Church of the Annunciation in Sokolnikispecial. This is the main church of the Airborne Forces, the construction of which was once supported by the Supreme Commander. The correspondent of RIA Novosti visited the unique church in the capital and talked with its unusual parishioners.
War with the Secretary of Defense
"I wish you good health, comrade pop!" - Archpriest Mikhail Vasilyev treats such greetings with humor. There are special people in the army, but in the Airborne Forces they are certainly "from a different test." Every paratrooper knows this tall "man with a cross and a beard" not only as the chief chaplain of the "blue berets", but also as a man with vast combat experience - the second Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, Abkhazia, over a hundred parachute jumps, rescue of the wounded. Although the priest himself did not hold a weapon in his hands - this is prohibited by the canons of the Church.
“When I was at the headquarters of the Airborne Forces – it’s across the road – one of the officers pointed out to me: and here, father, the destroyed regimental temple. Annunciation in Moscow Sokolniki.
Only eight years later it was possible to achieve the transfer of the building to the headquarters of the Airborne Forces. The Annunciation Church was very lucky: not everyone in the Ministry of Defense was in favor of building churches in military units, despite numerous requests from commanders and veterans. In 2010, for example, the Church of Elijah the Prophet on the territory of the Ryazan Higher Command School of the Airborne Forces was miraculously defended: the then Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov personally arrived and demanded that the wooden church built on the "combat" payments of the paratroopers be demolished.
Fortunately, the Church of the Annunciation has passed this fate - there were influential sponsors and patrons. “Most of the money was given by my university friends and well-known companies. And Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu allocated about twenty million rubles. He was here several times, even gave the church an icon,” says the priest.
To the right of the entrance to the Church of the Annunciation in Sokolniki is a huge monitor. Father Mikhail enthusiastically runs his finger over it and, without looking up from the screen, tells where everything is located in the temple. A couple of movements on the "megatablet" - and the main temple of the Airborne Forces appears before the visitor in all its 3D beauty.
Scout in cassock
The iconostasis of the Church of the Annunciation is made of Afghan marble. How did you manage to get him there? Parishioners cryptically reply that "that's a different story." And they immediately begin to talk about the restoration of the church - especially how the priest Andrei Shelomentsev helped the rector, Father Mikhail Vasiliev.
"Father Andrei, after the service, changed into work clothes and went to build a bell tower. He is well versed in all these matters - an amazing person!" says parishioner Olga.
Father Andrey is really unusual: the rank of major in intelligence, two Orders of Courage, many wounds - three fragments remained in the back. But he never talks about it himself. And he cuts off questions like a soldier: “Firstly, it’s not interesting to talk about me, and secondly, it’s not at all interesting to talk about the war.”
But it is worth mentioning faith, it immediately revives. He literally explains complex theological questions "on the fingers", rolling up the sleeves of his cassock and showing his large hands with hardened palms. Once upon a time they held weapons, but now, as they say here, "a spiritual weapon", a cross.
Here, for example, is how he explained why the Orthodox need to take communion and confess.
“Somehow, after the battle, we dragged the wounded, 20 people. And now they bring (colleague) Pashka - he holds on to his stomach and yells so that his ears are pawned. And there is no blood! I go up to him, take out a knife, - father Andrei points to his thigh, where the scouts attach knives, - I tell him: "Pashka, it will be very painful now, you do what you want - yell, swear, beat me," and I stuff a dressing bag into his mouth so that his teeth do not crumble. First, he cuts off Pashka's body armor, and then all his clothes and sees in the area of the shoulder blade "a large hole from which air whistles", the bullet pierced his lung. In such cases, the priest explains, death can occur at any moment. “I quickly found the wound and called the paramedic to plug it up. The guy was saved,” he says, and after a pause, adds: “It’s the same with the soul of a person — if you don’t open the wound in time so that God sees it and heals it, then she will perish. For this, confession and communion are needed."
When you ask why he decided to become a priest, Father Andrei shrugs his shoulders: "So God ruled." Before moving to Moscow in 2009, he served for ten years in a church in Kolyma, "where the bishop is 500 kilometers away."
"And who is harder to be: a priest or a soldier?" I'm interested.
“It’s harder to be a priest. In the army, everything is clear: there are commanders who give orders. And the priest is his own commander. Yes, there are dogmas of the Church, but he is essentially the only warrior in the field,” Father Andrei admits.
"I was a living target"
The main parishioners of the temple are paratroopers. Almost all of the orders, many have been in hot spots. Everyone helps the temple as much as they can. Alexey, for example, serves at the altar on weekends. And on weekdays, he "performs tasks as intended" - he has over 400 jumps on his account. This church serves as an outlet for the paratroopers in their difficult work.
"The second hand of the temple," the parishioners call the soldiers serving in the Airborne Forces headquarters. They are sent here at will to help - remove the snow, fix something. Some remain in the temple even after demobilization.
“While I was in the army, I came here to help. And after some time I returned from military service. I don’t know how it happened,” Alexander admits.
He went into the temple, leading under the arm of Archpriest Oleg Teor, confessor of the legendary 76th Pskov Airborne Division. In fact, this is the first chaplain of the Airborne Forces in Russia, he took care of the fighters back in the USSR, when priests were not even allowed to come close to the soldiers.
“They themselves came to our church and asked to be baptized. Or to give them some literature,” Father Oleg recalls. Behind him are two Chechen campaigns and Yugoslavia. History was being created before his eyes: in 1999, the priest was part of the airborne battalion that captured the Pristina airport.
"I was one of the first there. The commander said that a priest should be sent there, and they began to think who. Someone reported about me. They told me, I immediately got on a plane and flew. Not every country gave us an air corridor, although this "It was basically a peacekeeping trip. There were explosions, shots - before our arrival, that area was bombed by the British," says the priest. He does not like to remember shelling in Chechnya and Kosovo. He shrugged it off: "Maybe he got hit by them, they were constantly shooting there."
With a white beard and kind blue eyes, Father Oleg is more like a magician from a fairy tale than a regimental priest who went through hot spots. How can you not ask about miracles!
“I returned from everywhere safe and sound – that’s where the miracle is. I remember that in Chechnya we visited eleven positions. And I was in a cassock, even a bulletproof vest was not enough for me – they gave it to some journalists. ", he says.
And then a military man in guards uniform enters the temple. Seeing Father Oleg, he blossoms into a smile and rushes to embrace with the words: "I wish you good health, dear father!" Major General Vladimir Danilchenko heads the Council of Veterans of the Airborne Command. Himself in the "winged infantry" since 1959, the only BMD tester in a minefield. He is convinced that everyone in the Airborne Forces believed and believes in God. Even in times of the most severe persecution of religion.
“Then they made sure that they didn’t wear crosses, wedding rings ... And before we go out to the“ expanses of the Universe ”, they give the command to get ready. The first to get up is the commander - Colonel Mikhail Verbovnikov, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, who found himself in extremely difficult situations. The command sounded " Let's go!", and Verbovnikov, crossing himself, says three times: "Lord, have mercy!" And we repeat this after him," he recalls with a smile.
© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich /
Cross and sword
Brotherhood is about paratroopers. Danilchenko and the parishioners of the Church of the Annunciation in Sokolniki have been helping veterans who find themselves in a difficult life situation for many years. And at the same time to the chaplains, who are also in a difficult situation now.
"The chaplain receives an average of 23-25 thousand rubles a month. This is the rate of technical personnel - two times less than that of a contract soldier, although officially he is listed as an assistant commander of the unit. And at the same time, the priest must support his, most often large, family, my wife and six children are out. We try to show the highest degree of self-giving. But all the same, "the legs feed the wolf," Father Mikhail Vasilyev complains.
There are no "price tags" for notes and trebs in the temple. "Well, how can I measure not my grace, but God's with price tags?" the priest says. Although the temple pays more than 200 thousand rubles a month for the communal apartment alone, and 60 thousand more for security.
Batiushka generally likes to joke, but how else, according to him, to convey eternal and not always clear truths to the usually harsh military men. The task of the priests is to make sure that the paratroopers, despite the shelling and screams of dying comrades, retain their humanity. And there are no former paratroopers, as you know. This is what the inscription on the house reminds of: "God and the Airborne Forces are with us!"
Moscow Church in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the Office of the 6th sapper brigade, in Sokolniki, the Cathedral of the Airborne Forces, the patriarchal metochion of the Russian Orthodox ChurchThe temple for the 6th Sapper Brigade in Moscow was built according to the standard design of military temples, approved by the construction commission in 1901 (architect Fyodor Mikhailovich Verzhbitsky). In total, at least 60 such churches were built in the Russian Empire by 1917.
The temple was founded on September 6, in the presence of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and solemnly consecrated on March 24, Fr. John Orlov, Dean of the 1st Grenadier Division.
The painting inside the temple was made by the ranks of the sixth field engineering park, and the three-tiered oak iconostasis was made by the ranks of the Grenadier sapper battalion. They also painted icons.
In addition to the ranks of the above-mentioned brigade, the ranks of the Grenadier, 13th and 17th Sapper battalions and the sixth field engineering park also made up the parish of the church.
In the year the temple was closed and transferred to the club. The bell tower and the central dome were destroyed, the military cemetery at the temple was destroyed.
On June 2, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, at the request of the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Kolmakov A.N. established a patriarchal residence at the headquarters of the Airborne Forces in Sokolniki, to which the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also assigned. At the same time, the patriarch gave his blessing to revive the named temple as the Cathedral of the Airborne Forces and, after reconstruction, to place on its walls memorial plaques with the names of paratroopers who died in hot spots.
By August, the main construction work was completed.
On the territory of the former cemetery adjacent to the temple, a square has been laid out, a gas station and a customs department are functioning. The square was reconstructed at the expense of the Moscow government in 2012. At the same time, soldiers' graves were discovered and partially damaged by workers. In 2014, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, a monument to the heroes of the war was supposed to be erected next to the temple.
abbots
- Vasily Slyunin (March 2, 1906 - ?) ...
- Mikhail Vasiliev (June 2, 2004 - March 12, 2019)
The project of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sokolniki at the former barracks of the sapper battalion, it was no different from the typical military churches of the early 20th century, approved by Nicholas II.
The building was erected in 1906. Vasily Slyunin was appointed priest.
Vasily Vasilyevich Slyunin by this time already had experience of serving in such churches. He served in the Far East, participated in the war of 1904-1905, had 3 military orders.
From the Far East, Father Vasily was transferred to Moscow, where he became rector of the newly opened Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Sokolniki, which he did not leave until its closing.
During the war (World War I), a military hospital was located opposite the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin. The dead soldiers were buried around the temple.
After the October Revolution, the Church of the Annunciation was subject to desecration by the Bolsheviks: the bell tower and dome were destroyed, the cemetery was destroyed, and a soldiers' club was opened in the building.
Today, on the site where people were once buried, there is a gas station and a park where dogs are walked.
In 1965, there was a military unit in the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Sokolniki.
After the collapse of the USSR, the building was declared unsuitable for life. There were no elementary amenities here, it was heated with coal (a cast-iron firebox was placed in place of the throne). Even when this type of heating was officially banned in the city, black smoke was coming from the chimney of the military temple.
The formation of the temple of the Airborne Forces and its history
In 2004, at the request of the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Kolmakov, Alexy II established the Patriarchal Compound at the headquarters of the airborne troops in Sokolniki. It includes, among other things, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sokolniki.
A decision is made to restore the shrine. Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Mikhail Vasilyev is appointed rector.
This man knows firsthand what war is. He served in "hot spots", for which he was awarded the corresponding military awards by decree of the President of Russia.
Restoration work in the Church of the Annunciation in Sokolniki continues to this day. And they began with the fact that crosses were installed in place of the bell tower and dome. On the second floor, a temporary room for worship was equipped.
Today the building is already suitable for holding festive and Sunday services. The temple is being built mainly at the expense of the parishioners and the forces of the military.
Since the temple in Sokolniki has become the cathedral-temple of the Airborne Forces, it was decided to create a Memorial Center with a museum of the airborne troops here, and hang memorial plaques with the names of the dead paratroopers on the walls.
The Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located at the address: Moscow, Matrosskaya Tishina, 10 (metro station - Sokolniki).
The temple at the Office of the 6th Sapper Brigade of the Moscow Military District was built according to the standard design of military temples in 1906 and is designed for 1200 believers. In Moscow, according to this type, only one temple was built for the sapper battalion. The temple was consecrated on March 24, 1906 (according to other sources, October 27) and stood in front of the barracks, as if in the middle of the street. There was also a bell tower, but the bells differed sharply from those in Moscow - they had too much tin, which gave the sound some kind of wooden character. Priest Vasily Vasilyevich Slyunin (born 1866) was appointed rector of the temple. The parish registers of the temple have been preserved in the Central Archive of Moscow.
By the time the church was opened, Father Vasily already had extensive experience serving as a regimental priest. As a priest of the 5th Siberian Infantry Regiment, he served for several years in the Far East. Participated in hostilities against the Japanese in 1904-1905. (from the beginning to the end of the war). Father Vasily had 8 children. From the first to the last days he took part in the defense of Port Arthur. His merits were awarded with 3 military orders (St. Anna of the III degree with swords, St. Vladimir of the IV degree with swords, St. Anna of the II degree with swords) and a pectoral gold cross from the office of His Imperial Majesty on the St. George ribbon. For military merit, Father Vasily was transferred from the Far East to the capital, where he became rector of the newly built military church. Here, Father Vasily carried out his ministry until the closing of the temple. During the First World War, a military hospital was located in the barracks opposite the temple. Soldiers who died from their wounds were buried around the Church of the Annunciation.
In 1918, the temple was closed as a "nest of counter-revolution", in the barracks opposite the temple housed the junkers and cadets who defended the Kremlin from the Bolsheviks. After the church was closed, the bell tower and domes were destroyed, and the military cemetery near the church was destroyed. In 1923, the Presidium of the Sokolniki District Council handed over to its sponsored regiment the building of the former church for a club.
In 1965, the Courier Post Office of the Moscow Military District was located in the temple building.
Later, the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Airborne Troops was located here.
In 2004 (at the request of the Commander of the Airborne Troops, Colonel-General A.P. Kolmakov), His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia established the Patriarchal Metochion at the headquarters of the Airborne Troops in Sokolniki (Decree No. ). It included the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, as well as other churches on the territory of the Airborne Forces stationed in Moscow or the Moscow suburbs. His Holiness the Patriarch gave his blessing to revive this temple with the Cathedral of the Airborne Forces, and after the reconstruction, to place in it boards with the names of paratroopers who died in hot spots. This will not only restore historical justice, but will also actively help the spiritual and moral education of the military personnel of the Airborne Forces and Military Transport Aviation, whose headquarters are deployed in buildings near the temple.
In 2004, Archpriest Mikhail Vasiliev was appointed rector of the church (Decree No. 3263 of June 02, 2004). His experience of serving as a regimental priest in the Strategic Missile Forces and the Airborne Forces includes business trips to combat zones (Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Abkhazia, etc.). For service in "hot spots" military awards: the Order of Courage and the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", II degree.
In 2006, on the 100th anniversary of the opening of the temple in the building of the Annunciation Church, a Divine Liturgy was served (with the permission of the command of the Moscow Military District) on the Throne of the camp temple of the Airborne Forces for the military personnel of the unit housed in the temple.
