Saint Ignatius at the Caucasus See

From the Life of St. Ignatius 1 (On ordination) In 1855, Viceroy of the Caucasus N. N. Muravyov 1st, who personally knew the archimandrite, invited him to take the Stavropol see, which was soon to be cleared due to the unrest and abuses of the Stavropol diocesan administration discovered by an examination made by Archbishop Evgeniy of Astrakhan, but the archimandrite, refusing, asked him not to petition for this - frankly wrote to him that the Synod would put this in his hands. guilt, and that there would be no success, as indeed happened that time. On this occasion, Metropolitan Nikanor, when asked by the Sovereign why they found it difficult to agree to the requested appointment of Archimandrite Ignatius, answered: “He did not study at the Theological Academy.” Soon afterwards Metropolitan Nikanor died. Metropolitan Gregory of Kazan, who knew, understood and was in spiritual communion with Archimandrite Ignatius, was called to the see of the St. Petersburg Metropolis, and therefore, for the benefit of the Church of God, he immediately offered him the Episcopal see. Having decided not to deviate from what was offered to him according to the destinies of God, he expressed his consent. The Metropolitan intended to consecrate him Bishop in Novgorod, and he was already preparing for this, but it turned out differently. The Novgorod see was occupied by another person, 2 and a year after that he was elevated to Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. A proposal for this was made in the Synod by the Primate himself, and the archimandrite accepted this appointment as an expression of the providential Will of God, especially since it was already secondary on behalf of His Eminence Gregory. On October 25, 1857, with a significant gathering of society, the naming took place in the Holy Synod 3, and on the 27th, in the Kazan Cathedral, Archimandrite Ignatius was consecrated as Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, with a very large gathering of people 4. Speech at the naming of Bishop 6 In these sacred and at the same time terrible moments for me, I involuntarily remember the words spoken by the Lord to His disciple: When you were young, you walked as you would, and when you were old, you laid hold of your hands, and he girded you, and led you, even if you did not want (John 21:18). In the days of my youth I longed for deep deserts. Behold, I ran away and settled in the desert: in the hope of God, who saves me from cowardice, which exposes a person’s lack of grace-filled development, and from the storm of passions raised by the deceptive and perishing charms of the world (Ps. 55:8:9). I liked and like monasticism in itself! But I did not at all think about serving the Church in any kind of priesthood. To be the Bishop 7 of my heart, and to sacrifice to Christ thoughts and feelings sanctified by the Spirit - this is the height to which my eyes were drawn. I did not enjoy the freedom of youth for long: I was soon girded and shackled by the incomprehensible Divine Providence. His almighty right hand, contrary to my assumption, suddenly snatched me from the wilderness of forests and deserts, and placed me in the monastery of St. Sergius, on the seashore, on the shore of the sea of ​​life, great and extensive (Ps. 103:25). It is difficult to test the ways of God! Only the Spirit of God tests the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). Enlightened by the Spirit, the holy teachers of monasticism assert that for novice monks, deep solitude is dangerous, in which they can conveniently fall into daydreaming and conceit, which they need, as a school and a medical clinic, human society. In various encounters with neighbors, the monk’s passions, hidden from himself in the recesses of his heart, are revealed to him and are healed by all-powerful medicine: the teaching of Christ 8 . Looking closely at the ailments of my soul, I recognize this situation as essential for me. But how can I explain to myself the calling with which you, the Most Holy Fathers, are now calling me? What have you found in me, and what can I present to you, besides my many shortcomings? The rank of Bishop is terrible for me when I think about my weakness. I am afraid that, instead of edification, I might bring temptation to my brethren, and prepare myself for great condemnation at the judgment of Christ. I would consider it more faithful to my salvation and more consistent with my strength to spend the rest of my days, like the beginning of them, in the silence of the desert, in contemplation of my sin. And again I am afraid!.. I am afraid of my will, so that, following it, I do not follow myself instead of God, and thereby bring upon myself an unforeseen disaster 9 . We are crowded everywhere (Dan. 13:22)! In my bewilderment, denying myself, I betray both my temporary and eternal fate in the hands of my God. Bound by your election and the command of the Most August Anointed of God, with humility and trembling I bow my head under a burden that can crush the unworthy. Do not cease to strengthen me with your edifications! Do not deny when, according to the will of the Holy Spirit, I come to you for a word of reason, for a soul-saving word. The Holy Spirit commanded: ask your father, and your elders will tell you, and they will tell you (Deut. 32:7). Extending your hands to me in order to clothe me with the great rank of the Hierarchy, stretch them out in prayer for me to God, who reveals His power in human weakness. As for me, in this terrible hour for me, I am looking for peace of my conscience, and I find it in unconditional devotion to the will of God, in awareness and confession to you of the abundance of my infirmities. Extracts from the annual report of Bishop Ignatius on the state of the Caucasian diocese for 1858 10 Having completed his treatment in Kislovodsk, the Bishop directed his path to survey the Diocese along the southern, and then along the southeastern side of the Stavropol province. In order to understand, as accurately as possible, the current state of the Diocese that he found, let us turn to Bishop Ignatius’s own view of it, expressed by him in his annual report for 1858, when he had already personally examined most of it, but had not yet seen the Black Sea region, not having had time to visit it late in life - much of which was taken away by the anticipation of the arrival of the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail Nikolaevich, who visited the Caucasus in the autumn of that year and passed through Stavropol. Let us turn to extracts from the annual report on the state of the Diocese for 1858. The personnel of the Consistory in 1858 (i.e., the year Bishop Ignatius arrived at the see) changed significantly. At the beginning of 1858, following Bishop Ignatius, the new rector of the Seminary, Archimandrite Hermogenes 11, and the new inspector, cathedral hieromonk Isaac 12, arrived in Stavropol. The first of them, according to the right acquired by the rectors, began to be present in the Consistory, and the second - at the proposal of the Bishop, upon whose proposal this order was approved by the Synod. A new secretary arrived in March. Such a sensitive change in the composition of the Consistory shook the authority of the member of the Consistory, Archpriest Krastilevsky, who had hitherto dominated the Consistory, because of his very good abilities, because of his experience in business, especially because of the unlimited trust that the Most Reverend Ioannikis had in him. The fear of Krastilevsky somewhat weakened in the former members, and member Archpriest Sukharev, candidate of the Moscow Academy, a person of a truthful character, who had hitherto been silent, began to use his voice usefully for the cause. But Krastilevsky’s abilities and knowledge of affairs, specifically the Caucasian region, could not help but attract the attention of other members and the secretary to his opinions. Following attention, a power of attorney also began to be attracted, especially since the rector and inspector, busy with the Seminary, could not devote as much time to the affairs of the Consistory as these matters require for a thorough consideration of them. Superiority in knowledge of the matter over other members, innate cunning, reaching the point of deceit, again gave Krastilevsky primacy and dominance in the Consistory and would have given it if there had been no other power limiting and curbing him. There was a palpable clash in business, noticeable to many: the cunning Krastilevsky barely saw that his opposition was becoming noticeable, as he immediately resorted to evasive compliance. But this compliance, in certain cases, could not change the general direction, and the clash became noticeable in the administrative goal itself, in the moral and spiritual goal. Correcting Krastilevsky turned out to be impossible: his removal from the Consistory turned out to be necessary. From the edge of the Diocese to the other edge, complaints and cries were heard against him; the clergy, accustomed for decades to see him as an unlimited ruler, trembled before him. In this year of 1858, although it noticed his limitation in influence and actions, it did not trust this state of limitation, unusual for Krastilevsky, and, knowing from experience his steadfastness, expected from minute to minute his entry into his usual rights of autocracy. Many things were carried out immediately, but the ones that were registered did not progress at all for the sole reason that the persons to whom they were entrusted, knowing Krastilevsky’s view of them, did not dare to act displeasing to him. The latter circumstance served as a very important obstacle to putting the Diocese in order, and in some cases could give rise to the most unpleasant and loud events, as this will actually be proven and depicted when describing the Bishop’s visit to the city of Mozdok. Having received such a practical concept of Krastilevsky from examining cases not only on paper, but also in their results, the Bishop, upon his return from reviewing the Diocese, considered it his first and sacred duty to eliminate from diocesan activity that principle that for such a long time had deprived diocesan activity of beneficial correctness, and henceforth, according to the direction he had acquired, would not cease to serve as an inexhaustible cause the most harmful influence. On this basis, the Bishop, according to the right granted to him, dismissed Krastilevsky from his presence in the Consistory and presented to the Holy Synod about the complete dismissal of this person from the title of member of the Consistory. The Holy Synod respected his submission. At the same time, the Bishop considered it necessary, in order to decisively free the members of the Consistory from the influence that Krastilevsky was supposed to retain on them, to remove him from the diocesan city. Krastilevsky was dismissed from the post of diocesan archpriest, he was given the abbot of the Mozdok Cathedral and the deanery over it, without, however, any influence on the Assumption Country Church, whose parishioners are mostly Ossetians and Circassians. And since Krastilevsky considered it incompatible for himself to be placed in Mozdok due to the hatred of Christian mountaineers towards him, which is quite fair, then when a vacancy opened, he was moved to the city of Georgievsk with the same rights under which he was appointed in Mozdok. Krastilevsky's place in the Cathedral and by presence in the Consistory was taken by the dean of Georgievsky, Archpriest Vasily Popov, of an open, direct character - a direction corresponding to the character of good intentions and abilities, proven by 14 years of service in the position of dean, which he retained for himself, despite Krastilevsky's coldness towards him. The Holy Synod approved Archpriest Popov as a member of the Consistory, who, with his detailed knowledge of many matters, was not slow to justify his election and very noticeably influenced the change in the character of the Consistory, in which only one member remained - Archpriest Gremyachinsky - with the same direction; but this person, due to his abilities, could not influence the rest of the Consistory. Archpriest Sukharev turned out to be a very useful figure. Thus, during 1858, both the composition of the persons and the nature of the actions of the Consistory changed especially and decisively. Assistant Secretary Albanov, against whom there were many complaints in the Holy Synod, in June left service in the Consistory, which entered the service field in 1859 with a renewed composition and character. The new members and the secretary took a closer look at the affairs and church needs of the region. The measure of beneficial severity used by St. The Synod regarding the members who openly opposed the Saint, the measure of support by removing Krastilevsky from the Consistory, who covered his opposition with evasiveness, instilled in the existing members a special vigilance over the manner of their activities, gave them unanimity in the pursuit of the common church good. From this wakefulness, from this unanimity of activity, the Consistory suddenly received special energy and development. The Ekaterinodar (in the Black Sea region) spiritual government remained unchanged in its personnel. The small number of cases made it possible to clear them in a timely manner without detention. Care of the poor ecclesiastical rank The care of the poor primarily paid attention to providing a means of subsistence for those who, due to their old age, did not have the strength to support themselves and young orphans with their own labor. By 1818 families receiving guardianship benefits, in 1858 22 families again came under his patronage. The Trusteeship received the following amounts: from collections on invitations, from circle collections, and from proceeds from candles in cemetery churches. This fee covers all annual expenses, and the savings he acquired in past years, consisting of 16,050 rubles 59 kopecks in silver, remain inviolable in credit institutions. The presence of the Guardianship consisted of 2 archpriests and one priest, of whom Archpriest Sukharev was the rapporteur on the affairs of the Deanery Guardianship. Bishop Ignatius found it necessary, after examining the most numerous part of his Diocese, to add two Deaneries, and to redraw the remaining sixteen according to local conveniences. In the city of Kizlyar, significantly removed from diocesan supervision, the Bishop established, in addition to the official, dean, confidential supervision over the clergy of Kizlyar and its environs in the person of the rector of the Kizlyar Holy Cross Monastery, Abbot German, an elder of strict moral life. The abbot was given the right to edify the clergy, stop violators of good behavior, inform the Bishop in general about the morality of the clergy and, in particular, those who would allow themselves to act indecently, despite the abbot’s reminder; but he did not have the right to enter into relations with the Consistory on this instruction. Archpriest Sukharev, the dean of the churches of the city of Stavropol, at his request, was dismissed from this position due to his many activities, as a member of the Consistory and a teacher of the law at the Stavropol gymnasium, at the same time many other transfers, dismissals and new appointments of deans were made. In order to give greater development to deanery supervision, the Bishop made the following orders: “All priests, deacons and clergymen, if they wish to move from parish to parish and in other similar circumstances, are required to provide evidence of consent to this or of the dean’s freedom to do so; if both parishes are under the jurisdiction of one dean, but if the parishes are in different deaneries, then it is required of petitioners that they have the certificates of both deans in their petitions. In addition, deacons and clergy are required to present certificates from their parish priests. This measure had a most beneficial effect on the spirit of the Caucasian clergy, which bears the imprint of the national character common to the entire population of the region, the character of courage and self-will. Deacons and clerics henceforth actually see that parish priests are their superiors, and the clergy of the Deanery see their dean as their superior. It is worthy of note that all the well-behaved members of the clergy accepted this order with love; but it did not please the weak members. Because of this order, many well-intentioned and well-behaved people became known to the Bishop and were given a turn, and many restless characters and lacking morality were also revealed. To curb and admonish the willful and disobedient, for violation of the above-mentioned order, a penalty of a small monetary penalty in favor of the Guardianship has been established. Along with the moral benefit, this measure also brought another significant benefit: it significantly reduced the written works of the Consistory. The second measure to provide certainty to the influence of the dean was recognized as follows: previously, different priests were appointed as investigators for various cases that arose, at the discretion of the Consistory; thus, many affairs of the Deanery remained unknown to the dean; Moreover, investigator-priests, especially those who were most often entrusted with investigations, often with the removal of the dean from the investigation for bringing the investigation to the right course - these investigators, fully aware of their authority, mysteriously and mysteriously entrusted to them, already imputed their deans to nothing. To eliminate this disorder, so reminiscent of the muddy waters of the Russian proverb, the Bishop proposed that the Consistory use only the dean for investigations into the Deanery. Although the deans are mostly in two parish churches and in case of their absence on the affairs of the Deanery, their comrades can replace them upon arrival, but since, in the spirit of the times, investigative cases have multiplied greatly, and the Diocese is sparsely populated, spread over a large area, it is recommended that all deans elect an assistant, approved by the Bishop, and entrust this assistant with matters of secondary importance. The third means of strengthening deanery supervision is recognized as the closer relations between the Bishop and the dean, who are granted, among other things, in addition to official reports that receive legal processing, to treat the Bishop with confidential reports, which should remain in the Bishop’s office without publicity and the subject of which may be information that does not tolerate formality, but is very necessary for completeness and clarity in administrative terms. This completeness and clarity of information, as providing the correctness of a certain concept, is essential for the Bishop. All of the above-mentioned orders are set out on paper and announced to the Diocese in circulars in order to eliminate, if possible, misunderstandings and free the Consistory from unnecessary correspondence that distracts from proper attention and attention to matters of primary importance. During the period of service of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus, this region was in a transitional state and, apparently, was supposed to remain in this position for a considerable time. Russian weapons constantly pushed the mountaineers into the mountains: for this reason, strategic points changed, the villages of the Linear Cossacks were moved to the very foot of the main ridge of the Caucasus Mountains; cities were quickly built and began to take on a flourishing character; They emptied even faster and fell. The military principle dominated in the Region, the direction of all other principles was adapted to the successful achievement of military goals, and military people were most at the head of various departments. In the cities they lived as if in a camp; in Georgievsk, especially in Mozdok and Kizlyar, from evening until morning it was impossible to go out onto the streets unarmed or unaccompanied by armed people; from twilight to the whole night the shutters and gates were tightly closed. It seemed that everything and everyone was ready at the first demand of circumstances to be removed and transferred to another place. In Stavropol itself, the buildings were built hastily: many of them are quite magnificent in appearance and size, but all of them are very insufficient in strength, location and in economic terms. Private houses are built with the goal of achieving the greatest benefits in construction, at the lowest construction costs. It is quite natural that such a state of the Region had a significant impact on the state of the Diocese. The Bishop, the Consistory, the Seminary hovered in temporary shelters, in the most inconvenient apartments. At first, the civil department assisted the Diocesan department; subsequently it cooled towards him, directing all its attention to bringing development to the city and society in a European direction. Citizens, who willingly gave donations to the Church, turned their zeal to institutions in the spirit of the West. And it should be noted that the local merchant class at that time fell greatly, because almost all government contracts and supplies passed into the hands of the Transcaucasian Armenian merchants. With the arrival of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus, the Prince Viceroy and the manager of the civil part of the Viceroyalty, State Secretary Kruzenshtern, turned beneficial attention to the Caucasian See. On behalf of Prince Baryatinsky in 1858, the commander of the right wing was drafting a project to divide the Caucasus region into two regions: Western and Eastern. The first, constituting the right flank, is called Kuban; the second is the left flank of Tersk. According to this project, Stavropol could remain the only district city; the main city of the Kuban region should have stood on the Kuban River, and the main city for Terskaya already had Vladikavkaz, on the Terek. Such a division of the region, required by military considerations, should have had an impact on the position of the Diocese. The question of this was proposed to the Bishop in the form of a confidential relationship. Due to their very curious content, both the question and the Bishop’s answer are included here in the text without abbreviations. <Question from the head of the Right Wing of the Caucasian Line, Lieutenant General G.I. Philipson and the Bishop’s answer about the Caucasian See in its relationship to the Caucasian Linear Cossack Army. The meaning of the Bishop and Archpriest in the Orthodox Church Hierarchy> His Eminence, Most Reverend Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea Completely confidential Your Eminence Vladyka, most merciful Archpastor! The Governor of the Caucasus, Prince Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky, in administrative terms, proposed dividing the entire Caucasian region into two regions: Kuban and Terek, introducing all parts of heterogeneous administrations into the management of the regions on a special basis. The Kuban region should include the entire Black Sea army and part of the Cossack line with the Trans-Kuban population, most of the civilian population of the Stavropol province with their departments, which, according to the proposal drawn up, in civil terms, should form one common whole; since the remaining parts of the region have to enter into one common whole of the civil administration of the Terek region. Such a division of the Region, changing most of the existing relations and dependencies of places and persons, will at the same time require changes in the very locations of Government institutions. These points must be determined by the centrality of the new areas and possible rapprochement with our current military lines of operations. The inextricability of all these changes requires corresponding changes and devices for diocesan management. In this conviction, I have the honor to ask Your Eminence to take the trouble to express your opinion and considerations about the structure of the Diocese, which would embrace both areas under one administration. The vastness of the entire region, the difficulty of traveling in it and the need for the Bishop to frequently visit the constantly militant Orthodox population give rise to the idea of ​​either dividing the Diocese or establishing a Vicariate. I convey this thought of mine to Your Eminence at your closest discretion, in accordance with the spiritual needs that are more familiar to you. Regarding the management of the Orthodox Church in the populations of the Linear Cossacks, there is now management through the chief priest. In relation to that part of this Army that should become part of the Kuban region, I recognize the need to unite the administration of the Church in the person of one pastoral leader - the Bishop. This personal conviction of mine is based, among other things, on a close comparative study of the morals and religious principles of the Black Sea and Linear Cossacks, but considering certain convictions alone to be insufficient, I turn to Your Eminence with a request to outline the spiritual grounds for the establishment of the Diocesan Administration in the Orthodox populations, so that I can support with them the facts that I noticed in the Linear Cossack army; These facts constitute the decline of Orthodoxy, the strength and triumph of the schism and general immorality, protected from government measures by the courage and courage of the combat units of the troops. At the same time, I consider it necessary to draw the attention of Your Eminence to the truly sorrowful consequences of the actions towards the linear Cossack schismatics of the first Caucasian Eminence Jeremiah: they are blamed on the Orthodox Bishop - and they are opposed as the main reason preventing the restoration of this church power in the population of the Caucasian linear Cossack army. I fully understand that the character of a person may differ greatly from the character and spirit of the Church, but I find it difficult to imagine spiritual grounds that would support my administrative convictions, and therefore I would ask Your Eminence to tell me your view and your opinion on this circumstance. Committing myself to your holy prayers and asking for the archpastoral blessing, I have the honor to be Your Eminence, Most Gracious Archpastor and father's most humble servant. The original is signed by the head of the Right Wing of the Caucasian Line, Lieutenant General Philipson. Grigory Ivanovich Philipson To Your Excellency’s letter dated September 20, 1858, No. 719, I have the honor to submit a response in the following lines: 1. Completely sharing the opinion of Your Excellency that the vastness and diversity of the Caucasian region, its rapid development, promising a multi-significant future, its special requirements, especially when divided into two regions, each of which should have its own separate military and civil authorities, indicate the need for changes and additions in relation to the spiritual department of the region - I believe in the first case to be content with delivering to the aid of the Diocesan Bishop Bishop-vicar and strengthening of the Caucasian Consistory. I recognize the establishment of two dioceses as premature, based on the following facts: a) the Caucasian diocese, vast in space, is very sparsely populated, in terms of its population and the number of churches it is equal to 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, even 1/10 of other Russian dioceses, why, if divided into two dioceses, these dioceses would become prohibitively small, especially the Terek diocese - due to their smallness, they are disproportionately weak in action and influence; b) With the establishment of two Dioceses, two staffs would be needed for two Houses of Bishops, two Consistories, two Seminaries: all this would require double expenses for the establishment and double expenses for maintenance. Meanwhile, the essential spiritual need of the Region is precisely the one that you astutely discerned and to which you pointed out: the need for frequent, attentive, by no means hasty or superficial visits by the Bishop to the vast Region along paths that are often difficult and unsafe. The Vicar can fully satisfy such a need. 2. Since the Region is in a transitional state and at the present time it is impossible to determine where its main city will be, even where its main cities will be, because the needs of the Region at the present time cannot in any way correspond to its needs in the future, I find it still impossible to indicate where the seat of the Diocesan Bishop will be. It is obvious that Stavropol should remain a diocesan city for some indefinite time. Events indicate that it was only a camp for the main military and civil authorities of the Caucasus: let it be for a time a spiritual camp for the Caucasian Diocesan Department, from this camp it will make its orders and see its permanent and lasting residence, revealed by time and circumstances. Stavropol is the central point of the country; it already has its own shelter for the Bishop, it has its own premises for the Consistory; with the removal of many government places and persons, many buildings will remain empty and can serve as temporary premises for the Seminary and even for the Vicar Bishop, who, in my opinion, in order to be significantly useful, must certainly live in the same city with the Diocesan Bishop, following the example of the Vicars of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kyiv. The direction and activity of the Vicar must merge into one with the direction and activity of the Diocesan Bishop. As much as frequent visits by the Vicar to the Diocese are needed, so is the constant presence of the Diocesan Bishop at the point from which all orders issue. Careful observation and experience have convinced me of this last truth, which, I am sure, is obvious to Your Excellency. 3. Dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church are divided into three categories, or classes: 1st class is assigned to Metropolises; 2nd - Dioceses that are especially important in the state, especially large or populous, governed by governors general; 3rd – Dioceses, the least significant in government terms, governed by governors. It is obvious that the Caucasian Diocese, which, under the new administrative division of the Region, should combine two regions, each of which will be governed by a person vested with the rights and authority of the Governor-General, should be ranked among the Dioceses of the second class, as has been done with respect to some Dioceses, for example, with respect to the Don, Riga, and Warsaw. Nowadays the Caucasian diocese is in the third class. 4. It is necessary to petition the Caucasian Diocese for the staff and salary given to the Western Dioceses, due to the decisive similarity in attitude and means of maintenance that the Caucasian Diocese has with the Western Dioceses and due to the decisive impossibility of existing on the salary currently assigned to it. Currently, it is provided with a salary on par with ancient Russian dioceses. But in ancient Russian dioceses, Bishops' houses are either located at monasteries that have a particularly good income, or monasteries with a good income are assigned to them. Part of this income supplements the insignificant salary, which since ancient times was allocated from the treasury to the Bishop and his staff. So, for example, the Kursk bishop receives 285 silver rubles per year in addition to his salary, which is the same amount as the annual salary of the Caucasian bishop - 7,500 silver rubles from monastery income. Accordingly, the Bishop and the persons who make up his staff receive a salary supplement from their income. Similar to the above example, in other ancient dioceses the insignificance of the government salary is fully and abundantly replenished by income. The Caucasian diocese does not and cannot have such income: for the miraculous icons and Holy relics, which constitute the reason for the income in the monasteries inside Russia, cannot in any way belong to the Land, which is completely new in Christian terms. Consequently, the only means of supporting the Bishop and the entire Caucasian Diocesan Department should be a salary paid from the treasury. And since Western dioceses in a similar situation, also without local income, are rewarded with a salary, then the remedy, according to logical consistency, can and should be applied to the Caucasian diocese. The beggarly salary, so one can say with all fairness, served as one of the main reasons why the Caucasian diocese, since its establishment, not only did not develop for 15 years, but, barely established, was almost destroyed. This salary was the cause of significant unrest that invaded the Caucasian Diocesan Administration: it forced many members of the Administration to resort to abuse in order to get themselves a piece of daily bread; since beyond the line drawn by the law lies an endless expanse of evil, some have moved from the desire to satisfy what is necessary to the desire to enrich themselves. This salary did not allow and does not allow any worthy official to serve in the Consistory Chancellery: only those officials serve there who, due to force of circumstances, cannot serve in other places. Thus, the Caucasian Diocesan Department, left to its own devices and their poverty, in many cases served not as an edification, but as a temptation for the Caucasian flock. Not with the aim of condemning any order or person, but in order to give an accurate idea of ​​the current situation of the Caucasian diocese and thereby provide a reason for correcting what has been done wrongly and replenishing what has been done insufficiently, I find it necessary to say the following. The Caucasian diocese was initially established for the entire Caucasian region, which in geographical and statistical terms constitutes a whole. This character of integrity, recognized as a treasure for every country and department in administrative and economic relations, was violated by the expulsion of the churches of the Cossack Linear Army from the Diocesan Department. The division produced by this deduction is completely different from the division now proposed. Now the country is divided correctly, with administrative and economic meaning; The division of the Diocese made by the expulsion of the Cossack churches is meaningless; at the same time there is division and confusion. I am writing this with a map of the Caucasus region at hand, which shows the Diocesan Department scattered throughout the region. It is like a broken vessel, all of whose components are present, but are in a separate state, which for this very reason is unfit for use. On the right flank, the Church of the Line extends deep into the Diocesan Office; on the contrary, starting from the center, the Diocesan Department is scattered across the land of the Linear Army, like islands in the sea. Already Stavropol itself constitutes an island, a separate island is constituted by Georgievsky, a separate island by Pyatigorsky, a large separate island by the deaneries of Milovidov and Zamyatin; then again separate islands: Rostovanovka, Mozdok, Kizlyar with Tarunovka and the Black Market. There is no such nonsense in all of Russia. It is in vain that they cover it up with a loud phrase, saying that it was done for administrative purposes. This is wrong: the fruit of administrative considerations should be the most convenient position; The opposite is evident here. An order, contrary to all the rules of modern science, proven by experience to be completely worthless, carried out with extraordinary haste, admits of itself that it is the fruit of a clash of passions. I repeat that I am not saying this to blame anyone; I know that mistakes and hobbies are common to all people, especially convenient for those who do not strictly monitor their minds and hearts in the light of the Gospel; I speak frankly, driven by love for the benefit of the cause and only in a secret conversation with a statesman. Concealing the truth from a statesman is a state crime. The same should be said about the Spiritual Administration in Stavropol. There is no system in choosing a place for them in the projects themselves. All of them are scattered in different parts and extremities of the unpaved city, communication between them is extremely difficult during autumn, winter and spring; meanwhile, the persons belonging to them must most of the time walk. Founders and builders must always keep in mind not only the construction and establishment of something, but also the provision of amenities, the provision of funds for the maintenance and repair of institutions and buildings. For this purpose, our intelligent ancestors for the most part united in one place the Cathedral, the Bishop's House, the Consistory, and the Seminary. Imitation of this order for the purpose of administrative and economic benefits is necessary especially when the Diocesan Department gets the opportunity to leave its temporary camp - Stavropol and settle in that city, which will become the main city of the Region, or more precisely, the right flank, which has a huge advantage over the left, corresponding to the huge advantage of the Black Sea over the Caspian both in political and trade relations. In order for the actions of the Diocesan Department and its very existence to take proper development, the assistance, and not the opposition, of the civil department is necessary. The real relationship between these two departments is depicted by the following facts: 1) the other day I just received a grant for the place occupied by the temporary shelter of the Bishop, despite the fact that the Highest command ordered that this place be transferred to the Diocesan Department even under the Right Reverend Jeremiah, almost following the opening of the Diocese. 2) The dacha, which was located at the opening of the Diocese at the end of the city, and now located in one of its best places, partly given by the city society to the Diocesan Department for the construction of a Bishop's house with services on it, partly acquired by purchase, is now in the process. Outwardly, this is the process of the official Krupinsky, who has seized the entire middle of the dacha, but in essence it is a process headed by the manager of the civilian part. He, hiding behind a well-known periodic sophistry, which always intensifies to cover up predation, - supposedly the desire for public benefit - strives, while exceeding his power, while violating the laws, to arbitrarily steal from the Bishop's House the entire central part of the dacha and transfer it into private hands, which should destroy all the dignity of the dacha; This lengthy and tedious process for the Diocesan Department made it hitherto impossible to build the Bishop’s House on the designated site. 3) Until now, the civil authorities have not allocated land, according to the law, for the maintenance and maintenance of the Bishop's House with its accessories, which should have been done at the same time as the establishment of the Diocese; instead of land, due to the lack of them nearby, the Caucasian Diocesan authorities are petitioning for a monetary reward. Less significant facts express the same sympathy and affection. I found such relationships formed upon my arrival in the Diocese, and it is already difficult for the current civil authorities to change the direction they have taken. But my personal relationship with the Governor, Lieutenant General Volotsky, is the best. 5. In your letter, you indicated the sad consequences perceived by Your Excellency of the present management of the churches of the Cossack Linear Army, and with logical consistency you turn your observant gaze to the very beginnings from which such consequences flowed and should flow. I extract my answer from the Law of God, from the decrees of the Church, from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers; I will not tell you my own opinions, but I will expound a teaching recognized by the entire Orthodox Church, recognized as Divine, which it is, and not human. The Bishop constitutes the beginning of the Church Hierarchy; he is the successor of the Apostles, the representative on earth of the Lord 13. He ordains the presbyter and deacon, he consecrates the church or the most essential part of the church - the antimension, he consecrates the holy chrism; this cannot be accomplished by thousands of elders gathered together. He is the beginning and source of all the Christian Sacraments and of Divine service itself: the Christian Church cannot exist without him. The Apostles, preaching the Gospel throughout the universe, in all cities and regions, appointed Bishops, and the Bishops ordained presbyters (priests) to fully satisfy the needs of Christians. In the ecclesiastical sense, priests are the instruments of the Bishop: these instruments act as long as the Bishop acts with them; when he ceases to act with them, then they are deprived of all their power: for their powers and reality are not their own, but borrowed. The entire community of Christians in general was called the Universal Church, and the private and local Church was and is called the community of Christians in a city or region: the Churches of Rome, Jerusalem, Corinth, Carthage, and Athens were local. The presbyter has never been and could not be the head of the Church for the clear reason that he acts not with his own power, but with the power granted, granted and terminated by his authority, which is the Bishop. When Presbyter Paulinus became the head of a certain part of the Antiochian people, separating from Bishop Meletius, without, however, moving at all away from the unity of faith, the Universal Church took all measures in its power to eliminate this disorder, and called it nothing other than schism 14. This circumstance is known in church history under the name of the Eastern Schism, since Antioch, the capital of Syria, with the neighboring countries of Mesopotamia, Armenia and Georgia was called the East, constituting the eastern extremity of the Roman Empire; Persia was no longer understood as part of the East. The present administration of the churches of the Line Army also has a character similar to that of the Eastern schism. It is very natural that the Chief Pastors of Russia, who constitute the Holy Synod, look at this circumstance in an ecclesiastical sense and would like, if possible, to eliminate the violation of church order and regulations, especially since it serves as a cause of sorrow for the true sons of the Church, a cause of temptation for very many who do not understand the needs and types of administrative and begin on this basis to doubt the very Orthodoxy of our Church, while schismatics on this basis are inside and outside Russia they reproach, accuse and convict our Church of apostasy from Orthodoxy. Due to such temptations, which often invade the Church under the influence of the more or less clear West, many are seduced into the schism that is constantly growing in our Fatherland. This is proven in fact: under Emperor Peter I, when the population of Russia reached 17 million, there were 700 thousand schismatics. If they multiplied in proportion to the population, then with a current population of seventy million, the number of schismatics should not exceed three million. Since in the open reports read by the public, almost no seduction into schism is visible, and only one conversion from the schism to Orthodoxy is visible, while in fact the schism is growing rapidly and has already assumed gigantic proportions, this will lead to a logical and practical conclusion: the schism is spreading in Russia most in ways and means unknown to the Government or becoming known only when they have completed their work and brought abundant fruit. One of the most reliable weapons for limiting and reducing the schism lies in reverence for the most holy decrees of the Holy Church, which are the decrees of God, the decrees of the Holy Spirit, and in protecting them. The archpriest has only the right, according to his church rank and significance, to occupy first place among his brethren, priests 15; he by no means has the ecclesiastical right to govern the churches of an entire region; the assimilation of this right to a priest belongs to the character of Protestantism and is understood as such by everyone who has thoroughly studied the Christian religion. For any local Church, the deprivation of a Bishop is the deprivation of God-established ecclesiastical authority, the deprivation of a religious principle, the deprivation of the source of the Sacraments, the source of hierarchical authority and court, the source of church Orthodox doctrine and moral teaching; this is the removal of the head from the body, the removal of parents from children, the expulsion from the Church of the image of Christ, Christ’s representative, the inevitable consequence of such separation should be the decline of religious teaching, which is why schisms and heresies develop in the country, and the decline of moral teaching, which is why sinful, depraved and not guided by conscience life develops in the country, which is all seen by Your Excellency. But since the Orthodox Church of the country cannot exist without the Bishop, this only source of the Christian Sacraments, then for the churches of the Linear Army priests and deacons are ordained, antimensions and everything else that requires the power and dignity of the Bishop are consecrated, by the Caucasian bishop by order of the Holy Synod, which has the character of condescension, and the requirement of circumstances, but not in accordance with the rules and spirit of the Orthodox Church Churches. According to church rules, a Bishop must carry out ordinations only within his Diocese, and not outside of it. He must prepare the person for ordination by abundant edification and study of the person; after initiation, he must again edify the ordained and observe him 16. Ordination is a great Sacrament, through which a person is suddenly reborn from a verbal sheep into a shepherd. The performer of this rebirth is the Bishop. Due to spiritual rebirth, through consecration, the Bishop enters into a spiritual relationship with the initiate 17. This kinship is vividly felt by both the performer of the Sacrament and the one on whom the Sacrament is performed. The Bishop sees in the initiate his spiritual child, the fruit of his ordination, the fruit of the Spirit, and the ordained sees in the Bishop his father, who brought him a new being, sees the image of his Creator, who transformed him from a sheep into a Shepherd. The spiritual seal placed on the soul by consecration is indelible, because it is Divine: “For God has united,” says the Gospel, “let not man separate” 18 . The excommunication of the Bishop from the elders ordained by him, the excommunication of the Bishop from the flock, for whom he performs all the duties of a Bishop, is similar to the forcible excommunication of parents from the children they have born immediately after their birth; the use of the Bishop as a machine for ordinations and other church needs is similar to the use of parents only for the birth of children: in one case - a violation of the natural law established by God, in the other case - a violation of the spiritual law, also established by God. The separation of Presbyter Paulinus from the Bishop of Antioch, which I mentioned above, lasted longer because it was supported by the government, which often, in administrative forms, demanded various concessions from the Church and, in the meek spirit of the Church, received them, even though they did not involve a violation of the dogmas themselves. But church history actually testifies that the most reliable and reliable administrative measure consists in carefully guarding church decrees; evasion of them in administrative forms, which initially seemed useful later, turned out to be harmful in its results, contributing to the disunity of the people and the weakening of the state. Your Excellency’s remark that the character of a person invested with church rank must be completely different from the character destined for the rank by the Church is very valid. Both in human society, and, in particular, in every person, evil is mixed with good, such a mixture serves as one of the practically irresistible proofs that humanity constitutes a category of fallen beings; at the same time, it gives repentance and repentance the dignity of human virtues, and makes cleansing from evil, both private and public, an indispensable duty of people. I accept evil and good in the broadest, correct sense, recognizing both a lack of prudence and a lack of self-knowledge as evil 19 . No earthly orders, no higher callings, starting with the apostle, remained undefiled by the fall of humanity; and therefore the Orthodox Church has never stopped replacing an unworthy or insufficient person with another person, more satisfactory. Patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, in a word, all members of the church hierarchy, were subjected to this fate; but the order itself, as an institution of God, has always been sacredly preserved by the Church. 7. You deigned to mention in your letter about His Grace Jeremiah, the first Bishop of the Caucasus; I don’t know him and have never seen him; Also, in the local Consistory archive there is no file that would depict the nature of his actions regarding the schismatics. In general, it must be said that jealousy and enthusiasm are always very pleasant for the masses of the people, they are always devoid of a correct view of the Orthodox Christian faith. The famous church writer Saint Isaac of Syria called this direction alien to spiritual reason and pointed to meekness as a sign of spiritual strength that can have a beneficial effect on human infirmities 20 . But people with a superficial understanding of Christianity recognize the enthusiasm and zeal of holiness. Such jealousy is the most unreliable weapon against those infected with false teaching. Heresy and schism are sins of the mind. Just as each way of thinking is accompanied and promoted by a spirit or state of the heart that is consistent with it, so heresy and schism are always accompanied by hardening of the heart; jealousy can intensify this bitterness. “Whoever wants to successfully fight against heresy,” said some spiritual writer, “must be completely alien to vanity and enmity towards one’s neighbor, so as not to express them with some mockery, some caustic or cruel word, some brilliant word that can resonate in the proud soul of the heretic, arouse and disturb its passion. Anoint the scab and ulcer of your neighbor, as if with whole oil, with the only words of love and humility, so that the merciful Lord will look upon your love and your humility, may they be announced to the heart of your neighbor, and may God’s great gift of salvation for your neighbor be granted to you. The pride, insolence, stubbornness, and enthusiasm of the heretic have only the appearance of energy: in essence they are weakness, in need of prudent condolences. This weakness only multiplies and becomes fierce when people act against it with reckless zeal, expressed in cruel reproof.” This, in my opinion, should be the nature of the activity of the Orthodox Archpastor in relation to heresy and schism. I believe that in these lines I have set out the answer to the questions proposed to me by Your Excellency in your letter, the answer is as satisfactory as my meager abilities and knowledge allowed. It remains for me to wish that the merciful Lord, the Giver of all blessings and their beginning - good thoughts, would send down to you from His spiritual treasury wise and venerable thoughts, so that you can lay them as the foundation of the work entrusted to you. With great respect and complete devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency, my most humble servant. The original is signed by Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. October 3 days, 1858. This assumption, however, did not come true. At the end of 1858, a circular order from the Prince Viceroy was received outlining another project that eliminated the above-mentioned one, but which did not yet represent anything positive, as it was introduced executively only in the form of an experiment for two years, from January 1, 1859. According to this sent draft, only the Governor’s mode of action changed; it did not affect the Diocesan Department at all. The two assumptions presented here actually and picturesquely depict the transitional state of the Region and thus enable the Holy Synod to correctly formulate its administrative considerations regarding the Church. By 1858, the bishop's house was, in fairness, almost destroyed. 1. The wooden, dilapidated and cramped hut, donated by the merchant Volobuev to the Right Reverend Jeremiah for a short time, until the time of construction of the Bishop's House, was supposed to serve as a shelter for the Bishop much longer than that. The inconvenience and extraordinary simplicity of this shelter deprived the Bishop of the opportunity to deal with diocesan affairs with due clarity; moreover, the hut, which was already dilapidated, began to collapse. The bishop had to spend the winter from 1857 to 1858 in a private house. The place itself, quite large, but inconvenient for the Bishop's House, which should stand separately and have the character of a monastery, approved by the Highest Command for the Bishop's House back in 1846, was not transferred by 1858 under various pretexts to the Diocesan Department. 2. Another place in the best part of the city, called Vorobievskaya, very convenient and picturesque, was purchased by the Right Reverend Jeremiah from the Headquarters. At this place there is a forest cottage, with slabs of brittle stone, donated to the House by the city. At this dacha, a process is being carried out with a private individual who has arbitrarily and forcibly seized a significant plot of land in it and is trying to expand his possession. Naturally, given the situation of this place, and the uncertainty of how the matter will be decided, it is premature to build a House on it. A draft of the House was drawn up, but it was so insufficient that Bishop Ignatius did not dare to submit it for approval by the Holy Synod. 3. The Caucasian authorities, who petitioned for the opening of a Diocese in the Caucasus, intended to immediately provide the maintenance of the Bishop and his House with land or a sum of money for the land. But this provision has not yet been realized; both the person and the Bishop's House were left in the most difficult situation. Bishops Jeremiah and Ioannikios were given an allowance: 1000 silver rubles in addition to their salary and 1500 silver rubles for the maintenance of the House; the last 1,500 rubles were released in 1858. 4. With the opening of the Diocese, 44 ministers were given to the house, chosen from the state-owned villagers of the Stavropol province. The house obviously had neither the means nor the space to house these full-time servants. The means to support them consisted in their meager salaries and in the meager allowance that the House could give them. For this reason, the situation of full-time ministers, especially family ones, was in the full sense unpleasant and disastrous. The following measures were taken to extract the Caucasian Bishops' House from a state of decline and destruction in 1858: 1) Reinforced by a petition to the civil department to carry out the Highest command by taking possession of the plot donated for a temporary shelter to the Bishop - and the House was taken into possession of the said plot and given possession by the civil chamber. 2) The wooden hut in which the Bishop lived turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt from the very foundation. This was completed during the summer, and the House was given a more convenient location and somewhat larger dimensions. In accordance with the high cost of building materials in Stavropol, the new temporary premises of the Bishop have the most modest character, however, not alien to the grace delivered to the building by its harmonious architectural dimensions, convenience and simplicity. Placed at the end of the city, away from the noise, in the middle of a garden, the Episcopal shelter is reminiscent of secluded Russian monasteries: Gethsemane, Optina Pustyn and the like. Although this temporary shelter is not convenient enough to house the Bishop and the Bishop's House is supposed to be built in another, very convenient place, all measures were taken to build this shelter with all care and strength for two reasons. Firstly, it is not known how long the shelter should be occupied by the Bishop, since it is not known when the Episcopal House will be built in Stavropol. This last unknown is based on another unknown: whether, due to the transitional nature of the region, Stavropol will remain the provincial city or will suffer the fate of Georgievsk, which quickly rose and quickly fell. Here, more than anywhere else, there is a need for a school for girls of the clergy, since many villages with their churches are located in remote steppes and are almost deprived of all means of education. The Bishop's current shelter is especially convenient for such an appointment. Near it is the Theological District School, and on the other side there is a place for building a Seminary; therefore, mentors of both the Seminary and the School can be mentors in the Theological Women's School. In addition, the buildings of the bishop's shelter are located inside a garden surrounded by a fence, and in the garden there are vines and fruit trees, the care of which girls can learn, since gardens and vineyards bring significant benefits to many of the local clergy. In order to acquire funds to restore the episcopal shelter, the Bishop addressed an appeal to his flock. Initially, an appeal was made to the Stavropol merchants, who, despite the recent formation of the society and their meager funds, presented 3975 rubles in silver. Due to the extraordinary high cost of materials in Stavropol, especially timber, which are four times more expensive than in St. Petersburg, this amount turned out to be insufficient. The correspondence regarding the delivery of the amount for the initial establishment from the Holy Synod, which was at first very vigorously conducted by the Caucasian chief authorities, who petitioned for the establishment of the Diocese, was subsequently weakly supported and did not result in any result. Even if this correspondence were successfully initiated at the present time, the fruit from it could be expected in several years, and the fruit could be very unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, the need for premises for the Bishop did not tolerate delay: Mr. Stasenkov provided him with free premises only for a six-month period, and the Bishop not only did not receive apartment money, but in this 1858 he did not receive even that thousand rubles in addition to his salary that his predecessors received: renting an apartment, apart from being completely inconvenient, was completely impossible. This situation itself pointed to one way: a way to strengthen the donation of the merchants with other influences. To achieve this goal, in accordance with previous examples in the Caucasian Diocese and examples in other Dioceses, the Bishop turned to the clergy with a proposal to make a feasible donation from the purse amount for the construction of a shelter for the Bishop. This proposal was accepted by the clergy with extraordinary sympathy. By January 1, 1859, up to eight thousand rubles in silver had been received. This amount of money turned out to be sufficient for a thorough and durable construction. 3) The place in the Vorobyovskaya part of the city, which was in litigation with the official Krupinsky, by 1858 almost went, through the means of untruth and violence, to a large extent to the mentioned official, who arbitrarily seized the entire middle of the dacha and thus took away all the advantages of the dacha, of which only the outskirts remained behind the Bishop's House. When the Bishop arrived, it turned out, by a particularly happy coincidence, it was possible to stop Mr. Krupinsky’s willful dissociation and forward the whole matter to the Holy Synod, on the basis of Art. 306. Complete Code of Laws ed. 1842, which decrees that no decision by which anything from the actual possession of monasteries and bishops' houses is condemned can be carried out without a review of the case in the Senate and without the approval of the Imperial Majesty. Despite the process and protest, Mr. Krupinsky owns the seized site, but has stopped further predation. Meanwhile, the Caucasian governor had already given an order to the Stavropol civil governor in favor of the House of Bishops on this matter during the past summer. 4) Regarding the endowment of the House with land, appropriate measures were immediately taken, in particular, relations on this subject with the governor of the Caucasus, Prince Baryatinsky, turned out to be very successful. State Secretary Kruzenshtern notified the Bishop with a formal message dated September 25, 1858, No. 3702, that the Prince had come with a report to the Sovereign Emperor through the Caucasian Committee on the annual issuance of 3,800 silver rubles to the Bishop's House in lieu of land that the Region could not provide. 5) The regular servants of the House, due to their difficult situation in relation to the House and in relation to themselves, could not remain any longer in this position. Why did the Bishop enter into communication with the Stavropol Chamber of State Property about whether it was possible to replace the ministers with money, moreover, proposing this as a temporary measure, indicated by the violence of the circumstances of the House, according to which he cannot currently give his regular servants any shelter, not even any means of maintenance. Following a meeting of the Chamber with peasant societies, to which the Bishop expressed his consent, a proposal was made, in the form of a temporary measure, to the Viceroy to issue from the Chamber to the Bishop's House, instead of regular servants, the amount of 1,160 rubles in silver, counting 40 rubles per person per year. This measure has been awarded the Highest approval. The Caucasian Theological Seminary does not have its own house; it is located in an apartment in private houses built for speculative purposes, on a large street. For this reason, it is impossible to have in it either the cleanliness or the amenities that are available in buildings built or adapted specifically for the Seminary. The successes of the students and their morality depend a lot on the premises they occupy: the fact that the Seminary is located on the best street in the city, on the boulevard, close to public entertainment, has a great effect on the students. Stavropol is a military city, a cheerful city. There is no other apartment that would satisfy the needs of the Seminary in terms of space and would not at the same time provide the above benefits. The place allocated for the Seminary near the Varvarinskaya Church is good, it has a significant garden; it is located near the temporary episcopal shelter and is very secluded. Regarding amenities and facilities, the success of the pupils and their morality are satisfactory. The present rector and inspector perform their duties incomparably more carefully than the previous seminary authorities: with such careful fulfillment naturally come greater demands from the students, which must inevitably bear fruit. On the occasion of the proposed construction of the Seminary in Stavropol, last year in 1858, reference prices for building materials were sent to the Theological Educational Directorate; It should be noted that prices for materials had increased unusually by 1859 and the sent list of reference prices is now completely incorrect. We present here the Bishop’s proposal dated February 18, No. 21, which sets out his critical view of the building project for the Caucasian Seminary. Does this proposal indicate the degree of attention of the Bishop to the matter of the convenience of the Seminary premises? “Finding the judgment of the Caucasian Seminary Board according to its journal dated February 17, 1858, very solid, very maturely considered, I find it necessary to submit for the discretion of the Higher Authorities, in addition to what is written in the journal, the following: the material from which all stone buildings in Stavropol are made consists of stone, very porous, very easily penetrated by air, dampness and cold. Stone buildings in Stavropol are particularly susceptible to the influence of wet weather, mainly the influence of wind and frost. For this reason, when designing a building for the Seminary in Stavropol, you need to keep in mind completely different considerations than what you have when designing buildings to be built from brick. Moreover, Stavropol is located very high (it has an elevation of up to 250 fathoms above sea level), which is why it is exposed to winds and frosts much more than its entire surroundings; it often happens that there are frosts and snow in Stavropol, and in the steppes around it, even to the north of it, spring is in full development and arable land is being produced. The place allocated for the construction of the Seminary is picturesque and very healthy; but it is on a high, open hill, and is therefore most exposed to frost and wind. The winter from 1857 to 1858, accompanied by severe frosts and winds, served as experimental proof of how necessary it is to take precautions, taking into account the properties of building materials, in order to protect buildings from the influence of the atmosphere: most of the stone houses were permeated with cold, all efforts to heat them were in vain, the consequence of which was a significant development of colds in the population. On these grounds, I find that the living rooms of the designed Seminary building, especially the student bedrooms, must suffer extremely from frost and wind; Based on experiments, we can say with certainty that with a frost of 10 degrees or more, and with wind and much less frost, in these rooms it will be impossible to achieve more than five degrees of heat with the most intensive heating. Rooms on the second floor Nos. 5, 11, 8 and 9, as well as rooms on the 1st floor - 5th, 6th (coal), 12th and 13th - should suffer greatly from winds and frost. In general, all rooms of the building, relative to the local conditions described above, are shallow and will require strong heating. In addition to the fact that people who will have to spend most of their time in cold rooms will inevitably be exposed to illness, heating the building itself, given the extreme high cost of firewood (now in winter it reached 18 silver rubles per fathom), will be extremely burdensome for the Seminary. Measures to avoid the above inconveniences are the following: 1) In general, the building plan should be increased in width, decreasing in length - through this the rooms will become deeper (they should have up to 6 fathoms in depth), therefore, less susceptible to the influence of wind and frost. 2) Build a church at one end of the building, and a staircase at the other, so that all the living quarters in which the students are intended to spend their lives with their rector and inspector will face only one side to the air, and the other three sides will be completely fenced off. With such a plan, 1) the precious health of the building's inhabitants will be preserved, 2) a significant amount of money will be saved for heating the building. I propose that the Board attach this opinion to the case and, leaving a copy of it in the Board, present the original to the view of the Great Authorities. Stavropol Theological School The Stavropol Theological School is located in its own stone house (located near the Bishop's House itself), donated by the merchant Gnilovsky under His Grace Jeremiah. The building of the School promises much more in appearance than what it actually is in terms of the general character of Stavropol buildings. It does not have the amenities necessary and useful for the School. However, there is an opportunity to rebuild it and make it more convenient. In 1858, the Bishop visited that part of the Diocese occupied by the Stavropol province, the southern and eastern parts of which are scattered, like islands across the sea, throughout the region of the Linear Cossacks. The cities of Kizlyar, Mozdok, Pyatigorsk, and Stavropol itself can rightly be called islands: they are surrounded on all sides by lands belonging to the Linear Cossacks. This situation of the cities of the province, crowded on a small corner of the earth in the middle of another department, is associated with great inconvenience in the civil sense. The bishop, visiting diocesan cities, necessarily had to travel through the Cossack villages, in which, as a result of the newly made order, he entered the churches of God and talked with the village population. The provincial city of Stavropol, as first seen by the Bishop in 1858, has the right to have a description of it in ecclesiastical terms take first place in the description of the department of the Diocese visited by the Bishop. The city was recently a Cossack village. Recently, mountaineers lived in its gorges. These sons of wild freedom, noticing that the Russians’ settlement here was secure, and that residence for the mountaineers, in their character and direction, was inconvenient and even impossible, they retired to the mountains. The village was replaced by a village. When the climate of Georgievsk turned out to be extremely harmful to health, and the area now occupied by Stavropol, one of the best in the Caucasus, very high (Stavropol rises 300 fathoms above sea level), abounding in excellent spring waters: then the provincial city was moved here. The Cossack village moved from its wooden church beyond the Kuban. The hill that crowns the Stavropol Upland is now occupied by the cold Cathedral of the Kazan Mother of God, Tone architecture. From a distance the church can be seen standing, as if on a cloud, above the entire city; The view of the city from the square on which the church is located is also picturesque. Unfortunately, the Bishop's service can be performed in this beautiful and spacious church only during the six summer months. It is cold, and if it were warm, it would be very difficult to heat it, because in winter the strongest winds rage here, and the church is built from local very brittle stone, unable to withstand either cold or wind. In winter, solemn Divine services are held in a warm church, almost like a brownie, built above the bench of the guest courtyard and therefore called Ryadskaya, in the name of the Savior. On the large street leading from the St. Petersburg outpost to the Tiflis, in sight of the Cathedral, there is the Trinity Cathedral, also cold, in which, however, Divine services are held in winter, since it has a wooden floor, is not as high as Kazan, and stands on an incomparably lower terrain, less susceptible to bad weather. Trinity Cathedral has an indeterminate architecture, which has become even more indefinite with extensions. The Cathedral and Trinity Cathedrals each have their own parish; in addition to them, the Church of the Great Martyr Barbara on the southeastern tip of the city and the Church of the Great Martyr George on the southwestern tip have their own parishes. There are two Episcopal Cross churches, both warm: Holy Cross at the temporary shelter where the Bishop resides, and in the name of St. Andrew the First-Called on Vorobyovsky Heights, where it is proposed to build the Bishop's House. At this church of St. Andrew, standing in a most picturesque place, accommodated several monks on the staff of the House, who arrived from deserted Russian monasteries. One of these monks, very experienced in monastic life, was made confessor of the women's St. John-Mary community, to the greatest consolation and edification of the sisters. There are three house churches: in the gymnasium, in the women's shelter and in the prison castle. Churches in the villages of the Stavropol province are generally very sufficient, some are very rich. This position of the churches naturally arose from the special wealth of the peasants: wealth that is delivered to them by the extraordinary abundance of the Land, which generously rewards the easiest work. Many villages have the appearance of county towns, and the population is several thousand souls. Although grain is produced in abundance and, due to the convenience of sale, is always at a good price, the main income of the inhabitants comes from vineyards, then from cattle breeding, and partly from arable farming, gardening and vegetable gardening. There are peasants who produce up to 10 thousand buckets of wine, each bucket sells from one to two rubles. Such a peasant has up to 150 heads of horses and a corresponding number of other livestock, which feed on pasture almost every year and in winter. The most notable churches are located in the following villages: the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village. Novoselitsy, stone three-limit; unfortunately, it belongs to an uncertain architecture, is very insufficient in artistic terms, is poorly located, and therefore cramped. The same should be said about the main church in the village. Vorontsovka, owned by Prince Vorontsov: this church is even larger than the church in Novoselitsy. The Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the village of Praskovei was built in the character originally used by the architect Ton, in the character that for a long time was known as Byzantine. This church is not inferior in size to the cold Stavropol Cathedral - it was painted by Moscow artists according to the taste and abundance of the region. The best church in the entire Caucasus region in terms of architecture should be recognized as the Church of St. Nicholas in the vast and rich village of Petrovskoye. It is in the character of the first churches of Ton, very similar to the church of Catherine the Great Martyr in Kolomna and the Entry into the Semenovsky Regiment in St. Petersburg, but its decoration is much rougher: the dimensions of this church were extraordinary, and in terms of the mutual harmony of its parts it is superior to the Stavropol Cathedral, which, according to it, is the best church in the Caucasus in architectural terms. The utensils and sacristy are sufficient everywhere, and in many churches they are rich. The church in the name of the Three Saints was re-consecrated on September 12 in the village of Otkazny. The consecration was performed by the Bishop in front of a significant crowd of people. The church was built in the above-mentioned character of Ton at the expense of the villagers of the state department of the village of Otkazny. In the provincial town of Georgievsk, once a provincial town, there is a large and solid wooden cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas. The zeal of the citizens increased to build a stone cathedral, but the city was quickly emptying and becoming poorer. The pious intention of the citizens is unlikely to come true. Opposite the city of Georgievsk, three miles from it, on the left bank of the fast Podkumna River, there is the Churekovsky village, inhabited by those mountaineers who, recognizing the power of the Russian Tsar over themselves, expressed a desire to accept Christianity. The village consisted of Christian mountaineers: at present these mountaineers are all Mohammedans without exception. A sad incident happened quite recently: during the reign of Prince Vorontsov. Reliable persons say, although they talk about it confidentially, that the mountaineers of the Churekovsky aul, in the presence of many, asked the Prince to allow them to return to Mohammedanism from Christianity. The prince answered them that he left this entirely to their will, as long as they served the Tsar with fidelity. The consequence of this answer was the introduction of Mohammedanism to the village, in which a mosque was immediately built. Even the political view expressed in the above response of the government official is incorrect. The spread of Mohammedanism among the mountaineers was carried out by Turkish missionaries most at the end of the last century, not so much in religious forms as in political ones. The mountaineers have the most insufficient understanding of the Mohammedan religion. Their mullahs are completely unfamiliar with the Arabic language, and since Alkoran has not been translated from Arabic into Tatar, commonly used among the highlanders, Alkoran is completely unknown not only to the people, but also unknown to the mullahs themselves. But the idea that the Turkish Sultan is their only legitimate Sovereign is planted and deeply rooted in them: it is obvious that communicating this idea to the highlanders was most interesting to the Turkish missionaries, since Latin propaganda is most interested in the idea of ​​the primacy of the pope. The consequences of this prevailing thought, expressed in fact, are clear. At present, they look at Mohammedanism more insightfully, and the main authorities of the Caucasus provide great assistance in converting Mohammedans to Christianity. A significant reason for the fall of the mountaineers of the Churekovsky aul is that the mountaineers, especially the female sex, do not know the Russian language, and our clergy does not know the language of the mountaineers, among whom the Tatar language is the commonly used language. Communication between the clergy and the Christian mountaineers must, of necessity, be carried out through translators, and this is always difficult, and when performing the Sacrament of Confession it is completely inconvenient. Given the meager knowledge of Christianity, which the mountaineer Christians necessarily had to have, their coldness towards Christianity and their falling away from it become understandable. The sad event - the mentioned deviation of Christians into Mohammedanism - is an event not only retold by eyewitnesses, but also proven by written documents: in the church archives of the village of Goryachevskaya, some notes survived, from which it is clear that people from the mountains were sent from the mountains for baptism, according to their desire, and the priests who were entrusted with performing Holy Baptism were named. The village belonged to the Assumption Church, located in the Georgievskaya village near the city of Georgievsk, which was later moved to another place. Confessional paintings for 1799, 1800, 1801 and 1821 that belonged to this church have been preserved: they indicate the names of Mohammedan mountaineers who converted to Christianity and were assigned to the Linear Caucasian Volga Regiment. As much as the city of Georgievsk declines, gradually becoming a provincial town and finally a provincial town, the provincial city of Pyatigorsk grows and begins to flourish, due to the Government’s special attention paid to it and the significant annual gathering of the public to the healing waters located in Pyatigorsk itself and its environs. The area of ​​Pyatigorsk is picturesque. The fast Podkumok runs along the valley below the city; the city is spread out at the base and along the slopes of Mount Mashuka, on which hot sulfur waters flow at different temperatures in different places and which has 240 fathoms of perpendicular height above Podkumk. Healing springs flow at a height of 30 to 50 fathoms. The mountain has an unusually beautiful shape: the vegetation on it is excellent, in some places there are bare rocky rocks and, giving the picture diversity and diversity, exalt its merits. A person’s hand, when it touches such elegant works of nature, should be guided by special prudence and special reverence. Pyatigorsk is an example of modern civilization. At the springs and partly above the springs themselves, vast galleries were erected, mostly made of stone, which with their weight affected the springs. Nardzan itself - this colossal healing spring in Kislovodsk (40 versts from Pyatigorsk) - was almost suppressed by the gallery; despite its oppressive severity, it arose again, but its healing power weakened significantly. One of the delicate Essentuki springs was completely destroyed under the burden of the galleries (18 versts from Pyatigorsk at the Essentuki station, where alkaline waters are located). Along the waters, both in Pyatigorsk and in Essentuki and Kislovodsk, there are huge parks in which military music is played in the evenings. On a very convenient place, a stone Latin church was built and surrounded by a stone fence. The Orthodox Church of Our Lady of All Who Sorrow, wooden, cramped, low-lying, is located in the lower part of the city near the boulevard. Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, visiting Pyatigorsk in 1837, deigned to note that the Church of All Who Sorrow is extremely cramped and does not meet the needs of the city in many respects, being at the same time the most modest building in it. To raise construction capital, the Tsar ordered an invitation to donations to be issued throughout Russia. In this way, more than fifty thousand silver rubles have been collected to this day. The church was founded in 1847. By 1858 it was expanded to domes. Severe cracks that appeared throughout the building forced the continuation of work to stop, and after examining the damage by technicians, it was found necessary to dismantle the church to the very foundation, since the foundation itself turned out to be completely insufficient. The construction of the church is carried out by a committee of civil dignitaries and officials; two priests of the Sorrowful Church participate in the committee and deliver information about the progress of the matter to the Diocesan authorities, who had not previously paid the slightest attention to the construction of the church, since the committee directly relates to the Vicar in everything. Whatever the reasons for the unsuccessful actions of the committee, the lack of Pyatigorsk in relation to the church remained by 1858 in the same position in which it was seen by the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich in 1838. The bishop, having visited the Church of the Mother of God of All Who Sorrow, in consultation with the city clergy and citizens, found it possible to expand the church and place a wooden dome over it in order to ward off the unbearable stuffiness that occurred in the church especially in the summer heat. A project has been drawn up, approved by the Stavropol construction commission, and residents of the city of Pyatigorsk are invited to make donations. Inspired by pious zeal, the citizens quickly collected a sufficient amount of money and extracted forest material from the mountains of excellent quality. With the departure of the summer visitors, work began actively with materials prepared in good time, and, to the indescribable joy of the inhabitants, the two-aisle vast church, crowned with a dome, was completely completed and consecrated at the end of the Lent of St. Philip the Apostle. The people of Pyatigorsk already celebrated the holiday of the Nativity of Christ in the new church, which placed triple the number of people opposite the old church. In addition to the wooden cathedral, in Pyatigorsk there is a very cramped house church in a military hospital and a separate stone church in a cemetery. It is extremely unfortunate that this small church, recently built from excellent local material, has shown severe cracks; the truth must be told - the local architects are very insufficient. In the vicinity of Pyatigorsk, in the villages of the Linear Cossack Army of Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk and Kislovodsk, there are schismatics. In the village of Essentuki there is a Edinoverie church, however, with a small number of parishioners. The path from Pyatigorsk to Mozdok and from Mozdok to Kizlyar lies along the villages of the Linear Army. We will give the notes of the latter a place after the two named cities belonging to the Diocesan Department. Mozdok, now a provincial town, was formerly the seat of the Bishop of Mozdok and Madzhar. Outside the city, on a plain irrigated by the Terek, where the Bishop's House was located, there is now one wooden church. Next to it is the city cemetery. The city is populated mostly by Armenians, of the Gregorian faith, engaged in trade and living well; There are much fewer Russians, they live much more meagerly. The Armenian Cathedral Church is made of stone, much larger and more magnificent than the Orthodox Church, which is made of wood. Outside the city, at the opposite end of the cemetery church, there is a wooden church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. In it, behind the right choir in the icon case, there is an ancient miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God. Historical information about this icon is as follows. In the twelfth century, the famous Georgian Queen Tamara, after the death of her first husband, the Russian prince Georgiy Andreevich - the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky - entered into marriage with the prince of the Ossetians. Together with her hand, she delivered Christianity to the prince and his people. The pious queen spared neither labor nor expense for the establishment and establishment of the Holy Faith among the Ossetians. In the country, their numerous ruins testify to the large number of Christian churches that formerly existed in it. The creation of these churches is attributed by legend to Tamara. Tradition claims that one of the ruins in the Kartelinsky Gorge constitutes the remnant of the church in which the icon of the Iveron Mother of God, the most precious gift of the God-loving Tamara to the Ossetian people, was placed and kept. Twice the church was destroyed to the ground by fire, and both times the icon of the Mother of God was found intact. For six hundred years the icon remained in the Kartalinsky Gorge. At the end of the last century, Mohammedanism, through Turkish missionaries, invaded the Caucasus Mountains with the greatest fanaticism, more political than religious. It destroyed among the mountain peoples that weak Christianity that still lingered among them, which clung more nominally than in reality. Ossetians leaned towards Islam, like other mountaineers. But they, like all the mountaineers, did not become real Mohammedans. Alkoran is unknown to them, due to the mountaineers’ ignorance of the Arabic language in which Alkoran is written. The Highlanders do not have a translation into the Tatar language. It is unknown to the mullahs of the mountaineers themselves; they consider it an inaccessible book of the highest wisdom. The Mohammedanism of the mountaineers is limited to the observance of some external Mohammedan rites; They leaned towards certain beliefs instilled in them by missionaries; most of the concepts of the former vague religion, in which signs of Christianity are still visible, remained with them. The main concern of the missionaries was to convince the mountaineers that their only legitimate Sovereign was the Turkish Sultan. In religiously troubled times, that is, during the preaching of Mohammedanism among the mountaineers, at the end of the last century, the icon of the Mother of God kept many families of not only Ossetians, but also Circassians faithful to Christianity, and kept them faithful through wondrous signs. In 1763, our Government invited Christian mountaineers and mountaineers who wanted to convert to Christianity to cross the Terek and settle near Mozdok: as a result of a repeated invitation in 1793, a party of mountaineers on the eve of Mid-Pentecost arrived to Mozdok, having with them an icon of the Mother of God. The icon marked its journey and arrival in the Orthodox city with miracles. His Eminence Gaius, Bishop of Mozdok and Madzhar, having learned about the arrival of the famous icon in the Caucasus, went out to venerate it with the clergy, with crosses and banners. The archpastor brought it into the cathedral, intending to give the icon a place of honor here. But the Mother of God, by a special miracle, informed the Bishop that She wanted to stay outside the city, in the very place where She stopped and spent the night, on a humble Circassian cart - that’s the name of the two-wheeled cart of the mountaineers. The Reverend Gaius hastened to build a chapel at the indicated site; Subsequently, the parishioners built a wooden church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The icon is 1 arshin and 12 vershoks in height, 1 arshin and 7 vershoks in width. The icon, apparently, was painted on a gold background. Others claim that it became covered with soot during the above-mentioned fires in the Kartalinsky Gorge. The facial features of the Mother of God in the icon are strict; The character of the letter is Georgian. The icon painter of Queen Tamara, says legend, prepared to paint the icon with forty days of fasting and forty days of prayer. Currently, the Assumption Church has 2243 male and 2155 female parishioners, of which 1238 are male and 115 female Ossetians and Circassians. Ossetians recognize the icon as their property, have a fiery affection for it, which must be handled very carefully and prudently; by the ardor, determination and ignorance of the Asians. The icon is glorious in the mountains. Many Mohammedan mountaineers flock to worship her. Armenians of the Gregorian confession honor the icon along with the Orthodox. The icon performs many healings; above it on a cord hang numerous silver images of members of the human body, hung by those who received healing. Many Mohammedans, amazed by the miracles performed at the icon, convert to Christianity; very many Mohammedans, for the same reason, having confidence in the icon, also have confidence in Christianity. Icon – Apostle. Exactly! The miraculous icon of the Mother of God performs the service of the Apostle in this region, promoting and testifying to Christianity - with signs. It is necessary that people also make efforts, characteristic of them, towards the holy cause of enlightening the mountain people with the light of Christ. Here the Bishop found a strange order, and the Christian mountaineers were found in the most alarming state because of such an order. Many of the Christian Ossetians and Circassians accept the Russian language very little, many do not know it, the female gender is completely unfamiliar with the Russian language. On the contrary, all the priests at the Assumption Church were Russians, completely unfamiliar with the Ossetian and Circassian languages, and not even at all familiar with the Tatar language commonly used among the mountaineers. For this reason, relations between pastors and flocks were extremely difficult, in many cases completely impossible; especially the female sex was deprived of all edification, all spiritual food. The need for this food forced the Christian mountaineers to invite mullahs into their homes, who with their instructions extremely damaged Christianity among the female sex and would certainly have distracted all the Mozdok mountaineers from Christianity if it had not been for the icon of the Mother of God that kept them in Christianity. Asians, due to their unusually ardent nature, become heated, lose completely common sense and are guided solely by their temperament. Their alarming situation became known to the Prince Viceroy, and he convincingly asked His Grace Ioannikis to remove from the Assumption Church that Russian archpriest with whom the highlanders were especially dissatisfied. The Russian archpriest was replaced by another Russian archpriest. Upon the arrival of Bishop Ignatius in Mozdok, the deputation of the mountaineers presented themselves to him to explain their predicament due to their inability to understand the language of Russian speech spoken by their priests, and vice versa cannot be understood by priests completely unfamiliar with their language. The mountaineers complained that they were completely deprived of the Sacrament of Confession, that they were completely deprived of the opportunity to receive the concepts they desired about Christianity due to the inability to communicate with their priests. They complained especially about the unfavorable influence of Archpriest Krastilevsky, whose former archpriest was a relative. The slowness of the investigation into the abuses of the former archpriest, attributed to the influence of Krastilevsky, greatly worried the mountaineers. Due to the false situation, unbearable for the impatient and wayward mountaineers, they were already planning to steal the icon and retire to the mountains with it. This intention became known to the military authorities 21 and would have been carried out by the ardent mountaineers if they had not been satisfied. They expected satisfaction from the new Bishop. The bishop offered the mountaineers priest Bartholomew Simanov from Georgia, who had completed a course at the Caucasian Seminary in the first category, knew the Ossetian language, and was placed, according to some strange calculations, in a village neighboring the Kalmyk nomads of the Astrakhan province. The Ossetians accepted this offer with delight, another priest was given to them, also from Georgians, who knew the Tatar and Ossetian languages; the Russian archpriest was left to his discretion. To console the Circassians, the Bishop invited them to choose from among themselves a well-behaved and capable young man to prepare in theological schools for the service of the Church. This proposal was accepted with the greatest pleasure: they elected a young man from a noble family who had received some education at the Mozdok School of Civil Affairs. The Bishop entered into relations with the Prince Viceroy about the dismissal of the Circassian from the Cossack class in order to enter the clergy. To this the Prince expressed full consent and went up with a presentation to the Minister of War, who reported this to the Sovereign Emperor. His Majesty was pleased to greatly approve of this measure. The expulsion of the Circassian from the Cossack department to the spiritual department is being carried out, meanwhile, on a ticket issued by the ataman, he lives in the Bishop's House and attends the Seminary. In Mozdok, the need for the Caucasian clergy to know the Tatar language as a common language among the mountaineers was expressed with extreme clarity. This need is obvious everywhere in the villages of the Black Sea and Linear troops bordering the villages of the highlanders, and especially in the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar. The Armenians, who make up the majority of the population in these cities and trade with the mountain peoples, all know the Tatar language: they study it from childhood in order to succeed in industry. Why shouldn’t the clergy study it from childhood for the success of Christianity? The Mozdok Theological School is housed in a dilapidated wooden house of the Diocesan Department. In the silence that prevails in modest Mozdok, which stands far away from the main road from St. Petersburg to Tiflis, and therefore, away from modern civilization, the pursuit of science could proceed successfully. Despite the good intentions and ability of the superintendent of the school, by 1858 it turned out to be insufficient in all respects. Such a weak state should be attributed to two reasons: the poverty of his contents and the extremely inconvenient premises. Now the first reason has been eliminated, concerns have been taken to eliminate the second one. The Mozdok School, being located in a city inhabited by people of other faiths who are attracted to Christianity by the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, can provide the greatest benefit. A smart caretaker understands this; Having a lot of warmth from his heart, he is ready and can be useful for the Church. Kizlyar should be called a completely Asian or, more precisely, Armenian city. Residents of Kizlyar, both Orthodox and Armenians of the Gregorian confession, especially respect the icon of the Life-Giving Source, which is recognized as miraculous due to its antiquity and according to legends about the miracles that took place with it, which were not recorded anywhere. This icon is located in the parish Life-Giving-Source Church and is placed behind the right choir. The Kizlyar Monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross should have been important in relation to the church administration, since it is located in a city inhabited by Gentiles, at the very end of the Diocese, 500 miles from the Episcopal See. Unfortunately, it does not satisfy this goal. The main reason for this must be recognized as the fact that the Caucasian authorities hitherto had in mind the satisfaction of military needs alone and sacrificed everything else to them. Recently, citizenship began to develop here and civil [life began] to be recognized as essential for a person, an inhabitant of the earth; Recently the idea has begun to emerge that war and the army are the tools by which citizenship is established and protected. When looking at the region before, very profitable fishing was taken away from the monastery by the military department. Private individuals, seeing this course of action, also allowed themselves to appropriate the monastery lands. The current abbot of the monastery, Abbot Herman, an active, sober elder, following the ancient rules, spent his twenty years of management in constant processes. Naturally, given this situation, the monastery did not receive proper development: it should be considered fortunate that it was not destroyed. Actually, the Russian clergy in Mozdok and Kizlyar, due to the small number and poverty of the Russian population, is in an extremely poor condition. The benefit of the Church requires that it be supported. Here it seems quite useful to outline the religious state of the Armenians, who live in significant numbers in the Caucasian diocese, and in the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar they make up the majority of the population. They do not understand the Eutychean heresy, therefore, they do not understand the significant dogmatic difference that separates their Church from the Eastern Church. They attribute the separation to differences in rituals. They do not have that special attachment to rituals that is noticeable among the Russian people. The Armenians easily abandon their ritual when its incompatibility is explained. Thus, they have the custom of breaking their fast on Holy Saturday, at the end of the Divine Service of that day; some person from their clergy presented to them the strangeness of this custom, pointing out the solidity of the custom of the Orthodox, and the Armenians lovingly, without any dispute, agreed to break their fast on the day of Holy Easter, after the Liturgy. In general, they have a noticeable, unfeigned, heartfelt desire to get closer to the Orthodox, to the Russians. This circumstance is, in my opinion, of particular importance. It is important not only from a religious point of view, but also from a state point of view. If Providence had favored the Armenians to unite with the Orthodox Church, for which the only explanation needed for the perplexities on both sides is needed, then their state benefit in this region would be incalculable. Their trade covers not only the Caucasus, but also the Transcaucasian region and the mountains themselves. Knowing the Tatar language, commonly used among the mountaineers, they wander freely in the mountains, visit auls and peaceful and non-peaceful mountaineers, and have established close relations with them. They might, under the appearance of industrialists, be excellent missionaries and excellent political agents, having excellent natural abilities for the performance of all these duties. Now the moral position of the Armenians is uncertain. It should be like this: they have a spiritual attraction to Russians; but the perplexities are not eliminated, there is no unity; the natural and logical consequence of these conditions is uncertainty. Villages of the Caucasian Linear Army The path from Stavropol itself through Georgievsk, Mozdok to Kizlyar lies past the villages of the Cossack Linear Army. A sad impression is made by this region, to which they are trying to instill a Protestant position that is unusual for the Orthodox Church, contrary to the wishes of the population. The ecclesiastical character of the region is the character of a schism. This is quite clear and palpable for anyone seeking a definite concept of the Eastern Church; The Cossacks themselves see and feel this, many of whom study and have studied the Faith. Everywhere in the villages the Bishop was greeted with the greatest cordiality; in some, deputations came to him expressing their sincere desire to have a Bishop at the head of their Church; even the question “Will we soon belong to the Orthodox Church?” was proposed. This question determines the concept that the Cossacks have about their religious status. I repeat, many Cossacks study the Faith very carefully; their concepts of the Faith should in no way be compared with the concepts of people in the highest educated circle. The very development of the schism between the Cossacks serves as proof that Faith is for them a subject of deep, strict reflection and study, and is by no means a subject to which they were indifferent, to which they would look superficially and in passing. With all the above expressions of sympathy, the Bishop replied that the current situation of the churches of the Linear Cossack Army is a consequence of administrative considerations, that in order to satisfy the pious feeling of the Orthodox, the Bishop was ordered to visit their churches and provide them with all the desired Christian edification and consolation. Such an answer, if not completely reassuring, then imposed silence on the lips. It could not have been offered to more educated people. Here everyone knows the religious direction of Prince Vorontsov: he did not stop publicly showing special attention and affection to the Mohammedan clergy, giving them in many cases preference over the Orthodox clergy. Just as the three Jewish youths in the cave and captivity in Babylon confessed that God “with truth and judgment brought all this sin for their sake” (Dan. 3:28), so the Caucasian Diocesan authorities must talk about their position in relation to the churches of the Cossack-line army. And now the name of Krastilevsky is pronounced with horror by the clergy of the Army, as if the name of Shamil; This clergy speaks loudly about former abuses, and the highest officials, talking about the time of the break and remembering this time, set an inviolable condition for the reunion that must sooner or later follow, meekness and the preservation of decency when dealing with them. The administrative types in which Prince Vorontsov transferred the Church of an entire region to the administration of a presbyter, taking them away from the Bishop, in contrast to the decree of the Holy Spirit, have not yet been explained. But they must someday be explained, albeit for the sake of history, as a violation of the inviolable, holy character of the Orthodox Church. Such an explanation must inevitably turn out to be very difficult, and the phrase proclaiming an administrative consideration is unfounded and therefore unsatisfactory. Defenders of the measure must also present the reason for it, as they are now putting forward, the incorrectness and inexpediency of the actions that the Bishop of the Caucasus allowed himself. But this does not justify the measures taken against such actions. Church tradition represents that into all ministries, the most holy and lofty, beginning with the Apostolic, man introduced abuse and sin, which were internalized by humanity. In such cases, the Church never stopped to intimidate the person who abused the ministry, but the ministry itself, as established by the Holy Spirit, it constantly preserved inviolable. An Apostle who turned out to be unworthy of apostolic service was replaced by another Apostle. Patriarchs and other bishops who fell into heresy or revealed activities incompatible with their ministry were deprived of both thrones and dignities; their thrones and dignities were transferred to more worthy persons. But the replacement of the Bishop for an entire region by a presbyter, with the use of the Bishop as a machine and instrument for the consecration of churches, ordinations, and other things for which it is impossible to do without the Bishop, is new in the Orthodox Church. This news seems to mean nothing to those who do not understand the Faith. It is also of great importance in the eyes of schismatics: for the doctrine of the Bishop belongs to one of the most important subjects of their thoughts and judgments. The Bishop of the Caucasus fulfills all the church needs for the region of the Linear Cossacks, but does not govern this flock of his. The chief priest of the Caucasian Army is located at the Army Headquarters, in Transcaucasia, in a region completely remote by a significant, natural demarcation from the country actually called the Caucasus, which has almost no natural relations to Transcaucasia. Governing churches from such a distance is quite unnatural and plunges these churches into the most disastrous situation in every respect. The Cossack ataman, his Headquarters, and the main officials of the Cossack administration have their residence in Stavropol, surrounded everywhere by the villages and churches of the Cossack Linear Army. Communications about matters happening under our eyes must be done with Tiflis, at a distance of 500 miles, behind the gigantic ridge of the gray-headed Caucasus, with the chief priest, who has his own special duty at home and cannot in any way satisfy the management of the churches of the Cossack army entrusted to him, due to their very remoteness and alienation from him. A situation for which it is so difficult to find meaning can be long-lasting. By January 1, 1859, in the Caucasian diocese there were two monasteries and one monastery for women. Of these: the men's monastery, the Ekaterino-Lebyazhinsk Hermitage, and forty miles from it the Mariinskaya Women's Monastery, established with special rights, Highly approved in the Regulations on the Black Sea Cossack Army, both [monasteries] are not far from the Sea of ​​Azov, and the first of them can stand alongside the best Russian monasteries in terms of funds and maintenance. It is governed by an archimandrite, who is also the dean of both these hermitages. The Kizlyar Holy Cross Monastery is located at the opposite end of the Diocese, not far from the Caspian Sea. The monastery has up to two thousand silver rubles in annual income, but is very shaken in its well-being by the processes regarding the lands it owns in which it was involved. Near the provincial city of Stavropol, eight miles from it, there is a St. John-Mariinsky women's community, the construction of which into a monastery was presented to the Holy Synod. Monastic life in the monasteries of the Caucasian diocese is in its infancy, and it is difficult that it could soon emerge from this state. For monastic spiritual success, a peaceful state of the monasteries is necessary. But both men's monasteries do not have this peaceful state, and it is not expected that they will be able to obtain it until the secular power comes into the same relationship with the spiritual in which it is found everywhere in Russia. And this can only happen when war ceases to be solely the beginning, the goal, the excuse - right or wrong - of all considerations and measures. The abbots here need knowledge and abilities, mainly clerical ones; Their clerical work is especially significant. In the Ekaterino-Lebyazhinsk Hermitage there is a committee chaired by the Rector, in which some secular persons participate, to manage the monastery’s economy. For a long time, this committee was dominated by a great disunity between its spiritual and secular members, which was the reason for very difficult correspondence. Now, with the Bishop’s very good relations with the Main Black Sea authorities, this separation has been destroyed; but it is impossible to make any significant changes in the church character, according to the church rules: neither one nor the other is known or understood. Friendliness alone can act with some success against power that finds in military considerations a means to be unlimited; alone it can mitigate the evil produced by inattention to the decrees of the Church. With patience and submission to the Providence of God, we must await the time when in the Black Sea Monastery it will be possible to introduce such a charter, which is outlined for all Orthodox monasteries in general by the tradition of the Holy Church, under which moral and spiritual improvement in monastic monasteries is only possible. The Caucasian diocese consists of all churches in general 168. The population of the Caucasus is constantly and rapidly increasing with new immigrants from Russia, who are primarily concerned, as many experiences testify, with establishing a house of prayer to satisfy spiritual needs. Having received a permanent settlement, they also try to build churches. Supervision of churches is carried out by deans at least four times a year. Church writing, which, due to the lack of literacy of church elders, is mostly carried out by clergy, is in a satisfactory state. The clergy of the Caucasus originally gathered in this remote region from various places in Russia. These immigrants were not particularly well-behaved, belonging primarily to the category of people who did not hope to get good places in their homeland and rushed to the then deserted Caucasus with the hope of finding both shelter and contentment there. This calculation turned out to be unmistakable. The children of aliens, having received an education in the Seminary established in the Caucasus, form a new generation with their own character, which is very comforting: they undergo their important service differently from how their fathers did it – they pass it very satisfactorily. In the Caucasus it is spacious. It seems that characters are formed according to space and contentment: the character of the Caucasian clergy is marked by special cordiality, hospitality, and frankness. The last feature is especially striking for a person new to the Land. There is a lot of excellent dignity of people among priests. The clergy in general is not lazy in the conduct of Divine services and the edification of their flock. Errors and omissions, which no human society can do without, are corrected by measures provided in full abundance by the moral tradition of the Church. Experience shows that from the time a new generation enters the field of church activity, the entire clergy gradually changes, rises, and ennobles. If ignorance and gross vices also appear, then they manifest themselves mainly in the clergy of the Black Sea army, which was made up of Cossacks who learned to read and write; but there, at present, the moral state of the clergy is improving due to the gradual replacement of opening priestly vacancies by graduates of the Seminary. The clergy of the Caucasus, receiving salaries from the treasury and using alms from parishioners, for the most part does not suffer need, except in the Black Sea region, where they, without receiving salaries, are content with offerings from parishioners, and very abundant offerings. Some of the clergy, in order to support themselves and educate their children in educational institutions, engaged in cattle breeding on a small scale, are greatly embarrassed by the fact that in the village mountains there are no haymaking or arable places allocated for them, and when making hay the clergy always get the most unfavorable places. At present, the Caucasian diocese has no shortage of clergy. The relations of the Orthodox clergy towards the heterodox and non-religious residents living in the city of Stavropol, and mainly in Kizlyar and Mozdok, are favorable: this is evident from the fact that Armenians visit Orthodox churches with full willingness, and in the city of Kizlyar, out of jealousy for the house of God, destroyed several years before this fire, they ask to be given the title of church builders, in which, of course, one cannot help but see the influence clergy on them. There are no hospitals or almshouses at the churches of the Caucasian diocese, except for the city of Yekaterinodar, where at the Sorrow Church there is an almshouse for sixty people and a hospital for 25, under the direct supervision of the Military Command. The schism in the Caucasian diocese, although insignificant in number, is very persistent in errors. The essential, main, almost the only reason for this is the adjacent villages of the Caucasian linear Cossack army. It can be said without any doubt that these villages, without exception, are more or less infected with schism. From there come the heresies to seduce the inhabitants of the Stavropol province into schism; the villagers who have been seduced into schism find reinforcement for their errors in the villages; from there they receive mentors who allow themselves to perform the Sacraments and assert that only there, in the villages, is the true Church of Christ preserved. With such a harmful influence of the village schism, the Orthodox clergy encounters an insurmountable obstacle to the success of converting their schismatics into the bowels of the Orthodox Church. In addition, unfortunately, a new nest for schism has opened in the Caucasus in the newly populated city of Yeisk, where schismatics flock in large numbers, taking advantage of the benefits granted to this city by the Most High, and avoiding persecution in their previous places of residence. There are already sad examples of children of Christ’s Church being torn away from the flock of Christ. To suppress this evil, the Diocesan authorities approached Mr. Viceroy of the Caucasus with a request to prohibit the admission to Yeisk of persons who do not present evidence of their Orthodoxy from their previous parish priests, and even to completely prohibit the inclusion of schismatics in the city of Yeisk. The archpriest of the city of Yeisk, a very active person, was ordered to carefully monitor schismatics, prevent seduction and admonish those who are mistaken and seduced. Increase in flock and its spiritual development The Caucasus, rich in land, constantly welcomes new settlers, from whom independent parishes are formed. Thus, on the lands belonging to the Kalmyks, nomadic in the vicinity of the Stavropol province, several villages were settled by order of the Government, in which houses of prayer were established, and even in some priests were assigned to correct Christian needs. In addition, the Caucasian diocese acquired new children from other Christian denominations and non-Christians into the Orthodox Church. To our consolation, the sense of piety in the true children of Christ is very developed. Each settlement of the Diocese takes care of creating churches for public prayers and, without resorting to Government benefits, from their surplus they bring gifts to the altar, not only sufficient to create churches, but also to ensure their maintenance and repair. The zeal of the Orthodox to visit the churches of God and fulfill their Christian duty, by the grace of God, does not diminish; Those cases are rare when an Orthodox Christian, due to negligence or weakness of consciousness in the need to cleanse his conscience, is forced to confession by intensive measures. In an uneducated class, alien to literacy, one cannot find a clear knowledge of prayers and a full understanding of the commandments, especially the truths of the Faith; but despite all this, the firm conviction in the holiness of the professed Faith lies deeply and is imprinted in the hearts of the Orthodox believing people. With the beneficent care of the Government, which strengthens the education of peasant children in schools, and in the families of the common people, love and custom come to edifying reading, which provides the clearest understanding of the elementary truths of the Faith and commandments, and together contributes to the study of the most necessary prayers. There were four most remarkable donations to the churches of God: 1) four thousand rubles in the village. Safe peasant Lunev; 2) in the village of Praskovei, peasant women of Ternovskaya - two thousand rubles; 3) in the city of Yeisk, with the help of five merchants, an iconostasis worth two thousand rubles was built and 4) in the city of Yekaterinodar, the Cossack Sesurei restored the church for 1,287 rubles. Catechetical teachings were introduced in sixty-six churches. All those educated in seminaries and who have completed the course are obliged to preach sermons of their own composition as assigned by the Diocesan authorities. To consider catechetical teachings, a special committee was established in the city of Stavropol from persons who have received higher spiritual education, to which they are sent through the Consistory. But a general systematic program for the sequential pronunciation of catechetical teachings has not been drawn up; however, the drafting of one was proposed to the committee through the Consistory. These teachings are pronounced on holidays and Sundays at the end of the Liturgy. In the Caucasian diocese it is planned to establish a women's school at the Black Sea women's desert; but this school, according to news from the monastery itself, has not yet received proper organization. The drawing up of a project for this school was previously provided to the Black Sea military authorities, as they were most closely acquainted with the spirit and needs of the local residents. The guardian abbess of the hermitage has already established a school in size and amenities consistent with the means of the monastery. From the statement delivered by the Chamber of State Property, it is clear that in the rural churches of the Stavropol province twenty schools have been established for peasant children; they are generally taught by parish priests with good, according to the opinion of the same Chamber, successes that can be expected in a peasant life, in which no more than six months of time are devoted to training; and for the rest of the time, children respond to homework and field work. For many schools there are no decent premises, but teachers gather their students in their homes. The Caucasian diocese only borders on the north-west with the Orthodox population, with the region of the Don Cossacks. At its eastern end it adjoins the Caspian Sea, in the west – to the Azov and Black Sea. A significant part of the Stavropol province is an uninhabited desert, and the entire Caucasus region is the most populated along its outskirts. The widest edge is to the south; Here the neighbors of the Russians are mountain tribes of the Mohammedan confession. Just as China is separated from Mongolia by a wall, so the peaceful civilian villages of the Caucasus region are separated from the mountain peoples by an unbroken chain of villages of the Black Sea and Linear Cossack troops. Along the shore of the Caspian Sea, the border of the Diocese is very short; along it, among the Russians live in significant numbers Nogais and Trukhmens (Komans), peoples of the Tatar tribe. The extensive northern and northeastern border is occupied by the Mohammedan Tatars; a small number of idolatrous Kalmyks (up to 4,000 souls) roam the northern tip of the Diocese. So, the entire border of the vast Diocese is occupied by Tatars of the Mohammedan tribe or Mohammedan mountaineers; Among the latter, the Tatar language is both generally accepted and commonly used, just as French is among Europeans. This is not enough: a significant number of highlanders, called peaceful, live on this side of the chain of Cossack villages, inside the country, or are in the chain itself; Tatars also live in significant numbers in the villages of the civil department, either permanently or temporarily, being hired as workers. From this view, the most important church need at the present time is obvious: it is that a thorough study of the Tatar language should be developed in the Caucasian seminary, that the teaching of this language should begin in theological schools, that students should be familiar with the language not only in books, but also in conversation. The development of the Ossetian language is needed on a much smaller scale than the Tatar language: there are few Ossetians, and all of them, like other highlanders, know the Tatar language. Knowledge of the Tatar language will enable priests to communicate with the mountaineers and Tatars and persuade them to accept Christianity, especially since these Mohammedans, as explained above, have the most confusing and incorrect concept about the Mohammedan religion. Knowledge of the Tatar language will give priests the opportunity to literally fulfill the clear and valid testament given to the shepherds by the Lord Himself: “Go and learn all languages” (Matthew 28:19). This is the only feature and need that comes to the fore when carefully examining the Caucasian diocese and needs immediate satisfaction. Other needs, which, however, are clear from this report, are much less important. They can be satisfied, and the shortcomings and inconsistencies that exist in the Diocese can be mitigated and eliminated gradually through gentle admonition. It's time to explain to many what is now unclear to them. After asking forgiveness from the Holy Synod for those errors that can be seen in the field of 1858, and asking for blessing and prayerful help for the field that has opened up this summer, Bishop Ignatius ends this report. Letter to the Director of the Synodal Chancellery Y. A. Poznyak Having become familiar with the affairs of the Caucasian Consistory in general, I consider it not superfluous to present my view on them to the discretion of Your Excellency. The local clergy are recruited from different Dioceses; need forced people to be accepted without harsh criticism; and it is impossible to thoroughly recognize, under the most severe criticism, a person who came from a distant country and has not lived in place for a long time. For this radical reason, it is impossible that in the newly established Diocese, with such a composition of the clergy, there would not be significant unrest. Strict supervision and punishment can more or less curb the immoral, but rare of the immoral can completely change and become moral. Consequently, the most necessary way of correcting the clergy is to replace the old, stubborn ones with new, well-behaved students of the Seminary; this method takes time. Matters in the Consistory are not so complicated and paperwork is not going at all as bad as it seemed during the struggle that arose from the clash of passions, and both sides wrote with passion and many cases were presented one-sidedly, and therefore incorrectly. So, for example, one case about Archpriest Petrov was taken and presented with the actions of the Diocesan authorities on it to the Higher Authorities. It turns out: Petrov was tried in twenty cases, of which each has an order from the Diocesan authorities, and all these orders are in connection with each other: taking one case out of the midst of these cases and presenting it separately, as if not showing the connection between the decisions of the Diocesan authorities, will give the decision to one case a strange appearance. Some other cases are in the same situation as the Petrov case. I ordered all such heterogeneous cases about one person to be reported to me together and I hope to present in the correct form the cases that need to be presented to the Holy Synod. You can see for yourself that this course of action takes time. But it is also very accurate and will facilitate the work of the Office of the Holy Synod itself. Invoking God's blessing on you and so on. Resolution of Bishop Ignatius on the punishment of seminarians I wish that the following punishments be used in the religious schools of the Caucasian diocese: 1. A reprimand, without the use of swear words - words that only humiliate humanity and suppress the sense of honor in young men, which feeling, with the correct concept of it, is a treasure. 2. Placement in a corner or penalty table is simple or on your knees. 3. Left without lunch and without dinner, on bread and water. 4. Punishment with rods, with the exception of students of the Seminary itself. 5. Punishment: arrest in a dark room, complete deprivation of communication with comrades and subsistence on bread and water. This last type of punishment should be used primarily for students of the Seminary, proportioning the duration of the punishment to the importance of the offense. In cases of violation of the rules of subordination, politeness before superiors, decency in the church of God, and especially in cases of rudeness to superiors and in cases of bitterness, continue the arrest until the time when the punished person completely relents and begins to express and bring sincere repentance. The premature release from arrest of a person who has become embittered and stubborn causes significant harm to the character of that person. Punishment by blows, pulling of hair and ears will be expelled from theological schools. At that moment when the teacher personally punishes the pupil, at this pitiful moment, humanity suffers moral humiliation both in the person of the pupil and in the person of the teacher. But in the person of the teacher such humiliation is incomparably deeper than in the person of the pupil. By such actions, the teacher deprives himself of the respect of his students, their love and trust. The high, noble character of the teacher is the main constraint and threat for the pupils. I invite educators of Caucasian spiritual youth to this height, the rise to which is filled with spiritual fruit, but is not alien to significant labor with oneself. A pious and well-intentioned teacher should make it a rule not to resort to either reprimand or punishment in the hour of his anger. The hour of anger is an hour of madness for everyone who is angry, even if the angry one belonged to the foremost sages. Let punishment be the fruit of a mature, impartial judgment; only under this condition is it beneficial for children and elevates the opinion of their teacher. Punishment should not be cruel, but complete; weak punishment spoils children. This is my desire to announce in all theological schools of the Caucasian diocese. Letter to the Viceroy, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky (About funds for the Bishop's House) Having examined the funds that the Caucasian and Black Sea Episcopal House currently has for its maintenance, I have the honor to place these funds at the discretion of Your Lordship. The picture of these means inevitably gives rise to questions: 1. Can a Bishop with a staff assigned to him maintain everything required of him? 2. Therefore, can the newly established Diocese itself exist? These questions have already been partly resolved by the fact that the Holy Synod has hitherto given the Bishop one thousand silver rubles in addition to his salary and one thousand five hundred rubles for the maintenance of him and the Bishop’s House. To this I consider it worthwhile to add the following: the diocesan states were approved in this form at the end of the last century, when money was incomparably more expensive and consumer goods incomparably cheaper. Since that time, the states remained unchanged, and their deficiency was compensated for by economic benefits, that is, various land and quitrent articles, which were most often issued by the treasury, and sometimes acquired privately. From the two statements attached, please see both the microscopic size of the staffing position for the Bishop's House and the microscopic size of the land allocated to it as a staffing allowance. With such means, it turns out to be absolutely impossible to support the Bishop himself, especially the maintenance of the steward, confessor, hieromonks and other ranks of the House itself, which should be monastics; also the maintenance of the secretary and officials of the Consistory, whose office work is in no way less than the office work of the provincial boards. The cathedral archpriest and other members of the white clergy, as having support from their parishes in addition to their salaries, are assured of existence. Being convinced that Your Excellency desires the existence of the Caucasian diocese, I considered it my duty to present to your view the present state of its means of existence, with the sole purpose that you would deign to have a complete and clear understanding of this subject. Allow me, having looked more closely into matters, to ascend to Your Lordship with the most humble idea of ​​ensuring the maintenance of the Bishop's House. This summer I hope to personally introduce myself to Your Lordship, and, having learned Your Lordship’s view on this subject, on the one hand, and, on the other, having become familiar with the means of securing it, I believe it is possible for me to present the matter to You with all clarity. Calling upon you the abundant blessing of Heaven with feelings of great respect and so on. Letter to the Director of the Office of the Synodal Chief Prosecutor K. S. Serbinovich dated February 18. 1858 25 (On the reporting of the Caucasian Consistory) Having received today from His Excellency Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy three copies of the Extract from the Report, I thought: am I not seeing your twentieth work? Almost like this: if not the twentieth, then probably the nineteenth. Having arrived here, I immediately took care that the reports from the Caucasian Consistory for the year 1857 were presented to the Holy Synod in as good order as possible, in accordance with what you deigned to tell me during your farewell conversation. We did what could be done. It turns out that private actions were not agreed upon by the circulars; Each place provided information according to its own discretion. This can be corrected, but I would sincerely like to hear Your Excellency’s comments, so that in the future the Caucasian Diocese can provide completely satisfactory materials for your work. On your advice, I became quite close to the former Secretary Vasiliev, and he provided me with a lot of useful information; I, for my part, tried as much as I could and knew how to dissolve the cup of his sorrows with consolation. One must really wish that the local clergy were better; but the correction of morality in the whole class does not take place quickly. This takes time and time. False principles must be replaced with correct principles, malicious intent with good intentions. Punishment cannot be the only instrument of correction. Invoking God's blessing on you and your dear son, with feelings of perfect respect and sincere devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency, my humble servant Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus. Speech at the funeral service for Captain 1st Rank K. G. Popandopulo March 4, 1858 26 Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Greater love has no one to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Such significant love was demonstrated by his life, proved by his death by the deceased servant of God, warrior Constantine: he laid down his soul for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. Now he is silent in the grave; but his very silence is a loud, living, most convincing sermon about eternal love. Brethren! To the deceased knight, who sacrificed himself to love, let us offer a feasible, farewell gift of love: let us pour out our warmest prayers to the Lord, that He may receive and indwell the soul of His servant in the heavenly abodes of eternal peace, from where all sorrow, all sighing are forever removed, where non-evening light and endless bliss dwell. Amen. Proposal to the Consistory dated March 10, 1858, No. 29 27 (On donating funds for officials) Drawing attention to the difficult situation of the officials of the Caucasian Consistory, who are content with the general salary set for the Consistory offices in Russia in general, while in Stavropol food items are incomparably more expensive than in Russia in general, I considered it my duty to show my pastoral active participation in the situation of the officials of the Caucasian Consistory. Satisfying the requirement of my pastoral duty, I offer the Consistory three hundred rubles in silver from my property for distribution to officials according to a schedule, which I propose to the Consistory to draw up and present at my discretion. We hope that with this meager gift of ours, like with the donations of the Archpastor, the blessing of God will enter the houses of officials, since, on the contrary, illegal giving removes the blessing of God from those persons and houses by which these illegal donations are attracted. The deliverer of this proposal and with it the sum of three hundred silver rubles, my cell novice, the cassophore novice John, is to issue a receipt signed by a member of the Consistory and the current secretary. Proposal to the Consistory dated May 7, 1858, No. 60 28 (On the reconstruction of the Bishop's House) Upon my arrival in Stavropol, among other subjects of the Diocesan administration that attracted my attention, the temporary shelter of the Bishop involuntarily had to become the subject of such attention to a special extent: for due to the dilapidation of this meager and most inconvenient shelter, the residence of the Bishop in it became completely impossible; It became equally impossible for him to clearly engage in the duties of an Archpastor, which requires a spacious room in which all the books related to religion and administration could be located, books necessary for reference in pastoral studies, in which there should be many other items that are essential for the mentioned activities. The correction of this shelter turned out to be urgent, but at the same time it turned out that there was no money in the Bishop's House. This state of the Bishop's temporary shelter and the state of its economic part forced me to turn to the flock given to me by God with an offer to provide assistance by making a feasible, voluntary donation to put the mentioned shelter in order. To my consolation, the Caucasian flock responded with complete sympathy for the need and appeal of their archpastor. The money donated and available, as well as the money in mind, gives me the opportunity to immediately begin work, which is required by the urgent need of the bishop for premises somewhat corresponding to his rank and duties. In order to give the matter of correction all the proper correctness and clarity, I find it useful and decent to establish a special Construction Commission and entrust it with the task of correction and addition to the episcopal shelter. I offer o.o. Archimandrites: Rector and Inspector of the Seminary, to be at the head of the Commission; I propose to Mr. Secretary of the Consistory to be a member of it and take upon himself the supervision of the correctness of writing; To be a member of it, priest Theodore Orlov, as the closest neighbor of the house, so that he would be the eye of the Commission, and with special care and constancy would observe everything related to the construction. As the Stavropol merchants proposed to provide a significant allowance for the repair of the house: then I propose to the members of the Commission from the spiritual side to invite the Stavropol city head, Mr. Derevshchikov, to officially participate in the Commission and to assume the title of member of the Commission. Hieromonk Savvaty should be the caretaker of the materials and work, who, if possible, should be constantly at work and monitor the exact execution of the architect’s orders by the workers and the quality of the materials, and immediately notify the member of the priest Theodore Orlov about any omissions; The scribe of the Commission will be my scribe Ioann Vasiliev. The architect Voskresensky, invited by me to draw up a project for the repair and extension of the house and to supervise the work technically, will receive remuneration directly from me. I propose to give money to the Commission for work and materials, depending on the success of the work; The Commission will receive the construction amount from me. In order not to burden the Commission with writing, I suggest that it have: 1) a receipt and expenditure book for entering into it the receipt and expenditure of the amount, 2) paperwork from journal articles, which should indicate the basis for each issuance of money and other circumstances that may occur during construction. Only those journal articles should be immediately submitted to me for approval that will have some feature and importance associated with a change in the project; All journal articles in general must be submitted to me for approval once a month. For the expenses of the Commission I present the initially enclosed two thousand four hundred and forty-nine rubles in silver, given as a deposit for timber, stone and other materials to the Stavropol merchant Grigory Maslov, two hundred rubles to the carpenter, Rostov tradesman, Matvey Dundukin and one hundred rubles to the architect Voskresensky, for which receipts are attached. The commission has to immediately open its actions on the attached project and estimate and, having concluded legal contracts with the contractor Maslov and the carpenter Dundukin, get down to business. May the merciful Lord bless this good undertaking for the benefit of His Holy Church, for the success of Christ’s teaching in the Caucasus region, and may He reward the donors for the construction of the Bishop’s shelter with a hundredfold benefits! May they, in due time, hear the all-joyful greeting of the Lord: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you... Strange was he, and he knew Me... Since you have created only these least of my brothers, you have created for Me. (Matthew 25:34, 35:40). Amen. Speech at the consecration of the St. George Banner of the Linear Cossack Army Brothers! The Christ-loving army is glorious for its valor before the kings of the earth; it is also glorious for it before the King of Heaven. Many warriors proved this, the holy great martyr George the Victorious proved it: he began his feat with earthly victories - he ended his feat by delighting Heaven. Saint George is a knight both earthly and heavenly. The most pious autocrats of all Russia point their army to the Great Martyr George as an example of a perfect warrior. They commemorate the warrior who performs the highest feat with the name and icon of the Great Martyr George. But here a special spectacle is presented!.. Here, not one warrior from the host of brave ones is distinguished from his other friends in the name of the victorious George, the whole army receives a banner on which is the image of the Knight of God, on which is his glorious and holy name. What does this mean? This means that the Russian Tsar recognized the Caucasian Cossack linear army as perfect in courage, worthy of the highest military honor and award. He recognized every warrior in this army as a hero, every warrior worthy to stand under the banner of the greatest of warriors - George! What the Russian Tsar recognized, all of Russia recognized. Brethren! Through laborious deeds and streams of blood, you, your fathers and grandfathers, acquired the high mercy of the Orthodox Tsar, which is now poured out on the Caucasian Cossack linear army. With it he rewards and crowns the army for many years of exploits of the army, with it he calls you to new exploits - no longer only to exploits of the flesh - to spiritual exploits. You have received on your banner a leader capable of leading you to the mountains of earth and to the mountains of Heaven. Victorious George knows no barriers: there are no obstacles, cliffs, abysses for him, all depths and heights are accessible to him. Follow him, brothers! Follow him! To the most formidable and longed-for gates to eternity. Punish and crush the enemies of the Tsar and the Fatherland, as you have punished and crushed them before, but together strive to win victory over the invisible enemy of God and humanity - over sin, which kills man with eternal death. May each of you be crowned with a special crown, just as the irresistible George was crowned, who surprised both men and Angels with his valor! May each of you be deemed worthy to say with boldness and joy: I have fought the good fight, I have died, I have kept the faith. Otherwise, the crown of righteousness will be kept for me, and the Lord will reward me with it! (2 Tim. 4:7:8). Amen! (About the celebrations on the occasion of the consecration of the banner) Since my very arrival in Stavropol, where the main apartment of the Linear Army is located, its superiors expressed special attention to me, and subsequently began to express special affection, the Ataman invited me to consecrate the banner; All the senior clergy of the city were also invited. The meeting with the Lineal Clergy was made to me according to the order of the Holy Synod. All the circumstances, it seems, were agreed upon among themselves and agreed that the celebration, quite special in its nature, would also be given special splendor. The military population was delighted. At the end of the long service, a common meal was offered in a special spacious tent, completely open on one side. The clergy, generals, military and civil officials dined, and on both sides of the tent, at long tables, soldiers who had arrived from other villages for the celebration dined. After toasting the health of the Sovereign Emperor, Grand Duke Heir, Prince Viceroy of the Caucasus, Ataman proclaimed a toast to the health of the Right Reverend. The army responded to this toast with a loud and prolonged “hurray,” throwing their hats up and other characteristic expressions of pleasure. As I was leaving, the army surrounded my carriage and released me with shouts of “Hurray,” and some horsemen accompanied me all the way to my house, showing off their daring and joyful horse riding along the way. On this occasion, the desire of not only the commanders of the Line Army, but also the military population itself, to have a Bishop was especially expressed, as it has been constantly expressed since my arrival; The Linear clergy also participates in this desire, for whom relations in Tiflis, due to its remoteness, are very difficult, but relations, on the contrary, with Stavropol are quite natural and, due to the most everyday needs, absolutely necessary. The very moral state of the Lineal clergy suffers greatly from its current position, which was very noticeable during the celebration of May 12, during which the Diocesan clergy behaved much more decorously and decently. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, before performing the sequence established during the consecration of the banner, I made a speech. The leadership of the Cossack Army ordered the immediate printing of this speech for distribution throughout the Linear Army. Relation to the Chief of Staff of the Caucasian Army (About Chief Priest Gumilevsky) The Caucasian Seminary Board presented me with its journal dated June 24, 1858, for consideration, in Article VII of which the following is omitted: Relation of the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army dated May 29, 1858 No. 1329, by which it is notified that, due to the attitude of the Seminary Board dated April 22 of this year No. 407, he entered through the chief Headquarters of the Caucasian Army to Mr. Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who deigned to admit that the clergy subordinate to him should not provide the information about schismatics required by the Caucasian Theological Seminary. If the Diocesan authorities or the Seminary had a need for any information regarding the schismatics, they can contact the Ataman of this Army, who, at his discretion, will provide the required information, and if necessary, will first enter into communication with me or ask for permission from the Commander-in-Chief. At the same time, the Chief Priest adds that the clergy subordinate to him, in relation to the course of action with schismatics, has until now been guided and is now guided by the rules and instructions set forth in the secret order of the Holy Synod of April 5, 1845, and that the books sent out to them serve as an important aid to the clergy in converting schismatics to Orthodoxy: 1st. Truly ancient and truly Orthodox Church; 2nd. History of the Russian schism. Reference: The Seminary Board regarding the improvement of teaching in the missionary department referred to the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army dated April 22, 1858 No. 407 on the obligation of the Linear clergy to provide the Seminary Board with information about the progress of the conversion of schismatics and about the measures that are being taken to this end. Definition of the Seminary Board: “This attitude, having taken note, is applied to the case.” I cannot help but confess to Your Excellency that it seemed strange to me: on what basis was the Diocesan administration attached to the Seminary Board, while the relations of these two departments to the department of Mr. Chief Priest are completely different. The Caucasian Diocesan authorities, neither in this case nor in any other, gave any reason for such an indication to be made against him. It, that is, the Consistory itself (§ 1 of the Charter of Spiritual Consistories), has no connection with the department of the Chief Priest, and the Caucasian Seminary educates priests for the Linear Army, which is why its Board is, of necessity, in direct and frequent communication with the head of the Lineal clergy, the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army. The Caucasian Seminary is, like all other seminaries, under the direct and complete authority of the spiritual and educational administration and one of the Academies to the district of which it belongs; The local Bishop has the right of immediate supervision over the Seminary and verification of its actions, and in administrative, economic and academic relations it is completely dependent on its mentioned superiors and acts according to the instructions given to it. Since the teaching of the schismatics has countless shades, the most diverse, then all the seminaries in Russia collect local information about the teaching of the schismatics, and collect it precisely through the local clergy as systematically trained in the dogmas of the Church, in order to timely acquaint students with the local errors of the schismatics and thus prepare pastors who are capable of successfully acting on the schismatics in accordance with their local errors. This is what the Caucasian Seminary did. She came with a presentation about this to the Caucasian bishop, and as a result of her presentation, an order was made that the Diocesan priests of those parishes in which there were schismatics, delivered information about their errors, and especially about the peculiarities of these errors, directly to the Seminary Board. On the same basis, for the same purpose, on that subject, according to the procedure generally accepted throughout Russia, the Caucasian Seminary Board treated the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army. It had no right not to do this! It had no right, could not even have the thought of eliminating a clergyman, when the subject of communication should be the dogmas of the Faith, and turning to a secular person. This is done in relation to all Diocesan departments when the need for communication arises. The missionary class of the Seminary most exists for the Linear Cossack clergy: in the Caucasian diocese there are very, very few schismatics - almost none. Having presented to Your Excellency the actions of the Seminary in due form, I turn to the relations of the Caucasian Diocesan authorities proper to Mr. Chief Priest. The Caucasian Diocesan authorities fulfill all the needs of the Chief Priest with all haste, with all foresight, with all love. Even the Consistory is not involved in these matters: for greater haste, they are decided by the Bishop directly. For its part, the Caucasian Diocesan authorities did not bother Mr. Chief Priest either in matters of schismatics or in other matters, fortunately having no reason to do so. And I would not have paid any attention to the present review of Mr. Chief Priest to the Seminary Board as relating solely to the spiritual students of his department, if the Diocesan authorities, who did not take any part in the present matter, were not mentioned, and if the matter was not presented in this form to the Prince Viceroy, whose opinion I value as a treasure. As Mr. Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army presented his report to His Excellency the Prince Viceroy through Your Excellency, I consider it my duty to humbly ask Your Excellency: take the trouble to report to His Excellency this letter, which serves as a replenishment and explanation of the matter, without which explanation and replenishment a shadow is cast on the actions of the Caucasian Diocesan authorities. The information obtained by the Seminaries, after proper analysis, is presented to the Supreme Spiritual Authorities and serves as an important tool for compiling the themes of excellent works about schismatics, with which Russian spiritual literature has been enriched in modern times. Your Excellency, who is so familiar with the scientific world, is quite obvious the importance of the living information obtained in the above manner about the teaching of the schismatics by the Seminaries. Such information is rarely found in textbooks that present the general misconceptions of sects. What to do when, for the spiritual students of the Diocesan Department and for the spiritual students of the Line Army, the Seminary is one Seminary, having fulfilled its duty to the Chief Priest and to the students of his department, must now limit itself to books about schismatics, among which are two wonderful works indicated by Mr. Chief Priest, and those local information about the peculiarities of schismatic teachings in the Region, which will be delivered from the Diocesan priests. She was removed from responsibility to her superiors for the incompleteness of the collected local information by the will of the Prince Viceroy, announced to her in relation to Mr. Chief Priest. Will the seminary have an opportunity to treat Mr. Ataman of the troops; the need for this occurs even for the Diocesan authorities, who have always acted in accordance with their duties. Proposal to the Consistory from 24 Sep. 1858, No. 198 32 (About Archpriest Krastilevsky) Having familiarized myself with most of the Diocese entrusted to me, I recognize the following order as essential: Archpriest Konstantin Krastilevsky is resigning from the post of cathedral archpriest and from his presence in the Consistory. In his place are appointed the cathedral archpriest of the city of Georgievsk and dean Vasily Popov, who will also be present in the Consistory. The judgment table is handed over to Archpriest Pyotr Sukharev, as a person whom I noticed to be especially truthful and who understands the importance of those types of cases, which have a strong influence on the fate of people, and often decide it. At the same time, entrust the sums and property of the cathedral to the new cathedral Archpriest Popov together with Archpriest Krastilevsky and the brethren of the Cathedral, and Archpriests Sukharev and Pospelov to act as intermediaries; upon completion of the verification, inform me of the following in a report signed by all persons participating in the verification. Archpriest Krastilevsky will be given a decent position upon receipt from the Holy Synod of his complete dismissal from the rank of member of the Consistory, for which I petition. I propose to the Consistory to carry out my order without the slightest delay. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Letter to the Director of the Office of the Synodal Chief Prosecutor K. S. Serbinovich Your Excellency, Most Gracious Sovereign! The Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus notified me in a statement dated September 25, No. 3702, that as a result of my petition, Prince Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky informed the Chairman of the Caucasian Committee about asking the Highest Sovereign Emperor for permission to allocate and annual leave from the treasury to the Caucasian House of Bishops, in addition to the content he is currently receiving and in return for those lands with which he cannot be allocated, three thousand eight hundred silver rubles. Having the honor to notify Your Excellency about this, at the same time I consider it my most pleasant duty to humbly ask for your gracious assistance in delivering to the Caucasian House of Bishops the indicated amount, which should ensure the maintenance of the House and provide the Bishop of the Caucasus with the opportunity to carry out the activities required of him by the news and the transitional state of the Region. Invoking upon you the abundant blessing of Heaven, with feelings of great respect and perfect devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency's most humble servant Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Letter to Bishop Alexy of Tula dated November 12, 1858, No. 60 34 (On the recommendation of the Assistant Secretary of the Consistory, Metropolitan Isidore, etc.) Most merciful Archpastor, father and brother! I don’t know how to thank you for the love you show to me, unworthy: I am consoled by it and touched to the depths of my soul. The Tula wanderers have not yet arrived here, and when they arrive, I will try to arrange them so that they do not regret their movement. There is a vacant position for an assistant secretary in the Caucasian Consistory: would anyone of those who completed the course at the Tula Seminary, a person with abilities and morality, wish to take this position? If, Your Eminence, you accept the work and recommend this place to a trustworthy and needy person, then I will accept it from your hand with complete trust and love. Forgive my insolence before you: accept it as a sign of my sincere devotion. His Grace, the Metropolitan of Kiev, on his journey through the Caucasian Diocese, criticized all my actions, even touched upon my behavior. At first this upset me, but then, by the grace of God, I calmed down, remembering that I was already finishing my earthly course and that all such grief would make it easier for me to answer, already close to me, before the Terrible and Unflattering Judge. In order not to make mistakes in his actions, a person must completely abandon all activity. Otherwise, a person, due to his natural limitations and sinfulness, must necessarily be subject to mistakes, and all the greatest saints and the greatest geniuses were subject to them without exception. Admitting oneself to be without sin is self-delusion; the demand for infallibility from one's neighbors is a demand that is alien to meaning. I ask all my neighbors to be patient with my many weaknesses and shortcomings. By the great mercy of God, I am very pleased with my current situation, although there are inevitable troubles in earthly life. However, these troubles are completely insignificant compared to the troubles in St. Petersburg. They upset me, and I grieve! What to do: you can’t do without it. The clergy, in general, are good, and, it seems, they are quite pleased with me. In mid-October I moved into my house, small but very comfortable: it is in the character of the Gethsemane cells of the Moscow Metropolitan. And this Elder got it from Isidore! but those present were not tempted by Filaret: they found the harsh criticism of the beneficiary against his benefactor strange. In this regard, Isidore acted in exactly the same way in St. Petersburg, when he visited this capital during his transfer from the Moscow Vicars to the Polotsk See. Requesting your Archpastoral blessing for myself and the flock entrusted to me and entrusting myself to your Holy Prayers, with feelings of excellent respect and perfect devotion, I have the honor to be Your Eminence, my most humble novice Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Letter to Metropolitan Gregory of Novgorod and St. Petersburg (About funds for the Diocese) My predecessors in the Caucasian See, the Eminences Jeremiah and Ioannikiy, in addition to the Bishop’s salary, 285 rubles of salary and 457 rubles for board and carriage, received 1000 rubles in silver annually. Upon my promotion to the rank of Bishop, while still in St. Petersburg and having learned about the poverty of the department of the Caucasian diocese, I asked in writing and personally His Excellency Mr. Synodal Chief Prosecutor Count A.P. Tolstoy, that I, following the example of my predecessors, be given the assigned auxiliary thousand rubles. The main reason for such a request was my extremely painful condition. His Lordship, out of his characteristic kindness of heart and realizing the full validity of my request, assured me with his honest and noble word that my request would certainly be granted. Upon my arrival in Stavropol, I found the Bishop's House in incomparably worse condition than I expected to find it in. I found it a ruin in every way. This state of the House increased the needs of the Bishop. Hoping that the promised assistance would be delivered to me, I was calm and even allowed myself, from the crumbs that were left from the journey, to give three hundred silver rubles to the office of the Consistory, since its officials suffered a special need due to the unusually harsh and long winter of 1858. Other expenses for the benefit of the Diocese are also made from the mentioned crumbs. I immediately canceled some of the incomes, which, in addition to the auxiliary thousand, supplemented the Bishop’s salary and which tempted the virgin Land and strictly looking at the behavior of the clergy. The Bishop's means of support passed from a state of moderation to a state of extreme poverty. The sudden reduction in my means of support would have put me in a very difficult situation, precisely because of a very painful condition that had long required the use of mineral waters, if the special mercy of God had not unexpectedly helped me. A certain person, very little acquainted with me, without even a hint on my part, delivered me a thousand rubles in silver with the notification that he was giving me this help, having learned about my special need to use mineral waters and about the lack of means for this. I recognize this help as sent by God: for the waters produced a wonderful shock, excitement and transformation throughout my entire body, which continues to this day, freeing me gradually, although with painful action, from the scrofulous matter nesting in abundance in all members of my body. If I cannot recognize myself as completely healed, due to the old age of my illness and the depletion of strength it produces, then I must, with a deep sense of gratitude to the mercy of God and to the instrument of this mercy, recognize myself as significantly improved. Upon my return to Stavropol from a vast Diocese, with a sparse population, although living in populous villages, seeing that the auxiliary thousand rubles were not sent to me, which made my situation very difficult, I depicted in a most humble petition to the Holy Synod dated September 25, 1858, No. 200, the peculiarity of the position of the Caucasian See and, especially in this peculiarity, my content predicament. This position of the Orthodox Bishop is very natural in a heterodox and heterodox country, in which he has no civil significance, and is inapplicable in an Orthodox country, in Russia, where the Bishop must preserve the customs observed everywhere, for example, traveling in a carriage, receiving visitors decently. And here, moreover, it is necessary to especially please all classes and all different administrations: for, according to the news of the Diocese, the Bishop needs the special favor of all classes and all administrations. The content that the Bishop of the Caucasus previously received, due to its meagerness, served as a source of temptation for the local public. Now the temptation has intensified, because the complete cessation of maintenance, which was considered meager, is known to all officials of the treasury and the treasury, and through them to the entire city. The 1000 rubles sent to the Bishop himself were not sent either in 1858 or 1859, and the 1500 rubles sent for the maintenance of the House were sent in 1858, but were no longer sent in 1859. The information that the Caucasian Bishop was in extreme difficulty in terms of content passed through the Caucasus Mountains to Tiflis through the mediation of officials from the civil department, where it became the subject of conversation and temptation. The Caucasian governor, Prince Baryatinsky, wrote to Mr. Synodal Chief Prosecutor, asking him to petition me for a thousand rubles, which my predecessors received in addition to their salary. I was informed about this by formal means. I am very sorry that Prince Baryatinsky had to write about this to Count Tolstoy, this should not have happened. It is necessary that here they respect the voice of the Holy Synod. The degree of this respect will constantly be in harmony with the actions that it will be pleasing to discover. Disfavour towards the individual must be sacrificed [in favor of] the interests of the Church. Having barely passed the moral position of the Caucasian Bishop, the situation in which complete inattention to him and to the Diocese was expressed serves as sufficient proof of this. As for me, I can’t be happier that the Lord took me out of the noisy capital, for which I am incapable of either soul or body. The place here is very calm, very secluded. Residents visit the Bishop only on great holidays, then a lot of them gather. I had to borrow a thousand rubles for expenses for the House. This money must be returned, which I hope to do by the grace of God, for the Prince Viceroy formally notified me that he is petitioning the Sovereign Emperor to provide the Caucasian Episcopal House with annual financial assistance from the treasury in lieu of land that the Region cannot give. This assistance will replace the money of 1,500 rubles in silver, sent to the House itself. For this reason, I only petition for the presentation to me of the thousand rubles that were, in fact, allocated to the Bishop. Please accept, Your Eminence, this letter with favor as a tribute with which I bring my duties to my rank and service. I will try to take all measures, if the Lord grants me so, so as not to do anything out of passion and to remain in the church field in which I am placed. If this turns out to be impossible, then I kiss this impossibility from now on with all my love, with all my joy, as if arranged by the Providence of God in favor of my accursed soul, which has to take off its body and stand before the impartial Judgment of God. My duty has been fulfilled, I leave the rest to the will of God and the discretion of Your Eminence. In my letter to Mr. Synodal Chief Prosecutor, which I send by the same mail and about the same subject, I referred to this letter to Your Eminence. Take upon yourself the long labor of showing this letter to the count, since I did not consider it proper to write to His Excellency what is posted here and what I could only say before you as the High Hierarch. I humbly ask you not to make this letter official, as it is completely confidential, it was written by me with my own hand. Entrusting myself and the flock entrusted to me to your holy prayers and asking for your Archpastoral blessing, with deepest respect and devotion Letter to Chief Prosecutor Count A.P. Tolstoy I had the honor to trouble Your Excellency with my most humble request personally and in writing, immediately after my ordination to the rank of Bishop, while still in St. Petersburg, to provide me, following the example of my predecessors at the Caucasian See, with thousands of silver rubles, to supplement my annual salary of 285 rubles. It is desirable that this last amount be used for medicines for my illness. My request is a consequence of need. She was graciously listened to by Your Lordship, and I received from you several times repeated assurance that you will not deprive me of the necessary maintenance. Between the many more important matters with which you are busy, it is no wonder that you have not yet had time to pay attention to my most humble request, but I, standing face to face with extreme need, again allow myself to bother you with a repetition in my letter via the same mail to His Eminence the Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg; I asked His Eminence to show this letter to Your Lordship. I am confident in the kindness of your heart and that you will not want to imitate the evangelical rich man, who, in the short period of his earthly abundance, did not show compassion for the difficult condition of his neighbor. It was so arranged that the Gospel about this event was read at the Liturgy at which I was ordained Bishop. With a feeling of great respect and so on. Letter to the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army Gumilevsky Those signs of sincere brotherly love that you show me inspire me to inform you at your discretion as follows: The Caucasian Seminary Board, guided by the instructions of the Kazan Academic Board, under whose jurisdiction the Caucasian Seminary is located, asked both the Caucasian bishop and the chief priest of the Caucasian army to provide information about the schismatics in their departments, since this requirement according to the news did not seem quite clear, here the action of the Seminary Board was mixed with the Caucasian Diocesan, on the basis of which the correspondence known to Your Reverence followed and an order that the Seminary Board refer the schismatics to the Mandate Ataman of the Cossack Line Army. Having seen this from the seminary journal, since I look through the journals of the board, I set out in a letter to His Excellency, the Chief of Staff of the Caucasian Army, the relationship of the Seminary to the Bishop and to the Academic Board dated July 5, 1858, No. 146. These relations constitute a feature of the Spiritual Department, and it is quite natural that they are unknown to the Caucasian Military Department. The Seminary Board brought this order to the attention of the Kazan Academic Board, which instructed the Seminary Board to communicate with the ataman through the Caucasian bishop, since it is not customary for the Seminary Board to act on its own in these cases. This order of the Academic Board was presented to me by the Seminary Board in the 1st paragraph of its journal dated March 14. I gave the following review: I do not recognize the right to correspond with Mr. Ataman about matters relating to the churches and clergy of the Cossack Linear Army: for this would be a clear interference in the matter directly subject to the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army. Regarding matters relating to the Caucasian Diocesan Department, I always fulfill this duty. The seminary board came to me with a request that I show it the way to obtain the information it needs and to fulfill the instructions of the Academic Board, as a result of the order of the Holy Synod. Since this circumstance has become more clear than before, I turn to Your Eminence with the most humble request, whether it would be pleasing for you to take on the task of communicating with the Appointed Ataman on your department, since I carry out this on the Diocesan department. Attaching herewith a copy of the order of the Academic Board of the Caucasian Seminary, I humbly ask you to honor me with a notification of your order on this subject. With a feeling of complete respect and sincere devotion, I have the honor to be, etc. Presentation to the Holy Synod (About the improvement of the Seminary) 1. It is necessary for the Seminary to be located in remote parts of the city, so that the students of the Seminary have as little contact as possible with the students of secular schools, so that they are removed from secular amusements, and meanwhile have every opportunity to enjoy not only a walk, but also the contemplation of the greatness of God in nature. 2. It is necessary that in the seminary daily Divine services be performed according to the noble monastic rules and performed by a succession of thirty or forty people; this will not distract students from studying the sciences, but will acquaint them in good time with church Divine services and provide them with many church concepts about various subjects of Theology, which is difficult to obtain during ordinary service in parish churches. It has been noticed a lot during my monastic life that splendid service has a special effect on young people and leaves an impression on them for the rest of their lives: it instills in them a feeling of special reverence for everything related to the Church. This remark is supported by the observations here. A monastery ministry has been established in my Cross Church; on holidays, in addition to the singers, students of the seminary are invited to join him one by one; they take part in the performance of the splendid service with the greatest zeal, even with passion, which clearly expresses the beneficial effect of such worship on their souls. 3. It is necessary to teach extensive Church history. Such teaching will give the pupils a decisive Orthodox direction, while today in many there is a noticeable direction that is vague: because of such an indefinite direction, they cannot have a strong influence on those of other faiths. The History of the Most Blessed Innocent is a more extensive table of contents of History than history: it does not at all express the characters of historical persons. For this reason, the impressions it makes are extremely weak. 4. It is necessary to eliminate the currently taught psychology, borrowed not from church sources, but from sources that are contrary to the Church; Experience shows that people who borrowed their knowledge from psychology textbooks taught today cannot in any way come to terms with those concepts about the human soul that are delivered by the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, who acquired knowledge about the soul from enlightenment from Above. 5. Finally, for the Caucasian Seminary it is necessary to develop the teaching of the Tatar language, which is commonly used among all mountain peoples. The Kalmyk and Ossetian languages ​​are much less needed. Much about this was set out in detail in my report to the Holy Synod for 1858. Attitude towards the acting Synodal Chief Prosecutor Prince S. N. Urusov The clash known to the Synod between the former member of the Caucasian Spiritual Consistory, Archpriest Krastilevsky, who enjoyed the unlimited trust of my predecessor, and the former secretary Alexander Vasilyev, led the Caucasian diocese into complete vacillation and deprived the Most Reverend Ioannikios of independence in managing the Diocese, the power over which Archpriest Krastilevsky seized into his own hands. Upon my arrival at the Caucasus See, as a result of the verbal and written decrees of the Holy Synod, I paid special attention to the direction of Archpriest Krastilevsky and, having seen from previous and current affairs that the direction of Krastilevsky had been decisively formed, that his ability to rule unlimitedly over the Bishop, Consistory and Diocese was incorrigible, I entered the Holy Synod with a proposal to dismiss his title of member Consistory, which of my representations was honored by the Holy Synod. Meanwhile, all means to calm Krastilevsky in the Caucasian diocese remained in vain. As a very insidious person and quite understanding of the matter, Krastilevsky personally did not make any claims against the measure taken against him, but chose the path of intrigue, enticing strangers to act in his favor. This type of action is considered by law to be sneaking. Krastilevsky also included his wife among the figures, who, of course, acts according to his instructions. The mode of action of Krastilevsky and his agents is depicted in this report to me from the secretary of the Spiritual Consistory. Since the adventure and action described in this report actually and picturesquely depict the nature of Krastilevsky’s morality and activity, I humbly ask Your Excellency to draw your attention to this report and bring it to the attention of the Holy Synod. Krastilevsky's behavior took on the decisive character of indignation; his actions are hidden behind deceit, but the actions of his agents 40 are much more open. I do not lose hope of curbing those who have gone and are going out of order, but not otherwise than with the assistance of the Synod and Your Excellency. Already the secretary’s report gives Your Excellency an idea of ​​Krastilevsky’s moral direction. The following extract from the Note submitted to me by former secretary Vasiliev will add to this concept. “Before the formation of the Diocese,” the note reads, “Krastilevsky was a member of the Spiritual Board; upon renaming the Board into the Consistory, he was made a member of it. Harassment and exactions from the clergy and biased actions in the Consistory forced Bishop Jeremiah to remove him, and Krastilevsky was not present; There are many cases about him, even about the murder of the school superintendent Ustinovsky, but everything ended with money, of which he has quite a lot.” Driving to the Caucasus through Kharkov, I talked about the Caucasian diocese with the rector of the Kharkov seminary, Fr. Archimandrite Gerasim, who was previously the rector of the Caucasian Seminary. He treated me about Krastilevsky exactly as it was said in the Note - he even mentioned the Ustinovsky case. According to my observation, Krastilevsky has the most cruel heart, is cunning and malicious, is resolutely directed towards arbitrariness and self-will, and is capable of the most vile acts and crimes. The event described in the secretary's report happened after I left Stavropol. I did not hesitate to send to the Holy Synod the entire matter regarding the provision of a place for Krastilevsky after his dismissal from the Consistory. The case shows both the manner of my actions and the character of Krastilevsky. Presentation to the acting Synodal Chief Prosecutor, Prince S. N. Urusov (About the rector of the Seminary, Archimandrite Herman) To my chagrin, I must inform you that the rector of the Caucasian Theological Seminary, Archimandrite German, turns out to be extremely young in mind and heart and therefore incapable of holding the position he holds. Due to the weakness of his character, he becomes an instrument of ill-intentioned people, and when he submits to such influence and direction, then, due to his ardor, he acts with rashness and heat. Currently, he came under the influence of Archpriest Krastilevsky and became his strong tool, not realizing that Krastilevsky sees benefit only for his intrigues in restoring the rector against the Bishop, undoubtedly associated with harm for the Diocese, which is what Krastilevsky needs. All my admonitions were rejected by the rector with disdain and ridicule. He asked twice for my petition to the Higher Authorities for his dismissal from his position. I persuaded him, I postponed the fulfillment of his request, but now, seeing in this measure a necessary condition for the peace of the Diocese and the salvation of the rector himself, I have the honor to submit his desire to the discretion of Your Excellency, humbly asking for the satisfaction of this desire. Personally, I forgive the rector for all his unseemly actions regarding me, because I see in them the passion and recklessness of a simple-minded, inexperienced young man - this is how I understand the rector, who submitted to the influence of insidious people who looked with envy and fear at my sincere affection for the rector. I fell in love with him, I love him and I wish him all the best: I sincerely regret that he rejected my love in order to submit himself to such persons who are accustomed to plotting intrigues with their neighbors and then laughing at the misfortune of their neighbors who entrusted themselves to their leadership due to their inexperience. It is with a heartfelt cry that I write these lines, but the feeling of the heart must be subordinated to prudence. Admonition became necessary for the rector for his own well-being, earthly and heavenly. Upon my ordination as Bishop, while still in St. Petersburg, I petitioned for the appointment of its current inspector, Archimandrite Isaac, as rector of the Caucasian Seminary; but, upon closer examination of local circumstances, I find that in the Caucasian diocese, in which both the Consistory and the Seminary have become agitated at the same time, a rector is needed in mature years, with experience, with a monastic pious direction. The Caucasus is a place of revelry and courage; morally formed people are needed here. Relation to the Holy Synod Entrusted to my management of the Caucasian diocese, Archpriest Konstantin Krastilevsky, dismissed as a result of my proposal from the title of member of the Caucasian Spiritual Consistory, by Decree of the Holy Synod of November 4, 1858, No. vacancies in the city of Georgievsk, was moved to this city by the rector of the cathedral and the dean, but Krastilevsky refused this appointment too. At the same time, Krastilevsky demanded various appointments for himself in the city of Stavropol, which were not possible to fulfill: why did I decide to present to the discretion of the Holy Synod that Krastilevsky had acquired the skill of unlimited power in the Caucasian diocese and persistently demand that his will be fulfilled unquestioningly, whether it be correct or incorrect, and therefore ask to move him from the Caucasian diocese to another Diocese. But after this Easter of 1859, upon receipt by the Caucasian Bishops' House of a salary instead of a fishery and a mill, at Krastilevsky's request to me personally, and Krastilevsky assured me that he would spend the rest of his days in complete peace, engaged in the salvation of his soul, I found it possible to give Krastilevsky a place in the church of the prison castle, in which the brethren had hitherto worshiped. Bishop's house and enjoyed the income from it. By this action I believed to fully satisfy the requirement of the High Service entrusted to me, which legitimizes me to do all possible indulgences to my neighbor and endure his weaknesses, until that extreme moment in which it clearly turns out that these weaknesses are no longer harmful not in particular, but for the whole society. Krastilevsky did not fail to prove that he was incapable of being calm and working on his own salvation, having spent his life in clerical menial activities, the purpose of which was self-interest, various lies and oppression of his neighbors. I had barely left Stavropol to see the Diocese when Krastilevsky broke his promise. Before my departure, he intended to go with his wife to St. Petersburg, for which he submitted a petition to me, apparently to bring a complaint against me, as some persons from the clergy conveyed to me about this - meanwhile, the Cathedral Archpriest - and announcing the clergy with threats against me. There are very clear signs that Krastilevsky has formed a party for the combined action of resistance, for example, from his petition it is clear that a certain secular person is assisting him with money: the existence of this party, which has its agents in St. Petersburg, was clearly identified upon my departure from Stavropol, and especially after my departure. I had barely left when Krastilevsky sent his wife and her brother, an official, to St. Petersburg. The image of this lady’s departure is depicted (in the report to me from the secretary of the Caucasian Consistory, which report was forwarded by me to Mr. Correcting the post of Synodal Chief Prosecutor dated June 5th, 1859, No. 48-2, in the letter to me from Archpriest Krastilevsky dated June 11th. This letter, which is also attached, is a wonderful document: in it Krastilevsky picturesquely portrays himself. Krastilevsky outwardly presents himself as both righteous and offended, while in essence he admits that he released his wife without the permission of the Diocesan authorities, having delivered her a certificate from the police, that is, an illegal appearance. From this letter it is clear that Krastilevsky is very dissatisfied with the fact that his wife’s unauthorized absence has become known to me. In general, in this letter he clearly depicts himself. an ill-intentioned and unscrupulous clerk of the past: this letter is a true example of all Krastilevsky’s clerical works. This letter is completely inconsistent with the secretary’s report. Since Krastilevsky’s actions are carried out in front of the entire clergy, I suggested that the Consistory consider this behavior of his. The consistory could not receive any answer from Krastilevsky, which they presented to me in a protocol signed by four members, not signed by the rector of the Seminary, Archimandrite Herman, which has its own significance, and by the key leader of the Diocese, Archpriest Granikov. Seeing the absolute need to curb Archpriest Krastilevsky, especially for the entire Diocesan clergy, and convinced by the very experiences of my understanding of him that he will not calm down in any way as long as he is in Stavropol, I humbly ask Your Holiness to move Krastilevsky to another Diocese, since in the Caucasus, where he was the complete ruler for several decades, it is very difficult for him to be outside of such a situation. At the same time, I have the honor to attach two files about Krastilevsky: the case of the unauthorized absence of his wife and the above-mentioned letter from him to me, adding that Krastilevsky from the time of his dismissal from the rank of member of the Consistory to this time has not left Stavropol, and no compulsion has been made for him to leave for Mozdok and Georgievsk. The system of Krastilevsky's consistory activities is set out in his letter and the secretary's report; it consists in the constant removal of the Bishop from his power, in the assimilation of this power for himself under the cover of the Episcopal name, that is, in complete self-will. Krastilevsky and his students are attracted to this system. 1. From my resolution No. 1629 it is clear that Krastilevsky was given the opportunity to move from Mozdok, where he did not want to be, to Georgievsk to use the income of the St. George Cathedral and remain in Stavropol as long as his household affairs required him; he never left Stavropol. 2. My resolution of June 3 was put on the Consistory Protocol already when Krastilevsky’s wife, without receiving either permission or a passport, left Stavropol; The very protocol of the Consistory took place after Krastilevskaya’s departure. 3. The rector and inspector of the Seminary did not deign to fulfill that part of my resolution of June 3 that concerned them, which could significantly explain the attitude of these persons towards Krastilevsky: their neglect to fulfill my resolution only reveals their attitude towards the Bishop. 4. To replace this omission, the rector and inspector presented with their report dated June 15 a report from Krastilevsky sent to them. From which the attitude of these persons to the Krastilevsky case is revealed, the inspector is in a state of hesitation, as he did not sign one protocol and signed the subsequent protocol, which has a much greater influence on the fate of the case (this protocol was presented by me to the Holy Synod during the report No. 59); Krastilevsky’s report has his usual direction: he tends to remove the Bishop from government, calling the action of the Consistory that followed as a result of the proposal given by the Bishop offensive. The members of the archpriest are slandered in this report, allegedly acting in a biased manner, because they did not put any decision in the protocol, but left it to the discretion of the Bishop. Just as Krastilevsky himself acted, being a member of the Consistory, when he constantly excluded the Bishop from the orders, although hiding behind the name of the Bishop, so here he introduces inexperienced young men, the rector and the inspector, into this direction, who even last year 1858, despite all my admonitions, submitted to his influence, as I reported to the Holy Synod in the report for 1858. Archpriest Krastilevsky is now in a state of obvious and complete indignation, already weakly covered by deceit. The rector, Archimandrite Herman, submitted to Krastilevsky’s influence with all the ardor, recklessness and tenacity of an inexperienced young man. In the case of Krastilevsky, he evades judgment with the other members at the suggestion of the Bishop, and according to Krastilevsky’s report against the other members, he intervenes in the matter: at the same time, expressing clear disobedience and opposition to the Bishop: why did I consider it necessary, among other orders, to remove the rector from being present in the Consistory, pending discretion. All matters concerning Archpriest Krastilevsky, starting from the decree of the Holy Synod on the dismissal of this person from the rank of member of the Consistory, and to his report to the rector and inspector of the Seminary, were forwarded by me to the discretion of the Holy Synod. At the same time, I recognize the following orders as necessary: 1. Archpriest Krastilevsky complains about the biased action of the members of the Consistory - the archpriests; but these members refrained from any resolution in the protocol and left everything to the discretion of the Bishop, who, in turn, found it appropriate for himself to give some definition on the Consistory Protocol, since the Consistory did not decide the definition, and left the matter to the discretion of the Holy Synod: therefore, Krastilevsky’s desire that the members of the Consistory - the archpriests be removed from matters before Krastilevsky concerning, should be left without consequences. 2. I have granted Krastilevsky a position before other members of the white clergy regarding the vow that he personally gave me to spend his life modestly, in pleasing God and thinking of God, and not so that he would resist the authorities, but since his behavior turns out to be contrary, I find it essential for the hierarchical order to give the members of the Consistory and the Dean of the city churches a place above Krastilevsky, as it is provided to them by the charter of the Consistory. 3. The inspector of the Seminary, who accepted the report from Archpriest Krastilevsky, is reprimanded for such abuse of power, because only the Bishop and the Consistory have the right to accept papers (pp. 300, 301, 302 and 303 of the Charter of Spiritual Consistories), and not the members and not some of its members in particular. 4. The Rector of the Seminary, who refused mutual action with the members at the suggestion of the Bishop and did not give his special opinion, but allowed himself to accept a report from Krastilevsky, to which he had no right, thereby showing himself to be biased towards Krastilevsky and disobedient to his Bishop, is subject to a reprimand and removed from presence in the Consistory pending discretion, with a report on this measure regarding his Holiness Synod, which I have done. The rector, who did not take part in Krastilevsky’s case, thereby showed disobedience and resistance to his Archpastor, without signing any of the protocols, without submitting his own separate opinion, showed his biased attitude towards the matter: therefore, having accepted, without having the right, Krastilevsky’s report, by which this one eliminates the members who fulfilled the Bishop’s order, the rector revealed a desire to take the matter exclusively into his own hands and resolve it under the full and sole influence of himself Krastilevsky, whom the rector, judging by his actions, became an agent, tool, accomplice. 5. Although Article 183 of the Charter of Spiritual Consistories does not oblige the rector of the Seminary, and therefore its inspector, to participate in all meetings and affairs of the Consistory, but from the article it is clear that the Charter also requires order and orders issued by the Diocesan Bishop. The article does not at all give the right to the rector and inspector, due to their intriguing views, either to abandon the matter, or to suddenly intervene in the matter, to enter into a fight with the Diocesan Bishop, to frustrate his best intentions, to push him away from the management of the Diocese, to strive to take his power into his own hands, as this is not the first time that Archimandrite German has attempted to do so. I propose that the Consistory, in pursuance of Article 280 of the Charter, not necessarily submit all cases for consideration to the rector and inspector, but only the most important cases and those in which the Diocesan Bishop will offer these persons participation; cases in which the rector and inspector did not initially take part should no longer be offered to them for consideration, and they should not be allowed to participate in these cases (Article 316). The rector and inspector are obliged to inform me with a report when they are primarily burdened with schoolwork and cannot be in the Consistory, and after a difficult time has passed, they again report to me with another report about the opportunity to take part in the affairs of the Consistory, so that their service relations are a consequence of the demands of the service, and not a consequence of their intrigue or tomfoolery. The Secretary of the Consistory has to carefully monitor that this order is observed in the Consistory, moreover, he has to keep a list of exactly what days the rector and the inspector are in the Consistory, with a note in which particular cases they took part, and submit this statement to me monthly for consideration. The secretary has to report to me about the receipt of this proposal and its implementation. Speech on the conquest of the Caucasus in the Stavropol Cathedral Godly listeners! These holy and true words were spoken by the divinely inspired prophet, King David of Israel. He won many victories, humbled many of Israel's enemies, under Israel's feet, and delivered to the state borders that were indicated by the essential needs of the state. After completing a difficult, extensive, glorious feat, David seemed to look back at his victories and conquests and, having examined the goal and fruit of victories and conquests, he saw and recognized in the goal and fruit of them - in the world, God's blessing. The Lord, who gives His people strength on the battlefield, shows His blessing to them in a beneficial world. Beloved brothers! A similar spectacle awaits our eyes. In the past we see a number of campaigns, a number of bloody battles, a number of loud celebrations. We see the strength of the Orthodox warriors that the Lord placed in their hearts, the Lord, girdle with strength for battle (Ps. 17:40). In the present we contemplate the beneficial action of the world. The event of the prophetic words is repeated before us: They will cleave their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and the tongue will not lift up the tongue of the sword (Isa. 2:4), for He will bless His people with peace. What was the first deed of the hero Tsar in the first, virgin minutes of the world given by God? Bring glory and honor to the Lord, cried the victorious King to the victorious people he possessed! Bring to the Lord the glory of His name, worship the Lord in His Holy Court (Ps. 28:2). Because of similar events, we heard a similar call today and in response to the call we gathered in the holy church to bring thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty and All-Good God, who gave strength to His people, who blessed His people with peace. The voice of the Lord on the waters, the prophet-commander exclaimed in sacred delight, reaching with sword in hand both the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the shores of the Euphrates. The voice of the Lord in the fortress. The voice of the Lord is in splendor; The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars; The voice of the Lord cutting off the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness (Ps. 28:3–8). An inspired prophet in contemporary events, in which he was the main figure, saw the will of the Lord, saw the action of the Lord, heard the mysterious, but omnipotent. The voice of the Lord, controlling the destinies of kingdoms and nations, the destinies of the entire earth. At the present time, is not the same All-Powerful Voice heard by every pious listener? The Voice of the Lord on the countless mountains of the Caucasus! The voice of the Lord on the waters, frozen for centuries, with which the heads of the Caucasus are decorated, shining with whiteness and proudly rising above the clouds, as if with the intention of touching the sky! The voice of the Lord over the deep abysses of the Caucasus, over its impenetrable wilds, over sheer rocks and cliffs! The Voice of the Lord over the diverse peoples of the Caucasus! In vain they hoped in high mountains, in dark forests, in impenetrable gorges, in walls of rocks and cliffs. It was in vain that they were considered insurmountable barriers of predatory self-will! The voice of the Lord!.. And the voice of the Lord changes what has not changed until now. The Caucasus bends the brow to the power that is beneficial to it. Savage peoples are forced to reject violent freedom in order to submit and, following submission, enjoy true freedom. True freedom of man consists in man's acceptance and assimilation of the Law of Christ (John 8:31). Let us offer thanks and praise to the Lord for the blessings poured out on us! They were poured out in the fortress given to our brothers, Christ-loving warriors; they are poured out in blessing us with the desired, happiest peace. Let us offer our warmest prayers for the Most Pious, Most Autocratic, Great Sovereign, our Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich! Through the supreme care of His Majesty, a trustworthy world came into our possession with all its abundant and varied consequences, flowing into one common consequence - the prosperity of the country. Let us offer fervent prayers for the famous leader of the Caucasian army and ruler of the Caucasian region, who accomplished the great task of conquering the Caucasus - a task on which the first commanders of Russia worked for half a century! May the All-merciful God grant to the chosen leader, crowned with a brilliant feat, to create Christian prosperity on the basis of military success, so that an earthly matter will be at the same time a heavenly matter, a temporary matter - an eternal matter. Amen. Since Archpriest Konstantin Krastilevsky refused the positions I had given him outside the city of Stavropol, but certainly wanted to have a place in Stavropol and received one of those indicated by him, and having received it, he began to show evidence by his behavior that he could not be calm while in the city of Stavropol, where for a long time he stood at the head of the spiritual administration and dominated unlimitedly, then I had the honor of petitioning the Holy Synod to move him - Krastilevsky - to another Diocese, on the occasion of giving him, Krastilevsky, an illegal appearance to his wife and on the occasion of the behavior that he allowed himself to do in relation to the Diocesan authorities. In addition, I have the honor to present his behavior with the priest Burnukovsky, in which again the attitude towards the Diocesan authorities that he allows himself is revealed, which consists of disobedience to the Consistory and the dean, in neglecting them, in replacing the order of the Diocesan Bishop with his own order, which has a very harmful effect on all other clergy. The matter I present to the view of the Holy Synod is presented solely for the purpose of more clearly depicting before the Holy Synod the character and spiritual mood of Archpriest Krastilevsky, upon consideration of which I recognized and recognize that the continuation of service to this person in Stavropol had already become, as it were, unnatural and impossible. The temptation produced by Krastilevsky has gone beyond the confines of the ecclesiastical department and serves as a subject of bewilderment and conversation for the public. Yes, and giving the priest Burnukovsky a place above himself was obviously done by Krastilevsky with the goal of presenting himself to the public as offended, and the Diocesan authorities acting in a biased manner, which, however, deceived a few even from the lower class. Ходатайство к синодальному Обер-прокурору from 21 Sep. 1859, No. 94 47 (О преподавателе осетинского языка для Семинарии) In the Caucasian diocese and in the Linear Cossack Army there are several thousand Ossetian Christians, whose fellow Ossetian Mohammedans express an inclination to accept Christianity. For this reason, His Grace Jeremiah took care to introduce the teaching of the Ossetian language at the Caucasian Seminary; and since tribes speaking the Tatar language live along the entire border of the Diocese, the teaching of the Tatar language was introduced in the Seminary at the Stavropol District School. The need for teaching the Tatar language was outlined in detail by me in my report to the Holy Synod for 1858. Under the Most Reverend Ioannikios, less attention was paid to the teaching of these languages. The rector, Archimandrite Herman, who came here with me, found it necessary to completely abolish the teaching of these languages ​​and replace them with the teaching of French and German. When I reviewed the Diocese in 1858, I was practically convinced of the obvious benefit of the priests’ knowledge of the Ossetian, especially the Tatar, languages, as set out in my report, and the uselessness of their knowledge of French and German: for in the Caucasus region even secular people are very little familiar with these languages. The state academic board also ordered the Caucasian Seminary Board to support and develop the teaching of the mentioned oriental languages ​​and rejected the rector’s proposal to replace them with the latest languages. For the Ossetian language, it was extremely difficult to find a teacher. The student Kuzmin, who completed the course at the Caucasian Seminary, due to extreme illness, turned out to be incapable of holding the position of teacher, and His Grace Eusebius, Exarch of Georgia, who was ordered by the Holy Synod to find teaching of the Ossetian language for the Caucasian Seminary, notified me on July 14, No. 594, that among the students of the Tiflis Seminary of previous courses there is no one willing to take the position of teacher Ossetian language at the Caucasian Seminary. For these reasons, necessity forced us to pay attention to the priest of the Caucasian diocese, Sinanov, from Georgia, who spent his childhood in an Ossetian village, studied at the Caucasian seminary with the goal of subsequently becoming a teacher of the Ossetian language, graduated in the second category, due to the moderation of his abilities and success in other subjects of study, but received a very good certification in the Ossetian language. This person, due to the vague circumstances of the Diocese, was evaded from his appointment and is now a parish priest in the village of Novo-Mikhailovskoye. I invited Sinanov to my place and offered him teaching of the Ossetian language, which Sinanov still speaks fluently, at the Seminary. After this, I proposed this to the Seminary Board so that at the same time Sinanov would be given a position as a teacher at the Stavropol district school: because on the salary of an Ossetian language teacher (225 rubles) there is no way for Sinanov and his family to support themselves. The reason for this proposal was that in Stavropol itself, with a population of eighteen thousand, there are only three parish churches, with eight archpriests and priests; in addition to parish activities, they are burdened with other duties, for the fulfillment of which they barely have enough strength and time: why is there no way to give Sinanov a place as a parish priest in Stavropol, both for the above reason, and because there is no reason to deprive any of the mentioned eight clergy of the place they occupy, of course, to be sent to the village, without extreme need for that person. Since I cannot expect unanimous action in the form of general benefit from the rector of the Seminary, Archimandrite Herman, I humbly ask Your Excellency to submit my proposal to the discretion of the Holy Synod, and I have the honor to add that, besides priest Sinanov, there is no other person to teach the Ossetian language in the Diocese, on which I exclusively base and recommend Sinanov, earnestly wishing that over time a more satisfactory person would be prepared. With a feeling of complete respect, etc. dated November 9, 1859, No. 105 48 (On the replenishment of church clergy personnel) The Caucasian diocese constantly suffers from a significant shortage of clerks. Inviting priests from other Dioceses is associated not only with great clerical difficulties, but also with significant costs that fall on the guardianship, which is inevitably associated with sensitive opinions for the clergy who benefit from the guardianship benefits. The reason for the lack of clerics is that theological schools and seminaries almost never supply them to the Diocese. Further: The diocese, I will say to my greatest consolation, has, with insignificant exceptions, very good priests, especially from students of seminaries, both Caucasian, Tambov and Voronezh; but in relation to deacons it turns out to be very desirable that they be more educated and more elevated in moral terms. The reason for this shortcoming in relation to deacons is that persons enter the diaconate only from the clergy, and not from the students of the Seminary. Due to these observations and the fact that at present all priestly vacancies have been filled, I propose to the Seminary Board to increase discrimination in relation to students of both the Seminary and theological schools. The first category should include pupils of very good abilities, very good achievements in science and very good behavior; Insufficiently good behavior should deprive a very capable student of placement in the first category. Persons who deserve good certification in terms of abilities and success, and very good in behavior, should be placed in the second category. The third category should include persons with fairly good abilities and success, with very good and good behavior. Upon the transfer of pupils from the School Department to the Diocesan Department, priestly places are initially provided to one student of the first category; when students of the first category are placed, then only applications for places of students of the second category can be accepted; students of the third category are provided with full-time deacon positions. In order to ensure that the Diocese does not tolerate the need for clerics, I propose that the Seminary Board make an order that students, both in the Seminary and in schools, who turn out to be unreliable in behavior and unsuccessful due to laziness, are immediately expelled from the Seminary and schools and transferred to the Diocesan Department. Although the works of students participating in the bishop's choir will be taken into account when providing places, but with a fair consideration of success in the sciences, especially good behavior. This proposal should be announced to the students of the Seminary and a copy of it forwarded to the Consistory for consideration when I request from the Consistory information regarding the submission of requests by students for the provision of places to them. dated November 24, 1859, No. 1519 49 (About the petition of Archpriest Krastilevsky) In the Consistory, as I reported to the Holy Synod about the provision of Archpriest Krastilevsky with a rector’s position at the Mozdok Cathedral and the place indicated by him at the Trinity Cathedral was occupied, I find it inconvenient to fulfill his request. I suggest Fr. the archpriest to experience that obedience, the readiness for which he expressed in his petition, in fact: I hope that such obedience of him, in accordance with the spirit of the Holy Church, will not be put to shame, and the obstacles and fears that appear to his imagination will disappear like smoke. I hope that Fr. the archpriest in his obedience will find peace of mind and achieve a satisfactory position for himself materially. Note to the Viceroy Prince A.I. Baryatinsky about the Caucasian diocese 1. It is necessary to develop the teaching of the Tatar language at the Caucasian Seminary, as this was assumed when the Seminary was established. The Tatar language is commonly used among the mountain peoples: knowledge of it will enable the Caucasian clergy to have close relations with these peoples and introduce them to Christianity. 2. It is necessary to give salaries to the Orthodox clergy of the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar. In these two cities, most of the mountaineers converted to Christianity, because of the icons of the Iveron Mother of God in Mozdok and the Life-Giving Spring in Kizlyar, which they respected. The Orthodox clergy in these cities is very poor, since the majority of the inhabitants are Armenians. Due to the paucity of content, clergymen of only the most moderate education, who have no hope of getting better places, accept places in these cities. In order to attract people to these places who are satisfactorily educated and therefore able to act with greater force in favor of the Orthodox Church, it is necessary to provide comfortable support. The Caucasian Bishop Ignatius made a presentation about this to the Holy Synod on April 30, 1859, No. 2058. 3. It is necessary for the Caucasian Diocesan Administration, that is, the Bishop with his staff, the clergy of the Cathedral, members of the Consistory and the Consistory Chancellery to provide the salary of the Western dioceses, since the persons who make up the Caucasian Diocesan Administration do not have the same household sources of support that the persons of the Diocesan Departments inside Russia enjoy, and are supported solely by the salary received from treasury. In this respect, their position is exactly the same as that of the clergy of the Western dioceses, which logically proves that they should be given the same content. Although the Bishop's House received, instead of fisheries and a mill, which all Bishop's houses in Russia have, an annual monetary allowance of 3,800 rubles in silver, but of this money the smallest part can be used for the maintenance of persons belonging to the House; all the money is absorbed by the demands of the House and will be absorbed by them for a long time. These requirements are as follows: 1) The Bishop’s temporary shelter must be decorated inside and out, decorated, furnished. 2) The Church of the Cross needs to be expanded and made convenient for festive, highly solemn, solemn and mourning services in winter, for the city does not have a warm, decent church for these services; The city cathedral is cold, and serving in it in winter is impossible. 3) It is necessary to establish an appropriate sacristy for these services. 4) It is necessary to improve the fraternal premises and arrange a room for singers. 5) You need to start a library. Upon completion of such installation, the repair of the above-mentioned buildings, the sacristy, the library and the singer's vestments should require the entire above-mentioned amount of 3,800 rubles. For the purchase and arrangement of premises for the Bishop, for the Church of the Cross, for premises for the episcopal staff, for the sacristy and the library, until now during the sixteen-year existence of the Caucasian diocese, not a single ruble, not a single penny has been released from the treasury, despite countless representations from the Bishops and repeated petitions from the secular Caucasian authorities. Everything that has been done to this day has been done with donations voluntarily brought and requested through collectors from the citizens of the city of Stavropol, from the villagers of the Stavropol province and from the Black Sea Cossacks. They did everything they could; further burdening them with the delivery of offerings turns out to be quite inconvenient and even impossible. Proposal to the Governor of the province (On the construction of a church in Mozdok for the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God) 51 In the city of Mozdok, in the Assumption Church, there is a miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God. The icon is not only respected by the Orthodox population of the Caucasus, not only attracts pilgrims from neighboring Russian provinces and the land of the Don Army, but also among the mountain peoples it is loud and famous for its miracles. The wooden church in which the icon is placed is very cramped and already dilapidated. For this reason, it has long been proposed to build a stone church. Various circumstances made it difficult to carry out this intention. But these difficulties passed. Meanwhile, the happiest event in the Caucasus was the conquest of all the mountain peoples of the Left Wing, who unanimously recognized themselves as subjects of the Orthodox Tsar, as well as the blessed will of the Tsar, announced to me shortly before by the Holy Synod, that all possible efforts be made to bring the holy Christian faith to foreigners immersed in idolatry or who believe in the absurd teachings and fables of Islam , open up a vast field for new, very valid considerations. To my greatest consolation, on December 14, I personally heard from the lips of Field Marshal, Prince Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky, that His Excellency was taking an active part in the spread of Christianity among the highlanders. Under such circumstances, the effect of the miraculous icon on the highlanders, which is now strong, can intensify incomparably more, leading to the most favorable results. The need to build a stone church is now becoming more tangible and obvious. In order to give this matter a speedy progress, I allow myself to ask Your Excellency that you, having sought the permission of His Excellency the Prince Viceroy, stand at the head of this matter, just as the construction of the church in Pyatigorsk was entrusted to Baron Ungern-Sternberg. Concentrating all actions under your control will lead to the energetic and rapid fulfillment of your pious intention. For my part, I am ready to provide all possible assistance. The first evidence of this assistance will be that I take upon myself the care of drawing up the design of the new church. I believe, having depicted here, on the spot, the architectural needs of the church, to entrust the drawing up of the project to the famous professor of the Academy Gornostaev, who built two churches in the Valaam Monastery and the Church of St. Sergius in St. Petersburg, in the Sergius Hermitage, while these monasteries were in my charge. The Sovereign Emperor deigned to inspect the first two churches when he visited the Valaam Monastery in 1858 and was very pleased with them, and the church in the Sergius Hermitage, according to architectural connoisseurs, is the first church in Russia in architectural terms. The proposed church in Mozdok, both for its important purpose and as a monument to a great event, will be an elegant work of architecture! With this, I have the honor to enclose a note about the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. A note about the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God in the Mozdok Assumption Church and the need to replace the wooden church with a stone one 52 In the Stavropol province in the city of Mozdok, there is a wooden church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. In this church, behind the right choir, in the icon case, there is an ancient and miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God. Historical information about this icon is as follows. In the twelfth century, the famous Georgian Queen Tamara, after the death of her first husband, the Russian Prince Georgy Andreevich, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, entered into marriage with Prince Osetinsky. Together with her hand, she delivered Christianity to the prince and his people. The pious Queen spared neither labor nor expense for the establishment and establishment of the holy faith among the Ossetians. In the country, their numerous ruins testify to the large number of Christian churches that formerly existed in them. The creation of these churches is attributed by legend to Tamara. Tradition claims that one of the ruins in the Kartalinsky Gorge constitutes the remnant of the church in which the icon of the Iveron Mother of God was placed and kept as a precious gift from the God-loving Tamara to the Ossetian people. Twice the church was destroyed to the ground by fire, and both times the icon of the Mother of God was found intact. For six hundred years the icon remained in the Kartalinsky Gorge. At the end of the last century, Mohammedanism, through Turkish missionaries, invaded the Caucasus Mountains with the greatest fanaticism - more political than religious. It destroyed among the mountain peoples that weak Christianity that still clung among them - held more nominally than in reality. Ossetians leaned towards Islam, like other mountaineers. But they, like all the mountaineers, did not become real Mohammedans. Alkoran is unknown to them, due to the mountaineers’ ignorance of the Arabic language in which Alkoran is written. The Highlanders do not have a translation into Tatar. It is unknown to the mullahs of the mountaineers; they consider it an inaccessible book of the highest wisdom. The Mohammedanism of the mountaineers consists in the observance of some external Mohammedan rites. They were inclined to accept some of the beliefs instilled in them by the missionaries. Most of the concepts of the former vague religion, in which signs of Christianity are still visible, remained with them. The main concern of the missionaries was to convince the mountaineers that their only legitimate sovereign was the Turkish Sultan. In religiously troubled times (that is, during the preaching of Mohammedanism among the mountaineers at the end of the last century), the icon of the Mother of God kept many families of not only Ossetians, but also Circassians faithful to Christianity - it kept them faithful through wondrous signs. In 1763, our government invited Christian mountaineers and mountaineers who wanted to convert to Christianity to cross the Terek and settle near Mozdok. As a result of the invitation in 1793, a party of mountaineers, on the eve of Pentecost, arrived in Mozdok, having with them an icon of the Mother of God. The icon marked with miracles both its path and its arrival in the Orthodox city. His Grace Gaius, Bishop of Mozdok and Madzhar, having learned about the arrival of the famous icon in the Caucasus, went out to venerate it with the clergy, with crosses and banners. The archpastor brought it into the cathedral, intending to give the icon a place of honor here. But the Mother of God, by a special miracle, informed the bishop that She wanted to stay outside the city, at the very place where She stopped and spent the night on a humble Circassian cart (that’s the name of the two-wheeled cart of the mountaineers). The Reverend Gaius hastened to build a chapel at the indicated location. Subsequently, the parishioners built a wooden church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The icon is one arshin and twelve vershoks in height, one arshin and seven vershoks in width. The icon, apparently, was painted on a gold background. Others claim that it was subsequently refinished with adhesive paints. But Mozdok Ossetians claim that it became covered with soot during the aforementioned fires in the Kartalinsky gorge. The facial features of the Mother of God in the icon are strict, the character of the writing is Georgian. The icon painter of Queen Tamara, says legend, prepared to paint the icon with forty days of fasting and forty days of prayer. Currently, the Assumption Church has 2,243 male and 2,155 female parishioners. Of these Ossetians and Circassians - 1238 males and 1153 females, Ossetians recognize the icon as their property, have a fiery affection for it, which must be handled very carefully and prudently; by the ardor, determination and ignorance of the Asians. The icon is glorious in the mountains. Many Mohammedan mountaineers flock to worship her. Armenians of the Gregorian confession honor the icon along with the Orthodox. The icon performs many healings; under it on a cord hang numerous silver images of members of the human body, hung by those who received healings. Many Mohammedans, amazed by the miracles performed at the icon, converted to Christianity. Very many Mohammedans, for the same reason, having confidence in the icon, also have confidence in Christianity. Icon - apostle. Exactly! The miraculous icon of the Mother of God performs the ministry of the Apostle in this region, promoting Christianity and testifying to it with signs. It is necessary that people also make efforts, characteristic of them, towards the holy cause of enlightening the mountain people with the light of Christ. The Assumption Church currently has 7143 rubles 29 1/2 kopecks in the Stavropol Order of Public Charity. Such insignificance of capital should not stop enterprises. Experience has shown that the construction of all churches, begun with insignificant capital, was completed with quite satisfactory success: why the spiritual authorities never stopped allowing the construction of the church, even if the main amount was very small. The Church of St. Sergius in the Sergius Hermitage was started with a capital of thirty thousand silver rubles, despite the fact that the most valuable materials were used for this church. Its extensive iconostasis consists of expensive Italian and French marble, is decorated with mosaics, has bronze Royal Doors, and in front of all the icons are large bronze candlesticks. The floor is like a single, spread out patterned carpet: it is a solid multi-colored marble mosaic. Painting in the iconostasis and on the walls costs thirty thousand silver rubles, granite work - twenty thousand. The Church of St. Sergius is built in the likeness of the most ancient Christian churches built by the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great and his successors. I believe that the new church in Mozdok will be given the same location as the cathedral church in the Great Tikhvin Monastery, where the famous miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God is present. It must be borne in mind that at the church, in one connection with the church, there must be baptismal facilities for males and females. And the arrangement of baptisms, the arrangement of an extensive porch for the coming people is very convenient given the mentioned location of the church. In architectural terms, such a project can be poetically elegant. Economically, it will require the least cost, and can be finally built and finished, with the exception of wall paintings, in three years. Presentation to the Viceroy, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky (About funds for the clergy of Mozdok and Kizlyar) Since now, after the pacification of the Left Wing, you have deigned to pay special attention to the spread of Christianity among the mountaineers, and Mozdok and Kizlyar are the only points on the Left Wing of the Caucasian Diocesan Department in which the conversion of the mountaineers is carried out, then I consider it my duty to ask Your Excellency, so that you would deign to pay your gracious attention to this matter to speed up the payment of salaries to the above-mentioned clergy. For the means to maintain it are so meager that none of the good-quality and satisfactorily educated members of the clergy expresses a desire to occupy priestly places in Mozdok and Kizlyar, with the exception of the Mozdok Assumption Church, which is more profitable than others. For this reason, in Kizlyar and Mozdok the priests are of the most moderate education, far inferior to the rural priests of the Diocese. Therefore, the conversion of the mountaineers to Christianity cannot be accomplished by them with success. I would sincerely wish that Your Excellency, through one of your trusted representatives, would verify the position of the Kizlyar and Mozdok clergy. The poverty under which they groan in vain is incredible. I made a submission to the Holy Synod on the appointment of the Mozdok and Kizlyar clergy dated May 2, 1859, No. 2058. A copy of this submission is attached. With feelings of great respect and so on. From this, seeing that the Holy Synod finds the note presented by me to Your Lordship to be thorough, I recognize myself as obliged to submit the following for Your Lordship’s consideration. From the very establishment of the Caucasian Diocese, the civil authorities of the Caucasus petitioned (as can be seen from the correspondence preserved in the civil department and in the Consistory) that the required amount of money be delivered to the newly established Diocesan Department - both for establishment and maintenance. As a result of such petitions, my predecessors, the Eminence Jeremiah and Ioannikis, were given 1000 silver rubles each in addition to their personal salary and 1500 silver rubles for the maintenance of the House. Nothing was allocated for the establishment. In such an extreme situation, my predecessors had to resort to the only remedy: an invitation to donations. His Eminence Jeremiah was particularly active in organizing the diocese. With his departure, his activities weakened greatly, and many matters became confused. Everything that has been done for the Diocesan Caucasus Department has been done using the amount purchased by donations. The diocese was established without any financial assistance from the Government. Meanwhile, the capitalist from the merchant class Volobuev, who greatly supported the Right Reverend Jeremiah, died. With the death of Volobuev, donations decreased by much more than half, and subsequently, with the weakening of the activity of the Spiritual authorities, they stopped altogether. Upon my arrival in Stavropol, I found the Diocesan Department in the most dire situation: 1. Regarding the economic items transferred to the department of the Bishop's House without due certainty and finality, questions arose, and even a process arose regarding the forest dacha, which is briefly known to Your Excellency, since in order to resolve these complications I had to repeatedly turn to your person. 2. The temporary shelter of the Right Reverend, a cramped wooden hut donated by Volobuev, was already quite dilapidated and had fallen into extreme disrepair. The House of Bishops was in all respects in the poorest position (for, as stated above, the petition for the release of funds for the establishment remained in vain for fourteen years). The situation of those who were attached to the House was unspeakably disastrous. For poverty, poverty in the full sense of the word, affected morality as it always does - harmfully, destructively. This is especially obvious in the case of officials serving in the Consistory Chancellery, who, due to the poverty of their livelihood, are both hungry and naked. The situation became even more difficult because the issuance of the auxiliary 1000 rubles in silver, which my predecessors received, was stopped. I was left with 280 silver rubles for a year's allowance, while prices in Stavropol for all food items increased unusually after the war. Your Excellency's petitions to provide me with the mentioned 1000 rubles, which my predecessors received, remained unsuccessful. 1,500 silver rubles, allocated for the maintenance of my own House, were allotted to me only for 1858. Then the release of this money was stopped in the hope that the House would receive money to replace economic items from the Black Sea region. When I arrived in Stavropol, I could not stay in the hut donated by Volobuev due to the complete state of disorder into which it was reduced. The merchant Mr. Stasenkov offered me his house for a six-month period, and the merchants of Stavropol offered to make a donation to repair the hut donated by Mr. Volobuev, for which they collected up to 4,000 rubles in silver. When they touched the hut, it turned out that the wood in it was half rotten, that it was impossible to repair it, that it was absolutely necessary to build a new shelter. The amount delivered by the merchants turned out to be insufficient for a new building due to the extraordinary high cost of building materials in Stavropol. Why did I have to resort - as my predecessors did, with an appeal to the diocesan churches for all possible assistance from purse sums and to collect through collectors. It was impossible to delay, because renting an apartment with a salary of 280 silver rubles, with the cessation of the issuance of auxiliary sums and with the complete breakdown of the economy, was impossible. With such assistance, gleaned solely within the Caucasian diocese, a very modest, but very comfortable house for the bishop was built. There is no other bishop's house so modest in Russia. But this house, like a wooden one, could not be built and finished completely in one summer. Due to drying and settling, it needs sanding and other significant finishing, as well as furniture. The donated amount was sufficient only for the construction and the necessary furniture. For final finishing and furnishing, at least 4,000 silver rubles are required. Moreover, the fraternal cells and other services belonging to the House are in very poor condition. It seems especially necessary to spread the Cross Church, located at the house, since the city of Stavropol has an urgent need for a spacious, warm church, in which officials and the public could gather in the winter on holidays and service days to participate in solemn services. Now a solemn service is being held in the church, temporarily built in the hall under the benches of the guest courtyard - extremely inconvenient and already falling into disrepair. I would be very pleased if the situation I described in the House of Bishops and in general of the Episcopal See in Stavropol were awarded the personal view of Your Lordship during your passage through Stavropol, or if it was verified by one of the trusted persons serving under Your Lordship. Reducing the needs of the House is impossible. For the number of employees under the Bishop is calculated by the government, set according to the staff and cannot be reduced in any way, since with a decrease in the number of employees, the very rite of worship performed by the Bishop, determined by the unchangeable charter of the Orthodox Church, would certainly have to change. I considered myself obliged to present before Your Lordship in such detail the position of the Caucasian Diocesan Department and the Episcopal See that serves as the basis for this department, in addition to the note I submitted to Your Lordship during your passage through Stavropol on November 15, 1859, for the important reason that between many matters and while satisfying all the needs of the newly emerging Dioceses (this can be seen from the state of affairs of the newly opened Tauride diocese), Caucasian diocese, if it does not voice its needs and its extremely difficult situation, then its position may forever lose the beneficial attention of the higher authorities. Because silence about a difficult situation can be recognized as eliminating this difficult situation by some home remedies. On these grounds, I again present before Your Lordship the most humble request: accept the work, which must inevitably respond in spiritual and moral terms in the most beneficial way to the entire population of the Caucasus! Take upon yourself the work and care to bring the Caucasian Diocesan Department out of that position of painful uncertainty and hesitation in which it has suffered for seventeen years to its detriment, to the detriment of the Orthodox population, to the detriment of Orthodoxy itself. With this, I have the honor to enclose: 1. A copy of paragraph 3 of the note (with accompanying attachments), submitted by me to Your Excellency on December 13, 1859, for your passage through Stavropol. 2. No. 14 of the “St. Petersburg Senate Gazette”, from which it is clear that the salary for which I am petitioning for the Caucasian diocese is precisely the one given for the newly established Tauride Diocese and approved by the Highest on November 16, 1859, while all food items are incomparably more expensive in the Caucasus than in Taurida. 3. A comparative statement showing how much food prices have increased in the Caucasus over the past ten years. From this statement you can see in what extremes the people of the Caucasian Diocesan Department are in regards to their content. The situation of many of them can unmistakably be called disastrous. Invoking on Your Lordship the abundant blessing of Heaven with feelings of great respect, etc. Dear Sovereign Prince Alexander Ivanovich! Once again presenting to Your Lordship the petition for the appointment of satisfactory salaries for the Caucasian Diocesan Department as an urgent need, I consider it necessary to present here, in this confidential letter, some data that explains the matter, but does not have a place in the official paper. I have no intention of complaining about anyone as a monk, eliminating every complaint and every grumbling. At the same time, as a Bishop, I must explain myself sincerely, because my position, if it acquires a false character, must certainly reverberate very unfavorably in the very performance of my duties, that is, the false position of a Bishop must be very harmful for the Diocese. I humbly ask Your Excellency to destroy this letter or keep it without any publicity as written solely by proxy to your noble rules. The civil history of mankind testifies by a continuous series of facts that human passions have constantly hindered the success of mankind. Envy, ill-will towards one's neighbor, short-sighted pride, seeking to do evil to a person, harmed the cause and society. Unfortunately, Christian church history presents the same sad spectacle. The holy elder Seraphim of Sarov, looking at this spectacle with the eye of a mind purified and illuminated by holiness, used to say: “We must study the history of Christianity not out of empty and vain curiosity, but in order to know what kind of storms the Church and its various members have been subjected to at all times, and from this knowledge to draw the strength and wisdom necessary to endure modern storms and to control oneself during these storms.” Strange is the desire of the human heart corrupted by sin! The desire to do evil to one’s neighbor, the desire to enjoy the contemplation of the difficult situation in which one’s neighbor has been placed by successful malicious intent! This desire is strange, but it exists. Every Christian can and is obliged to give due value to this desire. The sign of a Christian heart is love. A heart filled with sensations contrary to love itself testifies to its dignity. Christianity requires patience towards neighbors who have strayed from love to malice. But it, like spiritual light, requires that the eye of the soul - the mind - clearly see evil and protect a person and society from it. Otherwise, you can easily get carried away by anger, sacrifice yourself to evil-intentioned people, sacrifice public benefit and well-being to them. You can even become a participant in their actions, because malicious people always cover up their actions with all kinds of lies, all kinds of cunning, and unscrupulous hypocrisy. The Holy Apostle Paul said: “Satan himself takes the form of a bright Angel” (for the most convenient destruction of people), and therefore it is not surprising that his servants take the form of servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14–15). Church history shows that patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, and other top spiritual dignitaries were carried away into the above-mentioned course of action. The reason for such passion in the spiritual world has always been the same: oblivion of Heaven and the desire to acquire earthly advantages. Having spent a quarter of a century in the Sergius Hermitage on the very shore of the sea of ​​life and, due to the position that involuntarily fell to me by lot, having aroused the attention of many (that is, envy and ill will), I look at the present behavior of many towards me not at all as news, not as an unexpected oddity. It must be so, because in this world it will always be so. But let the facts say something. My two predecessors were given an additional 1,000 silver rubles in addition to their annual salary of 280 silver rubles. In addition, 1,500 rubles in silver were issued to the Bishop's House. Departing from St. Petersburg, I asked that they continue to give me this thousand rubles, which was given to the Bishop’s person, since the Holy Synod knew that the Diocese had generally fallen into significant disorder. I was given my word of honor that my request would be fulfilled. After waiting for about a year and seeing that this 1000 rubles was not being sent, I again applied for its release. Your Excellency will also deign to request that it be provided to me. The petition remained in vain, despite the fact that the leading member of the Synod, Metropolitan Gregory, a righteous man, a seventy-eight-year-old elder, wanted the petition to be respected. Other money - 1,500 silver rubles, allocated for the maintenance of the house - was released only in the first year (1858) of my stay at the Caucasian See, on the assumption that Your Excellency would provide land for the maintenance of the House or money instead. The 3,800 silver rubles delivered for this item by Your Excellency began to be issued in the middle of 1859. Please judge what a difficult position I was put in by such an order, in which one cannot help but see oppression and ill will, which, of course, belong to some individuals in particular. Upon arrival from St. Petersburg to Stavropol, I asked for double passes and double pay according to the rule for everyone assigned to serve in the local region. I was denied both. But the rector and inspector of the Seminary, despite the fact that they receive a much larger salary than me, were given double passes and double salaries. The same was done regarding the Secretary of the Consistory. From this exceptional behavior towards me it is impossible not to see the goal of leading me to extremes and involving me in some great troubles. But God sent good people who helped me personally and the House of Bishops. I stop to point out other facts about my service here, which lead to the same conclusions, so as not to make my letter too lengthy and not to sin against modesty. Based on these facts, I have the right to unmistakably assume that the present evasive answer of Mr. Synodal Chief Prosecutor took place solely under the influence of the party, because the position of the Diocese, for the establishment of which nothing was allocated, which was given an extremely meager content, such a situation cannot but be clear. The position of all persons in the Diocesan Department is cramped; the situation of many persons is in the full sense of disastrous. So, for example, the housekeeper receives a yearly salary of 14 rubles 34 kopecks, a confessor - 8 rubles, each hieromonk of the cross - 6 rubles, each hierodeacon - 6 rubles, each cell attendant - two rubles. Do these salaries make sense? When I arrived in Stavropol, I found that the monastic brethren of the House walked around the city every day, looking for lunch and dinner, because in the House, due to its poverty, there was no monastic meal required by the rules. What could be the morality of the monastic brethren given this disorder? What a temptation for residents to see monks in unkempt clothes, daily dragging around the city, looking for their daily bread! I immediately stopped this, but the meal for the brethren required significant expenses. The officials of the Consistory are in a similar position. From the amount assigned for officials and clerical servants (1042 rubles 45 kopecks), an assistant secretary can receive 120 rubles, a clerk - one hundred rubles, a clerk - 72 rubles per year. What is there to support here, especially for a family man? Due to such salaries, bribery was extremely developed in the Caucasian Consistory. With the curbing of this moral disease, especially shameful and harmful in the spiritual court, the officials of the Consistory Chancellery are placed in a difficult position. I try to help them even with my crumbs, but my help cannot be insignificant. These persons are fed only by the hope that Your Excellency will ask for an increase in their salary. If they had learned about the recall of the Synodal Chief Prosecutor, they would have become completely despondent, especially since prices for all needs are constantly increasing in Stavropol. Archpriests and members of the Consistory need less than other persons of the Diocesan Administration, because they are provided with a parish from which they benefit from income from corrections. It would be quite comforting for me if what I said about the difficult situation of the Caucasian Diocesan Department in formal terms and in this confidential letter was subjected to verification by Your Lordship through a proxy. This person would present to you a picture of the continuous work that lies on the Diocesan Department, and the extraordinary constraint in which it finds itself - a constraint unknown in secular circles. From such a state, only you, Your Excellency, can extract the Caucasian Diocesan Department and eliminate the impossibility that is set out in the review of Mr. Synodal Chief Prosecutor. For if the Holy Synod does not currently have the amount, then, it seems to me, it would be possible to assign a salary for the Caucasian diocese from the state treasury, so that this salary, at the first opportunity, would be included in the amount that is allocated by the state treasury to the department of the Holy Synod. Otherwise, it can be assumed with certainty, judging by the previous course of action, that there will never be a free amount to meet the needs of the Caucasian diocese. Invoking upon Your Lordship the abundant blessing of Heaven with feelings of great respect, etc. dated March 27, 1861, No. 788 56 (On the announcement of the Highest Manifesto) To the Holy Governing Synod Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea On March 19, in relation to the Head of the Stavropol Province, I received the decree of the Holy Synod No. 765 with the Highest Manifesto on the granting by the Sovereign Emperor to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants. This decree with its appendices was sent to the name of the Governor of the province for the purpose that the actions of the civil authorities and the spiritual authorities would be simultaneous and cumulative, by common agreement. In the Highest Order of the Sovereign Emperor, announced to the Head of the Stavropol Province by the State Secretary, it is stated that the promulgation of the Manifesto throughout the Stavropol Province should be carried out on the same day as its promulgation throughout the Don Army. For this purpose, Mr. Head of the province sent a courier to Novocherkassk and, as a result of an agreement with the leadership of the Don Army, which decided to announce the Manifesto on March 25, on the Great Church Feast of the Annunciation, also as a result of the order of the Prince Viceroy of the Caucasus, decided to announce the Great State News simultaneously throughout the Stavropol province on the day of the Great Spiritual News. The fulfillment of the Highest will, declared by the State Secretary, was violated in an unexpected way. The priest of the church of the military hospital located in Stavropol, under the jurisdiction of the Chief Priest of the Caucasian Army, read the Manifesto on March 19 after the Divine Liturgy without any communication not only with the civilian authorities, but also with the military, despite the fact that the commander of the troops, Adjutant General Count Evdokimov, was in Stavropol. As a result of such an announcement, unfavorable rumors arose among the population of the city of Stavropol about the authorities allegedly concealing the Manifesto. To calm the rumors, it turned out to be necessary to immediately announce the Manifesto in the city. There was no longer time for written communications on this subject. Therefore, as a result of my personal agreement with the military and civil authorities, the Highest Manifesto was announced in the Cathedral on March 20th after the Divine Liturgy, and for other churches in the provincial city of Stavropol and in the districts of the Caucasian diocese it should be promulgated according to the assumption of the military and civil authorities on March 25th. I make it my duty to report this to the Holy Synod. dated May 22, 1861, No. 1486 57 Most Gracious Sovereign, Count Alexander Petrovich! Your Excellency's letter dated April 30, 1861, No. 2531, outlining the Highest command of the Sovereign Emperor 58, was sent by me in printed copies to all the churches of the Diocese entrusted to me and announced at the Caucasian Seminary. At the same time, I have the honor to inform you that in the Caucasian diocese there was not a single unpleasant case of the type that you are pleased to talk about in relation to yours, for the reason that at the very opening of the noble Committee on the peasant question, the Caucasian clergy received the proper direction. This direction was set out in my proposal to the Caucasian Consistory dated January 17, 1859 59 and contains the same main idea about the behavior of the clergy, which is set out in Your Excellency’s circular, which you will see from the attached copy of the proposal, sent in a timely manner in this form to the churches. When articles of the opposite direction appeared in magazines and newspapers, which began to captivate some, I compiled comments on these articles 60 (the comments revealed the incorrectness of the articles and indicated the harm that could result from being carried away by them), sent them to churches and announced in the Seminary, which turned out to be especially necessary. Upon the announcement of the Highest Manifesto on the peasant cause, the Caucasian clergy saw in the Manifesto the very basic thoughts regarding the matter that had been set forth by their Archpastor for two years, and, prepared and directed by comments, could not give the Manifesto any arbitrary interpretation. Thus, in the Region, in which unrest had recently arisen between the landowner peasants due to misunderstandings that arose among them, order was preserved, when the Manifesto was promulgated, in no way disturbed. With feelings of complete respect and devotion, I have the honor to be All-merciful Sovereign! Feeling an extreme depletion of strength from an illness that had lasted for about forty years, and constantly nurturing in my soul the desire to end my days in solitude, I submitted a report to the Holy Synod in which, reporting on the state of my health, I ask for dismissal from the management of the Diocese and for me to be given the management of the cenobitic St. Nicholas Babayevsky Monastery of the Kostroma Diocese, according to the same model as has been done for many Bishops who have been dismissed from their duties. Diocesan. The most merciful attention that Your August Parents honored me with, calling me their pupil, inspires and allows me to turn to Your Imperial Majesty with the most submissive and most convincing request. Not because of any merit or dignity of mine - I don’t have them - in memory of your departed Parents and because of the Angelic kindness of your heart, show me the mercy of mercy: command that my request be granted; grant me a daily piece of bread and the requested shelter, in which I could end my days in peace and silence, offering unworthy and wretched prayers for the well-being of Your Majesty and your entire August House, for the peace and eternal bliss of your ever-remembered Parents. With loyal feelings of deepest reverence and all-perfect devotion, I have the happiness to be Your Imperial Majesty, The most merciful Sovereign, the most loyal servant From a report to the Holy Synod dated July 24, 1861, No. 1186 62 Despite all my efforts to restore my health, upset by long-term illnesses, with mineral waters, I could only get some relief during the three and a half years I spent here, but at the same time I feel a particular loss of strength. Having reported on this situation of mine, I am forced to humbly ask Your Holiness to show me the most merciful leniency by dismissing me from the administration of the Caucasian diocese and placing me in charge of the cenobitic Nikolaev Babayevsky Monastery of the Kostroma diocese for the following reasons prompting me to such an election: 1) I was trained in monastic life in cenobitic monasteries and as abbot was originally made into a cenobitic monastery, which is why I have special sympathy for the dormitories. 2) The brotherhood of the mentioned monastery is sufficient to satisfy the needs of the Bishop's service. 3) The climate and terrain of this monastery correspond to my poor health, forcing me to pay special attention to my place of residence. I consider the satisfaction of this most humble request of mine to be the greatest blessing for me. (On assistance in retirement) For a very long time I had the desire to completely deviate from the world, both due to the monastic education and direction I received, and when contemplating my sickness, which did not promise me a long-term earthly life. Looking at myself more and more, I am convinced that my deserted direction has diverged from the direction required by service in the middle of the world. As a result of this consideration and long-standing disposition, I am sending this day a report to the Holy Synod about my situation, with a request to be dismissed from the management of the Diocese and to be given the management of the cenobitic Nikolaev Babayevsky Monastery of the Kostroma Diocese. Notifying you of this, I humbly ask for your gracious assistance, which will do me a true favor. Invoking God's abundant blessing upon you, with feelings of perfect respect and devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency's most humble servant. Your Excellency's letter dated August 6, No. 1488, by which, by the Highest Order, you deign to notify me that my most loyal letter of July 24 was received favorably by His Imperial Majesty and my wishes expressed in it were satisfied, I received this August 21. I most humbly ask Your Excellency to lay down at the feet of His Majesty my most submissive, unlimited gratitude for the benefit shown to me, which, in my state of disrepair, I recognize as the greatest benefit. Invoking upon you the abundant blessing of Heaven, with feelings of perfect respect and sincere devotion, I have the honor to be August 21, 1861. On September 11th, I received a decree from the Holy Synod dismissing me from the administration of the Caucasian Diocese and placing me in charge of the Nikolaev Babayevsky Monastery with the rights of a Diocesan Bishop. I thanked God for the position given to me, which satisfied me to the utmost in all respects. Allow me to express my sincere gratitude to Your Excellency for your assistance in this matter, which I recognize as the greatest benefit for me. I expect to leave Stavropol on September 15th. Your Excellency's most humble servant. From the Biography of Bishop Ignatius 66 (About sorrows in the Caucasian department) But sorrows did not leave to haunt Bishop Ignatius. The aforementioned circular, which denounced the direction of the journal of the Kazan Theological Academy, armed almost all bishops and students of theological academies against him, 67 and the death of Metropolitan Gregory of Novgorod and St. Petersburg deprived him of the only person who took a friendly and sincere part in it, based on spiritual unity. In this summer of 1860, Krastilevsky's wife found access and patronage for her husband from Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow. The same patronage was found in the person of the Moscow saint by the rector of the Seminary, Archimandrite Epiphanius Izbitsky, who joined the ranks of the dissatisfied and was looking, so to speak, for an opportunity to publicize his dislike of Bishop Ignatius. The displeasure of the defenders of the Kazan Academy against the Bishop was aggravated by a circumstance that the Bishop did not consider possible to hide and had to bring to the attention of the Synod as a fact announced throughout the entire educated society of Stavropol. Professor of the Kazan Academy Gusev, sent in 1859 to revise the Stavropol Seminary, during the testing of students in the presence of all the teachers of the Seminary and students of the Theological Department, spoke blasphemously about the biblical stories. His words were repeated by some blasphemously, and by pious Christians - with great sorrow. Gusev, however, received an award - the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree, and immediately, however, had to leave service at the Academy. The successful influence of the intrigues of the rector Archimandrite Epiphanius in conjunction with Archpriest Krastilevsky under Metropolitan Philaret was expressed, on the one hand, by the immobility in the Synod of the outcome of the Krastilevsky case, on the other, by the impudently impudent unpunished actions of Archimandrite Epiphanius, who had forgotten so much that on one of the highly solemn days, at the end of the Divine Liturgy in the summer cathedral, he, who served with the Bishop, as a result of a dispute with the cathedral clergy, in the presence of the Commander of the Adjutant General Count Evdokimov and all the military and civil authorities who accompanied the Bishop to the carriage, ran to the door of the carriage, and, stopping the entire journey, with great irritation began to explain his complaint. The bishop said: “This is not the place - we are detaining everyone,” and ordered him to go to the Bishop’s House to explain to him what had happened. It turned out that the archimandrite arrogantly insulted the cathedral clergy and therefore received an offer from the Bishop not to leave his home for two weeks. This exaction, naturally, did not pacify Archimandrite Epiphanius, who relied on the long-standing patronage of Metropolitan Philaret. Metropolitan Isidore's relationship with His Grace Ignatius was also not favorable. They expressed themselves quite harshly regarding the Metropolitan’s passage from Tiflis to the Kyiv See. In order to encourage and further develop the senior-year students of the Seminary, Bishop Ignatius introduced the custom of inviting students of the Seminary of theological course, distinguished by their good behavior and success in the sciences, to spiritual conversation and discussions on subjects of faith, attested by the rector and accompanied by professors. These conversations took place over evening tea, accompanied by fruit and various sweets. Such treatment of the Bishop with his subordinates seemed to Metropolitan Isidore to be indecently familiar, and during a meeting with him in the city of Georgievsk, he did not stop to give him a verbal stern reprimand, to which the Bishop responded with nothing but silence. The particular inappropriateness of this circumstance and tactlessness, not to say thoughtlessness, of the reprimand was that it was made in the presence of the Head of the province, Lieutenant General Volotsky, who found it necessary to reassure the Metropolitan, convincing him to be satisfied with the Bishop’s silence. When His Grace Metropolitan Isidore soon took the place of the deceased Metropolitan Gregory of St. Petersburg, Bishop Ignatius wrote a letter asking Metropolitan Isidore to transfer him to one of the Dioceses of Eastern Russia, where he could look for a monastery for himself in order to settle in it for retirement. Metropolitan Isidore was pleased to give this request the meaning that it was as if His Grace Ignatius had asked to clear a vacancy for him in the Voronezh department, and therefore, since this department is occupied, the Right Reverend’s request cannot be satisfied. The ironic tone of the letter left no misunderstanding. In vain was his request for the same to Filaret of Moscow. Meanwhile, the Right Reverend suffered a very serious illness - smallpox, accompanied by a severe fever. The illness lasted, although recovery came, but slowly, his strength began to visibly weaken, and he decided to ask directly to rest, in the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery of the Kostroma Diocese, which was already familiar to him. At the end of July 1861, he submitted a report about this to the Synod and addressed an all-submissive letter to the Sovereign Emperor. On August 5th, the dismissal took place with the assignment of a pension of one thousand rubles a year; subsequently, by the Highest command, it was increased to one and a half thousand a year. On September 19, 1861, the Sovereign Emperor visited the Caucasus, but was not in Stavropol, but, inspecting the newly conquered lands beyond the Kuban, asked Count Evdokimov (whose main apartment was in Stavropol) about the Right Reverend, and through him sent him the order insignia of St. Anna, 1st degree, which no longer found the Bishop in Stavropol, but was sent by mail to him at his new place of residence. When leaving Stavropol, as before from St. Petersburg, the Right Reverend did not have his own funds. He had to again resort to outside help to pay off some debts and cover travel expenses. On his way through Moscow, he stopped with an old acquaintance of his Eminence Leonid, Bishop of Dimitrovsky, Vicar of Moscow. When presenting himself to the Metropolitan of Moscow, he reported to him his remarks about the sad and inappropriate purpose of educating youth preparing to serve the Church; about the disastrous invasion into the environment of educators, and therefore those being educated, of the most hostile ideas, opposite to the Spirit of Christianity in its Church-Orthodox Teaching. The Bishop of Moscow, His Eminence Philaret, recognized the truth of this phenomenon, evidenced by many facts, and at the same time justified his non-interference in spiritual-educational matters by his old age and his distance from the spiritual-administrative center 68. The day after his meeting with the Eminence, Bishop Ignatius suffered a nervous blow to his right leg (ichias), which forced him to seek medical help and extended his stay in Moscow for two whole weeks. Although many leeches placed weakened the effect of the blow, from that time the Eminence constantly felt weakness and pain in this leg. To fully outline the fruits of the activities of Bishop Ignatius at the Caucasian see, it would be appropriate to say here that a lot of investigative cases that dragged on, often on pretexts that were not only disrespectful, but even deliberately not kind, a lot of displeasure between parishioners and the clergy, and an even greater number of cases that arose from hostile clashes between county civil authorities and ecclesiastical authorities - or were terminated by the reconciliation of the warring parties. parties, or sorted out and resolved finally. Of the many of them, by the time the Bishop retired, a relatively insignificant number remained unfinished, so that in general one can say that all branches of the Diocesan administration were revived with the most energetic and beneficial activity. Classes on managing the Diocese did not change his usual cell work, his main monastic feat in constant self-observation; he continued to carefully study monasticism as a science of life leading to Christian perfection. Here, in addition to the teachings he spoke orally, mainly from the experiences of ascetic feat, he wrote the entire book, entitled: “An Offering to Modern Monasticism,” which made up the 4th volume of his works, published in 1867. In it, he teaches modern monasticism advice on monastic life in the rules of outward behavior and on internal spiritual activity, in relation to those many different ministries that are entrusted to monastics in our time. Here he composed the words: “On the various states of human nature in relation to good and evil,” “On the sensory and spiritual vision of spirits,” and “On salvation and Christian perfection.” The Word on the Vision of Spirits was compiled by the Right Reverend on the basis of the teachings of the Holy Fathers of the Universal and Eastern Church, confirmed and clarified by his own experiences. He was introduced into these experiments by the finger of God's Providence, and, telling them for more than half of his spiritual life, depicted them in his books, examining and describing them from both the spiritual and physical sides. Here, in Stavropol, regarding the new dogma introduced by the Roman Church into the doctrine of the Nativity of the Mother of God, at the request of local pious Orthodox Christians 69, he expounded “The Teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Mother of God,” placed at the end of the “Ascetic Sermon,” which constitutes the 3rd volume of the works of Bishop Ignatius, published in 1867. Priest Michael Mozdor Episcopal ministry of St. Ignatius 70 The Caucasian diocese, entrusted to the holy care of Bishop Ignatius, stretched from east to west from the Caspian Sea to the Black and Azov Seas. The snowy peaks of the Main Caucasus Range served as its southern border, and dry steppes stretched to the north to the Kuma and Manych rivers. Christianity was brought to these regions in ancient times by preachers of the Word of God from Byzantium, as evidenced by church monuments dating back to the 10th century in the upper reaches of the Kuban and Zelenchuk rivers. Until the 19th century, in the picturesque ruins on the right bank of Podkumka, church utensils forged from silver were found, as well as large iron crosses, which are usually used to decorate the heads of Orthodox churches. “Tradition places here the ancient city of the Circassian land Bergusant, which means a meeting of many antes, perhaps a “gathering of believers,” that is, the church of the antes” 71. The bearer of the name of this ancient city, remade in the Russian way, is now the modest village of Burgustan. All these testimonies speak of the dawn of Christian life in these parts. In the 16th century, the interrupted Christian tradition was revived by the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1567, on the left bank of the Terek, at the direction of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the Terki fortress was founded. This year is considered the beginning of the settlement of Russian service people in the Caucasus. After the Persian campaign of Tsar Peter I, the settlement of the Caucasian expanses by immigrants from the inner provinces of Russia began with renewed vigor. Along with the settlers, more and more Orthodox churches appeared on the Terek and Kuban. The spiritual care of this region was entrusted to the Astrakhan bishops, although the enormous distances did not allow them to properly fulfill their mission. Therefore, at the very end of the 18th century, due to the vastness of the Astrakhan diocese, the Mozdok-Madzhar Vicariate was established, which existed for about 6 years and was closed due to the small number of its churches. While the eastern part of the North Caucasus in church affairs belonged to the Astrakhan diocese, the western part of the Black Sea region, which at that time numbered only 14 churches, was under the jurisdiction of the Tauride-Feodosia Vicariate of the Ekaterinoslav diocese. Civil power during this period was concentrated in Georgievsk, a small town on the Podkumok River. It was there in 1783, after a prayer service in the now operating camp church of St. Nicholas, that a treaty was signed on Georgia’s voluntary acceptance of Russian patronage. Meanwhile, Cossack settlements grew around the Azov-Mozdok fortified line, built according to the design of Prince Potemkin, approved on April 24, 1777 with the signature of Empress Catherine II. Over time, the administrative center from Georgievsk moved to one of the fortresses - Stavropol, located on a vast hill of the same name. On January 1, 1843, Stavropol received a new high status as a cathedral city in connection with the newly opened Caucasian and Black Sea diocese. The opening of the Caucasian diocese (1843) and the rise of its cathedral city of Stavropol to the center of the Stavropol province (1847) occurred in the midst of continuous hostilities with Shamil. This war, which lasted more than half a century, placed a debilitating burden on the shoulders of all residents of the Caucasus, young and old. In 1853, the situation of the population worsened even more. The strained relations between Russia, on the one hand, and Turkey, England and France, on the other, caused serious concern to the Caucasus command and forced it to prepare for military operations with the most serious opponents. Despite the fact that the main military operations in 1853–1856 took place in the Crimea, the North Caucasus was given an extremely important place in this war. “Dozens of Ottoman and English emissaries were sent to the peoples of the Caucasus with letters... and a traditional call for a “holy war” against Russia” 72 . Subsequently, despite the fact that Shamil officially received from the Porte the title of Generalissimo of the Circassian and Georgian armies, and his naib Magomed-Amin was proclaimed the head of all mountain militias of the Western Caucasus with the presentation of general's regalia to him, neither of them could have a serious influence on the situation in Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus. During this period, many priests of the Caucasian diocese, who shared all the hardships of the military life of their flock, were awarded military orders by the time St. Ignatius ascended to the Stavropol see. The harsh conditions of military life, in which the flock of the Caucasian diocese lived for many decades, fostered a warlike character in them. However, constant dangers and disasters, from which only the Lord could often save, awakened zealous piety in the hearts of people. However, next to the hardworking farmers and valiant warriors in the Land lived vagabonds, thieves and robbers. Neighboring Orthodox Christians were: Muslim mountaineers, pagan nomads, Catholics, Armenians of the Gregorian confession, schismatic Old Believers, representatives of a wide variety of sects. The North Caucasus was so diverse, multilingual, diverse in religion, and even more so in the spiritual and moral qualities of the population, when Saint Ignatius, who had just accepted the grace of the bishopric, went to the place of his archpastoral service. Getting ready to travel, he wrote to his brother, P.A. Brianchaninov, who was at that time the Stavropol vice-governor: “I fervently wish that you remain in Stavropol and that God will bless us to work together for the benefit of Christianity... the Orthodox Church and the benefit of the Fatherland closely connected with it... I pray to the Lord to grant me to devote myself entirely to the teaching of Christ, as my duty requires, and to imbue myself and my neighbors with this teaching salvation." In the most severe frosts of the winter of 1858, Saint Ignatius and his companions were on the road. At that time, railway communication was only between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and then, through Kursk and Kharkov, one had to travel on horseback. In the steppes beyond the Don, a fierce snowstorm suddenly fell on the travelers, so much so that the very life of Bishop Ignatius was in danger. On the fourth of January, on the eve of Epiphany Eve, Vladyka arrived in Stavropol. A high hill rising above the Stavropol upland was crowned by the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God of Ton architecture. This church was visible from afar, standing as if on a cloud, above the entire city 73 . Unfortunately, the bishop's service could not be performed in this beautiful, spacious church, since it was not heated. In winter, solemn services were held in the warm Spassky Cathedral, located above the benches of the Gostiny Dvor. Most likely, it was here that the first short but heartfelt sermon of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus was delivered: “Peace to this city! I pronounce this greeting according to the will of my Lord, having come with the staff of a shepherd to the God-saved city of Stavropol... In the soul in which passions have subsided from obedience to God, God reigns, the peace of Christ reigns... I ask such peace for myself and for you, beloved brothers, from the only Giver of true and holy peace, from our Lord Jesus Christ.” And to this inner spiritual peace, which the ascetic saint sought for himself and for his flock, God “added” (Matthew 6:33) the outer, long-awaited peace, peace in the half-century Caucasian war. This war ended in victory precisely during the period when Bishop Ignatius spread the holy omophorion over the North Caucasus. There were 12 churches in Stavropol at that time. At the Caucasian House of Bishops there was a Caucasian Kazan Cathedral, it was served by 1 archpriest, 3 priests, 5 deacons along with a protodeacon, as well as psalm-readers and bell-ringers in the amount of 35 people. The same staff served the Gostiny Ryad Spassky Church (winter cathedral) in the winter. The Bishop's House also included two house churches: the Exaltation of the Cross, at the temporary shelter of the Bishop, and St. Andrew's on Vorobyovsky Heights, without a clergy. In addition, in the city there was one Trinity (cold) cathedral with a staff of 1 archpriest, 3 priests and 2 deacons, two one-person parish churches of the Great Martyr Barbara and St. George the Victorious, three one-person churches in state-owned charitable institutions (in the gymnasium, in the St. John-Mary women's community and the prison castle) and two cemetery churches, the Assumption and Danilovskaya, without clergy. In addition, the city had a Theological Seminary, which opened in 1846, the only bell factory in the Caucasus, which existed since 1843, and a public library, opened in December 1852. From the first day of his stay in Stavropol, Bishop Ignatius felt the hardships of the unsettled department entrusted to him. The dilapidated hut, called the Bishop's House, donated 14 years ago by the merchant Volobuev for the temporary shelter of the first Stavropol bishop Jeremiah, by that time began to collapse. Therefore, the Saint was forced to live in a private apartment for the first six months, provided to him free of charge by G. Stasenkov. The very maintenance of the Bishop's House was the poorest. All the land provided by the Region to the Bishop's House was only 200 acres of land, along the Mamaika River near Stavropol. Given on an annual quitrent basis, this land brought 200 silver rubles a year and vegetables for the inhabitants of the Bishop's House. Even more meager income came from fishing on the Terek River near Mozdok. They were given for annual use to a certain Armenian B. Kasparov, the income amounted to 34 rubles in silver in 1859, and in 1860 – even 22 rubles. In addition, a mill is also mentioned as an item of income, which, judging by the further course of affairs, was also of little use. Therefore, the brethren of the Bishop’s House, which included his disciples who arrived with the Saint, shared all the hardships of their mentor. They also carried out feasible repairs in the living quarters of the Exaltation of the Cross and St. Andrew's churches, and also held services in them and in the church of the Stavropol prison castle. Despite the abundance of festive services in January and the Lenten services that began on February 2, 74, Bishop Ignatius found time to deal with administrative matters. First of all, the Saint was concerned with the proper arrangement of the institutions of the Spiritual Consistory auxiliary to the Bishop and the composition of the district deans. In this field, the activity of the Archpastor was expressed in the careful selection of hardworking and dutiful candidates, as well as the removal of self-interested and autocratic individuals from affairs. In this regard, the cathedral archpriest Konstantin Krastilevsky caused him a lot of trouble, whose “innate cunning”, “reaching the point of deceit,” allowed him to maintain superiority in the Consistory over other members. Along with active efforts to bring administrative bodies into proper shape, the Saint showed his most active participation in improving the life of his flock, Consistory employees and clergy. From the first days, he did not abandon his attention to the education of future shepherds of the students of the Caucasian Theological Seminary. The Bishop was also haunted by the thought of the proper arrangement of the residence of the ruling Bishop. Vladyka fully understood that he would not have to reap the fruits of his labors, but this did not diminish his zeal in overcoming the obstacles standing in his way. The wretched hut at the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross and the surrounding area did not please His Eminence Ignatius, in whose opinion the Bishop's House should stand far from the noisy places of the city and have the character of a monastery. Another place in the upper part of the city, called Vorobyovka, near St. Andrew's Church, very convenient and picturesque, fully met the needs of the archpastor. At this place there was a “forest cottage with slabs,” donated to the House by the city 75 . But this place was in process with the official Krupinsky, who arbitrarily seized a significant part of the site and set up a brick factory there. Therefore, it was necessary to legally return the land illegally seized by the willful entrepreneur and raise significant funds before starting construction of the house. Having celebrated the day of Holy Easter in Stavropol and having performed the joyful services of Bright Week, Bishop Ignatius began to prepare for a long journey to review the Diocese. However, the late onset of spring did not allow him to travel far from the cathedral city during the entire Pentecost. On May 12, the day of the Holy Spirit, the Saint performed a divine service in the village of Mikhailovskaya 76 in the three-altar wooden church of the Archangel Michael, which had the chapels of the blessed princes Peter and Fevronia and the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky. During the service, Bishop Ignatius consecrated the St. George’s Banner, which had been granted by the Highest to the Linear Army. Before the consecration of the banner, Bishop Ignatius delivered a sermon, which was printed and distributed throughout the Linear Army. 2 days later, on May 15, His Eminence Ignatius, having made the appropriate orders from the Spiritual Consistory to send him incoming important documents along the route, left Stavropol to inspect the eastern part of the Diocese. According to the preliminary plan, the entire length of the route was supposed to be 759 versts, but in reality the distance of the route was more than doubled by the Saint. From the provincial city of Stavropol, the Bishop's journey ran through the settlements: Maryevskaya, Bikhovskaya, Sergievskaya, Vysotskoye, Orekhovskoye, Medvedevskoye, Zhuravskoye, Kitaevskoye to Novoselitsky. In this village already at that time there were two priests and two large stone churches in the name of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky and in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Further, the path ran through Chernolesskoye, in which there was a stone church of St. Nicholas, Maslokutskoye (now Starodubskoye), to Vorontsovskoye (now Zelenokumsk), in which there were two stone churches: the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and a huge church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord (this village was served by 3 priests). By the beginning of summer, Vladyka reached the district city of Pyatigorsk through Novozavedennoye, Georgievsk and Lysogorskaya. The Orthodox Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” was located in the lower part of this city. The church was wooden, cramped, low and in all respects did not correspond to the city. With funds collected from all over Russia, the stone Spassky Cathedral began to be built in the city in 1847, according to the design of the architect Ton. In 1858, this cathedral was already erected to the domes, but cracks that appeared throughout the building, indicating the weakness of the foundation, forced it to be dismantled to the ground (construction was completed only in 1867). Having visited the Sorrowful Church, Bishop Ignatius, after a conference with the city clergy and city authorities, found the opportunity to expand the church and erect a wooden dome over it in order to eliminate the unbearable stuffiness during summer services. The inspired townspeople, having soon obtained a sufficient amount of forest material of excellent quality, set to work. Residents of Pyatigorsk celebrated the Nativity of Christ in the new church, which accommodated, compared to the previous one, triple the number of worshipers. Another important event for the city is connected with the visit of Bishop Ignatius to Pyatigorsk. In the summer of 1858, the saint “ceremoniously consecrated the grotto of the famous Great Proval, which became accessible for viewing and for treatment thanks to a tunnel built to this creation of nature. After Bishop Ignatius immersed the cross in the waters of the underground lake Proval and sprinkled the walls of its grotto with consecrated water, the image of the Sorrowful Mother of God was placed here. Subsequently, in memory of the celebration of the opening of the tunnel and the illumination of the Proval, the administration of the Caucasian Mineral Waters placed in the grotto an icon case with an icon of the healer of the afflicted, Saint Panteleimon” 77 . Judging by the resolutions of the Saint on documents delivered to him from the Consistory, Vladyka stayed in Pyatigorsk from June 3 to June 26, 1858. Consistory papers signed by him on June 30 and July 6 speak of his stay in the village of Essentukskaya. The time of the Archpastor’s journey through Mozdok and the fortified villages of the Grebensky and Terek Cossacks, lying in close proximity to the combat zone, to Kizlyar is not known exactly. The consistory papers contain a document signed by the Saint on August 4, but without indicating the place of signing. Most likely, Bishop Ignatius traveled to Kizlyar and back either between July 6 and 21, when he was already in Kislovodsk, or between August 26 and September 11. This path, despite the convoy accompanying the zealous Archpastor, was full of all kinds of dangers. His Grace Jeremiah, the first Caucasian bishop, recalling his activities at the Stavropol See, wrote: “... there was no place in the entire Ciscaucasia where there was no threat of either captivity, or a sword, or a saber, or a well-aimed Circassian bullet. Therefore, every traveler, on almost all the routes of the Caucasus, must certainly have both the memory of death and the readiness to face death in a Christian way. And for this reason, some of the Caucasian clergy had the Holy Gifts with them on their journey.” This danger did not disappear during the ministry of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus. Thus, the village of Sukhaya Buivola, which Vladyka visited on his way back to Stavropol, despite the fact that it is located quite far to the north of the fortified line, was attacked by highlanders in the same year. During the armed battle, 5 peasants were killed, and 2 women were captured. The village of Maryevskoye (now Staromaryevskoye), located just fifteen miles from Stavropol itself, suffered attacks from the mountaineers until 1864. During his stay in Mozdok, Bishop Ignatius met with a deputation of mountaineers who complained about the indifference of the former Mozdok archpriest to their needs. This archpriest was at that time under church investigation, but Archpriest K. Krastilevsky, who was related to him, in every possible way hindered the progress of the investigation. This created great excitement among the mountaineers. Ardent in their temperament, they were already thinking about stealing the miraculous icon of the Mother of God from the Assumption Church and retiring to the mountains. Frustrated by the inability to explain themselves to their priests and deprived for this reason of the sacrament of confession, the Christian mountaineers turned to the arriving Archpastor with their last hope. Bishop Ignatius offered them a Georgian priest who knew the Ossetian language, which caused delight among the Ossetian population. To console the Circassians, the Bishop advised them to choose a well-behaved young man from among them to prepare him for serving the Church. The offer was accepted with pleasure. A young man from a noble family, who had already received some education at the Mozdok Theological School, was immediately introduced to the Saint. And while the Circassian’s expulsion from the Cossack department to the clergy dragged on, he lived for a long time in the Bishop’s House, attending classes at the Seminary. Having thus calmed the unrest in Mozdok, the saint went further east to the district town of Kizlyar, 500 miles away from the Episcopal See. In this city, he visited the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” and the Kizlyar Holy Cross Monastery, where abbot German was the rector at that time. Unfortunately, numerous sermons delivered by the Saint during this period and included in Volume IV of his works are not dated, although some of them could have been delivered by him during services in parishes during the review of the Diocese. In the summer of 1858, Bishop Ignatius stayed for some time at the Caucasian mineral waters to slightly improve his health. In a letter dated June 21, 1858, to the rector of the Valaam Monastery, Abbot Damascus, Bishop Ignatius wrote: “The local climate alone serves as healing... Currently I am in Kislovodsk, where I take baths from mineral waters... My health has improved somewhat from using first warm sulfur, then moderate alkaline and, finally, cool and cold baths from Narzan. But, according to the testimony of experienced people here, it is impossible to obtain complete healing in one summer from an inveterate, long-term cold, such as mine...” Constantly preoccupied with the thought of improving the Diocese, the ascetic saint interrupted his treatment at the stage when his hidden illnesses began to break through in various ways. Despite the complete weakening of his body at this moment, the Right Reverend left the Caucasian mineral waters and continued visiting the parishes of the Diocese entrusted to him. On the way back from Georgievsk, Bishop Ignatius visited Obilnoye, the two-state parish of Soldate-Alexandrovskoye with a wooden church in the name of the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky and Otkaznoye, in which a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas was built in 1797, and the construction of another, stone church in the name of the Three Saints was completed in 1858. Among the papers received by the Spiritual Consistory upon the return of Bishop Ignatius to Stavropol, a document on the consecration of the church in the village of Otkaznoye is mentioned. Perhaps the consecration of this new church was carried out by the Saint himself. Further, the Bishop’s path ran through Fedorovka (Novogrigoryevskoye) and Novoarkhangelskoye to Praskovea, which was famous for its second church in honor of the Ascension of the Lord. This church was “built in the style originally used by the architect Ton, who for a long time was known as “Byzantine”. It was not inferior in size to the Stavropol Cathedral and was “painted by Moscow artists according to the taste and abundance of the region.” Having visited the Kumsky villages: Right Kumsky settlement, Vladimirovka, Left Kumsky settlement, Burgun-Madzhary, Pokoinoye, the Saint turned to the west. On his way there were villages: Sotnikovskoye, Burlatskoye (which at that time had only a prayer house). Blagodnoe (with a two-state stone church in the name of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian), Alexandria (with two churches of Dmitry Solunsky and Alexy, the man of God), Shishkinskoye, Sukhaya Buivola, Kambulat, Yagur. (Here, according to the report of the Right Reverend to the Spiritual Consistory, preparations were made for the construction of the church. This church in the name of Archangel Michael was built in 1860). Arriving through Nikolina Balka in the village of Petrovskoye, Saint Ignatius was amazed at the splendor of the church built here. This church in the name of St. Nicholas, which had a second chapel in the name of Peter of Novgorod, was the best in the entire Caucasus region. It, according to the testimony of Bishop Ignatius, “in the character of the first churches of Ton, is very similar to the churches of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Kolomna and the Entry into the Semenovsky Regiment in St. Petersburg.” Then Bishop Ignatius, through Donskaya Balka, Konstantinovskoe, Blagodatnoe (which had the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God), Kugulta (with the Church of the Kazan Mother of God) and Dubovka (with the Church of Dmitry of Thessaloniki) arrived in Stavropol on September 19 at 6 pm. Having become acquainted with the eastern part of the Diocese, the Archpastor was pleased with the spiritual and moral state of the clergy, the condition of churches, utensils and sacristies. During the absence of Saint Ignatius in Stavropol, the construction of a new Bishop's House was completed. The 3,875 rubles donated by Stavropol citizens, at the request of the Right Reverend, were insufficient for the construction of the Bishop's House, since the cost, for example, of forest materials in Stavropol was four times more expensive than in St. Petersburg. Therefore, the Bishop turned to the clergy of the Diocese with a request for feasible donations from church funds. However, later, due to the dissatisfaction of the Synod, this money had to be returned against receipt. And yet, despite the difficulties, a modest wooden Bishop's House was built in the cathedral city, although not devoid of grace. According to Leonid Sokolov, the House was given a new location. “Located at the end of the city, away from the noise... the episcopal shelter resembled secluded Russian monasteries and monasteries...” 78. A letter from Bishop Ignatius to Abbot Damascene allows us to clarify its location: “The house... is wooden, very small and very comfortable, next to the church; from the rooms to the church there is a passage... The church with my house is located in the middle of a large garden... and is very reminiscent of the Optina skete.” The church mentioned in this letter could not be anything other than the current St. Andrew's Cathedral 79. In addition to the construction of a new wooden house on a stone foundation, through the efforts of the brethren of the Bishop’s House, or, as it began to be called, the “St. Andrew’s Cross Monastery,” during the period from July 1858 to January 1859, the stoves in the church itself were repaired, glass missing in the frames was inserted, defects in the plaster were restored, and the church fence was corrected. Bishop Ignatius, who returned from visiting the Diocese, again turned to the problems of the Spiritual Consistory. By that time, the Saint had come to the firm conviction that the correction of Archpriest Krastilevsky was impossible, but his removal from the Consistory was necessary. By a decree of September 24, 1858, His Eminence Ignatius dismissed him from the post of cathedral archpriest and from his presence in the Consistory, and on November 17 of the same year he granted him the abbotship of the Mozdok church. Hiding behind false humility and citing all sorts of circumstances, the former cathedral archpriest began to show disobedience and opposition to the Bishop's orders. Sending constant complaints to the Synod, he insistently demanded in the most delicate terms that his own will be carried out. At first, he petitioned to remain as the cathedral archpriest, then as the archpriest of the Trinity Cathedral, the Assumption Cemetery Church and, finally, the church of the prison castle. Despite the numerous proposals of the Right Reverend, Archpriest Krastilevsky demanded only his own. In the end, due to the intervention of the synodal bureaucrats, who sought only to maintain formal legality, in contrast to the moral approach of Bishop Ignatius, Archpriest Konstantin Krastilevsky was placed at the church of the prison castle. At the same time, Bishop Ignatius examined the mountains of unfinished business that had accumulated in the Consistory. This, in particular, was facilitated by the former members of the Consistory. Thus, the unimaginable slander of Secretary D. Vasiliev against Archpriest Afanasy Kucherov reached the Holy Synod and the Emperor. Bishop Ignatius carried out the investigation into this case according to the Highest instructions. The activities of Assistant Secretary Albanov gave rise to numerous complaints against him. Therefore, under the influence of Saint Ignatius, the composition of the Consistory completely changed. From the previous composition, only Archpriest Dmitry Gremyachinsky remained. At the beginning of May 1859, Saint Ignatius set out from Stavropol to inspect the churches of the western part of the Diocese - the Black Sea region. At this time, the Bishop visited 100 churches and performed 17 liturgical services. A long stop was made only in Taman. Having traveled 1866 versts, in August Saint Ignatius returned to Stavropol again. Along with streamlining consistory office work, Saint Ignatius paid special attention to the importance of district deans and their participation in the activities of the ruling Bishop. The Caucasian diocese consisted of 18 deaneries. Some of them were located at a considerable distance from the cathedral city. In order to provide the dean with the opportunity to best perform their duties, Bishop Ignatius tried to free them from unnecessary worries and duties. First of all, this affected the newly appointed dean of the city of Stavropol, Archpriest of the Trinity Cathedral, Theodore Pospelov. To strengthen the clergy in their places of service, the Saint considered their requests for transfer only taking into account the opinion of the dean, which raised the authority of the latter. On the one hand, this measure facilitated the clerical work of the Consistory, and on the other, it soon revealed and outlined the characters of well-meaning and willful shepherds. Before Bishop Ignatius headed the department, all investigations into various lawsuits among the clergy were conducted by the Consistory, which usually left the deans in the dark, which did not have the best effect on the outcome of the proceedings. To eliminate this negative phenomenon, Bishop Ignatius proposed using exclusively deans for investigations. In addition to the indicated measures, His Grace Ignatius tried to give the dean the opportunity, in addition to formal official reports, to have the most direct communication with their Archpastor. Bishop Ignatius attached great importance to the construction and improvement of churches and religious educational institutions. Under him, in 1859–1860, a grandiose bell tower was built near the cathedral according to the design of the architect Voskresensky. A huge bell was cast especially for her, weighing 523 pounds. At the same time, the Stavropol merchant Efimy Dmitriev donated 1000 rubles in silver for the construction of an iconostasis in the cemetery Assumption Church. Bishop Ignatius entrusted the supervision of its construction to Archpriest Theodore Pospelov, and ordered the project to the same architect Voskresensky. Together with the aforementioned provincial architect, Saint Ignatius, a military engineer by training, developed a design for a stone church for the village of Novogrigorievskoye. This grandiose and majestic structure was built by Vetrov, who participated as a foreman in the construction of the Hermitage building in St. Petersburg. The Caucasian Theological Seminary, opened on November 13, 1846 on the day of remembrance of St. John Chrysostom, through the works of the Right Reverend Jeremiah, during the time of the administration of the department by Bishop Ignatius, not having its own building, was forced to rent houses from private individuals, namely from Archpriest Dimitry Gremyachensky. The board of the Seminary constantly received proposals from various citizens of Stavropol, including D. Sonnov and P. Volobuev, to rent or buy houses they owned in various parts of the city. The Board of the Seminary, by its submission dated February 28, 1859, left the solution to this issue at the discretion of the ruling Bishop. Having notified the Holy Synod about the state of affairs regarding the location of the Caucasian Seminary, Saint Ignatius in May 1859 received an order and... O. Chief Prosecutor Prince S. Urusov draw up a plan for the adjacent stone houses of D. Sonnov and P. Volobuev, indicating the proposed location of the Seminary there, as well as an estimate for the necessary reconstruction. In his response to the Chief Prosecutor dated September 17, 1859, Bishop Ignatius informs him that the merchant D. Sonnov, despite twice requests from the Seminary board to present building plans and draft conditions, sold his houses to the directorate of Stavropol schools for the placement of women's gymnasiums there. And the buildings of P. Volobuev alone, for which he asks 44,000 rubles, are not enough to house the Seminary. In addition, it was unknown whether the ecclesiastical department could allocate the necessary amount for the purchase of the mentioned houses. Perhaps Bishop Ignatius, having become convinced by the example of the case of Archpriest Krastilevsky of the Synod’s formal approach to the problems of distant Dioceses, set out to resolve this issue carefully and in his own favor. It was impossible to give in to the Chief Prosecutor this time, since in this case the Seminary would be forced to endure various troubles for many years. The houses of these mentioned townspeople, on one side, adjoined the market square, and on the other, they were adjacent to “a girls’ school and a noisy street of public places.” The location was also inconvenient for the teaching staff. And the buildings themselves were in need of serious repairs. Therefore, Bishop Ignatius gave preference to the proposal of Archpriest D. Gremyachensky. The archpriest gave up his houses for a “conditional, most reasonable price.” In addition to the existing houses, he proposed to buy “three or four neighboring courtyards and build a three-story stone building on them,” the internal layout of which was left to the discretion of Bishop Ignatius. Thus, thanks to the archpastoral attentiveness to the problems of the theological school, the Seminary has since finally settled in three houses, in close proximity to the Church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called and the Bishop's House 80. Teachers and students of the Seminary now had the opportunity to always attend divine services, which were performed according to the monastic rules, and to refresh themselves with clean air in a secluded grove, inaccessible to secular people. Saint Ignatius, who showed himself to be the mentor of Russian monasticism, during the days of his archpastoral service in the Caucasus, could not leave monasticism without the care of the Diocese. Being a zealous monk who bore the burden of Episcopal service as obedience to the Church, he still strove for the silence of monastic life. Therefore, the words of his sermon, which he delivered at the opening of the Stavropol St. John-Mariinsky Monastery, which had been a community until that time, were imbued with special bright joy. Having explained the meaning of monasticism in general, pointing out the inevitability of sorrows in monastic life, the Saint spoke with enthusiasm worthy of a joyful greeting: “Daughters of the Heavenly Father! I greet you with the granting of monastic rights and the name of your monastery! I greet you with the field of monastic exploits that has opened up for you... you have been called by the Heavenly Father to be His daughter... Make yourself worthy of the calling of God!” At the same time, thanks to the concerns of the Saint and his brother, Governor Peter Brianchaninov, the city duma decided to “give the ownership of the nunnery called St. John the Mariinsky... land” near Stavropol “with the reservation... that the top of the spring flowing along the boundary... would remain in the use of the city.” In addition to the St. John the Mariinsky Monastery, in the Caucasian diocese there were two more men's and one women's monasteries. In the area of ​​the Black Sea Cossacks there was the Mary Magdalene women's hermitage, founded in 1849, which had 55 nuns, two priests and a deacon. The abbess of the monastery was Abbess Mitrofaniya, one of the widows of the nobility, appointed here at the opening of the monastery from the Poltava Intercession Monastery. Saint Ignatius appointed Hieromonk Theophan, from the inhabitants of the Caucasian House of Bishops, as the confessor of the monastery. The Ekaterino-Lebyazhensky monastery, located in the same region, did not even have a class in the church hierarchy, but was established with special rights according to the Black Sea situation. Its rector, Archimandrite Nikon, was at the same time the dean of both Black Sea monasteries. The Kizlyar Monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross was in special conditions, more than 500 miles away from the cathedral city. This monastery, according to its abbot, Archimandrite Herman, stood for more than a century “on the border of Russia, separating the mountain tribes of the Caucasus of the Mohammedan confession from the circle of the nomadic people of the Nogai tribe, wandering, like dumb people, across the vast waterless steppes lying between the Terek and Don rivers... and almost on the shores of the Caspian Sea.” Not receiving subsidies from the state, on his own labors, he was “not in the state in which he should have been in the prosperous days of Russia. More than once in its history, this monastery experienced the “predation” of peoples “living in the mountains” who plundered it. At the same time, civil and military authorities under martial law were often forced to act to the detriment of the spiritual interests of the monastery. Thanks to patience and meekness, Bishop Ignatius found a common language with the secular authorities, which “in military considerations found a means to be unlimited,” and thereby sought opportunities for the moral and spiritual improvement of the monasteries. The brethren of the Caucasian House of Bishops gathered from all over Russia under the omophorion of the Holy Hierarch testifies to the paternal care of the monks. The meager lines of the formal list of monastics, which were partially filled out by the hand of His Grace Ignatius, allow us to imagine the images of these completely different disciples of the Saint. This document presents biographies of people from the nobility, clergy, merchants, Cossacks, serfs, and even a retired non-commissioned officer from Lezgins. The brethren mentioned here, starting from the novice and ending with the honored archpriest, candidate of theology, came mainly from places remote from the Caucasus: St. Petersburg, Vologda, Tambov, Vladimir and Kharkov provinces. These first assistants to Bishop Ignatius supported the Saint in every possible way in his concerns about the moral and spiritual character of the clergy and laity of the Diocese. The Reverend Ignatius, when faced with cases of moral transgressions of the clergy, did not seek to punish the offenders by transferring to another parish, which usually only spreads the temptation more widely among the laity of the Diocese. On the contrary, despite his bodily infirmities and numerous worries related to the management of the Diocese, as well as those associated with the preparation of his written works, the Vladyka gathered those around him, in the Bishop's House, to perform divine services, perform choir and other obediences. Correcting them with the “spirit of meekness,” Vladyka tried in every possible way so that this would not affect their families, who were left without a breadwinner for a time, as a heavy burden. In the second half of 1858 alone, 9 clergy of the Diocese attended correction at the Caucasian Bishops' House. These appointments were made due to their “drunk life” or “insulting” the fellow brethren or parishioners, and sometimes, as, for example, the archpriest of the village of Sredne-Egorlyksky I. Preobrazhensky, on the suspicion of the dean, “for the discretion of the manner of service.” The terms of obedience, usually assigned from one to three months, were, as a rule, shortened. So on the petitions of the deacon s. The late Konstantin Salafilyev and the sexton of the Old Shcherbinovskaya Church Yakov Chupryna with requests to release them to their families in connection with the approaching holiday of the Nativity of Christ, despite the fact that December has just begun, are worth the resolution of the Right Reverend: “in consideration of the humility of the petitioner, the period of penance should be reduced,” and simply “the request to be satisfied.” Often, the housekeeper of the Bishop's House, Hieromonk Justin, petitioned for a mitigation of penances, permission to perform priestly duties instead of performing choir obedience, or even joined the requests for the termination of their terms. After getting acquainted with the Diocese, “Reverend Ignatius... in his proposals for the Caucasian Theological Seminary noted that the clergy of the Region stand, with rare exceptions, at the height of their pastoral calling.” And only deacons, who have a low educational qualification, “did not always and not everywhere satisfy their purpose” 82. And indeed, by the end of 1857, that is, by the time Bishop Ignatius assumed the Caucasian See, in the Diocese, out of 222 archpriests and priests, 138 had theological and 5 philosophical education. Priests who have not received an education, according to the testimony of the dean of the Kuban Cossack army, priest Stefan Glivenko, dean Feodor Makovsky and others, “endowed by nature with good abilities,” constantly strive for self-education. In addition, as the dean of the Black Sea Army Afanasy Kucherov notes, the moral state of the clergy in his deanery is “impeccable.” Priest Theodore Makovsky testifies about the clergy of his deanery that they “to the extent of the knowledge acquired at the Seminary do not leave their parishioners to teach” not only spiritual instructions, but also “medical and agricultural.” Additionally, the external splendor of their churches, noted by the Archpastor, speaks eloquently in favor of the Caucasian clergy. In the character of the Caucasian clergy, “non-lax in performing divine services and edifying the flock,” it was especially striking for St. Ignatius, as a new face in the Region, “there was cordiality, hospitality and frankness,” corresponding to the Caucasian expanses. Concerned about the spiritual and moral level of pastors, Bishop Ignatius strongly recommended that parish priests subscribe to and purchase spiritual literature published in print; the works of the Holy Fathers, the magazines “Soulful Reading”, “Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy” and “Christian Reading”, as well as the “Long Catechism”. He did not abandon his attention to the Theological Seminary. Seeing the destructive freethinking and Protestant aversion to Orthodox asceticism devouring an increasing number of human souls, the saint spoke out about the need to control the teaching of secular disciplines in theological schools. He paid special attention to philosophy, from which, in his opinion, logic should be taught with particular completeness. The teaching itself, the Saint believed, should be trusted to “mature men who have studied the positive sciences, philosophy and writings of the Fathers of the Church,” who have experienced the meaning of Christianity, in contrast to young people prone to “one-sided hobbies.” From the first days of his stay in Stavropol, Saint Ignatius was interested in the spiritual and educational side of life and the behavior of students. Thus, in the “book of conduct”, where the board of the Seminary, at a meeting on March 15, adopted a resolution to declare the gratitude of the board at the general meeting of students to the best students, there is a resolution of the Right Reverend: “Wanting to know which of the students deserves the attention of their superiors with special good behavior, I propose that the Seminary board henceforth name these students by name in a journal article. Ignatius, Bishop K. and Ch.” In relation to those students of the theological school who, through the instability of their behavior, revealed spiritual alienation in relation to the image of the future shepherd, Bishop Ignatius was a supporter of reasonable, non-strict measures. When using the prescribed penalties from reprimand to detention in an isolated room on bread and water, the Right Reverend signed to the Seminary mentors not to ignore the bitterness and stubbornness of those punished. But at the same time, the Saint emphasized that “the high, noble character of the teacher is the most important rein... for the pupils.” “A pious and well-intentioned educator,” the Bishop wrote to the mentors of the Seminary, “must make it a rule not to resort to either reprimand or punishment in the hour of his anger. The hour of anger is an hour of madness for everyone who is angry, even if the angry one belonged to the foremost sages” 83 . In general, the instructions of St. Ignatius “limited the penalties that were in the customs ... of that time.” The wise Archpastor wanted educators to pay more attention to the moral side of punishments, developing conscientiousness in children and young people, as a better guarantee of their good behavior, and carefully discussing the veracity of punishments, balancing them with guilt; so that these punishments themselves are reasonable and human, without being carried away by anger and ardor.” Another indicator of the attitude of the ruling Bishop towards the graduate of the Seminary is the Bishop’s desire to appoint graduates to serve in vacated parishes by their voluntary consent. Thus, in the summer of 1858, the board of the Seminary received three proposals from the Most Reverend Ignatius with a request to announce “to the students of the Seminary who have completed the course: would any of them wish to take priestly places in the village of Urozhaynaya... in the village of Velichavaya... and also in the village of Berezanskaya at the two-state Church of the Exaltation of the Cross,” on the condition proposed by the local priest (to marry his daughter), or without it conditions." In the matter of spiritual and moral education of the laity of the Diocese, the first assistants of the Bishop were parish priests and deans. Governor Peter Aleksandrovich Brianchaninov did not leave the Saint in this field without help from his side. As already noted, the population of the Caucasus, despite the difficult conditions of military life and the unsettled life due to constant resettlement closer to the Caucasus Range, was distinguished by zealous piety. In addition to the desire to externally improve their churches, each parishioner, according to the testimony of military archpriest A. Kucherov, makes it a sacred duty for himself to fulfill from the first days of Lent the Christian duty of cleansing the conscience through repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries, and many fulfill this duty mainly in the men’s Catherine-Lebyazhenskaya and women’s Mariinskaya monasteries of the Black Sea region.” Despite their poverty, parishioners of the Diocese willingly responded to invitations to donate: for the construction of a monument to the 1000th anniversary of Russia in Novgorod, and for the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where at that time Hieromonk Leonid (Kavelin), a disciple of Bishop Ignatius, was serving. However, in every picture there are shadows, and the people in the Caucasus, as already mentioned, lived a diverse life, and therefore the field of activity in the field of spiritual improvement was the most extensive. So the priest of the Temryukskaya station had to fight for a long time in his parish with the owners of a drinking establishment who settled next to the church. This neighborhood was contrary to the state law, which prohibits the opening of a drinking establishment closer than 40 fathoms from an Orthodox church (Code of Laws, 1857, vol. 12, art. 4337). In the end, thanks to the zeal of the parish pastor, this establishment was moved to another street. And in the summer of 1861, a decree of the Governor was distributed throughout the province through Orthodox churches and government departments, completely prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages on holidays until the end of the liturgy. The last year of ministry in the Caucasus (1861) was especially difficult for the Saint. The sacrificial selflessness with which Bishop Ignatius devoted himself to serving the Church at the Caucasian See significantly weakened his physical strength. “Just at this time he fell ill with smallpox and nervous fever” 84. Despite all the concern for his health both from his brother, Governor P. A. Brianchaninov, and from Doctor V. Snigirev, the Saint felt increasingly exhausted. It should be noted that a member of the Stavropol medical board, Dr. V. Snigirev, who also served as a full-time doctor and teacher of medicine at the Caucasian Seminary, knowing about the poor health of the ruling bishop, back in November 1858, expressed a desire to be a permanent doctor of the Bishop's House. Since then, he has diligently performed his duties in this field, and without compensation. Having noticeably weakened, His Grace Ignatius felt the impossibility of further public service. On June 24, 1861, he sent a report to the Synod with a request to dismiss him from the management of the Caucasian diocese. Along with the report to the Synod, Vladyka addressed a special letter to Emperor Alexander II: “August Monarch! All-merciful Sovereign! Feeling exhausted from illness that had lasted for about 40 years, and constantly nurturing in my soul the desire to end my days in solitude, I sent a report to the Holy Synod in which... I ask for dismissal from the administration of the Diocese and for me to be placed in charge of the cenobitic Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery on the Volga... The gracious attention that your Most August Parents bestowed on me... allows me to turn to your Imperial To the Majesty with... a most convincing request. Without taking into account any merit or dignity that I do not have, in memory of your departed Parents, show me mercy, order me to satisfy my request, grant me the requested shelter in which I could end my days in peace, offering unworthy... prayers to God for your well-being... for the peace and eternal bliss of your ever-memorable Parents! While waiting for the decision of his request, reflecting on his illness, Saint Ignatius wrote: “Glory to God for everything! For me, illness was like chains that curbed the ardor of my character and build; it hindered activity, and at the same time prevented the greater development of pride, which often develops from successful activity.” In these agonizing days of waiting, the day of July 17th became a joyful occurrence for the Bishop. On this day, a decree of the Holy Synod was received in Stavropol on the opening of the relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. This decree, which was ordered to be published on the first Sunday or holiday upon receipt, stated that during the construction of a new church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the altar of the dilapidated church, under which was the crypt of the Saint, was dismantled. His coffin was half decayed. Despite this, the bishop's vestments, which had been in a damp place for 63 years, were found intact and the body incorrupt. Such news, both then and today, brings special spiritual joy and strengthens people in sorrows and illnesses. Obviously, for Saint Ignatius this day brought spiritual delight and consolation. On August 5, 1861, by resolution of the Emperor, His Eminence Ignatius was dismissed from the administration of the Diocese. In this regard, the cathedral archpriest F. Pospelov, at the direction of the Synod, issued the following order: “The key priest, Archpriest Stefan Graninov, together with the members of the Consistory, accept the property from Bishop Ignatius according to the receipts and expenditure books, issue him a receipt and store the received property and documents until the arrival of the new Right Reverend.” According to the established procedure, Bishop Ignatius transferred to the Consistory the property of the Bishop's House, among which the library, which had been significantly expanded over the past three years, was listed in a special way, according to the name of each book. It consisted of 180 volumes of patristic literature alone; in addition, it contained the Holy Scriptures and works of various authors on philosophy and history in Greek, Latin, English and French. “The autumn of 1861 was warm and mild, so that only the coolness of the nights and the proximity of the mountains reminded us of the late season. The days were hot and clear, like in mid-August” 85. On such days, Bishop Ignatius parted with the Caucasus. On September 16, 1861, Emperor Alexander II visited the North Caucasus. Bypassing Stavropol, he went to inspect the newly conquered lands beyond the Kuban. On the way, he asked Count Evdokimov (whose main apartment was in Stavropol) about the Right Reverend (Ignatius) and through him sent him the insignia of St. Anna, 1st degree, which no longer found the Bishop in Stavropol. After staying for about three weeks in Moscow with His Grace Leonid (Krasnopevkov), his pupil and friend, Bishop Ignatius and his retinue went further to the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery on the Volga, where he arrived on October 13, 1861. “The Bishop accepted the monastery with 60 rubles in cash, with a two-thousand-dollar debt: neither bread nor firewood had been prepared for the coming winter.” Seeing such an urgent need for the monastery, Saint Ignatius decided to sell the Empress’s gift - a precious panagia. The 30 thousand received for it were transferred by the Saint to the needs of the monastery. Having spent his bodily strength in the public service of the Church of God, the ascetic saint could not leave Christ’s flock without care. On weekdays he received visitors, “mostly simple peasants, whom he himself treated.” This went on for almost three years, but then, due to large crowds of people and physical weakness, Vladyka was no longer able to devote whole days to receiving visitors. But in the evening hours, after daytime prayers and silent solitude, Bishop Ignatius still received monks and novices who needed him, along with whom other visitors had the opportunity to talk with him. After the first winter spent on the Volga, in May 1862, Bishop Ignatius visited the ruling bishops of the nearby Kostroma and Yaroslavl dioceses, as well as His Eminence Irenaeus, who was retired in the Tolga monastery, and after that he did not go anywhere, with the exception of rare and short walks around the outskirts of the monastery. When his health allowed, he often performed divine services in the monastery church, which attracted many pilgrims from the surrounding villages to the monastery. Seeing such a significant increase in the number of worshipers coming from outside, Bishop Ignatius ordered the architect A. Gornostaev to design a new church in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. There was also a donor for such a charitable cause, the Yaroslavl tradesman Fedotov, who undertook to pay for the construction of the church being built. Despite the constant illness of the Saint, everyone got used to seeing him dressed and always at his desk or in prayer. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 161 vol., 165. Here and below, under this code, are fragments from the handwritten Biography of St. Ignatius, compiled by his disciples. The full text of the Biography is published by the publishing house named after St. Ignatius of Stavropol. Plato, later Kostromsky. Published biographies indicate a different naming date - October 23. Consecrated: Gregory, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, Athanasius, Archbishop of Kazan, Neil, Archbishop of Yaroslavl, Innocent, Archbishop of Kamchatka, Philotheus, Archbishop of Tver, Agafangel, Bishop of Revel, Vicar of St. Petersburg, Kirill, Bishop of Melitopol, rector of the Jerusalem mission. (Brief biographies of the abbots of the Sergius Hermitage. RGIA. F. 834. Inventory 4. Item 341. Sheet 463 vol.). Published according to a typographical imprint (without imprint), entitled: “Speech delivered at the Holy Synod by the rector of the Sergius Hermitage, Archimandrite Ignatius, upon his naming as Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, October 18, 1857.” According to the biographies of Saint Ignatius, his naming as Bishop at the Holy Synod occurred on October 23. This expression is borrowed from St. John Climacus. Word 28, chapter 51 according to the Moscow edition of 1851. (Note by St. Ignatius). Isaac of Syria word 55, rev. Barsanuphius the Great answers 2, 108, 311, 342 and others; Rev. John Climacus word 4, ch. 35, 36, 71, word 27, ch. 1, Rev. Nile of Sora word 11. (Note by St. Ignatius). The Venerable Abba Dorotheus, teaching 5. (Note by St. Ignatius). OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 177 vol.–234. Partially published: Towards the light. 1994. No. 11–12. pp. 42–55. In this fragment, the text of the authors of the handwritten Biography alternates with quotes from the report of Bishop Ignatius, unfortunately not highlighted in quotation marks. Saint Ignatius's report on the state of the Diocese for 1858 was presented by him to the Holy Synod in October 1859. Page-by-page notes (pp. 469–518) are reproduced from the text of the published source. Later Bishop of the Caucasus. Subsequently Bishop of Krasnoyarsk. The difference between a Bishop and a presbyter is excellently outlined in the book “The True Ancient and True Orthodox Church of Christ” (p. 81). This presentation is especially important because it points to St. Fathers of the Orthodox Church and together on schismatic books talking about the same subject. In this department of doctrine, most of the schismatics agree with the Orthodox Church. Schism refers to one’s own separation from the Universal Church without violating the unity in dogma. Violation of unity in dogmas is already heresy. On this basis, almost all Russian schismatics are, in fact, no longer only schismatics, but also heretics. The Western Church calls Eastern Christians schismatics, as it cannot convict them of changing any dogma of the Primitive Ecumenical Church, and the Eastern Church recognizes the papists as heretics as having allowed innovation in the very dogmas. When a priest is promoted to archpriest, the only prayer for this rite reads as follows: “Clothe our brother with Thy grace and adorn him with honesty at the beginning of the position of elders of Thy people.” This is the entire meaning of the church archpriest: during Divine services, he has the right to occupy first place among other priests (see the rite of consecration). This is how the saints were commanded to act and acted. Apostles. Three summers, says St. The Apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus, “night and day did not cease, teaching with tears one of you” (Acts 20:31) [Watch therefore, remembering that for three years I taught each of you day and night without ceasing with tears]. The bishop, ordaining a presbyter, in his prayer reads, among other things, the following: “Whom thou hast deigned to warrant from me in immaculate conduct and unwavering faith, deign to raise up this great grace of Thy Holy Spirit...” - these words clearly express the spiritual origin, the birth of the presbyter from the Bishop through ordination (see the rite of ordination). What God has joined together, let no man separate (Matthew 19:6). “The great evil is ignorance,” said St. John Chrysostom; – ignorance does not know its ignorance. Ignorance, thinking to do good, does evil.” Word 89. Here, of course, there is material and spiritual jealousy; she incriminates herself of materiality by the heating of the blood produced by it. Spiritual zeal is always faithful to the Law of God and is alien to heat. The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, personally asked Bishop Ioannikiy to change the rector of the Assumption Church, Archpriest Bratanovsky, to a more trustworthy person and instructed the Head of the province to inform him when this demand would be fulfilled by the Bishop. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 234–235. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 241 vol.–242 vol. This resolution was imposed by the Bishop on the journal of the seminary board shortly after his arrival in the Caucasian diocese. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 242 vol.–244. Prince Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky (1814–1879), Field Marshal General, Viceroy of the Caucasus (1859–1862). RGIA. F. 1661. Op. 1. Case 1098. L. 1–2. Serbinovich Konstantin Sergeevich (1797–1874), director of the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, editor of the “Journal of the Ministry of Public Education” (1833–1856). OR RNB. F.1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 240. K. G. Popandopulo - captain of the first rank, hero of the defense of Sevastopol, who died in Stavropol in 1858. Wanting to honor the exploits of the deceased, St. Ignatius performed the funeral liturgy and funeral service in his Church of the Cross. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 235–235 vol. Also published in the publication: Sokolov L.A. Bishop Ignatius Bryanchaninov: His life, personality and moral and ascetic views: In 2 parts. Kyiv, 1915. Part 1. pp. 228–229. (Hereinafter – Sokolov...). The passage of words into the houses of officials is restored according to this publication. Sokolov... Part 1. pp. 237–239. OR RNB f. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 237 v-239. The speech was delivered by Vladyka Ignatius during the consecration of the St. George Banner, granted by the Emperor to the Cossack Linear Army, in the village of Mikhailovskaya near Stavropol. Sokolov... Part 1. pp. 253–254. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 253 vol.–257 vol. Sokolov... Part 1. P. 220. For more information about the case of Archpriest Krastilevsky, see: Sokolov... Part 1. P. 217–224. RGIA. F. 1661. On. 1. Case 1098. L. 4–4 vol. RGIA. F. 832. Op. 1. Case 15. L. 111–112 vol. Alexy (Rzhanitsyn Rufin Ivanovich; 1812–1877), Bishop of Tula and Belevsky (from 1857), in 1859 - Bishop of Dmitrovsky with the management of the Savvin-Storozhevsky Monastery. Later (1860) he was transferred to the Tauride diocese. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 247–251 vol. Metropolitan Gregory (Georgy Petrovich Postnikov; 1784–1860), prominent church figure; from 1856 until the end of his life he headed the St. Petersburg department. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 251–251 vol. Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy (1801–1873), church and cultural figure, from 20.IX.1856 to 28:11.1862 – Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 258–259. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 319–320 vol. This presentation is the Saint’s response to the Synod’s demand to communicate the opinion of the Seminary Board and the Bishop himself on the educational improvement of the Seminary. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 325–326 vol. Prince Sergei Nikolaevich Urusov (1816–1883), actual state councilor; in the period from 1859 to 1863 he temporarily served as Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. More than once he was sent to various provinces to review religious and educational institutions (1860–1861). Rector and inspector of the Seminary, especially the first. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 321–322 vol. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 327–329 vol. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 332–333 vol. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 329 vol.–332. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 344 vol.–346 vol. With the occupation of Chechnya and Dagestan in 1859, the encirclement of Vedeno and the capitulation of Shamil in Gunib, the conquest of the eastern Caucasus was completed. The Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. On August 25, a solemn service and thanksgiving prayer were held at the Stavropol Cathedral. According to the prayer behind the pulpit, St. Ignatius gave a speech on the text “The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace” (Ps. 28:11). OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 334–335. The Synod did not satisfy the request to transfer Krastilevsky to another Diocese. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 322 o6.–324 vol. About the matter of the priest. Sinanova, see: Sokolov... Part 1. pp. 269–272. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 342 vol.–344. Sokolov... Part 1. P. 221. The resolution was imposed on the petition of Archpriest. Krastilevsky to appoint him as a full-time archpriest at the Trinity Cathedral of Stavropol. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 347–348 vol. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 337–338 vol. The addressee is probably the civil governor P. A. Brianchaninov. This proposal was approved by the Viceroy, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, who sought permission from the Sovereign to carry out an all-Russian subscription for the construction of the church. The project was compiled by A. M. Gornostaev. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 338 vol.–342. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 349–350. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 350–354 vol. The letter refers to the notification received by Saint Ignatius from the Department of General Affairs of the Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus, dated April 13, 1860, No. 2283, informing that in response to the petition of the Prince Viceroy to increase the salaries of the Caucasian Diocesan Administration, the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod responded to the constant attention to this circumstance and the impossibility at present to increase salaries due to lack of funds. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 354 vol.–359 vol. This confidential letter was written simultaneously with the official attitude towards the Viceroy dated June 10, 1860, as evidenced by both the compiler of the Biography (l. 354 v.) and the text of the letter itself. The date given in the Biography of April 13, 1860 is apparently a typo. GASK F. 135. Op. 19. Units hr. 73. L. 19–20 vol. On the history of the announcement of the Manifesto in the Stavropol province, see: Sokolov... Part 1. pp. 289–295. GASK F. 135. Op. 19. Units hr. 73. L. 22 – 23. (autograph, draft). Partially published: Sokolov... Part 1. pp. 294–295. This circular reported that complaints were being received from many places about the incorrect explanation of the Manifesto by the clergy, giving rise to peasant unrest, and ordered to instill in the clergy the idea that “the most important and essential duty of clergy in this matter is not to be judges, but to be peacemakers” (GASK F. 135. Op. 19. Unit 73. L. 21). Published today. ed., p. 393–396. Published today. ed., p. 397–431. RGIA. F. 797. Op. 31 – II department. 2 tbsp. Case 209. L. 3–4. On the first page of the Report there is a resolution, probably by the hand of Emperor Alexander II: I would like to know whether there are any obstacles to the fulfillment of his desires? . RGIA. F. 797. Op. 31. Case 209. L. 1–1 vol. RGIA. F. 797. Op.31 – II department. 2 tbsp. Case 209. L. 23. RGIA. F. 797. Op. 31 – II department. 2 tbsp. Case 209. L. 24. OR RNB. F. 1000. Op. 2. Unit hr. 531. L. 383 vol.–389. This refers to the Appeals of St. Ignatius on the liberation of the peasants, published in the present. edition (pp. 393–431). Reviews of Metropolitan Philaret about this meeting and about Saint Ignatius, see: Sokolov ... Part 1. P. 299; Father of modern monasticism. M., 1996. pp. 44–45. Mainly, Grigory Ivanovich Philipson, who then commanded the troops of the Right Wing of the Caucasian Line. (Note by the authors of the Biography). The essay by priest Mikhail Mozdor is borrowed from the magazine “Towards the Light”. [M., 1994]. No. 11–12. pp. 31–41. Page notes are the author's. – Ed. Potto V. Two centuries of the Terek Cossacks (1577–1801). Vladikavkaz, 1912. T. 1. P. 7. History of the peoples of the North Caucasus. M., 1988. P. 185. This cathedral was built in 1847 under Bishop Jeremiah, and was blown up in 1943, after the German troops left the city. Easter in 1858 was very early, on March 23. The Feast of the Annunciation coincided with the 3rd day of Easter. Dzerzhinsky Street, on which St. Andrew's Cathedral, the Diocesan Administration and the Stavropol Theological Seminary are located, was previously called Vorobievskaya. The village of Mikhailovskaya, at that time 7 versts from Stavropol, now bears the name of the village. Shpakovskoe and in fact already merges with the city itself. Metropolitan Gideon. History of Christianity in the North Caucasus before and after its annexation to Russia. M.; Pyatigorsk, 1992. P. 126. Sokolov L. Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov ... Kyiv, 1915. Part 1. P. 238. There were two house churches in Stavropol at that time: the first, Holy Cross, was located near the noisy Nikolaevskaya Street; the second, Andreevskaya, is now located in the city center. However, the area of ​​the Tatar Bazaar, renamed Alexandrovskaya in 1850, to which the church fence adjoined, was actually a wasteland at that time. The entire city was located lower on the eastern slope of the hill and therefore the current central location of St. Andrew's Cathedral was considered peripheral. Now these are the buildings of the Pedagogical Institute, across the street from the Cathedral. This sermon, placed in volume 4 of the works of Bishop Ignatius, is called “The Sermon at the Opening of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist near the city of Stavropol in the Caucasus.” But there has never been a Monastery of St. John the Baptist near Stavropol, but only St. John the Mariinsky. In addition, the content of the sermon not only sets as an example to the nuns of the monastery the feat of faith of St. John the Baptist, but also calls them blessed because, like Mary, they “chose the good part” (Luke 10:42) (Works of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic sermon, published St. Petersburg, 1905. Vol. 4. P. 363). Metropolitan Gideon. Decree. Op. pp. 126–127. GASK, F. 91. Op. 928. Units hr. 39. L. 4, 4 vol., 5. Metropolitan Gideon. Decree. Op. P. 129. Bentkovsky I.V. Emperor Alexander II in the Nizhnefarsky detachment, in the northwestern Caucasus, in 1861. St. Petersburg, 1887. P. 7.