Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (RPSC). What is the difference between the Old Believers and the Orthodox Prayer of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Belokrinitsky hierarchy

Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (ROC)- the name established by the decision of the Consecrated Council in 1988 for the Old Believer Church on the territory of the USSR (now in Russia and the CIS countries). The former name, used since the 18th century, is Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ. The Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church is in complete ecclesiastical and canonical unity with the Old Believer Church in Romania and with the communities subordinate to it in other countries. In the literature there are names of the Russian Orthodox Church: Belokrinitsky consent, Belokrinitsky hierarchy- after the name of the monastery in Belaya Krinitsa (Northern Bukovina), which was part of the Austrian Empire. Due to the latter circumstance, in Russian pre-revolutionary literature the movement was also called Austrian hierarchy.

Brief history of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church

As is known, one of the consequences of the liturgical reform undertaken by the Patriarch Nikon(1605–1681) and the king Alexey Mikhailovich(1629–1676), there was a schism in the Russian Church. State and church authorities, guided by a number of external and internal political considerations, undertook the unification of Russian liturgical texts with Greek ones, which was not accepted by a significant part of the Russian Church. The forms of performing the sacraments, sacred rites, and prayers accepted in Russia were changed, abolished, or even anathematized by the conciliar court of the Church. As a result of state persecution, the Old Believers were left without an episcopate (the only open opponent of Nikon's reforms among the bishops, Bishop, died in exile in April 1656). In such emergency conditions, some Old Believers (who later began to be called non-priests) refused to accept the Nikonian priesthood into communion as heretical, leaving them completely without a priesthood. Subsequently, priestlessism was divided into many agreements and interpretations, sometimes significantly different from each other in their teaching.

The other part of the Old Believers - the priests, based on the canonical practice that existed in the Church since the time of the struggle against Arianism, insisted on the possibility and even the necessity of accepting New Believer clergy into communion in their existing ranks, subject to their renunciation of Nikon’s reforms. As a result, among the priests, already from the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, the practice of accepting the priesthood from the New Believers through. Throughout the 18th century, the Old Believers made several attempts to receive some bishop into communion, but all of them were unsuccessful.

During the reign of the emperor Nicholas I(1796–1855) the situation of the Old Believers changed for the worse: the government took measures to eradicate the fugitive Old Believer priesthood. In response to persecution among the Old Believer community, the idea of ​​establishing an Old Believer episcopal see outside Russia was born. In 1846, located in the Belokrinitsky monastery (in the middle of the 19th century, the village of Belaya Krinitsa belonged to the Austrian Empire (later Austria-Hungary), then to Romania, from June 1940 - as part of the Ukrainian SSR, while the metropolitan see was moved to the city of Braila in Romania) former Metropolitan of Bosno-Sarajevo, Greek by origin, (Pappa-Georgopoli) (1791–1863; September 12, 1840 was recalled to Constantinople by Patriarch Anthimus IV (d. 1878) due to fears caused by the Metropolitan’s complaint of oppression population from local Turkish officials (earlier in the same year, he supported the Bosnian uprising against the Ottoman ruler in Sarajevo) after negotiations with the Old Believers (monks Paul and Alimpiy), he agreed to join the Old Believers in the second rite (through anointing with myrrh) and performed a series of consecrations for Old Believers Thus, the beginning of the Old Believers hierarchy was laid in Belaya Krinitsa, and a number of newly appointed bishops and priests appeared within the boundaries. Russian Empire. Some accuse Ambrose of single-handedly ordaining bishops, which is contrary to the letter of the law of the 1st Apostolic Canon, but many saints, including St. Stephen of Sourozh (c. 700 - after 787), served as an example of the commission and approval of such an action in extreme circumstances. c. 347–407) and Athanasius the Great (c. 295–373).

Founded in 1853 Vladimir Archdiocese; ten years later (in 1863) it was transformed into Moscow and all Rus'. The Belokrinitsky Consent Center was located in Moscow on Rogozhsky Old Believer Cemetery. The government took measures to eradicate the new hierarchy: priests and bishops were imprisoned (for example, Bishop Konon (Smirnov; 1798–1884) spent 22 years in the Suzdal monastery prison, the altars of Old Believer churches were sealed (the altars of the Rogozhskaya Sloboda churches in Moscow remained sealed for almost half a century: 1856–1905), Old Believers were prohibited from enrolling in the merchant class, etc. Persecution began to weaken only during the reign. Alexandra III, but even under him the ban on serving the Old Believer priesthood remained. In conditions of increasing persecution after the establishment of the hierarchy, new divisions arose among the Old Believers-priests. Some of the priests, believing the government, as well as the non-priest propaganda about the alleged pouring baptism of Metropolitan Ambrose, Ambrose’s joining the Old Believers because of money (simony), etc., did not recognize the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, continuing to be nourished by the fleeing priesthood from the Russian Synodal Church. This group, called in the first half of the 19th century “ Beglopopovtsy", managed to find its hierarchy only in 1923; the modern name of this agreement is (RDC).

On February 24, 1862, in response to numerous attacks from the Bespopovites and accusations of heresy, “ District message of the Russian archpastors of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy", prepared by the Vladimir (later Moscow) Archbishop Anthony and a bookkeeper Ilarion Kabanov(pseudonym Xenos; 1819–1882). IN " District message“, in particular, it was argued that the New Ritualists, although they sin in faith, believe in Christ, that the New Ritual spelling “Jesus” does not mean “another god” different from Jesus Christ, that the four-pointed image of the Cross of Christ is also worthy of worship, just like eight-pointed, that the dedicated priesthood, the sacraments and the bloodless Sacrifice will exist in the Orthodox Church until the end of time, that prayer for the Tsar is necessary, that the time of the last Antichrist and the end of the world has not yet come, that in the Synodal and Greek Churches the priesthood is true, therefore, it is true and in the Russian Orthodox Church, which received the priesthood from Ambrose. The majority of believers of the Belokrinitsky consent accepted the “District Message” (such Christians began to be called “ okrugnikami"), but there were also those who rejected him (" neo-okrugniks", or " anti-environmentalists"). The situation was complicated by the fact that some bishops joined the neo-circulators. During the late 19th - early 20th centuries, okrugniks regularly attempted to heal the non-okrugnic schism, and therefore, for the purposes of church oikonomia, the “District Epistle” was repeatedly declared “as if it had not happened” (it was emphasized that the epistle is completely Orthodox and does not contain heresies ). The reconciliation of a significant part of the neo-okrug members with the Moscow Archdiocese took place in 1906. During the years of Soviet power, that part of the neo-circular hierarchy that remained in schism with the Moscow Archdiocese was repressed, another part moved to the Russian Orthodox Church, and another to the Edinoverie, only a few old people continue to be in a priestless state.

Despite the restrictive nature of Russian legislation in relation to the Old Believers, the Belokrinitsky Consent, headed in Russia since 1882 by the Archbishop of Moscow (Levshin; 1824–1898), gradually strengthened its position.

At the end of the 19th century, the internal church life of the Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy was streamlined on the basis of the principle of conciliarity, for which considerable merit belonged to the bishop (Shvetsov; 1840–1908). Until 1898, all the most important internal church issues were decided by the Spiritual Council under the Moscow Archbishop, which included a few trusted representatives of the primate.

In March 1898, a council was held in Nizhny Novgorod with the participation of 7 bishops and 2 representatives from non-arriving bishops, which dismissed Savatius from the Moscow See. By a majority vote, the locum tenens of the archbishop's throne was entrusted to the Ural Bishop Arseny.

In October of the same year, a new council was held in Moscow, which elected the Don Bishop (Kartushin; 1837–1915) to the Moscow See. The Council abolished the Spiritual Council and obliged Archbishop John to convene regional councils of bishops to consider complaints against bishops and in general to improve church affairs at least once a year. The council also decided that the bishops of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy in Russia, including the Archbishop of Moscow, should be subordinate to these councils. In the years 1898–1912, 18 councils were held, and the laity took part in their work along with the clergy. In addition to cathedrals in the life of the Belokrinitsky consent in the late 19th - early 20th centuries great value had annual all-Russian congresses of Old Believers. The councils were the “supreme bodies of church-hierarchical government,” and the congresses were “the body of church-civil unity of the Old Believers,” dealing primarily with economic, socio-political issues.

The manifesto “On Strengthening the Principles of Tolerance,” published on April 17, 1905, which granted rights to the Old Believers, was of great importance for the Old Believers Church. The 12th paragraph of the manifesto ordered “to unseal all houses of worship that were closed both administratively, not excluding cases that rose through the Committee of Ministers to the Highest Review, and by determination of judicial places.” According to the emperor’s telegram, given on April 16, representatives of the Moscow authorities removed the seals from the altars of the Old Believer churches of the Rogozhsky cemetery. On February 21, 1906, a delegation of 120 Old Believers of all consents was received by Nicholas II in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1905-1917, according to estimates (1874–1960), more than a thousand new Old Believer churches were built, and prominent architects of that time were actively involved in the work on them - F.O. Shekhtel (1859–1926), I.E. Bondarenko (1870–1947), N.G. Martyanov (1873 (according to other sources 1872) -1943) and others. During these years, about 10 Old Believer monasteries were opened.

At the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Old Believers (1901), a school commission was created, which was tasked with opening secondary school in every Old Believer parish. This process proceeded quite quickly after 1905. In August 1905, the cathedral adopted a resolution on the organization of schools for the study of the Law of God and church singing in parishes, on the creation of a theological school in Nizhny Novgorod and on teaching young men “reading and singing and preparing them for the service of St. Church" in the Cheremshansky Dormition Monastery near Khvalynsk, Saratov province. On August 25, 1911, by a resolution of the Consecrated Council of Old Believer Bishops, a Council was established under the Moscow Archdiocese, which, under the direction of Archbishop John (Kartushin), would consider church and public affairs and issues and explain them. In 1912, the Old Believer Theological and Teachers' University was established at the Rogozhskoe cemetery with a six-year course of study. Along with priests, this educational institution was supposed to train teachers of the law, church and public figures and teachers of general education Old Believer schools.

Immediately after the October Revolution of 1917, during the mass liquidation of house churches, Old Believer house churches (mainly in merchant houses) were closed. In 1918, almost all Old Believer monasteries, the Theological and Teachers' Institute in Moscow and all Old Believer monasteries were abolished periodicals. During civil war There were reprisals by Red Army soldiers and security officers against Old Believer clergy. In 1923, the archbishop (Kartushin; ca. 1859-1934) and the bishop (Lakomkin; 1872-1951) issued an “Archpastoral Letter” calling on the flock to be loyal to the new government.

In the mid-1920s, the Belokrinitsky consent, with the permission of the OGPU, managed to hold several councils (in 1925, 1926, 1927), which discussed issues of organizing church life in new social conditions. The publication (in private publishing houses) of “Old Believer Church Calendars” has resumed. Bishop Gerontius organized the Brotherhood of St. Hieromartyr Avvakum with pastoral and theological courses with him. By the end of the 1920s, the Old Believer Church of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy included 24 dioceses, ruled by 18 bishops, several monasteries that existed after 1918 under the guise of “labor artels,” and hundreds of clergy.

The government's policy towards the Old Believers changed dramatically in the late 1920s, when, during the collectivization carried out in the USSR, agriculture A campaign was launched to “eliminate the kulaks as a class.” The majority of the Old Believer peasant economy was prosperous, and this gave rise to N.K. Krupskaya (1869-1939) to say that “the fight against the kulaks is at the same time a fight against the Old Believers,” within which the Belokrinitsky consensus was the largest and most organized. As a result of mass repressions against Old Believers in the 1930s, all monasteries were closed; many areas previously considered Old Believers lost all functioning churches, and the vast majority of clergy were arrested. When churches and monasteries were closed, icons, utensils, bells, vestments, and books were completely confiscated, and many libraries and archives were destroyed. Some Old Believers emigrated, mainly to Romania and China. During the repressions, the episcopate was almost completely destroyed. Most of the bishops were shot, some languished in prison, and only two (Nizhny Novgorod bishop (Usov; 1870-1942) and Irkutsk bishop Joseph(Antipin; 1854-1927)) managed to go abroad. By 1938, only one bishop remained at large - the Bishop of Kaluga-Smolensk Sava(Ananyev; 1870s - 1945). The Belokrinitsky hierarchy on the territory of the USSR was under the threat of complete extinction. Trying to avoid this and expecting arrest and execution every day, in 1939 Bishop Sava single-handedly ordained Bishop Paisius (Petrov) as his successor to the Kaluga-Smolensk diocese. There was no arrest, and in 1941, Bishop Sava, at the request of the Rogozh Old Believers, elevated the Bishop of Samara (Parfenov; 1881-1952), who had returned from prison, to the dignity of archbishop. In 1942, Bishop Geronty (Lakomkin) returned from prison and became an assistant to the archbishop.

In the post-war period, the situation of the Old Orthodox Church was extremely difficult. Most of the churches closed in the 1930s were never returned to the Church. The Archdiocese of Moscow and All Rus' huddled in the back room of the Edinoverie Church of St. Nicholas at the Rogozhskoe cemetery. Permission was not received to open monasteries and educational institutions. The only sign of a religious “thaw” was the permission of the publication church calendar for 1945. After the war, it was possible to replenish the episcopate. In 1945, a bishop was ordained (Morzhakov; 1886-1970), in 1946 - a bishop Benjamin(Agoltsov; d. 1962), and two years later - bishop (Slesarev; 1879-1960). In the 1960s - mid-1980s, the church life of the consensus was characterized by stagnant trends: practically no new parishes were opened, some provincial churches were closed due to the lack of not only clergy, but also laypeople capable of conducting choir services. The practice of caring for several parishes by one priest became widespread. Clergy who tried to show any activity were often banned. In 1986, after the death of the archbishop (Latyshev; 1916-1986) and locum tenens bishop (Kononova; 1896-1986), the recently ordained Bishop of Klintsovsko-Novozybkovsky (Gusev; 1929-2003) was elected Archbishop of Moscow and All Rus' gg.).

The new primate began to actively visit provincial parishes, including those where there had been no hierarchal service for several decades. At the Council of 1988, the Moscow Archdiocese was transformed into a Metropolis. At the same Council, a new official name Churches - “Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church” instead of the former “Old Orthodox Church of Christ”.

On July 24, 1988, in Moscow, the solemn elevation of Archbishop Alimpy to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' took place. In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church resumed its official theoretical and spiritual-educational publication - the magazine "Church". Under Metropolitan Alimpia, the Yaroslavl-Kostroma, Siberian, Far Eastern, and Kazan-Vyatka dioceses were revived. For the first time since 1917, contact with the Old Believer local Church of Romania was renewed. In 1995, an Old Believer department was opened at the Art Restoration School in Suzdal. The first graduation took place in 1998. Among the nine people who then received certificates of completion, all found themselves in church service. In 1999, due to financial and organizational problems, the school was closed. In 1996, the Old Believer Theological School was created in Rogozhsky, the first graduates of which took place in 1998. Then there was another big break in the school’s activities. On December 31, 2003, Metropolitan Alimpiy died, and on February 12, 2004, the Bishop of Kazan and Vyatka (Chetvergov; 1951-2005) became Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. His name is associated with the intensification of the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in many areas, as well as the policy of openness to the outside world. On September 1, 2004, the Moscow Old Believer Theological School resumed its work. In October 2004, the territories of the former Kaluga-Smolensk and Klintsov-Novozybkov dioceses became part of the newly formed St. Petersburg and Tver diocese.

Metropolitan Andrian stayed at the metropolitan see for a year and a half; managed to establish close ties with the Moscow government, thanks to which two churches were transferred to the disposal of the Church, Voitovicha Street was renamed Old Believer, and funding was provided for the restoration of the spiritual and administrative center in Rogozhskaya Sloboda. Metropolitan Andrian died suddenly on August 10, 2005 at the age of 54. heart attack. On October 19, 2005, the Bishop of Kazan and Vyatka (Titov; born 1947) was elected Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The enthronement of the new Old Believer metropolitan took place in Moscow on October 23 at the spiritual center of the Old Believers, located in Rogozhskaya Sloboda.

In May 2013, an Orthodox community from Uganda led by a priest was accepted into the Russian Orthodox Church Joachim Kiimboy. After the death of Protopresbyter Joachim Kiimba on January 10, 2015, priest Joachim Walusimbi was appointed as the new rector. On September 20, 2015, his priestly ordination took place in Moscow, which was performed by Metropolitan Cornelius. As of September 2015, the community had one operating temple in the suburbs of the Ugandan capital Kampala and two more under construction (the number of parishioners was about 200 people). On February 4, 2015, the Metropolitan Council of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create a commission on the possibility of recognition by the Moscow Patriarchate of the legitimacy of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy. On March 31 of the same year, with the participation of Metropolitan Cornelius, the first meeting of the commission with the working group of the Moscow Patriarchate took place. The highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church is the Consecrated Council of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. Meets annually with the wide participation of clergy of all levels, monastics and laity. The church hierarchy consists of ten bishops headed by the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. Traditionally, the Volga region, Central Russia, the Urals, Pomerania and Siberia, and to a lesser extent the Far East, the Caucasus and the Don, are considered Old Believer regions. Another 300 thousand people are in the CIS, 200 thousand in Romania, 15 thousand in the rest of the world. As of 2005, there were 260 registered communities. The Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church currently owns a women's church near Uglich. The magazine “Church” and its supplement “During the Time...” are published. Since 2015, there has been an Old Believer Internet radio “Voice of Faith” (Sychevka, Smolensk region, creator - Priest Arkady Kutuzov) and Old Believer online lectures are held.

Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church

As of spring 2018.

• Don and Caucasus Diocese - Archbishop (Eremeev)
• Irkutsk-Transbaikal diocese - bishop (Artemikhin)
• Kazan and Vyatka diocese - bishop (Dubinov)
• Kazakhstan diocese - Bishop Sava (Chalovsky)
• Kyiv and All Ukraine Diocese - Bishop (Kovalyov)
• Diocese of Chisinau and all Moldavia - bishop (Mikheev)
• Moscow Metropolitanate - Metropolitan (Titov)
• Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir diocese - widowed, Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
• Novosibirsk and All Siberia Diocese - Bishop (Kilin)
• Samara and Saratov diocese - widowed, Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
• St. Petersburg and Tver diocese - widowed, Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
• Tomsk diocese - Bishop Gregory (Korobeinikov)
• Ural Diocese - widowed, Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
• Khabarovsk and everything Far East diocese - widowed, under Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
• Yaroslavl and Kostroma diocese - Bishop Vikenty (Novozhilov)

The cultural and pilgrimage center named after Archpriest Avvakum organizes a walking local history tour on the topic: “MOSCOW PREOBRAZHENSK OLD BELIEVER MONASTERY” Duration of the tour: 3 hours. Route: monument to S. Bukhvostov - territory of the Men's Courtyard - Preobrazhensky Necropolis - territory of the Women's Courtyard. The tour is conducted by Pomeranian Old Believer Alexander Vsevolodovich Podstrigich.

02 Preobrazhenskoye is a unique historical corner of Moscow, one of the main historical milestones of which, starting in 1771, is closely connected with the emergence here of the center of the Old Believers-Bezpopovtsy of the Fedoseev Consent. The foundation of the Moscow community was laid in 1771, at a time when the plague was raging in Moscow. On September 14, 1771, at the request of the merchants Fyodor Anisovich Zenkov, who owned a cloth factory, and Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, who had brick factories on the outskirts of Moscow, a quarantine was established in Preobrazhenskoye to care for the sick, and the dead were buried here in the cemetery. Initially, the established quarantine was called the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery (By Decree of Catherine II it was forbidden to bury those who died from the plague within the Moscow city limits). Gradually, the center grew more and more, attracting merchants who, often coming from the people's environment, were drawn to the people's church. Already at an early stage in the history of the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery, it was headed by prominent and active entrepreneurs of that time, such as I. Kovylin. Later, by the accession of Alexander I to the throne, the names of wealthy Fedoseevites were known throughout Moscow: Zenkov, Kovylin, Shalaputin, Grachev, Sokolov, Bolshov and others.

03 At the beginning of the 19th century, the community's ownership was divided into two parts - the men's and women's courtyards. The men's courtyard with the Assumption and Holy Cross churches (chapels) was expanded and surrounded by a jagged stone wall with hipped towers. Strict monastic regulations were in effect on the male and female halves. In fact, two monasteries appeared here. Architectural ensemble Preobra convent took shape over 27 years - from 1784 to 1811, when the stone Holy Cross Chapel was erected in the women's courtyard. The chapels, as well as almshouses with prayer rooms in the women's courtyard, were built by the talented architect Fyodor Kirillovich Sokolov (1760-1824).

04 On May 15, 1809, Alexander I, by his decree, approved the plan for the establishment of the “Preobrazhensky Almshouse” and ordered it to be called that officially from now on, giving it the rights of a private charitable institution. By that time, more than 1,500 people lived in the community, and the number of parishioners exceeded 10,000; the children's ward accommodated up to 200 young children. The new charitable organization was given the right of self-government, unaccountable management of its capital, including the development of commercial commerce.

05 In August 1812, before the French army entered Moscow, about 300 carts loaded with valuables and important documents, ancient icons and books left the Preobrazhensky almshouse for the village of Ivanovo, Vladimir province. More than 200 girls and young women, nuns of the monastery, were also sent there. Many men who lived in the monastery scattered, leaving only the sick and old people. The prayer rooms were closed, and services were held only in the large chamber in the Men's Courtyard.

06 In the post-war period, the economic life of the community revives. By the 1830s, 32 large and 120 small factories producing woolen, cloth, silk and paper products were associated with the community. Thus, F.A. Guchkov owned the largest factory in Moscow at that time. To understand the role of the Preobrazhensky Almshouse, it is appropriate to quote the words of the Minister of Finance Ivan Alekseevich Vyshnegradsky: “Our Christ-loving Old Believers-Preobrazhensky are a great force in the Russian trade and factory business, they founded and brought our domestic factory industry to its fullest perfection and flourishing state.”
During the reign of Nicholas I and Alexander II, the times of brutal repression against Old Believers returned.

07 In the 1840s, a real threat of ruin and even complete destruction hung over the Transfiguration Monastery. In this situation, the Fedosevo residents plan to prepare for the establishment of a monastery in safe place abroad (in Prussia), where the Moscow center of priestlessness and its shrines could be moved. This is how the priestless Voynovsky Monastery appeared (now near the town of Voynovo in Poland). However, later circumstances changed for the better and this plan was abandoned. The buildings of the Voynovsky Monastery still remain, and the Orthodox convent of the Fedoseevites is now located there.

08 In 1854, the Assumption Church and the Gate Chapel of the Exaltation of the Cross were taken away from the Fedoseevites and transferred to their co-religionists. More than one and a half thousand ancient wooden icons collected by Old Believers also went to fellow believers. The entire territory of the men's courtyard with all buildings and property was finally taken away from the Old Believers, and in 1866, on this territory, the dominant church opened the St. Nicholas Edinoverie Monastery, the main goal of which was to fight the Old Belief. Those in custody on the territory of the men's courtyard are transferred to the buildings of the women's courtyard.

09 The period 1905 - 1917 is the period of the Old Believers gaining real religious freedom. During this period, the community manages to do a lot. Spiritual and economic life comes to life. A school for boys and girls is opened, a printing house and an icon-painting workshop are created. In 1912 According to the project of the architect L.N. Kekushev, a hospital with 75 beds, equipped with modern medical equipment, was being built, which during the First World War, by decision of the Fedoseevites, was provided for the treatment of wounded front-line soldiers. The First prevented the implementation of many of the plans of the Fedoseevites. world war and the revolution that broke out in 1917.

10 In 1923, the St. Nicholas Monastery of Edinoverie was closed and the authorities handed over the Assumption Church to the Renovationists (schismatic reformers within the ruling Church). In the 1930s, the authorities closed the Church of the Old Believers-Pomeranians in Tokmakov Lane, and the community was asked to occupy part of the Assumption Church.

11 In the 1940s, the church parish of the Renovationists, who occupied the Nikolsky limit, ceased to exist and its place was taken by the community of the Moscow Patriarchate.

12 During the years of Soviet power, all the remaining almshouses with prayer houses were taken away from the Fedoseevites, with the exception of the Holy Cross Church. In the eastern part of the seized territory, in the 1930s, the authorities organized an agricultural market, which still exists today.

13 In the 1990s, part of the buildings that were renovated by the community were returned to the Fedoseevites. Currently, on the territory of the former Transfiguration Monastery there are communities of the Fedoseyevsky Harmony, Pomeranian Old Believers and the parish of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

This strange place with an intricate history is located five minutes from the not-so-remote Moscow metro station. At the same time, it is little known, in any case, my husband, who lived in these parts for a long time, knew about it at the level of “yes, there seems to be something there.”
I have no enthusiasm for a full historical reference, and my level of knowledge in religious matters is low. Therefore, please forgive me if I confuse something slightly.
This place is one of the centers of the Moscow Old Believers. First there was a cemetery, which appeared here in 1771 during the plague epidemic. Under the pretext of plague quarantine, almshouses were created. 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 mid-19th century, a new round of persecution of Old Believers began. They left only the former convent. It was closed under Soviet rule, but then was restored (though part of the territory of the former monastery is occupied by the Preobrazhensky Market); Entrance there is closed to outsiders (you can get there with a guided tour).
And on the territory of the former monastery The Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery was created (the Edinoverie monastery retained the old rituals, but recognized the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church). It existed until 1923. IN recent years his temples belong Orthodox parish, but it shares the main temple with the Moscow Pomeranian Old Believer community.
This is such a confusing story. Having understood it in a first approximation, you can finally take a look (shooting in mid-April).
The most beautiful and harmonious thing we saw was the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery. Built in 1805, the architect was supposed to be Bazhenov (and it’s not surprising - the style is similar, and the hand of an extraordinary 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, is now in good condition and belongs to the Old Believers.

In the current Old Believer monastery, as I already said, there is almost no access, you can only admire the fence with turrets (early 19th century).

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

The second church - the gate church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - was built in 1801, also by F. Sokolov. Under Soviet rule, all five chapters of it were broken. In post-Soviet times, 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 "Preobrazhenskaya candle". It was restored under Soviet rule, but there are no bells on it.

This is such a strange place. It seemed gloomy, but beautiful and unexpected. So much luxurious “Russian Gothic” in one place, I don’t know if there is anywhere else in Moscow

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

In the third part we will talk about Old Believer churches of other consents. In the first and second parts, I talked about the churches 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 courtyard people 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 non-priesthood), the Preobrazhenskaya community became the center of this confession, and indeed of non-priesthood in Russia in general. In 1784-1811, according to the design of the architect F.K. Sokolov (with funds and under the leadership of the merchant Kovylin), large complex buildings (which included male and female monasteries) in imitation of the Vygoretskaya Hermitage.


Fedoseevsky Monastery, later Nikolsky Edinoverie

In and around the cemetery, Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin gradually built houses, shops, factories and chapels. IN early XIX 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 limit the activities of schismatics,” on the orders of Emperor Nicholas I, on April 3, 1854, the Assumption Church was transferred to co-religionists (that is, Old Believers who recognize the power of the Moscow Patriarchate). In 1866, the men's courtyard was moved to the women's courtyard, where the Old Believer community was preserved, and the St. Nicholas Edinoverie Monastery was opened on the territory of the former men's courtyard. At the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery there was a rich library of works on the schism, collected by the merchant A.I. Khludov; ancient icons were kept (including 1,300 icons collected by E. E. Egorov), works of ancient Russian art. In 1920, all Fedoseevsky chapels, except for the Exaltation of the Cross, were closed, and those in need were evicted. In the early 1920s. Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery is closed. Khludov’s library and part of Egorov’s collection were transferred to the State Historical Museum, ancient icons were also transferred to the Historical Museum, from where some of them later ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and a small amount 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 later various institutions were located, for example, a dormitory for the Radio factory.
The entrance to the monastery is through the Gate Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, rebuilt in 1854 (the domes were added) from an Old Believer prayer house (i.e. prayer house) built in 1801.

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Church of the Exaltation Holy Cross God's

Opposite the Holy Cross Gate is the oldest church of the Transfiguration community: St. Nicholas Church of the Assumption. The temple was built in 1784, and was originally dedicated to the Assumption Holy Mother of God. The St. Nicholas Church was reconsecrated in 1854, at the same time it was rebuilt, including receiving an apse unnecessary for the Bespopovites. The architect of the cathedral was previously supposedly considered to be V.I. Bazhenov, but according to the latest, most reliable research, the project was F.K. Sokolov. Nowadays in the church building there are two churches of different denominations, separated by a blank wall: St. Nicholas Church of New Believers in the western part, and the Assumption Pomeranian Church in the eastern part. Actually, an unprecedented case!

Old Believer (Pomeranian) 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 the co-religionists, in the 1870s, although designed in the same style as the original buildings, is slightly different from them:
Initially, not a single temple of the Transfiguration community was called a “church” - there were either prayer rooms or chapels. The Assumption Chapel became a church, apparently only with fellow believers, receiving an apse, and then this name spread throughout the entire community.
After the Great Patriotic War, “Preobrazhenskoye” became the de facto center of all Russian non-priesthood; the spiritual centers of three concords were located there - the Old Pomeranian (Fedoseevsky), the Marriage Pomeranian (DPTs) and the Filippovsky.
The Preobrazhenskoe cemetery next to the monastery was for a long time exclusively Old Believers. There are many merchant burials in the cemetery. During the Great Patriotic War active civil burials began. At the military site there are graves of more than 10 thousand soldiers and commanders of the Red Army.

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "On Nine Crosses" at the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery

One more Fedoseevskaya gravestone chapel at the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery

Fifty meters north of the Nikolsky Monastery, there is Preobrazhensky Old Believer (Fedoseevsky) almshouse. In the usual sense, this is a monastery. Now it is called the pilgrimage center of the Pomeranian Old Believers named after Archpriest Avvakum. The architectural ensemble of this part has been preserved almost unchanged since its construction, and the women's part itself was more extensive and orderly. Nowadays it all belongs to the Fedoseevites - the second in time of origin (1706) and the largest current of priestlessism, which broke away from the Pomeranians due to the fact that they collaborated with the “power of the Antichrist” - for example, they prayed for the Tsar. Fedoseevtsy (or Staropomortsy) - a more radical wing, they retained only 2 Orthodox rite(Baptism and Repentance), rejected marriage, and their principled position was rejection of any existing authority.

Vozdvizhensky Cathedral

Prayer room of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer room of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Prayer service of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer of the All-Merciful Savior

Prayer room of the Prophet Elijah

In addition to the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery, there are several other Old Believer sites in Moscow that I did not talk about in the first two parts. ABOUT Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Zamoskvorechye already discussed in the second part. It was consecrated on September 26, 1910 as Belokrinitsky. Closed in the 20s. And in 1990, the temple was transferred to another denomination of the Old Believers - the Ancient Orthodox Church (DOC).

The first Old Believer church of the Pomeranian community, built immediately after the release of the Tsar’s manifesto on religious tolerance in 1905. The idea of ​​​​building the temple belonged to long-time and close employees of V. E. Morozov and his sons: I. K. Polyakov, director of the board of the V. Morozov Manufactory Partnership with sons,” as well as I. I. Anufriev, a member of the board of the partnership. Built in 1907-1908. in the ancient Pskov style with the introduction of features of Pomeranian 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 workshop of the Cosmos garment factory. Active restoration is currently underway.

Photo from 1991 (by aj1972)

Housed in a former transformer room Fedoseevskaya prayer house on Semenovskaya

And now a little about the buildings in which there were Old Believer churches or prayer houses.
Anyone driving along Baumanskaya Street could not help but notice what remained of the former bell tower 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 design of N.N. Blagoveshchensky, the same free-standing bell tower was built. The church belonged to the Nikolsko-Rogozhskaya Old Believer community (the so-called “Beglopopovskaya”). It is believed that upper part The bell tower is a miniature copy of the bell tower at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. In 1979, Karasev's house, where the Church of St. Catherine was located, was demolished, but the bell tower was preserved.

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

In Zamoskvorechye, on Bakhrushin, in a building that is now equipped and has a cinema in it, in former house Lubkova was House Old Believers (DOC) Kazan Church

Above I mentioned fellow believers. Edinoverie cannot be called Old Belief in the literal sense. Although they recognize the ancient liturgical rites (two fingers, service according to old printed books, etc.) and the way of life, BUT they also recognize the hierarchical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Still, I will tell you about their Moscow churches.
I talked about the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery above. I’ll tell you about three more temples.
On Taganskaya street, lom 20a is located Edinoverie Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on Studenets. It was built as a “New Believer” in the center of Semyonovskaya Sloboda in 1672-1673. (according to other sources 1699-1702) on the site of a 16th century temple. Rebuilt in 1712 (architect O. Startsev). The temple was closed in the 1920s. It was destroyed and remodeled. The factory dormitory 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 reconsecrated in 1996 as the center of the Moscow Edinoverie community.

In Lefortovo, on Samokatnaya there are two large churches nearby. 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. Edinoverie Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at Saltykov Bridge was built in 1817-1819. like a summer temple. A little later, in 1829, a winter (warm) Church of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple was erected next to it. The church belonged to the Trinity-Vvedenskaya (Newly Blessed) Old Believer, Edinoverie community. In 1931, the temple was closed. The temple building was successively occupied by housing, a warehouse, premises of a scientific institute, and a production workshop. Worship services were resumed in 1992.
, was located near the Rogozhskaya outpost, on the Vladimir highway (now the Entuziastov highway, the territory of the Hammer and Sickle plant). It was founded at the Newly Blessed Edinoverie Cemetery in 1862 in memory of the liberation of peasants from serfdom. It was finally established in 1866. In 1922 the monastery was closed. The territory was included in the Hammer and Sickle plant (former Goujon plant), the churches were demolished in 1934. The only surviving building is the one founded in 1873 St. Nicholas Church(Shosse Entuziastov, no. 7).

Currently disfigured and devoid of signs of the temple. Located at the intersection of the Third Ring Road and the Enthusiasts Highway. St. Nicholas Church was privatized in the early 1990s and is used as an office building.

The article touches on the existence of monasticism in the Old Believers, the ascetic feat of monasticism, the conditions of existence of Old Believer monasteries and monasteries in Tsarist Russia after the schism and before the revolution, as well as in Soviet times. The Old Believer Pomeranian women's monasteries that existed in Altai are considered: the Beloretsky monastery and the Ubinsk monastery.

At the very beginning of 1914, the All-Russian Congress of Old Believers took place in Moscow at the Rogozhskoe cemetery, at which, among other things, the issue “On monasteries and monasticism” was discussed. In the Old Believers, the problem is relevant to this day, because not everyone and not suddenly, the bishops believe, can be blessed for monastic feats:

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

Ideas about the benefits of desert living, about the need to escape from the sinful world into the saving “desert,” which 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: hermitage, the founder of which is the Monk Paul of Thebes, and the community life, founded by Anthony the Great and the Monk Pachomius the Great, who was also the author of the first written rule of monastic life.

The entire Christian preaching of desert living is based on general ideas: earthly life man is the arena of struggle between the forces of good and evil, God and Satan; The “sensory” world is hostile to God, because is filled with satanic networks, so a fight against it is necessary. In an effective way The struggle was recognized as an ascetic feat, the most acceptable for resisting the passions generated by the devil's machinations, since it was the communion with God of a soul not clouded by worldly thoughts. The main paths of the ascetic were prayer, fasting, i.e. the duty to work for the benefit of one’s own soul and body. At the same time, bodily well-being was valued very low, the hermit worked not so much for his own feeding, but because “physical labor done intelligently serves as a path to humility”, “physical labor brings the soul into humility”, “physical labor is done by spiritual virtues”, and also for the opportunity to give alms to the needy. The life of the desert-dwelling community was to be built on the same basis. And although history knows very large monastic farms, preference was often given to a small monastery, especially “in conditions of constant persecution from the state and the church”: then “the most viable secret monastery was precisely a small monastery, which in times of danger could quickly move, and in case of defeat, it easily regenerated in another place.”

Initially, “Σκήτις” ​​was a hermitage desert in Egypt, generally a hermit’s refuge or several cells located at a distance from Orthodox monastery. The skete, like the monastery, had its own charter, which, compared to the general monastery, was more strict.

The emergence of monasticism and the establishment of monasteries in the ancient Russian church dates back to the time of the adoption of Christianity. Moreover, as Russian historical sources show, in the affairs of monasteries, along with the monastic brethren, lay people also took part.

The desert lifestyle 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 monastery itself, especially in the provinces, primarily in Siberia. The monasteries were outside the official church and did not obey it. They did not depend on the state, but were persecuted by it, however, to a lesser extent than by the “official” church. As a rule, Old Believer Siberian monasteries found sympathy and support among local peasants from nearby and even distant villages. It is no coincidence that already in 1698 there was a ban 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, Old Believers were categorically forbidden to “start” monasteries and monasteries, as well as to call themselves monastery hostels, hermit-dwellers, etc.

“For establishing a monastery or other kind of dwelling, the criminal law subjected the perpetrators to punishment: imprisonment from 8 months. up to 1 year and 4 months, and everything arranged - to be destroyed 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 Old Believer monasteries, monasteries and monasteries was quite contradictory: on the one hand, the establishment of Old Believer monasteries was permitted by the Highest approved regulations of the Committee of Ministers of April 17, 1905 and the Highest Decrees of October 17, 1906. On the other hand , the same Highest acts allowed only the clergy of the Old Believers, registered with the communities, to be called by the name adopted at the time of tonsure, i.e. the question of Old Believer monasticism was kept silent. 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 Old Believers, but only at the age of thirty, without the right to exempt Old Believer monks from military service.

As we can see, the well-known palliative in solving the problems of the Old Believers continued to be preserved in the so-called “golden period”. And yet the monasteries existed, often arising and existing in the strictest secrecy.

What was it like? monastery 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 “were saved from the Antichrist and from the bosses or from the “Antichrist bosses”. The location of such a hut, sometimes several dozen miles from the nearest village, was not an obstacle to fairly close and frequent communications between them, especially in cases of extreme need, for example, the help of a mentor, an elder experienced in spiritual affairs, who could live at a considerable distance. Necessary for the religiously minded peasant world, these monasteries 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 appeared “to send monks and nuns to Siberian monasteries to admonish schismatics living near factories and, if they do not reform, to employ them in monastic work, and fugitives and other ranks of schismatics living in forests, to be employed in factory work, placing them in such a way that they have no communication with others." It is clear that all this was not an accident, because, wrote F. Melnikov,

“Old Believer monasteries and monasteries had a huge spiritual, educational and leadership[em. me. - L.D.] significance for the entire Old Believers."

N.N. also writes about the role of the mentor’s personality in the Old Believer and peasant environment. Pokrovsky:

“The famous Old Believer elder immediately occupies...a fairly prominent, in a sense, even leading position in this democratic environment, especially since he himself is very close to it in origin and way of life. His secret cell...already plays a significant role in the life of the first Russian inhabitants of the wild land.”

The monastery of nun Afanasia on the river. Ube

Another type of Old Believer monastery-monastery, more consistent with the traditional one, was described by G.D. Grebenshchikov in one of his essays. This Convent of Pomeranian Bespopovsky Concord, founded in 1899 on the bank of the river Uby in the Bukhtarma Valley . At first, 8 nuns lived there, separated from the Pomeranian community of Art. Vyazovaya, Ufa region, who “bought a loan 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. visited there. Grebenshchikov, there were 40 sisters in the monastery of different ages- from 14 years and older: 24 schema-nice, one who took a vow “to work for Christ all her life”, several novices and “...guests who have not determined their position and can leave the monastery, get married, etc.” Some of them came from the “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 (storeroom), also known as a kitchen. There was also a cemetery: “...over the 11 years of the monastery’s existence, 16 black crosses managed to grow on the hill.”

The life of the inhabitants was arranged by their with my own hands, their hard work. Each had certain responsibilities, but most of the most menial work was taken on by the abbess - Mother Iraida, who lived in the monastery for 45 years, from her youth. 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 at night, sleeps, therefore, 2-3 hours, and the rest of the time she is at work. Rising at 2 o'clock, at three she goes out to the chapel, where matins begins, ending at five, then after a short conversation right there, the hours begin and end at seven. After this, everyone goes to their cells, and there, having changed into work clothes, to the refectory, where, having had breakfast, they go to work, at 1 o'clock lunch, and at five - vespers, and after that, at eight o'clock, when everyone comes from work, dinner 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 tireless work of the abbess herself is evidenced by the fact that all 40 beds, the same number of chairs, tables, all the benches, plank partitions, various shelves - all this was made by her hands without a single blow with an ax from anyone else. Moreover, each bed, table or chair has a comfortable and spacious drawer inside.”

Purity and simplicity reigned in all rooms of the monastery. Unbleached walls and unpainted floors were washed until they were white. In the church, the walls were painted pink and the ceiling blue. The writer also noted the rich iconostasis - in five tiers. We further quote: “In front of the iconostasis there is a dais and a throne, next to which is an expensive Crucifix, entwined in a blue shroud, on the sides there are icons, and on the table there is a handwritten Gospel, bound in velvet with silver embossing, and on both sides there are unquenchable lamps.” As Grebenshchikov notes, “...everything is designed in the Old Russian style.”

As usual, the main work of nuns is prayer. 7-8 hours are devoted to general prayer in church. Those who accepted the schema prayed especially:

“...we must do...1500 bows, which are counted along the ladder. Of these, at least 300 are terrestrial and 700 are belt. The rest may be mild.”

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

It is unknown what happened to this women's monastery. 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 in any case reduced.” Most likely, gradually fading in the 20s. of the last tormented century, the monastery shared the fate of many like it. And the nuns? It's hard to say. This territory is now one of the “near abroad” - Eastern Kazakhstan. In the essay by G.D. Grebenshchikov preserved the true names of those with whom he happened to meet: mother Iraida, mother Apollinaria, mother Irina, mother Mokrida - but what were their names in the world? There was a 6-year-old girl there, “...the daughter of the Ust-Komenogorsk prasol and Old Believer Iv. Nikiforovich Fedorov..." What fate awaited these women?

Another of the Old Believer monasteries in Altai, also for women, of Pomeranian consent. He was located in the Sentelek volost in the Boshchelok district - “ Beloretsky Pomeranian monastery on the Belaya River", as he was called. The place where the monastery was located was made secluded by impassable mountains and forests, and even by the right tributary of the Charysh - the river. The white one he was standing on. Necessities were brought there only in winter, because... In summer it was impossible to travel by cart - only on horseback. Rumors about the monastery are surrounded by legends, especially since not only the inhabitants of the monastery are no longer alive, but those who knew them are also leaving us.

Founded, according to some sources, in 1912, according to others - in 1908, and perhaps even earlier, through the labors of nuns and voluntary assistants, the monastery was destroyed in 1930. By this time, 23 people lived in it, aged from 20 to 103 years . Human memory, as well as archival documents, cite the names of some of them: K.I. Gileva - “senior cowwoman”; 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; V.K. Gileva is the senior baker. Kelarsha was A.I. Kruglova, charterer - P.P. Aulova. The abbess of the monastery was called Ustinya Petrovna Bobrovskaya.

Ill. 1. Beloretsk monastery on the river. Belaya, a tributary of the Charysh

These women, marked by a “spark of holy attraction to heaven,” cut down both the church building and the rest of the monastery buildings from the local forest. The architecture of the church uses the basic principles inherent in Russian temple construction, but the forms are simplified. Such treatment of form, its interpretation, which tends to be somewhat schematic, are 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 arshins”), on the eastern side of which there was a small flat 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 stood an octagonal hipped bell tower, topped with a narrow and low, rather symbolic drum base, ending in a bulb with an eight-pointed cross [Ill. 1, p. 30]. The structure is half-covered by dense crowns of trees, in the background there is a fairly steep rocky mountain slope, overgrown with grass, bushes and sparse coniferous forest. The monastery was guarded “so that strangers or intruders would not appear” by the residents of the village. Families lived there, “but they had no relations with the monasteries.” 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 Beloretsky Convent.”

The territory of the monastery, according to an eyewitness, was fenced with a high plank fence, which, apparently, was built later than the photograph was taken. For convenience, a plank sidewalk was laid, and cells were located along it. “On the left side of the church there was a house where the abbess lived, old woman Ustinya. At the end of the row of cells there was a food warehouse. He was guarded by an angry 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 nuns of the Beloretsky monastery consisted of two groups: the elderly and the “ordinary young”. The clothes of both were black, their headdresses were different: the young wore headscarves, and the elderly wore “solid robes fastened in front with a pin” [Ill. 2, p. 32].

Ill. 2. Old Believer nun

The monastery was located, as it were, in a ring of villages and hamlets, 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, Vershina Baschelak, Bolshoi Baschelak, village. Aba, Mashenka village, Kedrovka village - “the monastery was surrounded by Old Believers all around,” “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 purchasing flour at the fair in Charysh, but there was enough milk and honey not only for the monastery inhabitants. During the period of dispossession, the organization of nuns’ labor was set as an example for collective farmers. The achievements were not accidental. As in the Uba monastery described by G.D. Grebenshchikov, the Beloretsk nuns worked, leaving no time for rest; in the Old Believers, any work is asceticism, the key to future spiritual salvation. These “practical conclusions of religion” (the expression of S.N. Bulgakov) have already been discussed above. Let us only note that there is no prospect of comparing the Old Believers with Protestants in their “secular asceticism,” the apotheosis of which among the Protestants was the “spirit of capitalism,” embodied in a rational approach to business and, as a consequence, excellent development of the economy. In this regard, it is appropriate, in our opinion, to compare the Siberian Old Believers with the Siberian Cossacks, about whom one of the articles says the following: “... the “spirit of capitalism” put forward by M. Weber and defined essentially as “inner-worldly asceticism” is not can be successfully and quickly extrapolated into Russian society because of Orthodoxy.” The Old Believer Orthodox community as a social organism has much in common with the Cossacks: both were forced to survive by adapting to extreme conditions; For both of them, the traditions of community and conciliarity turned out to be viable; among both of them there may be passionate individuals, “freedom-loving, seekers of truth and justice,” who have a philosophical attitude towards understanding success in life.

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

“The girl was given away by her parents two years ago, when she was four years old, and became so accustomed to the monastery that she did not want to go home...”

At the Beloretsky monastery village it operated 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 transforming it into a labor artel, so that the fruits of the active energy of the nuns would not pass by the Bolshevik mouths. The inverted government acted at its own discretion with religious organizations “separated from the state”, at its own discretion and ceased their existence, but at the same time tried to maintain the appearance of legality. What is the wording of one of the points of the document that liquidated the monastery worth: “In connection with deviations from the circular of the NKVD, NKYU, NKZ, RKI dated 16.VIII-21 on the use of former. monasteries by labor artels, the Beloretsk group of believers, which called itself the “Beloretsk labor artel”, in accordance with the decision of the group itself, on the basis of paragraph 60 of NKVD instruction M 328... to be liquidated.” And just above it was said: “... the existence of the Beloretsky Monastery, clothed, due to historical conditions, in a religious form under the flag of “Artel”[Ed. me. - L.D.], but changed its content towards communist aspirations, and continued to preserve the monastic way of life...,” - cause, effect - everything is mixed up! 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 skete-Old Believer bias of the monastery differs from the surrounding dogmatic Orthodoxy.” At the same time, it is still noted that in 1927 the “artel” was “issued a certificate of commendation for the cattle presented at the exhibition,” and further: “the economy, in connection with the taxation of the group as dispossessed since 1928, began to fall: from 29 cows left 9, from 46 sheep - 16, etc.” . Cynicism is no less shocking than the former imposition of a double capitation salary for the right to practice ancient Orthodoxy.

But the “discrepancies” do not end there. According to eyewitnesses, the decoration in the church was “extraordinarily beautiful, rich, decorated with gold”; “...the icons and gold were stolen, stolen, and buried here.” - “There are no revered shrines” in the monastery”, “cult property in the temple, included in the inventory, should be distributed to the state fund and to the closest groups of believers.” “...2. Resolution of the RIK in connection with the group’s petition to transfer the monastery for cultural purposes[em. me. - L.D.] satisfy. 3. The building of the monastery with all services should be transferred to the disposal of the RIK. ...Cultural property should be liquidated...”

According to the stories of V.S. Serdtsev, somewhere in the vicinity of the monastery, liturgical books were hidden in the ground (the Old Believers knew a 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 were perfectly preserved for several decades). They tried to find these books, but the grass, the undergrowth, the forest - everything had grown very much since then, and no one could remember the place.

On Russian soil, 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 performed processions of the cross, sometimes overcoming a difficult and long journey along mountain paths. Back at the beginning of the 20th century. monasteries were the center of culture, literacy and book education. Peasants from the surrounding area settlements They brought their children there to study and instill a love for their father’s 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 is not always objective, but purely reflecting a certain ideological attitude archival documents must be combined with oral history, which becomes difficult to do because Not all of the older generation who managed to tell the story leave, 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 of the XIIIth All-Russian Congress Old Believers // Church. No. 2. 1914.
• 2. Avva Dorotheos. Teachings, messages, questions, answers. Reprint. M.: Aktis, 1991 // Our venerable father Abba Dorotheus has soul-helping teachings and messages with the addition of his questions and answers to them from Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet. Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. Ed. 7. Kaluga: Printing house of A.M. Mikhailov, 1895.
• 3. Zolnikova N.D. Traditions of hesychasm in the hermitages of the Urals and Siberia of the 20th century. // Cultural heritage of medieval Rus' in the traditions of the Ural-Siberian Old Believers: Materials of the All-Russian. scientific conf. Novosibirsk, 1999.
• 4. Macarius (Bulgakov). History of the Russian Church. T. Sh. St. Petersburg, 1878.
• 5. Shcheglov I.V. Chronological list of the most important dates from the history of Siberia: 1032-1882. Surgut, 1993.
• 6. The Old Believer “church and social magazine “Church” for 1914 cites a number of government and later Duma documents regulating the organization and activities of Old Believer monasteries and monasteries, for example, Art. 49 “On the prevention and suppression of crimes” of the Decree on Punishments, ed. 1876; Art. 206 “Penal Code”; Regulations of the Committee of Ministers, Supremely approved in 1905, paragraph 6, section 11; Decree of April 17, 1905, paragraph 9; Regulations of the Committee of Ministers, Supremely approved, dated April 17, 1905, paragraph 7; Decree of October 17, 1906 Art. 31, section 1; Article 51 of the bill of the Third State. Duma, etc.
• 7. Pokrovsky N.N. Peasant escape and traditions of desert living in Siberia in the 18th century. // Peasantry of Siberia XVIII - early. XX century". (Class struggle, social consciousness and culture). Novosibirsk, 1975.
• 8. It is amazing how strict, constant and intense the secrecy was: only by some special secret signs were people found who knew the “place” where to find a “literate old man.” Of course, there were traitors [See: 7].
• 9. Melnikov F.E. Brief history ancient Orthodox (Old Believer) church. Barnaul, 1999.
• 10. Grebenshchikov G. D. The Uba River and the Uba people. Barnaul, 1911.
• 11. Decree of April 17, 1905 “On the principles of religious tolerance.” Melnikov F.E. A brief history of the Old Orthodox (Old Believer) Church. Barnaul: Publishing house. BSPU, 1999.
• 12. TsHAF AK. FR. 690. Op. 1. D.21.
• 13. Thanks to the memories 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 local history journalist N. Morozov, the history of the monastic monastery has not sunk into eternity. Evidence of the monastery has also been preserved in Old Believer literature: in the “Acts of the First All-Russian Council of Pomeranian Christians accepting marriage, which took place in the reigning city of Moscow in the summer of May 7417 (1909) from the creation of the world on days 1 to 11” there is a mention of it .
• 14. In the museum's funds p. Charysh contains a photograph transferred from the Altai Museum of Local Lore, which depicts the monastery church. Photo dated 1907. Indicated
• 15. According to V.S. Serdtsev, there were 26 inhabitants, ranging in age from 14 to 80 years.
• 16. We are talking about Professor P.S. Smirnov.
• 17. To a woman of the Old Believers // Church. 1914. No. 36. P.826-827.
• 18. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.6.
• 19. TsHAF AK. FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L. 12. Published: Documents on the history of churches and religious associations in the Altai Territory (1917-1998). Barnaul, 1999. P.216-217.
• 20. Bulgakov S.N. Two hail. A study on the nature of social ideals. St. Petersburg, 1997.
• 21. Dorofeev N.A. The evolution of the spiritual forces of the Cossacks in the process of developing the historical consciousness of the Russian nation // Slavism at the junction of centuries and worldviews. Part I. Barnaul, 2001.
• 22. In Maly Baschelak - Vvedenskaya Church (belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church); Panteleimonovskaya in Sentelek; in Charysh - Our Lady of Kazan. Only in the village The top is the “Kerzhatsky cathedral”, and the population of the surrounding area is mainly the “Kerzhatsky element”.
• 23. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.12, 12 rev.
• 24. Khromenko N.V., researcher at the local history museum of the village. Charysh.
• 25. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.12 vol.
• 26. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.1.
• 27. The late S.I. Pirogov said that in Barnaul, behind the yeast factory, where the strange lopsided street-path named after. Shtilke (who did so much for Barnaul and received nothing better!), under the mountain, under the territory known as Morozova Dacha, there was an Old Believer monastery. An Old Believer himself, Sergei Ivanovich could not be mistaken. And ten years ago, local children, among the abandoned apple orchard that was still there, under the Morozovaya Dacha, found characteristic crosses. There is no other information about this monastery.