Old Believer women. Old Believer monasteries in Altai - L. S. Dementieva. A Brief History of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church

The article deals with the existence of monasticism in the Old Believers, the ascetic feat of monasticism, the conditions for the existence of Old Believer monasteries and sketes in Tsarist Russia after the schism and before the revolution, as well as in Soviet times. The article examines the Old Believer Pomor women's sketes that existed in Altai: the Beloretsk monastery and the Ubinsk monastery.

At the very beginning of 1914, the All-Russian Congress of Old Believers was held in Moscow at the Rogozhskoye Cemetery, at which, among others, the question "On monasteries and monasticism" was discussed. In the Old Believers, the problem is relevant to this day, because not everyone and not all of a sudden, according to the bishops, can be blessed for monastic deed:

“Monasticism is virginity and abstinence from all earthly pleasure,” wrote an Old Believer magazine.

Ideas about the benefits of desert dwelling, about the need to escape from a sinful world into a saving "desert" that retained this name even when it turned into a crowded monastery, spread already in the first centuries of Christianity and were developed in the works of the largest early Christian writers. Two types of monasticism are known: the hermitage, the founder of which is the Monk Paul of Thebes, and the community, founded by Anthony the Great and the Monk Pachomius the Great, who, moreover, was the author of the first written charter of monastic life.

The whole Christian preaching of wilderness is based on general ideas: the earthly life of man is the arena of struggle between the forces of good and evil, God and Satan; The "sensible" world is hostile to God, because full of satanic networks, therefore, a fight with him is necessary. An ascetic feat was recognized as an effective method of struggle, the most acceptable for resisting the passions generated by devilish intrigues, since it was the communion of a soul with God, not clouded by worldly thoughts. The main paths of the ascetic ascetic were prayer, fasting, i.e. the duty to work for the good of one's own soul and body. At the same time, bodily well-being was valued very low, the hermitage worked not so much for his own feeding, but because "bodily labors performed reasonably serve as the path to humility," "bodily labors bring the soul into humility", "bodily labors are done by spiritual virtues", and also for the opportunity to give alms to the needy. The life of the community of desert dwellers was to be built on the same basis. And although very large monastic farms are known to history, nevertheless often preference was given to a small skete, especially "in conditions of constant persecution by the state and the church": then "the most viable secret monastery was precisely a small skete, which could quickly move in times of danger, and in the event of a defeat, he easily regenerated elsewhere. "

Originally "Σκήτις" is a skete desert in Egypt, generally a hermit's refuge or several cells located at a distance from an Orthodox monastery. The skete, like the monastery, had its own charter, which, in comparison with the general monastic, was distinguished by greater severity.

The emergence of monasticism and the organization of monasteries in the Old Russian Church date back to the time of the adoption of Christianity. Moreover, as Russian historical sources show, in the affairs of the monasteries, along with the monastic brethren, lay people also took part.

The hermitage of the Old Believers had its own characteristics. These are such large associations as Vyg, Starodubye, Vetka, Irgiz, Kerzhenets, Belaya Krinitsa, etc. But this is also a small Old Believer monastery, a hermitage itself, especially in the provinces, primarily in Siberia. The sketes were outside the official church and did not obey it. They did not depend on the state either, but they were persecuted by it, however, to a lesser extent than by the "official" church. As a rule, Old Believer Siberian sketes found sympathy and support among local peasants from nearby and even distant villages. It is no coincidence that already in 1698 a ban appeared on the construction of Siberian monasteries in general, although in Siberia, according to official data, there were already 37 of them [b, p. 101]. Since the reign of Nicholas I, the Old Believers have been categorically forbidden to "start" sketes and monasteries, as well as to call themselves skete dwellers, desert dwellers, etc.

“For the arrangement of a skete or other kind of dwelling, the criminal law punished those guilty: imprisonment for 8 months. up to 1 year and 4 months, and everything arranged - to be broken up and sold in favor of the local order of public charity or institutions replacing it. "

Even at the dawn of the "golden period", the attitude towards the Old Believer monasteries, hermitages and monasteries was quite contradictory: on the one hand, the organization of Old Believer monasteries was permitted by the Highest approved provision of the committee of ministers of April 17, 1905 and the Highest decrees on October 17, 1906. On the other hand , by the same Imperial acts, only the clergy of the Old Believers registered with the communities were allowed to be called by the name adopted during the tonsure, i.e. the question of Old Believer monasticism was hushed up. And if the Third State Duma found it possible to recognize monasticism for all Old Believers in general who bear this vow, with the right to exempt them from military service, then the State Council also agreed to recognize monasticism for the Old Believers, but only at the age of thirty, without the right to exempt the Old Believers from military service. ...

As you can see, the well-known palliative in solving the problems of the Old Believers continued to persist in the so-called "golden period". Nevertheless, sketes existed, often arising and existing in the strictest secrecy.

What was it like Skete of Siberian Old Believers? According to the descriptions of academician N.N. Pokrovsky, this is a very small hut, for 3-4 permanent inhabitants, who in them "fled from the Antichrist and from the bosses or from the" Antichrist bosses ". The location of such a hut, sometimes several tens of miles from the nearest village, was not an obstacle for fairly close and frequent communications between them, especially in case of extreme need, for example, the help of a mentor, experienced in spiritual affairs, an elder who could live at a considerable distance. Necessary for a religiously minded peasant world, these sketes were a bone in the throat of the official church and state, therefore they were constantly persecuted and ruined, and their inhabitants were sent to hard labor or "Nikonian" monasteries "for correction." In 1735, an order was issued “on sending monks and nuns to Siberian monasteries to admonish schismatics living at factories and, if they don’t reform themselves, about using them in monastic work, and fugitives and other titles of schismatics living in the forests, in factory work,” placing them in such a way that they do not have messages with others. " It is clear that all this was not an accident, because, F. Melnikov wrote,

“Old Believer monasteries and hermitages had a huge spiritual, educational and guiding[vyd. me. - L. D.] meaning for the entire Old Believers'.

N.N. Pokrovsky:

“A well-known Old Believer elder immediately occupies ... a rather prominent, in some sense even a leading position in this democratic environment, especially since he himself is very close to her in origin and way of life. His secret cell ... is already playing a significant role in the life of the first Russian inhabitants of the wild land. "

Skete of the nun Athanasia on the river. Ube

A different type of Old Believer monastery-skete, more consistent with the traditional one, was described by G.D. Grebenshchikov in one of his essays. it the women's monastery of the Pomor bespopov consent, founded in 1899 on the banks of the river. Slaughter in the Bukhtarma Valley ... At first, 8 nuns lived in it, separated from the Pomor community of Art. Elm of the Ufa region, who "bought a haunt and began to live, and in a separate hut they made a prayer room and worked." A few years later they built a more spacious hut with a small cell for the abbess, and only in 1908 a new chapel was built with a bell tower of 6 bells and a small dome.

By the summer of 1910, i.e. by the time G.D. Grebenshchikov, there were 40 sisters of different ages in the monastery - from 14 years old and older: 24 schemas, one who made a vow “to work for Christ all her life”, several novices and “... guests who did not determine their position and could leave the monastery, go out get married and so on. " Some of them came from "official" Orthodoxy.

The nuns lived in cells - huts, of which about twenty were built. At the monastery there was a hospital, a sewing workshop, a cellar (pantry), which is also a kitchen. There was also a cemetery: "... over the 11 years of the skete's existence, 16 black crosses have grown on the hill."

The life of the inhabitants was arranged with their own hands, their hard work. Each had certain responsibilities, but the abbess, mother Iraida, who had lived in the monastery for 45 years, from her youth, took on most of the darkest work. This is how he describes a day at the monastery G. D. Grebenshchikov:

“This woman, getting up in the morning at 2 o'clock, works until 11 o'clock in the morning, sleeps, therefore, 2-3 hours, and the rest of the time she is at work. Getting up at 2 o'clock, by three she goes to the chapel, where matins begins, ending at five, then after a short conversation, right there, the clock begins and ends at seven. After that, everyone goes to their cells, and there, having changed into work clothes, to the refectory, where after breakfast, they go to work, lunch at 1 o'clock, and vespers at five, and after that, at eight o'clock, when everyone comes home from work, supper and everyone goes to their cells, working for themselves or praying. The old nuns have only one job - to send orders for prayers for the health of those who feed and for the repose of the dead. "

“The fact that all 40 beds, the same number of chairs, tables, all benches, plank partitions, different shelves — all this was done by her hands without a single blow from someone else with an ax, speaks of the vigilant work of the abbess herself. Moreover, each bed, table or chair has a comfortable and spacious box inside. "

Cleanliness and simplicity reigned in all the premises of the monastery. Unbleached walls and unpainted floors were washed to whiteness. In the church, the walls were painted pink, the ceiling blue. The writer also noted the rich iconostasis - five tiers. Further we quote: "In front of the iconostasis there is a dais and a throne, near which is an expensive Crucifix, entwined with a blue shroud, on the sides of its icons, and on the table there is a handwritten Gospel, framed in a velvet binding with silver embossing, and inextinguishable lamps are burning on both sides." As Grebenshchikov notes, "... everything is in the Old Russian style."

As usual, the main work of the nuns is prayer. Hours 7-8 are dedicated to common prayer in the church. Those who received the schema prayed especially:

“... it is necessary to do ... 1,500 bows, which are counted down the stairs. Of these, at least 300 are terrestrial and 700 are belt. The rest may be light. "

Life in the monastery proceeded “peacefully and comfortably”. The friendly nuns were loved, and "the surrounding Old Believers ... tenderly guarded their colony."

It is not known what became of this convent. Perhaps the serene life of the sisters was short, because "with the granting of religious freedom, the former significance of these spiritual centers was, if not completely lost, then at least downgraded." Most likely, gradually fading, in the 20s. of the last tortured century, the monastery shared the fate of many like it. And the nuns? Hard to say. This territory is now one of the "near abroad" - East Kazakhstan. In the essay by G.D. The Grebenshchikovs preserved the true names of those with whom he happened to meet: mother Iraida, mother Apollinaria, mother Irina, mother Mokrid - but what were their names in the world? There was a 6-year-old girl, “... the daughter of Ustkomenogorsk Prasol and Old Believer Yves. Nikiforovich Fedorov ... ". What fate awaited these women?

Another of the Old Believers' monasteries in Altai, also for women, of the Pomor accord. It was located in the Sentelek volost in the Boschelok district - " Beloretsk Pomorsky Skete on the Belaya River"As it was called. The place where the monastery was, was made solitary by the impenetrable mountains and forests, and even the right tributary of the Charysh - r. The white one he stood on. The necessary items were brought there only in winter, because in the summer it was impossible to ride a cart - only "on horseback". Rumors about the monastery are overgrown with legends, especially since not only the inhabitants of the monastery have not survived, but those who knew them are also leaving us.

Founded, according to some sources, in 1912, according to others - in 1908, and possibly even earlier, by the work of nuns and volunteer helpers, the monastery was ravaged in 1930. By this time, it was home to 23 people aged 20 to 103 years . Human memory, as well as archival documents give the names of some of them: K.I. Gileva - “senior cowshed”; HE. Plotnikova - "Chebotar"; A.P. Bobrovskaya, G. D. Boronova, N.P. Sokolov worked in the spinning mill; A.E. Ludyakov and V.L. Gileva - grooms; VC. Gileva is a senior baker. Kelarsha was A.I. Kruglova, the statutor - P.P. Aulova. The name of the abbess of the monastery was Ustinya Petrovna Bobrovskaya.

Fig. 1. Beloretsk skete on the river Belaya, a tributary of the Charysh

These women, marked with a “spark of holy gravitation towards heaven,” cut down from the local forest both the church building and the rest of the monastery buildings. In the architecture of the church, the basic principles inherent in Russian temple construction are applied, but the forms are simplified. A similar treatment of the form, its interpretation, which tends to be somewhat schematic, is also characteristic of temple construction at the beginning of the 20th century, when even the Old Believers were guided by standard projects: a simple one-story log house under an iron roof ("21x6 arshin"), on the eastern side of which there was a small flatish a dome, decorated with a low tent (in the photograph it looks more like a truncated cone) with an eight-pointed cross on a spherical base. On the western side of the roof was an octahedral hipped-roof bell tower, crowned with a narrow and low, rather symbolic base-drum, ending with an onion with an eight-pointed cross [Ill. 1, p. thirty]. The structure is half-covered with dense crowns of trees, in the background there is a rather steep rocky slope of the mountain, overgrown with grass, bushes and infrequent coniferous forest. Protected the monastery, "so that outsiders or intruders do not appear," the inhabitants of the village with him. They lived there with families, "but they had no relationship with the monastery." Probably, this phrase uttered by our narrator was supposed to protect the prayer books from the inevitable gossip and rumors, which nevertheless leaked into the official document - "the conclusion on the liquidation of the Beloretsk nunnery."

The territory of the monastery, according to an eyewitness, was fenced off with a high plank fence, which, apparently, was erected later than the photograph was taken. For convenience, a plank sidewalk was laid, along which cells were located. “On the left side of the church there was a house where the abbess lived, the old woman Ustinya. At the end of the row of cells there was a grocery store. He was guarded by an evil dog. There was a kitchen, a cook, a dining room where they (the nuns) ate. "

As in the case described by G.D. Grebenshchikov, the inhabitants of the Beloretsk Monastery comprised two groups: the elderly and the "ordinary young". The clothes of both were black, the headdresses were different: the young wore headscarves, and the elderly wore "deaf robes, fastened in front with a pin" [Ill. 2, p. 32].

Fig. 2. Old Believer nun

The monastery was located, as it were, in a ring of villages and villages, the population of which was predominantly Old Believers. The village of Ogni constantly kept in touch with the monastery. Even after the “monastery was dispersed,” many nuns went to live there and in the village. Mikhailovka. Village Zagrikha, Top Baschelak, Bolshoy Baschelak, s. Aba, village Mashenka, village Kedrovka - "the monastery was squeezed all around by the Old Believers", "the Old Believers lived everywhere and kept in touch with the monastery."

There was a subsidiary farm. There was little bread, its shortage was made up for by buying flour at the fair in Charysh, but milk and honey were enough not only for the monastic inhabitants. In the period of dispossession of kulaks, the organization of labor of nuns was set as an example for collective farmers. The achievements were not accidental. As in the Ubinsky monastery described by G.D. Grebenshchikov, the Beloretsk nuns worked, leaving no time for rest; in the Old Believers, any work is asceticism, a guarantee of future spiritual salvation. These "practical conclusions of religion" (expression of SN Bulgakov) have already been discussed above. Let us only note that there is no perspective to compare the Old Believers with the Protestants in their "worldly asceticism", the apotheosis of which among the Protestants was the "spirit of capitalism", embodied in a rational approach to business and, as a result, in the excellent development of the economy and economy. In this regard, it is appropriate, in our opinion, to compare the Siberian Old Believers with the Siberian Cossacks, about whom the following is said in one of the articles: “... can be successfully and quickly extrapolated to the Russian society because of Orthodoxy. " The Old Believer Orthodox community as a social organism has much in common with the Cossacks: they both had to survive, adapting to extreme conditions; for both, the traditions of communality and conciliarity proved to be viable; among those and others, there may be passionate personalities, "freedom-loving, seeking truth and justice", philosophically related to the understanding of life success.

The monastery served as a spiritual center for residents of nearby villages and villages located far from it. Of these, the parents sent their children to the monastery for obedience. A similar detail is noted by G.D. Grebenshchikov, speaking about the six-year-old daughter of I.N. Fedorova:

“The girl was given away by her parents two years ago, when she was four years old, and she got used to the monastery so much that she didn’t want to go home ...”.

At the monastery Beloretsk village there were school, in which, in addition to the Law of God, they taught reading and writing, primarily in Church Slavonic, which was necessary when performing divine services and when reading.

With the advent of Soviet power, life in the monastery could not help but change. According to a circular dated August 16, 1921, the monastery was "nationalized" by transformation into a labor artel, so that the fruits of the nuns' active energy would not pass by the Bolshevik mouths. The upside-down power at its own discretion acted with religious organizations "separated from the state", at its own discretion and ceased to exist, but at the same time tried to observe the appearance of legality. What is the wording of one of the paragraphs of the document that liquidated the monastery: “In connection with deviations from the circular of the NKVD, NKYu, NKZ, RKI from 16. VIII-21 on the use of the former. monasteries by labor artels, the Beloretsk group of believers, which called itself "Beloretsk labor artel", in accordance with the decision of the group itself, on the basis of paragraph 60 of the NKVD instruction M 328 ... to liquidate. " And a little higher it was said: “... the existence of the Beloretsk monastery, donned due to historical conditions in a religious form under the flag of "Artel"[Issue me. - L. D.], but changed its content towards communist aspirations, and continued to preserve the monastic way of life ... "- cause, effect - everything is mixed! It turns out that “... legally the existence of the Artel is not formalized anywhere,” it turns out that the monastery “... used state fund lands”, “that this group, living in isolation from the population, does not find any support in the latter”, “there is no support among the population. there is, since the monastery's skete-Old Believer bias differs from the surrounding dogmatic Orthodoxy. " At the same time, it is noted that in 1927 the "artel" was "issued a certificate of honor for the cattle presented at the exhibition", and further: 29 cows remained 9, from 46 sheep - 16, etc. " ... Cynicism is no less amazing than the once imposition of a double per capita salary for the right to profess ancient Orthodoxy.

But the "discrepancies" do not end there. According to eyewitnesses, the decoration in the church was "unusually beautiful, rich, decorated with gold"; "... icons, gold were plundered, stolen, buried here." “There are no“ revered shrines ”in the monastery”, “cult property in the church, included in the inventory list, should be distributed to the state fund and to the nearest groups of believers.” “... 2. RIK's resolution in connection with by the group's petition for the transfer of the monastery for cultural needs[vyd. me. - L. D.] to satisfy. 3. Transfer the building of the monastery with all services to the disposal of the RIK. ... Eliminate cultural property ... ".

According to the stories of V.S. Serdtseva, somewhere in the vicinity of the monastery, liturgical books were hidden in the ground (the Old Believers knew the secret so that the books buried in the ground would not rot, - a woman from the village of Bobrovka, Pervomaisky District, told about this: their books have been perfectly preserved for several decades). They tried to find these books, but the grasses, undergrowth, forest - everything has grown very much since then, and there is no one to remember the place.

On the Russian land, monasteries have always been considered conductors of truth. There were many of them - large and small monastic communities. They were famous not only for the hard work of their inhabitants, but also for their prayer life. Therefore, they hurried to them from the most distant villages for prayer and made religious processions, overcoming a difficult and long path, sometimes along mountain paths. Back at the beginning of the XX century. monasteries were the focus of culture, literacy and book education. Peasants from the surrounding settlements brought their children there for training and education of love for paternal antiquity. Everything changed after 1917, almost everything was ruined or destroyed, only human memory and surviving archival documents preserve us evidence of them. As we are convinced, the analysis of not always objective, but purely reflecting a certain ideological setting of archival documents must be combined with oral history, which becomes difficult to do, since not all of the older generation who managed to tell is leaving, and the method of interpreting oral information involves working with a legend on a particular topic: the more storytellers, the more difficult it is to establish the truth.

Notes:

• 1. Report of the Council of Congresses to the XIII-th All-Russian Congress of Old Believers // Church. No. 2. 1914.
• 2. Abba Dorotheos. Teachings, messages, questions, answers. Reprint. M .: Aktis, 1991 // Reverend father of our Abba Dorotheos, soulful teachings and messages with the addition of his questions and answers to these Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet. Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina hermitage. Ed. 7. Kaluga: Printing house of A.M. Mikhailov, 1895.
• 3. Zolnikova N.D. Traditions of hesychasm in the sketes of the Urals and Siberia of the XX century. // Cultural heritage of medieval Russia in the traditions of the Ural-Siberian Old Believers: Materials of the All-Russian. scientific. conf. Novosibirsk, 1999.
• 4. Makariy (Bulgakov). History of the Russian Church. T. Sh. SPb., 1878.
• 5. Shcheglov I.V. Chronological list of the most important dates from the history of Siberia: 1032-1882. Surgut, 1993.
• 6. The Old Believers' church-social magazine "Church" for 1914 cites a number of government and later Duma documents regulating the organization and activities of Old Believer monasteries and sketes, for example, Art. 49 "On the prevention and suppression of crimes" of the Decree on Punishments ed. 1876; Art. 206 "Penal Code"; Statute of the Committee of Ministers, Imperially approved in 1905, paragraph 6, section 11; Decree of April 17, 1905, paragraph 9; Statute of the Committee of Ministers, Supremely approved, April 17, 1905, paragraph 7; Decree of October 17, 1906 Art. 31, section 1; Article 51 of the draft law of the Third State. Duma, etc.
• 7. Pokrovsky N.N. Peasant escape and traditions of desert dwelling in Siberia in the 18th century. // Peasantry of Siberia XVIII - early. XX century ". (Class struggle, social consciousness and culture). Novosibirsk, 1975.
• 8. It is striking how strict, constant and tense the conspiracy was at the same time: only by some special secret signs they found people who knew the "place" where to find the "literate old man." Of course, there were traitors [See: 7].
• 9. Melnikov F.E. A Brief History of the Ancient Orthodox (Old Believers) Church. Barnaul, 1999.
• 10. Grebenshchikov G. D. The Uba River and the Ubinsky People. Barnaul, 1911.
• 11. Decree of April 17, 1905 "On the principles of religious tolerance." Melnikov F.E. A Brief History of the Ancient Orthodox (Old Believers) Church. Barnaul: Ed. BSPU, 1999.
• 12. TsKHAF AK. FR. 690. Op. 1.D.21.
• 13. Thanks to the memoirs of V.S. Serdtsev, who died several years ago, through the efforts of the staff of the Charysh Museum of Local Lore, in particular, N.V. Khromenko, and the late journalist-ethnographer N. Morozov, the history of the monastic monastery has not sunk into eternity. Testimonies about the monastery have also been preserved in Old Believer literature: in the "Acts of the First All-Russian Council of Christians-Pomors who accept marriage, which took place in the reigning city of Moscow in the summer from the creation of the world 7417 (1909) May in days 1 to 11" there is a mention of him ...
• 14. In the funds of the museum with. Charysh, there is a photograph transferred from the Altai Museum of Local Lore, which shows the monastery church. Photo dated 1907.
• 15. According to V.S. Serdtseva, the inhabitants were 26 people aged from 14 to 80 years.
• 16. We are talking about Professor P.S. Smirnov.
• 17. Old Believer woman // Church. 1914. No. 36. P.826-827.
• 18. TsKHAF AK FR. 690. Item 1. D.21. L.6.
• 19. TsKHAF AK. FR. 690. Item 1. D.21. L. 12. Published: Documents on the history of churches and religious associations in the Altai Territory (1917-1998). Barnaul, 1999.S. 216-217.
• 20. Bulgakov S.N. Two hail. Research on the nature of social ideals. SPb., 1997.
• 21. Dorofeev N.A. Evolution of the spiritual forces of the Cossacks in the development of the historical consciousness of the Russian nation // Slavism at the turn of the century and worldviews. Part I. Barnaul, 2001.
• 22. In Maly Baschelak - Vvedenskaya Church (belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church); Panteleimonovskaya in Sentelek; in Charysh - the Kazan Mother of God. Only in the village. The summit is a "Kerzhatsky cathedral", and the population of the area is basically a "Kerzhatsk element".
• 23. TsKHAF AK FR. 690. Item 1. D.21. L.12, 12v.
• 24. Khromenko NV, Researcher of the Museum of Local Lore p. Charysh.
• 25. TsKHAF AK FR. 690. Item 1. D.21. Sheet 12 rev.
• 26. TsKHAF AK FR. 690. Item 1. D.21. L.1.
• 27. The late S.I. Pirogov said that in Barnaul, behind the yeast factory, where the strange skewed street-path to them. Shtilke (who did so much for Barnaul and did not deserve anything better!), Under the mountain, under the territory known as the Morozova dacha, there was an Old Believer monastery. An Old Believer himself, Sergei Ivanovich could not be mistaken. And the surrounding children a dozen years ago, among the abandoned apple orchard, which was still there, under the "Morozovaya Dacha", found characteristic pectoral crosses. There is no other information about this monastery.

This strange place with a tangled history is located five minutes from the not very distant Moscow metro station. At the same time, it is little known, in any case, the husband, who lived a lot in these parts, knew about him at the level of "yes, it seems there is something there."
I have no enthusiasm for a full-fledged historical reference, and the level of knowledge in religious matters is low. Therefore, I beg your pardon if I mix something up a bit.
This place is one of the centers of the Moscow Old Believers. First, a cemetery appeared, which arose here in 1771 during the plague epidemic. Almshouses were created under the pretext of plague quarantine. All this was organized and financed by the Old Believer merchant Kovylin. At the turn of the century, male and female Old Believer monasteries appeared (with a cemetery between them), houses, shops, factories were located around: the community numbered about 10 thousand people.
In the middle of the 19th century, a new round of persecution of Old Believers began. Only the former convent was left to them. It was closed during the Soviet era, but then it was restored (although part of the territory of the former monastery is occupied by the Preobrazhensky market); the entrance there is closed for outsiders (you can get there with a guided tour).
And on the territory of the former male monastery, the Nikolsky Monastery of the Same Faith was created (the co-religionists retained the old ritual, but recognized the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church). It existed until 1923. In recent years, his churches have belonged to the Orthodox parish, but he shares the main church with the Moscow Pomor Old Believer community.
Here's a confusing story. Having figured it out in a first approximation, you can finally look (shooting mid-April).
The most beautiful and harmonious thing we saw was the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the Preobrazhensky cemetery. Built in 1805, Bazhenov was supposed to be the architect (and it is not surprising - it looks like the style, and the hand of an outstanding master is felt), but the authorship belongs to Fyodor Sokolov. This is the style of "Russian Gothic", it was believed that the design of the Tsaritsyn Palace served as a model. The chapel was restored in 2002, now it is in good condition and belongs to the Old Believers.

As I said, there is almost no access to the present Old Believer monastery, you can only admire the fence with turrets (early 19th century).

And the second half of the territory is accessible for visiting.
The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in 1784-1790. The architect is also Fyodor Sokolov, although even here Bazhenov's hand was supposed.

The second temple - the gate church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - was also built in 1801 by F. Sokolov. Under Soviet rule, all five of its chapters were broken. In the post-Soviet period they were restored, now there are icon painting and restoration workshops here.

And finally, a very beautiful bell tower. Built in 1876-79. received the unofficial name "Transfiguration candle". It was restored during the Soviet era, but there are no bells on it.

This is such a strange place. It seemed gloomy, but beautiful and unexpected. There are so many luxurious "Russian Gothic" in one place, I don’t know if there is anywhere else in Moscow

And this is how it all looked in 1882 (photo from Wikipedia)

If you deeply think about why a person lives on earth, you begin to realize that everything in this life is vain and fleeting. Life sometimes consists of completely worthless, endless acquisitions and very frequent disappointments. With age, involuntarily, more and more often the words are recalled: "If we acquire the whole world and then we will move into the grave" "... And, if you think a little about all this, you can conclude that everything material is not the main thing. Man is originally endowed with the need for communication with God. And therefore, each soul, to a greater or lesser extent, is drawn to the spiritual.

Faith in God and trust in God, living according to the commandments and struggling with passions - this is the main purpose of man on Earth.

Reflecting on all this, we again decided to visit our Old Believer monastery in the summer, which is located in the village of Kitaevskoye, Stavropol Territory.

Two years ago we already. This is such a desirable place for spiritual acquisition that once you have been there, you cannot but come again. Having barely set foot on the territory of the monastery, all four of us one by one come under the blessing of Fr. Andrey. His kind, slightly restrained smile makes it clear that guests are always welcome here.

First of all, Father Andrey draws our attention to the fact that in the courtyard, on the site of that log-house church, where we prayed two years ago, a new wooden church is already rising. Of course, we could not fail to notice this from afar.

The new temple is much more spacious and taller than the previous one. This is the main joy and hope of all who live in the monastery. For the new church, our workshop has already designed an iconostasis and painted several icons: the Royal Gates, two icons in the local row and two icons for the festive row, as well as a set of altarpieces.

Material difficulties, lack of funds do not stop the monks. They have the main thing: hope in the Lord and in His help. And, of course, for your daily, selfless work. Everything is done here with your own hands. Everyone works to the best of their ability. An amazing atmosphere of friendliness and benevolence is observed in the daily life of monks. Here, in a special way, you realize your weakness, your spiritual imperfection.

A particularly reverent feeling encompasses during the divine service with Father Andrey and with all the monastics.

It was joyful to meet here two former parishioners of the Old Believer community of the city of Rostov-on-Don. Not so long ago they took monastic vows. And apparently they do not regret it. Rather the opposite is true.

The third part deals with the Old Believer churches of other accords. In the first and second parts, I talked about the temples of the Belokrinitsky Consent, the largest among the Old Believers. Their spiritual center on Rogozhskaya was founded in 1771 in connection with the plague epidemic. In the same year and for the same reason, the Preobrazhenskaya community of Fedoseevites arose. A special role was played by one of the courtyards of the Golitsyn princes, the merchant Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, who organized an almshouse and sponsored large-scale construction. And since Kovylin was a Fedoseevite (one of the largest confessions of unprofessionalism), the Preobrazhenskaya community became the center of this confession, and indeed of unprincipledness in Russia. In 1784-1811, according to the project of the architect FK Sokolov (at the expense and under the guidance of the merchant Kovylin), a large complex of structures (which included the male and female monasteries) was built in imitation of the Vygoretskaya Hermitage.


Fedoseevsky Monastery, later Nikolsky Monastery of the Same Faith

At the cemetery and around it, Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin gradually built houses, shops, factories and chapels. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were about 10,000 parishioners here. And in the surrounding shelters, there were up to 1,500 people. Thus, the community became the largest charitable institution in Moscow.
“To restrict the activities of schismatics”, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, on April 3, 1854, the Assumption Church was transferred to the co-religionists (that is, the Old Believers who recognize the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate). In 1866, the men's yard was moved to the women's yard, where the Old Believer community was preserved, and the Nikolsky Monastery of the Same Faith was opened on the territory of the former men's yard. At the Preobrazhensky cemetery there was a rich library of works on schism, collected by the merchant A.I. Khludov; preserved ancient icons (including 1300 icons collected by E. Ye. Yegorov), works of ancient Russian art. In 1920, all Fedoseevskaya chapels, except for the Exaltation of the Cross, were closed; In the early 1920s. the Nikolsky Monastery of the Same Faith was closed. Khludov's library and part of Yegorov's collection were transferred to the State Historical Museum, ancient icons - also to the Historical Museum, from where later some of them ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and a small number in the Kolomenskoye Museum. In the 1920s. a labor school was opened in the building of the former monastery school and in the cells of the monastery, and then various institutions were located, for example, the dormitory of the Radio plant.
The entrance to the monastery is through the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, rebuilt in 1854 (chapters were added) from the Old Believer prayer house (i.e. prayer house) built in 1801.

Old Believers (Fedoseevskaya) Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Opposite the Holy Cross Gate is the oldest church of the Transfiguration community: the Nikolsko-Assumption Church. The temple was built in 1784, and originally bore the dedication of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. It was rededicated to St. Nicholas Church in 1854, at the same time it was rebuilt, including an apse that was unnecessary for non-popovtsy. The architect of the cathedral was previously considered presumably V.I.Bazhenov, but according to the latest, most reliable research, the project was FK Sokolova. Now in the building of the church there are two churches of different confessions, separated by a blank wall: the St. Nicholas Church of the New Believers in the western part, and in the eastern part of the Assumption Pomorskaya. Actually, an unprecedented case!

Old Believers (Pomor) Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas Church

Eastern, Old Believer part of the temple

The bell tower, built already under co-religionists, in the 1870s - although it was designed in the same style with the original buildings, differs a little from them:
Initially, not a single church of the Preobrazhenskaya community was called a "church" - there were either prayer houses or chapels. The Dormition chapel became a church, apparently, only under co-religionists, having received an apse, and then this name spread throughout the community.
After the Great Patriotic War, "Preobrazhenskoye" became the de facto center of all Russian unprofessionalism, there were located the spiritual centers of three accords - the Old Pomor (Fedoseevsky), the Marriage Pomor (DOC) and Filippovsky.
For a long time, the Transfiguration cemetery next to the monastery was exclusively Old Believer. There are many merchant graves in the cemetery. During the Great Patriotic War, active civil burials began. There are more than 10 thousand soldiers and commanders of the Red Army at the military site.

Old Believers (Fedoseevskaya) chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "On nine crosses" at the Preobrazhensky cemetery

Old Believers (Fedoseevskaya) Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Transfiguration Cemetery

Another one The grave of the Fedoseevskaya chapel at the Preobrazhensky cemetery

Fifty meters north of the Nikolsky Monastery, there is Transfiguration Old Believer (Fedoseevsky) almshouse... In the usual sense, this is a monastery. Now it is called the pilgrim center of the Old Believers-Pomors named after Archpriest Avvakum. The architectural ensemble of this part has been preserved from the time of construction almost unchanged, and the female part itself was more extensive and orderly. Now all of it belongs to the Fedoseevites - the second in time of origin (1706) and the largest current of unprofessionalism, which broke away from the Pomors due to the fact that they collaborated with the "power of the Antichrist" - for example, they prayed for the tsar. The Fedoseevites (or Old Pomors) are a more radical wing, they retained only 2 Orthodox rituals (Baptism and Repentance), rejected marriage, and their principled position is rejection of any existing government.

Cathedral of the Exaltation

Prayer house of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer House of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Prayer of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos

Prayer of the All-Merciful Savior

Prayer of the Prophet Elijah

In addition to the Preobrazhensky cemetery, there are several other Old Believer objects in Moscow, which I did not talk about in the first two parts. O Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Zamoskvorechye already discussed in the second part. It was consecrated on September 26, 1910 as a Belikrinitsky. Closed in the 1920s. And in 1990, the temple was transferred to another sense of the Old Believers - the Ancient Orthodox Church (DOC).

The first Old Believers church of the Pomor community, built immediately after the publication of the tsarist manifesto on religious tolerance in 1905. sons ”, as well as I. I. Anufriev, a member of the board of the partnership. Built in 1907-1908. in the Old Skov style with the introduction of the features of Pomor architecture, which was expressed not only in the absence of an altar, but also in the severity and modesty of architectural forms and interior. On the pediment of the belfry were placed the figures of two angels supporting the icon of the Savior (not preserved). In 1930 the temple was closed. It housed a children's theater, a library, a factory ... Since the 1960s. the church was occupied by the shop of the sewing factory "Kosmos". Active restoration is currently underway.

Photo of 1991 (by aj1972)

The former transformer station housed Fedoseevskaya prayer house on Semyonovskaya

And now a little about the buildings in which there were Old Believer churches or prayer houses.
Those who passed along Baumanskaya Street could not have paid attention to what was left of the bell tower of the former Old Believer Church of Catherine the Great Martyr... It was located in the house of the merchant of the 2nd guild I. I. Karasev since 1872, on the second floor. In 1915, according to the project of N.N. Blagoveshchensky, the same freestanding bell tower was built. The church belonged to the Nikolsko-Rogozhskaya Old Believer community (the so-called "Beglopopovskoy"). It is believed that the upper part of the bell tower is a miniature copy of the bell tower at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. In 1979, the house of Karasev, where the Church of St. Catherine was located, was demolished, and the bell tower was preserved.

Not far from the Kursk railway station, in Podsosensky lane, building 21, building 3, there was Old Believer (Pomor) prayer room in Morozov's house

In Zamoskvorechye, on Bakhrushin, in a building that has now been rebuilt and arranged in a cinema, in the former house of Lubkova there was House Old Believers (DOC) Kazan Church

Above, I mentioned my fellow believers. Unanimity cannot literally be called old belief. Although they recognize the ancient liturgical ranks (two fingers, service according to old printed books, etc.) and everyday life, BUT they recognize the hierarchical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Nevertheless, I will also tell you about their Moscow churches.
I described above about the Nikolsky Monastery of the Same Faith. I'll tell you about three more temples.
On Taganskaya street, scrap 20a is located The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on Studenets... Built as a "new believer" in the center of the Semyonovskaya Sloboda in 1672-1673. (according to other sources 1699-1702) on the site of the temple of the XVI century. Rebuilt in 1712 (architect O. Startsev). The temple was closed in the 1920s. It has undergone destruction and alteration. The factory hostel was located here. In 1965, they were going to destroy the church, but this was avoided thanks to numerous public protests. In 1966-1969. restoration was carried out. The church was returned to believers in 1992. It was consecrated again in 1996 as the center of the Moscow co-religion community.

In Lefortovo, on Samokatnaya, two large churches stand side by side. Trinity and Vvedenskaya churches. They were built, and until the 1930s of the last century they were of the same faith. In the 1990s, they were transferred to the “new believer” community for restoration. The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the Saltykov Bridge was built in 1817-1819. like a summer temple. A little later, in 1829, a winter (warm) temple of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos was erected next to it. The church belonged to the Troitsko-Vvedenskaya (Newly Blessed) Old Believer community of the same faith. In 1931 the church was closed. The building of the temple was consistently occupied for housing, a warehouse, the premises of a scientific institute, and a production workshop. Services were resumed in 1992.
, was located not far from the Rogozhskaya Zastava, on the Vladimirskoye highway (now the Entuziastov highway, the territory of the "Hammer and Sickle" plant). It was founded at the New Blessed Co-Belief Cemetery in 1862 to commemorate the liberation of the peasants from serfdom. It was finally built in 1866. In 1922 the monastery was closed. The territory is included in the Hammer and Sickle plant (formerly the Goujon plant), the churches were broken in 1934. The only building that has survived is laid in 1873 Nikolskaya Church(Highway Entuziastov, 7).

At present, it is disfigured and devoid of the signs of a temple. It is located at the intersection of the Third Ring Road and the Enthusiasts Highway. Nikolskaya Church was privatized in the early 1990s and is used as an office building.

Extensive material about the only Old Believer women's monastery in Russia, the citadel of Orthodoxy, located near the city of Uglich, in the picturesque village of Uleima. About life in the monastery, which proceeds in accordance with the ancient monastic statutes, as well as interviews with its nuns.

Our mother Church has a precious treasure, little known to anyone, living a quiet, inconspicuous life, nourishing the body of Christ every day, you and me, with the great power of night prayer. It is located on holy ground, abundantly watered with the blood of martyrs - our ancestors, Russian Orthodox Christians. It was founded in the distant 15th century by the grace of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. “The grace of God and my prayers will be here,” the saint of God revealed to the God-loving monk Barlaam and glorified this place with his miraculous image, which bestows countless healings on believers.

The treasure is the only Old Believer women's monastery in Russia, located near the city of Uglich, the citadel of Orthodoxy, in the picturesque village of Uleima. The life of the monastery proceeds in accordance with the ancient monastic rules, which means that the main part of the daily council service is performed at night, instead of sleep, which is so necessary for the flesh.

A great thing is prayer in the middle of the night, say the holy fathers.

Kneel down, sigh, pray your Lord to be merciful to you; He especially bows (at mercy) with night prayers, when you make the time of rest a time of mourning (St. John Chrysostom).
Believe me, it is not so much the fire that destroys the rust (of metal), as the night prayer - the rust of our sins (St. John Chrysostom).
Any prayer that we perform at night, may it be more honorable in your eyes than all daily deeds (St. Isaac the Syrian).

The nuns of the Nikolo-Uleyminsky Monastery, despite their venerable years, diligently do this angelic work. Truly, the power of God is made perfect in weakness!

The doors of the monastery are open to all pilgrims, Orthodox Christians, who are ready to postpone worldly affairs for a while and taste the fruits of night prayer. You will find the telephone number and address of the monastery at the end of the publication. There is also a bank card number for those who wish to provide financial assistance to restore the decoration of an ancient Russian shrine.

***

Interview with the abbess of the monastery Matushka Olympias

Mother, tell me, for Christ's sake,

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. How did I end up in the monastery? The question is both simple and complex at the same time. We came here in 2003 with my own sister Eugenia, now deceased nun Eusebia, her Kingdom of Heaven. She was 17 years older than me. As long as I remember her, she worked hard for the glory of God, loved God and cared about the true life.

We lived in Siberia, in Omsk, in an almost 1.5 million city. The temple has not been there since 1937 - since it was broken down and a bathhouse was built from this brick. Many Old Believers lived in Omsk, on big holidays we went to Novosibirsk to pray, confess and take communion to our spiritual father Mikhail Zadvorny. There we met with fellow believers. Once Father Mikhail blessed me to create a church in Omsk: “ God bless you, Olga Ivanovna, so that you have your own church in Omsk!».

I am a civil engineer by profession, I worked as the head of the production department in a good place - in the Capital Construction Department of the City Executive Committee. There were many relatives, acquaintances, friends, colleagues, who later assiduously helped me in the construction of the church. And most importantly, there was a great desire to work hard in such a godly deed.

A year later, with God's help, our only Orthodox Old Believer church in Omsk was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. We acquired the main liturgical books, learned to read, sing on hooks, and conducted all the festive and Sunday services. All my numerous relatives supported and helped me. Old Believers from all over the Omsk region began to gather. What wonderful years they have been in my life! What kind, God-loving people were in the parish headed by our confessor Father Mikhail!

Years passed, I buried my parents, whom I brought to live with me, since they were already elderly. Gave her daughter down the aisle. She buried her husband. Sister Evgenia also became a widow. But with us was the Most Merciful and All-Seeing God.

I would very much like to have a worthy power of word and thought, so that the Lord vouchsafed me to tell in more detail their virtuous life for the common good, to reveal their glorious and blessed paths, narrow and thorny, but resolute and unshakable paths - to God. Save, Lord, all Omsk people - Orthodox Christians.

Once I heard that a parishioner from Novosibirsk went to a monastery and lived there for six months. Then I learned about the existence since 1998 of our Old Believer women's monastery, about which there was never any information anywhere. I went to her, asked her everything and was eager to see everything with my own eyes, although she very much discouraged me.

It was not difficult to travel together with my sister Evgenia: she was light on her feet. Having blessed Vladyka Siluyan for the trip, we were already in the monastery to Radunitsa. We lived here for 20 days: we prayed, worked hard, got acquainted with the monastery life. Here for the first time I read books about monasticism, about real ascetics who left everything and everyone that they had in the world and followed Christ. At that time, the monastery was headed by Matushka Barsanuphia, now a schema nun. Three elderly women then lived with her.

She “grabbed” me and began persistently persuading me to leave the world and go to a monastery. For me, this proposal was very unexpected. How can I give up everything, I have such a wonderful temple, a good job, a position, full of prosperity. Three years left until retirement. Daughter, relatives - and quit all this, because no one will understand me ...

Abbess Barsanuphia I could not say anything definite then. And my sister Zhenechka was immediately ready to stay in the monastery ... But she did not insist, realizing that it was difficult for me to decide on such a step.

We got on the train. In my head and in front of my eyes is mother Barsanuphia with her request to move to a monastery, to help her. I understood that I had to step off the foot of the train on the Omsk land with a firm decision: Lord, Your will, I give myself into Your hands, lead me according to Your providence! I lay down on the shelf and began to remember my whole life: I lived poorly, lived richly, without denying myself the pleasures. At first it was interesting, but then this wealth began to weigh on me. It’s not mine, not to my soul. The words from the Holy Gospel came to my mind not to seek riches on earth, but to seek the Kingdom of Heaven. As written for me. Truly, there is no one closer to destruction and more miserable than people who do not have an Instructor in the way of God.

And it became somehow easy and calm for me. I fell asleep, and got up with a firm decision - to leave the world and go to a monastery.

Six months later, I took the monastic order - a second birth - with the name of the nun Olympias. A new life has begun for me. I described this event in verse.

Tonsured, or rebirth

Temple of the Holy Trinity Trinity,
Wonderful Temple, here nuns pray.
But for me today he is especially great, -
I am Angelic here I accept the rank.

The lamps are lit, the candles are peacefully burning,
Loose hair covers my shoulders.
I stand barefoot, I have one black shirt on,
From the icon the Lord Himself kindly looks at me.

Prayers are read, I can barely hear them.
Everything is in a fog, tears crush the soul.
Give me a sheet, please, oh God!
Sins from my youth to destroy.

The Lord saw my sorrow, he sent me joy
And he gave me tears of repentance.
The gospel mother barely audibly consoles,
The abbess looks sternly and shakes her head.

Enlightenment has come, I recognize and see everything.
I reproach myself and hate myself for the life I have lived in the world.
Mary, my spiritual sister, is with me in a shirt.
So I am a twin again!

They put on us a kamilavka, a cassock.
To the gospel believing voice:
We ask Thy, Christ, a vow
And we ourselves make a vow before You with an answer.

Bishop Siluyan is calm, he knows his business.
So he says, so that every word stays in the soul.
He is not in a hurry, he does everything as needed:
And decency, true and sedate.

He tonsured my head on my head,
But the main thing is that it is waiting for us at the end.
The apostle the evangelical mother put on,
And paramandas, as the Shield and the Symbol of the Right Faith.

Sandals - for preparing the world:
May the leg of pride not come to me, Lord.
Let the sinner's hand not move,
The river of Gehenna will not sink.

And the singers sing, the readers read,
The candle in my hand is already burning out
So I want to hurry things up!
But passions must be tamed!

The singers sang "Holy God".
It is finished! They put on the mantle!
That - great betrothal - of the Angelic rank,
The clothes of purity, incorruption and joys are abyss.

And I exclaim in delight:
“O Mother of God, I place all my hope in You,
Don't let me perish in a sinful ditch,
But preserve me in Your Si roof! "

Mothers rejoice with me. I'm very happy!
From now on, I am a nun Olympiada.
The twin sister was called Mother Manethoy,
After all, we were tonsured at the same time.

Vladyka Siluyan is pleased: no matter how astonished,
With his zeal, two nuns were born.
Holy Vladyka, we sincerely thank you for this.
May God give you health, many years!

The lamps are extinguished, I invisibly feel the Holy Spirit ...
We bow to the earthly abbess.
The chorus finishes “It is worthy to eat,”
And with candles we are led into the gate.

How was life here at that time?

There was complete devastation here. The largest building of the monastery is the Nikolsky five-domed cathedral. The middle part of the building - between the temple and the bell tower - was completely destroyed, and what remained from 1609, from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention, was in a depressing state. Other churches were also not in the best condition - the Most Holy Life-giving Trinity and the Introduction of the Most Holy Theotokos.

In 1917, the Soviet government closed the monastery, transferring the property to museums. And then it housed: a granary, a school, a prison camp, an orphanage and a neuropsychiatric boarding school.

In 1992, the authorities transferred this monastery to the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church. If outwardly the buildings still retained the appearance of church buildings, then everything inside was completely destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed. All around were heaps of broken brick, glass, stones, reinforced concrete.

Roll up our sleeves, we began with God's help to clear the territory and cultivate a 1 hectare vegetable garden. They worked from dark to dark, with interruptions for prayer. Labor and prayer, prayer and labor - such is the monastic life. And the Lord told his disciples not to look for easy ways to salvation.

The most important thing in the monastery is the daily service according to the charter: a full circle of services with evening and night congregational prayer. According to the holy fathers, great power rises from the place where the prayer of God's servants is offered to God for the whole world. I am sure that the Lord will hear and have mercy on us. This is how we, monks, add our two mites, like the gospel widow, in the hope of rejoicing the Lord, who will grant us humility and strength, intelligence and longsuffering, a crown and gladness.

That is, the center of the entire life of the monastery is prayer?

Undoubtedly. The most important thing for a Christian is prayer. Prayer is unity with God, and he who loves it will certainly become a son of God. Warm, sincere prayer with tears and pure repentance is forgiveness of sins, love for sorrows and difficulties, suppression of battle, food and enlightenment of the soul, the work of Angels.

Therefore, Christ also invites us:

All you who are toiling and burdened will come to Me, and I will rest you. Take My yoke on you, and learn from Me, as I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls ...

Divine service in the monastery begins in the evening with the four correct canons - this is a daily monastic rule. Additionally, on Friday we pray the canon of Sophia the Wisdom of God and on Saturday the canon to the Angel of the Terrible Voevoda. Then we celebrate Vespers and Feast parties. The night prayer sequence consists of Midnight Office, Matins and Hours. If the service is with a priest, then the Divine Liturgy follows, which, unfortunately, is rarely performed in our country, only on major holidays. As long as we live here, we grieve so much that we do not have our own permanent priest. After all, with a good shepherd, it would be good for us.

Our abode is nourished by Bishop of Yaroslavl-Kostroma Vikenty (Novozhilov)... Kind, God-loving, tireless prayer book. But the workload on him is very high, so he can come to us only 5-6 times a year to receive confession and communion. And for this, thank God, and Vladyka Vikenty many, many years, good health and spiritual salvation. About once a month, on the twelve-year holidays, Father Anatoly Nosochkov comes to us from near Yaroslavl.

In addition to the conciliar service and monastic rule, we would like to pray for all our relatives, for the children whom we have left in the world - the Psalter, canons, ladders. The world is the world. It entangles people like a spider web. So we pray and pray ... We are here for this and we are, this is our main duty. The nun must also have some kind of handicraft. I personally really like to weave ladders. It is psychic to read a lot. Thank God, now there is a lot of literature! A very useful book is "100 Sermons of Metropolitan Cornelius". Indeed, this is a book for every day, like, incidentally, Vladyka's other work, Speeches and Articles of Metropolitan Korniliy. Save Christ, Lord of the Holy!

They say that this place is holy, that during the Time of Troubles on the territory of the monastery, the enemies brutally dealt with the local residents ...

Yes, the place is, of course, holy, it is covered with the blood of innocent people. Two thousand people - residents of the monastery and residents of the surrounding villages - were buried alive in the Nikolsky Church when the Polish-Lithuanian troops blew it up at the beginning of the 17th century. The thunder from this explosion was heard for ten kilometers around. We still remove stones from the garden. This is truly a holy land. There is such grace here! And such beautiful temples!

How does the Lord reward a monk for his vigils and labors?

If a monk observes all God's commandments, fulfills all the rules and sincerely prays to God, tearfully and obeisantly, then he forgives the sins of his relatives up to the seventh generation. Such is the grace given to a monk! A man came to the monastery, dedicated himself to God, took his tonsure. He makes a vow to God to hate his parents - father and mother, to hate his children, all relatives. The world will hate. Only in this case the monk completely devotes himself to God, has fear of the Lord. And over time, this fear will turn into love for the Almighty. Of course, this is difficult and not immediately possible. But with God's help, everything will come.

It is the world that you need to hate. It is difficult for a worldly person to understand. This word hurts his ears. But it is said quite rightly. There is no other word for it. How can you not hate the world? If, having risen to the vigil, we think instead of prayer: how are our children there, are they healthy, have they gone to church? Having gone to the monastery, the monk left both his family and children at the mercy and will of God. Can we, humans, do something better than the Lord God, if we have already missed something while living in the world?

I've left my children in the arms of Nikola the Wonderworker. This is our family patron. He saved my parents. They were drowning, the sleigh fell through the ice with a horse. And they only remember how they shouted: "Nikola the Wonderworker, help!" We woke up on the shore. The horse is standing, covered in hoarfrost. They are wet to the skin, sitting in the sleigh. Who could have pulled them out? They completely went under the ice! Dad regained consciousness first. I touched my mother and started to move. Alive! The horse whipped and she brought them home. As soon as they drove into the yard, they told us: “Girls, unharness your horse and don't ask us about anything! Take her to the cow to warm up and give her warm water! " And they themselves immediately into the red corner, the water flows from them, and they prayed until the morning. Then they told us everything.

So the Lord rewards us both sevenfold and a hundredfold according to His mercy. If only we would pray fervently to God, if only we would live according to His commandments. But the devil tempts, watches over, day and night, and hourly and every second. So you need to constantly watch, constantly control yourself, pray and protect yourself with the sign of the cross.

Mother, how old are you?

What advice and advice will you give to the youth in the world?

So that the road of every Christian from home to church does not overgrow. To visit the church, to bring your children to the conciliar prayer, to confess, to receive communion - this is the most important thing. After all, only sincere confession with great faith and prayer can save a person. We sin at every step. Now in the world computers are everywhere, the Internet and so on. There are a lot of entertainments. And these are all the devil's snares. In no case should children be allowed to watch whatever they want. Only programs permissible for a Christian at the discretion and control of parents.

What should you be and what should you do in order to be called an Orthodox Christian and be rewarded with salvation?

This question seems to be superimposed on the previous one. If a person goes to church, if he loves his children, give them Communion, and not just feed them. A sow also feeds her piglets, but she is called a sow. Forgive Christ's sake for such a comparison. The love of Christian mothers for their children is certainly beyond that. As the Lord God Himself bequeathed - you need to live according to the commandments. Pray to God and confess more often. More than once a year. At least in each of the four posts, if possible. And children should be given communion more often. Infants - even more so.

Mother, and the last question: can anyone come to the monastery?

Of course, any sane Old Believer can come to pray and help with the housework. Everyone will certainly receive great benefit for the soul from God if he prays earnestly in the monastery with faith. Only in advance you need to warn about your arrival by phone, otherwise we have an influx of guests that there is not even a place to accommodate everyone. Welcome!

Interview with the first abbess of the monastery, the schema nun Barsanuphia

Mother, the first question we have is this: why do people leave the world and go to a monastery?

The monastery is a house of prayer, and people who love prayer come here so that no worldly concerns would distract them from this work. We pray daily, according to the charter, and the main part of the service is performed at night. In the world you cannot pray like that, night prayer is higher, stronger. Previously, in all monasteries they prayed at night. The Lord was born in the midnight, rose again in the midnight, and will come in the midnight. Therefore, night prayer is a great thing. People go to the monastery to devote as much of their time as possible to God for the salvation of their souls.

And I just had a question: why the main part of the service takes place not in the evening, but at night. Now it is clear.

Yes. Earlier, people prayed in secular temples at night, especially during Great Lent. There is a lot of work in the monastery, so if we sleep at night and come to church in the morning, we will not have time for the household. And you also need to pray your own rule.

Monks pray a lot: both the service, and the rule, and the Psalter with the canons. Why is it important to pray so much?

How so - why? This is a bit of a strange question for me. How else? The ancient hermits prayed to God day and night. We prayed constantly. And our whole life and activity takes place in prayer. That is why people leave the world - in order to be able to pray more. Worldly, and especially urban worldly life creates many obstacles for this. Everything is simpler in a monastery, here all life has one goal - unceasing prayer.

Why is prayer important? Because on earth we are temporary inhabitants, we want a future life, and in order to deserve it, we need to pray to God for the forgiveness of sins. How do we read in the Creed several times a day?

I tea the resurrection of the dead and the life of the century to come.

That is, I want me to be resurrected and receive the life of the century to come, and not this life. These words are the meaning of our life. Despise the present earthly life for the sake of the future life. Well, until earthly life is over, until the Lord gave us death, we need to pray a lot for ourselves and people in order to pray to God for the grant of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Often people pronounce the lines “I believe” without thinking about their meaning, but they have a very deep meaning. This temporary life is given to us in order to prepare ourselves for the life to come.

When is it better to come to a monastery if you have decided to devote yourself to the monastic life?

Any age. Previously, they lived in monasteries and from the age of 15. This is how people were brought up. At the age of 20-25 they were tonsured. The Romanian monastery still has 20-30-year-old nuns. There monastic life did not stop, but here in Russia it was destroyed. Until 1998, there was no convent in the Church. And how many of them were there in the forests before? They were all closed.

I knew a schema nun who went to a monastery at the age of 20 and lived in monasticism the most terrible years of persecution from the Soviet regime. After the devastation of the monastery, she did not end up either in prison or in the camps, but was taken by a nanny into a military family. She lived to be 98 years old, having lived in the monastic order for 78 years!

One can become a monk at any age, from the young to the end of life. Some, just before death, think about accepting the monastic order, since tonsure covers all sins, just like Holy Baptism. The monk receives a new sinless life in Christ and a new name. Of course, the sooner a person comes to the monastery, the better so that he can work hard, atone for his old sins, and then start a new clean life.

The first time I saw nuns in Altai was when I was 20 years old. Their God-loving life and sincere striving for God kindled in me the desire to follow their path. But my life has developed in such a way that I took the tonsure only at the age of 54. My husband, Vladyka Siluyan, accepted monasticism and became a bishop (Bishop of Novosibirsk and All Siberia Siluyan (Kilin)... - Approx. author). Naturally, I cut my hair too. Metropolitan Alimpiy blessed me to go here to lead the monastery. And for 25 years now I have been living a monastic life.

Is the monastic way safer for the salvation of the soul than the worldly life?

Of course, because a person commits less sins, he becomes closer to God. There is a lot of fuss in a big city, you run now to work, then to the store, when do you think about God? All thoughts are occupied with everyday worries. There is no hurry here. Pray, work, read. A Christian cannot be without reading spiritual books. In the morning I read the lives of the saints of this day, a good lesson - like medicine for the whole day. I set myself the right direction of thought in the morning. The soul becomes enlightened, there is more concentration, remembrance of God. There were no books before, but now they are available to everyone.

And what are the spiritual dangers in monastic life?

If you pray and obey, then there are no dangers. If a monk is in a humble state of mind and obedience, then he is saved.

There is an opinion that not everyone needs to go to a monastery. After all, someone needs to continue the human race, to live a worldly family life?

Monasticism is not for everyone - it is for those who can accommodate. Choosing a family life is also a heroic deed. We need to educate children, and this is a lot of work. But if you live a family life and do not give birth, as it is now fashionable, "to protect yourself", then this is a great sin - worse than anyone.

We will all come to the same finish line - to death. No one is left to live on earth forever, no one. The most direct path to salvation is a monastery. But there are other ways as well; yes, someone devotes himself to family, raising children, this is a roundabout way, through mountains, rivers and ravines. Family people endure everything in life. Someone devotes themselves to science, which God does not need. The paths are different, the ending is the same - the Last Judgment. If a person wants to save his soul, then he needs to strive to surrender himself as little as possible to the power of worldly concerns, and for this it is not necessary to go to a monastery. And at home you can pray a lot, do good deeds. Only life in the world is arranged in such a way that a person often does not even have time to pray before he has to run to work, earn money in order to feed his family. And in a monastery, all life is dedicated to God. In this regard, of course, this way of salvation is more convenient. But I repeat, the finish line is the same, only the paths to it are different. You can be saved in different ways.

I wonder if monasticism is a vocation, a talent given from God, or is it available to everyone?

I think that it is available to everyone, there would be a desire to devote oneself to God. Earlier, of course, people went to monasteries more, they wanted to be with God more, because they were brought up by pious parents, and not by TV. The current generation, however, knows nothing about monasticism, and, one might say, there are no monasteries left.

People were robbed of their faith. Monasteries were closed and destroyed. I also found the Kazan women's monastery, which was located in Moldova, in the large Old Believer village of Kunich. I prayed there on Easter Sunday in 1958. More than 30 nuns lived in the monastery, they had their own priest, Hippolytus, and a liturgy was celebrated every day. What beauty there was! White adobe houses-cells on the slope, between them paved with brick paths. Apples, apricots, cherries were in bloom. Everything is white-white! Paradise!

During Khrushchev's persecutions on faith, the monastery was destroyed. The nuns dispersed to Moldova and Russia, who had relatives where. The church was closed and a village hospital was set up in it; The adobe houses in which the nuns lived were bulldozed into a ravine. Now this monastery has been restored, but there are only three nuns in it. People do not go to monasteries, they are afraid of monastic labor, everyone is immersed in everyday chores. There is little faith.

What parting words can you give to today's Old Believer youth?

Pray as much as possible! Read more, fortunately now there are a lot of spiritual books that must be read.

A blitz interview with the schema nun Athanasia

Why did you despise the world and come to the monastery?

Because I have finished working and I think: I must go to the monastery.

Why did they decide so?

But because old age has already come. I worked for 40 years, even more than one, in the Metropolitanate. How many primates have changed with me! I came to the Metropolitanate under Archbishop Joseph. Somehow it so happened that I visited him, although I did not specifically look for this meeting. Well, I’ve been and okay, and left. Then I got married. I have a baby. And suddenly a woman who was courting Vladyka Joseph came to me and said: “ The lord is calling you. Let's go to". And he says to me: “ We need a typist». « Lord of the Holy, what kind of typist will I be when I have never seen a typewriter?"- I was surprised. And here comes Klavdia Artemovna. He says: “ Here she will show you". Klavdia Artemovna brought me into the room and said: “ Well, do you see the car? Here, put a piece of paper in there. Do you see the letters? Here and print».

So, on the appointed day, I came to work. I inserted the sheet into the typewriter and typed Vladyka's sermons, one after the other, with one finger. I printed the minutes of the Council, probably for a week or two. So I learned over time.

Under Vladyka Joseph, I worked in the Metropolitanate for six years. Then she helped Vladyka Nikodim, Vladyka Anastassy, ​​Vladyka Alimpius, and Vladyka Andrian. When Metropolitan Korniliy, the sixth bishop in my memory, took over the chair, I was already more than 60 years old.

They began to say that Anna Vasilievna would die here like that. And I think not, I don't need this. I decided that as soon as my mother dies, I will go to the monastery to save my soul - that's why I came here.

I buried my mother. She brought up two sons. What is left for me to do? Just go to the monastery.

But only a few go to the monastery, even in old age. It’s easier, more convenient to live in the world, at home.

And what should I do there, in Moscow? Buses and trolleybuses have changed. We used to just get on the bus. Now there are "traps": you enter only the first door, you just exit through the rest, you definitely need special cards. It really worked for me, very much. I didn’t draw up these cards, I don’t need it. I think I'll go to a monastery and live here in peace. To get to the church in Moscow, I had to wait for transport for at least half an hour, or even an hour, or more. Therefore, I do not come to church every day. I asked Father Victor's blessing to go to the monastery, received it in the second year and ended up here, as I remember now, on March 1, 2006. I met Mother Abbess while still in Moscow, when I visited her in the hospital, where she lay with a broken arm. She told me then - come to the monastery. He says that on the 5th we will have two hermits taken out, you will see. And after this trip, I already had one monastery in my mind, so I liked it here.

And how old are you?

Why did you accept the schema?

Because health has deteriorated greatly. I thought I would die not today or tomorrow. So I asked both mother and bishop. They took and cut their hair in 2012. But I still live and live. This is the sixth Great Lent, since I accepted the schema. The schemer must constantly pray, be in solitude as much as possible. And my health is poor. I had to do the operation. But I try. How the Lord will accept.

Do not forget God. Go to church, at least on holidays. Not only in the church, but also at home to pray, even a little, but it is imperative to pray so that the Lord does not depart from us.

Do not leave me, O Lord my God, do not leave me ... Look for my help, O Lord of my salvation.

If possible, of course. The world is very rich now. Draws to itself. Few people live on a small salary, they try to earn as much as possible, somewhere, perhaps, to be cunning. The world is the world, what can you do? But nevertheless, one can perish in a monastery, and one can be saved in the world. I don’t know how young people are now, I, for example, had such an upbringing. Mother said: if you go, pray to Isusov, if you sit, pray to Isusov. Wherever she is, whatever she does. Now all women in a row are wearing pants. What is this for? It is better? In no case should we wear men's clothing. The woman should be in her clothes. And then she walks, either a man or a woman. Everyone goes without headscarves. I don’t want to boast, but no matter what I was, I never and nowhere went without a headscarf in marriage. I was always in a handkerchief, always.

I don’t know what other advice you can give to the young? Be sure not to forget God. Of course, if there is an opportunity, if a young girl wishes to remain a girl, it will be a great thing. Of course, if without temptation. But if with temptation, then it is better to get married. And to get married, you need to ask God. You can read the Psalter: 40 Psalms or whoever can. It will be a good deal. Well, and if you find it, then such that he did not lag behind, so that there was a strong union. Otherwise, it's better to endure. Of course, I know this is very difficult. But St. John Chrysostom writes: it is good to give in marriage, but it is better if not to give. It's hard to say how life will turn out. Moreover, now is such a difficult time. And then it will be harder and harder. Antichrist will come, will not go anywhere. And it is written that this is how people want it. Because the world is completely empty, people do not want to fulfill the commandments of God. So what now? I got up, ate, and went. No fasting, no prayer, nothing.

Do not talk to anyone about anything unhelpful. If we speak, then only sensible. Less on the sides somewhere to walk. This is completely unnecessary. Try to be alone as much as possible. Don't judge. First of all, do not forget God. And the Lord will not forget and will not allow such a person to perish. If you strive only for God and think about salvation, then, of course, the Lord will certainly help. Good deeds need to be done. Work. I got up at home - prayed, thanked God that the day had begun, that you were alive. You go to work - you pray. At work, do not be rude to anyone, do nothing wrong, help. You return home - also with thanksgiving to God. And the Lord will help in everything.

A blitz interview with the schematic nun Anna

Why did you despise the world and go to a monastery?

Well, how to say ... I never thought about the monastery before, although my dad was a priest, he served in Balaky, in Udmurtia (Priest Moisey Smolin. - Author's note). My mother was hit and killed by a car. It got me thinking. At that time I worked at the church, first in Izhevsk, then near Izhevsk. And she asked my father if I could go to nun. He says, why not? Vladyka Andrian tonsured me. So I became a nun, because there are many sins. And I heard that monastic tonsure covers them all.

Were you a novice before the tonsure?

As I retired, I immediately went to work in the church. Leela candles, baked prosvir, cleaned in the temple. And so for 16 years. Therefore, there was not even a conversation about the novice. They got their hair cut right away. And then a woman from Volgograd came to visit us. She offered to go to the monastery. We were gladly received, and I have been here for 13 years. In the world I was Anna. When she was tonsured as a nun, she became Anatolia. And when she accepted the schema, she again became Anna. In honor of Anna Kashinskaya.

And how old are you?

Now 89 years old. I'm the oldest here.

What parting words, advice will you give to our Old Believer youth?

I just want young people to come here, to the monastery. But they don't go ...

How not better for your soul? We are not lay people. We pray at night. It is difficult to get up at night to pray. And we are getting up, going.

What should you be and what should you do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be rewarded with salvation?

You have to be an honest, fair person. Do not lie and do not take someone else's.

Blitz interview with mother Valeria

Why did you despise the world and go to a monastery?

Because I dreamed about it for a long time. It didn’t work out, but the Lord still brought me here, I’ve been here for four years.

And what prompted you to go to a monastery?

I wanted to devote more attention and time to the Lord God. And so "vanity of vanities" is our life.

How old are you?

I am 74 years old.

What parting words and advice would you give to today's youth of the Old Believers? Based on my experience.

What advice to young people? Go to church, do not forget the Lord God. Observe all fasts, avoid gluttony. Because from gluttony, from oversaturation with food - all evil. And then there are no more repentant tears. There is no such sin that the Lord God would not forgive. Great angelic joy in heaven when we confess, especially when we confess with tears. And then there will be tears when there is no overeating.

The goal of the Christian life is to qualify for the salvation of the soul. What do you need to do for this? What is this path to salvation? How to be an Orthodox Christian in truth?

Serve the Lord God, each as much as possible. Attend church, observe all the holidays, and remember to pay tithing. Fulfill all the commandments of the Lord God. They have everything you need. The Lord is always with us. He is only waiting for our voice. When we say from the heart: “ God help me!"- He will always help. It seems such a simple prayer - “ Alive in help ...", And she is saving. How many cases I know that with this prayer those who served in Afghanistan were saved from death, wearing it in a tunic.

Gathered for business, say: " Lord bless!"And finished - cross again:" Thank God!»The shortest prayers. At least people started with this, and that would be good.

Blitz interview with mother Augusta (now reposed in the Lord)

Why did you despise the world and go to a monastery?

I don't even know how to explain it ... I wanted to save my soul, grave sins. Because in the world it is very difficult. The abbess of the monastery was my friend and invited me here. I knew that I was a native Christian: both my mother and grandmother are all Christians. Of course, there were conversations that it was possible to save a soul in the world, there they both pray and work. But I dont know how. There are many temptations. There is time to pray and the rule, and the Psalter with the canons to read for all your own.

When did you come to the monastery?

I came on the first day - there was still no monastery. Everything here was broken, collapsed, the buildings were in disrepair. Three of us came from Minusinsk. We worked there at Father Leonty's church: I baked prosphora. But he would not let me go. He said that it would be difficult for me here. And for some reason I wanted to. I thought that I needed to be saved somehow.

What parting words, advice will you give to the modern worldly Old Believer youth?

Be humble, kind, have no evil against anyone. Someone offended you, called you, but don't react to this, don't be nervous, just say: “ Forgive me, for Christ's sake!". And we arise ... There is nothing to say about the monastery, the modern youth of the local severity will not stand. I myself did not think it would be so hard. We must have our own products, and therefore the vegetable garden is large. Ten ladders need to be prayed at night. She prayed and went to the night service. I rested for an hour, ate - and to work, except for holidays. It's hard to get up at night. We are a weak people now.

What should you be and what should you do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be rewarded with salvation?

I think this is very difficult. You need to pray a lot, work hard. Be meek, humble. You can't even look at anyone reproachfully, just say good things about everyone. I myself do not hope for salvation. Sometimes I get offended at someone. Or I'll have a fight with someone. Thank God that we are not abandoning prayer, here we are very strict with this. It's hard to be saved ... Is anyone saving now ...

Blitz interview with mother Marina (now reposed in the Lord)

Why did you despise the world and go to a monastery?

First, because at home - in the world - you cannot pray as much as in a monastery, in my opinion. Secondly, there is a night prayer here. And at home, sometimes you get tired - and you won't get up. And here you are already striving to get up. Well, then ... They asked me when I was tonsured in Ukraine, in Belaya Krynitsa, in 2004: maybe because of the children you went to the monastery to pray for them? And I answer: at least pray for yourself, for your sins. And for the children too.

What parting words and advice would you give to today's youth of the Old Believers?

Praying from a young age. And in old age it is very difficult. Even from childhood. Even in the womb, if she takes communion, she fasts. Love for prayer should be instilled from childhood, from the cradle, when a little one is brought to Communion. But what about the youth, I don’t know. Young people rarely come to church now. Because it's hard. And disbelief at such and such an age already. And when all this is vaccinated from childhood - then it is easier.

What should you be and what should you do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be rewarded with salvation?

You must have great will in order to force yourself. We are called “needy women” - you have to force yourself. For example, praying is sometimes so lazy, so weak. And we must fight this. The most important thing is to cut off your will and force yourself. It is necessary to pray and fast - to do everything, albeit under compulsion. Our body is very demanding. If we work, pray, keep all the commandments and rules, help others, we will be merciful and humble, so we will be Christians.

Blitz interview with novice Zinaida

Why did you despise the world and go to a monastery?

Because my mother and I lived far from the temple. It sometimes took two hours or more to get to it because of traffic jams, with three transports. And my mother was already weak and was very worried about me that I came back late. In general, I have long had a desire to get away from the world, from this fuss. I called my mother, she didn’t agree. We have earned our pensions, but what else can we do in the world? I just wanted to work in the monastery. I still do not have the goal of getting a haircut and dedicating myself to a monastic life, because this is a feat. I just want to help mothers as a novice, within my powers. I believe that the Lord brought me and my mother here, we did not come ourselves. The Lord directs each person, instills desire.

How many years have you lived in a monastery?

We have been here since 2005. Vladyka Andrian died on August 10, and on September 23 we left. I worked for 25 years in the Metropolitanate as a clerk. I have a medical education, I am a nurse. But I was asked to help Matushka Athanasia under Archbishop Nicodemus in 1980. And then they asked to stay.

And how old are you?

I am 63 years old, my mother is 85 years old.

What parting words and advice would you give to today's youth of the Old Believers?

Pray, study church statutes, singing. In my time, how difficult it was to find someone to teach you! I was so eager to learn hook singing! I was then 22 years old. I’ll go to one, then to the other. Nobody can teach me. If anyone taught, then so that others did not know anything about it. Everything was hidden. The main thing for young people is to go to church. And the Lord Himself will already instruct him which way to go to someone in order to save the soul.

What should you be and what should you do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be rewarded with salvation? How do you answer this question for yourself?

We ourselves have not achieved this, how can we give advice? There are so many flaws in me. How did the Lord say? Observe the commandments. And I break them more. I haven't observed anything, really. We came here to work and pray in the hope of saving our souls.

There are only a few monasteries in our Church. And they are all sparsely populated. Why do you think?

Because it's not easy here. Not everyone can stand it. And even during the Soviet period, faith weakened. People were afraid to wear a cross. There were some pioneers and communists.

And how is salvation in a monastery better than in the world?

We do not know. And here you can not receive salvation, and in the world you can be saved. It depends on how you behave. So it doesn't depend on the place, but on the person. If the nun will obey, do everything that mother says, of course, she will be closer to salvation. And if he condemns or grumbles, what kind of salvation can there be? Here such a struggle goes on with oneself ... Here the main thing is to obey mother, to obey her in everything. Obedience should be in the world too. For example, I worked at the church and, of course, obeyed. What the father tells us, they did.

And then, everyone has their own path. When we pray - even if we pray in the world in the temple - we ask the Lord to have mercy on us. And the Lord shows everyone his own way: someone needs to go to a monastery, someone to work at a church, someone to work. And the Lord can have mercy on everyone, I am sure of that.

Inhabitants of the monastery

Up to 15 nuns live in the monastery.

« Today the age of the inhabitants is 50 years and older., - says reverend Vincent, Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma. - There are nuns who are over 85 years old, but all of them, with God's help, fulfill their Christian duty. I would like to see representatives of the younger generation in the monastery, who wish to bear the arduous monastic life. The spiritual indicator of Christian society at all times has been the desire of people to devote their lives to God in their youth, and the lives of the saints so richly testify to this. If such a desire arises in a person, then it is necessary to tenderly grow it like a noble tree so that it will bring a rich harvest in the future, since it comes through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The acceptance of monasticism in youth is a gracious beginning of spiritual life, because a precious gift is laid on the altar of God - the blossoming years of life.

The other side of monasticism is deep repentance for mistakes and unseemly deeds committed in life. To be holy is a commandment for all Christians, and in order to fulfill it perfectly, it is necessary to renounce the world and everything connected with it. Only in a monastery, with an intensified deed of prayer, is it possible to preserve chastity, forgive grave sins, gain peace of the soul and acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit. I call on young virgins and women, who put a desire for monastic life on their hearts, to selfless deed within the walls of the ancient monastery, to test themselves in spiritual work, following the example of the Monks Mary of Egypt, Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Anna of Kashinskaya and other saints.».

History of the monastery

In a picturesque place at the confluence of the Uleima and Vorzhekhoti rivers, 11 km from Uglich, there is the village of Uleima. The Nikolo-Uleyminsky monastery is located here. The monastery-fortress was founded on the road leading from Uglich to Borisoglebsk settlements and further to Rostov. The first mention of the monastery dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, and it was founded in the second half of the 15th century, in 1460, 200 years before the split.

According to legend, the monastery was founded monk Barlaam who brought here an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the Italian city of Bar. The old wanderer Barlaam, a Rostov monk, goes to Greece, Palestine and Italy, to the city of Bar, with the aim of fulfilling his cherished dream - to worship the tomb of St. Nicholas.

During his visit to the city of Bar, he venerated the relics of the saint. After this, the saint of God himself appeared to the monk in a dream and ordered him to buy his image at the auction, promising to give grace and protection to the monk. With this image, he commanded him to go to Russia and settle with the icon where it will be indicated to him again. The monk did so. According to the instructions of the saint of God, he went to the bargain and actually bought the icon for three pieces of silver and immediately went with it from Bar to his homeland. With great joy, safely under the cover of the miracle worker, the elder arrived in Russia in the city of Uglich on the very feast of the transfer of the holy relics of the saint on May 9, 1460. Here he stopped for several days, and then set off on the road to Rostov.

However, as soon as he moved 12 miles from Uglich to the Uleima River, here in a deserted, wooded place he felt severe fatigue, so he could not continue on his way. Then the monk Barlaam stopped, put the image of Nicholas on a pine tree between the branches, and after praying, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep. After waking up after a short sleep, he got up and wanted to remove the icon from the tree in order to move on again, but as soon as he touched the image, his hands immediately weakened, and the image did not move from the tree.

The second and third time he tried to take the wonderful icon, and all was unsuccessful. The old man was embarrassed by this, and, not knowing what to do, he lay down in grief and fell asleep. At night there is a new appearance of St. Nicholas to the elder, who hears the words of the wonderworker:

Stop here with my image, I want to glorify this place with my icon, and my abode will be erected in this place, the grace of God and my prayers will be here.

And indeed, as if in confirmation of the promise of the saint, miracles immediately began from his image.

Not far, also on the Uleima River, was the village of Dubrovo. His peasants, having accidentally met the elder Barlaam, who settled in the presence of the icon, and having heard from him about the wondrous deeds of the icon, immediately brought many sick people to him, and they were healed by the intercession of the miracle worker Nikola.

Residents of the surrounding areas built a chapel on the road to Rostov, and the image was transferred there.

The glory of miracles from the image of St. Nicholas reached the Uglich prince Andrey Vasilievich... Joyfully accepting the news of this mercy of God, bestowed on his land, the prince himself arrived in a secluded place to the miraculous image to worship him. Here, during a thanksgiving service to the saint, he himself was honored to be a witness to the fact that many who prayed with him who were sick by faith and prayer became completely healthy. Then Prince Andrew wished that a church named after the saint should be built on this place. He immediately announced his desire to the Archbishop of Rostov Joasaph.

Attracted by the glory of the miraculous icon, Vladyka himself wanted to see it and came to this place to see the wondrous icon in 1464 and also witnessed many miracles from her. Honoring the miraculous image with divine services, he happily blessed this mysterious monastic place and praised the Christ-loving prince and those who prayed for their zeal to build a monastery on the site of the image.

Thanks to the generosity of many God-loving and wealthy Uglich people, monks' cells and a fence appear. A considerable monastic herd is gathering. Prince Andrey Vasilievich grants lands, books and other church utensils to the monastery. And the miraculous image of St. Nicholas is adorned with silver, gold and precious stones.

With the beginning of church services, miracles from the image of the saint multiplied even more. Most of all, they took place during the divine liturgy. And the God-loving monks worked diligently and took care of the improvement of the monastery: they dug trenches for the foundations of stone temples, mined clay, chopped down wood, and performed many hard work.

In 1563 at Prince Georgy Vasilievich a warm stone church was built in the name of the Introduction of the Most Holy Theotokos. In 1589, under Tsarevich Demetrius, there was a cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas of Christ: high, stone, with vaults, cellars, magnificently decorated, where the miraculous image was transferred.

The cloister was surrounded by a wooden wall. By diplomas sovereigns Vasily Ioannovich(1505-1533) and John Vasilievich she owned several villages and hamlets. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Nikolo-Uleyminsky monastery was in such a flourishing state that the chronicler calls it "wondrous and beautiful." The location of the monastery on a brisk carriageway also contributed to its enrichment and prosperity.

In 1609, terrible trials began for the monastery. Together with the entire Russian land, the Nikolo-Uleyminsky Monastery suffered during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. According to the chronicle, when, after plundering Uglich, the regiments of the Polish king Zsigmont approached the monastery, monks and residents of the village of Uleima and other neighboring villages, led by Abbot Barsanuphius, closed the gates, preventing them from plundering the monastery. The brethren and other defenders of the monastery closed themselves in the cathedral church, served the Liturgy there and received the Holy Mysteries. Abbot Barsanuphius, wishing to save the civilians who had taken refuge in the temple, went out together with 27 monks to the enemies. After making a prayer song and kissing each other, they went out the gate. The monks were in ceremonial vestments, carried icons and banners, and walked with singing, wishing to convince the Poles so that they would spare the monastery and the people. As lions the Lithuanians rushed to the abbot and cut off his head. The enemies burst into the open gates and killed the monks, then tried to enter the cathedral. Embittered by the steadfastness of the defenders of the monastery, the Poles and Lithuanians undermined the walls of the monastery cathedral, under which there were deep cellars, and blew up the cathedral. The temple collapsed with a deafening thunder, which was heard ten miles away. Under the rubble of the cathedral, two thousand defenders of the monastery died: monks, peasants with their wives and children.

These tragic events are captured in the poem "Old fortress" local poet V.N.Smirnova:

The light flutters in the lamp.
Here is the crying of children and the smell of candles,
And outside the window ominously splashes
Effervescent foreign speech.

There are representatives of Europe,
Hard work,
Under the church they make tunnels,
Kegs of gunpowder are being carried.

It has come tight for the unfortunate:
Who is the winner - the argument is over,
A heavy explosion shook the area.
Donkey, the cathedral is crumbling.

The calm Uleima flows
From the forest swamp side.
Death stares empty thorns
From behind a ruined wall.

The whole region is plundered and wounded.
Enemies tear a living body,
Native Russia on the battlefield
Pozharsky and Minin are called.

The people of the former Polish and Lithuanian people and the raised, beautiful and wondrous monastery of the resort and, all around, like honeybees and like bulls, the courtyard of these verbal sheep, I will urge you to take it at least soon. The hegumen, brothers, worldly people strongly resisted, but a great number of "all-bad enemies" overpowered them. Then, going to the cathedral church, they performed the divine liturgy, confessed, received the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, prepared for the hour of death. Hegumen Barsanuphius told the brethren and all those who were in the church not to be afraid of death, "but even more rejoice, as a martyr's death is honored, and the martyrs of the Kingdom of Heaven will inherit the verb beaten." "As for the accursedness of Lithuania, who is on guard, as if she rushed towards the monks and the abbot Barsanuphius, she cut off the head." "Polyakov (...) began to cut swords to the brethren and cut them twenty-seventh and cut them apart."
Okoyani execution of intent: deep ditches around the cathedral church of the trench and the foundation podlomish. Monks and elites of the world, in the former church, I beat down the falling church building. And the clergy who left the monastery said, as if up to fifty monks who remained in the church were beaten by a stone building, while worldly people are like 2 thousand. Ten miles away in the forest, a covered Christian could almost hear the thunder of the church, which came in time to come reliably said: like thunder resounded through the forests and valleys, and the earth trembled to its depths.

The monastery was destroyed and plundered. Everyone who enters the territory of the monastery today bows his head before the mass grave of heroically perished ancestors, Orthodox Christians. During the explosion of the cathedral, the miraculous image of St. Nicholas is carried away for half a mile and appears there on three pines, indicating the need to restore the temples of the monastery.

The miraculous image of St. Nicholas was caught up by the invisible hand, flying through the air to the melting place of the fallen cathedral church, appeared, was found faithful and stood in a miraculous vision.

And 10 years later, when the monastery barely had time to recover, a detachment of Pan Mikulsky took it by storm, killing abbot Jonah and the brethren. And only after the conclusion of a final peace with Poland in 1620, through the prayers of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the monastery began to be renewed and populated.

The construction of the new St. Nicholas Cathedral on the basement of the previous one began in the 1620s, but the cathedral was consecrated only on May 9, 1677 by Rostov Metropolitan Jonah Sysoevich.

During this period, the monastery was a major feudal lord. He owned the peasants of the surrounding villages Dubrovo, Nefedovo, Gvozdevo and others. They cultivated the monastic lands and paid the rent. In 1799 a mill on the Uleima River was transferred to the monastery. In 1829 the Chistoforovo desert was donated. By this time, the monastery had fishing on the Uleima, monetary donations and securities.

The largest monastery building - Nicholas cathedral... This squat five-domed cathedral has a cubic volume, built with two aisles. At the end of the 19th century, a covered porch and a high bell tower were added to it. The facades are almost devoid of decorations, and only the drums of the heads have simple decor. The walls and vaults of the cathedral were covered with paintings.

Nikolsky Cathedral is now completely under restoration.

Unusual in composition Vvedenskaya church... It was probably built on the remains of the walls of the first church of the same name, destroyed by the Poles. The building combines: the church itself, living quarters, refectory. The ground floor housed a bread and leaven chamber, a cookery, pantries and two government chambers for all kinds of mundane reassignment. From the north adjoins the building with an elegantly decorated porch with gatherings on two sides. A small but graceful bell tower rises above the western wall, under which there were in the past "battle hours with half an hour". From the east, it ends with an altar apse.

In the western part of the monastery there is a gate Trinity Church... Residential cells, inseparable from it, adjoin the church. There is different information about the construction time of this building. There are documents that indicate that the gate church with cells was built simultaneously with the fortress walls in 1730.

The stone wall of the monastery dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. It still looks like a battle wall with towers.

Many famous people were the benefactors of the monastery. Boyarynya Praskovya Naryshkina gave the monastery a particle of the relics of St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which she, as the mother of Tsarevich Alexei, was presented to her by Tsar Peter I. In 1713 merchant Fedor Vereshchagin in gratitude for the miraculous healing at his own expense, he erected stone walls with eight towers around the shrine. He also built and decorated the gateway church of the Holy Trinity. The Vvedensky temple in 1870 was painted at the expense of the peasants Kozlov from the Uleyminskaya Sloboda. In 1838, at the expense of a St. Petersburg merchant F. Ya. Ermolaeva a wooden porch was added to the Vvedenskaya church.

In 1710, parts of the Lord's robe, the belt and tomb of the Most Holy Theotokos, parts of the relics of St. John the Baptist and other glorified saints of God. The ark with these shrines was placed in the cathedral church of St. Nicholas.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Nikolo-Uleyminsky monastery became one of the most notable spiritual and cultural centers of the region. He enjoyed great love not only in the surrounding villages and villages, but also among the Uglich people for the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Myra, the miracle worker, for the solemn service, for the exemplary management of the economy, for the wonderful ringing of bells heard in the city.

There was a school at the monastery, the stone building of which has survived to this day.

The monastery today

On February 28, 1992, the authorities transferred the shrine to the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. At first the monastery was for men. But due to the circumstances, since 1998, he began to revive as a woman. The given shrine was in a depressing state. The main gate to the monastery - the Saints - has been lost; in front of them there are residential houses and vegetable gardens. The modern entrance to the monastery is in the eastern wall of the monastery fence - through the Water Gate.

Having entered them, we find ourselves in the distant part of the territory of the monastery - the eastern one, and not in the main one - the western one. At the same time, you can very well take a look at almost all the monastery buildings. From the gate, passing an alley of centuries-old lime trees, you get to the main square of the monastery. You can also get here through an alley of young birches, going around the Vvedenskaya church on the right.

Daily prayer services are held in the gateway church of the Life-Giving Trinity. The interior of the church has been completely rebuilt. The cell building has also been improved. In addition to the cells, on the first floor of the building there is a kitchen and utility rooms. Not far from the western wall of the Vvedenskaya Church there is a cross and a mass grave of the victims of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. Almost the entire main square of the monastery is a flower garden, the main decoration of which are roses of various varieties and colors.

Much work has been done to restore the Vvedenskaya Church. The interior of the church itself, the refectory, part of the cells, the entrance to the living quarters with a staircase on two sides was rebuilt. The stairs in the wall lead up to the bell tower.

A stormy revival of the monastery has been going on since 2002 through the works of the God-loving guardian Lyubov Leonidovna Belomestnykh... On the territory of the monastery there are two wells that supply the monastery with water. The left side of the monastery is a subsidiary farm that provides the monastery, thanks to the labor of the nuns, with the necessary vegetables, berries and apples. Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, cabbage and other vegetables are carefully planted on an area of ​​1 hectare. Two large greenhouses have been built. There is also a small poultry house.

The day at the monastery begins at 15.30: in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, the correct canons, Vespers and the Feast Party are read. After the feast day, the nuns work in obediences, do chores, then until 21 o'clock they perform the cell rule. From 21:00 to 1.30 - rest, after which the night service is performed until 6.30: midnight office, matins, hours. From 6.30 - morning rest until 8 o'clock. At 9.00 - lunch. In the afternoon until 13 o'clock - chores. Then - cell prayers before the beginning of the cathedral evening service at 15.30.

There is also time for handicrafts: weaving ladders, sewing, restoration of service books. The forests around the monastery are full of mushrooms, from chanterelles to white, as well as berries: blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries. A lot of time is required for household work: gardening, in a flower garden, in a poultry house, on the territory and for cleaning premises. Each inhabitant bears obedience. It is obedience that leads to one of the highest monastic virtues - humility. But humility attracts God's help. It is good to get away from all worldly temptations and vanity in this holy place.

Through reading the books available in the small monastery library - the Holy Scriptures, as well as the writings of the fatherly and church - the truth of spiritual life and wisdom is learned. Spiritual strength and spiritual comfort appear from God in the heart of man. Not only the nuns beg for their salvation, but also their living and deceased relatives, according to legend, up to the seventh generation.

The days of the nuns' name days are not forgotten either. The monastery is spiritually cared for mainly by the Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma. Vincent... The metropolitans of Moscow and All Russia have come here many times. From everywhere come the priesthood and those wishing to visit the monastery - to help, in any way they can, and simply set foot on such a sacred monastery land, watered with the martyr's blood of Orthodox Christians.