During a trip down Kerzhents, I tried to find and capture places related to the history of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers, and just today we will talk about one of these places.
This hillock, on which the cemetery and the birch grove are located, is completely inconspicuous at first glance, but it is inconspicuous only to people who are not familiar with the tragic events that took place here in 1719. These events once again show how brutally Peter I treated the Old Believers ... This place is located near the village of Klyuchi, which is next to Pafnutovo - a place where there were once many sketes ...
The cemetery is also Old Believer here (like many in the Semenovsky district) 
The villages along the Linde River are one next to one. You walk a kilometer, two - another village. Therefore, it was here, in the ancient village of Pafnutovo, that Pitirim, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, chose a place for his “dispute”, on the square near the wooden church of the “Three Hierarchs”, built in 1699 as a support of Orthodoxy among the hiding “schismatics”. He, Pitirim, had, as the folk legend says, here “his own man” - the elder Barsanuphius. He delivered to the forests of Kerzhensky a letter to Pitirimov with one hundred and thirty episcopal "tricky" questions.
Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr Pitirim (c. 1665-1738)
He handed them to the head of the Kerzhensky schismatics - Deacon Alexander, this stubborn tall bearded man with meek blue eyes. They say that Deacon Alexander was a native of the Kostroma province. From a young age, he was occupied with questions about the truth of faith. One day he met the old woman Elizaveta from the Yaroslavl Monastery, who told him: “True faith is found in hidden places, namely in the forests, and everyone who wants to be saved needs to go there, into the deaf forests.” After such words, sunk into his soul, Alexander left his wife, children, the place of deacon at the church and went first to Yaroslavl. There, at the inn, he met the elder Cyriacus and the monk Jonah and went with them to the forests of Kerzhensky.
He lived in different sketes, moved from one to another, teaching and learning himself. In 1709, in the monastery of Lavrentiy, where he was received as a deacon, he was tonsured a monk “according to schism” and admitted to the priesthood. Since that time, his name has become known throughout Kerzhents.
By 1719, when the answers to the questions of Pitirim were ready, Alexander, with his learning, his strength in faith, became the spiritual leader of the Old Believers of the fugitive wing. Therefore, it was he who went to Pitirim to present answers to his "evil" one hundred and thirty questions.
Like thunder from a clear sky, the Kerzhensky sketes spread the news: Pitirim, the seller of Christ, deacon Alexander, put the deacon Alexander in the monastery prison in Nizhny Novgorod while giving him answers. Anger and horror seized the elders and old women of the cells. They wondered what to expect now from him, from the "beast" of this Pitirim. Many went with appeals to the initial elder Macarius, who lived in a cell in the forests of Kerzhensky for advice. Now it is he, Macarius, who will have to answer to the "heretic" and "tormentor" of Nizhny Novgorod, and he has already made an appointment - a dispute for the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos - October 1, 1719.
Deacon Alexander by this time was brought in chains to Pafnutovo. This is how the writer Yuri Prilutsky (aka Priest Pyotr Shumilin of the Church of the Most Holy Life-Giving Trinity in the village of Epiphany) describes the course of the dispute in his story “For the Cross and Faith”, published in 1917:
« Pitirim came out in full dress with icons and banners. In the middle of the square, in front of the church, a lectern was placed on a platform, next to it was a table with a pile of old books in leather bindings ... From somewhere, a hundred guardsmen of the Petrovsky Preobrazhensky Regiment appeared and, mercilessly pushing the crowd aside, made an alley from the village to the square. At the far end, a party of chained skete fathers appeared under escort of a dozen guardsmen with drawn sabers, behind on a black (black) horse rode the captain of the guard Rzhevsky ... Pale, emaciated, with nostrils torn out with crippled faces, in tattered clothes, in blood, with torn beards, but calm, quietly jingling their chains as they walked, the fathers headed for the platform ... Alexander began his speech. But in the very ardor of the speech that had begun, Rzhevsky's heavy fist fell on the head of Deacon Alexander, and he fell to the ground like a mowed down man. ».
Dispute failed. Elected from the Old Believers of various sketes, fearing what they saw with great fear and under the formidable influence of Pitirim, they signed a “report” drawn up by him that the answers of the “Old Believers” of the sketes were incorrect. The first to set an example and signed Judas (traitor) Barsanuphius. After that, Pitirim showed "mercy" and released the detainees. Thus ended the "dispute".
The report with the signatures of the "schismatics" was presented to the emperor himself - Peter I. However, the "triumph of Pitirim" did not last long. The elders, once free, throughout Kerzhenets "exposed" the lies of the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod. Deacon Alexander, unable to endure this lie, went to the capital in St. Petersburg to the Tsar Peter Alekseevich himself. In the royal mansions, he was captured and "interrogated with passion." Under severe torture, he did not refuse to testify to Pitirim's lie. The stubborn "fanatic" was sent in chains to the Lower Pitirim Court.
At that time, in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, on the Kerzhents River, the passions of the Old Believers were seething, condemning the persecutor of the true faith, the faith of the fathers and grandfathers - Pitirim, for his untruth, for torturing the elders for the sake of signatures. Condemned and feared. They were afraid for nothing. The "slander" of the opposition reached the Pitirim's ears. The priest Macarius, the elders Dositheus and Joseph, and seventeen "zealous" defenders of the old faith were captured. All of them were brought under escort in chains chained to a gentle mountain between the village of Pafnutov and the village of Klyuchi. A large and rather deep hole was dug here, along the edges of which there were pillars with crossbars and ready-made rope loops. The “stubborn Old Believers” themselves, with the Jesus prayer on their lips, threw nooses on themselves. A strong push on command and... the end.
Since then, this mountain, where the "Inquisition" took place, is popularly called key mountain(near the village of Klyuchi), and the place where the execution took place - “ Gallows". Now a vast pit with swollen flat edges (the earth has settled) is visible in this place. Through the efforts of the Old Believers who honor the bright memory of the martyrs for the faith of Christ, in the fall of 2003, a large worship cross with a sign was placed on the Gallows. On it is the inscription: Father Macarius and 19 martyrs for ancient Orthodoxy
». 
The righteous elder Macarius was recognized as a saint by the Old Believer Church, his name was entered in the synodik (a book in which names are entered for commemoration). We left Deacon Alexander at the moment when we took him to the Pitirim court. And the judgment was fast.
On Annunciation Square in Nizhny Novgorod, near the Dmitrievskaya Tower, with a large gathering of people, the code of 7157 from the creation of the world of the second chapter of the first article was read out: bodies."
Alexander listened to the death sentence calmly, without changing his face. Then they removed the chains from the headless body and set it on fire right here on the square. The remains of the deacon were buried in a children's coffin.
This "deed" committed on March 21, 1720 shocked the entire schismatic world. This was followed by "zoning" and the destruction of the sketes of the Kerzhensky region. The forests of the black forests were deserted. Many zealots of the ancient faith flowed to other places, even beyond the borders of Russia, and those who remained here huddled in the very wilderness, leaving away from sketes and villages ...
Nizhny Novgorod Region and Nizhny Novgorod historically, they are the second center of the Russian Old Believers after Moscow. Currently, about 50 Old Believer buildings and places revered by Old Believers are known in the region.
The Nizhny Novgorod land played an important role in the historical drama - the schism of the Russian church. Notable schismatics such as Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomna, Sergiy Nizhegorodets, Alexander Deacon, - all of them were born within the Nizhny Novgorod land. Also born in Nizhny Novgorod Patriarch Nikon, who became one of the founders of the schism of the church.
The Nizhny Novgorod region still continues to be one of the centers of the Russian Old Believers.
The real value of the architecture of the early twentieth century is St. Nicholas Church, which is located in the city of Semenov, as well as the village of Grigorovo in the Bolshemurashkinsky district is on the list of historical places: archpriest Avvakum was born and raised in this force.
Research of Old Believer places and monuments
Many scientists studied the details of the life and culture of the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod lands, but the researchers could not get into the attention of the immovable places that were directly related to the Old Believer movement (sketes, churchyards, spiritual places).
So, in the early 90s, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there were more than 1200 historical monuments, but only one of them was under state protection, since only those monuments of the cultural and spiritual life of the people that were deprived of their fundamental essence and spirituality fell under state protection. filling. And the places of mass pilgrimage, the graves of saints, pious ascetics, as well as religious shrines were not taken into account at all.
Since the 90s, Nizhny Novgorod scientists have been keeping records of the monuments of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers and Old Believer cultural and spiritual places: hermitages, cemeteries, revered graves, which are located in Semenovsky, Borsky and other areas.
Nizhny Novgorod split
Monument to Patriarch Nikon in Saransk. Although he was born into a Mordovian peasant family in the village of Veldemanovo near Nizhny Novgorod (currently Perevozsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region). That is, a monument was erected to him after all by ethnicity, and not by place of birth.
Nikon (in the world Nikita Minov), was born on June 3, 1605 in the village of Veldemanovo (now the Perevozsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region). Patriarch, political and church figure.
Already at the age of 19 he became a priest in a neighboring village. He married, but after the death of all his children, there were three of them, he finally left the world. Since 1635, he found peace within the walls of the Solovetsky Monastery, where he was tonsured. In 1643 he became hegemen of the Kozheozersk monastery.
In 1646, Nikon was introduced to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and won his favorable attention. After that, he was appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. Using the unlimited confidence of the sovereign, he found the maximum opportunities for the realization of his ideas, both religious and political. In 1648, becoming Metropolitan of Novgorod, he contributed to the suppression of the rebellion in 1652. In the same year he was elected a new All-Russian saint.
Since the spring of 1653, Patriarch Nikon began to reform, his cruel and irreconcilable position led to a split in the church, and then to a confrontation with the king.
Nikon announced that he was leaving the patriarchate and in 1658 retired to New Jerusalem. In 1664, Nikon makes an attempt to return to Moscow, but he is sent back.
The Council of 1667-1668 confirmed Nikon's reforms, at the same time he removed the patriarchal dignity from Nikon. Nikon was exiled under supervision to the Ferapontov monastery, then transferred to Kirillo-Belozersky.
The former patriarch was allowed to return to Moscow only in 1681, under the new tsar Fedor Alekseevich, and there were also talks about the restoration of the dignity.
Died on the way to Moscow in Yaroslavl on July 17 (27), 1681, Nikon was buried in New Jerusalem according to the patriarchal rank.
Monument to the Old Believer Hieromartyr Archpriest Avvakum, opened on June 5, 1991 in his homeland in the village of Grigorovo, Bolshemurashkinsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region. July 30, 2009. (Photo. Borisova L.K.)
Avvakum, archpriest (1605 - 1681) - the famous teacher of the Russian schism of the 17th century, participated in the correction of church books undertaken under Alexei Mikhailovich by Patriarch Joseph. However, when Joseph's successor, Nikon, recognizing all previous corrections as erroneous, undertook the correction of Orthodox liturgical books according to Greek originals, Avvakum declared himself an irreconcilable enemy of all innovations and became the head of the schism.
In his writings, Avvakum considers Nikonian innovations as a desecration of the church, predicts the imminent coming of the Antichrist, and preaches flight from the world and self-immolation. Avvakum was severely persecuted, exiled, imprisoned, tortured, and, finally, was stripped, cursed by a church council, and burned at the stake.
In the 17th century, a movement of “God-lovers” appeared in Russia, who fought for the purity of morals and for the supreme power of the church in society. Among them was the future Patriarch Nikon and chief thinker of the Old Believers Avvakum. Both of them were from the Nizhny Novgorod region. By the middle of the 17th century, a split occurred among the religious spiritual leaders. Nikon, approaching the king Alexey Mikhailovich and becoming the patriarch of Russia, he reformed the Orthodox Church. Part of the Orthodox, inspired by Archpriest Avvakum, did not accept the reform and adhered to the old faith and rituals, for which they were persecuted. Hiding from persecution, the Old Believers went to the trans-Volga dense forests, where they set up their sketes - secluded settlements of the monastic type.
Grigorovo is the native village of Archpriest Avvakum. A photo:
In the footsteps of the Old Believers
Programmer Anton Afanasiev was born in Sukhumi, moved to the Nizhny Novgorod region, in his words, "in a conscious childhood." But it so happened that, having read in his youth "In the Woods" and "On the Mountains" Melnikov-Pechersky, became seriously interested in the history and ethnography of the Old Believer regions. Anton travels around the region, looking for places of former settlements, studying history and life, and talks about it in his illustrated blog. Two of his hobbies - photography and travel - came in handy for a lot of research. It's almost ethnography, only amateur. And popular - his blog already has eight thousand subscribers.
Anton Afanasiev is an ethnographer blogger. Photo: AiF / Elfiya Garipova
“Not much is known about the life of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believer sketes,” says Afanasiev, “so I decided to study these places and see what is happening on the lands of the Old Believers.”
For the first time, Afanasyev heard the word "skit" when he began to engage in treasure hunting. Many diggers liked to wander around with metal detectors in the area of the Old Believer settlements, so Anton immediately got the impression that these were rich places.
“Finding the remains of sketes is quite difficult,” says Afanasiev. - Local residents often do not even know that they live next to the former sketes: after all, sometimes only a dilapidated cemetery remains from them. Often local shepherds helped in the search: they turned out to be one of the few who knew where the settlements of the Old Believers were located.
In places where entire settlements used to exist, now there are wastelands with rare crumbling buildings. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
For several seasons, the blogger traveled to almost all the sketes and found the descendants of local Old Believers. Someone continues to adhere to the faith of their ancestors, someone has long forgotten about the principles of the Old Believers.
Anton at first thought that it would be difficult to photograph the Old Believers: “At first glance, they are rather secretive people and do not let strangers near them. But no. They are ready to communicate."
Cultural monuments are gradually falling into disrepair, even when they are under protection. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
Surviving skit
Afanasiev managed not only to photograph the people themselves, but also to film the service in the only surviving and functioning Nizhny Novgorod skete - Malinovsky. It was built at the end of the 19th century with money the richest merchant-industrialist Nikolai Bugrov(the same one who owned the doss house in Nizhny Novgorod, known as the prototype of the doss house from Gorky's play "At the Bottom"). In the Soviet period, utility rooms were arranged in the church of the skete. Now almost all the frescoes have been completely restored, since since July 1994 the complex of the Malinovsky Skete has been taken under state protection as a monument of history and culture of regional significance.
Church choir of the Malinovsky Skete. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
In the city, Anton rarely goes to church, and in the Malinovsky skete there was a desire to watch the service. Knowing that the Old Believers, as a rule, do not allow anyone other than fellow believers to go further than the porch, the photographer stood there and watched the service begin.
Worship is going on. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
“One woman from the church shop saw me,” says Anton. - She turned out to be a wife Father Alexandra who performed the service. She offered me to enter, write a note about health and even take pictures of the interiors and the service itself, which I did not count on at all! Obviously, my interest in what was happening played a role. They even invited me to dinner after the service.”
Lunch after service. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
Dump in the cemetery
The situation with the restored Malinovsky skete is rather exceptional: in the place of most of the Old Believer sketes, only crosses rise. Only they remind that once there was not only a cemetery, but also a rich settlement.
There are many crosses of the Old Believers, and there are almost no Old Believers themselves. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
“Locals hardly remember the Old Believers,” says Afanasiev. “As I was told in one of the villages, already in the late 70s of the last century there were no people who could really tell the visitor about the sketes and show them.”
In the village of Sharpan Afanasiev was looking for a grave Old Believer Father Nikandry found in a local cemetery. But in the place of the elder’s half-dugout, Anton was unpleasantly struck by an impromptu dump, which completely buried the old logs of the monastery, dug into the ground. And this is despite the fact that this place is officially under state protection (document on acceptance for state protection No. 219 - author's note).
There are practically no Old Believers left in Sharpan. For example, the former teacher Nina Alexandrovna had all her ancestors Old Believers, but she no longer considers herself one of them. Although he still keeps Old Believer icons at home.
"Kill for an icon"
“This grandmother told me that buyers deceive lonely old women,” says Afanasyev. - People come from the city and voluntarily-compulsorily exchange old icons for remakes. I ask why you agree. He answers, we are afraid, they say: they will come at night, rob or kill for these icons. It is clear that these grandmother's icons are grossly cashing in. They take away not only icons, but also preserved church utensils. At first, the old women also looked at me with suspicion: is it not a junk dealer?
Nina Alexandrovna, a descendant of the Old Believers, is afraid of the buyers of icons. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
The churches of the Old Believers are mostly destroyed by time and the barbaric attitude of those around them. For example, in the former Old Believer community of Budilikha, the church is already in disrepair: the planks are being pulled apart for fences, and the dome has long been lying on the ground.
Ruined church in Budilikha. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
The situation is the same in the ancient village of Martynov: the church is destroyed and is in a terrible state. A little time will pass, and only a pile of old boards and logs will remain from it. If they don't get ripped off.
“They say that there is nothing and no one to restore these churches,” Afanasiev shakes his head, “they say that there are fewer and fewer Old Believers here every year – they are all young or in Orthodoxy, or not believers at all.”
The church onion is lying on the ground. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
Church - on bricks
Anton Afanasiev not only studies historical places with great attention, but also takes a keen interest in people living in abandoned, remote corners of the region. Here he finds subjects for his photographs.
Anton talks about meeting a bearded man stoker Sergei and his partner, shows photos. Stokers heat the local school, which is located in the former noble estate Berdnikov. To heat the school and the teacher's house, they must drag and burn 12 wheelbarrows of coal every day. Sergei told Afanasyev that in the courtyard of this former estate there used to be two marble steles - Berdnikov himself and his wife.
Kochegar Sergey is a resident of the northern regions of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasiev
“So, according to Sergei, in the early 90s, both steles were “taken away” somewhere,” says Afanasiev. - And then there was a rumor that the son of this very Berdnikov, a serious businessman from France, intends to visit his native places! And he even thinks about a joint venture in his father's homeland: he wanted to restore the local factory. Sergei said, they say, they were frightened, the whole village was looking for these steles: it’s uncomfortable in front of a foreign guest. And they did find it! Lying in someone's backyard."
In the north of the region, people live in poverty - people do not care about preserving the cultural heritage. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
The steles were returned to their original place. Only there was nothing to restore: the walls of the factory had long been dismantled, the local church too.
Anton tells how in the region, far from more or less large cities, signs of desolation are visible everywhere: devastation is all around, there is almost no work. Everything that can be pulled into bricks.
Young people leave, old people stay. Photo: From the personal archive of Anton Afanasyev
Returning to the conversation about the sketes, Afanasiev sighs: “Of course, I am not an ethnographer, although I am now getting a second - historical - education. I just photograph what I see and try to describe what still remains. I understand: time does a lot for the destruction of Old Believer settlements. But if they had been properly cared for, surely much could have been preserved for posterity. And maybe it's not too late yet?
From the very beginning of the split in the middle of the 17th century, the Nizhny Novgorod province was one of the most important centers of the Russian Old Believers. Here are some facts to support this. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod region, on the Kerzhenets River, the skete of Smolyany (according to legend, in 1656). In terms of the number of Old Believers, the province (together with the two districts of the Kostroma province that later became part of it) occupied the third place in 1912 among the Great Russian provinces and regions. And, finally, in the Nizhny Novgorod province there were spiritual and organizational centers of six of the fifteen largest concords of Russia.
At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 140 thousand Old Believers of thirteen different accords lived in the territory of the province (with the mentioned Kostroma districts).
Belokrinitsky
Belokrinitskaya hierarchy had in 1912 in the Nizhny Novgorod province, according to official statistics, 30,370 of its supporters. Half of them lived in the northern, Trans-Volga part of the province, half in the southern, upland part. The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the rapid growth of temple construction. In terms of their number, Belokrinitsky surpassed all other consents combined - more than 30 churches (and more than 40 prayer houses). The most significant trends in the bowels of the consent were its centralization, the strengthening of the importance of the episcopate and the priesthood as opposed to the "trustees" of the communities from merchants and wealthy peasants, as well as the stormy social and church life in the form of the organization of Old Believer unions, brotherhoods, congresses, publishing activities, and the intensification of missionary activities. among the New Believers, and especially the bespopovtsy of the Spasova consent (deaf netovshchina), who, by whole communities, turned into the Belokrinitsky consent.
The vast majority of the Nizhny Novgorod Belokrinitsky were districts and were subordinate to the Rogozhsky Archdiocese. Only about a thousand people were representatives of the conservative wing of the consent, which did not accept a compromise with the official Orthodoxy of the district message. The Nizhny Novgorod neo-okrugs were divided into two branches: Josephites and Jobites. The Iovtsy lived in the southern half of the province, the Iosifovtsy lived in the Trans-Volga region and along the banks of the Volga. As is known, Bishop Joseph Kerzhensky had his residence in the second half of the XIX century a hermitage in the village Matveevka(now Borsky district). At the beginning of the 20th century, the Matveyevsky women's skete was still the spiritual center of the provincial scale. In addition to him, near Semenov there was another Joseph's skete - Chernukhinsky. The number of Josephites did not exceed several hundred people, making up 5-6 parishes.
The conservatism of the neo-okrugists manifested itself, first of all, in the denial of all compromises with the state ideology and official Orthodoxy, which was part of it, which manifested itself, in particular, in the rejection of the state registration of communities under the law of 1906 (which brought the neo-okrugists closer to the conservative wing of priestlessness).
Fugitives
After the issuance of the decree of 1905 on religious tolerance, the life of Beglopopov's consent revived in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Here it is called "Bugrovskaya faith", and this name quite adequately reflects the role and significance in the life of the consent of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Nikolai Bugrov.
ON THE. Bugrov, at his own expense, built not only churches (at least six), but also organized Old Believer schools, built and maintained almshouses, held All-Russian congresses of his consent, and, finally, organized an All-Russian brotherhood - the governing body of consent (due to the absence of a hierarchy among the fugitives), chairman which he himself was.
Beglopopovtsy in 1912, according to official figures, there were about fourteen thousand people in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Almost all of them lived in the Volga part of the province. In terms of the degree of conservatism, the Zavolzhsky Beglopopovtsy occupied a much more right-wing position than the Belokrinitsky ones. Probably, the fact that the mentality of the population of the forest Trans-Volga region is generally more conservative than that of the inhabitants of the Volga region or the southern zone of the province played an important role here. In addition, the ideology of the Nizhny Novgorod Beglopopovtsy was not to a small extent influenced by the Semenov sketes - strongholds of Kerzhensky piety and keepers of ancient customs. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the vicinity of Semenov, there were three Beglopopov sketes:, and Sharpansky, which could not be destroyed either by the Nizhny Novgorod bishop Pitirim with detachments of Peter's soldiers, or the government of Nicholas I by the hands of the district police under the leadership of Melnikov-Pechersky. Another spiritual center of harmony was the famous Gorodets chapel with several thousand parishioners, which had great prestige and a rich historical and cultural heritage.
Unlike Belokrinitsky, the Beglopopovtsy did not have their own episcopal rank, the priesthood was very small in number and did not enjoy special authority, due to its origin from the New Believer church. Representatives of the church community ran all affairs in agreement: trustees, tutors, authoritative and literate old people, hence the democracy of community self-government and the decentralization of agreement.
Local features include the maximum proximity of Beglopopovtsy to the bespriest order, up to the custom of “chalice”, the general spread of skete repentance (instead of confession at the priest), distrust of state registration of communities, etc.
Pomortsy
In the Nizhny Novgorod province, the Pomeranian consent numbered about 25 thousand of its followers, who owned more than 60 churches and prayer houses. The Pomortsy lived both in the upland part of the province and in the Trans-Volga region, and in terms of the degree of conservatism, the Upland Pomortsy approached the Belokrinitsky ones, and the Zavolzhsky ones were much more to the right of the Beglopopovtsy. If in the southern half of the province Pomortsy registered more than thirty communities, then in the northern half - not a single one. In addition, it was among the upland Pomortsy that periodically there was a movement towards reconciliation with the dominant church, accompanied by a weakening in the foundations and customs (barbering, reconciliation), which caused condemnation of the "forest" Pomortsy. Significant spiritual centers of the Trans-Volga Pomeranians were the locality "Korela" and Gorodets, which gave the world original icon painters and writers Zolotarevs. It was in Gorodets that the famous Grigory Tokarev launched his activities, who created his teaching and spread it to many regions of Russia, to this day the "Tokarevites" live in Altai.
self-baptists
The consent of self-baptists (or self-crosses) became known in the Old Believer world of the Nizhny Novgorod region, mainly due to its tireless leader, prolific writer and polemicist Alexander Mikheevich Zapyantsev from the village of Tolba (Sergachsky district). Over the years of his life, Zapyantsev had many conversations with representatives of rival concords, created a large number of polemical collections, organized and registered eight communities of “Pomeranian marriage consent of self-crosses”. Despite the origin of the self-crosses from the Pomeranian consent, Zapyantsev was very critical of the main ideologists of the Pomeranians - the Denisov brothers, calling them marriage-makers, "who rejected God's dispensation - to be one husband and one wife." In his writings, he repeatedly emphasized the differences in rituals with contemporary marriage Pomeranians: in the rank of accepting Fedoseyevites, in infant baptism, etc. Several thousand people lived in the Nizhny Novgorod province of self-crosses at the beginning of the 20th century.
Wanderers
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there were several zones of wandering consent. The wanderers who lived in the Balakhna-Gorodets region were connected with the main center of Russian wanderers - the Yaroslavl-Kostroma Volga region, and the wanderers from the south of the province maintained ties with the wandering centers of the Middle Volga region. The local wanderers (or as they called themselves - true Orthodox Christians wandering), as in all of Russia, were divided into wanderers and acquaintances (otherwise strangers, benefactors). The number of followers of this agreement did not exceed one or two thousand people in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Old Pomortsy: Fedoseyevtsy and Filippovtsy
The Old Pomortsy of the Fedoseevsky and Filippovsky accords lived at the beginning of the 20th century in several areas of the north and west of the region. Their total number was over 20 thousand people. If the Fedoseyevites of the western part focused mainly on the spiritual center of Moscow - the Preobrazhensky Monastery, then the Fedoseyevtsy of the north - in addition to Moscow, also Vyatka and Kazan. Therefore, when the Moscow and Kazan Fedoseevites disagreed on the issue of accepting spouses for prayer, this division also affected the Fedoseevites of the northern Uren-krai, who have since been represented by three branches: Moscow, Kazan and Filimonov. The Filimonovites fully identify themselves with the Moscow Fedoseevites, pointing out their attitude towards the benefits of civilization as the only difference with them. So, they get fire for lighting candles for prayer only with kretzal, considering matches to be an unclean thing, etc.
spasovtsy
The Nizhny Novgorod Spasovites (as well as the Spasovites of all Russia) never formed a unified agreement. Spasovtsy is the self-name of four or five completely different directions in bezpopovshchina, united by one single sign - they do not cross, unlike the Pomeranians, who are accepted into their society. All the Spasovites had their own faithful brethren, that is, they separated themselves from the “anti-Christ world” by preventing the non-believers from praying together, drinking cups, etc. The total number of Nizhny Novgorod Spasovites at the beginning of the 20th century was over 30 thousand people.
The consent of the senior Spasovites, whose hallmark is the reception of neophytes by the rank of denying heresies, was widespread in the southern part of the province, where they had several monasteries that served as schools, almshouses, and spiritual centers of consent. At the beginning of the 20th century, an all-Russian fraternity was created in Nizhny Novgorod, where councils of seniors gathered to resolve various doctrinal issues.
Spasovtsy of little beginning, who accepted into their brethren through a simple beginning, lived both in the south and in the west of the Trans-Volga region. Their leader at the beginning of the 20th century was Andrei Antipin from Vorsma, who wrote and published a lot of doctrinal literature. Antipin also organized an all-Russian brotherhood, which united the communities of small beginnings in the center of Russia.
A separate agreement was made by the Zavolzhsky Spasovites, leading their genealogy from the Solovetsky monk Arseny, who came to Kerzhenets in 1677. The Arsenievites, having customs and charters similar to those of the greater beginning, stood on more conservative positions, in particular, they were anticommunalists.
Two more consents of the Spasovites - a deaf netovshchina and a strict netovshchina (the southern half of the region) - denied, in contrast to the above consents, the possibility of performing the sacraments and statutory Divine services by the laity; the former were baptized and married in the official church, the latter did not accept water baptism at all. These agreements were distinguished by their radicalism in relation to the "peace". Distributed throughout the southern half of the region.
The current state of concords
The tendencies are obvious: the few and conservative consents of the priestlessness are slowly but surely disappearing along with the world of the Russian village that gave birth to them. The carriers of the peasant ideology remain less and less. Completely disappeared, having merged with kindred consents, self-baptists, non-environs and wanderers. There are very few Filippovites left (5-6 communities) - Tonkinsky, Shakhunsky districts, Trans-Volga Spasovites-Arsentievites (two dozen small parishes) - Semenovsky, Borsky, Urensky, Gorodetsky districts. Deaf and strict netovshchina lost their distinctive features, having accepted water baptism from their mentors (the total number of communities is 4-5) - Arzamas, Vorotynsky districts. The brethren of small- and high-primary Spasovites are becoming smaller in number and are left almost without pastors (the total number of parishes is no more than 20, with an average number of parishioners of 10-20 people) - Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas, Gaginsky, Kstovsky districts. There are few young people in all the mentioned agreements and, accordingly, there is no transmission of the richest oral tradition to the younger generation.
Things are somewhat better among the Pomortsy, part of the Fedoseevites and the priestly consents.
Pomortsy managed to create their own powerful center in Nizhny Novgorod, where today the largest community in the region (up to a thousand people) is concentrated. In addition, there are about 30 Pomor communities of 30-100 people in the region - Koverninsky, Semenovsky, Gorodetsky, Borsky, Kstovsky, Arzamassky, Buturlinsky, Lyskovsky and other districts.
As for the Fedoseyevites, everywhere their communities have become extremely small (here one must take into account their rejection of marriages, which prevents young people from joining the "brotherhood"). The exception is the north of the region (Tonkinsky district), where the situation is not so hopeless. The communities of Moscow Fedoseevites, numbering about thirty, are closely connected with each other; at least 10-15 Fedoseevites from neighboring settlements come to the village for the patronal feast. The communities are replenished with retired representatives of the rural intelligentsia. Prayer houses are maintained in order. Interestingly, quite often the role of spiritual fathers is performed by women.
With all this, the Fedoseyevites do not deviate from their strict rules in relation to marriage, do not “peace”, observe all the prescriptions laid down by the charters (the spiritual fathers closely monitor this).
As for the Kazan Fedoseyevites (Krepkovers) and Filimonovites, there are now no more than fifty of them combined. Nevertheless, they have their own worshipers, spiritual fathers, and are not going to merge with the Moscow ones - they are all sure that they will die in their faith.
In addition to the Old Believers, who live compactly and are united in parishes, Old Believers live in numerous villages in the region, who do not attend this or that parish and pray at home, either alone or with family members. Often they, recognizing themselves as Old Believers, do not identify themselves with any agreement. The number of these Old Believers (in the vast majority of Bespopovtsy) is difficult to establish.
Beglopopov's consent, like the bespopovtsy, which relied on the peasant environment, also lost much of its traditions and historical and cultural heritage. In particular, the traditions of hook singing have almost been lost, the spiritual and cultural center in Gorodets has ceased to exist, and the trans-Volga skete and cell traditions have been destroyed. However, in the last ten years, thanks to the vigorous activity of the Novozybkovo-Moscow episcopate, the social and church life of the consent has somewhat revived: ten parishes are registered and operate - Nizhny Novgorod, Semenov, Gorodets, Tonkino, Urensky district, two new churches are being built, one of the Trans-Volga sketes is being revived, in urban communities there is, albeit a small, influx of young people. The episcopal see in Nizhny Novgorod was restored (the ruling bishop is Vasily Verkhnevolzhsky).
Belokrinitskoye consent in the Nizhny Novgorod region has by far the most powerful potential. First of all, this is the largest (after Moscow) parish in Nizhny Novgorod (up to 10 thousand parishioners), where there is a transfer of traditions to the younger generation (in particular, the tradition of hook singing).
In addition, there are 11 parishes and about twenty unregistered communities in the region, many of which continue to maintain religious and cultural traditions characteristic of this local group of Old Believers - Bor, Arzamas, Lyskovo, B. Murashkino, Urensky, Tonkinsky, Chkalovsky, Arzamas and others areas. Construction of two new churches has begun in Nizhny Novgorod.
Thus, despite the fact that the palette of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers has lost some of its bright colors, and others have faded significantly, the rest continues to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of our ancestors, attracting the attention of both specialists from various branches of the humanities, and all people, interested in and drawn to their roots, to their ancestral memory.
In total, about 80 thousand Old Believers of nine accords lived in the Nizhny Novgorod region at the beginning of the 21st century (those who, having Old Believer baptism, visit the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church and identify themselves with official Orthodoxy, are not taken into account).
