Old believer monastery. Monasteries on the Transfiguration. And what prompted you to go to the monastery

Extensive material about the only Old Believer convent in Russia, the citadel of Orthodoxy, located near the city of Uglich, in the picturesque village of Uleime. About life in the monastery, which takes place in accordance with the ancient monastic charters, as well as interviews with its inhabitants.

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

This treasure is the only Old Believer convent in Russia, located near the city of Uglich, the citadel of Orthodoxy, in the picturesque village of Uleime. The life of the monastery proceeds in accordance with the ancient monastic charters, which means that the main part of the daily cathedral service is performed at night, instead of sleep, which is so necessary for the flesh.

Prayer in the middle of the night is a great thing, say the holy fathers.

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

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

The doors of the monastery are open to all pilgrims, Orthodox Christians, who are ready to put aside worldly affairs for a while and taste the fruits of night prayer. Phone, address of the monastery you will find at the end of the publication. The bank card number is also posted there for those who wish to provide material assistance in restoring the decoration of the ancient Russian shrine.

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Interview with the abbess of the monastery mother Olympias

Mother, tell me, for Christ's sake,

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

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

By profession, I am a civil engineer, I worked as the head of the production department in a good place - in the Capital Construction Department of the City Executive Committee. There were many relatives, acquaintances, friends, colleagues, who subsequently helped me diligently in the construction of the temple. And most importantly, there was a great desire to work in such a charitable cause.

A year later, with God's help, our only Orthodox Old Believer church in Omsk was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. They bought basic liturgical books, learned to read, sing along hooks, and held all the festive and Sunday services. All my numerous relatives supported me and helped. Old Believers from all over the Omsk region began to gather. What wonderful years they were in my life! What kind, God-loving people were in the parish, headed by our spiritual father Father Michael!

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

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

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

Traveling alone with my sister Evgenia was not difficult: she was easy-going. Having been blessed by Vladyka Siluyan for the trip, we were already at the monastery on Radunica. We lived here for 20 days: we prayed, worked hard, got acquainted with monastic life. Here for the first time I read books about monasticism, about true ascetics who left everything and everyone they had in the world and followed Christ. At that time, the monastery was headed by Matushka Varsonofia, now a nun-schema. Three elderly women lived with her then.

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

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

We got on the train. In my head and before my eyes, Matushka Varsonofia with her request to move to the monastery, to help her. I understood that I had to step from the footboard of the train to the Omsk land with a firm decision: Lord, Thy will, I give myself into Thy hands, lead me according to Thy Providence! I lay down on the shelf and began to remember my whole life: I lived poorly, I lived richly, not denying myself pleasures. At first it was interesting, and then this wealth began to weigh me down. It's not mine, it's not for my soul. The words from the Holy Gospel came to mind not to seek wealth on earth, but to seek the Kingdom of Heaven. As written for me. Truly, there is no closer to perdition and more unfortunate than people who do not have a Mentor in the path of God.

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

Six months later, I accepted the monastic rank - a second birth - with the name nun Olympias. A new life has begun for me. I described this event in verses.

Shorn, or rebirth

Temple of the Holy Trinity Trinity,
A wonderful Temple, nuns pray here.
But for me today it is especially great, -
I am an angel here accepting the rank.

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

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

The Lord saw my sorrow, sent me joy
And shed tears of repentance.
Evangelical mother comforts a little audibly,
The abbess looks sternly and shakes her head.

The insight came, I realize and see everything.
I reproach and hate myself for my life in the world.
With me, Mary, a spiritual sister, is standing in a shirt.
So I'm a twin again!

We were put on a kamilavka, a cassock.
Evangelical believing voice:
We ask Your, O Christ, vow
And we ourselves make a vow before You with an answer.

Bishop Siluyan is calm, he knows his business.
So he says, so that every word will settle in the soul.
He is not in a hurry, he does everything necessary:
And decently, faithfully and sedately.

Here on my head he tonsured a Humenian,
But the main thing is waiting for us at the end.
The apostle the gospel mother put on,
And paramand, like the Shield and the Symbol of the Right Faith.

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

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

The "Holy God" singers sang.
It's done! Put on the mantle!
That - the betrothal is great - of the angelic rank,
Clothes of purity, incorruptibility and joys abyss.

And I exclaim in delight:
“O Mother of God, I place all my hope in You,
Don't let me die in a sinful ditch
But save me in Your Si blood!”

Mothers rejoice with me. I'm very happy!
From now on, I am the nun Olympias.
They called their twin sister Mother Manefa,
After all, we were cut at the same time.

Vladyka Siluyan is pleased: no matter how you marvel,
With his zeal, two nuns were born into the world.
Holy Master, we sincerely thank you for this.
God bless you, many years!

The lamps are dimmed, I invisibly feel the Holy Spirit...
We bow to the abbess of the earth.
"It is worthy to eat" ends the chorus,
And with candles they lead us to the gate.

How was life here at that time?

There was complete chaos here. The largest building of the monastery is Nikolsky five-domed cathedral. The middle part of the building - between the temple and the bell tower - was completely destroyed, and what remained from 1609, from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention, was in a deplorable state. Not in the best condition were other churches - the Most Holy Life-Giving Trinity and the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

In 1917, the Soviet authorities closed the monastery, transferring the property to museums. And then it housed: a granary, a school, a camp for prisoners, an orphanage and a psycho-neurological boarding school.

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

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

The most important thing in the monastery is the daily service according to the charter: a full circle of worship with evening and night congregational prayer. According to the Holy Fathers, great power ascends from the place where the prayer of God's servants is offered to God for the whole world. I am sure that the Lord will hear and have mercy on us. This is how we, the monks, add our two mites, like the widow of the Gospel, in the hope of rejoicing the Lord, who will grant us humility and strength, reason and long-suffering, a crown and joy.

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

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

That is why Christ invites us:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls...

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

Our monastery nourishes Bishop of Yaroslavl-Kostroma Vikenty (Novozhilov). Kind, God-loving, tireless prayer book. But the load on him is very large, so he can come to us only 5-6 times a year to take confession and take communion. And for this, thank God, and Vladyka Vikenty many, many years, good health and spiritual salvation. Approximately once a month Father Anatoly Nosochkov from near Yaroslavl comes to visit us for the twelfth holidays.

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

They say that this place is sacred, that during the Time of Troubles the enemies brutally dealt with the locals on the territory of the monastery…

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

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

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

It is the world that needs to be hated. It is difficult for a worldly person to understand. This word hurts his ears. But it is absolutely correct. You can't pick another word. How can you not hate the world? If, having risen to the vigil, we think instead of praying: how are our children doing, are they healthy, have they gone to church? Having gone to the monastery, the monk left both his relatives and children to the mercy and will of God. Can we, people, do something better than the Lord God, if we have already missed something while living in the world?

I left my children in the arms of Nicholas the Wonderworker. This is our family patron. He saved my parents. They drowned, on a sleigh they fell through the ice with a horse. And they only remember how they shouted: “Nikola the Wonderworker, help!” We woke up on the beach. The horse is standing, covered in frost. Wet to the skin, they sit in a sleigh. Well, who could take them out? They are completely covered in ice! Dad was the first to wake up. Mom touched - stirred. Live! The horse whipped and she brought them home. As soon as we drove into the yard, they told us: “Girls, unharness the horse and don’t ask us anything! Take her to the cow to warm up and give her warm water to drink!” And they themselves immediately went to the red corner, the water flows from them, and they prayed like that until the very morning. Then they told us everything.

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

Mother, how old are you?

What parting word, advice will you give to the youth of the world?

So that the road of every Christian from home to the temple would not be overgrown. Visiting the temple, bringing your children to the cathedral prayer, confessing, taking communion - this is the most important thing. After all, only sincere confession with great faith and prayer can save a person. We sin at every step. Now in the world computers are everywhere, the Internet and so on. There is a lot of entertainment. And these are all the devil's nets. In no case should children be allowed to watch whatever they want. Only acceptable programs for a Christian are at the discretion and under the control of parents.

What do you need to be and what to do in order to be called an Orthodox Christian and be worthy of salvation?

This question seems to be superimposed on the previous one. If a person goes to church, if he loves his children, he will give them communion, and not just feed them. The sow, after all, also fattens her piglets, but she is called a sow. Forgive me for Christ's sake for such a comparison. The love of Christian mothers for their children is certainly greater than this. As the Lord God himself bequeathed - you need to live according to the commandments. Pray to God and confess more often. Not once a year. At least in each of the four posts, if possible. And take the children to communion more often. Babies, even more so.

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

Of course, any sane Old Believer can come to pray and help with the housework. Everyone will certainly receive great benefit for the soul from God if they pray in the monastery diligently, with faith. Only in advance you need to warn about the arrival by phone, otherwise we have an influx of guests that there is even nowhere to accommodate everyone. Welcome!

Interview with the first abbess of the monastery, nun-schema Varsonofia

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

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

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

Yes. Previously, in secular temples, they prayed at night, especially during Great Lent. There is a lot of work in the monastery, so if we sleep at night and come to the temple in the morning, we won’t be able to do anything about the housework. And you also need to pray your own rule.

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

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

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

I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.

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

When is it better to come to the monastery if you decide to devote yourself to monastic life?

Any age. Previously, they lived in monasteries and from the age of 15. This is how people were brought up. At the age of 20-25 they took tonsure. There are 20-30-year-old nuns in the Romanian monastery even now. There the monastic life did not stop, but here in Russia it was destroyed. Until 1998, there was no convent in the Church. And how many of them used to be in the forests? All of them were closed.

I knew a schema nun who entered a monastery at the age of 20 and lived in monasticism during the most terrible years of persecution by the Soviet authorities. After the ruin of the monastery, she did not go to prison or camps, but was taken as a nanny to a military family. She lived to be 98 years old, having lived in the monastic rank for 78 years!

You can become a monk at any age, from young to the end of your life. Some, just before their death, think about taking the monastic rank, since tonsure covers all sins, just like Holy Baptism. The monk receives a new sinless life in Christ and a new name. Of course, the sooner a person comes to the monastery, the better, so that he can work hard, repent of his former sins, and then begin a new pure life.

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

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

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

And what are the spiritual dangers in monastic life?

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

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

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

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

Interestingly, is monasticism a calling, a talent given by God, or is it available to everyone?

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

People have lost their faith. Monasteries were closed and destroyed. I also found the convent of Kazan, which was located in Moldova, in the large Old Believer village of Kunicha. I prayed there during Easter week in 1958. More than 30 nuns lived in the monastery, they had their own priest priest Hippolyte, every day a liturgy was performed. What a beauty it was! White adobe houses-cells on the slope, between them lined with brick paths. Apples, apricots, cherries blossomed. Everything is white-white! Paradise corner!

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

What parting word can you give to modern Old Believer youth?

Pray as much as possible! Read more, since now there are a lot of spiritual books that you should definitely read.

Blitz-interview with the nun Afanasia

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

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

And why did you decide so?

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

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

Under Bishop Joseph, I worked in the Metropolis for six years. Then she helped Bishop Nikodim, Bishop Anastassy, ​​Bishop Alympius, Bishop Andrian. When Metropolitan Kornily, the sixth Bishop in my memory, headed the department, I was already more than 60 years old.

They began to say that Anna Vasilievna would die here. I don't think so, I don't need it. I decided that as soon as my mother died, I would go to the monastery to save my soul - that's why I came here.

I buried my mother. She raised two sons. And what is left for me to do? Just go to the monastery.

But after all, only a few go to the monastery, even in old age. In the world, at home, life is easier, more convenient.

What should I do there, in Moscow? Changed buses, trolleybuses. We used to just get on the bus. Now there are "traps": you enter only through the first door, you only exit through the others, you definitely need special cards. It had a big effect on me, a lot. I did not draw up these cards, I do not need it. I think I will go to a monastery and live here in peace. To get to the temple in Moscow, I had to wait for transport for at least half an hour, or even an hour or more. Therefore, I can’t come to the temple every day. I asked Fr. Viktor for a blessing to go to the monastery, received it in my second year and ended up here, as I remember now, on March 1, 2006. I met Mother Abbess back in Moscow, when I visited her in the hospital, where she was lying with a broken arm. She then told me - come to the monastery. He says that on the 5th, two hermits will be taken out from us, you'll see. And after this trip, I already had one monastery in my thoughts, so I liked it here.

And how old are you?

Why did you take the schema?

Because my health has deteriorated. I thought, not today, tomorrow I will die. So I asked both my mother and the bishop. They took and cut their hair, in 2012. And I still live and live. This is the sixth Great Lent since I received the schema. The schema woman must pray without ceasing, and be in solitude as much as possible. And I'm in poor health. I had to have an operation. But I try. How will the Lord accept?

Don't forget God. Go to the temple, at least on holidays. Not only in the temple, but also at home to pray, albeit a little, but it is necessary to pray so that the Lord does not depart from us.

Do not leave me, O Lord my God, do not depart from me... Take help to my help, O Lord of my salvation.

If possible, of course. The world is very rich now. Pulls towards you. It is rare that someone lives on a small salary, they try to earn as much as possible, somewhere, maybe, to be cunning. The world is the world, what will you do? But still, one can perish in a monastery, and one can be saved in the world. I don’t know how young people are now, for example, I had such an upbringing. Mother said: when you go, say a prayer to Isusov, if you sit, say a prayer to Isusov. Wherever you are, whatever you do. Now all the women in a row are wearing pants. What is this for? It is better? Under no circumstances should we wear men's clothing. A woman should be in her own clothes. And then she goes, not a man, not a woman. All in a row go without headscarves. I don’t want to boast, but no matter what I am, I never went anywhere without a headscarf in marriage. I've always been in a headscarf, always.

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

Don't talk to anyone about anything useless. If to speak, then only sensible. Less walking around. This is completely unnecessary. Try to be as private as possible. Don't condemn. First of all, do not forget God. And the Lord will not forget and will not allow such a person to perish. If you strive only for God and think about salvation, then, of course, the Lord will definitely help. Good deeds must be done. Work. I got up at home - prayed, thanked God that the day had begun, that you were alive. You go to work, you pray. At work, do not be rude to anyone, do nothing wrong, help. When you return home, you also thank God. And the Lord will help in everything.

Blitz-interview with the nun Anna

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

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

Were you a novice before your tonsure?

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

And how old are you?

Now 89 years old. I am the oldest here.

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

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

Isn't it better for your soul? We are not laymen. We also pray at night. It is difficult to get up at night to pray. And we get up, we go.

What do you need to be and what to do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be worthy of salvation?

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

Blitz interview with mother Valeria

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

Because I have dreamed about it for a long time. Everything did not work out, but the Lord nevertheless brought me here, I have been here for four years.

What motivated you to join a monastery?

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

How old are you?

I am 74 years old.

What parting words, advice will you give to modern Old Believer youth? Based on my experience.

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

The purpose of the Christian life is to merit the salvation of the soul. What needs to be done for this? What is this path to salvation? How to be an Orthodox Christian in truth?

Serve the Lord God, each according to his ability. Attend church, observe all holidays, do not forget to pay tithes. Obey all the commandments of the Lord God. They have everything you need. The Lord is always with us. He is waiting only for our voice. When we say from the bottom of our hearts: God help me!“He will always help. It seems like such a simple prayer - " Alive in help...', and she's a lifesaver. How many cases do I know that those who served in Afghanistan were saved from death by this prayer, wearing it in a tunic.

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

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

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

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

And when did you come to the monastery?

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

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

To be humble, kind, not to be angry with anyone. Someone offended you, called you names, but you don’t react to it, don’t be nervous, just say: “ Forgive me, for Christ's sake!". And we are emerging… There is nothing to say about the monastery, the modern youth of the local severity will not stand it. I didn't think it would be so hard either. We must have our own products, and therefore the garden is large. Ten ladders need to pray at night. She prayed and went to the night service. I rested for an hour, ate - and went to work, except for holidays. Getting up at night is hard. We are a weak people now.

What do you need to be and what to do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be worthy of salvation?

I think it's very difficult. You need to pray a lot, work a lot. Be meek, humble. You can’t even look at anyone with reproach, only speak good things about everyone. I myself do not hope for salvation. It happens that I get offended at someone. Or have a fight with someone. Thank God that we do not leave prayer, here we are very strict with this. It's hard to be saved... Is anyone being saved now...

Blitz-interview with mother Marina (now departed to the Lord)

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

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

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

Pray young. And old age is very hard. Even since childhood. Even in the womb, if she takes communion, she bears fasts. Love for prayer should be instilled from childhood, from the cradle, when the little one is brought to Communion. And how to be young, I don’t know. Young people rarely come to the temple now. Because it's hard. And disbelief at such and such an age already. And when all this is instilled from childhood, then it is easier.

What should one be and what should one do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be worthy of salvation?

You need to have a great will to force yourself. After all, we are called "necessaries" - you have to force yourself. For example, praying is sometimes so lazy, so weak. And we must fight it. The most important thing is to cut off your will and force yourself. It is necessary to pray and fast - to do everything, albeit under duress. Our bodies are very demanding. If we work, pray, keep all the commandments and rules, help others, be merciful and humble, then we will be Christians.

Blitz interview with novice Zinaida

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

Because my mother and I lived far from the temple. Before it had to get sometimes two hours or more due to traffic jams, three transports. And my mother was already weak and was very worried about me that I was returning late. In general, I have long had a desire to get away from the world, from this fuss. I called my mother, she did not agree. We have earned pensions, but what else can we do in the world? I just wanted to work in the monastery. I still have no goal to get a haircut, to devote myself to monastic life, because this is a feat. I just want to help mothers as a novice, according to my strength. I believe that the Lord brought me and my mother here, we did not come by ourselves. The Lord directs each person, inspires desire.

How many years have you lived in the monastery?

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

And how old are you?

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

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

Pray, learn the church charter, singing. In my time, how difficult it was to find someone to teach you! I wanted so badly to learn hook singing! I was then 22 years old. I go to one, then to another. Nobody can teach me. If anyone taught, it was done in such a way that others did not know anything about it. Everything was hidden. For young people, the main thing is to go to the temple. And the Lord Himself will instruct which way to go in order to save the soul.

What do you need to be and what to do in order to be called a true Orthodox Christian and be worthy of salvation? How do you answer this question for yourself?

We ourselves have not achieved this, how can we give advice? I have so many shortcomings. How did the Lord say? Keep the commandments. And I break them more. I didn't do anything, really. We came here to work and pray in the hope of saving our souls.

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

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

Why is salvation in a monastery better than in the world?

We do not know. And here you can not get salvation, and in the world you can be saved. Watch how you behave. So it depends not on the place, but on the person. If the nun will obey, do everything that the mother says, of course, she will be closer to salvation. And if he condemns or grumbles, then what salvation can there be? Here such a struggle goes on with oneself ... The main thing here is to bear obedience to mother, to obey her in everything. There must also be obedience in the world. For example, I worked at the temple and, of course, obeyed. What the priest tells us, we did.

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

Nuns of the monastery

Up to 15 nuns live in the monastery.

« Today, the age of the inhabitants is 50 years and older., says Reverend Vincent, Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma. — There are nuns who are over 85 years old, but all of them, with God's help, fulfill their Christian duty. I would like to see representatives of the younger generation in the monastery who want to endure the difficult monastic life. The spiritual indicator of Christian society at all times has been the desire of people to devote their lives to God in their youth, and the lives of the saints so richly testify to this. If a person has such a desire, then it must be tremblingly cultivated as a noble tree, so that in the future it will bring a rich harvest, as it comes at the instigation of the Holy Spirit. Acceptance of monasticism in youth is a grace-filled beginning of spiritual life, because a precious gift is placed on the altar of God - the flourishing years of life.

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

History of the monastery

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

According to legend, the monastery was founded monk Varlaam, who brought here the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the Italian city of Bar. The elder-wanderer Varlaam, a Rostov monk, goes to Greece, Palestine and Italy, to the city of Bar, in order to fulfill his cherished dream - to bow to the tomb of St. Nicholas.

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

However, as soon as he moved 12 versts from Uglich to the Uleima River, he felt very tired here in a deserted, wooded place, so that he could not continue his journey further. Then the monk Varlaam stopped, put the image of St. Nicholas on a pine tree between the branches, and after praying, lay down on the ground and fell asleep. Waking up after a short sleep, he got up and wanted to remove the icon from the tree in order to go on again, but as soon as he touched the icon, his hands immediately weakened, and the icon did not move from the tree.

For the second and third time he tried to take the miraculous icon, and all to no avail. The old man was embarrassed by this and, not knowing what to do, lay down in grief and fell asleep. At night, there is a new appearance of St. Nicholas to the elder, who hears the words of the miracle worker:

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

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

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

The inhabitants of the surrounding areas built a chapel near the road to Rostov, and the image was transferred there.

The fame of miracles from the image of St. Nicholas reached the prince of Uglich Andrey Vasilyevich. Joyfully accepting the news of this grace of God bestowed on his land, the prince himself arrived in a secluded place to the miraculous image to worship him. Here, during a thanksgiving prayer service to the saint, he himself was honored to be a witness that many who prayed with him who were sick, according to their faith and prayer, became completely healthy. Then Prince Andrei wished that a temple named after the saint be built on this site. He immediately informed the Archbishop of Rostov of his desire Joasaph.

Attracted by the glory of the miraculous image, Vladyka himself wanted to see it and arrived at this place to the marvelous icon in 1464 and also witnessed many miracles from her. Having honored the miraculous image with divine services, he joyfully blessed this mysterious monastic place and praised the Christ-loving prince and those who prayed for their diligence in building a monastery on the site of the image.

Thanks to the generosity of many God-loving and wealthy Uglichians, cells of monks and a fence appear. A considerable monastic herd is gathering. Prince Andrei Vasilyevich donates land, books and other church utensils to the monastery. And the miraculous image of St. Nicholas is decorated with silver, gold and precious stones.

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

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

The monastery was surrounded by a wooden wall. According to letters Tsar Vasily Ioannovich(1505-1533) and John Vasilyevich she owned several villages and villages. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Nikolo-Uleiminsky Monastery was in such a flourishing state that the chronicler calls it "wonderful and beautiful." The location of the monastery on a busy road also contributed to its enrichment and prosperity.

In 1609 terrible trials began for the monastery. Together with the entire Russian land, the Nikolo-Uleiminsky Monastery suffered during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. According to the chronicle, when, having plundered Uglich, the regiments of the Polish king Zhigmont approached the monastery, the monks and residents of the village of Uleimy and other surrounding villages, led by hegumen Varsonofy, closed the gates, preventing the monastery from being plundered. The brethren and other defenders of the monastery closed themselves in the cathedral church, served the liturgy there and partake of the Holy Mysteries. Abbot Barsanuphius, wanting to save the civilians who had taken refuge in the temple, went out together with 27 monks to the enemies. Having made prayer singing and kissing each other, they went out of the gate. The monks were in ceremonial attire, they carried icons and banners, they walked singing, wanting to convince the Poles to spare the monastery and the people. Like lions, the Lithuanians rushed to the abbot and cut off his head. Enemies broke into the open gate and killed the monks, then tried to enter the cathedral. Embittered by the resistance of the defenders of the monastery, the Poles and Lithuanians undermined the walls of the monastery cathedral, under which there were deep cellars, and blew up the cathedral. The temple collapsed with deafening thunder, which was heard ten miles away. Two thousand defenders of the monastery died under the rubble of the cathedral: monks, peasants with their wives and children.

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

The light flickers in the lamp.
Here children's crying and the smell of candles,
And outside the window splashes ominously
Hissing foreign speech.

There are representatives of Europe,
Doing hard work
Digging under the church
Kegs of gunpowder are carried.

It's hard for the unfortunate:
Who is the winner - the argument is over,
A heavy explosion shook the area.
Donkey, the cathedral crumbled.

Calm Uleima flows
From the forest swamp side.
Goggles death empty walleye
Because of the broken wall.

The whole region was plundered and wounded.
Enemies tear the living body,
Native Rus' on the battlefield
Pozharsky and Minin are called.

The most beautiful of them, the Poles and Lithuanians, and this beautiful and wondrous monastery, came running and, having sat down, like a hundred bees and like wolves of the yard of this verbal sheep, forcibly, if you want to take it soon. The abbot, brethren, and worldly people strongly resisted, but a great number of "evil enemies" overcame them. Then they went to the cathedral church, celebrated the Divine Liturgy, confessed, partake of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, prepared for the hour of death. Hegumen Barsanuphius ordered the brethren and all who were in the church not to be afraid of death, “but rather rejoice, as if they were worthy of a martyr’s death, and the martyrs inherit the Kingdom of Heaven by the beaten.” “The penitent of Lithuania, who are on guard, as if lions are rushing at the reverends and hegumen Barsanuphius cut off the head.” "Polyakov (...) began to chop swords for the brethren and cut and cut twenty-seven and cut them into pieces."
Okoyany execution intent: ditches deep around the cathedral church trenches and the foundation of a sublomish. Monks and elicehs of the world, in the church of the former, all beating the falling church building. And the servants who remained in the monastery say that up to fifty monks who remained in the church were beaten by a stone building, while there are 2 thousand worldly people. Ten versts in the forest, the covered Christians could hardly hear the thunder of the church, who came in time and said authentically: like thunder resounded through the forests and valleys, and the earth trembled to its bowels.

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

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

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

The construction of the new Nikolsky Cathedral on the basement of the former began in the 1620s, but the cathedral was consecrated only on May 9, 1677 by Rostov Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich.

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

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

Nikolsky Cathedral is now completely under restoration.

Unusual in composition Vvedenskaya Church. It was probably built on the remains of the walls of the first church of the same name, destroyed by the Poles. The building combines: the actual church, living quarters, refectory. On the first floor there was a bread, kvass chamber, a cookery, pantries and two state-owned chambers for any mundane shifting. From the north adjoining the building is a smartly decorated porch with descents on two sides. Above the western wall rises a small but graceful bell tower, under which there were in the past “a fighting clock with half an hour”. From the east it ends with an altar apse.

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

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

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

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

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Nikolo-Uleiminsky Monastery had become one of the most prominent spiritual and cultural centers of the region. He enjoyed great love not only in the surrounding villages and villages, but also among the people of Uglich for the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Myra, the miracle worker, for the solemn service, for exemplary housekeeping, for the wonderful ringing of bells heard in the city.

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

Monastery today

On February 28, 1992, the authorities transferred the shrine to the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. At first the monastery was male. But due to circumstances, since 1998, he began to revive as a woman. The abandoned shrine was in a deplorable state. The main gates to the monastery - the Saints - have been lost, residential buildings and vegetable gardens are located in front of them. The modern entrance to the monastery is located in the eastern wall of the monastery fence - through the Water Gate.

Having entered them, we find ourselves in the far part of the territory of the monastery - the east, and not in the main - west. At the same time, almost all the monastic buildings can be seen very well. From the gate, passing through an alley of centuries-old lindens, you will get to the main square of the monastery. You can also get here through an alley of young birches, rounding the Vvedenskaya Church on the right.

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

Much work has been done on the restoration of the Vvedenskaya Church. The interior of the church itself, the refectory, part of the cells, the entrance to the living quarters with a staircase on two sides were remade. A ladder in the wall leads to the bell tower.

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

The day in the monastery begins at 15.30: the correct canons, Vespers and Compline are read in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity. After the vigil, the nuns work in obedience, do household chores, then, until 9 p.m., they make a cell rule. From 21:00 to 1:30 - rest, after which a night service is performed until 6:30: Midnight Office, Matins, Hours. From 6.30 - morning rest until 8 o'clock. At 9.00 - lunch. After lunch until 13:00 - chores. Then - cell prayers before the start of the cathedral evening service at 15.30.

There is also time for needlework: weaving ladders, sewing, and restoring liturgical books. In the forests that stretch around the monastery, there are a lot of mushrooms, from chanterelles to porcini, as well as berries: blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries. A lot of time is required for household work: gardening, in the flower garden, in the poultry house, on the territory and for cleaning the premises. Each inhabitant bears obedience. It is obedience that leads to one of the highest monastic virtues - humility. Humility attracts the help of God. It is good in this holy place to retire from all worldly temptations and fuss.

Through the reading of the books available in the small monastic library - the Holy Scriptures, as well as the writings of the Fathers and the Church - the truth of spiritual life and wisdom is known. Spiritual strength and spiritual consolation come from God in the heart of man. Not only do the nuns beg for their salvation, but also their living and deceased relatives, according to legend, up to the seventh generation.

The days of the name day of the inhabitants are not forgotten either. The monastery is spiritually nourished mainly by the Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma himself. Vincent. Metropolitans of Moscow and All Rus' came here repeatedly. Priesthood and those wishing to visit the monastery come from everywhere - to help in any way they can, and simply set foot on such sacred monastic land, watered with the martyr's blood of Orthodox Christians.

A couple of days ago, I already laid out a report about the all-Russian center of the Old Believers-priests. Today I will continue the Old Believer theme of Moscow, and talk about the Preobrazhensky community - one of the most important centers in Russia of the Old Believers-priestlessness, which arose at the end of the 18th century almost simultaneously with Rogozhsky.
Compared to the Rogozhsky settlement, the Preobrazhenskaya community is somewhat poorer in architectural terms - but this pays off with its non-triviality and atmosphere.
Among other things, here are photographs from the territory of the Fedoseevsky community, the entrance to which is closed to outsiders.

The Preobrazhenskaya community is located on Preobrazhensky Val Street, which, passing into Izmailovsky Val Street, connects the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad and Semyonovskaya metro stations. The way from the station to the station is about 1.5 kilometers, the monastery is located approximately in the middle - the southern tip is closer to "Semyonovskaya", the northern one to "Preobrazhenskaya".
I went there from "Semyonovskaya" - a view of Izmailovsky Val street, the skyscraper of the Sokolinaya Gora business center above the metro station.

The domes belong to the Church of All Saints at the former Semyonovsky cemetery (1855) - but let them not be misled: the Preobrazhenskaya community is not visible from Semyonovskaya, but you have to go to it in the opposite direction.

Like the Rogozhskaya community, the Preobrazhenskaya community arose in 1771 in connection with the plague epidemic. Also: a mass grave for the deceased Old Believers behind the Kammer-Kollezhsky Wall, the activities of large Old Believer merchants, Catherine II's permission to build churches. Here a special role was played by the merchant Ilya Kovylin, who organized the almshouse and sponsored large-scale construction. And since Kovylin was a Fedoseevite (one of the largest denominations of priestlessness), the Preobrazhensky community became the center of this denomination, and indeed of priestlessness in general, in Russia.

In 1854, the community was closed and transferred to fellow believers (that is, Old Believers who recognized the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate), later Bespopovtsy returned here, and by the end of the 20th century, in the re-drinking of the Soviet era, the Preobrazhenskaya community became the center of three main bespopov confessions at once: Pomorskaya, Fedoseevskaya and Filippovskaya .

The monastery, built in the late 18th - early 19th century, is distinguished by a very complex and unusual structure. It is believed that its prototype was the Vygoretskaya hermitage in Karelia - the center of the Pomeranian consent, destroyed in the middle of the 18th century. The Transfiguration Monastery repeated its layout, and consisted of two parts, closely adjacent to each other: male and female.
The southern part is male, older, smaller and highly modified. In 1851 it was converted into the St. Nicholas Convent of the same faith.

The entrance to the monastery is through the Exaltation of the Cross gate church, rebuilt in 1854 (the domes were built on) from the Old Believer prayer house (that is, the prayer house) built in 1801.

Inside view:

The Preobrazhenskaya community is remarkable for its amazing stylistic unity - it is a "false Gothic". The authorship of the buildings was attributed to Bazhenov for a long time, now the authorship of the architect Fyodor Sokolov seems more reliable. "False Gothic" - one of the most original styles of the late 18th century, generally took root among the Old Believers, apparently in contrast to the "Hellenic" classicism.

Entrance to the territory of the Nikolsky Monastery is free, the attitude towards photographers is adequate. The main part of the parishioners are old women, but there are also colorful personalities: for example, when I was in the monastery, two Cossacks in uniforms of the Don Army entered the monastery.
Opposite the Exaltation of the 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. It was re-consecrated into the St. Nicholas Church in 1854, at the same time it was rebuilt, including an apse that was unnecessary for the bespriests. Now in the building of the church there are two temples of different confessions, separated by a blank wall: the Nikolskaya Church of the New Believers "in front" and the Assumption Pomorskaya "behind" - an unprecedented case!

Nicholas Church:

Inside - quite an ordinary Orthodox church.

The Church of the Assumption is the main temple of the Pomeranian consent, the oldest of the bespopovsky consents.

And the amazing pseudo-Gothic decor on its walls is clearly some kind of Masonic signs that could only be embodied on an Old Believer church.

By the way, initially not a single church of the Transfiguration community was called a "church" - there were either prayer rooms or chapels. The Assumption Chapel became a church, apparently, only under fellow believers, having received an apse, and then this name spread throughout the community.
Around St. Nicholas Assumption Church, different views:

The side buildings are separated from the church by a fence (although all this is the territory of the monastery, however, the monastery fence is dilapidated), they contain buildings of the Pomeranian consent.

The bell tower, built already under fellow believers, in the 1870s - although it is designed in the same style with the original buildings, it differs slightly from them:

Here is such a strange place where the paths of different cultures intertwined, and paradoxes coexist with other paradoxes.

Fifty meters north of the Nikolsky Monastery, between the parking lot and the brick building of the tuberculosis dispensary, the Fedoseevsky community hid in the former female part of the Preobrazhenskaya community.

Corps and fence. The architectural ensemble of this part has been preserved almost unchanged since the time of construction, and the female part itself was more extensive and orderly. Now all of it belongs to the Fedoseevites - the second in time of occurrence (1706) and the largest current of priestlessness, which broke away from the Pomortsy due to the fact that they collaborated with the "power of the Antichrist" - for example, they prayed for the tsar. Fedoseevtsy (or Old Pomortsy) is a more radical wing, they retained only 2 Orthodox rites (Baptism and Repentance), rejected marriage, and their principled position is the rejection of any existing power. The link is the official site of the Fedoseyevites.

Officially, the entrance for non-Fedoseyevites is closed here. To be honest, I was scared, because the female students I knew told a lot of "horror stories" about folklore expeditions to the Old Believer villages - to the point that they could be hit on the head with a log or doused with ice water at the entrance to the house.
But everything worked out: at the entrance I was met by a construction worker, with a clear Pomor accent, asked what I wanted, and although I honestly said that I was a New Believer, he let me inside, only telling me not to pray there.

The Fedoseyevites had such a concept as "worldliness" - defilement through contact with strangers. Random peace was removed by a special rite, conscious - by a 6-week fast. Hence the information about the "unfriendliness" of the Old Believers in the villages - peace took place through contact with a stranger, or through food and drink from a common dish. However, there were also cases when the Old Believers treated a visiting traveler - but after that they had to destroy the defiled dishes.
In the past, baptism with three fingers in the presence of an Old Believer led to pacification - this is precisely what the current ban on praying in the community for strangers is connected with.

The inside of the community was spacious, quiet and empty. But it was a real monastery, in the original sense of the word.

After all, a monastery is nothing but a fortress. The Stronghold of Faith, where the monks held the defense against demons, and only purity and piety could protect the monastery from being "taken" by Darkness. However, over the past centuries, this understanding has been lost in the New Believer Church.
Bespopovtsy, on the other hand, lived in constant certainty: the Antichrist was all around, that is, enemies were all around. Hence the distrust of strangers, hence the primordial spirit in their monastery. Obviously, the Fedoseyevites have a trained eye: after all, despite the ban, they calmly let me inside - apparently, they felt that I was not an enemy.

The main temple of the community is the Exaltation of the Cross Church (1809-1811), which has been preserved in its original appearance.

At the entrance - a warning: it is forbidden for outsiders to pray in the temple, and priests of other faiths are allowed to enter here only in civilian clothes. I entered and stood in the porch... But it was as if I was in the 17th century! A dark hall, the voice of an old nun who read a prayer in the purest Old Slavonic, stern bearded monks who looked like statues, dozens of ancient icons, and a feeling of incredible power - in a word, everything that you imagine, remembering Rus' from the time of Ivan the Terrible.

Rear view - The Holy Cross Church is actually a chapel, as it was historically called:

Bespopovtsy became such by necessity: back in the 17th century, the Old Believers had no bishops left, that is, there was no one to ordain priests. Less radical currents of the Old Believers perceived Nikonianism as "non-Orthodox", that is, the transition to the Old Believers was carried out through chrismation - and they could receive fugitive priests from Nikonians - this is how priesthood was formed. More radical currents seasoned the Nikonians with heretics and non-believers, the transition to the Old Believers was carried out only through repeated Baptism, and there was no question of accepting Nikonian priests into their ranks.

Inside the church, as in other Old Believer churches, there are a lot of ancient and unique icons. After all, the Old Believers for centuries kept icons that existed before the Schism or painted later, but in a characteristic manner. Traditionally, they had more icons than a few temples could accommodate - therefore, each temple became a real treasury of icons, and even 500-600-year-old icons among the Old Believers are not so rare.

The Fedoseevskaya community has retained its original layout - residential buildings are located around the church (both male and female on the same territory), only one of which, the eastern one, is separated by a fence.

In each of the buildings there is a prayer room, placed in a separate annex. In the western gate building, the prayer room is located above the entrance, perpendicular to the building.

and in the southern and northern buildings - at the end of the building:

Such a simple and perfect structure. Combined with the emptiness and tension in the air, the feeling of "they won't come in here," this structure completed the feeling of being in a fortress.
Trying to get in here without permission is highly discouraged. I'm not saying anything, I just have a feeling - don't!

Between the two monasteries there is a road to the Transfiguration Cemetery, to which for some reason a small market adjoins - a lot of police, Caucasians and obviously criminal elements. The cemetery itself is huge, and it doesn't look like the reserved Rogozhsky cemetery at all. To tell the truth, it was quite disgusting for me to be there even for 15 minutes, and some of them have been buried there for 100-200 years...

At the cemetery, I was interested in the St. Nicholas Chapel "On the Nine Crosses", located a hundred meters from the entrance:

The chapel "On the Nine Crosses" was built by the same Sokolov in 1804, and in my opinion this is a real masterpiece. Although this is just a small cemetery chapel, its decoration is simply amazing:

It is closely adjacent to the tomb chapel of the Cross of the Lord built in 1879 - black, as if cast iron:

And old graves:

At the cemetery, I once again ran into anti-photographers.
The first conversation was with the guards at the entrance:
-Hey! Don't click here, you can't!
- Well, at least a chapel, maybe?
-The chapel is possible, come and click close. Just so that the names on the monuments do not fall into the frame!

The second conversation is with a janitor near another unphotographed chapel (of the same type as the Chapel of the Cross):
(nasty goat voice) - It's forbidden to shoot here. Here the guards will see - so heaps on you!
- The guards allowed me to film the chapel.
- I don't care what the guards let you. The cemetery is the property of the State Unitary Enterprise "Ritual". Get permission there and shoot, but now get out of here, and so that I don’t see you!

Honestly, I was shocked. Cemetery - PROPERTY?! I wonder what "Ritual" can do with this property? Does it have a legal right, for example, to organize a party for the glamorous elite with a mass grave of WWII veterans instead of a dance floor? Or is such a wording the fruit of the janitor's sick imagination? The latter is very likely, since I can quite imagine the psychology of a cemetery janitor. Such work is clearly not from a good life, and "not good" not in terms of money.

From the community, I went towards the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro station, past the constructivist quarter:

By the way, this is the area of ​​​​Semyonovskaya and Preobrazhenskaya settlements, where the "amusing regiments" of Peter the Great were located, and at the entrance to the metro there is a monument to Sergei Bukhvostov, the first soldier of Peter's army. But that's a completely different story.

The article touches upon the existence of monasticism in the Old Believers, the ascetic feat of monasticism, the conditions for the existence of Old Believer monasteries and sketes in Tsarist Russia after the split and before the revolution, as well as in Soviet times. The Old Believer Pomor women's hermitages that existed in Altai are considered: the Beloretsky Monastery and the Uba Monastery.

At the very beginning of 1914, the All-Russian Congress of Old Believers was held in Moscow at the Rogozhsky cemetery, at which, among others, the question “On monasteries and monasticism” was discussed. In the Old Believers, the problem is relevant to this day, because not everyone and not suddenly, the bishops believe, can be blessed for monastic deeds:

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

Ideas about the benefits of desert living, about the need to escape from the sinful world to 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 St. Paul of Thebes, and community life, founded by Anthony the Great and St. Pachomius the Great, who, moreover, was the author of the first written charter of monastic life.

At the heart of the entire Christian preaching of wilderness living are common ideas: the earthly life of a person is an arena of struggle between the forces of good and evil, God and Satan; the "sensual" world is hostile to God, because is full of satanic networks, so it is necessary to fight against it. An ascetic feat was recognized as an effective way of struggle, the most acceptable for resisting the passions generated by the devil's machinations, since it was the communion with God of the soul, not clouded by worldly thoughts. The main ways of the ascetic ascetic were prayer, fasting, i.e. duty to work for the good of one's own soul and body. At the same time, the bodily good was valued very low, the hermit worked not so much for his own feeding, but because “bodily labors performed reasonably serve the path to humility”, “bodily labors lead the soul into humility”, “bodily labors become spiritual virtues”, and also for the opportunity to give alms to the needy. The life of the desert-dwellers' community was to be built on the same basis. And although very large monastic farms are known to history, nevertheless, preference was often given to a small skete, especially “under conditions of constant persecution by the state and the church”: then “the most viable secret monastery was just a small skete, which, in time of danger, could quickly move, and in the event of a defeat, he easily regenerated elsewhere.

Initially, "Σκήτις" is a skete desert in Egypt, generally a hermit's refuge or several cells located far from an Orthodox monastery. The skete, like the monastery, had its own charter, which, in comparison with the general monastic one, was more strict.

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

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

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

Even at the dawn of the “golden period”, the attitude towards the Old Believer monasteries, sketes and monasteries was rather contradictory: on the one hand, the establishment of Old Believer monasteries was allowed 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 during tonsure, i.e. the question of Old Believer monasticism was hushed up. And if the Third State Duma found it possible to recognize monasticism for all Old Believers in general who wear 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 you can see, the well-known palliative in solving the problems of the Old Believers continued to be preserved even in the so-called "golden period". And yet the sketes existed, often appearing and existing in the strictest secrecy.

What did he represent Skete of Siberian Old Believers? According to the descriptions of Academician N.N. Pokrovsky, this is a very small hut, for 3-4 permanent residents, who in them "saved themselves from the Antichrist and from the bosses or from the" Antichrist bosses ". The location of such a hut, sometimes several tens of miles from the nearest village, was not an obstacle to fairly close and frequent communications between them, especially in case of extreme need, for example, in 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 sketes were a bone in the throat of the official church and state, therefore they were constantly persecuted and ruined, and their inhabitants were sent to hard labor or "Nikonian" monasteries "for correction." In 1735, an order appeared “on sending monks and nuns to Siberian monasteries to exhort schismatics living at factories and, if they don’t improve, about using them in monastic work, and fugitives and other ranks of schismatics, living in forests, in factory work, placing them in such a way that they do not communicate with others. It is clear that all this was not an accident, because, wrote F. Melnikov,

“Old Believer monasteries and sketes had a huge spiritual and educational and guiding[ex. me. - L.D.] meaning 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 well-known Old Believer elder immediately occupies ... a rather prominent, in some sense even a leading position in this democratic environment, especially since he himself is very close to 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.

Skete of nun Afanasia on the river. Ube

Another type of Old Believer monastery-skete, more in line with the traditional one, was described by G.D. Grebenshchikov in one of his essays. This convent of the Pomeranian bespriest consent, founded in 1899. on the bank of the river Uby in the Bukhtarma Valley . At first, 8 nuns lived in it, separated from the Pomeranian community of Art. Vyazova, Ufa region, who "bought a small house and began to live, and made a prayer house in a separate hut and worked." A few years later they built a more spacious hut with a small cell for the abbess, and only in 1908 a new chapel was built with a bell tower of 6 bells and a small dome.

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

The nuns lived in cells - huts, of which about twenty were built. The monastery had a hospital, a sewing workshop, a cellar room (pantry), which is also a kitchen. There was also a cemetery: "... over the 11 years of the existence of the skete, 16 black crosses managed to grow on the hill."

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

“This woman, having risen 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. Getting up at 2 o'clock, by three she goes to the chapel, where matins begins, ending at five, then after a short conversation right there, the hours begin and end at seven. After that, everyone goes to their cells, and there, having changed into work clothes, they go to the refectory, where, having breakfast, they go to work, at 1 o'clock lunch, and at five - vespers, and after it, 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 fact that all 40 beds, the same number of chairs, tables, all benches, plank partitions, various shelves - all this was done by her hands without a single blow with an ax to anyone else speaks about the vigilant work of the abbess herself. Moreover, each bed, table or chair has a comfortable and spacious drawer inside.

Purity and simplicity reigned in all the premises of the monastery. Unbleached walls and unpainted floors were washed white. In the church, the walls were painted pink and the ceiling blue. The writer also noted the rich iconostasis - five tiers. Further we quote: “In front of the iconostasis there is an elevation and a throne, next to which is an expensive Crucifix wrapped in a blue veil, on the sides of its icon, and on the table stands a handwritten Gospel, framed in a velvet cover with silver embossing, and on both sides burning inextinguishable lamps.” As Grebenshchikov notes, "...everything is designed in the old Russian style."

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

“... it is necessary to make ... 1500 bows, which are counted by the ladder. Of these, at least 300 are terrestrial and 700 are zone. The rest can be easy."

Life flowed in the monastery "peacefully and comfortably." Friendly nuns were loved, and "the surrounding Old Believers ... tenderly guarded their colony."

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

Another of the Old Believer monasteries in Altai, also female, of Pomeranian consent. He was in the Senteleksky volost in the Boshcheloksky district - “ Beloretsk Pomor Skete on the Belaya River', as they called him. The secluded place where the monastery was was made by impenetrable mountains and forests, and even the right tributary of the Charysh - the river. White, on which he stood. The necessary things were brought there only in winter, because. in the summer it was impossible to ride a cart - only "on horseback". Rumors about the monastery are overgrown with legends, especially since not only the inhabitants of the monastery 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 possibly even earlier, by the labors of nuns and voluntary assistants, the monastery was devastated in 1930. By this time, 23 people aged from 20 to 103 lived in it. years . Human memory, as well as archival documents, give the names of some of them: K.I. Gileva - "senior cowshed"; HE. Plotnikova - "chebotar"; A.P. Bobrovskaya, G.D. Boronova, N.P. Sokolova worked in a spinning mill; A.E. Ludyakova and V.L. Gileva - grooms; VC. Gileva is a senior baker. Kelarsha was A.I. Kruglov, the charterer - P.P. Aulov. The name of the abbess of the monastery was Ustinya Petrovna Bobrovskaya.

ill. 1. Beloretsk Skete on the river. Belaya, a tributary of the Charysh

These women, marked by a “spark of holy gravitation towards heaven,” cut down from the local forest both the church building and other buildings of the monastery. In the architecture of the church, the basic principles inherent in Russian temple construction are applied, but the forms are simplified. A similar handling of the form, its interpretation, tending to be somewhat schematic, is also characteristic of temple construction at the beginning of the 20th century, when even the Old Believers were guided by standard projects: a simple one-story log house under an iron roof (“21x6 arshin”), on the eastern side of which there was a small flat dome, decorated with a low tent (in the photo it looks more like a truncated cone) with an eight-pointed cross on a spherical base. On the western side of the roof rose an octahedral hipped bell tower crowned with a narrow and low, rather symbolic base-drum, ending with an onion with an eight-pointed cross [Fig. 1, p. thirty]. The structure is half-covered by dense crowns of trees, in the background there is a rather steep rocky slope of the mountain, overgrown with grass, shrubs and an infrequent coniferous forest. The monastery was guarded, “so that strangers or intruders do not appear”, the inhabitants of the village with him. Families lived there, "but they had no relationship 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 - “conclusion on the liquidation of the Beloretsk nunnery”.

The territory of the monastery, according to an eyewitness, was fenced with a high board fence, which, apparently, was built later than the photo was taken. For convenience, a plank sidewalk was laid, cells were located along it. “On the left side of the church stood a house where the abbess, the old woman Ustinya, lived. 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 inhabitants of the Beloretsk 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 “deaf robes fastened in front with a pin” [Fig. 2, p. 32].

ill. 2. Old Believer nun

The monastery was located, as it were, in the ring of villages and villages, the population of which was predominantly Old Believers. The village of Ogni constantly kept in touch with the monastery. Even after the “monastery was dispersed”, many nuns went to live there and in the village. Mikhailovka. Zagriha village, Top Baschelak, Big Baschelak, with. Aba, the village of Mashenka, the village of Kedrovka - “the monastery was surrounded by the Old Believers”, “the Old Believers lived everywhere and kept in touch with the monastery.”

There was a subsidiary farm. There was not enough bread, its shortage was made up for by buying flour at the fair in Charysh, but milk and honey were enough not only for the monastery inhabitants. During the period of dispossession, the organization of labor of nuns 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 without leaving time for rest; in the Old Believers, any work is asceticism, a guarantee of future spiritual salvation. These "practical conclusions of religion" (S.N. Bulgakov's expression) have already been discussed above. We only note that there is no prospect of comparing the Old Believers with the Protestants in their "worldly asceticism", the apotheosis of which among the Protestants was the "spirit of capitalism", embodied in a rational approach to business and, as a result, excellent development of the economy and 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: can be successfully and quickly extrapolated to 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, the traditions of communality, catholicity turned out to be viable; in the environment of both, passionate individuals can be found, “freedom-loving, seeking truth and justice”, philosophically related to the understanding of success in life.

The monastery served as a spiritual center for the inhabitants 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 of the six-year-old daughter of I.N. Fedorov:

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

At the monastic Beloretsky settlement acted 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 but change. According to a circular dated August 16, 1921, the monastery was “nationalized” by being transformed into a labor artel, so that the fruits of the active energy of the nuns would not pass by the Bolshevik mouths. The power-shifter, at its own discretion, dealt with the "separated from the state" religious organizations, at its own discretion and ceased to exist, but at the same time tried to maintain the appearance of legality. What is the wording of one of the paragraphs of the document that liquidated the monastery: “In connection with deviations from the circular of the NKVD, NKJ, NKZ, RKI of 16. VIII-21 on the use of the 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 the NKVD instruction M 328 ... liquidate. And a little higher it was said: “... the existence of the Beloretsk monastery, clothed due to historical conditions in a religious form under the flag of "Artel"[Ex. me. - L.D.], but changed its content in the direction of communist aspirations, but continued to preserve the monastic way of life ... "- cause, effect - everything is mixed up! It turns out that “...legally, the existence of the Artel has not been formalized anywhere”, it turns out that the monastery “...used state-funded lands”, “that this group, which lived isolated 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 nevertheless noted that in 1927 the “artels” were “issued a certificate of merit for the cattle presented at the exhibition”, and further: “the economy in connection with the taxation of the group, as deprived since 1928, began to fall: from 29 cows left 9, from 46 sheep - 16, etc. " . The cynicism is no less shocking than the once taxing of a double capitation salary for the right to profess ancient Orthodoxy.

But the differences don't end there. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the decoration in the church was "unusually beautiful, rich, decorated with gold"; "... icons, gold were stolen, stolen, buried here" . - There are no “revered shrines” in the monastery”, “the cult property in the temple, included in the inventory list, should be distributed to the state fund and to the closest groups of believers”. “...2. Resolution of the RIC in connection with the petition of the group to transfer the monastery for cultural needs[ex. me. - L.D.] to satisfy. 3. Transfer the building of the monastery with all services to the disposal of the RIC. ... Eliminate cult property ... ".

According to the stories of V.S. Serdtseva, somewhere in the vicinity of the monastery, liturgical books were hidden in the ground (the Old Believers knew 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 grasses, undergrowth, forest - everything has grown very much since then, and there is no one to remember the place.

On the Russian land, monasteries have always been considered the conductors of truth. There were many of them - large and small monastic hostels. They were famous not only for the diligence of their inhabitants, but also for their prayer life. Therefore, they hurried to them from the most distant villages to pray and made religious processions, overcoming a difficult and long way, sometimes along mountain paths. As early as the beginning of the 20th century. monasteries were the focus of culture, literacy and book learning. Peasants from the surrounding settlements brought their children there for training and education of love for the paternal antiquity. Everything changed after 1917, almost everything was ruined or destroyed, only human memory and the surviving archival documents keep us evidence of them. As we are convinced, the analysis of archival documents that are not always objective, but purely reflecting a certain ideological attitude, must be combined with oral history, which becomes difficult to do, because. not all of the older generation who had time to tell 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 to the 13th All-Russian Congress of Old Believers // Church. No. 2. 1914.
• 2. Abba Dorotheos. Teachings, messages, questions, answers. Reprint. M .: Aktis, 1991 // Rev. father of our Abba Dorotheus soul-beneficial teachings and messages with the addition of his questions and answers to them by Barsanuphi the Great and John the Prophet. Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina desert. 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. SPb., 1878.
• 5. Shcheglov I.V. Chronological list of the most important dates from the history of Siberia: 1032-1882. Surgut, 1993.
• 6. The Old Believer “church-public journal“ Church ”for 1914 cites a number of government, and later Duma documents regulating the organization and activities of Old Believer monasteries and sketes, for example, Art. 49 "On the Prevention and Suppression of Crimes" of the Decree on Punishments, ed. 1876; Art. 206 "Punishment Codes"; Regulations of the Committee of Ministers, approved by the Highest in 1905, paragraph 6, section 11; Decree of April 17, 1905, paragraph 9; Regulations of the Committee of Ministers, approved by the Highest, April 17, 1905, paragraph 7; Decree of October 17, 1906 Art. 31, section 1; Article 51 of the bill of the Third State. Dumas, etc.
• 7. Pokrovsky N.N. Peasant escape and desert-living traditions in Siberia in the 18th century. // Peasantry of Siberia XVIII - early. XX century. (Class struggle, social consciousness and culture). Novosibirsk, 1975.
• 8. It is striking how strict, constant and tense the conspiracy was at the same time: only by some special secret signs were people found who knew the “place” where to find the “literate old man”. Of course, there were also traitors [See: 7].
• 9. Melnikov F.E. A Brief History of the Old Orthodox (Old Believer) Church. Barnaul, 1999.
• 10. Grebenshchikov GD 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: Ed. BSPU, 1999.
• 12. TsHAF AK. FR. 690. Op. 1. D.21.
• 13. Thanks to the memoirs of V.S. Serdtsev, who died several years ago, through the efforts of the staff of the Charysh Museum of Local Lore, in particular, N.V. Khromenko, and the late local historian N. Morozov, the history of the monastic monastery has not sunk into oblivion. 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 the creation of the world 7417 (1909) May in days from 1 to 11” there is a mention of it .
• 14. In the funds of the museum p. Charysh, a photograph transferred from the Altai Museum of Local Lore, which depicts the monastery church, is kept. Photo dated 1907. Specified
• 15. According to V.S. Serdtsev, there were 26 inhabitants aged from 14 to 80 years.
• 16. We are talking about Professor P.S. Smirnov.
• 17. Old Believer woman // Church. 1914. No. 36. S.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. S.216-217.
• 20. Bulgakov S.N. Two cities. An inquiry into the nature of social ideals. SPb., 1997.
• 21. Dorofeev N.A. The evolution of the spiritual forces of the Cossacks in the process of development of the historical consciousness of the Russian nation // Slavism at the turn of the centuries and worldviews. Part I. Barnaul, 2001.
• 22. In Small Baschelak - the Vvedenskaya Church (belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church); Panteleymonovskaya in Sentelek; in Charysh - Our Lady of Kazan. Only in s. The top is the “Cathedral of Kerzhatsky”, and the population of the district is mainly the “Kerzhatsky element”.
• 23. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.12, 12v.
• 24. Khromenko N.V., Researcher at the Local Lore Museum p. Charysh.
• 25. TsHAF AK FR. 690. Op.1. D.21. L.12 about.
• 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 skewed street-path named after him leads. Shtilke (who did so much for Barnaul and did not deserve anything better!), Under the mountain, under the territory known as Morozova Dacha, there was an Old Believer monastery. The Old Believer himself, Sergei Ivanovich, could not be mistaken. Yes, and the surrounding children from a dozen years ago, among the abandoned apple orchard, which was still there, under the Morozova Dacha, found characteristic pectoral crosses. There is no other information about this monastery.

Belokrinitskaya 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 full ecclesiastical 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 ROC: Belokrinitsky consent, Belokrinitskaya hierarchy- by 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 current was also called Austrian hierarchy.

A 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 king Alexey Mikhailovich(1629–1676), there was a schism in the Russian Church. The 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 sacraments, sacred rites, prayers accepted in Russia were changed, canceled 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 from the bishops, the bishop, died in exile in April 1656). In such emergency conditions, some Old Believers (who later became known as bezpopovtsy) refused to accept into communion the Nikonian priesthood as heretical, being completely without a priesthood. In the future, bezpopovstvo was divided into many agreements and interpretations, sometimes significantly differing from each other in their teachings.

The other part of the Old Believers - the priests, based on the canonical practice that has existed in the Church since the time of the struggle against Arianism, insisted on the possibility and even the need to accept New Believer clergy into communion in the existing rank, provided they renounce Nikon's reforms. As a result of this, already from the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, among the priests, the practice of receiving the priesthood from the New Believers through. During 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 Believers, the idea of ​​establishing an Old Believer episcopal department outside of 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 transferred 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 Anfim IV (d. 1878) due to fears caused by the metropolitan’s complaint about oppression of the population from local Turkish officials (earlier, in the same year, he supported the uprising of the Bosnians 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 rank (through anointing with the world) and performed a number of consecrations for Thus, the beginning of the Old Believer hierarchy was laid in Belaya Krinitsa, and a number of newly appointed bishops and priests appeared within the Russian Empire. Some accuse Ambrose of single-handedly ordination of bishops, which contradicts the letter of the law of the 1st Apostolic Canon, but many saints served as an example of the performance and approval of such an action in extreme circumstances, including St. 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 churches of Rogozhskaya Sloboda in Moscow stood sealed for almost half a century: 1856-1905), the Old Believers were forbidden to enroll in the merchant class, etc. The persecution began to weaken only in the reign of Alexander III, but even under him the ban on the service of the Old Believer priesthood remained. In the context of increased persecution after the establishment of the hierarchy, new divisions arose among the Old Believers-priests. Part of the priests, believing the government, as well as the non-priestly propaganda about the allegedly pouring baptism of Metropolitan Ambrose, the accession of Ambrose to 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 " fugitives”, managed to find its own hierarchy only in 1923; the modern name for this consent is (ACC).

On February 24, 1862, in response to numerous attacks from the Bespopovites and accusations of heresy, “ District Epistle of the Russian Archpastors of the Belokrinitsky Hierarchy”, prepared by the Vladimir (later Moscow) Archbishop Anthony and dogmatist Ilarion Kabanov(pseudonym Xenos; 1819–1882). IN " district message”, in particular, it was argued that the New Believers, although they err in faith, still believe in Christ, that the new rite 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, as well as octagonal, that the Christ-faithful 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. Most of the believers of the Belokrinitsa consent accepted the "District Message" (such Christians began to be called " districts”), but there were also those who rejected it (“ non-environment", or " countercircumferences"). The situation was complicated by the fact that some hierarchs joined the neo-okrugs. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, attempts were regularly made by the districts to heal the neo-okrugniy schism, in connection with which, for the purposes of church economy, the “District Epistle” was repeatedly declared “as if it had not been” (while it was emphasized that the epistle was completely Orthodox and did not contain heresies). ). The reconciliation of a significant part of the neo-okrugs with the Moscow Archdiocese took place in 1906. During the years of Soviet power, that part of the neo-okrugniy hierarchy that remained in schism with the Moscow Archdiocese was repressed, another part moved to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the other part to the common faith, 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, which since 1882 was headed in Russia 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 catholicity, in which the bishop (Shvetsov; 1840–1908) had a great merit. Until 1898, all the most important internal church issues were resolved by the Spiritual Council under the Moscow Archbishop, which included a few proxies of the primate.

In March 1898, a council was held in Nizhny Novgorod with the participation of 7 bishops and 2 representatives from non-arrived bishops, which fired Savatiy from the Moscow cathedra. By majority vote, the locum tenensity of the archiepiscopal throne was entrusted to Bishop Arseny of Ural.

In October of the same year, a new council was held in Moscow, which elected the Bishop of the Don (Kartushin; 1837–1915) to the Moscow cathedra. 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 decreed that the bishops of the Belokrinitsk hierarchy in Russia, including the archbishop of Moscow, should be subordinate to these councils. In the years 1898-1912, 18 councils were held, along with the clergy, the laity took part in their work. In addition to the cathedrals, the annual All-Russian congresses of the Old Believers were of great importance in the life of Belokrinitsky consent in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Sobors were the "supreme bodies of church-hierarchical administration", and congresses were "the body of the church-civil unity of the Old Believers", dealing mainly with economic and socio-political issues.

Of great importance for the Old Believer Church was the manifesto “On Strengthening the Principles of Tolerance”, published on April 17, 1905, which provided rights for the Old Believers. In the 12th paragraph of the manifesto, it was ordered "to print out all prayer houses closed both in administrative order, not excluding cases that ascended through the committee of ministers to the Highest consideration, and according to the determinations of judicial places." According to the telegram of the emperor, 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 accords was received by Nicholas II in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1905-1917, according to estimates (1874-1960), more than a thousand new Old Believer churches were built, which were actively involved in the work of prominent architects of that time - 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 faced with the task of opening a general education school in each Old Believer parish. This process after 1905 proceeded quite rapidly. 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 “to read and sing and prepare them for the service of St. Church" in the Cheremshan Assumption 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 leadership of Archbishop John (Kartushin), would deal with the consideration of church and public affairs and issues and explain them. In 1912, the Old Believer Theological and Teaching University was established at the Rogozhsky cemetery with a six-year term 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, house Old Believer 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 periodicals were abolished. During the civil war, there were massacres of the Red Army and Chekists with the Old Believer clergy. In 1923, the archbishop (Kartushin; ca. 1859-1934) and the bishop (Lakomkin; 1872-1951) issued an "Archipastoral Epistle" 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), at which issues of organizing church life in the new social conditions were considered. The publication (in private publishing houses) of the "Old Believer Church Calendars" has been resumed. Bishop Gerontius organized in Petrograd the brotherhood of St. Hieromartyr Avvakum with pastoral and theological courses under him. By the end of the 1920s, the Old Believer Church of the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy included 24 dioceses, which were ruled by 18 bishops, several monasteries that existed after 1918 under the guise of "labor artels", and hundreds of clergymen.

The government's policy towards the Old Believers changed dramatically in the late 1920s, when, during the collectivization of agriculture in the USSR, 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 struggle against the kulaks is at the same time the struggle against the Old Believers", within which the largest and most organized was Belokrinitsky consent. As a result of mass repressions against the Old Believers in the 1930s, all monasteries were closed; many areas, previously considered Old Believers, lost all functioning churches, the vast majority of clergy were arrested. When temples and monasteries were closed, icons, utensils, bells, vestments, books were completely confiscated, and many libraries and archives were destroyed. Some of the 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 prisons, and only two (Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod (Usov; 1870-1942) and Bishop of Irkutsk Joseph(Antipin; 1854-1927) managed to go abroad. By 1938, one bishop remained at large - Bishop of Kaluga-Smolensk Sava(Ananiev; 1870s - 1945). The Belokrinitskaya hierarchy on the territory of the USSR was under the threat of complete disappearance. 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 Rogozhsky Old Believers, elevated the Bishop of Samara (Parfyonov; 1881-1952) who had returned from prison to the dignity of an archbishop. In 1942, Bishop Gerontius (Lakomkin) returned from prison and became an assistant to the archbishop.

In the post-war period, the position of the ancient 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 Rogozhsky cemetery. No permission was received to open monasteries and educational institutions. The only sign of a religious "thaw" was the permission to publish the church calendar for 1945. After the war, the episcopate was replenished. In 1945, a bishop (Morzhakov; 1886-1970) was ordained, in 1946 - a bishop Benjamin(Agoltsov; d. 1962), and two years later - a bishop (Slesarev, 1879-1960). In the 1960s - mid-1980s, the church life of concord was characterized by stagnant tendencies: new parishes practically did not open, individual provincial churches were closed due to the lack of not only clergy, but also laity capable of conducting choir service. The practice of ministering to several parishes by one priest spread. Priests who tried to show any activity often fell under the ban. In 1986, after the death of the archbishop (Latyshev; 1916-1986) and the locum tenens of the bishop (Kononov; 1896-1986), the ordained Bishop of Klintsovo-Novozybkovsky (Gusev; 1929-2003) was elected Archbishop of Moscow and All Rus' shortly before gg.).

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

On July 24, 1988, Archbishop Alympius was solemnly elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' in Moscow. In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church resumed the official theoretical and spiritual and educational publication - the Church magazine. Under Metropolitan Alimpiy, the Yaroslavl-Kostroma, Siberian, Far Eastern, Kazan-Vyatka dioceses were revived. For the first time after 1917, the connection with the local Old Believer Church of Romania was renewed. In 1995, an Old Believer department was opened at the Art and Restoration School in Suzdal. In 1998, the first release took place. Among the nine people who received graduation certificates at that time, all found themselves in the church ministry. In 1999, due to financial and organizational problems, the school was closed. In 1996, the Old Believer Theological School was established on Rogozhsky, the first graduation of which took place in 1998. Then there was a big break in the activities of the school again. 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 revitalization 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 Klintsovsk-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 placed at the disposal of the Church, Voitovicha Street was renamed into Old Believer Street, 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 from a 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 a new Old Believer metropolitan took place in Moscow on October 23 in the spiritual center of the Old Believers, located in Rogozhskaya Sloboda.

In May 2013, an Orthodox community from Uganda was received into the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by a priest Joachim Kiimboy. After the death of Protopresbyter Joachim Kiimba on January 10, 2015, Priest Joachim Valusimbi was appointed as the new rector. On September 20, 2015, his priestly consecration took place in Moscow, which was performed by Metropolitan Kornily. As of September 2015, the community had one operating temple in the suburbs of the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and two more under construction (the number of parishioners was about 200 people). On February 4, 2015, the Council of the Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to establish a commission on the possibility of recognizing the legitimacy of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy by the Moscow Patriarchate. On March 31 of the same year, with the participation of Metropolitan Kornily, the first meeting of the commission with the working group of the Moscow Patriarchate took place. The supreme governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church is the Consecrated Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. It gathers annually with wide participation of clergymen of all levels, monastics and laity. The church hierarchy consists of ten bishops headed by the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. The Volga region, Central Russia, the Urals, Pomorie and Siberia, and to a lesser extent the Far East, the Caucasus and the Don are considered traditionally Old Believer regions. Another 300 thousand people - 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 belongs to a women's church near Uglich. The journal "Church" and its appendix "During the time it ..." 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 have been held.

Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church

As of spring 2018.

• Don and Caucasus Diocese - Archbishop (Yeremeev)
• Irkutsk-Transbaikal diocese - Bishop (Artemikhin)
• Kazan and Vyatka diocese - Bishop (Dubinov)
• Diocese of Kazakhstan - Bishop Sava (Chalovsky)
• Diocese of Kiev and all Ukraine - Bishop (Kovalev)
• Diocese of Chisinau and all Moldova - Bishop (Mikheev)
• Moscow Metropolis - Metropolitan (Titov)
• Diocese of Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir - widowed, high-ranking Metropolitan Kornily (Titov)
• Diocese of Novosibirsk and All Siberia - Bishop (Kilin)
• Diocese of Samara and Saratov - widowed, high-ranking Metropolitan Kornily (Titov)
• St. Petersburg and Tver diocese - widowed, high-ranking Metropolitan Kornily (Titov)
• Tomsk Diocese - Bishop Gregory (Korobeinikov)
• Ural diocese - widowed, high-ranking Metropolitan Kornily (Titov)
• Diocese of Khabarovsk and the entire Far East - widowed, high-ranking Metropolitan Kornily (Titov)
• Yaroslavl and Kostroma diocese - Bishop Vikenty (Novozhilov)