Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature 1607-6192 2713-2226 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-518-568 Research Article Articles TALE OF THE CONSECRATION OF THE GREAT STONE CHURCH IN THE RESURRECTION MONASTERY OF NEW JERUSALEM JANUARY 18, 1685 Zelenskaya Galina M. old-rus@imli.ru 2024 23 518 568 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article examines the Tale about the consecration of the “great church” of the Resurrection of Christ, erected near Moscow in the image of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This written source has never been the subject of special study; this work represents it in a church-historical and artistic context. The monastic buildings of the 1680s are characterized, the development of their semantics and symbolism is traced, the questions of the authorship of the Tale are touched upon. It is established that the creators of the decoration of the Resurrection Cathedral were carvers, carpenters, icon painters and other masters of church art from the Armory, the Gold-Painting Workshop of the Embassy Order, the Iversky Valdai and the Resurrection monasteries. Attention is paid to the benefactors of the New Jerusalem: the ruler, Princess Sofia Alekseevna, Princess Tatiana Mikhailovna and the head of the Embassy Order, Prince V.V. Golitsyn. The list of participants in the consecration of the “great church” is given: the royal synclite and the clergy, their attitude to Patriarch Nikon and his iconic work is determined. The author analyzes the royal decree on the compilation of a detailed Inventory of the Resurrection Monastery “in memory of descendants.” As a result of the research, the Tale appears as a chronicle of the most important church-state event of the regency of Tsarevna Sofia. The document testifies to the desire to restore the symphony of the spiritual and secular authorities in Russia and preserve their historical continuity. The consecration of the “great church” preceded significant spiritual and political events: the conclusion of “Eternal Peace” with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the subordination of the Kiev Metropolia to the Moscow Patriarch. The completion of the construction of the cathedral church of the New Jerusalem established Great, Small and White Russia as a spiritually unified center of Universal Orthodoxy.