From the first days of the schism, the Nizhny Novgorod region became one of the strongholds of "ancient piety." This is not surprising if we take into account the fact that the key figures of the schism - the initiator of church "innovations" Patriarch Nikon and his fierce antagonist Archpriest Avvakum - both came from Nizhny Novgorod.

Out of the sphere of influence of the official Orthodox Church, adherents of the "old faith" quickly disintegrated into various directions and currents ("talk", as they said then). The most important difference was between the “priestly” and “non-priestly” sense. The difference was that the former recognized the rank of priesthood and monasticism, the latter did not recognize it, and in their communities the main ones were not priests, but elected persons from among the laity. In turn, other directions and sects spun off from these rumors. Concerning Nizhny Novgorod region, then the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers for the most part belonged to the “clergy” and recognized priests and monks. It is these Old Believers that will be mainly discussed.

At the end of the 17th century, fleeing persecution, the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics went into the dense forests, beyond the Volga, where they set up their sketes (an association of several Old Believer monasteries). Especially a lot of them settled on the banks of the river Kerzhenets.

Since then, the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory have been called "Kerzhaks", and the word "Kerzhach" has come to mean "to adhere to the old faith." Kerzhaks lived differently: relatively peaceful times were replaced by periods of cruel repression. The persecution was especially strong at the time when Pitirim was appointed Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod. Under him, the famous "acceleration" of Kerzhents began.

Old Believers of the Nizhny Novgorod Territory

From the very beginning of the split of Russian Orthodoxy, the Nizhny Novgorod region was one of the most important centers of the Russian Old Believers. In support of this, here are a few facts: Outstanding ideologists of the "opposing sides" - Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergius of Nizhegorodets, Alexander Deacon - were born in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod region on the Kerzhenets River - the Smolyany Skete (1656).

In terms of the number of Old Believers, the region occupied and occupies a leading place in Russia. In the Nizhny Novgorod province in the XVIII - XIX centuries there were spiritual and organizational centers of six of the fifteen largest agreements (directions) of the Old Believers.

Supporters of the old faith were persecuted by the government. They had to either abandon it or leave their homes. And the Old Believers went north, to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, to the Urals and Siberia, settled in Altai and the Far East. In the dense forests in the basins of the Kerzhenets and Vetluga rivers, by the end of the 17th century, there were already about a hundred Old Believer monasteries - male and female. They were called sketes. The most famous were: Olenevsky, Komarovsky, Sharpansky, Smolyany, Matveevsky, Chernushinsky.

Under Peter I, the persecution of the Old Believers resumed again. When, at the end of the first decade of the 18th century, the emperor paid special attention to the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics, he chose Pitirim as the executor of his intentions. Pitirim - Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod (circa 1665 - 1738). Pitirim came from a simple rank and was at first a schismatic; Orthodoxy accepted being already in adulthood Pitirim's activity was originally purely missionary; to convert schismatics to Orthodoxy, he used only means of exhortation. The result of such activity of Pitirim was his answers to 240 schismatic questions. However, seeing the failure of his missionary work, Pitirim gradually turned to coercion and persecution. The famous Old Believer deacon Alexander was executed, sketes were ruined, stubborn monks were exiled to eternal imprisonment in monasteries, and the laity were punished with a whip and sent to hard labor. As a result, the Old Believers fled to the Urals, Siberia, Starodubye, Vetka and other places.

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Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. Nesterov Mikhail Vasilievich "Great tonsure".

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From the very beginning of the split of Russian Orthodoxy, the Nizhny Novgorod region was one of the most important centers of the Russian Old Believers. In support of this, here are a few facts: Outstanding ideologists of the "opposing sides" - Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergius of Nizhegorodets, Alexander Deacon - were born in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod region on the Kerzhenets River - the Smolyany Skete (1656).

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3. By the number of Old Believers, the region occupied and occupies a leading place in Russia. 4. In the Nizhny Novgorod province in the XVIII - XIX centuries there were spiritual and organizational centers of six of the fifteen largest agreements (directions) of the Old Believers.

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Ideologists of the opposing sides

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Supporters of the old faith were persecuted by the government. They had to either abandon it or leave their homes. And the Old Believers went north, to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, to the Urals and Siberia, settled in Altai and the Far East. In the dense forests in the basins of the Kerzhenets and Vetluga rivers, by the end of the 17th century, there were already about a hundred Old Believer monasteries - male and female. They were called sketes. The most famous were: Olenevsky, Komarovsky, Sharpansky, Smolyany, Matveevsky, Chernushinsky.

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Under Peter I, the persecution of the Old Believers resumed again. When, at the end of the first decade of the 18th century, the emperor paid special attention to the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics, he chose Pitirim as the executor of his intentions. Pitirim - Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod (circa 1665 - 1738). Pitirim came from a simple rank and was at first a schismatic; Orthodoxy accepted being already in adulthood Pitirim's activity was originally purely missionary; to convert schismatics to Orthodoxy, he used only means of exhortation. The result of such activity of Pitirim was his answers to 240 schismatic questions. However, seeing the failure of his missionary work, Pitirim gradually turned to coercion and persecution. The famous Old Believer deacon Alexander was executed, sketes were ruined, stubborn monks were exiled to eternal imprisonment in monasteries, and the laity were punished with a whip and sent to hard labor. As a result, the Old Believers fled to the Urals, Siberia, Starodubye, Vetka and other places.

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Old Believers of the Nizhny Novgorod Region

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Belokrinitskoe (Austrian) consent. Okruzhniki: the most significant features of this direction of the Old Believers were: the presence of the clergy and the bishop, the stormy social and church life in the form of the organization of Old Believer unions, brotherhoods, congresses, publishing activities, and the intensification of missionary activity among the Nikonians. The difference between the non-environment is, first of all, in the denial of all compromises with the state power and, which was part of it, - Nikonianism: insubordination to the government, limiting communication with Nikonians, observance of "Domostroy"

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Bespopovtsy do not have their own episcopal rank, the clergy were very small in number and did not enjoy special authority due to their origin from the Nikonian church. Representatives of the church community were in charge of all affairs in agreement: trustees, tutors, authoritative and literate old people. For this reason, they live in self-governing communities. They do not build churches, all rituals are performed in a prayer house.

During a trip down Kerzhents, I tried to find and capture places related to the history of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers, and just today we will talk about one of these places.
This hillock, on which the cemetery and the birch grove are located, is completely inconspicuous at first glance, but it is inconspicuous only to people who are not familiar with the tragic events that took place here in 1719. These events once again show how brutally Peter I treated the Old Believers ... This place is located near the village of Klyuchi, which is next to Pafnutovo - a place where there were once many sketes ...

The cemetery is also Old Believer here (like many in the Semenovsky district)

The villages along the Linde River are one next to one. You walk a kilometer, two - another village. Therefore, it was here, in the ancient village of Pafnutovo, that Pitirim, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, chose a place for his “dispute”, on the square near the wooden church of the “Three Hierarchs”, built in 1699 as a support of Orthodoxy among the hiding “schismatics”. He, Pitirim, had, as the folk legend says, here “his own man” - the elder Barsanuphius. He delivered to the forests of Kerzhensky a letter to Pitirimov with one hundred and thirty episcopal "tricky" questions.

Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr Pitirim (c. 1665-1738)

He handed them to the head of the Kerzhensky schismatics - Deacon Alexander, this stubborn tall bearded man with meek blue eyes. They say that Deacon Alexander was a native of the Kostroma province. From a young age, he was occupied with questions about the truth of faith. One day he met the old woman Elizaveta from the Yaroslavl Monastery, who told him: “True faith is found in hidden places, namely in the forests, and everyone who wants to be saved needs to go there, into the deaf forests.” After such words, sunk into his soul, Alexander left his wife, children, the place of deacon at the church and went first to Yaroslavl. There, at the inn, he met the elder Cyriacus and the monk Jonah and went with them to the forests of Kerzhensky.

He lived in different sketes, moved from one to another, teaching and learning himself. In 1709, in the monastery of Lavrentiy, where he was received as a deacon, he was tonsured a monk “according to schism” and admitted to the priesthood. Since that time, his name has become known throughout Kerzhents.

By 1719, when the answers to the questions of Pitirim were ready, Alexander, with his learning, his strength in faith, became the spiritual leader of the Old Believers of the fugitive wing. Therefore, it was he who went to Pitirim to present answers to his "evil" one hundred and thirty questions.

Like thunder from a clear sky, the Kerzhensky sketes spread the news: Pitirim, the seller of Christ, deacon Alexander, put the deacon Alexander in the monastery prison in Nizhny Novgorod while giving him answers. Anger and horror seized the elders and old women of the cells. They wondered what to expect now from him, from the "beast" of this Pitirim. Many went with appeals to the initial elder Macarius, who lived in a cell in the forests of Kerzhensky for advice. Now it is he, Macarius, who will have to answer to the "heretic" and "tormentor" of Nizhny Novgorod, and he has already made an appointment - a dispute for the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos - October 1, 1719.

Deacon Alexander by this time was brought in chains to Pafnutovo. This is how the writer Yuri Prilutsky (aka Priest Pyotr Shumilin of the Church of the Most Holy life-giving trinity village of Epiphany), published in 1917:

« Pitirim came out in full dress with icons and banners. In the middle of the square, in front of the church, a lectern was placed on a platform, next to a table with a pile of old books in leather bindings ... From somewhere, a hundred guardsmen of the Petrovsky Preobrazhensky Regiment appeared and, mercilessly pushing the crowd aside, made an alley from the village to the square. At the far end, a party of chained skete fathers appeared under the escort of a dozen guardsmen with drawn sabers, behind on a black (black) horse rode the captain of the guard Rzhevsky ... Pale, emaciated, with nostrils torn out with crippled faces, in tattered clothes, in blood, with torn beards, but calm, quietly jingling their chains as they walked, the fathers headed for the platform ... Alexander began his speech. But in the very ardor of the speech that had begun, Rzhevsky's heavy fist fell on the head of Deacon Alexander, and he fell to the ground like a mowed down man. ».

Dispute failed. Elected from the Old Believers of various sketes, fearing what they saw with great fear and under the formidable influence of Pitirim, they signed a “report” drawn up by him that the answers of the “Old Believers” of the sketes were incorrect. The first to set an example and signed Judas (traitor) Barsanuphius. After that, Pitirim showed "mercy" and released the detainees. Thus ended the "dispute".

The report with the signatures of the "schismatics" was presented to the emperor himself - Peter I. However, the "triumph of Pitirim" did not last long. The elders, once free, throughout Kerzhenets "exposed" the lies of the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod. Deacon Alexander, unable to endure this lie, went to the capital in St. Petersburg to the Tsar Peter Alekseevich himself. In the royal mansions, he was captured and "interrogated with passion." Under severe torture, he did not refuse to testify to Pitirim's lie. The stubborn "fanatic" was sent in chains to the Lower Pitirim Court.

At that time, in the region of Nizhny Novgorod on the Kerzhents River, the passions of the Old Believers were seething, condemning the persecutor of the true faith, the faith of the fathers and grandfathers - Pitirim, for his untruth, for torturing the elders for the sake of signatures. Condemned and feared. They were afraid for nothing. The "slander" of the opposition reached the Pitirim's ears. The priest Macarius, the elders Dositheus and Joseph, and seventeen "zealous" defenders of the old faith were captured. All of them were brought under escort in chains chained to a gentle mountain between the village of Pafnutov and the village of Klyuchi. A large and rather deep hole was dug here, along the edges of which there were pillars with crossbars and ready-made rope loops. The “stubborn Old Believers” themselves, with the Jesus prayer on their lips, threw nooses on themselves. A strong push on command and... the end.

Since then, this mountain, where the "Inquisition" took place, is popularly called key mountain(near the village of Klyuchi), and the place where the execution took place - “ Gallows". Now in this place you can see a vast pit with swollen sloping edges (the earth has settled). Through the efforts of the Old Believers who honor the bright memory of the martyrs for the faith of Christ, in the fall of 2003, a large bow cross with a sign was placed on the Gallows. On it is the inscription: Father Macarius and 19 martyrs for ancient Orthodoxy ».

The righteous elder Macarius was recognized as a saint by the Old Believer Church, his name was entered in the synodik (a book in which names are entered for commemoration). We left Deacon Alexander at the moment when we took him to the Pitirim court. And the judgment was fast.

On Annunciation Square in Nizhny Novgorod, near the Dmitrievskaya Tower, with a large gathering of people, the code of 7157 from the creation of the world of the second chapter of the first article was read: bodies."

Alexander listened to the death sentence calmly, without changing his face. Then they removed the chains from the headless body and set it on fire right here on the square. The remains of the deacon were buried in a children's coffin.
This "deed" committed on March 21, 1720 shocked the entire schismatic world. This was followed by "zoning" and the destruction of the sketes of the Kerzhensky region. The forests of the black forests were deserted. Many zealots of the ancient faith flowed to other places, even beyond the borders of Russia, and those who remained here huddled in the very wilderness, leaving away from sketes and villages ...

From the first days of the schism, the Nizhny Novgorod region became one of the strongholds of "ancient piety." This is not surprising if we take into account the fact that the key figures of the schism - the initiator of church "innovations" Patriarch Nikon and his fierce antagonist Archpriest Avvakum - both came from Nizhny Novgorod.

Finding themselves outside the sphere of influence of the official Orthodox Church, adherents of the "old faith" quickly disintegrated into various directions and currents ("talks", as they said then). The most important difference was between the “priestly” and “non-priestly” sense. The difference was that the former recognized the rank of priesthood and monasticism, the latter did not, and in their communities the main ones were not priests, but elected persons from among the laity. In turn, other directions and sects spun off from these rumors. As for the Nizhny Novgorod Territory, the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers for the most part belonged to the “clergy” and recognized priests and monks. It is these Old Believers that will be mainly discussed.
At the end of the 17th century, fleeing persecution, the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics went into the dense forests, beyond the Volga, where they set up their sketes (an association of several Old Believer monasteries). Especially a lot of them settled on the banks of the Kerzhenets River.

Kerzhenets River

Since then, the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory have been called "Kerzhaks", and the word "Kerzhach" has come to mean "to adhere to the old faith." Kerzhaks lived differently: relatively peaceful times were replaced by periods of cruel repression. The persecution was especially strong at the time when Pitirim was appointed Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod. Under him, the famous "acceleration" of Kerzhents or

Pitirim's ruin

Pitirim was at first a schismatic, he accepted Orthodoxy already at a mature age and considered the fight against schism to be the business of his whole life. In 1719, he was appointed Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr, and in his "report" to Tsar Peter, he proposed a whole system of measures against schismatics. Peter was a man deeply indifferent to purely religious issues, but he had no reason to love the schismatics: they participated in the streltsy riots that darkened Peter's childhood and youth, and, moreover, were the most ardent critics and opponents of Peter's innovations. The mercantile moment also played a significant role: it was proposed to take a double capitation salary from the schismatics, from which the sovereign's treasury would benefit a lot. The king approved all the undertakings of Pitirim, and ordered the governor of Nizhny Novgorod, Yu.A. Rzhevsky, to provide him with all possible assistance.
Mass persecution of the Old Believers began. From 1718 to 1725 up to 47,000 schismatics were open in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese; of them, up to 9 thousand converted to Orthodoxy; part signed up for a double salary, so for 1718 and 1719. Rzhevsky collected about 18 thousand rubles from 19 thousand people; stubborn monks were exiled to eternal imprisonment in monasteries, and the laity were punished with a whip and sent to hard labor. Military teams were sent into the forests, who drove the schismatics out of the sketes by force, and destroyed the sketes themselves. One of the ways to resist the arbitrariness of church and civil authorities was self-immolation - when schismatics, priests and laity with their wives and children, locked themselves in some building, most often in a wooden church, and set themselves on fire. Several such cases were recorded in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Territory.
But more common were the shoots, when the schismatics removed from their homes and fled wherever their eyes looked, most often to Siberia, where they brought their nickname. Therefore, schismatics are still called "Kerzhaks" in Siberia - too many people from Kerzhents moved there at the beginning of the 18th century.

Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr Pitirim

After the death of Pitirim (1738), the persecution of schismatics became less. During this period, migration flows of Old Believers from the Urals, from Siberia and other regions rush to the Nizhny Novgorod Volga region. Not only those who used to live here and were forced to leave their native lands due to the repressions of Pitirim are returning, but comrades-in-arms of the “old faith” are also sent here from other regions of the country. Under these conditions, there is a revival of Old Believer sketes in the Trans-Volga region. The most significant sketes were Komarovsky, Olenevsky, Ulangersky, Sharpansky. All these sketes are mentioned in the novels In the Forests and On the Mountains, and the most famous and richest Komarovsky Skete is one of the scenes of the novel. The abbess of one of the cloisters of the Komarovsky skete, mother Manef, appears as one of the heroines of the novel.
The schismatic monks and nuns lived mainly at the expense of alms from local schismatics, but most of all - at the expense of considerable financial assistance from wealthy "benefactors" from among the Old Believer merchants: both from Nizhny Novgorod and from other cities. In addition, the monks and nuns collected alms at the Makariev Fair, which took place in the summer in Nizhny Novgorod, and at all kinds of festivities organized by the Old Believers. One of the most notable was the celebration of the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. It was performed annually on the shores of Lake Svetloyar, with which it was inextricably linked.

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh

Lake Svetloyar is a sacred place, especially revered by the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics. A poetic legend is connected with its history about the miraculous immersion in its waters of the city of Great Kitezh, which did not want to surrender to the Batu army. "When Batu's troops approached the great city of Kitezh, the righteous elders prayed to the Queen of Heaven, calling for help. Suddenly, the divine light illuminated all those who were suffering, and the Mother of God descended from heaven, holding in her hands a miraculous cover, which hid the city of Kitezh." "That city is still intact - with white-stone walls, golden-domed churches, with honest monasteries, patterned towers and stone chambers. The city is intact, but we do not see it." And only the sound of the Kitezh bells is heard by the righteous on the lake.
Gathering along the shores of the lake, the Old Believers arranged something like “ all-night vigil”: they prayed, read excerpts from ancient legends about the city of Kitezh. And at dawn they began to listen and look closely: there was and still is a belief that in the dawn hours the most righteous can be heard the ringing of Kitezh bells and you can see the reflection of the golden domes of the churches of the invisible city in the clear waters of the lake. This was considered a sign of the special grace and mercy of God.

Lake Svetloyar from a bird's eye view

All this "Kitezh legend" has come down to us in the Old Believers' retellings of the 17th-18th centuries. This is the “Book of the verb chronicler”, the second part of which is the legend “About the secret city of Kitezh”.
Thanks to the Old Believers, a huge number of early printed and handwritten old books were preserved, which, after the introduction of Nikon's "innovations", were recognized as heretical and subject to destruction. The merit of the Old Believers was also considerable in the preservation of ancient Russian household items. Most of these items, of course, were preserved in rich boyar and noble families, but it was the representatives of the upper class in the post-Petrine era who quickly squandered their grandfather's heritage. Antique brothers, ladles and bowls; embroidered precious stones women's and men's clothing; ancient weapons, and sometimes rich vestments from icons - all this was ruthlessly given over to remelting and alteration by the "enlightened" nobles in order to quickly acquire new-fangled luxury items. When, in the middle of the 19th century, interest arose in the Old Russian heritage, it turned out that the noble families, whose ancestors were mentioned in all Russian chronicles, had nothing to see or study. But the Old Believers in the bins had considerable treasures of Russian culture of the pre-Petrine time.
As for Lake Svetloyar, holidays are held there even today, but not only Old Believers, but also Orthodox, and Baptists, and even representatives of non-Christian confessions, such as Zen Buddhists and Hare Krishnas, take part in them. And this is not at all surprising: there is something amazing and bewitching in the beauty of Lake Svetloyarsk. Where did it come from - deep and transparent - in this not at all a lake region, where in the depths of the forests there are only swamps with rusty water, and tiny reed oxbows of small forest streams? Nizhny Novgorod local historians and geologists are still arguing about this. And Svetloyar Lake itself is silent, stubbornly, in Kerzhatsky, silent ...

The invisible city of Kitezh

But even taking into account the generous collection of alms at various festivals, such as Svetloyarsk, the Old Believer monasteries still had to live a little poorly. And the hand of rich "benefactors" every year became less and less generous. The old people died, and the young became “weak in faith”: they began to shave their beards, wear a “German” dress, and smoke tobacco. The cloisters were poor and emaciated. Such was, for example, the fate of the Boyarkins' monastery in the Komarovsky skete (the monastery was founded in the middle of the 18th century by Princess Bolkhovskaya from a noble boyar family - hence her name) or the Manefina monastery in the same Komarovsky skete. Manefina monastery (otherwise Osokina monastery) was named after its founder - abbess Manefa Staraya from the wealthy merchant family of the Osokins, who lived in the city of Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod province. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Osokin merchants received a noble rank and converted to Orthodoxy. The help from them to the monastery ceased, the monastery became impoverished, “dried up” and received a new name - the Rassokhins' monastery.
A very powerful blow to the Nizhny Novgorod, and indeed the entire Russian Old Believers, was inflicted by a compromise current, which went to an agreement with the official Orthodox Church

Unanimity. Austrian priesthood

Edinoverie arose at the end of the 18th century and was something like a compromise between Orthodoxy and the Old Believers of the “priestly” persuasion. Edinoverie immediately received strong support from both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Russian Empire- they realized how effective this movement can be in the fight against a split. The Old Believers, stubbornly adherent to the old church customs, were allowed to pray according to their canons, but at the same time they were placed under the strict control of the state and the Orthodox Church. In the early to mid-19th century, some Old Believer sketes and monasteries in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory passed into the same faith.

Malinovsky Skete in the 19th century

This further strengthened the "zealots" of the old faith in their desire to remain faithful to the "ancient piety." The Old Believer communities in all corners of Russia are trying to get closer, to unite in anticipation of the inevitable and joyless changes for them. In the 40s of the 19th century, they even decide to choose their own bishop, and then the metropolitan. To this end, their eyes turned to fellow believers living outside the borders of the Russian Empire. The schismatics, who had long since fled from Russia, settled on the territory of the Austrian Empire in Belaya Krinitsa (now the territory of Ukraine) and established their diocese there. It was from there that the Russian schismatics of the “priestly” persuasion decided to take a bishop for themselves. Relations between the schismatics and Bila Krinitsa were conducted according to all the laws of the detective genre: first, secret correspondence, then direct relations, accompanied by illegal border crossings on both sides.
The news that the Russian schismatics wanted to establish an “Austrian priesthood” alarmed all the then Russian authorities. It was no joke for Nicholas Russia, where everyone had to walk in formation and start public affairs only with the permission of the authorities. The times were troubled: revolutionary fermentation was going on in Europe, which soon erupted in the revolutions of 1848, relations with Turkey and European neighbors were aggravated, the Crimean War. And then suddenly there was news that the subjects of the Russian Empire, and not just any, but dissenters suspicious of the authorities, had direct and illegal relations with a foreign state. The Russian authorities feared that in the event of a military conflict with Austria, 5 million Russian schismatics could play the role of a “fifth column”. This was of course not true, but the then authorities of the Russian Empire saw “sedition” in everything.
Russian Old Believers, especially those who lived in sketes, have long been in bad standing with the authorities, and not only because they did not recognize the official church. In the Old Believer sketes, “state criminals” (for example, participants in the Pugachev rebellion) and runaway serfs were hiding quite a few. All of them lived without documents, without passports, and the police regularly raided the sketes in order to identify and arrest the “passportless”.
The attempt to establish an “Austrian priesthood” overflowed the patience of the Russian authorities. They decide that it is time to start eradicating and "forcing out" schismatic sketes and begin to act in this direction in 1849.

Melnikov Pavel Ivanovich (1818-1883)

He was born into a poor Nizhny Novgorod noble family. He was a great connoisseur of the split, which did not prevent him from actively and firmly taking part in the eradication of the Old Believers. First of all, in 1849, they began to withdraw from schismatic sketes miraculous icons. And this is not without reason! The most revered of these icons - the miraculous image of the Kazan Mother of God - was kept in the Sharpan Skete. The Kerzhen schismatics had a strong belief associated with it - as soon as it is withdrawn, this will mean the end of the Kerzhen sketes.
The actions of the official Melnikov were expressively described by the writer Andrei Pechersky:

Quote:

“Experienced in matters of this kind, the St. Petersburg official, entering the Sharpan prayer room, ordered all the candles to be extinguished. When his order was executed, the light of the lamp that stood in front of the image of the Kazan Mother of God was identified. Taking him in his arms, he addressed the abbess and the few elders who were in the chapel with the words:
- Pray to the holy icon for the last time.
And took her away.
How thunder struck the inhabitants of Kerzhenets and Chernoramene when they learned that there was no longer a Solovetsky icon in the Sharpan monastery. There was no end to crying and screaming, but that's not all, that's not how it ended.
From Sharpan, the Petersburg official immediately went to Komarov. There, in the monastery of the Glafirins, for a long time there was an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, also revered by the Old Believers as miraculous. He took it in exactly the same way as the Solovki from Sharpan. Fear and horror became even greater in the monasteries of Kerzhensky and Chernoramensky, where everyone considered it over for themselves. The Petersburg official kept his promise...: the Solovetsky icon was transferred to the Kerzhensky Annunciation Monastery (Edinoverie), and the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was transferred to the Osipov Skete, which had recently turned to Edinoverie. After that, having traveled around all the sketes and monasteries, the Petersburg official returned to his place.

In 1853, Emperor Nicholas issued a decree, where the fate of the schismatic sketes was finally decided. Again, a word to the writer Andrei Pechersky:

Quote:

“Soon, from the top authorities from St. Petersburg, such a decision came out about the sketes: they were allowed to remain as before only for six months, after this time they all must certainly be completely destroyed; those of the skete mothers who were assigned to the monasteries according to the latest revision were allowed to remain in their places, but with a significant reduction in their buildings. Those of the convent mothers who, according to revisions, were assigned to various cities and villages, were ordered to have a permanent stay there, without even a short absence to sketes and other places.
All this was entrusted to the local police, and the police officer himself went around the sketes several times for this ... No matter how much the police officer ordered the peasants Ronzhin and Elfimov to break down the monastery buildings, none of them touched them, considering it a great sin. Especially the Komarovo chapels were inviolable and holy for them... No matter how hard the police officer struggled, he finally saw that there was nothing to be done, and therefore gathered witnesses, mainly from the Orthodox. They immediately set to work. When the roofs were demolished from the Manefina monastery, which was considered the most important of all the sketes, voices groaned with a groan ...
This is how the monasteries of Kerzhensky and Chernoramensky, which stood for about two hundred years, fell. Neighboring peasants at first, although they did not dare to raise their hands on the chapels and cells, after a while they used the cheap timber for their buildings: they bought the skete buildings for nothing. Soon there were no traces left of all the sketes. Only those assigned to them by revision were left in their places, and each resident was assigned a spacious cell, but there were no more than eighty old women assigned to all the sketes, and before all the monastery residents there were almost a thousand. Both Kerzhenets and Chernoramene were deserted.
After some time, the local governor, together with another Petersburg official, was ordered to inspect all the sketes. They found complete desolation everywhere.”

Many have probably already guessed that the official Melnikov and the writer Andrei Pechersky are one and the same person. How did it happen that the ardent opponent of the split became its singer in his future books?
In the 1940s and early 1950s, P.I. Melnikov shared the official point of view on the Old Believers. He was also worried about the creation of a schismatic diocese in Bila Krinitsa. In his "Report on the current state of the schism in the Nizhny Novgorod province" of 1854, Melnikov spoke extremely negatively about the schismatics. He assessed them as a destructive force that did not contribute to the strength of the Russian Empire; commemorated their participation in the rebellions of Stepan Razin and Kondraty Bulavin, and in the streltsy riots, and in Pugachev uprising(and Pugachev himself with his accomplices were schismatics). In the same years, he begins his literary activity; in a number of short stories and stories he also writes about schismatics, and everywhere he depicts them as a bunch of religious fanatics and fanatics.
But in the mid-1950s, with the accession of Alexander II, liberal winds blew. The persecution of schismatics has ceased. In addition, not many Russian schismatics recognized the Belokrinitsky diocese, and in 1863 they even completely broke with it and elevated their archbishop Anthony to the rank of metropolitan. In his note on the schism of 1864, Melnikov already greatly softens his previous views on the schism. He begins to be impressed in the schismatics by their commitment to everything ancient and primordially Russian. Even later, in 1866, in a letter to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Melnikov already wrote: “The environment of schismatics, despite its religious errors, has a lot of good sides... Educated Old Believers will introduce “new” elements into our lives, or, better to say, “old ones”, forgotten by us from the influx of Western concepts and customs ... "And even declares at the end:" And I still see the main stronghold of the future of Russia in Old Believers."
In those same years, he began work on the main work of his life - the dilogy "In the Forests" and "On the Mountains", which truly became a monument to the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers. His favorite hero - Patap Maksimych Chepurin - embodied all the best features of an Old Believer entrepreneur who came from the bottom: intelligence and business acumen, indestructible honesty, lack of extreme religious fanaticism, and at the same time - a strong commitment to the original Russian foundations and customs.
In addition, Melnikov-Pechersky entered forever in the history of the Nizhny Novgorod land, as one of the founders of scientific local history. In his heritage, one can find articles about the prominent citizens of Nizhny Novgorod - Kulibin and Avvakum, about the Grand Duchy of Nizhny Novgorod, works about the cities of the Nizhny Novgorod Territory and about the activities of the Makariev Fair.
So he remained in the memory of Nizhny Novgorod residents - a cruel administrator who destroyed the walls of the skete log cabins and the foundations of the old Kerzhents, whose name was cursed by the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers and frightened children in the Trans-Volga villages with it. And at the same time - a careful keeper of the ancient language and memory, who erected in his novels an exalted and spiritualized monument to Kerzhak Rus.

Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky)

And what about the sketes destroyed by the efforts of P.I. Melnikov and the police authorities? Some of them later revived in their places, like the famous Komarovsky skete. Others arose in new places under the old name - like the Sharpan Skete, which became known as New Sharpan. But most remained abandoned and never rose again. Time and the natural course of events undermined the “old foundations” more and more - the old monks and nuns died, and few new ones came in their place or did not come at all. The most famous Komarovsky skete lasted the longest, its resettlement took place already in 1928 under Soviet power

Komarovsky Skete in 1897

At this time, the Old Believers continued to live in the cities and villages of the Nizhny Novgorod Territory, to profess their faith, but in the eyes of the new authorities they were no longer considered something special and caught up with the main mass of believers. Their persecutors "Nikonians" themselves found themselves in the position of the persecuted, the Soviet officials were equally suspicious of both.

Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers today

The 90s of the last century are rightly called the time of religious revival in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space. The Nizhny Novgorod schismatics did not stand aside from this process either. New parishes sprang up, in some places new Old Believer churches were erected.

Assumption Old Orthodox Church in Gorodets

At the Assumption Old Orthodox Church in Gorodets, there is a Sunday school for children of Old Believers.

Sunday school students at the Church of the Assumption

Now in the territory Nizhny Novgorod region there are several tens of thousands of Old Believers, both priests and bespopovtsy. Main organizational structures priests - the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and the Russian Old Orthodox Church; bespopovtsev - Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church.
Since 1995, the newspaper Staroobryadets. Newspaper for Old Believers of all consents”, which places on its pages both historical and local history materials and informational notes on the life of the main Old Believer agreements.
In addition, the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers continue to gather for their holidays in places dear to their memory in the Nizhny Novgorod land:

near lake Svetloyar

at the gravestone of the abbess of the Komarovsky skete Manefa

at the ancient cross, which stands on the spot where the Komarovsky Skete used to be

and in many other places where ancient images of the legendary Trans-Volga region come to life - images of Kitezh Rus.
Finally, a story closely related to the theme of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers. There is in the novel by Melnikov-Pechersky and in the series created “based on” his book, such a character is Flenushka, the illegitimate daughter of Abbess Manefa. Flenushka and the merchant Pyotr Danilovich Samokvasov have known each other for three years, and for all three years the enamored Samokvasov persuades her to marry him. Her mother Abbess Manefa just as zealously persuades her to take the veil as a nun. Flenushka agrees to the last meeting with her lover and there she gives herself to him - for the first and only time. Now he no longer asks, but demands that she marry him: you need to cover this with a crown. Flenushka sends him away for three days, promising to pack up and leave with him during this time. And now Pyotr Stepanovich returns:

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“He went, but he had just entered the monastery fence, he looked - everyone dispersed from the cellar. Here is Manefa, next to her is Marya the head-dresser, two more squirrels, the treasurer Taif, behind all the new mother.
“Now they will all sit at Manefa’s, and I will go to her, to my bride!” thought Pyotr Stepanych and briskly went to the back porch of the abbess’s flock, which was set up near the Flenushka rooms.
With a quick movement, he swung the door wide open. In front of him is Taif.
- You can't, benefactor, you can't! she whispers, anxiously waving her hands and not letting Samokvasov into the cell. - Who do you want? .. Mother Manefa?
“To Flena Vasilievna,” he said.
“There is no Flena Vasilievna here,” Taifa answered.
- How? asked Pyotr Stepanych, white as snow.
“Mother Philagria lives here,” said Taifa.
Philagria, Philagria! whispers Pyotr Stepanych.
His eyes grew dim, and he sank heavily onto the bench that stood along the wall.
Suddenly the side door swung open. The majestic, strict mother Philagria in a black crown and robe stands motionless. The crepe basting is thrown back ...
Pyotr Stepanych rushed to her...
- Flank! he cried out in a desperate voice.
Like an arrow, mother Philagria straightened up. Sable eyebrows moved, angry eyes sparkled with sparkling fire. As is the mother of Manetha.
Slowly, she held out her hand and firmly, authoritatively said:
Get away from me, Satan!

And at the fairground, the harp is buzzing, they are playing at Makarya, there is a merry life there, there is no melancholy, no sorrow, and they don’t know kruchinushki there!
There, into this pool, Pyotr Stepanych rushed out of desperation.

M. Nesterov "Great tonsure"

And here is what, already purely historical material, I have in the book of Lev Anninsky "Three Heretics":

“I was not surprised when, in the Russian Starina magazine for 1887, I unearthed the history of the prototypes from which the love of Flenushka and Samokvasov was written. No, the “zabubenny festivities”, in which the good fellow drowned the “grit-grit”, did not do it there. In life, Samokvasov parted with his mother Philagria in a different way: he killed her, locked the corpse, leaving the novices, he said that the abbess was sleeping: she didn’t order to disturb her. An hour later, the novices were still worried, broke down the door and saw the abbess tied with a scythe to a samovar tap and scalded from head to toe: she died of burns without making a sound. There was no consequence: in order to avoid a scandal, the schismatics gave someone a "sieve of pearls" - and mother Filagria, she is a fiery Flenushka, descended into the grave, just like weed grass descends into the boundary, weeded out from the garden - silently and meekly.

Melnikov-Pechersky, who knew the history of the Nizhny Novgorod schismatic sketes in detail, could well have heard this story, and having altered it, inserted it into his novel, removing the most cruel moment - the terrible murder of the schismatic abbess by her former lover, whom she left to take the veil as a nun. And the fact that the case was hushed up is also not surprising. The schismatics were more than death afraid of any contact with the police, and here such a brutal murder: it could have gone as far as “dispersing” the skete, but they didn’t need it.

Nizhny Novgorod land was destined to play a very prominent role in the historical drama known as the schism of the Russian Church. Suffice it to mention at least the striking fact that the most prominent ideologists of the “opposing sides”, such as Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, Alexander Deacon, were all born “within the borders of Nizhny Novgorod”.

Nizhny Novgorod land was destined to play a very prominent role in the historical drama known as the schism of the Russian Church. Suffice it to mention at least the striking fact that the most prominent ideologists of the “opposing sides”, such as Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, Alexander Deacon, were all born “within the borders of Nizhny Novgorod”. The Old Believer movement affected the Nizhny Novgorod Territory as soon as it was born, and the descendants of those who once opposed the "anti-Christ power" still live both in Nizhny Novgorod and in the Nizhny Novgorod outback.

Archeographic and ethnographic expeditions in the Nizhny Novgorod region studied elements of the book, ritual and everyday culture of the Old Believers, at the same time, immovable objects associated with the history of the Old Believers - sketes, graveyards, holy places - were out of the scope of special studies.

By the beginning of the 1990s. among more than 1,200 monuments of history and culture of the Nizhny Novgorod region, only one architectural monument of the early twentieth century, associated with the Old Believers, was under state protection - St. Nicholas Church in the city of Semenov, and in 1990 the village of Grigorovo, Bolshemurashkinsky district - the birthplace of Archpriest Avvakum - was included in the list of historical settlements of the Russian Federation.

To a certain extent, this state of affairs was predetermined by the ideology laid down in the legislation on the protection of historical and cultural monuments. In an atheistic state, monuments connected with the history of the spiritual and religious life of the people could fall under the protection of the state only artificially "purified" from their original meaning and spiritual content. Places of traditional pilgrimage, religious shrines, graves of saints and ascetics of piety were not only not protected by law - on the contrary, they were often subjected to deliberate desecration.

It was only in the 1990s that Nizhny Novgorod specialists in the protection of monuments made an attempt to expand the scope of the typology of monuments, adding new (or rather, original) content to them. Not only monuments of religious architecture, but also places of religious worship began to be offered for state protection.

In 1994, on the initiative and order of the Committee for the Protection of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Institute of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books of the Russian Volga Region began work to study places sacred to the Old Believers. Then experts, perhaps for the first time, realized the urgent need to save from oblivion and protect from the onset of the ubiquitous "economic activity" that which constitutes a unique, irreplaceable part of Russian culture. The result of the work begun was the certification of Old Believer sketes, cemeteries and revered graves in the Semenovsky district.

The main reason for attracting this or that object to the study was a living tradition of pilgrimage that continues to this day. To the places of the former sketes of Olenevsky, Komarovsky, Sharpansky, to the graves of Sofontiy, Lotiy, Manefa and other ascetics of the old faith, recognized as saints, the Old Believers still come to worship and perform services both from the surrounding villages and from various regions of Russia, up to to Siberia.

To date, only the first stage of the research program has been carried out, which is designed for several years. The result of the first stage was the compilation of passports and the adoption of state protection of 14 places associated with the history of the Old Believers. All of them are located not far from each other, between the Olenevsky and Komarovsky sketes, mainly in the north-west direction from the city of Semenov in the vicinity of the village of Larionovo of the Malozinovevsky rural administration. It was here, in the remote Kerzhensky forests, that representatives of noble families fled, who did not accept Nikon's reforms and founded the first skete settlements. Here at the end of the XVII century. the cathedrals of the Kerzhensky fathers were held, at which the teachings of Archpriest Avvakum were discussed, especially questions about the reception of fugitive priests and self-immolation.

The history of each Old Believer skete is legendary and dramatic. Two of the most famous sketes, Olenevsky and Komarovsky, survived periods of almost complete desolation under the Nizhny Novgorod bishop Pitirim, and then under P.I. Melnikov, were finally abolished only after the revolution.

Olenevsky Skete, according to legend, was founded in the 15th century. the monks of the Zheltovodsky monastery ruined by Ulu-Makhmet, who accompanied Macarius in his procession from Zhovti Vody to Unzha. It was here that a deer appeared to the hungry travelers through the prayers of the monk (hence the name of the skete). Olenevsky skete was Beglopopovsky. After 1737 (Pitirim’s persecution), only the remains of the Olenevsky Skete survived, but since 1762, after the Decree of Catherine II on allowing the Old Believers to return to Russia, the population of the Skete quickly increased, the Skete became one of the largest and most famous on Kerzhents. At the beginning of the XIX century. the skete consisted of 14 women's cloisters, 5 chapels and 9 prayer rooms1. By decree of the Nizhny Novgorod provincial government of June 1, 1834, a plan was drawn up for the Olenevsky skete with the designation of monasteries and cells. In total, at that time, 432 male and female souls lived in the skete. The plan shows 6 old cemeteries and one functioning one at that time2. Since 1838, the Olenevsky skit, like many others, has been called a village in official papers, but continues to be Old Believer monastery. In 1853-54, according to the "Report" P.I. Melnikov, there were 8 prayer houses, 18 monasteries and 17 "orphan" houses3, the inhabitants of which did not belong to the community and were fed from their household, and during the work of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair they collected donations for the skete from Old Believer merchants in Nizhny Novgorod.

Fulfilling the order of Emperor Nicholas I dated March 1, 1853 on the destruction of sketes in the Semyonovsky district and the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs to move the inhabitants to one skete, the Nizhny Novgorod authorities appointed the resettlement of the Olenevskaya sketniks (“up to 100 persons”) to one Ulangersky skete4.

A part of the Olenev skitnits moved to the city of Semyonov and formed monasteries in city houses. So, mother Margarita, the abbess of the Anfisin monastery (founded in the Olenevsky skete by Anfisa Kolycheva, a relative of St. Philip the Metropolitan), who had connections with the Moscow Old Believers, temporarily arranged her monastery in the house of Lavrenty Bulganin. Although in the official reports on the state of the schism in the Semyonovsky district for 1857, the Olenevsky skete is indicated as “former”, nevertheless, the priests of the city of Semenov noted in their reports that many sketeers of the abolished skete live “at the place of their former registry”5.

The main shrine of the Olenevsky Skete was four old cemeteries with the graves of martyrs, which were a place of worship for pilgrims and pilgrims at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the recollections of local residents, even after the revolution, the Olenevskaya Old Believer community was visited by: mother Sophia and mother Kosiyaniya from Gorodets, "Sasovo old women" Aksinya and Tatiyana and many others.

The former Olenevsky skete became the basis of the village of Bolshoe Olenevo, which deserves special attention as the only settlement that still exists in the Semenovsky district, which arose on the site of the former skete monasteries.

The building of the village basically repeats the layout of the streets and the location of the cloisters of the skete, which were built according to the "flock" type and consisted of several log cabins under one roof, with a covered courtyard, closets, cages, and upper rooms. On the sides of the long corridor were clean cells. The corridor led to a spacious, luxuriously decorated prayer room, in which services were performed daily. Some old village houses still retain the layout typical of skete monasteries (for example, the house on the site of the former estate "Evpraksei Staritsa")6.

Local residents point to the remains of three old cemeteries on the territory of the village, as reference points for them are a carved stone tombstone of the 18th century, a mountain ash planted on the grave of the abbess of the Paltsevo monastery, and a dilapidated golbets without a roof. Another cemetery with the graves of nuns and novices of the skete is located half a kilometer northwest of the village.

In the village of B. Olenevo, there are now about 20 residential buildings belonging to local residents. The Old Believers of this village have not had their prayer house for a long time and on major holidays they hold services at the graves left in the old cemeteries. These shrines remain a place of pilgrimage for the Old Believers of Semenovsky and other districts of the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Komarovsky skete is one of the oldest and largest on Kerzhents, the scene of the famous novel by P.I. Melnikov (Pechersky) "In the forests". It was founded in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. 36 km northwest of Semenov, near the villages of Elfimovo and Vasilyevo.

The skete was devastated under Pitirim, but, like Olenevsky, it quickly recovered after the decree of 1762. In the 18th century. in the skete, the Boyarkin Abode was founded, which was originally inhabited by women of noble families. Until the 50s. 19th century in the chapel of the monastery, the Alexander ribbon with an order cross, which belonged to Lopukhin, the uncle of the founder of the monastery, Princess Bolkhovskaya, was preserved as a shrine.

At the beginning of the XIX century. The Komarovsky skete consisted of 35 male and female cloisters, in 1826 - 26, in 1853 - 12 cloisters, 3 chapels and 2 prayer rooms. At the same time, up to 500 skete women and the same number of novices lived in the skete. In the 19th century, after Napoleon's attack on Moscow, the skete was replenished with immigrants from Moscow - members of the Rogozhsky community with their families.

There used to be 8-10 old cemeteries in the skete, of which two are still revered. The first one is on the site of the monastery of Jonah Snub-nosed, an Old Believer writer, a teacher, a "cathedral elder", recognized as a reverend. A miraculous spruce grew here, the bark of which was gnawed in the hope of getting rid of a toothache; at the end of the 19th century, judging by the photograph of M.P. Dmitrieva, if it has already been knocked down8. The second is at the grave of the abbess Manefa (she died in 1816), who was also recognized as a reverend and who gives miraculous healings to all who come. The tomb of Manefa's mother was arranged in the form of a stone tomb under wooden canopy. 3 bells hung on the belfry9.

Taken in the middle of the 19th century. The Nizhny Novgorod authorities attempted to destroy the skete by resettling the Komarovsky skete to Ulanger, was unsuccessful, as well as in relation to the Olenevsky skete. Although in the reports of the Semyonov priests for 1856 the Komarovsky skete is listed as "former", some of its inhabitants did not leave their former settlement and continued to wear monastic robes,10 and the inhabitants of the Manetino monastery found refuge in Semenov. In 1860 the "schismatic cemeteries"11 were restored.

The last abbess of the Komarovo cells, mother Manefa (Matryona Filatyevna), died in 1934 and rests in the Komarovo cemetery.

The traditions of teaching children to read and write, piety, and church singing were preserved in the Komarovsky Skete for centuries12, until the 1930s. 20th century, when the skete was settled. The staff of the Institute managed to record the memoirs of one of the last pupils of the Komarovsky cells, E.A. Krasilnikova (Uren), who was sent to study at the skete at the age of sixteen. It was about 1927. Before her eyes, the skete was dispersed, this time completely. "Mothers Kosiyaniya and Melania continued to teach children to read and write", having moved to the village of Fedotovo.

No less famous was the Smolyany Skete, founded under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (presumably in 1656) by noble families, monks of the Smolensk Bizyukovsky Monastery, Sergei Saltykov (Empress Anna Ioannovna was from the same Saltykov clan on the maternal side), Spiridon and Ephraim Potemkin. In the 2nd half of the XVII century. this skete was the center of priestly consent on Kerzhents. Representatives of noble families who did not recognize Nikon's reforms were removed here.

In 1660, the skete was headed by a former monk of the same Smolensk Bizyukovsky monastery, Dionysius Shuisky, who enjoyed special reverence among the Old Believers, since he had a supply of peace and holy gifts consecrated under Patriarch Joseph, and could perform the liturgy and the sacrament of communion. Dionisy's successor in 1690 was the priest Theodosius. He was known for his exceptional eloquence, erudition, and knowledge of Scripture, which attracted new followers to the Old Believers and angered the authorities. In 1694, even before Bishop Pitirim, Theodosius was captured and burned. At the same time, the skete was destroyed.

In the middle of the XIX - early XX centuries. on the site of the Smolyansky skete, the Old Believers revered the following memorial places: 12 gravestones (Dionysius Shuisky, Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, Trifilius, Dositheus are buried here); wells dug, according to legend, by Sergei Saltykov, Efimy Shuisky, Dionysius Shuisky; a wooden chapel with images that stood in the cemetery of the skete14. Nowadays, in the old cemetery, in the forest, a few meters from the clearing, 22 graves with dilapidated wooden crosses and golbts are preserved. Two pits filled with water may represent the remains of wells.

At the cemetery of another skete - Sharpansky, which existed for 170 years, among the old birches now rises five golbtsy and one dilapidated cross. There is no chapel, on the walls of which the names of the buried were written: "mono-schema-bearer Pavel, Anufry, Savvaty and Abraham." At the women's cemetery there was once a tomb with the inscription "Inoko-schema Praskovya" and 12 graves around. Praskovya was revered as Sofya Alekseevna, who fled to the skete with 12 archers. And although the grave mounds are barely visible, local residents and parishioners of the Semenovskaya Old Orthodox community come to bow to the "Queen's Grave".

The chapel was also destroyed on the grave of Sofontiy, the founder of the Dukhov Monastery near the village of Deyanovo, a consistent follower of Avvakum, one of the most revered saints by the Old Believers16. By 1917, only a wooden cross with an icon remained on the grave of Sophontiy17. The well with holy water, located not far from the grave, was preserved by the Old Believers and revered as having been dug up by Sophontiy himself18.

The "holy well and the graves of the burned" near the village of Osinki were almost completely destroyed by the recently cut clearing. Here, at the direction of the old-timers, during the ruin of Bishop. By Pitirim the cells were lowered into the well with holy gifts, and the skete was burned along with the five martyrs. Their graves have been preserved on the site of the cells, and the healing water of the spring does not freeze even in winter. IN different time attempts were made to destroy the shrine - "tar, fuel oil was poured into the water", but the next day the source again turned out to be crystal clear, - after all, there are graves of burned martyrs nearby19.

A lot has been destroyed. But the tradition has been preserved, having destined for itself the path of repentance, to bow to the holy relics, "resting under a bushel", following the path described by Dorofei Nikiforovich Utkin - the rector of the Old Believers of the Sysaihi village of the Semyonovsky passage:

“Once I moved myself to repentance and intended the path of repentance. It was May 14, 1911. On Saturday morning, I went to bow to the holy places (which are famous in the Old Believers), and the guidebooks went with me - the village of Korelki Tatiana Alexandrovna and the village of Volchikhi, the maiden Nastasia Fedorovna. And when he reached the Komarovo cells, he was in the chapel of the abbess Matrena Filatievna (Mother Manefa since 1914). Not far from here is the tomb of the father of the monk schema-monk Jonah, they bowed and glorified Easter ...

And go further, and made their way to the villages of Elfimovo, Vasilyevo and the village of the Rozhdestvensky Monastery, and reached a place called old Sharpan. There is no housing, only two fences of cemeteries. In the first fence we bow to Parascovia mother nun schema. And in the other fence we bow to the fathers, monks and schemniks Paul, Anufry, Savatiy, Varlaam, Lawrence.

And from here I went and reached Malago Sharpan and that bowed to the mother nun Fevronia, and that we spent the night in her tomb reading the psalter. And then a miracle happens: through the prayer of the worshipers, water comes from the heart of mother Fevronia, which is taken to heal diseases of the soul and body. But we have not received this gift; upon our arrival, the earth was dry, but upon departure it was created damp, so that, putting it on a handkerchief and shaking it, water flowed ...

And having bowed to the place called Smolina ... And having bowed to that, they also saw a pond, and told us about this pond that when there was persecution from Pitirim, then the icons of these inhabitants and the holy mysteries were lowered here; from this pond to the sunny west 40 sazhens - the key and that icons are lowered; another 100 sazhens to the west is a lake, the bells are lowered there. And now there is no housing, only a barn with icons. And then go home.

And by this journey, having somewhat lightened myself, my heart calmed down.

Much has been destroyed, but it is all the more important to preserve what remains. Research conducted by the Institute of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books (expedition materials, archival research), photographic fixation of objects and topographic survey of the area formed the basis of the Decree of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region dated 10/17/95 "On the announcement of memorable places associated with the history of the Old Believers, places of pilgrimage and worship of the Old Believers shrines located in the Semenovsky district, places of interest in the Nizhny Novgorod region and historical monuments of regional significance. By this decree, the village of Bolshoye Olenevo (the former Olenevsky skete) was declared a historical inhabited place of the Nizhny Novgorod region, the sketes of Komarovsky, Smolyany, Empty (Old) Sharpan, Novy Sharpan and the "Holy well with the graves of the burnt" near the village of Osinki - places of interest. On the territories of these places, a special regime for the maintenance and use of land has been introduced, which provides for the preservation of the historical landscape and viewpoints of the best perception of historical objects, the prohibition of demolition, relocation, changes in historical monuments, the laying of highways and various communications, branches land plots under construction, as well as a number of other measures aimed at ensuring the safety of revered places. The graves of the ascetics of the old faith - Sophontiy, Trifiliya, Joseph, Nicodamus, Daniel "and with him two thousand sisters and brothers of the burnt", the monk-schema-maidens Agathia, Praskoveya, Thekla were declared monuments of history.

Thus, the holy places for the Old Believers took their rightful place in the historical and cultural landscape of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The first step was taken on the path of state protection of the spiritual and moral shrines of the Russian Old Believers.

1 Melnikov P.I. Report on the current state of the split in the Nizhny Novgorod province // Collection of NSUAC. T.9. N. Novgorod, 1911. S. 113, 131. 2 State Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (hereinafter GANO). F. 829. op. 676. D. 753 (plan of the Olenevsky Skete). 3 Melnikov P.I. Report ... S. 130. 4 GANO. F. 570. Op. 558. D. 107 (1855). L. 1. 5 GANO. F. 570. Op. 558. D. 79 (1857). L. 3; D. 92 (1856). L. 2. 6 GANO. F. 829. Op. 676. D. 753 (estates 41 and 42). 7 Melnikov P.I. Report ... S. 132-133. 8 GANO. Collection of photographs by M.P. Dmitriev. No. 1578. 9 Prilutsky Yu. In the outback. Semenov, 1917. P. 129. According to the description of Yu. Prilutsky, the inscriptions were read on the tomb: "My spiritual sisters and fasts, do not forget to pray to me always, but when you see my coffin, remember my love and pray to Christ that my spirit will do with the righteous"; "This monument was erected by the zeal of the merchant Philip Yakovlevich Kasatkin, devoted in spirit to the late Moscow First Guild. 1818 (?) June 3 days. Moscow." 10 GANO. F. 570. Op. 558. D. 154 (1854). 11 GANO. F. 570. Op. 558. D. 124 (1860). 12 John, hieroschemamonk. The spirit of wisdom of some schismatic interpretations. 1841. S. 71-83; GANO. F. 570. Op. 558. D. 204 (1850). 13 Arkhangelov S.A. Among the schismatics and sectarians of the Volga region. SPb., 1899. S. 27-28; I-sky N. Historical essays from the life of schismatics in the Nizhny Novgorod limits // Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Vedomosti. 1866. No. 10. S. 400-401; L-in E. A few words about the schismatics of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese // Orthodox interlocutor. Kazan, 1866. December. S. 264; Melnikov P.I. Historical essays on priesthood. M., 1864. S. 27. 14 Melnikov P.I. Report ... S. 187; Prilutsky Yu. In the outback. P. 115. 15 Melnikov P.I. Report ... S. 107; Prilutsky Yu. In the outback. pp. 120-121. 16 Smirnov P.S. Disputes and divisions in the Russian schism in the first half of the 18th century. St. Petersburg, 1909, p. 35; I-sky N. Historical essays ... // Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Vedomosti. 1866. No. 11. S. 444; GANO. Col. photos of M.P. Dmitriev. No. 1568, No. 1590. 17 Prilutsky Yu. In the outback. P. 109. 18 Bezobrazov V.P. Semenovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province and the schismatic world. From travel memories // Russian Thought. 1883. No. 11. S. 147; GANO. Col. photos of M.P. Dmitriev. No. 1569. 19 Testimonies of local residents (A.N. Lvova, Razvilie village; E.S. Ovchinnikova, Pesochnoye village, etc.). Institute of Manuscript and Early Printed Books, 1994, expeditionary materials. 20 Utkin D.N. My life, my adventure and my legend, and my memories // Materials. Manuscript. Beginning XX century Stored in the library of the Nizhny Novgorod State University, inv. No. 933818.

N.N. Bakhareva, M.M. Belyakova

Study and state protection of places,

related to the history of the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod region

(The world of the Old Believers. Issue 4.

Living Traditions: Results and Perspectives of Comprehensive Research.

Materials of the international scientific conference.

M .: "Russian Political Encyclopedia" (ROSSPEN), 1988. S. 132-139)

Russian Civilization