THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS IN CHERLENKOVO VILLAGE IN THE HISTORY OF CHURCH BUILDING IN VOLOTSKY COUNTY IN THE 16<sup>th</sup> CENTURY: VERIFICATION OF VERSIONS
The article is devoted to the history of construction works performed under the guidance of the St. Joseph-Volotsky Monastery in the monastery’s priories. According to some scholars, these priories included the Cherlenkovsky Monastery. It is believed that the Cherlenkovsky Monastery might have been founded in Cherlenkovo village handed down to the St. Joseph-Volotsky Monastery by Prince Ivan Andreevich Khovansky in 1540. Having studied a series of known documents connected with Cherlenkovo, the author of the article questions whether Cherlenkovo could be the place of foundation of the St. Joseph-Volotsky Monastery’s priory and whether a stone church could be constructed there in the so-called 'monastic’ period. The article argues that the stone church might have been constructed during the reign of Prince I. A. Khovansky before 1540.