Today, many churches, cathedrals and temples of Odessa are experiencing a second birth. During the periods of popular unrest and then Soviet rule, it was the religious sights of Odessa that suffered the most — many were looted, rebuilt, destroyed partially or completely. One of such temples, resurrected today practically from the ashes, is the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Located at the 9th station of the Great Fountain, the church was erected in 1846, and on August 4 — the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene — it was consecrated by Archbishop Gabriel in honor of the Resurrection of the Lord.
The foundation of this church is connected with a sad event: it was erected by Count Alexander Sturdza according to the last will of his sister Roksandra Edling, who asked to build a church near her tomb. But for the then still young Odessa the appearance of another beautiful building was a joyful event. And the church, erected according to the project of architect F. Morandi, turned out to be really beautiful: the building in Byzantine style outside decorated with images of twelve apostles, and on the church gates you could see the faces of six prophets, the whole architectural ensemble by design resembled a temple icon. Inside the church was decorated with marble, in the recess of the church altar was installed icon of the Resurrection of the Lord, commissioned from Bertini himself — the famous Milanese master of painting. Unfortunately, the church has not survived in its original form to this day.
The fatal event for the building was its transfer to the sanatorium-resort department in 1922. Everything that happened in the walls of the church after this event seems to be a mockery: in the walls of the temple was arranged a movie theater with a disco, and the family crypt of the princes was looted and turned into a laughing room. But, like the patroness of the church, Mary Magdalene, to whom the temple was originally dedicated and in whose honor it was renamed later, this holy place was saved «from evil spirits».
The place on the high seashore where the church stands today is considered holy. More than once its ministers have been convinced of its divine protection. One of the cases occurred in 1854 during the Crimean War. When an enemy squadron led by a large ship approached the shores of Odessa, the cannons defending the city could not cope with it until the brave nuns took to the shore an icon of the Queen of Heaven Troeruchnitsa — the large ship suddenly began to sink and the outcome of the battle was decided. Later, several unexploded nukes were found on the territory of the church, two of which were placed in a special ark in the church premises as evidence of Divine protection.
In honor of Mary Magdalene the church was consecrated in 1997, two years after its return to the Odessa diocese. The temple was restored, and the painting of its walls was done by the best icon painters of Odessa — S. Kravtsov, V. Rudakov and A. Rudoy. The walls of the temple, as a symbol of Easter joy, played with bright colors, one of which — red — was chosen in connection with a holy event: as a symbol of the eternal life of the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene once presented the Emperor Tiberius with a red egg and said «Christ is risen!».
To the bright and beautiful church, standing on the picturesque seashore, no one who came on vacation in Odessa remains indifferent — it seems to charge calm and favorable energy. The relics of the saints of Odessa, Kievo-Pechersk, Optina and Mary Magdalene kept in the church fill this place and all those who visit it with light and power.