Greco-Sophia Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God is not only a decoration of Kherson, but also one of the oldest relics of the city. It is interesting both architecturally and historically.
After the foundation of the city of Kherson, most of the population was made up of foreigners. Greek colonists were among the first among them to arrive, taking with them relics with which they could not part — the iconostasis and the interior decoration of the parish church.
The dream of a Greek church in the new homeland came true in 1780 after receiving permission from Potemkin to build a temple. The construction was completed in 5 months, on November 10, 1780 the church was consecrated and opened to the parishioners. It doesn’t take much effort to imagine what it was like in those years, because up to the present time the Greek-Sophia Church has preserved its original appearance. True, at first it was wooden, and in 1808 it was converted into a stone one with two side chapels: the lower one — in the honor of the Nativity of Bogorodtsy, and the upper one — of St. Constantine and Helen. The temple was built in a very special style — basilica, divided into three aisles with two rows of columns. In the courtyard of the church a bell tower was erected, in the niches of which there are wooden sculptures of the apostles: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The magnificent Greek wooden iconostasis, which is about 450 years old, is of special value to the church. The interior decoration is also practically unchanged, the painting and wall paintings of the XVIII century have been preserved.
All services in the Greek-Sophia Church were conducted in Greek and did not stop even during the Great Patriotic War. Moreover, the rector of the church Archpriest Seraphim Ozhigovsky during the German occupation was active in rescuing and sheltering civilians. After the liberation of the city he was an active participant in collecting money for the restoration of Kherson, his apartment was converted into a mini-hospital for the Soviet army soldiers. For his patriotism, invaluable help to the residents of the city in wartime Ozhigovsky was awarded the medal «For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45».
The Greek Church is considered to be one of the oldest buildings in Kherson. Its architecture and interior decoration was admired by Grigory Potemkin, Ivan Hannibal, Alexander Suvorov, Fyodor Ushakov.
Officially, the temple is called the Holy Nativity of the Mother of God (Greek-Sophia) temple, but the residents of the city for the third century call it simply Greek. This famous attraction of Kherson strikes with its unique beauty, being the pride not only of the city, but also of the whole Tavrian region.