Staraya Belitsa. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

After Belitsa received the status of a county town in 1777, the church was significantly reconstructed, and in 1893 it was completely rebuilt and has survived to the present day without significant changes. It was maintained at the expense of parishioners: military, burghers, nobles, peasants, donations from Counts Rumyantsev and Soltan.

The Rumyantsevs considered the Saint Nicholas was his ancestral patron.

Starobelitskaya Nikolaevskaya Church is an example in the development of three-tower three-tower churches. The building has an elongated axial composition consisting of three log cabins: a central cubic volume and octagonal log cabins of the apse and narthex. All parts are topped with shaped domes on octagonal drums, with the central drum being illuminated.

In the 19th century, a vestibule and side chapels were added to the temple. The interior of the temple is connected with wide arched openings and covered with pyramidal vaulted ceilings. The apse is highlighted by a carved wooden iconostasis, and choirs are located above the vestibule. The windows of the temple are rectangular and diamond-shaped, located high.

The history of the temple is closely connected with the visit of the Russian Empress Catherine II to the village of Belitsa in May 1780. During her trip to the southwestern provinces, she visited the county town of Belitsa and, according to legend, visited St. Nicholas Church.

In 1917, the temple was completely looted, and in 1937 it was closed. Thanks to the efforts of the faithful, some shrines and church utensils were preserved. This is how the temple icon of the Mother of God "Troeruchitsa" was saved.

In the summer of 1942, services in the church were resumed, and in 1944, parishioners sheathed the exterior walls of the church with boards and returned the saved icons to their original places.

Now the church houses ancient and miraculous icons: the icon of St. George the Victorious, the icon of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, the Martyr Paraskeva and others. The main patrons of the temple are the icons of the Mother of God "Troeruchitsa" and the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. There is a version that they have been in the church since its foundation.

In recent decades, even during the time of Khrushchev's persecution of the church, worship services here did not stop.

In 2010, the temple celebrated its tercentenary.

Built in the shape of a Cross, the Church of St. Nicholas is a pale blue heavenly color. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Staraya Belitsa is a gift from God to the parishioners of the Gomel region.