ORTHODOX CALENDAR. MODERN LOOK
Where are the Holy Mountains?
July 30, 2008
Icon of the Mother of God of Svyatogorsk
July 30, 2008 The Russian Orthodox Church venerates the Icon of the Mother of God of Svyatogorsk, and together with her, the UOC-MP joins this veneration. Moreover, since 2008. brought to the church life of the Russian Orthodox Church, one might say a number of revolutionary changes. And this year, the celebration of the Svyatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God will take place against the backdrop of celebrations dedicated to the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' and with the personal participation of Patriarch Alexy II, which is already an extraordinary event for Ukraine.
But, due to historical realities, with the veneration of this icon, the Orthodox Church has a certain historical, and I would even say a church collision, which in the ROC, where everyone is passionate about new church building, stubbornly refuses to notice.
For in the Russian Federation, in fact, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, there is the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk MONASTERY (Pskov region) where there is an icon of the Mother of God Svyatogorsk and in Ukraine (Donetsk region) there is a restored in 1992. Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Monastery.
And since 2004, it has already become the Svyatogorsk Holy Dormition Lavra, where there is also the miraculous Svyatogorsk icon of the Mother of God.
And the celebration of these icons takes place on the same day, although the history of their appearance and the beginning of the cult of veneration, in the time interval, is spaced for 300-400 years, in favor of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Monastery (Pskov Region).
And the believers do not have the former certainty, where are the Holy Mountains in the Pskov region or in the Ukraine? How is it not logical to have two places of religious veneration for the same icon, in monasteries with the same name and in areas with similar names?
But if we follow the logic of recent events, then the decision of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexy II to visit Donetsk and the Svyatogorsk Lavra on July 29 and 30, where on the last day of his stay in Ukraine he will lead the liturgy on the day of the celebration of the “Svyatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God” probably says that "True" Holy Mountains "are located in Ukraine ....
It is a pity, however, that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, in such a situation, was offended, since it is in this HOLY USPENSKY ST.GORSK MONASTERY, that in the Pskov region, the family tomb of the Pushkins is located. Evidently modern politics is more important than the historical memory of the national Russian favorite.
Taking into account this priority and the attention of the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Svyatogorsk Holy Dormition Lavra and its main shrine, we will begin our essay on two monastic cloisters, with this monastic cloister, in order to finally find out where the Holy Mountains are and whose icon of the Mother of God is worshiped July 30, 2008
Chapter 1 part 1
Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Monastery - Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Monastery - Holy Dormition Lavra (Ukraine)
Historical part
On the right bank of the Seversky Donets River stands a revived since 1992. monastic cloister - Svyatogorsk Dormition Monastery.
This monastery is located in that region, which, long before the baptism of Rus, was Christian according to church tradition.
We will discard the stories of church tradition that the monastery was originally founded by monks fugitive from Byzantium and move on to documentary evidence.
Thus, in the History of the Russian Church, Met. Macarius indicates that the Khazars who lived here, already in the middle of the VIII century. had their own bishop, a certain hermit of Sosthenes, who was exiled to Kherson for veneration of icons.
A century later, the Greek emperor Michael, at the request of the Khazars, sent Sts. Cyril and Methodius to Khazaria, because “byahu tamo Jews, the peasant faith is blasphemed by the Velmi”.
Whether Cyril and Methodius were in the Svyatogorsk monastery, history is silent. But Metropolitan Macarius claims that after repeated heated debates with the Khazars, Saracens, and especially the Jews, the brothers, with God's help, achieved the goal of their embassy - according to the testimony of the lives of the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers, the prince himself, his boyars and many people believed in Christ and accepted holy baptism.
Another ecclesiastical authority, Archbishop. Filaret (Gumilevsky). Explaining the name of the Holy Monastery, he wrote: “Why are the Donetsk mountains named as saints? -
- This name is explained only by the fact that since 1540 the shrine of the Donetsk rocks was already too well known - the image of St. Nicholas, found by the monks (in the caves), and the holiness of the monks who labored here ...
With all probability we can assume that in the XIV century. the Svyatogorsk monastery already existed ... "
Please note, dear reader, that the first and main icon of the Svyatogorsk Hermitage was already from 1540. became an icon of St. Nicholas!
In the XI-XIV centuries. On the territory of the region, in the immediate vicinity of the Holy Mountains, there existed, according to some modern archaeologists, both a series of small settlements and a large center - "Tsarino settlement", a part of the inhabitants who professed Christianity according to the Greek rite.
The Holy Mountains are repeatedly mentioned in historical documents of the 16th century, such as the Moscow and Lvov Chronicles, and in 1624 Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich bestowed a certificate of gratitude on Abbot Simeon and his brethren.
In Russian historiography, the granting of such a royal charter is, as it were, the official acceptance of a monastery under the wing of the Russian Orthodox Church and is usually considered the year of foundation.
And everything that was before, as it were, does not count, how many Khazars "Judaizers" were wandering about?
The brothers Cyril and Methodius came and went, but the Khazars, but not the Slavs and the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians who then left them, remained on the territory of what is now Donetsk region.
At this time, the Svyatogorsk hermitage was the most advanced, southern, Russian settlement in the Wild Steppe and stood in the way of the Crimean Tatar hordes, who repeatedly went to Muscovy for tribute, and was also ruined by the Tatars, although as we know, they did not take the monks prisoner and the church was not taxed.
... The fact that the monastery was an advanced fortress is evidenced by its location on almost impregnable rocks.
But now the hard times have passed, the reign of Catherine II has come.
Ukraine was conquered, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated.
In 1782, Catherine II concluded a peace treaty with the Crimean Khan Sahib-Girey, and the need for the Russian Empire and, naturally, for the Russian Orthodox Church disappeared in the desert.
In this regard, in 1787 the monastery was "abolished". According to the "Spiritual States" published by Catherine II on February 26, 1764, all monasteries that owned estates and were not abolished, with the exception of the Lavras (Trinity-Sergievskaya and Kiev-Pecherskaya) and those of them that were made cathedral, that is, intended for bishops (Alexander Nevsky, Chudov, Rozhdestvensky-Vladimirsky, Ipatievsky, Spaso-Preobrazhensky, Novgorod-Seversky), were divided into three classes and the norm of regular monks and nuns was established in them.
In male monasteries of the 1st class there were 33 monks, in the second-class ones - 17, and in the third-class ones - 12 monks each; in the first-class convents there were, by state, from 52 to 101 nuns, and in the second- and third-class monasteries there were 17 nuns.
All monasteries, deserts and sketes in the Great Russian provinces alone in 1762 consisted of 881
Only state monasteries now received a certain amount of money from the state.
But, not everything here was clean, corruption, as they say now, could not have done without, and the miraculous icons of Svyatogorsk did not help.
An unexpected turn in the history of Svyatogorye was the decision of Catherine II to present this "paradise on earth", as the empress herself put it, to her favorite, Prince Grigory Potemkin. After that, the territory of the desert became his ordinary secular dacha.
Yes, I almost forgot to note that by the time the desert was closed, it owned 27,000 acres of land and 2,000 peasants. The monastic community was very well off! And it is not for nothing that Potemkin "liked" it.
Since 1790, Prince G. Potemkin owned the Holy Mountains, and after his death - by his relatives, the Engelhardts. The ones with T.G. Shevchenko served in the Cossacks, who does not remember. The churches of the monastery were partly dismantled, and partly they became just a church parish.
There were 789 [
But back to the topic of the story.
Almost 54 years later, the Svyatogorsk desert opened up again. This happened in 1844 in connection with the arrival of the first 12 monks, led by Abbot Arseny (Mitrofanov).
The history of this "miracle", if expressed in church language, is as follows.
In 1842, Engelhardt's nephew Alexander Potemkin (namesake of Count Potemkin) and his wife Tatyana (nee Golitsyna), having visited here, decided to revive the monastery, for which they turned to the Synod with a request to restore the monastery.
And according to the "all-subject report of the Holy Synod," Nicholas I, by decree of January 15, 1844, "deigned to restore the Svyatogorsk Uspenskaya Hermitage on the basis of a hostel and accept the charter of the Glinsky Hermitage of the Kursk Diocese as a basis for the internal well-being of it." (This shame still exists - Glinskaya hermitage in the village of Sosnovka, Glukhovsky district, Sumy region of Ukraine)
I again draw the reader's attention to the fact that the tsar allowed the founding not of a monastery, but of a “desert”.
And yet, I draw on usually due to a misunderstanding, or maybe by malicious intent, an important detail "" I deigned to command to restore the Svyatogorsk Uspenskaya Hermitage on the basis of a hostel ... ".
T. and in its first legal status it was not a monastery, but a desert.
This is fundamentally important, because "Hermitage" is a term for a monastic settlement, in the tradition of Russian Orthodoxy, usually a skete remote from the main monastery.
And in Orthodoxy, hermitism is a form of monastic, "skete" or "desert" life, solitude associated with the voluntary acceptance of additional ascetic vows in addition to the general statutory regulations (for example, intense prayer, strict fasting, silence).
Now let's talk about another important detail of the restoration of the Svyatogorsk desert. About the Charter of the Glinsk Hermitage. This is a special document in Russian monasticism and it deserves a detailed description, since, having understood its essence, one can understand what the monks of the Syatogorsk desert were supposed to do.
The charter consists of three sections, including 36 chapters.
The first defines the order of worship and meals.
From 24 o'clock in the Glinsk Hermitage, morning prayers and midnight office were read, matins and lithium were performed, from 6 o'clock - an akathist to the Mother of God, from 8 o'clock - liturgy, from 16 o'clock - vespers, lithium.
From 18 o'clock - Compline with three canons, prayers for the future sleep and commemoration were also read. The Sunday and festive vigil began at midnight and continued on the Lord's and Theotokos' feasts (except for the reading of the kontakion and akathist ikos) for five hours, and on other holidays - four hours.
On Sunday, at 5 o'clock in the morning, a conciliar akathist was performed to Jesus the Sweetest. A special Glinsky chant was introduced in the monastery, St. Filaret did not allow it.
After the liturgy, the brethren went in pairs to the refectory, the rite of Panagia was served. In the desert, continuous reading of the Psalter and daily commemoration were performed according to a special synodikon. In the first week of each month, the blessing of the water was performed.
Among the features of the worship of the Glinsk Hermitage was the wearing of tabernacles by the deacons around the church, censing of censers (censers with handles).
The second and third sections of the charter regulated the duties of the abbot, senior and rank-and-file brethren. The monks did not have any property, they did not receive anyone in potash, they met with relatives only occasionally and only at the hotel. Women were not allowed in anywhere except the temple.
Everyone who entered the monastery was entrusted with an elder for spiritual nourishment. In addition to the existing obediences of the confessor and treasurer, St. Filaret introduced the posts of dean, sacristan, administrator, ecclesiarch, housekeeper, hospital, hotel, etc. in the Glinsk Hermitage.
According to chapter 25, brethren that did not fulfill the ordinance were removed from the wilderness.
The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, so revered in Russia, in the era of Putin, called the Glinsk Hermitage "the great school of monastic life."
The Glinsky charter, borrowed by many monasteries (about 15), served as "the cornerstone of a lasting arrangement and prosperity."
Hieromonk of the Glinsk Hermitage Innocent became the first abbot of the Svyatogorsk Hermitage.
At the end of 1844, work began on the restoration of churches, the clearing of caves and underground passages.
Since that time, during the second half of the 19th century, the old buildings near the river were replaced by new stone ones.
The underground church of St. Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves was restored in 1846, and in 1859 the main cathedral of the desert, the Assumption, was rebuilt. The Cathedral of the Assumption had a height of 53.5 m from the base to the cross.
In 1850-1867, in one of the cells inside a sheer cliff, the Monk John (Kryukov) performed the feat of hermitage.
It was the Svyatogorsk monastery that built the Spasov skete, famous throughout the Russian Empire, at the Borki railway station, where the imperial family miraculously survived the catastrophe on October 17, 1888. This is when the Narodnaya Volya members planted a bomb under the path, if anyone has forgotten the school history.
In 1874, a staircase was built to the top of Mount Tabor, named Cyril and Methodius.
The staircase consisted of 511 steps and was made in the form of a covered gallery with 16 platforms, two towers and 22 passages.
In general, we can say that for 70 years a lot of construction has been carried out in the monastery: 8 temples in the monastery, 5 temples on farms, 2 sketes, hotel buildings, a hospital, schools, a huge exemplary economy, the eldership has been revived
This is clearly seen in the preserved pre-revolutionary painting of the Svyatogorsk monastery and its environs.
In the "Complete Geographical Description of Russia, 1903." you can read:
"Svyatogorsk Uspenskaya Obshchestvennaya Pustyn" is located in the Izyum district of the Kharkov province, 155 versts along a dirt road from Kharkov, 35 versts from the city of Izyum and 18 versts from Slavyansk, famous for its mineral waters ...
It is three versts from the city of Slavyansk to the station of the same name on the Azov railway, and from there along the iron pot to Kharkov 237 versts "
Nevertheless, the monastery received thousands of pilgrims every year. The total number of monks, novices and simply residents (balts) and service personnel was about 600 people. A large farm required a lot of hands.
This was the year 1917, fatal for the entire Russian Orthodox Church, met the monastery.
In 1922, after a period of repression and looting, the monastery was closed.
In today's church literature one can find the following statements: "The opening of the monastery, predicted by the Svyatogorsk elders, took place in 1992."
The author considers this a prediction made in hindsight. And to prove his point of view, he refers to a historical document.
He is more eloquent than any words, testifies to how the monks lived in the desert under the Bolsheviks.
"The act of investigation of the atrocities of the Bolsheviks committed in the Svetogorsk monastery of the Izyum district". It is dated 1919.
"Normal life in the Svyatogorsk Holy Dormition Monastery, known not only in the Kharkov province, but throughout Russia, was disrupted in 1918.
In early January, the Velikokamyshevakhsky land committee of the Izyum district, as well as the Bogorodichansky and Slavic committees, took into account the property of the monastery, which has its own branches (sketes) with farms and various workshops in various places.
Taking into account the monastic property, the committees began to immediately liquidate it in their favor, and Velikokamyshevakhsky mercilessly chopped down the forest.
Thus, the entire supply of grain was taken out, and the cattle were sold. The monastic brethren were removed from the use of the land. The monks who make up the labor force were forcibly evicted, and of the 600 people, only 200 to 300 old clergymen and some of the monks who took refuge in the monastery itself remained. The monastery's losses, according to the most conservative estimate, amount to about 250 thousand. This situation did not save the monastery from further attacks. In February, numerous searches began, each time accompanied by robbery.
Already on February 15, an armed gang of 15 people burst into the monastery, as the local peasants, mainly from the Raisin militiamen, said, demanding an indemnity of 15 thousand rubles and, bypassing the cells, takes away everything they like. This time the robbers did not succeed in obtaining indemnities. On March 26, a group of Bolsheviks reappeared.
Under the pretext of finding weapons, the uninvited guests went to the cave temples, where they behaved blasphemously, entering here wearing hats, smoking cigarettes, turning thrones and using foul language. The confiscation of church utensils evacuated to the monastery from the churches of the Volyn and Vilna dioceses dates back to the same time. The confiscation of these items, according to the testimony of witnesses, was carried out unusually rudely. Sacred objects were squeezed into the boxes with curses, the Holy Gifts were thrown out of the monstrance and trampled on the spot.
After the search, the Bolsheviks went to the abbot, demanded church wine, and immediately drank it. As they left, they took the monastery horse with them.
The brutal murder of the monk Hypatius, who went outside the monastery walls, dates back to early April. Apparently, he was robbed and hacked to death with swords by wandering Bolshevik detachments. In June, armed robbers (from 5 to 8 people) came to the skete near the village of Gorozhovka and demanded that the monk Onufriy's skete economist give out the money received from the sale of the monastic property. The house-keeper said that he had no money. He was taken out of the fence and immediately shot at the gate. Another monk named Israel is killed while trying to escape.
Procession of the cross in the holy monastery
The banditry, which had somewhat weakened during the hetmanship, was supported, however, by the detachments of the Bolsheviks wandering in the vicinity all the time, who were popularly nicknamed "forest workers". The murder of several persons from the clergy of the Svyatogorsk monastery belongs to this time.
In October 1918, the icon of the Svyatogorsk Mother of God, especially revered in the area, was transferred from village to village. The procession stopped for the night in the village of Bayrachek. Here, a gang of robbers attacked the clergy's premises, broke down the doors and killed the hieromonks Modest and Irinarch, the hierodeacon Theodotus, who lived in the same house, the psalmist of the local church, the owner of the house, and his daughter.
Five corpses lay at the foot of the icon, which stood in a pool of blood. The monks had no money. But not one motive of robbery led the robbers, judging by the words of one of them during the murder: "You pray that God will punish the Bolsheviks."
With the departure of the Germans, the activities of the Bolsheviks immediately revived. Already on December 1, a group of armed people appeared with a demand for the issuance of weapons that were available for the self-preservation of the monastery. The weapon was issued. Then, awaiting the results of the negotiations, a gang of about 100 people broke into the monastery and began to plunder the monastery and fraternal property.
7 thousand rubles were stolen from the monastic cash desk, the monks were robbed of their clothes, shoes, linen, watches, etc., and all the loot was taken away on the monastery's six horses, capturing two more carriages.
The days of January 2 and 3, 1919 were the most difficult for the Svyatogorsk monastery and at the same time the days of the most intense blasphemy and mockery of the Orthodox monastery and violence against its priests and monks. On January 2, at about three and a half in the afternoon, up to 60 Red Army soldiers arrived at the monastery on 16 carts.
They had red ribbons on their chests and rifles. With a whoop they burst through the gates of the hotel and, cursing the monk in charge of the hotel, beat him with a rifle butt and scattered across the buildings of the monastery.
The robbery began with the most incredible bullying. At this time, a divine service was going on in the Intercession Church. Several Red Army men burst into the church wearing hats, loudly demanding the abbot and the handing over of the keys to the monastic vaults. A demand was made for the issuance of 4 million in indemnity and 4 thousand of money that had been in the monastic cash desk was taken away. The Red Army soldiers broke up into small parties with the aim of a general search and robbery of the monastery premises. At the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Tryphon, they scattered all the furnishings and things, demanding money with abuse and threats with weapons.
Searches, robberies and bullying were going on simultaneously in all cells. The monks were deprived of their property up to the last shirt and boots, inclusive. Icons were broken and thrown on the floor, the monks were forced to smoke and dance in the corridors.
From one of them (monk Joseph), under the threat of execution, they demanded that he scold the Lord and the Mother of God, and after refusing, they forced him to smoke, forcing him to inhale deeper by beatings. The beaten, robbed and desecrated brethren began to gather, led by the archimandrite, in the church for divine services. But even there the Red Army bandits rushed in all the time, in caps and with candles in their hands, examining the feet of the worshipers and taking away the boots that seemed fit to them.
At about 2 o'clock in the morning, when it seemed that there was a certain lull, they began to celebrate the Liturgy.
Celebration in the revived monastery
Liturgy in the cathedral was served by the archimandrite with other clergy. During the litanies, a group of Red Army men burst into the temple. One of them ran into the pulpit and shouted: "Enough for you to pray, trample all night, down with the church!" - turned back by the shoulders of the hierodeacon who had proclaimed the litany. At the intensified requests of the archimandrite and the brethren, permission was given to finish the Liturgy. But the Red Army men did not leave the temple.
While singing the cherubic song, they entered the throne and continued examining the boots of the worshipers. The brethren, expecting further suffering and even death, partook of the Holy Mysteries. Towards the end of the mass, a new gang of Red Army men burst into the church. One of the gang, holding scissors in his hands, shouted: "Stand still, come one by one, I will cut everyone's hair," and immediately cut off the hair of one of the monks. The monks tried to escape.
Another Red Army soldier ran into the altar, opened the Royal Gates and, standing in them, shouted: "Don't come out, I will shoot." At the same time, the Red Army soldiers carried out robberies, blasphemy and mockery in all the premises of the monastery.
In the apartment of the archimandrite, the fanatics slept, hiding in an epitrachil, in the treasurer's room they stabbed the portraits of the hierarchs of the Russian Church. Bullying and violence continued everywhere. Several monks had their hair and beards cut off, and they were beaten to dance, smoke, and even drink ink. In the morning, when mass began again, the Red Army did not allow the services. The gang that burst in attacked the priests and began to pull them out of the temple in vestments, but, yielding to the requests of the priests, allowed them to be exposed.
Then everyone, led by the archimandrite, was taken out of the temple. They took off the boots of the archimandrite, gave him some kind of support, and, despite the frost, lined everyone up in rows in front of the temple. Began, accompanied by beatings and obscene abuse, the mocking training of the monks in marching and military techniques.
At this time, another group of Reds was blaspheming in a nearby church. One of them, putting on a robe and a miter, sat on the throne and leafed through the Gospel, while others, also in robe, blasphemously represented the divine service, now opening and then closing the royal doors for the amusement of their like-minded people. The temple was desecrated by feces at the candle box.
Stones and images from mitres and icons - everything was stolen. All the loot was taken out of the monastery on 38 carts. At the same time, all the monks of the "hospital farm" located next to the monastery were robbed without exception.
During the management of the Bolsheviks, by order of the Izyum Executive Committee, an indemnity of 80 or 85 thousand rubles was imposed on the Bogorodichansk volost. The Bogorodichansk executive committee demanded 50 thousand from the monastery as an indemnity. The brethren collected 10 thousand rubles, and 5 thousand were paid from the monastic sums.
In the spring of 1919, a colony of children of different ages, up to 18 years old, was sent to the monastery from Petrograd, and is located in two monastery buildings. The colony of up to 350 people was in charge of the communist Poltoratsky, leading an upbringing in the spirit corresponding to communism. All the icons from the occupied buildings were removed, visiting the church is prohibited.
During their retreat at the end of May of this year, the Bolsheviks once again visited the Svyatogorsk monastery.
First, a military man appeared and, calling himself General Shkura, demanded to show him the abbot, and then a gang of "fighters" rushed in, demanding 50 thousand indemnities. At the same time, Hieromonk John was forced to put his head under the blows of the checker. The hieromonk got off with the fact that he gave the rapists the 40 rubles he had with him and received two blows with a whip.
During the retreat, the Bolsheviks cut off the hair on the heads and beards of the hieromonks Nestor and Bonifatius, killed the monk Timolai in the field and hacked the novice Moses who survived with the severed fingers to death.
This act of investigation is based on the facts obtained by the Special Commission in compliance with the rules set out in the Charter of Criminal Procedure. Done on July 17, 1919 in Yekaterinodar ".
And these are all yesterday's zealous parishioners, about whom A.P. Chekhov, in his howling story about a visit to the Svyatogorsk Hermitage, truly God subjected his best servants to a severe test ...
And on June 8-12, 1922 in the city of Bakhmut, the court session of the Donetsk Provincial Revolutionary Tribunal took place.
Nine people of the Svyatogorsk brethren, headed by Archimandrite Tryphon, were judged. The main accusation is the concealment of church values from being confiscated to help the starving.
The verdict was passed after a 6-day trial, which sentenced Archimandrite Trifon (Skripchenko) to 2 years of forced labor and imprisonment.
So that by 1922. if any of the monks managed to survive, then they obviously had no time for predictions about the revival of the monastery.
For the Bolsheviks came in earnest and for a long time. Times for everyone, both believers and non-believers, have come terrible, even the most terrible ...
But after 1922, the Soviet government managed to find another use for church buildings - one of the famous health resorts in Ukraine was created in the desert.
In 1948, the remaining buildings of the monastery were declared a cultural monument, and in 1980 Svyatogorye was proclaimed a state historical and architectural reserve, whose staff did a lot for the fundamental study of the history of the Holy Mountains, the restoration of shrines mutilated by the war.
But then came 1991. The USSR collapsed, and in free Ukraine, they began to slowly return the church property appropriated by the state.
Through the efforts of the local Horlivka diocese in 1992, the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk hermitage resumed its activities as a monastery.
The chain of times, as they say, has connected…. But there is one but. To understand it, you need to digress and explain to the unprepared readers that today in the ROC are monasteries.
At present, all monasteries in Russia are divided into cenobitic and noncommunicative, state and non-state monasteries.
In cenobitic monasteries, monks receive everything they need from the monastery, and their labor in the priesthood in the monastery and various monastic "obediences", as appointed by the abbots, are provided for the benefit of the monastery;
Neither monks nor officials headed by the abbot can dispose of anything here on the basis of property rights; abbots are elected by the monastics themselves (who have full monastic ordination).
In monasteries of uncommunicative monks, having a common meal from the monastery, clothes and everything else necessary for a monk, they themselves acquire on the salary given to them or on income from worship and from various types of monastic "labor", the products of which can be sold (for example, dressing crosses, icons, etc.).
The abbots in these monasteries are appointed by the diocesan bishop with the approval of the Holy Synod.
Established monasteries are those that receive maintenance in certain certain amounts and have in their composition the number of monastics determined by the state.
They are divided into three classes according to the size of the content given to them and according to the degree of rights.
In the first class, some special privileges and rights are allocated to four laurels, and seven stauropegic monasteries (Solovetsky, Simonov, Donskoy, Novospassky, Voskresensky - called New Jerusalem, Zaikonospassky and Spaso-Yakovlevsky).
The name stavropegic is derived from the words - cross and - erect, and they explain it in the sense that when they were established, the cross was erected in them by the patriarchs themselves, in whose direct control some of them were at first.
Their advantages now lie in some of the hierarchical features of the divine services of their archimandrites (for example, they have the right to overshadow the people during the liturgy with a trikiry and a dikiri) and in the fact that they are removed from the jurisdiction of diocesan bishops, being in the direct supervision of the Holy Synod or the Moscow synodal offices (Moscow stauropegic offices) monasteries).
In the management of economic affairs, the laurel takes part in the so-called. A “spiritual council” of the oldest monastics, and in all other monasteries, the “elder brotherhood” assists the abbot in managing the household.
The internal structure of monastic life in all monasteries is regulated by general monastic rules, special statutes and "instructions to the dean of monasteries."
Under some of the First Church. There are monasteries, at some distance from them, in secluded places, several cells for a more strict ascetic life, the aggregate of which is called a skete (such are, for example, the Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky convent, Gethsemane - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, etc.).
Monasteries are called state monasteries that do not receive a salary and exist on income earned by the priesthood and the labor of the monks themselves.
And the Svyatogorsk Uspenskaya Hermitage until 1918, this is a supernumerary, cenobitic, monastic community of the Kharkov diocese.
But back to our time!
As of 2007 the monastery was in charge of three ground and three cave temples, two bell towers, on the main one of them 17 bells, the weight of the main bell "abbot" more than 6 tons.
Among the parishioners of the UOC-MP, it is believed that there are no monastic cloisters similar to Svyatogorsk in terms of their beauty and unusual construction.
Cave passages, about one kilometer long, with chapels, tombs, cells are revered as a shrine.
In addition to them, the monastery contains the miraculous image of the Mother of God of Svyatogorsk, the relics of St. John the hermit, reliquaries with particles of the relics of many saints, of which there are the relics of St. John the Baptist, evangelists, as well as part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord.
The most revered holidays in the Holy Mountains:
May 22 - St. Nicholas. The procession rises on this day to the Holy Rock to the temple of the miracle worker.
July 30 - Svyatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God. A crowded procession with a miraculous icon takes place around the monastery.
August 24 - Venerable John the hermit, a procession of the cross takes place around the monastery with an icon and relics of the saint with a gathering of several hundred clergy and up to 10 thousand pilgrims.
August 28 - Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos - patronal day of the monastery. The main celebrations take place in the Assumption Cathedral.
Divine services are performed daily. All obediences in the monastery are mainly performed by the brethren, from among whom a wonderful choir has been formed.
In addition, the brethren work in a carpentry, sewing workshop, a blacksmith's, a bakery, an apiary, vegetable gardens, prosphora, fraternal and pilgrim meals, in garages, guides and other obediences, which the reviving monastery has no shortage of.
And everything in the monastery would be in accordance with the charter, there would be peace, smoothness and God's grace, if not for politics ...
(end of part 1)
The national natural park "Svyatye Gory" was created in 1997 on the basis of landscape reserves of national importance "Mountains of Atrem" and "Svyatogorskiy". It became the first national natural park on the left bank of Ukraine. The park is located in the Slavyansky and Krasnolimansky districts of the Donetsk region on an area of more than 40 thousand hectares. The basis of the complex of monuments of the reserve is founded in the 13th century. It rises on a mountain jut and makes an unforgettable impression with its appearance.
The park suffered significant damage in 2014 during the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
What to see in the park "Holy Mountains"
On the territory of the Svyatye Gory National Natural Park, there are about 130 archaeological sites (from the Paleolithic era to the Middle Ages) and 73 historical monuments. The park is spread over the territory of several settlements, in particular the cities of Svetogorsk and Slavyansk. The Svyatye Gory park combines rare landscape forms with ancient historical and religious monuments:
- A feature of the park is the chalk mountains, on which rare plants have survived, for example, the chalk pine, which grew in the pre-glacial period. In 2008, the chalk mountains in the park were included in the top 100 of the All-Ukrainian competition "Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine".
- The real pearl of the reserve are cave temples with a wooden church of Nikolaev, erected in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 17th century on a chalk rock, from which the altar was made.
- Andreevskaya chapel.
- Church of the Intercession.
- Memorial burial area of families of the 19th century known in the area - the Golitsyns, Kurakins, Ilovaisks.
- The caves on the territory of the former monastery Arsenyevsky skete, as well as Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration Church existed, are of great historical value.
Excursion routes
4 tourist routes have been developed in the Svyatye Gory National Natural Park; excursions along the marked ecological trail “Oak Grove” and an unmarked trail are conducted here in attractive places.
- Eco trail "Oak Grove" - a two-hour excursion, during which you can see an artificial pine forest and;
- Ecotourism route "Along the chalk (Holy) mountains" - a five-hour excursion, which has 3 thematic routes;
- Ecotourism route "From Mayatskie oak forests to the Holy Mountains" - a bus route approximately 11 km long;
- Ecotourism route "To the Skete" Holy Place "starts from the bridge over the Seversky Donets and ends at the skete of St. Arseny. Lasts about 3 hours.
National Park "Holy Mountains".
This Ukrainian park is located in the north of the Donetsk region and occupies three districts: in Krasnolimansky, Slavyansky and Artemovsky. On the territory of the park are the famous chalk mountains, where the rarest plants of antiquity are still preserved, such as the chalk pine, which has been known since the Ice Age. The heart of this park is the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra with its history dating back centuries. There is a version linking the emergence of the Svyatogorsk Lavra with monks who fled from Byzantium from the emperor's persecution during the time of the iconoclastic heresy. The total area of the park is 40589 hectares, including 11878 hectares of the park's property.
The date of creation of the park is considered February 13, 1997. And the park itself was created in accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine. It stretches mainly along the left side of the Seversky Donets bank with fairly large ledges along the right bank.
It is difficult to overestimate the natural significance of the Svyatye Gory Park. There are chalk mountains here, where the rarest ancient plants are still preserved. An example is the Cretaceous pine, which has been preserved since long before the Ice Age.
The flora of the National Park is represented by 943 plant species, 48 of which are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. Protected plants in the Seversky Donets valley are as follows: representatives of relict and endemic plant groups on chalk detachments, relict chalk pine forests, ravine forests, steppes, meadow and marsh vegetation. In total, the flora of the park includes about 20 endemic species.
About 256 species of various animals make up the fauna of the National Park. About 50 species of them are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. In general, the fauna of the park is represented by 43 species of mammals, 40 species of fish, 194 - birds, 9 - amphibians and 10 species of reptiles.
The historical significance of the park is also great. There are 73 historical monuments and 129 archaeological sites, which include samples of various historical periods: from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. In 1980, a historical and cultural reserve of national importance was founded on the territory of the current park. The basis of the complex of monuments in the reserve is the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra. The status of a laurel was assigned to it in 2005, despite the fact that it was founded in the XIII-XVI centuries. The Lavra is located on the right bank of the Seversky Donets River, which is covered with rocks. The complex of historical monuments also includes a monumental sculpture of Artyom, and the second of which is I.P. Kavaleridze. Not far from the monument, a Memorial was erected in honor of the Great Patriotic War.
Specially protected natural areas are part of the Svyatye Gory National Park. The list of these objects is as follows: Mayatskaya dacha, Poima-1, Arboretum of Mayatsky forestry, Pine tract, Lily of the valley, Chernetskoye, Lake Chernetskoye, Podpesnoe, Oak, Black Stallion, Poplar, Pine plantations, Martynenkovo swamp
For a long time this place has been known as "Holy Mountains"... Now it is one of the largest reserves of national importance. The located park covers an area of over 40 thousand hectares and has a varied landscape. The city of Svyatogorsk is also its reserved historical and cultural part. The tasks of the park include scientific work, preservation of the unique nature and organized ecological tourism.
The entire territory of the national park is divided into functional zones with different protection regimes.
The coast of the Severny Donets River, which is part of the reserve, is of great historical importance, here the events described in the "Lay of Igor's Campaign" took place. Here, according to the chronicler Nestor, in 1111 Vladimir Monomakh won a glorious victory over the Polovtsian army.
Flowing through the park Northern Donets Is one of the largest rivers in Ukraine. The lakes are deep and rich in springs gushing from their bottom.
National Natural Park "Holy Mountains" very rich in vegetation, over nine hundred species make up its fund. , mostly oak, occupy a large (91%) area of the park. The most valuable of them, Mayatskie Dubravy, began to be protected even under Peter I. There is even a six-hundred-year-old oak in the reserve, under thirty meters high, and over six meters in girth. Particularly valuable are chalk forests, consisting of relict chalk pines listed in the Red Book.
Generally Holy mountains given was called the treasury of living fossils. Here are preserved plants that are difficult to find elsewhere on the planet. Cretaceous pine is found in Russia, and there are several hundred of them left in the national park, and the task of the reserve staff is to preserve them.
Another relict plant that is carefully preserved in the Holy Mountains is scumpia. Since the seventeenth century, it has served as a dye for leather, giving it a special shade of brown. Scumpia is very beautiful, especially in autumn, when its leaves turn purple. The reserve also has its own rare fund, which includes such extremely rare plants as goose onions, Don gorse, chalk rattle, white-felt wormwood, and other representatives of the endangered flora.
The fauna here is also very interesting, forty species of fish, including Danilevsky's dace and carp. Lamprey Ukrainian is listed in the European Red Book. A very rare marsh turtle is found in water bodies. Snakes, coppers and vipers also feel great in natural conditions.
You can get out a route with intermediate points and a mark in the national natural park "Holy Mountains" using the application.
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One of them is the Holy Mountains National Natural Park (http://www.svyatygory.org - the official site). The park was created on February 13, 1997. It is located in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, in the Slavyansky (11957 hectares), Krasnolimansky (27665 hectares) and Artyomovsky districts. It is located along the left bank of the Seversky Donets River with large ledges on the right bank. In 2008, the chalk mountains on the territory of the Svyatye Gory National Natural Park were included in the Top-100 of the All-Ukrainian competition “Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine”.
In the park, work is being carried out to protect and study valuable natural, historical and cultural complexes and objects on its territory, to create conditions for organized tourism and recreation of the population and environmental education of visitors.
The park is of great historical and archaeological importance. On the territory of the Saints there are 129 archaeological sites (from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages), 73 historical monuments. In 1980, a state historical and cultural reserve was founded on the current territory of the park. The basis of the complex of monuments of the reserve is the Svyato-Uspenskaya Svyatogorsk Lavra (founded in the XIII-XVI centuries, received the status of a lavra in 2005), located on the rocky right bank of the Seversky Donets. The complex of historical monuments also includes the monumental sculpture of Artyom by I.P. Kavaleridze. Next to the monument is the Great Patriotic War Memorial. The structure of the National Natural Park "Svyatye Gory" includes 13 specially protected natural areas of the Donetsk region - landscape, forest, botanical reserves and natural monuments.
The vegetation of the national natural park "Holy Mountains" is of great scientific value. On an area of 40.5 thousand hectares, half of the species of higher plants that have ever been recorded in the South-East of Ukraine grows - 943 species, including 27 species - trees, 63 - shrubs and 853 - herbaceous plants. 48 plant species are included in the Red Book of Ukraine, 20 species grow only on this territory. The vegetation of the Seversky Donets river valley is protected: relict and endemic plant groups on
chalk exfoliation, ravine forests, steppes, meadow and marsh vegetation. Of particular value are the unique chalk forests formed by the chalk pine - a tertiary relict listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and the International Red List of IUCN (IUCN). As a unique corner of nature, the chalk mountains have attracted the attention of scientists for a long time. Cretaceous pine differs from Scots pine. Currently, in Ukraine, chalk pine has survived only in the Svyatye Gory park and in the Cretaceous flora reserve.
The fauna of the park is very interesting - 256 species of animals live on the territory of the "Holy Mountains". The fauna includes 43 species of mammals, 10 - reptiles, 9 - amphibians, 40 - fish. There are weasel, polecat, American mink, pine marten and stone marten - common inhabitants of the typical biotopes of the national park. There are also ermine, badger and otter listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Several groups of wolves constantly live in the park. Ungulates are represented by roe deer and wild boar indigenous to the region, a taiga inhabitant of the elk, which was widely distributed in the second half of the 20th century, and a sika deer acclimatized from Primorye in the 60s.
In total, among the wild inhabitants of the Svyatye Gory National Park, 49 species are included in the Red Book of Ukraine and 13 - in the European Red List. The rare composition of flora and fauna can be confidently considered the golden fund of the "Holy Mountains".
National Natural Park "Svyatye Gory" is a wonderful place for organizing and conducting tourism, ecological excursions and ecological education. Here you can relax, improve your health and get acquainted with the beautiful natural and cultural-historical complexes.