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Mikhail Nikitich Romanov(about -) - brother of Patriarch Filaret and uncle of the first tsar from the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich. The steward in 1597, the roundhouse in 1598. In 1601 he was exiled to Nyrob (Perm Territory), where he soon died.

Mikhail Nikitich Romanov, born near the city of Moscow - stolnik and okolnichy; the third son of Nikita Romanovich Romanov-Yuriev (c. -) and his second wife, Evdokia Alexandrovna, nee Princess Gorbata (d.).

In June, stripped of his rank, he was exiled to Nyrob, Cherdyn district, where he was brought this winter, in a wagon, under the supervision of the bailiff Roman Andreev Tushin and accompanied by six guards. Archers who arrived from Moscow imprisoned Romanov in a log house, lowered into an earthen pit. Brought to exhaustion, by the spring of 1602 (according to some sources, by August) he died. Popularly nicknamed the "Nyrob martyr"

early years

Mikhail Nikitich spent his childhood in the estate on Varvarka, in Kitai-Gorod, where the ancestor of the royal dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was later brought up. Mikhail Nikitich grew up and strengthened his faith. From childhood, he stood out for his virtuous disposition and a beautiful, heroic physique. Continuing the tradition of his kind, Mikhail Nikitich Romanov entered the service of the sovereign, and in the city he was granted a state rank - a roundabout (a rank lower than boyar). Boris Godunov, who came to the Tsar's throne in the same year, at first treated the children of Nikita Romanovich with respect, especially since the boyar on his deathbed entrusted him with taking care of his children, and Godunov gave “an oath to the great boyar to have his children observe ". For the first two years of his reign, Boris Godunov was a very gracious tsar.

But over time (according to some historians, due to fears of growth political influence Romanovs), his attitude towards the Romanov family changed. The kind and pious Mikhail Nikitich seemed especially dangerous to Godunov. He seemed like a rival to get rid of.

Link and death

The chains with which Mikhail Nikitich Romanov was chained. The village of Nyrob. Photo of the early XX century

In June, Boris Godunov ordered to arrange a boyar trial over the Romanovs. The Romanov brothers (there were five of them) were accused of witchcraft.
So all five brothers fell into disfavor of the state. The tsar ordered Fyodor Nikitich's elder brother to be tonsured as a monk in the Siysk monastery under the name of Filaret and assigned him a bailiff with a strict order to monitor every step of the disgraced and inform the tsar about his every word. The wife of Fyodor Nikitich was also tonsured into a nun under the name of Martha, exiled to Zaozerye and separated from her children. Boris Godunov dealt with the rest of the brothers much more severely: he ordered Vasily and Ivan to be sent to Pelym, Alexander to the shores of the White Sea, and Mikhail Nikitich was exiled by the tsar to the village of Nyrobka, which in 1601 was listed on the territory of the "Upper" camp of Cherdyn (otherwise Perm ) of the county and was the extreme northern Russian village of these places. Further, local peoples lived, united in the concepts of the Russians by the word Yugra.
At that time, the forests of the Cherdyn region served as a shelter for the Ostyaks, Voguls, who were previously the full masters of the region. The nyrobians had constant communication with them and the way of their life could not differ much from the way of life. local population... And this life was harsh and full of all kinds of hardships. The climatic conditions of this distant land are harsh and require great adaptability from a person. Winter frosts here reach forty degrees, and summers are too short, mostly rainy, with cold, dewy, foggy nights. Only habitual and well-tolerated people could exist in such conditions.
According to legend, on the way to Nyrobka, the disgraced boyar stopped in a village on the banks of the Yayva River, which has since been named Romanovo. In Nyrobka, nothing was prepared to accommodate the exile, and Tushin ordered to dig a dugout in the place where they were staying. The weather was inclement, snow was falling in flakes, six watchmen began to dig a deep hole, and Mikhail Nikitich, coming out of the wagon, looked at their work. He was tall and possessed such strength that, in a fit of grief and bitterness, he grabbed a wagon standing next to him and threw it ten paces away from him, while six watchmen could hardly move it. They dug a hole, covered it with logs, dug deep into the bottom of the hole a log, the upper end of which was attached to the logs of the ceiling. A 20 centimeter hole was left for air and food. The boyar was chained to the pillar by his belt, legs and arms. The chains were thick iron rings: the sufferer could sit and lie down, but not walk. These shackles weighed almost three pounds (50 kilograms). The guards, who were oppressed by the village desolation, hoped for a quick death of the prisoner. Therefore, the ration, consisting of bread and water, was constantly cut, and soon they stopped giving him food altogether. But, having compassion for the prisoner, locals they fed him, letting their children toss him the rolls of reindeer lichen with milk, sealed with grain pellets. For helping the prisoner, five Nyrob peasants were exiled to Kazan, where they spent six years in prison. One of them, unable to bear the torture, died.
After spending about a year in a cramped, musty pit, Mikhail Nikitich died. According to one of the versions, he was strangled by the guards, who were tired of waiting for his death. In the late Nyrob written legend: "... and was buried near the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, near the altar on the north side, and where his body lay - a church was built, and in it the tomb was covered with cloth and the cross was embroidered." In 1606, his body was transported to Moscow and was buried with honor in the Novospassky monastery, where his three brothers, Alexander, Vasily and John, were soon buried. Over the burial place of his uncles, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich built a temple in honor of the Sign Mother of God- the ancestral shrine of the Romanovs. And on the site of the first burial of Mikhail Nikitich, a temple was erected in the name of the Epiphany of the Lord.

Roman Yurievich Zakharyin-Yuriev

Roman Yurievich Zakhariev-Yuriev (died 1543).

Okolnichy, was a voivode in the campaign of 1531. He had several sons and a daughter, Anastasia, who in 1547 became the wife of Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible. From that time on, the rise of the Zakharyin family began. Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Romanov (died 1587) - grandfather of the first tsar from the Romanovs' house Mikhail Fedorovich, boyar (1562), participant of the Swedish campaign in 1551, active participant Livonian War... After the death of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as the closest relative - the uncle of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, he headed the regency council (until the end of 1584). He took monastic vows with the estate of Nifont.

Fedor Nikitich Romanov

Fedor Nikitich Romanov (1553-1633).

Monastic Filaret, Russian political figure, patriarch (1619), father of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty.

Michael III Fedorovich

Mikhail III Fedorovich (12.07.1596 - 13.02.1645).

The first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty (ruled from March 24, 1613), was elected to reign by the Zemsky Sobor on February 21 (March 3), 1613, which closed the period of the Time of Troubles. The son of boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov (later - Patriarch of Moscow Filaret) and boyar Ksenia Ivanovna Romanova (nee Shestova). He was the cousin of the last Russian tsar from the Moscow branch of the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor I Ioannovich.

Mikhail Fedorovich, together with his parents, fell into disgrace under Boris Godunov and in June 1601, was exiled with his aunts to Beloozero, where he lived until the end of 1602. In 1603, he was transported to the city of Klin, Kostroma province. Under False Dmitry I he lived with his mother in Rostov, from 1608, with the rank of steward. He was a prisoner of the Poles in the Kremlin besieged by the Russians.

Weak as a person and weak in health, Mikhail Fedorovich could not independently govern the state, initially he was led by his mother - nun Martha - and her relatives the Saltykovs, then from 1619 to 1633 his father was Patriarch Filaret.

In February 1617, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Sweden. In 1618, the Deulinsky truce with Poland was concluded. In 1621, Mikhail Fedorovich issued the "Charter of Martial Affairs", in 1628, he arranged the first Nitsinsky (Turin district Tobolsk province). In 1629, an employment contract was concluded with France. In 1632, Mikhail Fedorovich renewed the war with Poland and was successful, in 1632, he formed the order of the Collection of military and sufficient people.

In 1634, the war with Poland ended. In 1637, he ordered to stigmatize criminals and not to execute pregnant criminals until six weeks after giving birth.

A 10-year term was set for the search for fugitive peasants. The number of orders was increased, the number of clerks and their importance increased. Intensive construction of notch lines was carried out against Crimean Tatars... Further development of Siberia took place.

Tsar Michael was married twice:

• 1) on Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgoruka;
• 2) on Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva.

There were no children from the first marriage, and from the second there were 3 sons, including the future Tsar Alexei and seven daughters.

The memory of the Romanov dynasty - the "Romanov theme" - is especially close to the inhabitants of Perm. The Perm land became a calvary for several representatives of this glorious boyar, and then the royal family, which is associated with the formation of the Orthodox-monarchical statehood in Russia, its brilliant flourishing and tragic decline.

In 1918, on the territory of the Perm province, Emperor Nicholas II with his wife and children were shot or otherwise tortured, his younger brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, grand duchess Elizaveta Fyodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, princes of imperial blood, brothers Konstantinovich.

Looking at the sad pages of our history, we can say that the suffering and death of the Nyrob prisoner, Mikhail Nikitich Romanov, typified the upcoming martyrdom of the last representatives of the Romanov dynasty, which took place on the Perm land. These events show the tragic connection of times and the special Providence of God.

For four centuries, the distant northern village of Nyrob has remained a holy revered place where numerous pilgrims from all over Orthodox Russia flock. For a long time on the Perm land there is a firm conviction that for the uncomplaining endure of suffering, the Nyrob prisoner received special grace and mercy from God. In the minds of the people, the bright image of the courageous Russian hero, with Christian meekness and humility, who accepted the cross as a passion-bearer, remains unchanged.

Passion-suffering is a spiritual feat known in Russia since the establishment of Christianity. The Word of God teaches us that providential suffering sent to a Christian is beneficial for his soul and helps to achieve eternal life with Christ: "With many sorrows we must go into the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). “In liturgical practice and hagiographic literature, the word“ passion-bearer ”began to be applied to some Russian saints who were not martyrs for Christ in the strict and literal sense of the word, but ended their lives with a violent death at the hands of“ opponents ”who fell into the“ devil’s net ” who caught them in his will "(Tim., 25-26). Such" opponents can be cruel people possessed by the passion of anger or pride: rebels and murderers fighting for the seizure of power or for keeping it ... ".

The first Russian saints - martyrs - were the noble princes Boris and Gleb, glorified in 1078. The Monk Nestor the Chronicler in the "Tale of Bygone Years" emphasizes their acceptance of martyrdom not at the hands of the persecutors of Christianity, but from their fellow believers and even from people close to them because of their envy and hatred, fear and infidelity, deceit and hypocrisy, thirst for power, wealth and human glory, and the action of other sinful passions. The special character of their feat becomes obvious - humble obedience to the will of God, asserted on deep faith in the word of God and future life, combined with the gift of gracious sacrificial love, extending even to his enemies and manifested in the meek patience of evil from them.

Over the centuries-old period of the existence of Orthodoxy in Russia, the grace of God has increased in the Russian Church a whole host of holy martyrs. Among them, the most famous are the noble princes: Yaropolk Vladimir-Volynsky, Igor Chernigovsky, Andrey Bogolyubsky, George Vladimirsky, Vasily Rostovsky, Mikhail Chernigovsky, Roman Ryazansky, Mikhail Tverskoy, Konstantin Yaroslavsky, Tsarevich Dimitri Uglichsky. They close this line of holy martyrs the last sovereign from the House of Romanov - Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich with his wife and children, in 2000 glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in the host of the holy new martyrs and confessors of Russia.

It is known that the royal martyrs deeply revered their distant ancestor - Mikhail Nikitich Romanov. During the difficult period of arrest and imprisonment, the meek image of the Nyrob sufferer was in front of their inner gaze, strengthening in bitter moments, instilling patience and courage in their souls.

Mikhail Nikitich - the third son of Nikita Romanovich Yuriev - was born presumably around 1560. According to the recollections of his contemporaries, he was distinguished by his beautiful appearance and good-natured disposition - stately, clear-eyed, with a light brown beard. Possessing an outstanding, truly heroic physical strength, loved to participate in fist fights on the Moscow River. Mikhail Nikitich, like his brothers, received an old Moscow upbringing. In addition, for his time he was a very educated person, he studied Latin and English.

Mikhail Nikitich was not married. In the old genealogical lists, he is listed as childless, he lived in a separate estate on Nikolskaya Street, not far from Varvarka. Izmailovo belonged to Mikhail Nikitich's ancestral domain. According to his status, Mikhail had a retinue and a fighting squad. During the 14-year reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, the life of the Nikitich brothers proceeded quite well. Tsar Fyodor respected his uncle Nikita and loved his cousins. During this period, Mikhail Nikitich served as a steward at the court.

In 1598, after the death of Tsar Theodore, who did not leave an heir on his own, rivalry between two influential family clans - the Romanovs and the Godunovs - began at the court. The stronger party of the Godunovs triumphed. The Romanov brothers, including Mikhail Nikitich, in April 1598 signed the Sobor Decree on the election of Boris Fedorovich Godunov as Tsar.

The hopes of the Romanovs that Boris Godunov would be kind to them were initially justified. In 1598, the tsar bestowed two Nikitich brothers with the highest Duma ranks: Alexander - the rank of boyar, and Mikhail - roundabout. The rank of roundabout now allowed Mikhail to sit with his older brothers in the Boyar Duma.

However, the relatively prosperous life of Nikitich at the court of the newly elected king did not last long. The Romanovs had a significant advantage over Godunov in relation to kinship with the extinct dynasty of Kalita, and therefore the brothers inevitably were serious political rivals for Boris Godunov. The beginning of the persecution of the Romanovs is associated with Godunov's grave illness and rumors that then appeared about Tsarevich Dimitrii who miraculously escaped death. Both of these circumstances made Tsar Boris seriously worried about the fate of his heir. Starting the persecution of the Romanovs, Boris Godunov “took sin on his soul” for the sake of the dynastic interests of the son of Tsarevich Fyodor Borisovich. Seriously ill, Boris Godunov was afraid that he would not have time to strengthen his kingdom so that power would calmly pass to his son Theodore.

On November 2, 1600, the Romanovs were arrested on charges of the gravest crime of the state - witchcraft and languished in prison for six months. At the end of the trial in June 1601, the boyar's verdict took place. The brothers were declared state criminals and sentenced to exile. Theodore was exiled to Antonievo - Siysky monastery, Alexander - to Usolye-Luda, to To the White Sea, Ivan, - to Pelym, Vasily, - to Yarensk, Mikhail - to Great Perm, to Nyrob.

The young handsome Mikhail Nikitich, although he lived separately from the brothers, was also accused of conspiracy. Mikhail Nikitich, like his older brother Fyodor, was very popular among the people, his direct and open disposition, courageous nature, and heroic physique caused special fear among opponents. Therefore, for keeping this man under arrest, special shackles were made, weighing more than three poods (fifty kg).

The remote village of Nyrobka, where Mikhail Nikitich was ordered to be exiled, was 45 versts from Cherdyn and was in early XVII century the northernmost Russian settlement of Perm the Great. It was surrounded by dense forests and swampy swamps and consisted of only six peasant households.

In July 1601 the Nikitich brothers and their relatives were expelled from Moscow. Before Nyrob, Mikhail Nikitich and the horse guard guarding him had to overcome a distance of more than 1,700 versts. The road to the Urals lasted at least two to three months. Mikhail Nikitich was carried in a heavy cart, set on a sled.

In the fall of 1601, Mikhail Nikitich, chained in heavy chains, was brought to Nyrob. By order of the chief of the guard, the bailiff, Tushin, fifty paces from the last hut, the guards dug a hole in the ground the size of a cubic fathom. The legend that has come down to us tells that Mikhail Nikitich, seeing the pit prepared for him, fell into despair. In a fit of surging anger, he grabbed a cart standing next to him, which the six archers could barely budge, and threw her away from him a few steps.

By order of Tushin, the guards pushed Mikhail Nikitich into the pit, covering it with a flooring of spruce blocks heaped with earth, turf and stones. A small hole was left on top for air and food. Caught in a dank hole, on an earthen floor, young and full vitality the boyar felt himself buried alive.

For Mikhail Nikitich stretched scary days... The prisoner's food consisted only of bread and water. The pit was damp, cold, stuffy and stench from the filth that no one cleaned up. A descendant of a glorious family, accustomed from childhood to wealth and luxury, had to endure hunger, cold, suffocation, the severity of the shackles that caused wounds on the body. The surviving shackles of Mikhail Nikitich allow us to describe the severity of the suffering they inflicted: an iron collar, "shoulder glands or the so-called chair", hand chains, long chains on the legs, two ten-pound locks. All chains were connected to each other. With such a device, the further the prisoner stretched out his hands, the higher he raised them, the more weight fell on them: the resistance increased with tension. The possibility of movement was completely ruled out. Two ten-pound castles hitting the ground, hitting the prisoner's feet with every step, long chains hitting his legs and dragging along the ground. The system of suppressing the will of the prisoner was subtly thought out - "from such reliable watchmen it was only possible to go to the grave." But, of course, the mental suffering of Mikhail Nikitich, who endured undeserved punishment and extreme humiliation, was even more difficult. Once in captivity, the prisoner drew strength from prayer. The legend has survived that the unfortunate boyar strengthened himself spiritually by singing psalms and church hymns. He sang so touchingly that the inhabitants of Nyrob came to listen to him. "

In winter, the prisoner's suffering intensified even more. With the onset of severe cold weather, a small stove was made in the dugout, which the prisoner himself had to heat with the firewood fed into the hole. Only living faith and powerful health helped the prisoner survive the harsh northern winter in an earthen dungeon. By the spring, his torment had been driven to extremes by the guards. His clothes were decayed. He was completely exhausted from hunger and cold. Wanting to return to Moscow as soon as possible, the archers decided to starve the prisoner to death and almost stopped giving him food. Then, shocked by the courage and patience of the prisoner, the nyrobians began to show concern and compassion for him. They taught their children to carry milk, butter, kvass and other food for him in angelica tubes sealed with bread crumb. While playing by the pit, the children quietly threw food to the prisoner. Obviously, the spiritual feat of Mikhail Nikitich, the patient endure of suffering by him helped the nyrobites to discern in him a holy sufferer, sent down by God for spiritual intercession. However, Tushin soon tracked down the children and their parents - five Nyrob men were arrested and sent for interrogation to Kazan, from where only four returned alive.

The circumstances of Mikhail Nikitich's death remain a mystery to his contemporaries and descendants. Local legend tells that one day, having descended into the pit, the chief of the guard, Tushin, strangled the prisoner.

Mikhail Nikitich was buried on a hillock, a few fathoms from his pit.

Five years after his death, there was a decree of False Dmitry I on the transfer of the bodies of the deceased brothers Romanov to Moscow. When people sent from Moscow removed the body of Mikhail Nikitich from the grave, they found that it was incorruptible. The boyar's remains were taken to Moscow, and his chains, in which he was martyred, were left in Nyrob. The ambassadors of False Dmitry I also left the Nyrobites with a gold pectoral cross of Mikhail Nikitich, which was then kept with the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas in Nyrob.

The popular veneration of Mikhail Nikitich as a local saint began immediately after his death. In 1613, the nephew of the Nyrob prisoner, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was elected to the throne of the Russian tsars by the Zemsky Sobor. Since then, the village of Nyrob has forever become a sacred place for pilgrims and a subject of special care and concern from the Reigning House.

In 1614, Mikhail Fedorovich ordered to erect a wooden church in Nyrob "for eternal remembrance" of his uncle. At the turn of the XVI - XVII centuries. a stone church was built in the name of St. Nicholas.

In 1736, over the place of the former burial of Mikhail Nikitich, a church was built, consecrated in honor of the Epiphany of the Lord. Behind the left kliros, in a niche near the northern wall, there was a symbolic tombstone of Mikhail Nikitich with a canopy and a burning lamp. Next to the tomb, in a special box, the iron chains of Mikhail Nikitich were kept - the main shrine and the most valuable material relic of Nyrob, which is reverently venerated by believers to this day. The pilgrims tried to put on the shackles of Mikhail Nikitich and stood in them mass and memorial services performed over the tomb of the sufferer. There was also a tradition to ask a Nyrob prisoner for a blessing for a strong and happy marriage: “at the end of the wedding, the newlyweds were attached to the chains”.

The place of worship in Nyrob has also long been considered the pit-dungeon of Mikhail Nikitich. In 1793, by order of Empress Catherine II, a stone chapel was built over the pit in the name of the Archangel Michael. To the right of the entrance to the chapel, on the south side, a chronicle of sad events was inscribed. In the corner of the chapel there was a hole for a descent into a pit. Many pilgrims took with them a handful of sand from the prisoner's prison, believing that it has the power to heal diseases.

September 6, according to the old style, was considered to be the day of the death of Mikhail Nikitich - the day when the Church remembers the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khonekh. Every year on this day, up to 6,000 pilgrims flocked to Nyrob. In 1913, in connection with the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, a public garden and a metal fence decorated with two-headed eagles were built around the prisoner's chapel.

On May 3, 1915, a memorial complex was opened in Nyrob, a restored chapel and a newly built Romanov almshouse - a hospice or a shelter for the elderly - were consecrated. The future Hieromartyr Bishop Andronik of Perm took part in the celebrations.

Obviously, during the anniversary of the Romanov celebrations in the circles of the Permian public, the idea arose to glorify the Nyrob prisoner Mikhail Nikitich as a saint. One of the active supporters of canonization was Nikolai Alexandrovich Ordovsky-Tanaevsky, the manager of the Perm Treasury. In his memoirs, he claims that in 1913 he had a chance to discuss this issue with Emperor Nicholas II during the Highest Audiences.

The desire of the Permians to canonize the Nyrob prisoner and see the royal couple at the glorification celebrations was so strong that even the First World War did not interfere with taking steps towards its implementation. In 1916, Bishop Andronik of Perm, together with a public deputation, went to the front to present the soldiers of the 101st Perm Infantry Regiment with an ancient banner - a banner historically associated with the name of the victims of the Romanov brothers. This banner came from the temple of the village of Verkh-Yayva, built by Ivan Nikitich Romanov on the old Babinovskaya road, along which the exiled brothers Mikhail, Vasily and John were transported.

On August 19, 1916 at the Tsar's Headquarters, representatives of Perm were graciously received by the Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, who expressed his intention to visit the Perm Territory in favorable time... On April 17, 1916, Ordovsky - Tanaevsky, then already the Tobolsk governor, again discussed the issue of canonization of Mikhail Nikitich with Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in Tsarskoye Selo.

The above facts indicate that the Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna intended to contribute to the canonization of the boyar Mikhail Nikitich Romanov. The desire to take part in the celebrations of the glorification of the Nyrob prisoner was expressed quite definitely by the royal couple, but the plan was not implemented due to the tragic events of the revolution and the murder of the royal family.

Today, all the surroundings of Nyrob are a restricted area. In the 1990s, the spiritual revival of the Romanov places began. The St. Nicholas Church was returned to the church, where services have been regularly held since 1995. It is symbolic that the repair of the temple was carried out by the forces of prisoners, who also made the carved iconostasis. The majority of the population now living in Nyrob is, in one way or another, connected with the functioning of the colony, therefore, as in the old days, the inhabitants of Nyrob consider Mikhail Nikitich their heavenly patron. In July 1998, representatives of the Romanov dynasty, the late Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, with her daughter and grandson, visited the place of suffering of the famous prisoner. Every year on September 19, many pilgrims from all over Russia and abroad flock to Nyrob to serve a requiem at the place of suffering of the boyar Mikhail Nikitich Romanov. By joint efforts of the Cherdyn administration, the Perm diocese and the cultural community Perm Territory in Nyrob, the memorial complex is gradually being reconstructed, the chapel over the pit-dungeon of the Nyrob prisoner has been restored and consecrated, historical materials and evidence of his gracious help, scientific and practical conferences are regularly held.

September. The beginning of the century. Dive.
Thorny snows are flogged.
Sagittarius hastily dug a hole -
The sufferer is dragged into the pit.
Chained in a three-pound chain -
A cool decree cannot be replaced.
The guards are ready to be harsh
Hastily inflict reprisals.
The divers have not seen for centuries,
Though they lived - souls to the breaking point,
So that the young man
Into a frozen grave alive.
Not at all half drunk,
That I decided people in vain,
And uncle - Romanov himself,
Russia of the coming tsar.
The archers threw the prisoner into the pit -
They cannot warm the soul with vodka.
Over the years here crosses to the temple
To look at the unrighteous world.
Both pilgrims and kaliki
They will stretch for a long time to the temple,
So that with a bitter face, a heavy face
Fall into sacred shackles.
But first the prisoner will perish in agony,
The woods slouched over him.
The Lord will cover the wilderness with his eyes -
And the heavens will shudder.

The events described by the Permian poet Fyodor Vostrikov took place 400 years ago in a remote the village of Nyrobke, lost among the Ural taiga in the north of the Cherdyn district. The cunning and cunning Boris Godunov saw his rivals in the Romanov boyars and decided to get rid of them. On false accusations, the Romanovs were exiled to distant corners. One of the brothers Mikhail Nikitich Romanov, and was taken to Nyrob.

These tragic events in 1601 determined further destiny The dives left an indelible mark on the history of our region.

In our work, we tried to find out how the events of 400 years ago reached us, how they were reflected in the spiritual life of the local population, in the history of Nyrob and the Cherdyn region, what of the Nyrob shrines was irretrievably lost and what has survived to this day, what is being done in order to pass on the preserved values ​​to subsequent generations.

The sources for our work were works of fiction, historical and local history essays by researchers of the Cherdyn region, materials from the archive of the Cherdyn local history museum, publications in the local press, and our own observations.

The story of the Nyrob prisoner is as follows.

In September 1601, the inhabitants of the remote northern village of Nyrobki were frightened by screams coming from the forest. Soon a cart appeared on the trail, which was dragged by horses, getting stuck in a swamp. The cart was accompanied by horsemen. This whole train stopped at the edge of the village. The chief of the guard ordered the archers to dig a hole, and forced the Nyrob peasants to cut down trees and prepare chopping blocks from them. When the pit was ready, a cart was opened, and a hero, chained in chains, emerged from there. Hearing that the pit was prepared for him, he grabbed the cart in a rage and threw it ten paces away. The guards threw the boyar into the pit and closed it on top with chopping blocks.

The prisoner languished in this dungeon for a whole year. Compassionate divers, hearing his groans and prayers, sympathized with him. They taught their children to carry food to the sufferer secretly from the guards. Playing on the outskirts, the children, as if by accident, ran up to the pit and threw bread and hollow stems of plants with kvass into the hole, thus feeding the prisoner. But one day the guard, walking through the meadow, noticed that the children had lowered something into the dungeon. He grabbed them and found out that the children were carrying food for the boyar on the orders of their fathers. Six divers were captured and sent under guard to Moscow.

After spending a year in the pit, Mikhail Nikitich died. After the Romanovs came to power, the body of Mikhail Nikitich was removed from the grave. It appeared incorrupt, the earth took only one finger. The boyar was buried in Moscow, and the Nyrob peasants returned home, but not all - one of them could not stand the torture and died. With the advent of the Romanovs to the throne, the Nyrobians received a letter of gratitude for their sympathy and compassion for the prisoner, who was the uncle of the new tsar. And Nyrob places were declared sacred.

In this form the legend of the Nyrob prisoner, passed down by nyrobians from generation to generation, was recorded in 1817 by the famous Russian traveler, historian, writer Vasily Nikolayevich Berkh. He visited Nyrob three times, fascinated by the stories of the 105-year-old elder Maxim Denisovich Ponomarev. It was from him that Berkh heard the story about Romanov and published it in his book "Travel to the cities of Cherdyn and Solikamsk to search for antiquities." Comparing Berkh's description of events with other sources, we came to the conclusion that it was Berkh who initiated the theme of the Nyrob prisoner in literature. Many researchers and writers have addressed this topic, among them our fellow countrymen - Nyrob priests Grigory Popov, Evfimiy Popov, Vasily Popov, Ivan Popov, local historian and publicist Nikolai Petrovich Beldytsky, writer Leonid Yuzhaninov and others.

In the spiritual life of our ancestors, the veneration of the Nyrob prisoner was not only a manifestation of loyal feelings. Not only nyrob residents, but also thousands of people who came to Nyrob every year, firmly believed in the sacredness of the sufferer, and venerated all the places associated with Romanov's stay here as saints. One of the researchers of the history of Nyrob, A. Khrebtov, wrote in 1906: "This seems to be the only place in Russia where the tradition of the past is so sacredly honored."

The village of Nyrob. In this park there is a pit of the "Nyrob prisoner"

“Undoubtedly, the main attraction of Nyrob is that pit, in which Mikhail Nikitich suffered and died, - says Nikolai Petrovich Beldytsky in the essay "The Nyrob Prisoner". - Invisible and poor, she attracts hearts ordinary people and thousands of pilgrims annually enter with a sense of reverence under its arches and descend into that terrible pit where the Nyrob prisoner languished. "

The stone chapel above the pit has not survived: it was destroyed in the 1930s. From literary and documentary sources it is known that it was erected over the prisoner's pit instead of the old wooden one by the order of Catherine II in 1793. The inscription on the chapel said that it was built "by the care and attention of the local volost of peasants, but by the diligence and diligence of the peasant Maxim Ponomarev", the very old man whom Berkh called "a walking monument of all Nyrob legends."

Another remarkable event is connected with the history of the Nyrob prisoner - this wonderful the appearance of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker... Tradition tells that merchants, returning from Pechora, stopped to rest not far from Nyrob and saw an icon on a tree stump. At that time there was no church in Nyrob yet, and the merchants took the icon to Cherdyn. But the next morning the icon was again on this stump. They took her away again, but the icon returned again. And then the nyrobians decided: to be in the Nyrob temple. Tradition relates miraculous phenomenon icons by 1613, by the beginning of the reign of the Romanovs. By order of the king, a church was built in Nyrob, which was named Nikolskaya. And in early XVIII century, a stone architectural ensemble was formed here, the likes of which are not found in the entire Cherdyn region. In the middle of the village, on a hill, there are now two churches. But there is no bell tower between them (it was dismantled in 1934). And the Epiphany Church lost its dome. The tomb of Romanov, which was inside the church, was also destroyed. Nikolskaya Church, the oldest in this ensemble, built in 1704, now again serves the faithful.

The revealed icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was kept in the St. Nicholas Church. The legend says that the nyrobts took care of their shrine like the apple of their eye. During fires or enemy raids, they first of all saved the icon, hiding it in the forest. And in that place a spring began to flow, which was named Nikolsky... The water in it has healing properties. Every year on Nikolin, a day to the spring was celebrated procession, and now this tradition has revived.

St. Nicholas spring in Nyrob

For three centuries, thousands of people from all over Russia went to Nyrob to worship the revealed icon. A copy was written from it, which was called the miraculous icon. Both, according to believers, possessed miraculous powers. On the day of Procopius of Ustyug, the miraculous icon was carried to Cherdyn, and once every three years - to Solikamsk, 150 miles away. It was a great holiday for all residents of the Cherdyn and Solikamsk districts. With tears in their eyes, they greeted the procession with the cross, exclaiming: "And the Lord also vouchsafed us to wait for Father Nicholas!"

In the 1930s, when both churches were closed, both icons disappeared - both the revealed and the miraculous. Nobody knows where they are now. I do not want to believe that they are irretrievably lost.

The most sacred relics of the Cherdyn land for four centuries are chains of Mikhail Romanov- the very shackles weighing 3 pounds, in which he was brought to Nyrobka and in which he ended his life. For more than three centuries, these chains were lovingly guarded by the Nyrobians, revered as saints and believed in them. miraculous power... They were kept next to the tomb of Romanov in the Epiphany Church. Everyone who comes here tried to touch them. The sick put them on themselves and were healed. Now they are kept in the Cherdyn Museum of Local Lore and are still the subject of worship of believers. But back in the 19th century, some researchers expressed doubts about the authenticity of the shackles. This opinion still persists.

Mikhail Romanov's chains in Nyrob. Photo by S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky, early twentieth century

We are comparing various sources, we can argue that these chains are real, and not fake, but they are not in full complement... We found out that at the beginning of the 19th century, a certain V.N. Prokofiev, who occupied a prominent place in Cherdyn, received an order to remove a copy from the shackles. This required bringing the chains to Cherdyn. It so happened that one leg chain did not return to Nyrob, but remained in Prokofiev's collection. His only daughter Elizaveta Vasilievna married S.Ya. Konovalov, who served as a mayor in Cherdyn, and inherited her father's entire collection of antiques. S.Ya. Konovalov, also a great lover of antiquity, ordered his blacksmith to make a copy of the chains. The daughter of the Konovalovs married P.V. Beldytsky and inherited her father's collection. Later, the original leg chain was transferred to the Golubtsov family, landowners from Krasnoufimsk, and now it is in the Krasnoufimsk Museum. A copy, made by order of Konovalov, was presented to the writer V. Kazantsev in Yekaterinburg, and Kazantsev's son gave it to the museum of the Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers. In 1911, at the request of the Perm governor V. Lopukhin, an examination was carried out, which showed that the fetters that are stored in Nyrob are genuine, and those that came to the UOLE museum were made after 1840. Thus, the opinion about the forgery of the chains turned out to be unfair.

Having studied numerous sources, we came to the conclusion that the Nyrob events left a deep imprint on the history of our region, in the spiritual life of many generations. Our ancestors carefully preserved every particle of memory of the Nyrob prisoner, believed in the sacredness of the sufferer, revered the places associated with his stay here as sacred.

In the XX century, these traditions were forgotten, many monuments were destroyed. But the time has come for a rebirth, a return to the origins. In September 2001, anniversary celebrations were held in Nyrob, which brought together hundreds of people. It took a long time to prepare for this event. Nyrob antiquities again became the subject of care and attention. The Nikolskaya church was transformed, the chapel on the Nikolsky spring was rebuilt, the fence of the square around the prisoner's pit was repaired, and a pavilion was erected over the pit - observation deck from where you can go down to the dungeon. As in ancient times, people again reached out to Nyrob to touch the holy places, to touch the past.

Will be blown up by inescapable pain
Sorrowful ringing of iron chains.
He will fade away over the stellar abyss,
So that now, centuries later,
A cruel story, an ancient story
To join the river banks,
Sing a bell under the arch
Melt away like a cloud
Nikolsky tremulous source
To break through to us from under the ground ...

With these poems of our Cherdyn poetess Svetlana Volodina, I want to finish my story and invite you to our ancient Cherdyn region.

Mikhail Nikitich Romanov and the Nyrob shrines

TO XVII century Nyrob has already counted many centuries of its history. A 13th century settlement was discovered near it. The inhabitants were engaged in hunting, fishing, and growing bread on the plots of land reclaimed from the forest. Perhaps, their life would have proceeded measuredly and calmly if it had not been touched by the Troubles.

In 1598 Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov to the throne. Immediately after his accession, an opposition formed from the boyars who dreamed of limiting royal power... As soon as Godunov became aware of the secret actions of the boyars, many noble people fell into disgrace. Among others, Godunov dealt with the Romanov family. Five sons of Nikita Romanov, who had a close relationship with the royal family (Nikita's sister, Anastasia, was the wife of Ivan the Terrible), together with their wives, children and nephews, he exiled to different places Russian state.

The youngest son Mikhail was chained in almost three-pound shackles (they covered his legs, arms, neck) and in September 1601, under the supervision of a guard, was taken to Nyrob. Archers who arrived from Moscow imprisoned Romanov in a log house, lowered into an earthen pit. Brought to exhaustion, by the spring of 1602 (according to some sources, by August) he died.

However, as reported in the legends, the locals tried to alleviate the fate of the prisoner and secretly threw "food supplies" into the pit. But as soon as the guards found out about this, they were caught and taken to Kazan for torture (later the survivors were returned to their homes by the tsar's decree). Mikhail Nikitich was buried on a hillock, three hundred meters from that pit. After Godunov's death, in March 1606, Romanov's body was transported to Moscow and buried in the tomb of the Romanovs in the Novospassky (Novodevichy) monastery.

Everything that happened at the beginning of the 17th century in the Cherdyn village - of six courtyards - did not pass without a trace for her. They remembered Nyrob right away, as soon as in 1613 the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Nikitich's nephew, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, to the kingdom, and in 1619, the Consecrated Council of Russian hierarchs installed Mikhail Nikitich's elder brother, Filaret (Fedor Nikitich), as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. According to the charter of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, granted in 1621, the Nyrob peasants were exempted from taxes and enjoyed privileges until the middle of the 19th century.

The inhabitants of Nyrob, with their petitions, began to remind the tsars of their merits in saving the Romanov family. They asked to keep the privileges given to them and to provide assistance in the maintenance of the temples. So, in 1682, they wrote: “In the past, in 1680, in the Nyrob churchyard, the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with all the utensils and their courtyards burned without a trace, and in the past, in 1681, they rebuilt the church on that burnt-out place, and they have nothing to finish building that church with, and the great sovereign would have granted them for the eternal remembrance of the boyar Mikhail Nikitich Romanov and for their firefighting ruin and grain shortage of those streltsy money for the past 1680 and for 1681 and for 1682 and henceforth they would not be tsarist mantis is not desolate and they would not disperse the priests and the wealthy peasants. " The tsar ordered and indicated to the voivode in Cherdyn "no taxes have been ordered, but instead of swearing, arrange them with land, but if there is no land, and they were ordered to give 20 rubles as before at the cathedral." According to the information of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, in the Nyrob churchyard at that time there were "40 clerical, clerical, peasant and Bobyl yards and 2 huts".

In the first half of the 18th century, on the northern outskirts of Nyrob, a stone ensemble of rare beauty was formed: two church buildings, united by a tiered octahedral bell tower on a low quadrangle. Such ensembles were erected in the Russian North, but in the Cherdyn region it is the only one. First, in January 1705, the five-domed summer church of St. Nicholas was consecrated. The magnificent decoration of the facades, the ploughshare covering of the heads, multi-stage cornices and zakomaras, beetle ornament, half-columns with capitals had a profound effect on a person. A lot of interesting things were created in the interior - wall painting on dry grout, multi-tiered iconostasis, updated in late XIX centuries by the masters of the icon-painting workshop of A. V. Fedoseev from the village of Pokcha, "voices" for better resonance, the floor is made of cast-iron slabs ...

The second church - Epiphany - was erected in 1736 as a winter one. The burial place of Mikhail Romanov was marked with a ledge at the northern wall of the temple part. There was a tomb inside the church, and the iron shackles of the royal relative were kept here. Professor of St. Petersburg University N. G. Wagner, who visited Nyrob in 1857, noted that "the chains of Mikhail Nikitich are even attributed to healing property, and during church services many sick people put on parts of the chains (depending on how much they can endure) and in this form stand idle for whole mass. The common people fervently believe in healing power chains even in relation to animals, in view of this, many Nyrob inhabitants lay chains on the aching livestock". Applied to the chains and newlyweds at the end of the wedding.

Above the pit in which Mikhail Nikitich was sitting, there was a chapel in the name of St. Archangel Michael. There was a hole in the floor of the chapel for a descent into a dungeon pit. On four sides, under the cornice of the chapel, there was a text from which it followed that Catherine II was involved in the construction of the chapel: wooden chapel, now instead of this wooden one by the order of Her Imperial majesty in 1793 this stone chapel was built solely in memory of the boyar Mikhail Nikitich Romanov, who was imprisoned in that place, by the care and attention of the local volost of peasants, and by the diligence and diligence of the peasant Maxim Ponomarev. "

From a small village, Nyrob grew into big village in the north of the Perm province. During the year, there were up to 6 thousand pilgrims here, most of all in Great post- up to 1200 people. Every year on September 6 (on this day Orthodox Church remembers the miracle of St. Archangel Michael in Khonekh. - G. Ch.), A memorial service for Mikhail Nikitich was performed in the chapel, and on the feast of the Holy Trinity, a prayer service to St. Archangel Michael.

V mid XIX century Perm historian V.N.Shishonko expressed doubt about the authenticity of the chains of Mikhail Nikitich. The culprit of the rumors was the district judge S. Ya. Konovalov, who made a copy of the chains for his collection of antiquities. In 1910, the chains were examined by a special commission of the Perm diocese, the conclusion of which was published in the press. Authentic chains have been kept in the Pushkin Museum of Local Lore in Cherdyn since 1928.

Georgy CHAGIN
The magazine "Rodina", No. 11, 2001