Did you know that since 1884 the water has been supplied to the courtyard of St. Theodosius of Pechersk Church through the water supply tank of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra?

In July, the parish priests, led by the father superior Mykola Brailovsky together with the churchwarden of St. Theodosius of Pechersk Church, addressed the Ecclesiastical Council of the monastery with a respective petition. A pipe was laid from the Lavra water supply system to supply water from the Dnipro River. A water meter was installed for the calculation of the water used. The relevant decision was agreed with Viktor Prokhorov, the then head of the Kyiv Fortress Engineering Department.

The annual water consumption by the clergy of the parish of St. Theodosius of Pechersk Church ranged from 30 to 50 thousand buckets. Every 100 buckets cost 16 kopecks that were paid to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

In April 1893, Hegumen Theodosius, the provisor of the monastery, while inspecting the water meter in St. Theodosius Church, found a rusted device in a damp room on a rotten floor. Moreover, the meter with the dial was turned off for a long time and did not charge the proper amount of water used. So soon, at the request of the Ecclesiastical Council of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the water meter from the courtyard of St. Theodosius of Pechersk church was checked and painted in the workshop of the Kyiv city water supply.

Anna Yanenko

Picture captions:
Fig. 1. St. Theodosius of Pechersk Church in Kyiv. Postcard of the early 20th century.
Fig. 2. Dial of a water meter that measured water in buckets