services, held on significant occasions. This is a wonderful opportunity for joint prayer and fraternal communication. At the same time, I hope that the community created in our new church will become a real spiritual family for many of our church-going students and teachers.

It is difficult to say now what the size of our parish will be. We will do everything possible to ensure that the Church of the Apostle John the Theologian becomes the center of the spiritual life of not only the university, but also is in demand among Muscovites. Students and teachers of our university will work in the temple, and a student choir will sing. I think that in this way it will be possible to create an atmosphere of live communication, to make our university and our church the center of youth mission. True, there is still a lot to be done to make the temple cozy. Of course, it is wonderful that the city will restore the temple itself, but we will have to take care of the iconostasis, icons, and various liturgical utensils ourselves.

With God's help and the patronage of St. John, we hope to overcome all difficulties. The Lord has already shown us His help and care - it seems that just recently we were going to our first prayer service on the street, and now, after only a year, we are already serving under the arches of the temple.

The massive and majestic church building dominates all surrounding buildings. Even the new construction of the 20th century in the neighborhood did not crush it and did not diminish its importance in shaping the appearance of New Square. However, the crosses on the temple and bell tower have only recently returned.

The exact date of construction of the first church is unknown, but it was mentioned as existing already in 1493. The next time it appears in sources is almost a century later - in 1585, as a wooden one. At the same time, her nickname became known - “under the elm”, after a large tree that grew next to the altar of the temple until 1775. By the beginning of the 19th century, the old church building had fallen into disrepair, but the Patriotic War of 1812 prevented its reconstruction. Only in 1825 (this date is still visible on the pediment above the altar) construction work began according to the design of architects S.P. Obitaeva and L.P. Carloni, which lasted 12 years and ended in 1837.

Erected in the Empire style, the two-tier building of the new church received six altars at once - a very large number for a parish church. At the top is the main altar in the name of John the Theologian with two chapels on both sides: the Finding of the Head of John the Baptist and Luke the Evangelist. Below is the central chapel of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the side chapels of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Mitrophany of Voronezh. The church faces New Square with its eastern facade with an altar, which, due to such a ceremonial location, was designed in the form of a massive six-column portico with rustication in the lower part and was devoid of projections. The side facades are decorated more modestly. The building is given a special solemnity by a high light dome, decorated with Ionic columns and topped with a dome traditional for Orthodox churches. In the 1840s, the church received a new bell tower, almost equal in height to the dome of the temple thanks to the elongated spire with a cross. From the north and south of the temple, symmetrically placed empire-style two-story clergy houses with benches on the ground floor overlook the New Square: connected to the church by means of two arched gates with figured completions, they form a complete ensemble with it.

In 1925, the temple was closed - one of the first in the district - and converted first into an archive, and then into a communal museum, which in 1934 turned into the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow. The church lost the head and spire of the bell tower, interfloor ceilings appeared inside, almost all the decoration was destroyed, with the exception of some fragments of stucco. Until the museum moved to the Provision Warehouse building on Zubovsky Boulevard, the church was closed. Only in 2011 did services resume here, at which time the temple received the status of a house church at the Russian Orthodox University named after John the Theologian. Restoration is underway, during which the lost completions of the temple and bell tower have already been recreated, and it is also expected to restore the lost appearance of the interiors.

Once upon a time, New Square, on which the Theological Church is located, was a narrow passage in front of the Kitai-Gorod wall. P.V. Sytin in his book “From the History of Moscow Streets” notes: “At the end of the 14th century, the settlement had not yet reached this area: a ditch dug for its protection went from the east along the current Bolshoi Cherkassky and Vladimirov lanes. But during the construction of the fortress wall in 1534-38, the territory of the recent Old and New Squares became part of Kitay-Gorod. In the wall, at the end of the Kitai-Gorod streets running perpendicular to it, gate towers were built in the east. Behind the wall there was a ditch, across which wooden bridges were thrown from the gate.”

The Church of St. John the Evangelist near Elm has a special destiny. It is dedicated to the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ - the Apostle and Evangelist John. Demetrius of Rostov writes about him in the life of the saint: “At his very calling, John was called by the Lord “Son of Thunder,” because his theology, like thunder, was to be heard throughout the world and fill the whole earth. And John followed his good Teacher, learning from the wisdom that came from His mouth; and he was greatly loved by his Lord Christ for his perfect kindness and virgin purity. The Lord honored him as the most distinguished of the twelve apostles.

He was one of those three closest disciples of Christ to whom the Lord many times revealed His Divine secrets. So, when He wanted to resurrect Jairus’ daughter, he did not allow anyone to follow Him except Peter, James and John. When he wanted to show the glory of His Divinity on Tabor, he took Peter, James, and also John. When he was praying in Vertograd, and there he was not without John, for he said to the disciples: “Sit here while I go and pray there; and taking with him Peter and both sons of Zebedee,” i.e. James and John. Everywhere John was not separated from Christ. And how Christ loved him is evident from the fact that John reclined on His chest at the Last Supper.”

At the request of Christ, John took care of Mary and treated her as his mother. After the Dormition of the Mother of God, John went with his disciple Prokhor to Asia Minor, where he preached the Gospel. There, Jesus’ closest disciple “converted many people to Christ and performed countless miracles.” John became the only apostle who died of natural causes at the age of more than a hundred years. Of course, in Rus' they especially revered the “beloved disciple of Christ,” who was inseparable from his teacher both on earth and in heaven. In Moscow, churches were often consecrated in honor of John the Theologian, whom the Russian people called the apostle of love.

The Nikon Chronicle contains a mention of the Church of St. John the Theologian under 1493: “And from the city the market caught fire, and from then the settlement burned near the Moscow River to the Conception at the Eastern end, and along Vasilievsky Meadow, and along All Saints on Kulishka, and from then according to John Theologian and the old Trinity, and Sretenskaya street is all burnt out to the ground, and the church of the stone church of Sretenska is burned.” In the great fire of 1493, Moscow residents saw an omen of the end of the world. The fact is that by this time the seventh thousand years from the creation of the world had expired, and this is precisely the period, according to the conviction of people who lived in the 15th century, that God had allotted for the existence of the world.

It should be noted that the Apostle John the Theologian is the author of the Apocalypse - the last book of the New Testament. This is another reason for the veneration of John the Theologian in Rus'. People were aware of their sinfulness and the imminent retribution for it and increasingly consecrated churches in honor of the apostle, the creator of the apocalyptic revelation. Most likely, the Theological Church was connected with a fortified fort, which was located outside the settlement and covered the closest approaches to Moscow from the eastern side. In the first half of the 16th century, after the construction of the Kitai-Gorod wall, the Church of St. John the Theologian entered the city limits.

The wooden church burned down several times, but there were always wealthy benefactors who donated money for its restoration. During the Time of Troubles, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was destroyed at the hands of Polish invaders. Historian S.M. Soloviev reports: “A terrible massacre of unarmed people began: up to 7,000 people died in China-town. But in the White City the Russians had time to gather and arm themselves. The military men, who had previously made their way into the settlements, provided active assistance: on Sretenka, the Poles were stopped by Prince Dimitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who united with the gunners, repulsed the enemy, and trampled him into Kitai-Gorod.”

Historians agree that the first stone temple on this site was built in 1658. But the authoritative publication of 1796, “Historical News of All the Churches of the Capital City of Moscow,” says that already in 1626 there was a stone temple near the wooden church. The name "Under the Elm" comes from the mighty elm tree that grew in front of the altar until 1775. Sytin, however, offers another version of the origin of the addition “under the Elm”: “In the 14th–15th centuries, a dense forest rustled on the site of the Old and New Squares. The memory of this is preserved in the name of the church.” Although both of these versions do not contradict each other at all.

Everyone knows that at the dawn of the history of Moscow there was a dense forest around the entire Kremlin hill. The fact that in the old days the capital was famous for its pine forests is evidenced by the names of Borovitsky Hill, Borovitskaya Square, Borovitskaya Tower, Podsosensky Lane, named after the Sosenki tract. The same is true in the names of Moscow churches - John the Baptist near Bor, Savior on Bor or Elijah the Prophet near Sosenki. The elm tree, under which the Kitai-Gorod Church of St. John the Evangelist was located, may have previously stood among many of its “brothers.” The legendary tree was treated with respect.

The elm was not cut down, it simply fell, having outlived its long life. Any botany textbook will tell us that elms can live up to four hundred years. It turns out that the famous centenarian could have grown up here back in the 14th century and witnessed the very first church built on this site. In 1825, the Church of St. John the Theologian was dismantled to the ground due to its disrepair. The current church was built in 1825–1837. A few years later, a square bell tower in the late Empire style was added to the western facade of the Church of St. John the Evangelist. In a single ensemble with the church and bell tower, clergy houses were erected, connected to the church by a gate.

In the upper church, divided into four tiers, three altars were consecrated: the main one, dedicated to John the Theologian, and the two extreme ones - the Finding of the Honest Head of John the Baptist and the Evangelist Luke. On the lower floor, according to historian I.M. Snegirev, in the 19th century there were chapels of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Mitrophanius of Voronezh. In 1882, the temple was renovated, new iconostases appeared in the church. In 1925 the church was closed. The domes of the temple were dismantled, the crosses were broken, the interior decoration was distorted by the construction of interfloor ceilings. In the 1930s, the upper tier of the bell tower and the spire were destroyed.

For several years the church housed an archive. In 1934, the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow moved here, which was previously located in the Krestovsky water towers and in the Sukharev Tower. In 1978–1979, the long-awaited reconstruction of the dilapidated church took place. In 1992, by decree of the Moscow Government, the Church of St. John the Theologian was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow, which occupied the temple building for a long time, had no intention of moving anywhere. For almost sixteen years, believers fought for the return of the Church of St. John the Evangelist under the elm and the resumption of services there.

In 2006, the Urban Planning Council under the mayor of the city, Yuri Luzhkov, allocated the “Provision Stores” complex for the Museum of the History of Moscow on Zubovsky Boulevard near the Park Kultury metro station. But the building of the Church of St. John the Evangelist continued to house the museum administration, permanent exhibitions on the history of Moscow, exhibition halls, storage facilities and office premises. In 2010, by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, the Elias Church became the home church of the Russian Orthodox University. But even after this, the stubborn museum workers were in no hurry to leave the church building.

For several months, students, teachers and friends of the Russian Orthodox University gathered in the open air at the altar of the temple to serve a prayer service to John the Theologian for the return of the church to the believers. On October 9, 2010, a divine service was held at the St. John the Theologian Church for the first time in eighty-five years. Only recently the renovation of the buildings of the temple complex was completed, the most important result of which was the restoration of the dome, partially destroyed during Soviet times. After the restoration of the interior, the Russian Orthodox University moved to Novaya Square.

The university was created as an institution of higher professional religious education of the Russian Orthodox Church and implements church and secular education standards. Its distinctive feature is the focus of the entire learning process on preparing a graduate who is fully adapted to modern reality, an enterprising person, capable of independent action, ready to take responsibility for decisions made, and at the same time, a focus on the formation of a spiritually rich personality. The rector of the university, Abbot Peter (Eremeev), is also the rector of the St. John the Theological Church.

The open spaces of Lubyanka and Novaya squares allow us to admire the Church of St. John the Evangelist from afar. Previously, New Square was much narrower than it is today. In the 18th century, the Church of St. John the Theologian was the most important architectural dominant of the eastern part of Kitai-Gorod. Therefore, the eastern façade, facing the square, is decorated with a solemn six-column portico instead of altar projections. The massive main volume of the Theological Temple with pilaster porticoes on the side facades is crowned with a dome on a high light drum, surrounded by a row of Ionic columns.

The wooden church on this site has been known since the end of the 15th century. The elm tree, which gave it its name, grew near the altar until 1775. In 1658 the church was rebuilt in brick, and in 1825-37. The current temple was built in the Empire style. The bell tower was added in the 1840s. On the second floor of the church, in addition to the main altar, there were chapels of the Finding of the Head of John the Baptist and the Evangelist Luke, in the basement - the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Mitrophanius of Voronezh. In 1925, the temple was closed, its main volume lost its drum with a dome, and the bell tower lost its spire. Since 1934, it has housed the Moscow Communal Museum, later renamed the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow; the modern name is the Museum of the History of the City of Moscow. At the beginning of 2004, the City Planning Council under the Mayor of Moscow approved the relocation of the City History Museum to a building on Strastnoy Boulevard, while the temple building was to be returned to the Orthodox Church. This decision, planned for 2004, was not implemented.

On October 9, 2011, on the day of the patronal feast of the Church of St. John the Theologian under Elm (New Square, 12) - the temple of the Russian Orthodox University and the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian, the first Divine Liturgy in 85 years will be celebrated. The service will be performed by the RPU rector, Abbot Peter (Eremeev), co-served by university teachers in holy orders. The Liturgy will be attended by representatives of government authorities, teachers and students of the Russian Pedagogical University and other capital universities, representatives of the scientific intelligentsia, the Orthodox community, and the Cossacks of Moscow.

“We are happy that His Holiness the Patriarch entrusted this wonderful church to our university community, and we see the special providence of God in a small test that preceded the resumption of liturgical life in this church,” noted the rector of the university, Abbot Peter (Eremeev). “The last year our community spent on the street, at the altar of the temple, served for good, taught us to value each other and appreciate the responsibility entrusted to us for this spiritual pearl of China Town. Of course, a temple must be a temple. Now a spiritual center will be created here, and the Museum of the History of Moscow will be located in much more spacious and comfortable premises.”

The Church of St. John the Evangelist under Elm has been occupied by the Museum of the History of Moscow since 1934. The church building and adjacent temple annexes housed the museum administration, a permanent exhibition on the history of Moscow, exhibition halls, storage facilities, and office premises.

In 1992, the Moscow authorities transferred the temple to the Russian Orthodox Church for free use - by decree of the Moscow Government No. 661 “On the transfer to the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) of churches located on the territory of Kitai-Gorod” dated August 25, 1992. A security agreement was drawn up for the church.

In September 2010, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' transferred the Church of St. John the Theologian near Elm to the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian and appointed the rector of the university, Abbot Peter (Eremeev), as rector of the church. A few months later, on the basis of the institute, His Holiness the Patriarch formed the RPU - the first church university in the country.

In September 2010, Abbot Peter approached the museum administration with a proposal to share church visits until the museum had the opportunity to completely vacate the temple territory. However, this proposal from the rector of the temple remained unanswered by the museum. Starting from October 9, 2010, the Orthodox community of the university gathered every Sunday at the altar of the church on New Square and served a prayer service to St. John the Theologian.

The Church of St. John the Evangelist under Elm is located opposite the Polytechnic Museum. The name came from a large old elm tree that grew next to the altar of the temple. Built in 1825-1837. on the site of the stone temple of the same name, built in 1658.

The wooden church on this site has been known since 1493. Most likely, it was associated with a fortified fort, located outside the settlement and covering the closest approaches to Moscow from the eastern side.

The church entered the city limits in the first half of the 16th century after the construction of the Kitay-Gorod wall. In the upper church, divided into 4 tiers, there were: the main altar - St. John the Evangelist and the chapels - the Finding of the Head of John the Baptist and the Evangelist Luke. In the vaulted ground floor there were: the main altar - the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1829) and the chapels - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1835), Mitrophany of Voronezh (1834). The dome of the temple is on a high light drum surrounded by Ionic columns. The eastern façade has a six-column portico instead of the traditional altar projection.

At the end of the 1840s. A square bell tower in the late Empire style was added to the western façade. At the same time, the area around the church was built up with clergy houses, connected to the church by a gate. In 1882, the temple was renovated and new iconostases were installed. The onion dome and cross have been lost. The arched gate with figured decorations, as well as the northern, southern and courtyard wings (1850) in the Empire style, have survived to this day. The monastery courtyard has oblique outlines, as a result of which the courtyard buildings have rather bizarre plans and locations.

In 1925 the church was closed. The interior decoration was destroyed, interfloor ceilings were built, and the domes above the temple were dismantled. The late Empire bell tower at the western facade of the temple lost its completion in the 1930s. The temple housed an archive and later a communal museum. Since 1934, after the demolition of the Sukharevskaya Tower, the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow was located here. In 1978-1979 the temple was being repaired.

Church of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian near Elm with the chapels of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas, the rafters under the roof were burned, but the walls and the iconostasis with icons were intact, the utensils and the sacristy were mostly looted, and some were saved. In it, after the consecration of the St. Nicholas chapel, divine services are held. 5 parish yards, burned down.

Priest Vasily Dmitriev, his own stone house was burned, sexton Alexander Andreev and sexton Ivan Pavlov did not have their own houses, but lived in church stone tents, which were all burnt.

Skvortsov N.A. "Materials for the history of churches of the Moscow diocese during the war of 1812." Issue 1. Moscow, “Russian Printing House”. Sadovo-Triumfalnaya, 1911

The Church of St. John the Evangelist is located near the wall on New Square, between the Ilyinsky and Vladimir Gates. Usually called “John the Evangelist under the elm.” Here, in fact, in front of the church altar, until 1775, a huge elm tree grew.

The church was first mentioned in chronicles in 1493. In 1658, a stone church was built, which was dismantled in 1825. The current one was built in 1837.

In the upper floor, in addition to the main one, there are thrones: the Finding of the Head of John the Baptist and the Evangelist Luke; below is the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the chapels of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Mitrofan of Voronezh.

"Index of churches and chapels in Kitay-Gorod." Moscow, “Russian Printing House”, Bolshaya Sadovaya, No. 14, 1916

The Church of St. John the Evangelist near Elm has a special destiny. It is dedicated to the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ - the Apostle and Evangelist John. At the request of Christ, John took care of Mary and treated her as his mother. After the Dormition of the Mother of God, John went with his disciple Prokhor to Asia Minor, where he preached the Gospel. John the Theologian is the author of the Apocalypse - the last book of the New Testament. John became the only apostle who died of natural causes at the age of more than a hundred years. Of course, in Rus' they especially revered the “beloved disciple of Christ,” who was inseparable from his teacher both on earth and in heaven. In Moscow, churches were often consecrated in honor of John the Theologian, whom the Russian people called the apostle of love.

The Nikon Chronicle, when describing the fire in Moscow in 1493, mentions the Church of St. John the Theologian. The wooden church burned down several times, but there were always wealthy benefactors who donated money for its restoration. Historians agree that the first stone temple on this site was built in 1658. The name “Under the Elm” comes from the mighty elm tree (elms live up to 400 years), which grew in front of the altar until 1775. In 1825, the Church of St. John the Theologian was dismantled to the ground due to its disrepair. The current church was built in 1825-1837. A few years later, a square bell tower in the late Empire style was added to the western facade of the Church of St. John the Evangelist. In a single ensemble with the church and bell tower, clergy houses were erected, connected to the church by a gate. In the upper church, divided into four tiers, three thrones were consecrated: the main one, dedicated to John the Theologian, and the two extreme ones - the Finding of the Honest Head of John the Baptist and the Evangelist Luke. On the lower floor, according to historian I.M. Snegirev, in the 19th century there were chapels of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Mitrophanius of Voronezh. In 1882, the temple was renovated, new iconostases appeared in the church.

In 1925 the church was closed. The domes of the temple were dismantled, the crosses were broken, the interior decoration was distorted by the construction of interfloor ceilings. In the 1930s, the upper tier of the bell tower and the spire were destroyed. For several years the church housed an archive. In 1934, the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow moved here. In 1992, by decree of the Moscow Government, the Church of St. John the Theologian was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2010, by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, the Elias Church became the home church of the Russian Orthodox University.

In the 18th century, the Church of St. John the Theologian was the most important architectural dominant of the eastern part of Kitai-Gorod. Therefore, the eastern facade facing the square, instead of altar projections, is decorated with a solemn six-column portico. The massive main volume of the Theological Temple with pilaster porticoes on the side facades is crowned with a dome on a high light drum, surrounded by a row of Ionic columns. The Church of St. John the Evangelist has typical Empire features: expressive rustication of the lower parts of the walls, a strict design of window openings highlighted in the ground floor with special platbands, strict, exquisite stucco molding in the entablature of the eastern portico, capitals of an elegant Ionic colonnade surrounding the drum. The bell tower's bell tier is the same height as the dome drum, and two-story houses flank the church on both sides. Gates with high figured tops unite the buildings into a coherent composition. All the surrounding buildings, with their strict Empire style design, are stylistically identical to the temple.