We hear quite often about successful, completed projects, but they all started somewhere at some point. It is possible that it was someone's childhood dream that was embodied in adulthood. Ideas were born, plans matured, people united, funds were sought. And now, finally, the idea takes on more and more clear outlines, projects are being prepared, and … a "brainchild" appears. What could it be? Let's say Blinov's "steam self-propelled" or … a mobile church! Why is she so needed? Yes, that's necessary, because a stationary church often turns out to be quite far from those hungry for spiritual enlightenment, and why not help these people ?!
So the idea of creating mobile Orthodox churches was born a long time ago. Since people began to perform cult rituals, the question arose about building premises so that there was where to pray to God. But the opportunity to build a "stationary" church was far from always. This, first of all, concerned soldiers, fishermen, merchants, seafarers, who, due to their duty, were constantly on the move and did not have the opportunity to visit the temple. It was then that the idea of mobile temples was born.
If we turn to the Bible, then the first mobile temple was a portable temple - the Tabernacle, the first temple after the Jews left Egypt. This portable temple accompanied the Jews, led by Moses, all 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. With him they entered the Land of Canaan. This is how the word of God did not allow the wanderers to lose heart, it strengthened their faith in God's providence, did not allow them to fall into despair. Subsequently, the portable temple was moved to the city of Shiloh, where the sons of Israel began to come on holidays.
In Russia, the first mobile church was built in 1724. Well, during the Russo-Japanese War, marching churches in Russia began to be created on the initiative of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova. She ordered the development and creation of camp churches, which could be quickly disassembled and assembled, quickly delivered to any in the least inhabited place to those who needed the word of God. They were also needed for medical workers, whose detachments were sent to the Far East. After all, who, if not wounded, sick and crippled, needed to lift their spirits, restore faith in their strengths and themselves. Sometimes the prayer uttered by the priest at the head of the patient, in the literal sense of the word, put him on his feet. By healing the soul, prayer also healed the wounded body. The doctors, who saw blood, suffering, and death every day, undoubtedly needed the support of the spirit.
At the same time, the Holy Synod, with the support of the tsar, decided to intensify the work of bringing the word of God to the sparsely populated parts of the country. This is how the carriage-churches and the steamer-churches appeared. The history of the creation of Orthodox trains in Russia dates back to the end of the 19th century. Then, in 1896, at the Putilov factory in St. Petersburg, by order of Emperor Nicholas II, a church car was first manufactured. It bore the name of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, the Tsar's daughter, and faithfully served the Tomsk diocese until 1917. Subsequently, the carriage was lost. Probably, it was scrapped as unnecessary. The Central Asian, Murmansk, West Siberian, and Trans-Caspian railways had church carriages.
The tradition of creating floating temples in Russia was born on the Volga, even before the revolution. The first temple to float on water was created in 1910. Nikolai Yakovlev, an Astrakhan bourgeoisie, a very religious person who lived in the working industries for a long time and did not have the opportunity to visit the temple, proposed to build a temple, which, going down the Volga, could stop in large cities and on the marinas of very small settlements. The local diocese supported this idea and purchased an old tug-steamer. Subsequently, it was converted into a floating temple for fishermen who hunted in the Caspian Sea, far from the coast, and therefore did not have the opportunity to visit an Orthodox church on land.
In 1997, a decision was made to build a floating ship-temple, which upon completion was named "Saint Innocent". The first parishioners of the floating temple were the people of the Volga village of Nariman, who were resting on the beach, who, seeing the gilded domes floating through the reeds and hearing the bell ringing, took it all as an obsession. But the rumor of the people spread the news about the temple, and the people reached out to the temple: some for confession, some for communion.
In addition to the floating church of the Volga-Don basin, there are temples in Siberia and Yakutia. "The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called" goes on flights along the Ob. "Saint Nicholas" and "Ataman Atlasov" operate as floating temples in Yakutia on the Aldan, Vilyui and Lena rivers. Today in Russia there are already about two dozen floating temples "working".
In the tsarist army, every military unit had its own regimental priest, who both instructed the true path and strengthened the strength of the spirit to the soldiers, conducting the obligatory prayer service before the battle and giving a blessing for the feat of arms. This tradition began to revive in our days, and now there are parts that can boast of their regimental priests. And the Ryazan paratroopers are ahead of everyone. Their military unit is armed with an airborne, unparalleled temple in the world. As Father Michael, who serves at such a church, explained, “… this is a form to reach the flock, which consists of paratroopers. Often they find themselves in places where Makar did not drive calves. And we priests need a way to get there. The temple is also unique in that the priests serving in the temple undergo a full training course for flying. Climbing to a certain height with instructors, they perform jumps, learn to land correctly and place a mobile temple correctly in any place specified by the commander. It is not surprising that it was in Ryazan that they began to attract church ministers to the army. In the city itself there are many parishes where priests who have passed through both Afghanistan and Chechnya serve, so the defense of the Motherland is not an empty phrase for them. In addition, history knows enough examples when priests got up under arms and went to defend the Motherland.
In the early twentieth century, mobile churches were common in many countries, both the Old World and the New. This is understandable: the settlers, mastering new lands, did not always have time to build a temple. Economic activity began before spiritual life. Then there were temples on wheels, mobile, high-speed, albeit small, but so necessary for people. In Russia, mobile temples using cars began to appear at the end of the 20th century. The first such temple for a military unit was made in 2003. It accommodates fifty people, is very quickly disassembled and installed in a few hours. And from the technique, any of the tractors, two people and a mechanical winch are suitable.
The idea of mobile churches came to the liking and leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. The result was the creation of mobile temples for the laity. Buses and Gazelles served as the basis for them. However, why be surprised if for the first time such mobile "auto-temples" appeared among the allies during the First World War!
With the development of technology and the expansion of the possibility of its use, mankind invented temples based on airplanes and helicopters rented from airlines. What can you do so that the word of God is heard by as many people as possible! In Holland, an eccentric philosopher invented an inflatable church that can be carried by air and erected wherever there is a need for it.
When unfolded, it accommodates about thirty parishioners. And when folded, it can easily fit in the trunk of a car. In addition, the utensils necessary for the church service are attached: a folding altar, icons and many more necessary and necessary things.
The embroidered temples stand apart. Perhaps this is the best that could be thought of in terms of the mobility of the temple. Crafting materials are easy to find. Such an embroidered church, made according to Orthodox canons, can be easily carried away by one person. It is easy to use. If desired, it is possible to deploy this temple both indoors (barracks, station building) and in the field. And of course, on military vehicles: submarines, warships, planes and trains.
