Notes and essays on the state of the St. Petersburg deanery

Contents Archaeological description of antiquities found in 1853 I. According to the Valaam Monastery II. On the Zelenetsky Monastery Manuscript Books III. According to the Konevsky Monastery IV. According to the Assumption Convent V. According to the Vvedensky Monastery VI. According to the Old Ladoga Nicholas Monastery VII. On the Cheremenetsky Monastery A brief outline of the current state of the monasteries of the St. Petersburg diocese, November 1856 Introduction About the first-class Sergius Hermitage First-class Valaam Monastery About the third-class Trinity-Zelenetsky cenobitic monastery About the third-class Nativity Konevsky Monastery About the supernumerary Vvedensky Ostrovsky Monastery About the supernumerary Staro-Ladoga Nikolaevsky Monastery About the supernumerary Theological Cheremenetsky Monastery About the third-class Staro-Ladoga Dormition nunnery Conclusion Report on the state of the supernumerary cenobitic Nikolaevsky Babayevsky Monastery for 1865 Description of the Valaam Monastery and the unrest that happened in it Article one Article two Article three Article four Article five Hermitage Article six Hermits Archaeological description of antiquities found in 1853 An archaeological description of antiquities found in 1853 in the monasteries of the St. Petersburg Diocese: in the first-class Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam, in the third-class Trinity Zelenetsky, Rozhdestvensky Konevsky and Uspensky Staro-Ladoga women's monasteries, in the provincial Vvedensky Ostrovsky and Nikolaevsky Staro-Ladoga, compiled Archimandrites of the Sergius Hermitage Ignatius and the Zelenetsky Monastery Innocent. I. According to the Valaam Monastery Section one. In general, about the ancient buildings of the Valaam Monastery. The ancient monuments remaining in it. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Valaam monastery was completely devastated by the Swedes, who owned it for about a hundred years and erased the very traces of the existence of the monastery. After the restoration of the monastery at the beginning of the 18th century, all wooden buildings were erected in it, which were soon destroyed by fire, namely in 1754. The monastery was again built of wood, and this structure was replaced at the end of the same century by a stone one. It formed a regular quadrangle, in the middle of which stood the cathedral church with a bell tower. The only ancient monuments left are: Cave of St. Alexander of Svirsky. On the Holy Island - this is the name of one of the small islands scattered around the main island on which the monastery is located - Valaam monks show a cave, calling it, according to local legend, the cave of St. Alexander of Svir. This saint of God, as you know, began his monastic life in the Valaam Monastery. The cave is carved out of a stone rock, almost at the middle of its height, reaching 20 fathoms above the lake level. It is entered through a hole no more than an arshin in width and height; its internal space is less than a cubic fathom. The grave is at the top of the island, ending in a small platform. The same local legend attributes the construction of this grave to the Monk Alexander of Svirsky. The grave is lined with stone inside; at the bottom of it lies a cobblestone, its shape and size reminiscent of a human skull. Dark spots on this stone, as if indicating the places of the eyes, nose and mouth, multiply the mentioned similarity. According to local legend, the monks also show the grave of the Swedish king Magnus, who was allegedly washed up by a storm on the shores of the Valaam island, accepted Orthodoxy and the schema here, and died three days later after joining the true Church. Above the grave there is a monument made of granite, shaped like a parallelepiped and rising one arshin from the surface of the earth. On the top slab of the monument there is an inscription in syllabic verses, which describes the above-mentioned incident with the king of Sweden. Both the monument and the inscription are obviously works of modern times, which cannot have any influence on the historical authenticity of the event. Section two. Holy relics of Saints Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers. In the Valaam Monastery, the holy relics of the Venerable Sergius and Herman, the Valaam wonderworkers, the founders of this monastery, rest in secret. The relics of these saints of God were found, according to the legend of the Sofia chronicler, in 1163; the same chronicle says that soon after their discovery they were transferred to Novgorod due to the Swedes’ attack on Corelia, which followed in 1164 2 . At the end of the war and after the monastery was repaired, the holy relics were transferred back to the island in 1180 3 and placed under cover 4 - a precautionary measure against a possible repeated attack by enemies as close as the Swedes were. It is likely that from that time on the holy relics of Saints Sergius and Herman constantly rested under a bushel. During the hundred-year Swedish possession of the Valaam Monastery, from the beginning of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th centuries, the holy relics remained on the island. It is believed that the existing stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built on the spot where the bowels of the earth hide this valuable treasure. In the basement of this cathedral there is a church in the name of the Reverends; there is a common shrine in it, forged from silver, and weighing 4 pounds 32 pounds. It was built in 1823 at the expense of the monastery's benefactors. Section three. In general, about the sacristy of Valaam. Royal deposits. Crosses and icons with relics. Artistically remarkable items. Due to the above-mentioned devastation to which the monastery was repeatedly subjected from fires and enemies, not a single ancient monument remained in its sacristy. But the reverence of the Orthodox for the secluded monastery of Valaam, their trust in the strict life of its monks, enriched it with a very remarkable sacristy, both in the number of objects and in their value. All valuable items were donated in the current century, the following are worthy of special attention: 1. Royal deposits. a) A pectoral cross, strewn with precious stones, granted in 1820 by the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I to be worn by the abbots of the monastery during priestly services; b) The Gospel in a silver, gilded frame and silver gilded vessels were donated by the same Sovereign for the church of the former Valaam metochion in St. Petersburg; c) Silver, gilded vessels donated by the Sovereign Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich in 1844; d) A chasuble with an epitrachelion of gold brocade, granted by the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1754; f) Eleven vestments with stoles, five surplices, clothes for the throne, an altar and a lectern, all of gold brocade, granted by the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I in 1820; f) A cover of gold brocade, a pillow of a gold eyelet that was under the crown and other things that were at the coffin during the sad procession from Taganrog to St. Petersburg of the body of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I, sent to the Valaam Monastery in 1826 by Imperial command; g) A bell weighing 56 poods 6 pounds, cast from gasses, fringes and tassels left over from the mourning decoration of churches along this sad path; transferred to the Valaam Monastery also in 1826 by the Highest command. From this calculation of objects it is clear that not a single monastery of the St. Petersburg diocese received such a quantity and as many valuable royal contributions as the Valaam monastery received. 2. Crosses and icons with holy relics. In the altar of the cathedral church there is an icon case behind the altar. The upper half of this icon case is occupied by the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, and under the image in the second half there is a cross 3 inches long, silver, gilded in places, built, as can be seen from the inscription, in 1774. On the front side of the cross there is a depiction of the Crucifixion in black, and on the back there are inscriptions carved out, which indicate that the following shrines are kept in the cross: part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord; part of the relics of St. Thomas the Apostle; parts of the relics of various saints; part of the relics of the holy prophet Zechariah; part of the stone of the Holy Sepulcher. Near the cross there are twenty more pieces of holy relics of various saints of God; above them there is a silver frame with inscriptions. The inventory notes that this shrine was donated to the monastery by the merchant Dimitri Markelov in 1823. Eight-pointed altar cross, 6 inches long, silver, gilded and decorated with rhinestones. Inside it there are several smallest particles of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, placed in one place, and 24 parts of the holy relics of various saints of God. When and on what occasion this cross entered the monastery is unknown. Altarpiece silver cross, gilded, 7 1/2 vershoks long. Inside it is placed a wooden cross with fifteen parts of the holy relics of various saints of God, whose names are indicated on the reverse side of the silver-gilded frame. When and on what occasion he entered the monastery is unknown. An icon depicting 26 different saints of God on a deck 8 vershoks long and 7 vershoks wide, built, as can be seen from the inscription, in 1783. In the middle of this icon is inserted a silver-plated cross, in which 26 particles of holy relics are placed. Next to the cross there is a silver-gilded reliquary in which a part of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos, 1/2 an inch in size, is kept. This shrine was previously located in the cross, and since 1847 it was moved to the reliquary. From the inventory of the monastery it is clear that the icon came into the monastery property in 1825 from the Valaam hieromonk of Damascus, after his death. The image of Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, resting in the Lubensky Monastery, with a particle of his relics; donated to the monastery by an unknown person in 1843. The image of the Venerable Nile of Stolbensky with two particles of his relics is decorated with a silver robe; donated to the monastery by the St. Petersburg tradesman Dimitry Tisov in 1845. A small silver cross, two inches long, with six pieces of relics of various saints, whose names are indicated on the back of the cross. The cross is inserted into an icon depicting those saints of God whose relics are placed in it. It is unknown when and by whom it was donated to the monastery. A silver cross 1 3/4 inches long with 5 particles of the holy relics of the Kiev-Pechersk saints of God, received, as can be seen from the inscription, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, 1735, but by whom they were received is unknown. It is also unknown how and from whom they arrived at the Valaam Monastery. 3. Artistically worthy of note: the Gospel, in a forged silver frame, gilded in places; silver vessels, sometimes gilded, donated by the merchant Solodovnikov for the Church of St. Nicholas, newly built at his expense, the work of the Moscow master Gubkin. The Gospel was at the World Exhibition in London, and its decoration was awarded a prize. Section four. Generally about the library of the Valaam Monastery. A picturesque image of the monastery in the middle of the 18th century. Manuscripts. Notable printed books. Copies from the Royal charters. Copies from some other ancient acts. The latest wonderful acts. The significant library of the Valaam Monastery, kept in excellent order, does not have, with the exception of the Synodic, a single monument of antiquity. But we can conclude that this monastery once had a large collection of precious manuscripts, and that it collected and stored them with special care. The antiquity of the monastery, the large number of its brotherhood at all times, and the general desire of monasticism to copy the books of the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers for church and cell use in the monastery lead to this conclusion. The monastics saw in this activity the distribution of spiritual alms, which is why they practiced it with particular zeal. But we also have a fact, albeit a very meager one, characterizing the library of the ancient Valaam Monastery: this is the title on the handwritten life of the Monk Arseny Konevsky, which belongs to the library of the Konevsky Monastery. The title says that the manuscript was copied by the worker Benjamin on Valaam from “a scroll written on the skin, with the five seals of the scroll.” These are the manuscripts that were in the ancient library of the Valaam Monastery! The current library was collected partly in the 18th century, but mostly in the current century. It contains copies of some, very few, Royal charters and some ancient acts that explain the history of the Valaam monastery. These copies are not signed by anyone, and whether they are true or not is unknown. The originals were presented by the Valaam builder Joseph to the Patrimonial Collegium, according to the order of the Consistory, on April 17, 1829. Of the newest acts worthy of special attention: the Charter of His Grace Metropolitan Gabriel - the cornerstone that laid the foundation for the renewal of the monastery, and the written Charter of the Valaam Monastery. The most notable items of the current Valaam Library are the following: A picturesque oil painting of the monastery as it was in the middle of the 18th century. From this drawing it can be seen that all the buildings of the monastery, not excluding churches, were wooden. They had the shape of a quadrangle, in the middle of which were the cathedral church and the bell tower; therefore, the main idea of ​​the plan was the same as that expressed by the actual location of the monastery. But the former monastery stood somewhat further from the stone ledge of the rock, while the current one stands almost on the very edge of this ledge. The pictorial image is devoid of artistry, but is original. Inventory of the monastery property of 1767, in copy; introduces the state of the monastery in the era preceding Abbot Nazarius taking over its management, and serves as an explanation for the above-mentioned pictorial image, which is why it is considered here after this image. The most remarkable information provided by the inventory of 1767 is the following: the main altar of the cathedral church was in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord; Moreover, it had five chapels: in the name of the Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul; in the name of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian; in the name of Apostle Andrew the First-Called; in the name of Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth; in the name of St. Alexander of Svirsky; the last aisle was on the ground floor. In addition to the cathedral church, there were two more warm churches: in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God with a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the second in the name of the Nativity of Christ. The decoration of the churches was the most unrefined: almost all the vessels were tin; not a single icon in a silver robe is mentioned; Only silver aureoles and border frames are mentioned in some icons; there were 26 such icons. The sacristy consisted of 23 vestments, 10 surplices, 8 vestments, 19 stoles, 7 belts, 4 gaiters, 17 pairs of bridles, 17 airs, 7 orarions, 15 church shrouds, 14 church scarves. The library consisted of 119 books, including: Interpretation of the Sunday Gospels; Evangelist; Collection; Words of St. Ephraim the Syrian; Conversation by Gregory of Nazianzus; Life of St. Alexander of Svirsky, handwritten; Search for schismatics; Mirror of Theology; Slinger against schismatics; Diopter, or Mirror, and the Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Other books – Liturgical. The abbot’s premises consisted of two cells, “in the same vestibule,” as stated in the inventory; There were five actual fraternal cells; in total there were 17 rooms, some of them were occupied by prosphora, refectory, cookery, cellar and other similar buildings. Probably, due to the simplicity of that time, the brethren who were at the mentioned premises lived in them. The monastery fence formed a regular quadrangle; each side was 75 fathoms long; therefore, all together had 300 fathoms or 3/5 of a verst in length. – Outside the monastery there were several chapels and outbuildings. The inventory takes 19 sheets; on the back of the last sheet there is a note: “On the original inventory, hands were attached by both, the Abbot and the Builder of the taco...” There is no continuation. For what reason this copy was taken from the inventory and where its original is is unknown; but according to this copy, the monastery property was once accepted, as evidenced by the following inscription made on its sheets: “According to this inventory, church things and utensils, vessels, vestments and books and pendants and all the church beauty and small images that were granted from the Holy Governing Synod were received by the sacristan of that Valaam monastery, priest Ivan Evtikhiev, and I subscribe.” Synodik sent by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. On the first page of the Synodik there is an inscription: “Synodik of the ancient Valaam Monastery of the Wonderworkers Sergius and Herman, sent in 7091 (1583) from the Tsar and Sovereign Grand Duke John Vasilyevich of All Russia.” The Synodikon itself begins from the second page with the following words: “In the summer of 7091, the Tsar and Sovereign Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' sent his Tsar’s pilgrimage to oxen. And he ordered to remember it forever. And place the stern on them. The month of October on the 8th day, and January on the 10th day, and June on the 12th day.” This is followed by names that occupy seven sheets and make up the original synodik received from Tsar John Vasilyevich, which is proven by the inscription on the seventh sheet: “Remember, Lord, and the others who were beaten for the cause, of every age, male and female, whose names the Lord Himself weighed.” – Further, the Synodik was written by different hands; the names of both monastic and worldly people are included in it; among the latter there are the following names: princes Myshetsky, Shchelkanov, Nikita Romanovich Yuryev-Zakharin, Obolensky; There are also notes about contributions: “And his dacha, Prince Terenty Vasilyevich Myshetsky, to the house of the All-Merciful Savior and to the Wonderworkers, Basil the Great and St. Nicholas and to the Venerable Fathers Sergius and Herman of Valaam, the Wonderworkers, money of five rubles in the Moscow number, not included, for the construction of a bell tower.” On sheet 49 there is the following note: “7145 (1637). He placed in the house of the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Pure Mother of God of the Annunciation, like one of the saints of our father Basil of Caesarea, an image of the Most Pure Mother of God Hodegetria the Pyadnitsa, overlaid with basmian silver, filigree crowns with stones, basmian kopecks, about a kopeck gilded. Yes, the same image has a silver cap near the crowns, and on it there are six silver crosses. And that image from the butt, leaving this world, was abandoned by the servant of God Timofey Kirilov, son of Obolensky, near Ladoga to the Vasilyevsky Monastery for a wake in eternal remembrance of his soul. And after his death, he ordered his wife Irina and his children, Ivan and Ephraim, to bury his sinful body at his prayer and deposit in the Vasilyevsky Monastery. And that monastery, fathers and brothers, is God-loving and God-moving. Remember our sovereign Timothy and our relatives. And for God’s sake, do not forget us sinners in your holy prayers.” On the back of the same 49 sheet there is a note: “The beaten Podskov nobles and all sorts of people of the Orthodox faith.” The Novgorodians are mentioned here first, followed by the Pskovites, Putorzhevites, Rzhev-Volodymerov, Zubchans, Toropchans, Luchans and Lutsk Cossacks. – Mention is also made of two more donations to the Vasilyevsky Monastery in 7140 and 7161, that is, in 1632 and 1653; – there are many names of abbots and monks of this monastery, listed after its founder, the Venerable Elder Michael. Synodic, rewritten in 1765 from two old synodics of 1718 and 1732. – This Synodik is remarkable because it records the genera of many saints, namely: St. Alexander of Svir; St. Peter, Metropolitan; Saint Alexy, Metropolitan; Saint Jonah, Metropolitan; St. Philip, Metropolitan; Venerable Varlaam of Khutyn; St. Savva of Vishera; Saint Moses, Archbishop of Novgorod; St. John, Archbishop of Novgorod; Saint Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod; St. Sergius of Radonezh; St. Kirill Beloezersky; St. Anthony the Roman; Venerable Martyrius of Zelenetsky; Venerable Paphnutius of Borovsky; St. Joseph of Volokolamsk; St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; Venerable Macarius of Kalyazinsky; St. Michael of Klopsky; Venerable Arseny of Novgorod; Theodore the Blessed; Venerable Zosima of Solovetsky; Nikola Kachalov, Novgorod miracle worker. Genera of remarkable surnames: Field Marshal Prosecutor General Prince Nikita Yuryevich Trubetskoy. Prince Yakov Fedorovich Dolgorukov. Admiral Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn. Bolyarin Fedor Matveevich Apraksin. Senator Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Odoevsky. Count Pyotr Antonovich Manoilov. Count Gavriil Ivanovich Golovkin. Senator Boris Grigorievich Yusupov. Prince Grigory Putyatin. On half of the book there is the following inscription: “1782, June 22 days, from this date the births began to be recorded under the builder Hieromonk Nazarius and the brethren, when he established a cenobitic charter. Collecting fifty kopecks from each name for church needs.” The life of the Monk Abraham, written in the charter on a sheet. From the inscription at the end, it is clear that it was copied in the Rostov Abrahamic Monastery by Hierodeacon Aminadav in 1825. The Life of St. Alexander of Svirsky with 62 paintings, similar to the printed one, is written in the charter on a sheet. The Life of St. Theodosius of Totem, with the addition of a legend about the discovery of his relics, services to him, his testament, miracles that happened with his relics, and words of praise to him; written in the charter on a sheet. Life of St. Varlaam of Khutyn; written in cursive, on a sheet of paper. The Life of Saints Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky; Several sheets of the charter are written, but everything else is in cursive, on a quarter sheet. Spiritual diploma of St. Joseph of Volokolamsk; 10 chapters from it were rewritten in the statutory letter, the last of them is unfinished. Life of St. Arseny Konevsky; The charter is very well written. The story about the beginning of the Danilovsky Monastery and about the miraculous image of our Lord Jesus Christ in the city of Khlynov, in sheet form, is written in an excellent statutory letter. It is unknown when and by whom the manuscripts indicated here were written. Conversion from the schism of the sinful Xenophon, in the monasticism of Cyprian, in the schema of Cyriacus. – This remarkable and instructive event was published in the “Complete Historical News of the Schismatics” - the work of Bolsheokhtensky Archpriest Andrei Ioannov (third edition, 1799), but printed in an abbreviated form; The present manuscript, the author of which is Schemamonk Kiriak himself, who set out his story at the behest of the abbot, Abbot Nazarius, contains many wonderful details. Travel to Jerusalem by monk Nikanor Moskvitinov in 1796. This manuscript is the original, presented by the writer to Metropolitan Gabriel of St. Petersburg and transferred by him to the Valaam Monastery. The author signed his own hand in two places: in the dedication and at the end of the manuscript. Of these, those that are especially noteworthy according to the printing houses in which they were printed are listed here in chronological order. Divine Liturgy like the saints of Our Father John Chrysostom, Basil the Great and the Presanctified. This Service Book was printed in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in 1620. The teaching gospel, that is, teachings for Sundays and holidays by Hieromonk Kirill Tranquillion. Published at the expense of Maxim Voshchanka in Mogilev, in the printing house of the brotherhood of the Epiphany Monastery in 1620. First printed in Rakhmanov in 1608 and 1619. By decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and Patriarch Philaret on December 1, 1627, it was ordered to search for and burn the works of this author. See: Historical Dictionary of Spiritual Writers. T. 1. pp. 335–336 (according to the second edition of 1827). Euchologion, or prayer book, or missal of Peter Mohyla, Metropolitan of Kiev, etc. - Published in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1646. Key of understanding (teachings for various holidays) Ioannikiy Golyatovsky, rector and abbot of the Bratsky monastery, Kievsky. – Printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1659. This book is a first edition; the second time it was published in Lvov in 1665. Anthologion, this is the colorology of the suffering and torment of the holy great martyr Catherine and the holy great martyr Theodore Stratelates and the life of Alexy, the man of God. – Translated from Greek by the monk Arseny the Greek. Published in Moscow in 1660 (during the reign of Alexy Mikhailovich). The author of the “Historical Dictionary of Spiritual Writers” mentions only the translation from the Greek chronograph made by Arseny the Greek together with the Greek Dionysius; but does not mention his other works. The New Heaven with new stars created, that is, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God with Her miracles - a story about the miracles of the Mother of God. The work of Hieromonk Ioannikiy Golyatovsky, rector and abbot of the Bratsk Kiev Monastery. Printed in Lvov in the printing house of Mikhail Sliozka in 1665, in Polish-Russian. This book is the original edition; it had other editions: in Chernigov in 1677 and in Mogilev in 1699. The spiritual sword, which is the word of God to help the warring Church, was given from the mouth of Christ. Or a book for preaching the Word of God, which you will build to promote the Lord and confirm the word. Lazar Baranovich, Bishop of Chernigov, Novgorod and others. (teachings). Edition of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, 1666 (during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich). This book is the original edition; published for the second time in 1686. Saint Demetrius of Rostov calls this writer a great pillar of the church. Peace with God for man, or holy repentance, reconciling man with God. With the blessing and correction of Archimandrite Innocent Gisel. Printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1669. In this book there are interpretations that disagree with the Helmsman; Therefore, by the decree of the Holy Synod of 1766, it is forbidden to refer to this book in deciding degrees of kinship and marriage matters. The book of our venerable and God-bearing father Nikon, abbot of the Black Mountain. I wrote in the holy monastery of Gustine, in the Prilutsky communal monastery. Holy Life-Giving Trinity, under Father Auxentius, Abbot Gustinsky. (Collected teachings, part 1. Published in 7178 (1670). Akathist. Printed in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in 1677 (canons for every day). Under Archimandrite Innocent Gisela, under Patriarch Joachim, during the reign of Theodore Alekseevich. This book was reprinted in Mogilev. A book containing the story, or story, of our holy and reverend father John of Damascus, about the reverend father Barlaam the desert dweller and Joasaph, king of the Indies. Printed in Moscow at the Upper Printing House in 7189 (1691) (during the reign of Theodore Alekseevich, under Patriarch Joachim). A spiritual supper for the feasts of the Lord, the Mother of God, the holy special ones, from the food of the Word of God for the souls of Orthodox Christians for spiritual saturation with God's help prepared (teachings) by Hieromonk Simeon of Polotsk, who lived in Moscow in 7184, that is, in 1676. On the title page it is stated that this book began to be printed in 1681 under the Grand Duke Theodore Alekseevich and under Patriarch Joachim, and was completed under the Grand Dukes John and Peter, Alekseevich, in 1683. Printed in Moscow at the Verkhnyaya Printing House. The Soulful Supper has a title similar to the book The Soulful Supper, it began and ended at the same time and belongs to the same author. Spiritual color, or an admonishing proclamation to the entire Russian people of Patriarch Joachim. – Refutation of the petition of the Solovetsky schismatics. Printed in Moscow in 1683, from the creation of the world in 7191. This book is the original edition; subsequent editions were in 1753 and 1791. A word of thanksgiving to the Lord God, spoken by Joachim, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, in the summer of 7190 (1682) of the month of July, 5 days, for the deliverance of the Church from apostates. Published in Moscow in 1684. Euchologium, that is, a prayer book or missal. Published in Moscow in 1689. The book is called the mirror of Theology. The work of Hieromonk Kirill Tranquillion, preacher of the Word of God. Printed at the Trinity Monastery in Chernigov (in 1695). This book is already in its third edition; Previously, it was printed twice in the Pochaev Monastery, in 1618 and 1679. Typikon (Church Charter). Published in Moscow in 1695. On this book there are inscriptions: “Charter of the Novoyezersk Monastery of Abbot Bartholomew in private.” Another inscription explains that the Charter was donated to the Valaam Monastery in 1760. The book of Abba Dorotheus, in two copies, is completely similar to the one that is usually printed with the writings of St. Ephraim of Syria. On one of the copies, a quarter sheet, it is not indicated where and when it was printed, and on the other, an octet sheet, it is indicated on the title page that it was printed in Vilna, in the monastery of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in 7205 (1697). All-week, or daily, akathists with canons. Published by the support of Maxim Voshchanka, in the brotherhood of the Epiphany Monastery in Mogilev in 1698. – Reprinted from the Kiev edition of 1677. The Irrigated Fleece, the Most Pure and Most Blessed Virgin Mary, or a description of the miracles of the Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God. Through the diligence of Lavrenty Krschanovich (or Kryzhanovich), the first archimandrite of the Chernigov Trinity-Ilyinsky Monastery. Printed in the printing house of the Trinity Monastery in Chernigov in 7210 (1702) (under Emperor Peter I). An alphabet composed in rhymes from the Holy Scriptures (Short Lives of Various Saints). Printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Elias Monastery in Chernigov in 1705. The work of John Maksimovich, Archbishop of Chernigov, later transferred to Tobolsk. The Lord's Prayer, located on seven thoughts of God, that is, interpretation, or seven reflections on this prayer, by John Maksimovich, Archbishop of Chernigov. Printed in the printing house of the Trinity Monastery in Chernigov in 1709 under Archimandrite Varlaam, Zaporozhye Hetman Skoropadsky, during the reign of Peter I. Spiritual dialogue is double-wording, but in it a lover speaks with love, etc. (Conversations about the importance of the priesthood, about the mystery of the Eucharist and about its fruits). Published by the governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Varlaam Golenovsky in 1714. This book is the original edition; for the second time it was published in St. Petersburg in 1766. Rule for Divine Communion, collected from the statutes of the Holy Catholic Church. Printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Elias Monastery in Chernigov in 1720 (under Peter I). The same book was published there in 1745. Reproof against schismatics. The work of Theophylact (Lopatinsky), Archbishop of Tver. Printed at the Holy Synod in 1723. The inscription on this book explains that it was donated to the builder Nazarius in 1782. The breviary was printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1736 (during the reign of Anna Ioannovna). The New Testament, printed in the Trinity Alexander Nevsky Monastery in 1739 with the blessing of the Holy Governing Synod, was delivered to the people in 1745 (7253). The rod of government, approval, punishment, execution, built in Moscow from the entire Consecrated Council, assembled by order of the most pious Sovereign Alexy Mikhailovich, under Patriarch Joasaph in the summer of 7174 (1666). Published in 1753 under Empress Elisaveta Petrovna. This book is in its second edition; it was published for the first time in 1668. Composed on behalf of Patriarch Joasaph by Simeon of Polotsk. Octoechos, printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Ilyinskaya Monastery of Chernigov in 1754 (7265). Below, on the leaves of the book, there is the following inscription: “This book, spoken by Octoechos, is the conciliator of the Transfiguration of the Savior Valaam Monastery. Hegumen Ephraim signed that monastery in 1774, December 7th. This book was blessed by a member of the Holy Governing All-Russian Synod, the great lord, His Eminence Plato, Archbishop of Tver, 1772, January 20th day.” Akathist to the Great Martyr Barbara. Printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Elias Monastery of Chernigov in 1758 (under Empress Elisaveta Petrovna). Patericon of Pechersk. Printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1760 (under Empress Elisaveta Petrovna), with a correction against the editions of 1720 and 1759. Prayer book with Psalter. Printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Elias Monastery of Chernigov in 1767. Skete repentance, in two copies, containing prayers filled with thoughts of repentance, humility and self-condemnation, which can lead to true heartfelt contrition and crying for oneself, which (as stated in the title of the book) is perfect correction. These books were printed: one in the Pochaevskaya printing house, in 1782 (7290), and the other in Supraslskaya in 1788 (7296), with the Followed Psalter, printed in Moscow under the Sovereign Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich and under Patriarch Joasaph in 1759. Life of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon, compiled by some of his former clerics. Published in St. Petersburg in 1784. The author is subdeacon John Shusherin, one of the close associates of Patriarch Nikon. Ladder, Moscow print of 1785. On the back of the first title page there is the following inscription: “With this holy book of John the Climacus I bless the brethren of the Valaam monastery, pastorally exhorting them to draw from it rules and instructions for the perfection of soul-saving Christian life. Gabriel, Metropolitan of Novgorod." The inscription was made by the hand of the cell attendant, later the famous Archimandrite Theophan, abbot of the Kirillo-Novoezersk Monastery, and the signature was made by the His Grace Metropolitan. Ladder, printed in Warsaw, in the printing house of his king. Majesty the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 7293 (1785), from a translation printed in Moscow in 7155 (1647). Collection, in two parts. Its title page is pasted in and on it is written in the statutory letter: “This God-inspired book was printed according to the translation of the Moscow Printed Book, in agreement in everything, and does not differ in anything.” Printed in the summer of 7295 (1787) in the Pochaevskaya printing house. The Catechism, published in Grodno in 1787 (7295) from the printed one, as depicted in the first title page, in Great Russia, in the reigning city of Moscow, in the summer of 1627 (7135) under the God-protected power of the pious Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich and under the Patriarchate of his father and pilgrim Cyrus Philaret, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Flower garden of the holy monk Dorotheus, a Russian writer from the times of the patriarchate, about the sublime exploits of monastic life; in four copies. Two copies were published in the Grodno printing house in 7300 (1792), one there in 1794 (7302) and one in the Suprasl printing house in 7297 (1789). Patericon of Skitsky, alphabetically; printed in 7299 (1791), in the printing house of His Royal Majesty Suprasl. The Life of St. Basil the New, with the addition of two visions of his disciple Gregory about the ordeals of the air and the Second Last Judgment of Christ; taken from the handwritten Chetya-Minea of ​​Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and printed in the Pochaev printing house, 1794 (7302). The history of various Slovenian peoples, especially the Bulgarians, Harvats and Serbs; the work of John Raich, Archimandrite of the Arkhangelsk Monastery. Part 1 (with his portrait). Dedicated to Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky. Printed in Vienna in 1794 under Stefan Novakhovich, Slaveno-Serbian, Wallachian and Oriental languages ​​privileged printing houses. List from the charter of Tsar Vasily Ioannovich to Abbot Joachim of Valaam, given on March 12, 7015 (1507), for the ownership of a salty barn near the sea in the Kovde volost with a yard, a mill with stubble and forest land. Given in Moscow signed by clerk Frolov. A list from a letter issued by the same Sovereign and also to Abbot Joachim in the year 7018 (1510), May 22, about the exemption from duties of the peasants who will live on the monastery land in Korel and the prohibition of cutting down the monastery forest. Given in Moscow signed by clerk Frolov. List from the charter of Sovereign John Vasilyevich given to the Valaam abbot Nikodim 7086 (1578), June 18th. With this document, at the request of the Abbot, as it says “for the German war, that they were fought by the Svei Germans,” the monastery brewery on Kovda with its yard, the mill with crops and land, for which they previously took rent to the Tsar’s treasury “at twenty seven altyns and two money per year,” were exempted from duties. (It is not clear from the charter whether such an amount was due from each article, or whether this is the total amount of this quitrent.) The monastery peasants were exempted not only from various duties performed in kind, but also from the court of the royal tiuns, with the provision of judgment over them to the Abbot and his brethren, even in cases of murder; but the trial of the Abbot and the brethren, in the event of someone’s search, the Sovereign left to himself, or, in the words of the letter, “I judge the Tsar and the Grand Duke, or my butler of the Bolshov Palace.” It was also not ordered to take duties from monastic carts and ships sent both to purchase products for the monastery and to sell monastic works to Moscow or any other city; and from the monastery salt, sent “to Kholmogory or Turchasovo and to the trading shores.” However, the number of carts is determined “in winter on sturgeon sleighs and horses, and in summer on sturgeon carts.” – Finally, monastic fishing on Lake Ladoga with the elders, servants, catchers and peasants living with them were exempted from all duties. – Given in Moscow. The benefits granted by this charter were fully approved by the Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich in 7093 (1585), January 14, under Abbot Gennady; about which a special inscription was made on the original document described above, signed by clerk Bogdan Ksenofontov. A list from the charter of the Tsar and Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich and the Tsarina and Grand Duchess Irina, given to Abbot David in 7106 (1598), November 18, about the establishment in the Valaam Monastery of the royal treasury “for the destruction of the Swiss” church, cell and fence as before; At the same time, the rights of the monastery to ancient estates, fishing grounds and all sorts of other lands were confirmed, granted to charters “to possess as before.” – Given in Moscow signed by clerk Boris Ksenofontov. List from the letter of Sovereign Alexy Mikhailovich to the Novgorod voivode Prince Vasily Grigorievich Romodanovsky, given in 7185 (1677), December 11. - This letter ordered the builder Euthymiy with the archimandrite of the Yuryev Monastery and the brethren to give a trial regarding the bell of the Vasilievsky Monastery, to seek from the court all sorts of claims to the point of direct action, and to investigate the transfer of that bell from the Yuryev Monastery to the Vasilievsky Monastery according to the decree of the Great Sovereign and according to the Council Code and according to the consideration of Romodanovsky; and so on. Given in Moscow signed by clerk Evstrat Frolov. Copies from some ancient acts A copy of the Landmark Note, made by the Valaam Abbot Macarius and other elders with the townspeople of the Svan Portage, in 7114 (1606), on May 25, about the amicable resolution of the dispute that arose between them about land and forest, that in that “disputed land and in the forest they amicably reconciled with those townspeople and the boundaries moved away and the borders were created and they wrote love notes between themselves on both sides.” – What follows is a description of the boundaries and other conditions. This record is concluded as follows: “And this record is between us forever, and for that, the Bishop of Korelsky clerk Yakov Grigoriev, son of Rukkulskaya, and the sovereign’s clerk third officer Ivan Pentyushin, and the Sakul Mikhailovsky churchyard priest Ephraim Ivanov’s son, and Vasily, and the record was written by the Valaam Monastery in the state sexton Ivanko Grigoriev.” A copy of the petition submitted by the Valaam builder Euthymius and his brothers to Sovereign Alexy Mikhailovich. – Having initially mentioned that after the destruction of the Valaam Monastery by the Swedes, they asked Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich for the empty Vasilyevsky Monastery, where they built a church, cells and a fence “and every monastic building”, saved by them from the Valaam treasury, they complain that, due to the false petition of the Yuryev Archimandrite Nifont, In 7145 (1637), the palace clerk Philip Artsybashev, “according to promises and a strike in accordance with the archimandrite,” sent from Novgorod to the Vasilyevsky Monastery the clerk Mikhail Semenov with the Yuryev servants, who forcibly took from them five bells transported from Valaam, and sent them to the Yuryev Monastery, and that although on a complaint to their father the Sovereign It was ordered to give those bells back, but the Yuryevsky archimandrite returned four bells, keeping the fifth, blessed, at 40 poods, and despite a new complaint to the Sovereign Alexy Mikhailovich himself, “and to this day they have not given back those bells.” - Now they ask for its return again, concluding their petition like this: “so that we, the poor, do not bother you, the Great Sovereign, about that Valaam bell in the future. Tsar Sovereign, please have mercy.” A copy of a note or agreement concluded in 7159 (1651), on July 19, by the trustee of the Trinity Pechensky Monastery, the cathedral elder Savvaty, with the blessing of his abbot Joasaph, with the hegumen of the Valaam and Vasilievsky monastery Savvaty and other elders on the acceptance by the Pechensky Monastery of the fishing industry belonging to the Valaam Monastery as a quitrent. “by the sea in the Kola court 5, in the volost in Kovda” and other lands in different places, including a salt pan, for a period of 30 years from 1652, that is, until 1683, “and give them kortoms to the Valaam and Vasilievsky monasteries for a year for ten rubles.” A copy of a letter (without indicating the year) from the above-mentioned Trinity Pechensky Monastery of Abbot Joasaph to a certain Yuri Petrovich, whom the Abbot asks to assist the elder Savvaty sent from him or to buy the lands of the Valaam Monastery or, at least, to take it to court. – From the previous note you can see how this deal ended. But the monks of the Pechensky Monastery did not fulfill their obligation; meanwhile, after the agreement of 1651 concluded between the Vasilyevsky and Pechensky monasteries, this latter, nine years later, was assigned to the Cross Monastery; Thus, the Vasilyevsky-Valaam Monastery not only did not receive the slightest payment for its lands, but all of them were appropriated by the Cross Monastery, as can be seen from the following copy: A copy of a letter from the Kargopol district of Kiya Island of the Cross Monastery of Archimandrite Sergius and the builder Elder Isaiah to the builder of the Vasilievsky Monastery, the great Elder Savvaty, written in 7170 (1662). From this letter it is revealed that the Vasilievsky monks, having learned about the registration of the Pechensky Monastery to the Cross, sent there demanding payment of quitrent money for their lands. They responded to this demand with a real letter that in 7166 (that is, 1658, and below is shown 7168, or 1660, probably a typo in some place), Sovereign Alexy Mikhailovich granted that Pechensky Monastery, which is in the Kola fort, “with land, with rivers and lakes, and with salts and with toni, and with all fisheries to the Cross Monastery to the patrimony forever and ever, motionless.” – A little further it reads: “And according to the Sovereign Tsar’s (and so on) decree, and according to the charter of the Pechensky Monastery, those fields, and all the lands and fisheries, have been in possession since 7168 (1660), and we sent elders from the Cross Monastery to those fields; and why the elders of the Pechensk Monastery in past years owned those fields and we don’t know about that, because we didn’t own those fields at that time.” “Then they conclude the letter like this: “You, gentlemen, would have known about this.” A copy of the petition submitted to the Sovereigns John and Peter Alekseevich (hence, between 1682–1696) from the Archimandrite of the Tikhvin Monastery Macarius and his brethren (without indicating the year) for permission to transfer the relics of the Venerable Sergius and Herman from the Valaam Monastery, which was at that time in the possession of the Swedes, to the Tikhvin Monastery (called the Great Monastery). The petitioners say that the city of Korela (Kexholm) has been under the rule of the Moscow state since ancient times; that the Valaam monastery is called the Most Honorable Lavra, that the holy relics of its founders, the Venerable Sergius and Herman, “to this day remain there in the depths of the earth.” - The Swedes, or, according to the exact expression of the petitioners, “Svei Germans,” having taken possession of the Korel region, devastated the Valaam monastery, burned the churches in it, expelled the monks, put some of them to death, and desecrated the relics of the Holy Saints. – A Lutheran settled in the very place where the monastery was; There is a legend among the surrounding Orthodox residents that this Lutheran wanted to take out the relics of the Saints from the bowels of the earth and mock them, but, struck by a sudden relaxation of the whole body, he abandoned his intention and built a small chapel over the place where the holy relics rest. In the Korel region, in which Orthodoxy flourished, there were few Christians left under the Greek-Russian law, due to the great persecution against them; Most of the inhabitants were converted to Lutheranism through threats, torture and executions. – The petitioners mention the biography of Saints Sergius and Herman, which, unfortunately, has been lost. The note under this copy says that the original list of the petition was written on a long column in ancient handwriting and brought from Tikhvin to the Valaam Monastery by the Valaam hieromonk Macarius, with the blessing of Metropolitan Ambrose. This petition, written between 1682–1696, remained without further consequences; it is not even known whether it was presented anywhere. A copy of a petition, or letter, from Archimandrite Kirillo-Beloezersky Monastery Irinarch to Bishop Aaron of Korel and Ladoga, who asks for a pastoral blessing to prepare forest for the construction of a church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God with a chapel of the Apostles Peter and Paul, on Valaam Island, according to the Highest order to build a monastery, given in 1715. – The time of writing is not indicated; but must date it to 1715 or 1716, as appears from the following document. A copy of the decree of Bishop Aaron dated February 16, 1717 on permission for Archimandrite Irinarch to carry out the proposed construction of churches. A copy of the second letter of Archimandrite Irinarch, by which he requests from the Most Reverend Aaron the consecrated antimensions for the newly built churches on Valaam - the Transfiguration of the Lord with the chapels of the Apostles John the Theologian and St. Andrew the First-Called. – The writing time is not specified. The other two letters of Archimandrite Irinarch: one to Bishop Aaron in 1720, the other to Hieromonk Joseph, are particularistic and do not contain anything interesting. A copy of the decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna, which followed from the Kola Chancellery to the builder of the Valaam Monastery and the brethren, dated August 12, 1732. - By this Decree, the Valaam Monastery, which belonged to it before the devastation by the Swedes, was located in the Kola district, in the Kovskaya volost, was returned to the Valaam Monastery, a salt pan, fisheries, a mill, hayfields, a courtyard (courtyard), according to the previous charters of 7015 (1507), (1540) and (1598) and according to scribe books (1608), (1609) and (1610). A copy of the most loyal report of the Governing Senate, Supremely approved on October 16, 1732. Regarding the importance of the information given in this document for the history of the Valaam monastery, a copy of it is attached here: “To Her Imperial Majesty, Autocrat of All Russia, a most submissive report from the Senate. Your Imperial Majesty is struck with the brow of the Kexholm district of the Valaam monastery by the builder of the monk Joseph and his brethren: in the past few years this monastery was awarded, according to letters of grant from the ancestors of Your Imperial Majesty, patrimonial land with peasants and fishing grounds and lands, and that monastery was devastated by the Sveisky king twice, and by the surrender of the city of Korela Tsar Theodore Ioannovich granted ownership to that monastery of their ancient patrimony and fishing and hay cuttings from the land, according to letters of grant and scribe books. And in 1718, after the second return of the city of Korela, with the permission of Your Imperial Majesty’s uncle, His Imperial Majesty Peter the Great of blessed memory, churches were built in that monastery with a chapel and one of them was not consecrated, and there was no fence around the monastery and they needed bells, and there was nothing to correct the aforementioned destruction. And the above-mentioned villages are in the possession of various landowners, and other vedamas in the Palace Chancellery, and so that for the above-mentioned destruction and poverty of them near the monastery, the fence and their ancient bells, which the former Bishop Theodos sold, are redeemed with a reward and the letters granted to them are signed, and for food and for church needs, grant them in the Korelsky district their ancient estates with hay fields and fishing grounds, and their ancient salt pan, and the mill, and the monastery courtyard, and reaping, and all sorts of lands in the Kovda volosts, and from the ancient fishing grounds they caught the circle of that monastery, from which they pay to the Kexholm office 2 rubles 32 altyns and 3 half-dengi, no rent demand." And in the copies of the letters of grant attached to this petition one can see: In the first: “7015, March 12th, Grand Prince Vasily Ioannovich of All Russia granted abbot Joachim and the brethren who serve in the Valaam monastery, or whoever else will be hegumen after him, who the peasants will learn to live on their monastery lands in Korel, in their villages and hamlets, and from those people the Governors of Novgorod and the suburbs will not have food have, do not hold camps for them, do not take taxes from them or their people, do not allow anyone to come to them or their peasants, do not cut any forests for them and do not have any reserves.” In the second: “7048, March 11th day, Grand Duke John Vasilyevich of All Russia granted the Valaam monastery the builder Isaiah and the priests and brethren, or whoever other builders or abbot after him will be in that monastery, if murder occurs in their villages or on the island, and if murder is not sought, let them be our Viceroys of Korel and The Oreshenskys have four rubles for their heads (viras), and what’s more, there are no viras for sale.” In the third: “On the 18th day of June 7086, the Tsar and Grand Duke John Vasilyevich of All Russia granted the Valaam Monastery abbot Nicodemus and his brethren, or another abbot will be after him, for the Suveian War, their monastery brewery by the sea, and the visiting monastery yard, mill, reapings and lands, and from that brewhouse, from the yard, from the mill and from married and not to have any taxes from the land; He granted fishing so much that near the island on Lake Ladoga, he did not order any dues from fishermen, servants and peasants...” In the fourth: “7106, November on the 18th day, the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich of all Russia and our Tsarina and Grand Duchess Irina, the Valaam monastery was granted abbot David and his brethren, or whoever else will be abbot after him, for their needs and patience from the devastation of Suey, the devastated Valaam ordered The monastery, with its royal treasury, will build a church and a refectory, and a fence, and erect cells as before, and their ancient patrimony. Hegumen David with the brethren of the Valaam Monastery will call the peasants to them, to own as before, and their ancient patrimony and fishing, and all other lands, according to our letters of grant and according to the scribe books, they were ordered to own it in the old way, and to give these benefits, and from that Valaam patrimony, they did not order any tributes and staves. And these letters according to the petition of Abbots David with the brethren in 7106, August on the 12th day, and 7124 on the 7th day, Abbot Theodorit with the brethren in 7157, March on the 5th day, and Abbot Cyprian with the brethren, Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Feodorovich, Sovereigns Kings and Grand Dukes Mikhail Feodorovich, Alexey Mikhailovich, All Russia Autocrats, having listened to these letters of grant, and having heard them, granted the Hegumen and his brethren, or whoever else would be abbot after them, ordered these letters of grant to be signed in the names of their Sovereigns and Grand Dukes and did not order anything or anyone to violate these letters of grant, but ordered to walk according to those in these letters of grant it is written, and in the scribe book of the Kola fort and the Kola district of the Pomeranian volosts and Lopsky churchyards of 7116, 7117 and 7119 it is shown - in the Kovde volost there is a courtyard near the Valaam monastery, and given from different people to that monastery in the possession of 3 bows 1/2, along those bows there are fishing grounds and hayfields, and a boilhouse and a mill. And in the extract from the Novgorod provincial office of this monastery for peasants it is written: According to the scribe books of 7031 on the Valaam Monastery in the Nikolsky Serdobolsky churchyard, 26 sokh 1/3. Yes, according to the Orekhovsky and Korelsky quitrent awards to books, there are 56 villages in various churchyards and villages, which were deserted due to the destruction of the world and from squalor and from the escape of the peasants. And according to a certificate from the above-mentioned villages: Serdobolsky churchyard, by decrees of your uncle Your Imperial Majesty, His Imperial Majesty Peter the Great, blessed in memory, was given to Field Marshal General Count Bruce. And then it was in possession by purchase for Menshikov and in 728 6 was assigned to the Palace, and last year, 730, according to your Imperial Majesty’s personal decree, that graveyard was ordered to be behind the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, and in that graveyard there used to be 238 households, and according to the census books of 728 in 67 villages of pastors, priests, peasants and 686 households. Rautskaya in 727, by decree of the nephew of Your Imperial Majesty Peter the Second, sent from the Supreme Privy Council, to give possession to Stefan Lopukhin; in that churchyard there were previously 87 courtyards, and according to the new revision in 729 - 194 courtyards. Salminskaya in 725, by decree of Your Majesty's aunt, Empress Ekaterina Alexievna of blessed memory, was given to the Petergovsky manor Karl Arnaider and his descendants for eternal possession; in that churchyard there were previously 63 courtyards 1/4, and according to the new revision in 729 - 186 courtyards. In the Pigiarvsky churchyard, 17 villages, in them 81 courtyards, in 721, by the verdict of the College of Justice, were given into the possession of Count Matveev at his request before the decree. And last year 730, October 2 days, by a personal decree of Your Imperial Majesty, after the death of him, Matveev, in the above-described Pigiyarvi churchyard, the courtyards were ordered to be in the possession of the son of his Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment under the captain Count Matveev in eternal possession. You will leave the same Pigiyarvsky churchyard behind the dacha of Count Matveev. 61 courtyards in 726, by decree of the aunt of Your Imperial Majesty, Empress Ekaterina Aleksievna of blessed memory, were given to the state councilor Potemkin after his death, which are still owned by him, Potemkin. And in the year 726, by decree of Your Majesty’s aunt, Empress Ekaterina Alexievna of blessed memory, the Kimvarskaya and Kuegiotskaya churchyards were assigned and are now the dining estates of Her Highness the Tsesarevna Elisaveta Petrovna. In the Sakulsky churchyard, according to the inventory, leave 68 courtyards in 713, by the verdict of the former St. Petersburg provincial chancellery, they were given to Count Platon Musin-Pushkin, at his request, into possession until the decree, and now for him, Count Musin-Pushkin, and the rest of the same Sakulsky graveyard 23 courtyards are in the palace department. And last year, 731, November 23rd, by decree of Your Imperial Majesty, signed on a report from the Senate by Your Imperial Majesty’s own hand, it was ordered that the former salt pan, mill and monastery courtyard be given into the possession of that monastery; and in the Kovde volost, reap from the land, if not in distribution, but report the return from the village remaining behind the distribution to Your Imperial Majesty in St. Petersburg. For the sake of Your Imperial Majesty, the Senate most submissively informs and demands this decree. The authentic one is signed with the following: On the actual report the resolution is as follows: The twenty-three households left for distribution in the Sakul churchyard, as described above, should be given to the Valaam Monastery as before, and also the fishing grounds of that monastery will be owned without payment. Signed by Her Imperial Majesty's own hand as follows: The resolution was signed on October 16, 1732. And finally, a copy of the decree of the Governing Senate of the Kamor College, dated October 26, 1732, on the implementation of the above-mentioned Highest command. Unforgettable for the Valaam Monastery, His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel summoned the Sarov Elder Nazarius to establish the monastery in 1782; At the same time, the cenobitic regulations of the Sarov Hermitage were introduced for Valaam monks. With the spiritual experience of Elder Nazarius, with the severity of his rules, monastic life developed on Valaam on solid foundations. – Elder Nazarius, summoned from his Sarov seclusion to new labors on deserted Valaam, received the following letter as a blessing from this Archpastor: By the Grace of God 7 Humble Gabriel Metropolitan of Velikago Nova Grad and St. Petersburg The most merciful God, concerned about the salvation of every person, assured us of His love for mankind by appearing in this world in the flesh, so that he would bring everyone to the knowledge of saving truth, with which assurance he arranges various means for the disposition and thus each person, in order to remove a person from temptations and make his will inclined to promote His goodness: and as the most zealous along the way virtuous, so he also prepared places for those wavering from temptations that corresponded to their location, so that with greater convenience and grace they could raise their thoughts to the Throne of His Majesty and unite their spirit with Him. Such is the island of Valaam on Lake Ladoga, formerly called Nevo. Its removal from the shores brings those who live on it complete solitude from the rumors of everyday life. This is testified by the holy Fathers Sergius and Herman, Alexander Svirsky, Kirill Beloezersky, Savvaty and other monks who have shone with the holiness of their lives. - It was narrated about them in the life of the Monk Savvaty of Solovetsky, as if they had a very active life, working day and night in good pleasure; They get food from the labor of their hands. We, having so many clouds testifying, see by the providence of the Savior of the world that this island was arranged for the sojourn of monastics and, in accordance with our duty, care for their salvation, in order to restore in it a village of saints and thereby bring a pleasing sacrifice to the Savior of the world Jesus Christ, we establish: that the rules of the preserved Sarov desert will always be contained in it immutably. For this reason, and through the call from the Sarov Desert of the honorable father, Hieromonk Nazarius, we know of his exploits and zeal to establish monastics in a saving life. We entrust these rules for continuous storage in the Valaam Monastery to him, and we confirm this with this document, sealed and signed by our hand. – We bow the knees of our hearts to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from Him every fatherland in heaven and on earth is named, that He might grant them, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His spirit in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith; that they may be able to understand the love of Christ that abounds in their minds, and that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, may guard their hearts and understandings, and may they fulfill every demand according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Amen. - This letter was given in the reigning city of St. Petersburg, year of the universe 7295, incarnation of the Word of God 1784, March on the 9th day. II. Around the Zelenetsky Monastery Section one. In general, about the antiquities of the Zelenetsky Monastery. Cathedral Church. The largest part of the buildings of the Zelenetsky Monastery belongs to the time of His Grace Cornelius, Metropolitan of Novgorod and Veliko-Lutsk, that is, the 17th century; very few stone buildings, namely the abbot's cells and the hotel, were built in the present century. There are no buildings built before Metropolitan Cornelius, although the Zelenetsky Monastery has existed since the 15th century. The Right Reverend Cornelius began his monastic life in the Zelenetsky Monastery. Soon, after being tonsured as a monk, he was made Abbot of the Great Tikhvin Monastery. The love for solitude and a deserted place (as the Zelenetsky monastery is to this day) inspired the Right Reverend, leaving his abbot position, to return as a private person to the silent Zelenetsky monastery. But he did not enjoy solitude for long; he was soon promoted to Metropolitan of Kazan, and in 1674 he was transferred to the Metropolis of Novgorod. The Archpastor managed to spend some time before his death in retirement in the Zelenetsky Monastery, where he died. While at the Novgorod See, His Grace Cornelius brought the Zelenets monastery into a flourishing state: he delivered to it the lands that it now owns, and many others that have already moved away from it; He also built a cathedral church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity, a warm church in the name of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, a bell tower, abbots' and fraternal cells and a fence. Therefore, these buildings belong to the end of the 17th century. All of them are built very solidly, and the churches, especially the cathedral, are not without architectural dignity. Probably, the monastery had a sufficient number of things and books before the time of His Grace Cornelius; It is likely that the Archpastor supplied his beloved monastery with many things and a library; It is also likely that very little remains of this collection at this time. But the Zelenetsky Monastery was subjected to the general disasters of the region: at the beginning of the 17th century it was destroyed by the Swedes; It was also destroyed by fires more than once. In addition, he suffered a special kind of disaster after the death of his renewer. – In 1765, a crowd of 23 schismatics captured the monastery, drove the monks out of there and locked themselves in its high walls. This last disaster destroyed a lot of church and monastery property, especially books and manuscripts, and this same disaster, so recent, explains the scarcity of objects in the Zelenetsky monastery for archaeological description. The most remarkable building of the monastery, as mentioned above, is its cathedral church. In the basement floor they rest under the relics of the Venerable Martyrius, the founder of the monastery, and next to him rests the builder of the church, the Most Reverend Cornelius. – The gates to the upper floor of the church are in ancient style – patterned, semicircular towards the top. The arch in which they are placed is lined with tiles, and there is an inscription on it explaining the time of construction of the church: “In the summer of 7192 (1684), with the favor of the Trinity of the glorified God, this church was created under the power of the Great Sovereigns Tsars and Grand Dukes John Alekseevich and Peter Alekseevich of Moscow of all Russia, and under His Holiness Joachim Patriarch. For the blessing of His Eminence Cornelius, Metropolitan of the Great Nova Grad and Velikiye Luki. Through His diligence and dependence, for the worship of Christians, and for the gathering of all the chosen flock.” In the iconostasis of this church, two ancient local icons are worthy of attention: the Life-Giving Trinity - on the right side, and on the left - the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The image of the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity measures 2 arshins in height and 2 arshins in width. There are 26 separate stamps on it with the following inscriptions: 1. Above the first mark: “God create heaven and earth... And God said: let there be light!” (Gen. 1.1–3). 2. “God created the firmament” (Gen. 1.7). “And God separate between the firmaments that are under the heavens” (these words are not in the book of Genesis). 3. “And God said: let the waters be gathered together, even under the firmament (in the Bible: under the heavens) ... and the dry land appear (Gen. 1:9).” 4. “And God said: let there be light, even in the firmament of heaven... between day and night!”... (Gen. 1. 14. And God said: let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to illuminate the earth, and to separate between day and night)... The mark depicts, among other things, the Archangel Michael, slaying the fallen spirits, and below are the open jaws of the hellish serpent. 5. “And God said: Let the creeping things and cattle be carried away, and everything that crawls on the earth, and everything that is under the firmament of heaven” (see Gen. 1. 20. And God said: Let the waters of the creeping things take away the souls of the living, and the birds that fly on the earth through the firmament of heaven). 6. “And God said: Let Us create man in Our image and likeness... and God create man and wife” (see Gen. 1. 26, 27. And God created man, in the image of God created him; husband and wife created He them). The Lord of Hosts also depicts the very dust from which He creates the human body. 7. “And God bless the seventh day, and sanctify it... and rest from all His works” (see Gen. 2.3. And God bless the seventh day, and sanctify it: as on that night from all His works, which God began to create). 8. “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him (Gen. 4:8). And the Lord God put a sign on Abel and God sent two turtledoves and showed a sign” (these words are not in the Bible, but the sign of turtledoves, of course, was a sign to Adam and Eve about killing and hiding the body in the ground. In the same mark, Seth is depicted writing... under the guidance of an Angel). 9 . “And thou shalt make an ark of rotten trees, and tar it”... (see Gen. 6. 14. Make thyself, God says to Noah, an ark of rotten trees, square, make nests in the ark, and tar it inside and outside with pitch. - This is how it is read correctly in the Bible.) “And God beat Noah, even as every living thing is gathered together.” In the mark, Noah is depicted beating the beater. 10. “The Lord God spoke to Abraham: come out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and come to the land that I will show you.” 11. The image in the special mark of Abraham’s journey itself is indicated by an inscription that is not in the Bible: “The angel of the Lord seated Abraham on two depths, and he himself sat on the wing (of one of the doves, next to Abraham, as can be seen from the image), and the display of great fire” (the mouth of a fire-breathing mountain with two Angels standing under it is depicted). 12. “Abraham saw fire and dew and many angels in heaven” (not in the Bible). 13. “Abraham saw many fiery Incorporeal Ones” (not in the Bible). 14. “Abraham looked with his eyes, and saw and behold. And the angel said to him: take a three-year-old young woman, a ram, a turtle dove and a dove” (Gen. 15. 8, 9: Sovereign Lord! why do I understand that the imam will inherit this land? He said to him: take me a three-year-old young woman, and a three-year-old goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtle dove and a dove). The mark itself depicts three Angels and Abraham slaughtering a young woman. 15. “The angel of the Lord shows the throne, covering both the living creatures and the chariot with fire” (not in the Bible). 16. “Abraham saw many spiritual and incorporeal beings in heaven” (there is no indication in the Bible). 17. “And the Lord God spake unto Abraham, commanding the generation, and gave him a servant to wife. And Abraham will lead Sarah." – In the 16th chapter of Genesis there is an indication of this event in the life of Abraham. But the mark depicts: the appearance of God to Abraham; the Angel giving Hagar to Sarah, and Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham. 18. “As Abraham sat at the door (of his tent), God appeared to him in three Persons, and Abraham arose and worshiped the Lord” (there is an indication in the Bible, chapter 18). 19. “Abraham is the mind of the feet of the Holy Trinity” (indication in the same 18th chapter). 20. “And Abraham slaughtered a bullock to serve the Holy Trinity” (indication in chapter 18). 21. “Abraham set up the table of the Holy Trinity” (indication in chapter 18). 22. “Abraham bows to the Holy Trinity. The Lord is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah” (indication there). 23. “Two angels brought Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah and his two daughters” (Genesis chapter 19). 24. “The Petrification of Lot’s Wife” (Genesis, chapter 19). 25. “God spoke to Abraham: Abraham! If you truly love God, take your son Isaac and kill him as a sacrifice” (Genesis, chapter 22). 26. "The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Apostles." Under the image itself there is an inscription: “Summer 7185 (1677 from R. X.), this image was painted by the icon painter Mikhail Korniliev.” The image of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Apostles - a measure, 2 1/2 arshins in height, and 2 arshins and 6 vershoks in width. In this image, along the upper field in the middle three marks are depicted: the Trinitarian Deity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, in all the glory of the Divine, that is, surrounded by the cathedrals of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and other Ethereal Powers. The next four upper marks depict the Crucifixion, Entombment, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, in the same place, in the outer two marks, our Lord Jesus Christ is depicted, teaching His holy disciples and Apostles separately His Most Pure Body in the form of bread (in the mark on the left side) and His Most Pure Blood in the form of wine (in the mark on the right side). Inscriptions above the side stamps. 1. “The Holy Apostle Peter preached the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ first in Judea, also in Antioch, in Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia, in Asia and Bithynia (see Acts of the Apostles, ch. 1-5; Pet. 1. 1), and in Italy and Illyricum. When they went down to Rome, and then in Rome, Saint Peter, under King Nero, quickly drank headlong, according to his own will. He was buried quickly in the same Rome in the month of June on the 29th day.” (See: Church Biblical History of Philaret; Cheti-Minea, June 29). 2. “Andrew the First-Called, brother of Petrov, preaching the Gospel of Christ in Finia (in Bithynia), Pontus and Arminia, Rosnoy and Sudgay, and Gorsin; the sermon is also in Sevastopol Velitsa, where there is a regiment of Asyreysk, Aksarovi and Suliminiy and Farsiny, where the Muri live. And he went down even to Hellas, and was crucified on the cross at Patrekh Ahaisteh.” The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called is depicted crucified on an ordinary cross, and not on the one on which this Apostle is depicted crucified everywhere. 3. “Jacob Zebedee, brother of John the Evangelist. He was sent to those who were scattered, preaching the Gospel of Christ; from Herod, the Tetrarch of Judea, for the sake of prosperity, was killed with a sword.” 4. “John the Evangelist and Theologian, brother of Jacob, lie down on the foreheads of Christ. – In Asia the Gospel is preached by Christ; from Troyan, the king of Rome (sent) to imprisonment in Patomsky Otok, a word for the sake of the Lord, and he wrote it and gave it (the word of the Lord) to Gaius the stranger. After the end (death) of Troyan, he returned from Otok to Ephesus, and she lived in her cellar, born in the summer of 120, by the Will of God.” – Here John’s disciples, the Ephesians, are depicted mourning and covering their beloved teacher John with a grave board, crossing his apostolic hands on his chest, and, as if for the last time, speaking to them: “Children! love each other! 5. "Philip the Apostle. This is from Bethsaida the Petrovs and Andreevs; in upper Phrygia the Gospel of Christ was preached. In Erapol they were crucified headlong under Ditian, and he was buried gloriously by his own.” 6. “Bartholomew, also of Galada, preached the Gospel of Christ to India, and wrote the Holy Good News of Matthew, who wrote it in his own language. In the city of Alphenia, in Greater Armenia, he was crucified headlong, and he was buried in the Alavan of the great ramen.” 7. “Thomas the Apostle, as tradition writes, was from Paneada Dagonleisk; Parf and Mead preached the Gospel of Christ, Persian and Herman, Ierakan and Indian and Victor and Maurus, and from them the city of Kalamidstem was pierced with a spear.” 8. “Matthew the Evangelist went to Jerusalem. You yourself wrote the Gospel of Christ in Hebrew, and translated the Theologian from Hebrew into Greek. In Erapoli, he was pierced by a sword and died quickly and was buried. An elder (elder) became a publican, but when elected he became an Apostle. The first scribe of the Holy Mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ." – The Greek Menaion says that this Apostle was tortured by fire, but he extinguished it with his prayer; lived after that and died in peace. See Biblical history of Metropolitan Philaret, p. 586). 9 . “Jacob Alfeov, like Matthew’s brother, has more than his father’s property. Having preached the seed with the Divine naming through the language of Christ, you were enriched, as if you were moving towards preaching. And having strongly denounced the unpunished councils, he was hanged on the cross and betrayed the Spirit to God.” 10. “Judas Jacob, brother of Jacob our Lord Jesus Christ. The same thing happened in Mesopotamia; the last one was hanged on a tree by the infidels, and he died from (them) being shot.” 11. “Simon the Zealot, like Cana of Galilee, like Nathanael in the gospel. That one will go through all of Mauritania and the African country. He also came to Britania and preached Christ, and died on the cross.” 12. “Matthias is one of the 70 disciples, who was numbered among the ten Apostles, Judas the place of Iscariot; preaching the Gospel of Christ in outer Ethiopia, and receiving that torment from the Ethiopians at the refuge.” Depicted being beaten with clubs. Outside the number of 12 Apostles at the bottom of the icon are depicted: “James, the brother of God (depicted in the robe of the saint), the first Bishop in Jerusalem, was ordained by Christ, overthrown from the roof of the church, beaten by the Jews with a stone, and finally crushed with a whitening tree, and thus died.” “Stephen, full of faith and power, perform great signs and wonders among people. Netius rose from the host and contended with Stefan. Stephen sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God (here the Lord of Hosts is depicted on the Throne). Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned by the Jews by 7 deacons, by 70 disciples, and died.” Here, at the bottom of the icon, in a special stamp, the holy Supreme Apostle Peter is depicted sitting on a throne and holding the keys in his right hand, and in the shuytse there is a scroll on which is inscribed: “As you are Peter, and on this stone I will build My Church.” Further there are depicted the acts of the Holy Apostle Paul in four stamps with the inscription: “Paul is the Apostle and Supreme Apostle, surpassing all the Apostles in Divine zeal and faith in Christ. Preaching Christ from Jerusalem even to Illyricum" (epistle of the Apostle Paul to Rome). “And the breathing wind was driven to the edge, but the warrior’s advice was to kill the prisoner, so that no one would escape the swim. The centurion, although he seduced (observe. See the book of the Apostolic Acts, chapter 27, v. 40-44) Paul, forbade their advice. Ovi on the clothes, Ovi on nothing from the ship and so everyone could be saved. Having escaped from the sinking of the ship, you went to the island in tears. And Paul kindled a fire, and vipers came out because of the heat, and I cut him off in the hand. (See Acts 28. 1-3) And having come to Rome, he was beheaded with a sword by the command of Nero.” Section two. Items contemporary with Metropolitan Cornelius. Items that personally belonged to him. Antique utensils. From the time of the Most Reverend Cornelius the following have been preserved: 1. Altar cross with the signature: “In the summer of 7203 (1695 R. X.), the month of October, this silver gilded cross with the relics of saints was built by the Great Master, His Eminence Cornelius, Metropolitan of the Great Nova Grad and Velikiye Luki, in the Trinity Zelenetskaya monastery with his cell treasury; it weighs 178 spools.” In this cross there are holy relics: the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew; Dionysius the Areopagite; Gregory the Theologian; holy righteous Lazarus; Saint Theodore Tyrone; Saint Michael of Sinadsky; St. Anastasius of Sinadtsky; Saint James of Persia; Holy Martyr Tatiana; Saint Martyr Eustathius and Saint Euthymius of Suzdal. 2. Antique folding frames, measuring five vershoks, in a silver-gilded frame. These foldings depict: In the middle is the Deesis, that is, the Savior with the forthcoming Mother of God and the Forerunner. On the sides of the folding folds in two compartments are depicted the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Venerables - Kirill Beloezersky, Anthony the Roman, Varlaam Khutynsky and Alexander Svirsky. Along the margins around the main image of the Deesis and on the doors there are a total of 20 chased images. And precisely: above is the Lord of Hosts with two Angels on either side, kneeling and holding the Honorable Cross, a cane and a spear; in the squares are four Evangelists; on the sides are Saint Basil the Great, Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Pachomius and Anthony of Siysk. Below: Saints Zosima and Savvaty, Saints Nikita and John of Novgorod and Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra; on the creations: the holy martyr Vasily of Ankira and the holy martyr Paraskeva 8. This sacred antiquity was kept for a long time behind glass in the abbot's cells to protect it from dampness, and is now in the church. Recently the chasing was cleaned and the damage in the painting was partially corrected as much as possible. On one of the altar Gospels, in a silver setting, there is an inscription: “In the summer of 7184 (1676 A.D.), the month of August, this Gospel was built by the Great Master, His Eminence Cornelius, Metropolitan of the Great Nova Grad and Velikiye Luki, to the Holy Monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity and the Venerable Abbot Martyrius in the Green Desert.” – But the sheets of the Gospel do not fit the binding format, and the seal itself dates back to the time of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, therefore, only one binding remains from the ancient Gospel. Of the things that personally belonged to the Monk Cornelius, few have survived to this day. - Of these: five hoods of an ancient form (one completely dilapidated), a short cell epitrachelion - are preserved in the sacristy, and at the tomb of St. Cornelius - a wooden staff with three apples or balls lined with silver, of which on the first one can see the chased inscription: “Velikago Nova Grad and Velikiye Luki.” In addition, in a special wooden case, also placed at the tomb of St. Cornelius, the mantle, hood and rosary are preserved. – On this case, arranged in the shape of a long and very narrow quadrangular column, there is an inscription: “Summer 7185 (1677 A.D.), August 6th, Cornelius Metropolitan was transferred from Kazan to Novgorod, and taken to Kazan from the Zelenetsk Hermitage, and before that time he was an archimandrite in Tikhvin. And he left the Metropolis, descended from the throne to the Zelenets Hermitage, building his 7203 (1695), March 3rd day, 4th week of Great Lent. He was on the Throne for 20 years, 7 months. He reposed in the year 7206 (1698), on the 5th day of March, in memory of the holy martyr Konon Gryadar, on Cheese Week on Friday, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and was buried in the same Zelenets Hermitage by Job Metropolitan of Great Nova Grad and Velikiye Luki, on the third Saturday of Lent, on the 26th day of March (that is, the 21st after his death). And after his departure to the Lord in the next century, it was laid down for the preservation of his Bishopric in the preceding years: A mantle with springs, a hood and a knitted black vest in this ark. “And this ark with the mantle was placed in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the Zelenetsky Monastery, on the right side, near the pillar near the abbot’s place.” – Nowadays it is located, as stated above, at the tomb of the Most Reverend Cornelius. Of the ancient utensils, seven tin dishes have survived to this day, which, presumably, were used during meals. They all have the inscriptions: On the first: “Dish of the builder, Hierodeacon Philaret Kozlovsky.” On the second and third: “Dish of the Green Desert.” On the fourth and fifth, between the letters B.F.S.K. "Dacha in the Zelenetsky Monastery." The sixth with the inscription in different handwritings: “Dish of the sacristan Varlaam”; in another handwriting: “Given to the Zelenetsky Monastery.” The seventh with the letters B.Z.M., that is, “Dish of the Zelenets Monastery.” And on the back of the margins: “Archimandrite Kiril.” The last dish with crown marks. Section three. Library: printed books. Manuscripts. In the library of the Zelenetsky Monastery, which is very meager both in quantity and in composition, 9 the only things that attract attention are the five books and two manuscripts described here. The altar gospel, in the fourth part of a sheet, is covered on the front side with a silver frame without hallmark, and with silver overlays in the middle of the Crucifixion with those present, and in the squares of the Evangelists. On the non-obverse side there are five small silver plates. This Gospel or “this God-inspired book with God’s help began to be printed,” as they say in the preface (more correctly, the afterword) placed at the end, “in the year 7156 (1648), the month of November on the 1st day, in memory of the holy Wonderworkers and unmercenary Kozma and Damian in the God-protected and reigning city of Moscow, under the power of His Blessed and Christ-loving Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexy Mikhailovich of all Russia, in the third year of his God-protected reign. This book was completed in the same year 156, the month of January, on the 6th day, on the Epiphany of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In the third year of the pious powers of the kingdom of His Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexy Mikhailovich of All Russia, Autocrat. In the sixth year of the Patriarchate of his father and pilgrim, the Great Lord Joseph, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, to the praise and glory and honor in the Trinity of the glorified God and the Most Pure Mother of God, and all the saints. Amen". On the title pages of this ancient Gospel there is the following inscription in cursive writing: “In the year 175 (1667 A.D.), on the 29th day of June, this altar Gospel, printed at noon, was covered with green velvet, a silver frame, weighing thirty-seven spools, given as an eternal treasure to the church in the name of the Holy Image Not Made by Hands, which is in Velikiy Nove Grad, on Sofia side 10, in the small town of Zemlyanoy at the end of Dobrynya Street, clerk Peter Merkuriev for the funeral of the souls of his parents, servants of God: Mercury, in the monastery Macarius, schema-nuns Zinovia, Agathia, Martha, Artemia, Stephanida, Procopius the baby, Isaac the baby, Fyodor the baby, Anna the baby, Euphrosyne the baby, Stephen the baby, Abraham the baby, Gregory the child, David the child, Zephaniah the child." This signature is concluded by the other hand: “And after this donation Peter died, and now Peter will forever be remembered for this donation in the monastery of Paisei the schemamonk” 11 The spiritual sword, which is the Verb of God, and so on, that is, teachings for Sundays and holidays, Lazar Baranovich (on the sheet). Printed in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in 1666. Original publication; for the second time this work was published in 1686. Trumpets of words for the days of the special Feasts of the Lord, the Mother of God, etc. Teachings of Lazar Baranovich, Archbishop of Chernigov. In sheet, printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from the creation of the world in 7182, and from R. X. in 1679. On the leaves of the book it is inscribed: “This God-inspired book of the Trumpet, the Life-Giving Trinity of the Sergius Monastery of the Cathedral Elder Anthony Aprelev, and I, Anthony, signed this book with my own hand, and I, Anthony, attached this book to the Zelenetsky Monastery in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity for my soul and for my parents for eternal remembrance and father Hierohegumen Ephraim and his brethren and who are ancestors after him other abbots will read this God-inspired book on the Lord's feasts and the Most Holy Theotokos and on the feasts of all the saints, which are printed in this book of life, in the Church of God, until God favors this holy monastery stands, and for me the sinful monk Anthony, while God commands me to live to be and for my relatives to pray to God, and for my parents and me, Anthony, and after my death forever remember urgently, which in this book from conception at the top deck on the top sheet 12 are written about the health of God, and forever remember for the repose, and for approval I, Anthony Aprelev, ascribed with my own hand.” – This book is in its second edition; it was first published in 1674. Octoechos, that is, osmoglasnik. Printed in Moscow in 1715, between the Patriarchate. (On the sheet.) On the leaves of the book there is an inscription: “1748, month of November. Given an octocontribution to the Staroladog St. Nicholas Monastery" 13 One, fourth part of the Philokalia, original edition, in sheet form. 1. Handwritten Synodikon 14, which, as can be seen from the inscription on the first sheet, belonged to the Old Ladoga St. Nicholas Monastery (1/4 of the sheet). First, it contains a judgment on the importance of commemorating the dead and recording names in synodics. The writer says that this custom, established by the Apostles, was observed until the Seventh Ecumenical Council: “The corrected calico received from the Holy Apostles was sent throughout the city and this honest Apostolic statute was carried out until the Seventh Council.” - Further, the writer says that this law, or “scripture,” was presented to the Council by Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, was rejected by Origen, who was condemned by the Council, and the scripture was approved unanimously. - For this reason, “a certain spiritual elder and disciple of Saint Sava the Sanctified” spoke about this subject before the Council, to whom Spyridon, Bishop of Sebastia, answered. – His answer is followed by quotes from some Fathers and the author’s own judgments. This argument takes 28 pages. What follows is a general memorial, similar to the one appended to the end of the Followed Psalter. The memorial ends with the following prayer: “Remember, Lord, the souls and those who are not remembered on earth by their relatives and loved ones, and they are not mine, but you, Lord, weigh their names yourself,” and so on; It is still written according to the rules with one hand; Further, the names themselves are written in the same charter, but with a different hand; most of them were introduced at a later time after the initial writing of the Synodicus, which is proven by the different ways of writing. In the originally written Synodikon, the names appear in this order (with spaces): Blessed Grand Dukes; Blessed Grand Duchesses; holy monks of the monastery (Nikolaevsky); monks (of the same monastery); but the names of lay persons were not in the original manuscript. This order is subsequently disrupted by a postscript between the spaces; the names of the Patriarchs of Moscow (the last Pitirim), the Blessed Princesses, the Novgorod Archbishops and Metropolitans (the last Joseph), “The Blessed Creators of this Holy Monastery,” that is, St. Nicholas - the names of Stephen, David, Dimitri are found here, but without the designation of surnames; and finally the abbots of the monastery. Among the different clans recorded in the Synodikon there are: the clan of His Holiness Philaret, Patriarch of Moscow; Zosima of Solovetsky the Wonderworker; Alexander Svirsky; Novgorod Metropolitans Isidore and Macarius; Artsybasheva; Rzhevsky; Saburovs; Kusheleva. From the markings of the days made in the margins of the Synodikon, it is clear that for each day of the week, except Sunday, a certain number of sheets were assigned for reading. It should be noted that the names of the founders of the monastery are included in the Synodik, and this could have been known to those closest to the era of the founding of the monastery, because the legend about them could not be preserved for long, due to the disasters to which the monastery was subjected. Consequently, this Synodik must belong to the first times of the monastery, that is, to the 15th century. A manuscript containing in one book (sheet) the service and life of St. Martyrius, and a chronicle of the remarkable events of the Zelenets monastery, brought to 1790, by an unknown compiler. The service to the Venerable Martyrios was compiled according to the general Menea (see in it the service: “To the One Venerable”) with the following differences: The stichera for Little Vespers were composed again, because they were not prescribed in the general Menea. The saint's troparion is also not from the general Menaion, but was composed in a special way. At Great Vespers: stichera 8 voices “I cried out to the Lord” - from the general Menaion, “Glory” of the same voice - a special stichera “and now” was composed: “Heavenly King”, but it is known that a dogmatist can change according to the instructions of the charter; - readings of proverbs according to the charter, that is, from the general Menaion. – Litiya was composed again, because lithium is not allowed in the Menaion. “Stikhovna” was also composed again, but “Glory”, “and now” are from the general Menaion. At Matins or Vigil there are sedals on the first and second verses and on the polyeleos from the general Menaion, and then sedate, prokeimenon, Gospel, stichera on Psalm 50 and the entire canon from the general Menaion. Then the luminary and the Theotokos and the stichera “on praise” were composed again. In conclusion, a charter is attached on how to conduct a service to the Monk Martyrios if his memory is served (November 11) a week, that is, on a Sunday. In the History of the Russian Hierarchy it is said that the Right Reverend Cornelius composed the life of St. Martyrius and the canon: but it is shown above that the canon was taken from the general Menaion without any change, while another canon and service are not found either in manuscripts or in print. In the parish Gostinopol church (which was once a monastery assigned to Zelenetsky) three books were found with inscriptions explaining that they once belonged to the Zelenetsky monastery. The Octoechos of the first tone has the following inscription: “On the 6th day of September 193 (1685), by decree of His Grace Cornelius, Metropolitan of the Great Nova-Grad and Velikiye Luki, the book of the Octoechos of the 1st tone was given with a signature from the Zelenets Monastery to the ascribed Gostinopol Nikolaev Monastery for a while.” The handwritten Patericon of Pechersk has an inscription proving that [the book] belongs to the Zelenetsky Monastery, and another at the end: “Glory to the Merciful God, glorified in the Most Holy Trinity, and to me, Mark, the most sinful of all, hastening and at the end of this book, who has given 1645.” In the same binding as it is a printed book on 8 pages “from the Fatherland of the Skete about the hedgehog, do not despair, but confess,” printed, 1626. Information about these books was delivered to the Zelenetsky Monastery from a local priest in 1852. III. Around the Konevsky Monastery Section one. The miraculous icon of the Konevskaya Mother of God. Parts of the Robe of the Savior and the Mother of God. Crosses. Parts of holy relics. The ladle and cover of St. Arseny. Royal deposits. Horse-stone. The Konevsky Monastery, which was twice devastated by the Swedes and began to be restored only at the beginning of the 18th century, has preserved very few remains of antiquity. Objects worthy of attention in this regard are the following. 1. The miraculous icon of the Konevskaya Mother of God, brought to Konevsky Island by the Venerable Arseny, the founder of the monastery, from Mount Athos. Abbot John blessed the Venerable Arseny with this icon, in whose monastery 15 Arseny labored at the time the holy monk decided to return to Russia. On one side of the deck there is an image of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child, on the other - the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. The deck is 3/4 arshin high, 1/2 arshin wide; Despite its antiquity, the icon was well preserved and only turned black with time. – On a dark blue background, the Mother of God is depicted with the Eternal Child, holding two pigeon chicks in Her shuytsya. This is the difference between the icon and all existing images of the Mother of God. – The pigeon chicks, reminiscent of the turtle doves sacrificed in the Temple of Jerusalem by Joseph and Mary, are together symbols of the purity, innocence and gentleness of the Infant Lord Jesus holding them. – This icon, painted in the 13th century - during the best period of Greek church painting - is remarkable for its purity and modesty of forms, which fully correspond to the rigor of icon painting of the Eastern Church, which does not allow works of willful imagination. The icon is lined on both sides with silver, gilded vestments; one of them in the image of the Mother of God is decorated with pearls and precious stones, of significant value. A small gold octagonal medallion is attached to the crown of the image of the Savior; another even smaller medallion filled with black mastic is placed here, with which part of the Robe of the Lord is filled; on the blue glass lid there is a carved image of the Savior, and on the outer medallion the Archangels Michael and Gabriel are carved with thin strokes with the inscription: “Part of the Robe of the Lord, given by Katerina Ivanovna Savelova to the builder of the Konevskaya Hermitage, Father Andrian.” Andrian was rector from 1790 to 1798. The miraculous icon of the Konevskaya Mother of God is placed in the lower Church of the Presentation of the Lord, in a separate place, opposite the northern doors of the iconostasis in a gilded icon case of remarkable workmanship, mounted on a rather spacious and elevated mahogany pedestal. In the same church, on the right side, a special chapel was built in the name of the Konevskaya Mother of God, and here are the relics of St. Arseny. – A silver tomb of excellent workmanship was built above them in 1842: the reliefs depicting some events from the life of the Reverend were executed very clearly. - It contains four pounds of silver, 28 pounds, 84 samples. 2. A small silver vase with a conical silver lid; inside there is a velvet pillow embroidered with silk flowers; a small glass reliquary is inserted here, also with a cushion, on the surface of which a small part of the Robe of the Mother of God is preserved, covered with a piece of thick crystal, which can no longer be removed. Through it one can see that the piece of Riza has the shape of an irregular star, woven from black wool. There are two inscriptions carved on the outside of the vase: one near the upper edge “Part of the honorable Robe of the Most Pure Virgin Mary,” and below the year 17 (13/VI) 96,” that is, 1796, June 13; the second inscription on the base of the vase is “Alms to the holy Konevskaya monastery from Major Peter Ivanov p. Chelishcheva". 3. An old wooden cross, 8 vershoks long, in a silver, gilded frame, on the front side there is the Crucifixion of the Lord in relief work, on the other side there is the inscription: “The relics of the chief Arseny and John the abbot.” 4. Cross with holy relics, 7 vershoks long, all in a silver frame; on the reverse side there are carved inscriptions: “Relics of Princes Yaroslav, Vasily, Constantine”; “The Relics of Nestor the Unbook”; “Relics of 14,000 thousand infants beaten”, “Relics of Lazarus and the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon”; “The relics of the Venerable Father in the monastery of St. Sava who were beaten”; "Stone from the place where the Lord's Cross was erected." 5. A wooden cross, located in the chapel near the monastery skete, 5 arshins high; The year 1740 is marked on the front end. “It’s all chewed up: those with toothache bite off small particles from it, keep them in their mouths and receive healing from toothache. – This custom has existed since time immemorial; it may have a basis in the chronicler's tale of the appearance of the Mother of God at this place to the elder Joachim, on the second journey of the Monk Arsenios to Mount Athos. 6. In four altar silver crosses and in a special ark placed at the tomb of St. Arseny, small particles from the holy relics are preserved: St. John the Baptist, St. Equal to the Apostles Constantine; John, Abbot of Konevsky (installed by the Venerable Arseny himself); Anthony the Roman, Cyrus the Unmercenary, martyrs Kirik and Julitta, martyr Mercury, Apostle Andrew the First-Called; Prince Theodore, brother of Alexander Nevsky, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, martyr Arethas, infants beaten by Herod, Savvas Stratelates and others. 7. The ladle, which served for the use of the Monk Arseny, has an oval shape and is made of Korelian birch. Subsequently, zeal and reverence for the memory of the holy man decorated this ladle along its edges with a silver frame, on which the following inscriptions were carved on the outside: “The ladle of the Venerable Father Arseny, Head of the Konevsky Monastery from Neva Lake, was given to the Derevyanitsky Monastery. And he was commissioned in the summer (1679) of the year August on the 15th day, under Abbot Nevphalim.” – On the inside: “Perfect love is worthy of a golden vessel, from which you can drink for your health.” Let us rejoice in drink and enjoy love. And don’t forget mercy and love for your neighbor and the needy.” 8. The cover donated to the tomb of St. Arseny in 1551, therefore, one hundred and seven years after his blessed death 16. On the upper side of the cover is embroidered in silk and silver the image of the Venerable One in schematic attire, with the inscription under the crown: “Reverend Elder Arseni of the Konevsky Monastery.” The second inscription around the cover, embroidered in gold on crimson velvet: “In the years under the Power of the Kingdom of the pious Tsar and Sovereign Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus', Autocrat and under His Holiness Father Macarius, Metropolitan of All Rus' and under the Lord Most Reverend Archbishop Theodosius of the God-Saving Cities of the Great Nova Grad and Pskov, this holy cover was placed on the coffin of the Reverend Father Arseny in the monastery of the honorable and glorious Nativity of the Mother of God of the Konevsky Monastery, under Abbot Pimin and even the brethren in Christ, in the summer (1551), and this cover of the Tsar and Sovereign Grand Duke was placed by the Bolyar children Mikhailo Kozmin, son of Brovtsyn, and Grigory Akimov son Shchetinin." – The inscriptions are made in ancient Slavic writing, with abbreviations and titles; Only the original spelling is retained here. 9 . The pious attention of the Royal persons was also drawn to the deserted Konevsky monastery. She owes her revival to Emperor Peter the Great; His royal Daughter, Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, completed the good undertaking of the great parent. After the restoration of the monastery in 1718, it was under the jurisdiction of the Novgorod Derevyanitsky Monastery, but in 1760 it received independent management 17, with the permission of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna. At the same time, the Empress donated money for the construction of the emerging monastery and things that are preserved to this day in the monastery sacristy, namely: A full circle of church liturgical books: monthly menaion for 12 months, Festive menaion, General menaion, 2 parts of the Octoechos, Lenten and Colored Triodion and Irmolog. – The books were printed at the Moscow Synodal Printing House in 1757, covered in leather, stamped with gilded figured decorations; in the middle, on both sides, a double-headed eagle is stamped in gold - the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. A chasuble, an epitrachelion, a surplice, a shroud and two airs of gold brocade on a red field with silk stains of different colors. In 1802, the Sovereign Emperor Alexander the Blessed deigned to grant three thousand rubles to the Konevsky Monastery for the completion of the stone cathedral church that was then under construction. His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, in memory of his visit to the Konevsky monastery, deigned to donate an altar cross, silver, gilded, with enamel images of the Crucifixion and the Evangelists, decorated with turquoise and rhinestones. On the reverse side are carved with thin strokes: the suffering of Jesus Christ and the fall of the Ancestors standing at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The inscription is carved on the cross: “Gift of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich 1844.” Speaking about the antiquities of the Konevskaya monastery, it would be unfair to pass in silence the huge stone after which the monastery is named. This stone is on the north-eastern side of the island behind the mountain on which the monastery skete is built; a historical legend is connected with it. The island on which the Monk Arseny settled served the surrounding inhabitants as a horse pasture; here they left the cattle throughout the summer without special supervision, because the position of the island, remote and at a considerable distance from the nearest shore and without predatory animals, in itself served as a reliable guarantee for safety. But the superstition of the inhabitants forced them to believe in the protection of the deity who was present at the mentioned stone. “Here, as a sacrifice to this deity or, perhaps, to the stone itself, idolaters left one horse when they took the cattle to their homes for the winter. From this superstitious custom, the stone received the name “Horse-Stone”, and then the island itself was nicknamed Konev or Konevets. – This continued until the Monk Arseny. Nowadays, on the top of the Stone, whose height is 7 arshins, there is a wooden chapel, which is entered by a ladder attached to one of the sides of the Stone; all this is arranged very simply, but corresponds to the wildness of the place. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, who was here in 1844, saw the Horse-Stone; an inscription carved on a white marble tablet attached to the Stone preserves the memory of this visit. Section two. Printed and handwritten books; ancient scrolls. Among the remarkable books of the library of the 19th Konevsky Monastery, very few should be included that deserve attention due to their antiquity or the place of publication in printing houses that now do not exist. Exactly: General Menaion, with the addition of special services for some saints and holidays. Printed in 1654 in the second year of the Patriarchate of Nikon and in the 9th reign of Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich. - The following inscription was made on the leaves of the book: “In the summer of 7171 (1663), on the 26th day of February, I give this book to the common Minius in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Derevyanitsky Monastery, to the Novgorod townsman Ivan Timofeev Demidov, according to his soul in eternal remembrance.” - Obviously, this book was brought with them by the Derevyanitsky monks - the renovators of the Konevsky monastery. Skryzhal, explanation of the Liturgy, etc. – Translated again from Greek and published in Moscow under Patriarch Nikon in 1656. In addition to explanations of the Liturgy and other sacred actions and things, the following are added here: the Message of Patriarch Paisius of Constantinople to Patriarch Nikon “about certain most necessary church wines”; Question from Patriarch Nikon to the Patriarch of Antioch and Serbia about folding the fingers for the sign of the cross; Damascene monk, subdeacon and student of the Word for the veneration of the Cross in the third week of Lent; Treatise on the folding of fingers for the sign of the cross; “Nicholas the Sacred, Malax, Archpriest of Naviliysk about the sign of the joined fingers of the priest’s hand, when the people named after Christ bless him”; "Maxim of the Greek Monk" - a treatise on the Creed; “Conciliar Act”, which took place under Patriarch Nikon. St. Athanasius of Alexandria, treatises on various subjects; his interpretation of the parables of the Gospels; his questions about the Divinity and incarnation of the Son of God; “The Humble Gabriel, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, also from Monemvania of Sevier, an essay on the Holy Mysteries.” “The spiritual sword, which is the Word of God, was given from the Mouth of Christ to help the warring Church. Or a book of preaching the Word of God, which will make haste for the Lord and confirm the word, Lazar Baranovich, Bishop of Chernigov,” and so on. – Printed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1666. This book is the first edition; in the “Historical Dictionary” about spiritual writers it is mentioned that it was published for the second time in Kyiv in 1686 in a quarter sheet. See in the second volume of this Dictionary, edition of 1827, p. 6. A service book published in Moscow under Patriarch Joachim in 1676. Patericon, or Fatherland of the Pechersk, published in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1678. – Second edition, with three plans of the internal layout of the caves, indicating in them the places where the relics of saints are buried and indicating their names. – Two separate drawings depict the caves of St. Anthony and Theodosius, but one half of the third drawing has survived, without a signature. Published under the leadership of Archimandrite Innocent Gisel. Psalter of the King and Prophet David, rhymed. – Composed by Hieromonk Simeon of Polotsk. Printed in Moscow in the Upper Printing House (that is, in the Palace, or Court, established by Polotsk himself) in 1680. Feotran, treatises on the duties of superiors. The work of John Maksimovich, Archbishop of Chernigov, later transferred to Tobolsk. – Printed in the printing house of the Holy Trinity Elias Monastery in 1720, under Emperor Peter the Great. This book was first published in 1703 in the same printing house. The Rod of Government, approval, punishment, execution, for the defeat of stiff-necked and predatory wolves attacking the flock of Christ, built by the entire Consecrated Council, which was in Moscow in 7174 (1666), the Mayan month on the 7th day, during the reign of Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich. – Printed in Moscow in 1753 under Empress Elisaveta Petrovna. – This book was composed on behalf of Patriarch Joasaph by Hieromonk Simeon of Polotsk and was originally published in 1668. Nomocanon. – From the preface it is clear that it was collected in Mount Athos, and corrected with the blessing of Patriarch Joasaph; the year of publication is unknown, because there is no initial page. Among the remarkable manuscripts located in the library of the Konevsky Monastery, very few can be classified; but these meager remains of antiquity are worthy of educated attention. – Here is a description of ten such manuscripts; about the others, it is enough to note that they consist either of the works of the Fathers: Isaac the Syrian, Simeon the New Theologian, Theodore the Studite, Nilus of Sora, etc., or from various canons, akathists, individual church services, etc. - and, of course, at one time they were of great importance for the monks, especially the works of the Fathers, which were published in Russia in later times; - most of them are contemporary to us. Such manuscripts belong to shallow antiquity; The works of the Fathers were copied from the translations of the Archimandrite of the Moldavian Nyametsky Monastery Paisius Velichkovsky, who died at the end of the 18th century (printed in the monastery’s own printing house). The Aprakos Gospel, arranged according to the beginnings of the church, starting with the first chapter of John, written by the monk of the Konevsky Monastery Zacchaeus in 1524, under Abbot Aaron (in a large quarter sheet). At the beginning of the manuscript, before the Gospel of John, a patterned decoration was made on top of the sheet with paints on a gold field; similar to the Gospel of Luke, but here the design is more varied and, moreover, on a special sheet there is an image of St. Luke the Evangelist in paints and in places on a gold field. In all the drawings, the gold and colors have been preserved very well to this day. – The Gospel is written very carefully in Slavic letters, or – as they usually say in monasteries – according to the charter; on the last sheet there is a signature in ordinary, cursive handwriting, but with titles: “With the blessing of the All-Bountiful and Most Gracious and Merciful God and the Most Pure Mother of God, our Most Blessed Lady, Mother of God, Ever-Maiden Mary. And with the blessing and command of the servant of God, our sovereign father Aaron, the abbot and the entire Consecrated Council, to the house of the Most Pure Mother of God, the most honorable monastery of the Konevsky Monastery. This book was quickly written in the monastery of the Most Holy Konevsky Monastery. Let us begin in the summer of 7032 (1523), September 24. Having already read this Holy, soul-saving book, the Four Good News, merciful and innocent, I pray, awaken my mind to weakness and lack. Sincerely, my gentlemen and men themselves, it is due to men, that you demand mercy from God and His Most Pure Mother of God and forgiveness from men. Vouchsafe your forgiveness and mine, and ask God for the abundance of repentance for the forgiveness of my sins. And the name of the evil one who wrote this book, if you want to know, the beginning of it is the number of the week with the first, the Wednesday is two-ten, and six hundred with the fifth, and ends with the osmorice (that is, Zacchaeus). To the one who gave, God began this and to the one who deigned to bring glory, honor and worship to endless ages, Amen. – Son and Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us, help us and save our souls. Amen". This manuscript was transferred to the Konevsky Monastery in 1831 from the late Tikhvin Archimandrite Hilarion, who received it from a private house in the city of Tikhvin; but how the ancestors of that house got it is unknown. The Konevsky monks moved to the Derevyanitsky Monastery twice; in case of unrest inevitable in such cases, this Gospel could pass into the hands of the laity for money or in some other way. The Gospel, arranged, like the previous ones, according to the beginnings of the church (on a sheet). It has four decorations, on top of the leaves in front of each Gospel, made in different patterns on a gold field; the drawings are remarkable for the thoroughness of their finishing; they were preserved without any damage; the colors and gold have not lost their freshness to this day. – Written in Slavic letters very clearly, however, not with the same care as the first Gospel described; no inscription was made about the time, place and name of the writer. However, by the similarity of the drawings of these two manuscripts, by the uniform placement of instructions to the Gospel concepts for certain days, appended at the end of both manuscripts, and by the observance of the same punctuation marks, it can be assumed that they belong to the same time. The Gospel, arranged like the previous two, according to the beginnings of the church (in a sheet), is written in Slavic letters in two columns, but no inscription is made about the time, place and name of the writer. It must be assumed, from the way of writing, that it is older than the two previous ones, or if it was written at a later time, then, without a doubt, from an ancient original. The Gospel of John begins: “Explore the word.” By a happy accident, all three manuscripts have survived to this day, one might say, completely intact; according to the year (1524) in which one Gospel was written, they have now existed for 339 years. It is also remarkable that the name of Jesus Christ, in the same manuscript, is written differently: is; is; ivc; IIS Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: “On the Divine Order of Chapters 15 20. – About the mysterious Theology of chapters 5; – Ten Epistles: to Gaius – 4; To Dorotheus – 1; To Sosipater – 1; To Polycarp – 1; To Dimophilus – 1; To Titus – 1; To the Theologian and John the Evangelist 1 (in sheet). – From the preface it is clear that the monk Isaiah translated this book from Greek in 6879 (that is, 1371), but which monastery is unknown; one can say only from the content of the preface that the translator lived outside of Russia. – The translation is difficult to understand, but in any case it deserves attention due to its antiquity; it was made 483 years before our time. When and by whom this book was rewritten is unknown; on the first sheet there is an inscription: “This book, spoken by Dionysius the Areopagite, by Ustyug the Great painter Kozma Ivanov, son of Berezin, 1730. And this book of Ustyug the Great merchant Stepan Khlestov was bought, the price was given (exactly how much is unknown), signed by Kozma himself with his own hand.” At the end of the sixth sheet there is another inscription: “Bought in Moscow on the Spassky Bridge from the merchant Nicholas by the monk Zosima for 19 rubles in 1799, the anniversary of the day.” - On the sheets there is an inscription: “This book of Ustyug resident and painter Kozma Ivanov, son of Berezin, was signed in 1714 by Kozma himself with his own hand.” The manuscript, written very clearly in Slavic letters, has been preserved completely intact. The Conciliar Act on the Armenian heretic, on the deceiver Martin, in the year from the creation of the world 6665. And from the flesh of the Nativity of Christ in the year 1157, the month of June, on the 7th day (on a quarter sheet). - At the end of the narrative about the Council, a postscript is made: “And in the original Acts of the Council, it is written below, under the lines on the sheets, by the hand of Metropolitan Constantine: Mr. Constantine, Metropolitan of All Russia, approving the above Council, agreeing in everything with His Holiness Patriarch Luke and his entire Council with all those present to me and the entire sacred rite, dividing that with my hand I wrote this to the future generation in fidelity and in affirmation of Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.” The Act of the Council, set out in detail, occupies 27 sheets of manuscript; from 28 to 74 various postscripts follow; written in Slavic letters, but exactly when it is impossible to determine; no inscriptions were made either. It is remarkable that the word Jesus is written differently: ic; iis. This manuscript has reached us intact. Collection about the news of the Florence Latin Cathedral, which took place in the summer of the Nativity of Christ 1414 (quarter sheet). Selected from various sources, but when and by whom exactly is unknown. – The manuscript is written in mixed handwriting, which is closer to cursive. Let us borrow from here the information about the Russian Metropolitan Isidore: “Isidore, the Russian Metropolitan, having retired to his own country, yat and abused for his defection; and having escaped from prison, he again flowed to Rum and there the cardinal was committed. And he was sent to the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople by the pope and was not accepted; but when the Roma power spread through disobedience, then during his time the Turks took Constantinople, and he secretly fled to Rus'. And he was forsaken from God and from man, and from his sheep, and so from the deacon Benedict the Roman faith existed, which was with him in great love, and gave him poison in poison. Some people write that they were put to death by the people of Kiev.” The service and life of St. Cyril of Novoezersk (quarter sheet), written in Slavic letters; the year of writing is not indicated, but from the prayer to the Reverend, added to the end of the manuscript, it is clear that it was written during the reign of Empress Catherine the Second. Chronicle of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov; ends with the story of Jacob; written in ordinary handwriting and with different hands (on a sheet). According to the sheets of the manuscript, it is signed that it belonged to the Novoladoga merchant Artemy Semenov Sharov and was blessed by his brother monk Joseph in 1757, and then by the latter it was given to the Konevsky Monastery. Unknown compiler 21: Life of St. Arseny Konevsky, with a description of six miracles, words of praise and verses of praise. – Next is the Legend of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, brought by the Monk Arsenios from Mount Athos, with a description of miracles. And finally, The Legend of the Ruin of the Konevsky Monastery in 1610 (one book per sheet). – The Life of St. Arseny and the Tale of the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God, together with the services, were published in the St. Petersburg Synodal Printing House in 1850 in separate books, with some abbreviations against this manuscript. Charter of Konevsky as a solitary desert dweller (original). Composed by the builder Hieromonk Hilarion, who later became the archimandrite of the Tikhvin Monastery, and signed by him with the elder brethren in 1818, December 19th. On the back of the first page it is signed by Metropolitan Michael in his own hand: “With the request of God’s blessing, I affirm this Charter, as soul-saving. Humble Michael, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, 1819, July 29th. When I was in this monastery.” The monastery library contains several ancient scrolls 22 containing very interesting copies of papers that partly explain the historical fate of the monastery. – The copies date back to the same time as the originals. 1. The petition of the abbot of the Konevsky Monastery Leonty and his brethren to Tsar Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky for permission to move to the Novgorod Derevyanitsky Monastery, because the city of Korela (Kexholm) with the district was ceded to the Swedes. – This petition was written in 1610. 2. List from the letter of Tsar Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky to Novgorod to the boyar Prince Ivan Nikitich Bolshoi Odoevsky about permission to move the Konevo monks with all their property to the Derevyanitsky Monastery. – The charter was written in 1610. 3. List from the letter of Tsar Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky to Novgorod Metropolitan Isidore about the transfer of Derevyanitsky abbot Dionysius to some other monastery, on the occasion of the relocation of the Konevsky brotherhood to this monastery. – Written in 1610. 4. A list from the charter of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich to the Andreevsky Georgian churchyard with the command that the peasants of this churchyard, as belonging to the Derevyanitsky monastery, be in obedience to the monastery authorities. Written in 1617. 5. List from the letter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to the Novgorod voivode Prince Ivan Petrovich Pronsky with the order to transfer the relics of St. Arseny from the island of Konevets, as a result of an agreement with the Swedish government. – Written in 1673. 6. A copy of the letter from Patriarch Pitirim to the abbot of the Derevyanitsky Monastery, Joasaph, also about the transfer of the relics of St. Arseny. – Written in 1673. There is no information about the transfer of the relics of St. Arseny from Konevets Island and back. If this shrine had really been moved to some other place, then there is no doubt that contemporaries would have left us the necessary information about such an important event; but their silence can rather serve as proof that the relics of St. Arseny always remained in Konevets. IV. Around the Assumption Convent 1. Ancient antimension from the year 7147 (1639), consecrated by Metropolitan Athos of Novgorod, on thick canvas. 2. A less ancient antimension, consecrated in 1670 by Metropolitan Cornelius of Novgorod, on thick canvas. 3. The Gospel, printed in 7142 in the 15th year of the Patriarchate of Philaret and the 25th year of the reign of Mikhail Feodorovich, in Moscow; granted by this Sovereign renewer of the monastery. On the sheets there is the following inscription: “This book was granted by the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich of All Russia to the Novgorod monastery in Ladoga to the Assumption nunnery, in the summer of 7145, March on the 15th day, and signed this book, which belongs to the Great nunnery of the nunnery, with the nickname Lebedshchikov.” 4. Ark with Holy relics of the following names: St. Artemy Verkolsky; Venerable Elijah of Muromets; Stefan of Perm; Basil the Great; Daniel the Stylite; Yaroslavl princes: Theodore, David and Constantine; Prince Vladimir; Reverend Nestor; Archdeacon Stephen; Patriarch Hermogenes; Archimandrite Theoktistus; Venerable Savva of Zvenigorod; Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky; holy martyrs Justinia and holy martyrs Paraskeva, and other unnamed ones. The relics are placed in five crosses and five small icons of various sizes. 5. Canon, printed in the Grodno printing house in 7297. 6. Synodikon, written in 1703 by order of that monastery, Abbess Juliana Alexandrovna. In this synodikon, among other things, it is written: in the past 1702, in the night of the month of April, on the 24th day, how this Assumption Monastery burned, as well as from the courtyards of Ladoga townspeople and other ranks living in the town, the ancient synodikon burned down, in which the names of the founders and other honest people were placed. 7. The icon is believed to be of the Grand Duke Vladimir, painted in fresco on a pillar above the right wing. The facial expression is especially characteristic and beautiful. The entire cathedral was painted, but under Abbess Polyxena it was covered with white paint. V. According to the Vvedensky Monastery 1. Tin vessels, called ancient in the inventory, do not indicate, however, by whom or when they were delivered to the monastery. Therefore, the name of the ancients was given to them in the inventory, as it seems, arbitrarily. Rather, we can recognize them as evidence of the poor state of the Vvedensky monastery - a state proven by the fact that all valuable donations belong to a later time. Below these vessels are depicted three Cherubim, and on one of the saucers the following inscription is made: “Thy Cross, O Lord, life and resurrection for Thy people.” 2. Cross with Holy relics embedded in mastic (listed in the inventory as No. 97), received from an unknown person in 1851. Cross of ordinary letter, icon, wooden, cypress; holy relics are placed on the back side; the cross itself is covered on all sides with a gilded silver frame. On the back deck of the frame there is an inventory of the following relics: the Holy First Martyr Stephen; Holy Martyr Panteleimon; Holy Martyr Eustratius; Holy Blessed Prince Vladimir; holy righteous Lazarus; Holy Hieromartyr Phocas; Holy Great Martyr Barbara; Holy Martyr Niphon; Holy Hieromartyr Basil of Amasisia; Holy Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of Kyiv; Holy Martyr Cosmas the Unmercenary; St. Ephraim the Syrian; Holy Martyr Mercury; Holy Martyr John the Warrior; Holy Martyr Arethas; Holy Martyr Artemy; Holy Martyr Jacob the Persian; Holy Martyr Michael of Sinad. Moreover, a particle of the stone of the Holy Sepulcher is placed above the relics. 3. Cross with nine particles of the following holy relics filled in mastic: the holy righteous Anna the Prophetess; Holy Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer; Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica; Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon; Holy Great Martyr Nikita; Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles First Martyr Thekla; Holy Great Martyr Catherine; the holy great martyr Barbara and the venerable martyr Theodosia the virgin. In addition, embedded in the cross are particles, also filled with mastic, of the following objects of veneration: part of the Tree of the Holy Cross; part of the Robe of Christ the Savior; Blood of the Lord; Vlasa of the Virgin Mary; part of the robe and coffin of St. Paphnutius of Borovsky. The cross is in a gilded silver frame, 2 1/8 inches long and 1 2/3 inches wide, weighing 21 spools. It belongs to the icon of the Resurrection of Christ, surrounded by images of ten holy saints of God, whose relics are in the cross, in a silver gilded robe, weighing 1 pound 17 spools; donated by the merchant Krotov in 1843. 4. Cross with holy relics, copper. Each particle is wrapped separately in paper with inscriptions that have already been erased. In this way, the entire interior of the cross is filled with wrapped particles. On the back deck, the inscriptions list the following names of holy relics: St. Apostle Matthew; Saint John the Warrior; Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called; Holy Martyr Procopius; Saint Alexei, man of God; St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; Blessed Prince Gleb, Wonderworker of Chernigov; Venerable Prince Theodore; Saint Auxentius; Saint Prince Vladimir; Simeon Divnogorets; Saint Demetrius the Myrrh-streamer; Saint Prince Boris, Wonderworker of Chernigov; Saint Nicephorus the Patriarch; there are 18 separate paper bundles. This cross belonged to the merchant Assysalov, was given to him by his parents, and he gave it to the monastery in 1852. 5. Carved wooden cross, with also a carved inscription. The inscription consists of various prayers and sayings of the Holy Scriptures and is made very clearly. It testifies to the significant antiquity of the cross, both in its letters and in the words used. The beginning of Psalm 67 is cut out like this: “Let God rise again, and let His enemies be scattered.” 6. A silver reliquary with seven particles of the following holy relics: St. John of Damascus; Martyr Christopher; Saint Michael Malein; Holy Martyr Artemy; Saint Theodosius virgins; Holy Martyr Irene; Martyr Anastasia. The holy relics are in a reliquary under glass; they belonged to the priest of the Edinoverie Volkov Church, Mikhail Ivanov, and were transferred to the monastery, after his death, by his sister, according to the oral will of the deceased. 7. The Gospel is printed, in sheet form, without a title page, but remarkable for the signature of the sovereign’s steward, Prince Prozorovsky, who donated it to the monastery, in the summer of 7168 (1660), the month of January. When binding, the pages of the Gospel were cut off and the name of the donor was cut off, but the patronymic Semenovich remained. It is also clear from the signature that the Gospel was printed in Moscow, which was deposited in the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos of Her Precious Presentation on the River on Oyat, where, the contributor says, the parents of St. Alexander lie. 8. Gospel sheet. On its title page the letters A and I were initially placed in the middle. Next comes the following inscription: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the glory of the One Trinitarian Lover of Man, God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It was published in the reigning city of Moscow in a printing house, previously published in large numbers, but now with poems and chapters the first was published. By the command of the pious Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexy Mikhailovich, Autocrat of all Great and Little and White Russia. In the thirteenth year of the pious Power of his kingdom. And in the fourth year of the birth of his son, our Sovereign, the blessed Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexy Alexievich. With the blessing of the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Nikon, Archbishop of Moscow and all Great, Little and White Russia, Patriarch, in the sixth year of his Patriarchate. In the summer from the creation of the world 7165, from the incarnation of God the Word 1657, the month of August on the 29th day.” An ancient icon of St. Nicholas, decorated with a gilded crown with three simple stones, in a basma setting. On the back side of the deck there is an inscription: “Image of Prince Semyon Mikhailovich Lobanov-Rostovsky.” The handwriting of the inscription may belong to the 16th century. An ancient icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God, a simple icon script, the faces and fingers of the Savior and the Mother of God have some convexity in front of other parts of the icon. The measure of this icon is 1 arshin 12 1/2 vershok long, 1 arshin 7 1/2 vershok wide, overlaid with a silver chasuble in 1823, but when and on what occasion it entered the monastery is unknown. There is still a tradition that this icon existed during the time of St. Alexander of Svir, before which he, while still a youth, offered his prayers. VI. According to the Old Ladoga Nikolaevsky Monastery Holy icons. Crosses. Ancient utensils. Books. Bells 1. The iconostasis of the cathedral church is distinguished by its good design according to the drawings of the Architect Stegelman and the strictly correct painting of the icons by the artist Shishkin. 2. The miraculous icon of St. Nicholas is placed in this iconostasis in its lower tier, near the local image of the Savior, and is the church icon. It is from an ancient icon letter; The saint is depicted standing; His miracles are depicted in the margins. The icon is covered with a silver robe of 39 pounds and 24 spools with gilded crowns; Also, the clothes on the Saint are gilded. Its measure is 2 arshins 5 vershoks in length and 1 arshin 15 vershoks in width. It is unknown when and by whom this icon was delivered to the monastery; but has long been respected by the surrounding residents and is carried out in religious processions and taken home. 3. The icon of the Martyr Paraskeva, named Friday, recognized as miraculous, is a church icon in the chapel of the Martyr, located in the church of the Ivanovo Monastery, but this icon usually stands on the porch of the cathedral church of the St. Nicholas Monastery, and is rarely found in the Ivanovo Monastery. An icon of very ancient icon writing, in an ancient silver-gilded chased frame; The face of the Martyr is covered with pearls and decorated with rhinestones and other stones. The measure of this icon is 4 inches long and 3 1/2 wide. It was transferred to the Ivanovo Monastery from the chapel at the Pesotsky churchyard in 1688, by Decree of His Grace Cornelius, Metropolitan of Novgorod. 4. The icon of the Hieromartyr Antipas is a church icon in the chapel of this saint of God, very ancient, recognized as miraculous, in icon writing. It is covered with silver-gilded chasuble of 84 samples and has a height of 6 vershok and a width of 5 vershok. It is unknown where this icon came from to the monastery. 5. A cross on a tree with a silver-gilded frame containing holy relics. It has the following inscription: “In the summer of 7205, on the 15th day of March, this cross of the Lord was built, while in Moscow, by the order of the Zelenetsky monastery of abbot Lawrence and placed in the church in the Nikolaevsky monastery, which is in Ladoga, in the birth of generations is inalienable, and the silver in it weighs 212 spools, and for the craftsmanship and for silver and gold 50 rubles were given to the glory of the Holy Trinity, forever. Amen". The relics in the cross are as follows: John Chrysostom; Gregory the Theologian; Martyr Arefa; Martyr Thekla the Most Praiseworthy; Bishop's Mikita; John, Bishop of Novgorod; Fedora Stratelates; Martyr Theodore Tiron. Moreover, it is written on the cross, in the marks of its back deck, that it contains the Milk of the Most Holy Theotokos, part of the mantle of St. Alexander of Svir and parts of many holy relics of saints. 6. Tin Bowl and Paten. Judging by their shape, the outline of the faces and the handwriting of the signatures on the faces, one can assume that they belong to the 15th century. 7. Two wooden carved cypress crosses, of the same size and with the same inscription, very distinct workmanship. The inscription on the front side of the cross: “This Life-Giving Cross, through his zeal, bestowed upon the abolished monastery of St. Nicholas in Staroladogskaya the Most Reverend Gabriel, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg.” The inscription on the back deck: “For the efforts and renewal of this monastery to the Novo-Ladoga merchants Peter and Vasily Okhraev, in 1797, the month of June, on the 10th day.” 8. A tin ark with three rooms, decorated with Cherubim in crosses, the upper room in the chapter is decorated with a cross and a rim with the image of the Crucifixion; In general, the ark is remarkable in form and decoration. Located in the church of the former Ivanovo Monastery, assigned to Nikolsky. 9 . A water-blessed cup, copper, tinned, on which there is a carved image of the Savior and a carved inscription along the edges: “In the summer of 7110 (1602), May 23, by the grace of God of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity and our Most Reverend and God-Bearing Father Michael of Klopsky and the Wonderworker, this cup was made, and in it the water was sanctified under the abbot Macarius, by the command of the servant of God of the same monastery, monk Joachim, to the house of the Life-Giving Trinity and St. Michael on Klopsko.” – Located in the church of the former Ivanovo Monastery. 10. Two ancient phelonnies with a lowered front part according to ancient custom, made of very good brocade with embroidered shoulder straps; Due to their disrepair, they are unfit for use, but are kept in the sacristy as antiquities. There are no such vestments in any other monastery of the St. Petersburg diocese. 11. The Bible, printed in Ostrog in 7088–89 (1580–81) by order of Prince Vasily Konstantinovich. At the beginning and end of the Bible there are prayers in Greek and Slavic. 12. The Apostle, printed in Moscow under Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, in the third year of Nikon’s patriarchate, in 7163 (1655). 13. Altar Gospel, quarter sheet, printed in Moscow, under Tsars John and Peter Alekseevich, under Patriarch Joachim, in the year from the creation of the world 7193 (1685), index 8, month of May. There is a cursive inscription on it in the lower margin: “This Gospel was given to the contribution to the Ivanovo Monastery for the commemoration of the boyar Prince Nikita Petrovich Prozorovsky from his children.” – Located in the church of the former Ivanovo Monastery. 14. Service menaion for September, October and November, printed during the reign of Alexy Mikhailovich, as stated in the title page, in his Tsar’s printing house in 7175 (1666). 15. A collection consisting of some teachings of St. Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, Athanasius the Great, John of Damascus, printed in Moscow in 7164 (1656) under the supervision of the famous hieromonk Epiphanius. At the end of the book is attached the life and service of St. Savva of Zvenigorod, an ancient seal. 16. Service book, printed in Moscow in 7163 (1655), during the reign of Alexy Mikhailovich, under Patriarch Nikon. 17. Trefologion, or Services for the days of selected holidays and saints, dating back to the 15th or early 16th century. A member of the Archaeographic Commission, Mr. Berednikov, who reviewed the archives of the Nikolaevsky and female Dormition Staro-Ladoga monasteries in 1849, spoke of this manuscript as worthy of special attention. It shows how, during the existence of appanage principalities in Russia, many years were proclaimed to the Princes at Compline of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany. Then it was proclaimed on the clock. 18. Synodik of the St. Nicholas Monastery, whose origins may date back to the 17th century. The list of commemorated kings of one main style ends with Tsar Feodor Alekseevich. 19. The synodikon of the former Ivanovo monastery, attached to the Nikolaevsky monastery, was written in 1734. In it, among other names for commemoration, is the name of Hieromonk Joel, the builder of the Gostinopol monastery, which was abolished and converted into a parish church. 20. On the two bells located on the bell tower of the Ivanovo Monastery, there are the following inscriptions: on the large bell: “For the Ascension of the Lord and the Nativity of John the Baptist on Malysheva Gora in Ladoga, two 23 bells were poured together under the blessed Gospodar Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Feodorovich of All Russia, under his blessed Queen and Grand Duchess Maria and under their noble children Tsarevich Theodora, Princess Xenia and under the consecrated Metropolitan Isidore the Great of Novagrad and under the present abbot Dionysius, summer 7112 (1604).” On the second bell on its first belt is inscribed: “Si Deus pronobis, qui contra nos?” On the second belt: « Rom 8 † An. † 1643". Further: “S.* O* S † F.M*.” VII. Around the Cheremenets Monastery 1. The miraculous icon of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, the appearance of which on Cheremenets Island served as the beginning of the founding of the monastery, is located in the iconostasis of the cathedral monastery church dedicated to the name of this Evangelist. - The measure of this holy icon is 2 arshins 3 vershoks in length, 1 arshin 12 vershoks in width. The Holy Apostle is depicted half-length, holding the Holy Gospel in his hands; It should also be noted that an Angel is depicted with him, and not the adopted symbolic sign - an eagle; Along the edges of the icon, events from the life of the Apostle and apocalyptic visions are depicted in small size. The silver robe covering the icon, weighing 41 pounds 48 spools, costing 1,000 silver rubles, was built in 1841 under the builder Barsanuphius from the previous robe, with the addition of silver from various benefactors. 2. A four-pointed cross, carved from cypress, lined with silver on the sides, 2 1/2 inches long, 1 3/4 inches across. On the front side is depicted the Crucifixion of the Lord, and on the reverse side is the Mother of God giving the rosary to the Monks Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk; At the bottom of the cross is depicted St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In this cross, as the inscription shows, there are particles of holy relics: St. Damian the Healer; Venerable Theodore the Silent; St. Euthymius of Pechersk; Venerable Julian the Schemnik; Venerable Nikon of Pechersk; St. Isaac the Recluse; Venerable Moses, miracle worker of Pechersk; Holy Martyr Phocas; Holy Great Martyr Barbara and Hieromartyr Macarius. – When and by whom this cross was built is unknown; but it appears to be very ancient. 3. Bible of the Ostroh press of 1581, bound in leather. – On what occasion and from whom she entered the monastery is unknown; the inscription on the bottom board explains only that “this is the Bible left after Trofim Petrovich Skobeltsyn, the children of his father Fyodor, Ivan, 1739, July 21 days.” Of the ancient acts that have survived to this day: 1. A list from an extract from the allotment books given in 7170 (1662) from the boyar and governor Prince Vasily Grigorievich Romodanovsky to the builder of the Cheremenets Monastery, the black priest Efrosim, for the latrine crops belonging to that monastery - Lastitsa, Sedeltso and Zmeyka. 2. A list from the so-called detective memory of the year 7172 (1664), or a certificate written out from the scribes and refusal books, with the testimony of devious people in the above-mentioned reapings of the Cheremenets Monastery. From this document it is revealed that the builder of the Cheremenets Monastery, the black priest Bonifatius, submitted a petition in Novgorod in the official hut to the boyar and governor Prince Ivan Borisovich Repnin, complaining that the monastery reapings - Staraya Luga, Lastitsa, Sedelets, Zmeyka, Chernetchina (or Zhuravovshchina) were taken over by nobles and children boyars, Alexander Neplyuev and other landowners. However, according to the references in the scribes and refusal books, no information was found about the affiliation of those wives with the monastery or landowners (equally); but according to the testimony of devious people who recognized the monastic possession of the crops - Lastitsa, Sedeltso and Zmeyka - he ordered them to be taken to the patrimony of the Cheremenets Monastery, excluding the crops of Staraya Luga and Chernetchino, which remained controversial. Remarkable is the testimony of four people who remembered that “even before the German destruction, hay was cut on those stubble fields for the Theological Monastery.” 3. Petition (without indicating the year) addressed to Patriarch Joachim from the surrounding nobles of the Cheremenets monastery, in which they petition not to attribute the Cheremenets monastery to Nikolaevsky Vyazhitsky, which is what the local archimandrite Bogolep wanted. For what reason could the abbot of the Vyazhitsky monastery ask for the Cheremenets monastery to be added to his monastery is not visible from the petition, but it is mentioned in it that all the property had already been taken from Chermenets to the Vyazhitsky monastery. 4. An authentic charter from Metropolitan Cornelius of Novgorod, given in 7202 (1694) to the builder of the Cheremenets Monastery, Hieromonk Alexander, to manage the monastery, since his previous building charter burned down during a fire in 7201 (1693). 5. An authentic letter (or decree) of the Novgorod Metropolitan Euthymius of the Cheremenets Monastery to Abbot German, given in 7205 (1697). This letter ordered to have expense books and send the State Order to the Metropolitan for all years. A similar order was made for other monasteries of the Novgorod diocese; it took place by decree of the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich (Emperor Peter I), who ordered: “For the church and cell and monastery stone and wooden buildings and not for any unpaid expenses of the treasury without the name of his Great Sovereign, the decree and without letters and without orders, do not maintain the Great Palace,” and so on, “and how much for The appropriate expenses will be paid to the treasury and books will be sent to the order of the Great Palace for that expense.” 6. An authentic letter from Novgorod Metropolitan Job of 1701, granting permission, at the request of a certain Philip Mironov, son of Neelov (or Neplyuev), to consecrate a newly built church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity (where exactly is not clear in the letter) to the abbot of the Cheremenets Monastery, Ignatius, “according to the new reference Trebnik.” 7. Inventory of the church, sacristy and economic property of the Cheremenets Monastery in 1774, under Abbot Joel. Compiled by decree of the Novgorod Consistory, which was ordered to submit an inventory of the monastery property, and to have another one in the monastery. Sergius Hermitage - Archimandrite Ignatius. Trinity Zelenetsky Monastery - Archimandrite Innocent. A brief outline of the current state of the monasteries of the St. Petersburg diocese, November 1856 24 The first-class Sergius Hermitage is located 19 versts from St. Petersburg, 10 from Peterhof, 2 from Strelna - on the highway leading from St. Petersburg to Peterhof. It stands on a flat place, which slopes down to the sea. The monastery is surrounded on all sides by gardens, giving it the appearance of a picturesque landscape. Although the monastery is located near the capital, it has many dachas in the neighborhood, is not far from the settlement, and is visited by many pilgrims; however, his brethren enjoy sufficient peace and solitude, even greater than many desert monasteries. The main reason for this is the hotel, maintained by a socialite. The pilgrims, at the end of the Divine service, go straight from the church to the hotel for rest and refreshment with food, and therefore do not at all need the services of the monastery and the brethren, which is impossible to do without in monasteries remote from the world. Desert was elevated from second class to first class in 1836. In the same 1836, part of the land that had previously belonged to it and was taken from it since 1762 was returned to the Kaznoy monastery. This part was received by the Desert in the form of a swamp overgrown with bushes. The swamp has been drained, most of the land has been cultivated with special care and skill, resulting in a grain harvest that is incomparably more abundant than in the most land-rich monasteries of the Diocese; Thus, in 1855, 1,240 sacks of oats were threshed. In 1844, a forest plot of 50 acres was allocated in Novo-Ladoga district. In total, the monastery has up to 269 acres of land. The main buildings in the Desert are made of stone. The cold three-altar cathedral is of very good architecture, but according to the custom of the time it was built (in 1760), it was built without a base, without sufficient underground drainage pipes, which is why both the foundation and the first rows of brickwork were saturated with water; Over time, the dampness had penetrated very high up the walls. Subsequently, the construction of a drainpipe and the installation of a plinth supported the existence of this beautiful building, but it should not be considered durable, although it can still stand for quite a long time. The main altar in the cathedral is in the name of the All-Holy Trinity; the right side chapel is in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the left side is in the name of the Forerunner. The stone fence forms a regular quadrangle. In the middle of the monastery there is a cathedral. At the corners of the fence there is a tower, of which the northeastern one is replaced by a church in the name of St. Gregory the Theologian, and the southeastern one is replaced by a church in the name of the Intercession of the Mother of God. On the line of the northern fence there is a church in the name of St. Sergius with chapels on the lower floor of Christ the Savior and the martyr Zinaida; with her there is a fraternal meal and the abbot's cells - everything is made of stone. On the southern line of the fence is the Holy Gate, on the right side of which is the church in the name of James, the brother of God; with it there is a sacristy and several fraternal cells; on the left side of the gate there is a building of fraternal cells; This entire structure is made of stone. Along the eastern line there is a three-story building of fraternal cells, the basement floor of which is made of stone, and the residential two floors are wooden. Along the western line of the fence, an invalid house for 50 crippled soldiers with a church in the name of Valerian the Martyr was built, at the expense of the Zubov counts. The outbuildings of the monastery located outside it, such as a hotel, a farmstead, a bathhouse, a horse yard and others, are wooden. Since 1834, the following buildings have been built in the Sergius Hermitage and in the following order: in 1834, the church in the name of St. Sergius and the abbot's house were restored with monastic money; A fraternal meal is again built between them. In 1837–1842, the cathedral church was restored with an amount issued from the State Treasury, with the addition of monastic money. In 1838, a wooden farm, that is, a farmyard, was built, a mile from the monastery, with money borrowed from the Commission of Theological Schools; money was paid on time. In 1840, a wooden three-story fraternal building was built, the basement of which is stone with vaults, with the money of the merchant Makarov, now the Sergius Hermitage monk Moses. In 1840, a wooden house on a stone foundation was built to the west of the monastery on an empty site, at the expense of benefactors, for rent. In 1849, new chapels were built, since the previous ones showed severe cracks and became completely unusable due to the foundation that emerged from under them, consisting of cobblestones not bound together with lime. In 1849, on the southeastern corner of the monastery, a church was built in the name of the Intercession of the Mother of God by Prince Mikhail Viktorovich Kochubey; The interior decoration of this church continues to this day. In 1852, a bathhouse was built and a swimming pool was built next to it for bathing the brethren using monastic money. In 1854, a wooden hotel was built by a Taiwanese merchant, which was to become the property of the monastery after 12 years. In 1854, the Church of St. Sergius was rebuilt, starting from the very foundation, at the expense of benefactors, mainly Princess Yusupova; The interior of this church is currently being decorated; two chapels have been built on the lower floor. In 1856, on the northeast corner, a church in the name of St. Gregory the Theologian was built by Countess Kusheleva. In the same year, opposite the monastery, two miles from it, Baron Stieglitz built a two-story stone landing stage for the shelter of pilgrims who would come to the Sergius Hermitage by rail; Stieglitz himself built a highway from the landing stage to the monastery. The value of the newly erected buildings and the corrections made extends to the amount of (approximately) 300 thousand silver rubles. The word “approximately” is used here, since the construction of churches in the name of the Intercession of the Mother of God and in the name of Gregory the Theologian, houses with servants in an empty place on the western side of the monastery, the highway from the monastery to the landing stage, were carried out by the benefactors themselves, which is why the value of these objects is known to the monastery only privately, and not by deeds. Like the buildings, the sacristy of St. Sergius Hermitage has been significantly improved, or more correctly, completely changed due to the generous contributions of various benefactors. The total value of the acquired sacristy items extends to 70 thousand silver rubles. The capital of perpetual circulation, which in 1834 consisted of one thousand 107 rubles 13 1/2 kopecks in silver, rose by August 1, 1856 to 33 thousand 86 rubles in silver. The income of the monastery, which depends mainly on the number of pilgrims and the number of burials, although it has increased greatly, is, both before and now, very unstable. According to the unpaid book, the monastery's income in 1830 extended to 7 thousand 826 rubles in silver; in 1831 – up to 5,205, in 1832 – up to 5,955, in 1833 – up to 5,135 rubles in silver; according to the same book, income in 1852 extended to 23 thousand 475 rubles in silver, in 1853 - to 29,983, in 1854 - to 23,164, in 1855 - to 30,069 rubles in silver. Permanent income currently amounts to: 600 silver rubles from a hotel built by a Taiwanese merchant; 400 rubles in silver – from home; 50 rubles in silver - from places rented by a disabled home, for a vegetable garden, bathhouse, barn and courtyards; from the land in 1853 a net income was received for the expenditure of 1,700 silver rubles. In addition to the above income, according to the unpaid book, from 1853 to the present, various benefactors have donated up to 47 thousand silver rubles for the construction of a church in the name of St. Sergius. This last money, called the construction sum, is spent separately, and a report on its use is presented annually to the highest authorities. The Brotherhood of the Sergius Hermitage, in comparison with the brotherhood of other monasteries, is distinguished by its good behavior, monastic education and abilities, so that it satisfies not only the needs of its monastery, but also endowed other monasteries with many capable people for the most important obediences. The pupils and tonsures of the Sergius Hermitage are especially distinguished by their development. Thus, her tonsures were: Archimandrite Feofan, rector of the Kirillo-Novoezersk Monastery; Hegumen Apollos, abbot of the Old Ladoga Nikolaev Monastery; Abbot Israel, abbot of the Vvedensky Monastery; Hieromonk Gerasim, manager of the Kinovia; Hieromonk Elijah, treasurer of the Zelenetsky Monastery; Hegumen Ignatius, rector of the Nikandrov Hermitage of the Pskov diocese. The archimandrite of the Great Tikhvin Monastery and the abbot of the Malo-Yaroslavets Monastery came from the world directly to the Sergius Hermitage. Many tonsures of other monasteries, having entered the brotherhood of the Sergius Hermitage, were noticed on the good side, developed their abilities and were elevated to the rank of abbot. The reasons for such a successful formation of monks in the Sergius Hermitage should be considered: the development of soul-saving reading among them; bringing development to the abilities of each brother; treatment of an educated public and contentment in content. Just the visibility of the harmonious Divine service and the systematic management of the Sergius Hermitage prepares among the brethren its people who are perfectly capable of ecclesiastical and economic obedience. When a need arose, the Sergius Hermitage delivered it to the Eminence of the hierodeacon, who in his voice is superior to all the capital’s protodeacons. The number of the brotherhood of Sergius Hermitage in 1854 consisted of eight hieromonks, three hierodeacons, nine novices, a total of 20 people; now it consists of an archimandrite, 14 hieromonks, 3 hierodeacons, 2 deacons, 6 monks, 20 novices and 10 pilgrims. The church singing of the Sergius Hermitage deserves special attention precisely because the reverent celebration of Divine services and splendid singing, constituting almost the only source of maintenance for the monastery, attracted many and significant donations to it and thereby changed its condition. The singing was originally borrowed from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. It has not changed since 1834, but has been supplemented with simple everyday and Kyiv melodies. In the Lavra, under its governor Aaron, many innovations were introduced into the Lavra chanting, which, one might say, completely changed the melody. In the Sergius Hermitage, on the contrary, the melody was improved by the fact that each voice was shown its correct course, and the freedom of singers to reproduce their improvisations, for the most part very unsuccessful, especially for the ears of an educated public, was taken away. The main disadvantage of the Sergius Hermitage is the cramped, uncomfortable and unhealthy premises of the brethren. The reason for this is the particularly poor construction of two stone buildings on the southern side of the monastery, where most of the brotherhood is located. The buildings are built on the worst foundation made of cobblestone, not bound with lime, which is why the foundation is very weak and contains a large amount of water, which enters the brickwork and gives it unusual dampness. The brickwork, not protected by any plinth, starting right from the cobblestones and from the base of the earth, was saturated with dampness and completely decayed throughout the lower layer. The walls standing on such a foundation shook, which is especially noticeable in the church of James, the brother of God, where the walls are not only fragile, but even dangerous. Secondly, it would be very necessary, and morally useful, for the Sergius Hermitage to have a farmstead in St. Petersburg. Lacking this, the brethren, when they come to the city, each stay with their friends. First-class Valaam Monastery The first-class Valaam Monastery is located in the Vyborg province of the Grand Duchy of Finland, on an island in Lake Ladoga. It is 260 versts distant from St. Petersburg by water, and 308 versts by dry route (through the cities of Kexgolm and Serdobol). The Valaam Monastery is located on a picturesque island consisting of granite mountains and rocks, the highest of which rise 20 fathoms above the lake level. Mountains and rocks are cut in various directions by straits and bays; The tops of the mountains are covered with forest, consisting mainly of pine and spruce. The island is about 25 miles in circumference, consists of more than 300 acres, all of which belong to the monastery, as well as several small islands lying near the main one. Due to the convenient location for monastic life, the entire island can be considered a monastery. Since ancient times, there were, as they are now, a monastic hostel, a monastery and a hermitage. Valaam Island is 25 versts from the nearest uninhabited shore, and 40 versts from the inhabited one. The monastery has its own household items: timber and firewood, rubble and plinth stone, a certain amount of rye and oats, a significant amount of hay; garden vegetables, garden fruits and berries. Fish is caught near the island in significant quantities, which makes it possible to provide a good meal for the brothers; Quite a lot of this fish goes on sale. Moreover, for its fishing in Finland, the monastery receives an annual contribution of four thousand 715 silver rubles. Making bricks is very cheap; lime of excellent quality, obtained from Finland without paying money; transporting it across the lake is very cheap. With such construction means and with the special zeal of the St. Petersburg merchants for the Valaam monastery, it is very natural that the monastery was built, with a superficial look at it, richly. The building is all stone. The monastery consists of two quadrangles or quarters, one of which fits within the other. But just as before buildings were built without the supervision of a skilled architect and even, for the most part, without an architect’s drawing, buildings erected in this way turn out to be extremely inconvenient and extremely fragile. For this reason, a significant part of the fraternal cells in the inner quadrangle fell into disrepair, and the church in the name of St. Nicholas, located on the southwestern corner of the inner quadrangle, had to be closed - such cracks appeared on its walls and vaults! Meanwhile, it was built no more than 50 years ago. The buildings of the outer quadrangle are more convenient and stronger, but still very unsatisfactory. But the buildings erected under the current rector, Abbot Damaskin, according to the designs of architecture professor Gornostaev, are distinguished by their correctness, rigor of style, convenience and durability. These are: a two-story church in the monastery, a church in the name of St. Nicholas on the island of the same name, and a three-story (including a basement) hotel at the monastery. These buildings were erected for the most part at the expense of benefactors; at local prices they cost 150 thousand silver rubles, but at metropolitan prices they should be valued incomparably more. The cold two-story stone cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord is located in the middle of the eastern line of the inner quadrangle; the cathedral is of good architecture, but cramped and built fragile. In its basement there is a church in the name of St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam, where the relics of these saints of God rest under cover. Through a wide gallery, the cathedral is connected to the warm Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, located on the north-eastern corner of the inner quadrangle. The sacristy is very conveniently located in the gallery. In the middle of the southern line of the outer quadrangle there is the Holy Gate and above it the church in the name of the Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul. In the middle of the northern line is the Church of the Life-Giving Spring and its hospital; Above this church a very close church was built in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. The monastery is located three miles from the monastery; in the middle of it is the aforementioned two-story church: the upper one in the name of the Ethereal Powers, and the lower one in the name of All Saints. Around the church there are stone cells connected by a fence; these cells, built without an architect, are inconvenient and insufficient in their facades. In various places on the island there are desert cells of hermits, of which there are none today on Valaam. The most remarkable desert cell is located on the Holy Island - a high granite rock protruding from the lake, near the main island, where the Monk Alexander of Svirsky labored. There is also a small wooden church in the name of the Reverend. The capital of the monastery, despite the valuable buildings, gradually increases in significant quantities. When the current abbot assumed the position of abbot, the capital of the monastery consisted of 45 thousand 805 silver rubles; by August 1, 1856, it consisted of 87 thousand 831 silver rubles. The means for maintaining the monastery are as follows: 4715 silver rubles, received annually for Finnish fishing; interest on capital; income from a chapel located in St. Petersburg; donations for temporary and eternal remembrance; income from pilgrims who visit the Valaam Monastery in significant numbers in the summer. Annual income ranges from 25 to 50 thousand silver rubles; Not only is this income satisfactory for all the needs of the monastery, but there are also considerable surpluses left from it. The monastery's economy is in excellent good order, due to the special abilities and love for farming that nature has endowed with Abbot Damascus. The brick is made excellently, the lime is burned out perfectly well; The plinth stone is quarried with special strength. Buildings erected from such materials, as if cast from a solid mass, are unusually durable. There are roads in all directions of the island; the swamps have been drained; in their place there are mowing and arable land; delivery to the monastery of hay from hay fields, bread from arable fields, dead wood for buildings and firewood from the forest, via roads, became very convenient; whereas previously the forest, blown down by the wind, rotted without any benefit in places inaccessible. Cedars, oaks, maples and other valuable trees were sown and planted in large quantities in convenient places. The brotherhood of the Valaam Monastery is more numerous than all other diocesan monasteries; and the charter of this monastery - a copy of the charter of the Sarov Hermitage - is stricter than the charter of other monasteries. But despite the numerical superiority of the Valaam brotherhood, barely a sufficient number of capable people are selected from among them to serve as obedients to the monastery itself. For a long time, it has not assigned any capable brother to the Diocesan Department for any important position, except for Hieromonk Avramius, the second economist of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The reasons for this can be found in the following: persons enter this monastery only from the lower classes, many enter in old age, why the monastery is dominated by bodily labor, and not spiritual feat. Developed bodily labor greatly attracts the attention of lay visitors to the monastery and, at the same time, donations. Perhaps this reason forces us to pay more and more attention to external piety and strengthen its effects to the detriment of spiritual development. Many flock to the Valaam monastery and many are placed there by the authorities as a place protected from the satisfaction of drunken passion. The regulation that abbots should always be elected from the Valaam brotherhood probably also forces one to avoid accepting capable people, for fear that these would not at one time be preferred to those old-timers who consider themselves fully entitled to the rank of abbot. In general, this institution, although it may have its own benefits, has a harmful effect on the spirit of brotherhood, instilling in many ambitious thoughts and actions in accordance with these thoughts. The rules of the Valaam monastery are extremely difficult for people of a somewhat gentle upbringing, inseparable from mental education, and the rules of the monastery, which do not allow permission for cheese and eggs or fish on a single day of the year, are unbearable for common people; why monastery life is very little developed; They live in the monastery more unwillingly, and many from the monastery run (the exact expression of the action) to the monastery for the sole purpose of having lunch in the monastery. However, under the current abbot, the brotherhood has generally improved; the drunken passion that had intensified before him was significantly tamed. And the number of the brotherhood increased somewhat: in 1838 it consisted of 171 brothers, and in 1855 - of 189. The material needs of the Valaam Monastery consist mainly of repairing and even rebuilding the abbot's and fraternal cells, which is not difficult with the resources of the monastery. The moral need is primarily that subordinates should not be sent to this monastery. In this respect, they look at it almost like the Solovetsky Monastery; but the Solovetsky Monastery has staff and a military command that can curb the most violent subordinates. The Valaam Monastery has neither one nor the other; and meek and simple-hearted monks cannot be contrasted with those under their command, most of whom are either too reasonable or too violent. About the third-class Trinity-Zelenetsky monastery The third-class Trinity Zelenetsky Monastery is located in the Novo-Ladoga district, at the tip of the St. Petersburg province, 190 versts from St. Petersburg, six versts from the Novgorod province. It is built among a vast high plain. Since this plain has no drainage, a swamp has formed on it. In this swamp, in places there are elevations that are barely noticeable to the eye, but differ from the general mass of the swamp in that forest grows on them, while the rest of the swamp produces nothing but moss. These elevations are called islands by local residents. On one of these islands the Zelenetsky Monastery was built among ever-green groves of coniferous forest. The amount of land belonging to the Zelenetsky monastery consists of 19 thousand 277 [tithes]. More than half of this land consists of marshy swamps, the drainage of which, although possible, requires significant costs. However, the costs can be covered by significant rewards: for the consequence of draining the swamps should be an extraordinary increase in arable and hay land, which is now extremely scarce, and an increase and improvement of forests. The main monastery buildings, such as: the cathedral in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity with a basement floor, where the church in the name of the Holy Apostle Evangelist John the Theologian is located and where the relics of St. Martyrios rest under the cover, the warm church in the name of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, abbots' and fraternal cells, a fence, a rukhalna with grain barns and cellars - everything stone, built firmly by Metropolitan Cornelius at the end of the 17th century. Two stone buildings built at the beginning of this century, namely the new abbot's cells and the living room, are no good and require alteration from the very foundation. The sacristy of the Zelenetsky Monastery is quite good, it has significantly improved and increased since 1836, especially under Abbot Theophan and Archimandrite Innocent. The capital in 1838 consisted of 9 thousand 472 rubles in silver, by the first day of October 1856 it increased to 50 thousand 697 rubles, having been acquired mainly from cutting down forests. The income of the monastery is very insufficient for two reasons: a) the land, which constitutes the main asset of the monastery, is very little cultivated and produces a harvest and cutting that are completely inappropriate for its quantity; b) the Zelenetsky monastery needs a abbot from a simple life, who could successfully engage in collecting and farming, who could stay in the Zelenetsky monastery for a long time and act according to a well-known plan. But in this monastery, the abbots are constantly changing: within twenty years, eight abbots have changed. The brotherhood of the Zelenetsky monastery is rather meager, simple, not only does it not provide useful members for other monasteries, but it itself constantly needs the help of other monasteries to correct the most important obediences. By 1856, the brotherhood consisted of an archimandrite, 6 hieromonks, 3 hierodeacons, 3 monks, 11 novices, 9 pilgrims - a total of 33 brothers. The Zelenetsky monastery, very secluded and very insufficient due to the weak development of its economy, especially needs an abbot-owner, at least with the title of builder. The buildings in it only require support: why should all efforts be directed to draining the swamps and initially that part that is located between the Syasya River and the road leading from the monastery to Syasya and in the other direction - to the Usadishchi churchyard. This part has an inclination to the Syasi River, which is why it can be conveniently drained, and once drained, it will significantly improve the monastic economy. About the third-class Nativity Konevsky Monastery The third-class Nativity Konevsky Monastery is located in the Vyborg province of the Grand Duchy of Finland, on an island in Lake Ladoga, on the western side of this lake, 180 versts. The island has a circumference of 11 miles, contains more than 600 acres of land and all belongs to the monastery. Its soil is clay in places, but mostly sand; It contains in its depths and on its surface a lot of cobblestones and many large stones of a granite nature. On this soil grows forest, mainly pine, both for firewood and for construction, of very good quality. But the soil is extremely inconvenient for arable farming, vegetable gardening and gardening; only near Skete there is a piece of land on which cabbage and other vegetables grow well. The monastery feeds itself on its own vegetables, sows very small quantities of rye and oats, and mows a small amount of hay, however, sufficient for the monastery’s horses and cattle. Fish is caught off the shores of the island; goes for use in the monastery, but not for sale. The monastery was built on a flat place, significantly elevated above the level of the lake. With a solid line of cells, it forms a large quadrangle, inside of which there is a two-story cathedral. The monastery's western face, in the middle of which there is a bell tower with a holy gate, faces the lake; with his other faces he went deeper into the thicket of the pine forest. All the monastery buildings, with the exception of the cathedral and the bell tower, are extremely insufficient both in design and execution, and the monastic cells on the lower floor are worthless. At least the bell tower is strong. The cathedral was conceived and built very well. On the top floor there is a cold church in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God, and on the lower floor there is a warm Church of the Presentation of the Lord with a chapel of the Konevskaya Mother of God; here is the miraculous icon of the Konevskaya Mother of God, brought from Mount Athos by the Venerable Arsenios, as well as a silver shrine of this Saint in the place where his relics rest in the ground. On the southeastern corner of the monastery there is a church in the name of St. Nicholas, and in the northeast there is a church in the name of St. Arseny Konevsky. Half a mile from the monastery, on a picturesque hill, there is a skete, although made of stone, but built very poorly, with a small church in the name of the Kazan Mother of God. Near the monastery there is a wooden hotel of considerable size; Behind the monastery there are workers' huts, horse and cattle yards, all of which are satisfactory. The sacristy of the monastery is satisfactory, but cannot in any way compare with the sacristies of the Sergius Hermitage and the Valaam Monastery. The library is sufficient. The capital of the Konevsky Monastery in 1838 extended to 28 thousand silver rubles, by August 1, 1856 it rose to 55 thousand 395 silver rubles. The monastery is maintained: a) by interest on the capital; b) the alms of pilgrims from St. Petersburg, who arrive in especially significant numbers in the first week of the Holy Pentecost by sleigh, and on June 12 - the day of remembrance of St. Arseny Konevsky by ship and other ships; c) income from the chapel located in St. Petersburg near the Church of the Vladimir Mother of God. The amount of the parish for 1855 extended to 11 thousand silver rubles. The monastery's own means of maintenance are: vegetables, fish, milk, and in very small quantities rye flour; all grain supplies are bought in St. Petersburg, from where the monastery uses almost all its needs; a very small quantity of them is purchased in the neighboring Finnish city, Kexholm, from which the monastery is 30 miles away. Own means for construction are: timber, coastal stone and sand. The brotherhood of the Konevsky Monastery is the simplest. Just like in the Valaam monastery, many who cannot abstain from drunken passion in the middle of the world come here; also many of those possessed by this unfortunate passion are sent here by the spiritual authorities. And since the coast of Finland is much closer here than from the Valaam Monastery, purchasing wine is much more convenient than there. In such cases, there is a great permit for wine. In general, the brotherhood is underdeveloped in all respects, and only brings in people who sufficiently satisfy the monastery’s own needs. The Konevsky Monastery did not provide a single official for the Diocesan Department. By 1856, his fraternity consisted of 96 brothers. The monastery satisfies material needs with its own resources. If he needs to correct his cells, then this correction can be done gradually, in parts. The monastery urgently needs a completely well-intentioned abbot, combining spiritual direction with economic abilities and knowledge, who could attract capable and well-intentioned brethren to his flock and give them spiritual direction. The Consistory's previous view of the Valaam and Konevsky monasteries, which remained unchanged from experience to it, should now completely change due to the changed attitude of the capital's public towards these monasteries. Previously, Valaam and Konevets were a wilderness, inaccessible to a select public, visited only by members of lower society, for whom the infirmities of the clergy serve as a small temptation; All the rabble from the monastic and white clergy not only of the capital, but also of the Diocese were poured out into this wilderness. Now, with the opening of the shipping company, Valaam and Konevets have become, as it were, sub-metropolitan places: the first persons of the capital's society visit them, demanding from the monastics both good behavior and spiritual knowledge. What do they meet there? A violation of not only good morals, but also decency. This applies more to Konevets than to Valaam, where they know how to more skillfully hide the infirm from the curious and seductive gaze of secular visitors. Currently, the Zelenetsky, Vvedensky and Cheremenetsky monasteries serve as much more convenient correctional places for the white clergy. In these monasteries, where it is possible to hide violators of good behavior from the public eye, the most subordinates are corrected more conveniently: for the rules there are easier, secular settlements are closer, which is why the white clergy more easily bear the burden of penance; meanwhile, on Konevets, and especially on Valaam, they become bitter and even despairing. About the provincial Vvedensky Ostrovsky Monastery The provincial Vvedensky Ostrovsky Monastery is located on the very border of St. Petersburg and Olonets provinces, separated here by the Syasya River. There is a monastery on the banks of this river. It is called Ostrovsky because it formerly stood on an island in the river; Now its channel, which went around the monastery from behind, is completely covered with sand and silt, completely destroyed by backfill and partly entered the monastery fence. The monastery is located 250 miles from St. Petersburg, and 70 miles from Novaya Ladoga. There is enough land in this monastery (about 500 acres). The arable land and hayfields, with the special abilities for agriculture and the hard work of the current abbot, are very improved and produce abundant harvests and cuttings. Cattle are kept in significant numbers. There is enough timber and firewood available. Fish are caught in the river, sometimes in large quantities and of excellent species, such as taimen, trout, whitefish, etc. One of the churches, all the cells and the fence of this monastery are made of stone; one church is wooden. The fence does not have the correct shape. Both churches stand almost in the middle of the monastery. Stone cathedral church of the Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the chapel of the Tikhvin Mother of God. The wooden one has two floors, in the upper there are three chapels: the middle one - Epiphany, the right one - the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the left one - St. Alexander of Svirsky; on the lower floor is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, where the parents of St. Alexander of Svirsky rest in secret: schemamonk Sergius and schemanun Varvara. Under the current abbot, a large building of stone cells was built and a stone fence was built over a considerable area. But this abbot, having excellent abilities to acquire funds, unfortunately, is very averse to projects drawn up by architects; for this reason, the buildings erected by him are insufficient in artificial terms and, most importantly, fragile, although valuable. Most of the buildings were built by benefactors, regardless of the monastic income. The sacristy of the monastery has been brought into very good condition by the current abbot. Its profitable items, of very significant value, are most donated by philanthropists. The capital of the monastery, which in 1838 consisted of 589 silver rubles, through the diligence of the current abbot, rose to 23 thousand 639 rubles by October 1, 1856; income, which in 1838 reached 2 thousand rubles in silver, rose in 1855 to 3 thousand 800 rubles. The monastery has the following means to support itself: rye flour, barley and oatmeal, dairy supplies, fish; sells excess bread and fish. The construction materials are as follows: wood and sand. The brotherhood of the Vvedensky Monastery, like the brotherhood of the Konevsky Monastery, satisfies only the obediences of the monastery; There are no particularly capable and developed monks. The rector, abbot Israel, has an excellent moral life and is especially zealous for the good of the monastery. By 1856, the brotherhood consisted of an abbot, 4 hieromonks, 3 hierodeacons, 4 monks, 10 novices - a total of 22 brothers. This monastery has no special needs. About the provincial Old Ladoga Nikolaevsky Monastery The provincial Staro-Ladoga Nikolaevsky Monastery is located near the village of Staraya Ladoga (an ancient city founded by Rurik) in the Novo-Ladoga district of the St. Petersburg province, 150 versts from St. Petersburg and 14 from Novaya Ladoga, built on a narrow area between the mountain on the western side and the Volkhov River with eastern. There is enough arable and hay land, as well as timber and firewood at the monastery (320 dessiatines). The buildings of the monastery are stone, of mediocre architecture and strength, with the exception of the new three-story (including a basement) building, built by the current abbot, Father Abbot Apollos, which is very solid and very satisfactory in architectural terms. The church in this monastery is one, two-story; on the top floor there is a cold church in the name of St. Nicholas with a chapel on the left side of the Tikhvin Mother of God; on the lower floor there is a warm church in honor of the Cathedral of the Mother of God with a chapel on the left side in the name of the Hieromartyr Antipas. The church is ancient, built mostly from a rather large slab; was subject to frequent reconstruction, which is why it lost its strength. The sacristy of the monastery is satisfactory. All its valuable and noteworthy items consist of donations after 1838. The capital of the monastery in 1838 extended to 1 thousand 911 rubles in silver, now it has increased to 15 thousand 15 rubles. The monastery's income, which until 1838 had always been about 1,500 silver rubles, increased significantly and increased to 10 thousand silver rubles in some years. The main source of income are two chapels: one in St. Petersburg, the other in Novaya Ladoga; and fees. The flow of pilgrims to the monastery is moderate. In addition to monetary income, the monastery feeds itself on its own vegetables, rye flour, oats, partly fish and firewood. The only building materials it has are its own timber; but he also obtains other materials at a reasonable price, since there are slab breakers near the monastery, in which slabs for piles and lime are mined. The Brotherhood of the Nicholas Monastery has some members with abilities. It is better than in all the ordinary and third-class monasteries of the Diocese. Church singing is much more beautiful than in the mentioned monasteries. The reason for this is that the abbot, abbot Apollos, is disposed towards capable people and knows how to attract them to himself. The increase in income, capital, and sacristy items is partly due to the prior abbots of Father Apollos, the builder Barsanuphius (now Archimandrite) and the builder Theophan (now Kirillo-Novoezersk Archimandrite), although less than Father Apollos; but he owes his brotherhood solely to this abbot. This brotherhood in 1855 consisted of an abbot, 5 hieromonks, 4 hierodeacons, 1 schemamonk, 2 monks, 16 novices, 14 pilgrims, a total of 45 people. The monastery has no basic needs. About the provincial Theological Cheremenets Monastery The provincial Theological Cheremenets Monastery is located in the Luga district of the St. Petersburg province, 152 versts from St. Petersburg and 20 versts (through the estate of the landowner Karamyshev) from Luga, on a small cone-shaped island of Lake Cheremenets. The entire island belongs to the monastery, and is connected by a dam to a peninsula that also belongs to the monastery; The peninsula is connected by a narrow isthmus to the coast. On the island, at the top of its cone, there is a cathedral, along the banks there are century-old oaks and linden trees, between the greenery of which the buildings of the monastery can be seen. The location is both secluded and picturesque. The Cheremenets Monastery is the poorest monastery in all respects in the Diocese; but this monastery is not only maintained with its own funds, but since 1838 almost all of it has been rebuilt. True, its buildings are the simplest, but quite beautiful. There is enough arable land, haymaking land and timber at the monastery for its needs (375 acres), but it needs firewood. The timber, although good, is located at a very long distance from the monastery (60 versts), and cannot be delivered to the monastery otherwise than on horseback, which is very expensive. The arable land and hayfields are worse than in other monasteries, with the exception of Konevsky, since the soil consists mostly of sand and hard cartilage. The buildings of the monastery are partly stone, partly wooden, the cold cathedral in the name of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian with the miraculous icon of the Evangelist in the iconostasis is stone, durable, although of irregular architecture. It has a stone bell tower equipped with modest bells. Its basement floor is occupied by storage rooms. Near the cathedral there is a warm church, stone, low-lying, in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The rector's cells are two-story; the lower floor is made of stone with two cells for the brethren; The upper floor, where the abbot is located, is made of wood. The brethren's cells and other buildings of the monastery are wooden, mostly on a stone foundation. The fence, according to the terrain, forms an irregular polygon, partly made of wild stone, partly on a stone foundation, wooden, painted to look like stone. The horse and cattle yard, as well as all other outbuildings, wooden, are located on the peninsula, near the fields, a mile from the monastery. The vestry has been greatly modified since 1838 by many donations, some of which are quite valuable. The capital of the monastery, which in 1838 reached 5 thousand 300 rubles in silver, rose to 18 thousand 960 rubles on August 1, 1856. The annual monetary income, which in 1838 consisted of 1195 rubles, consisted in 1856 of 3851 rubles and kopecks. The means for maintaining the monastery are as follows: 1) cash income from pilgrims, 2) from the collected book, 3) rye flour, oats, even cereals - buckwheat, spelled and barley; dairy supplies and fish. In cases of insufficient harvest, the monastery makes up for the lack of bread by collecting from neighboring landowners. The brotherhood of the Cheremenets Monastery satisfies his only needs. In 1855, it housed: a rector, hieromonks - 3, hierodeacons - 1, priests - 2, monks - 2, novices - 8, designated novices - 5, resident pilgrims - 4, subordinates - 3; in total - 29. The abbot of the monastery, Abbot Hesychius, satisfies the requirements of the monastery with his abilities and information on management and housekeeping. The monastery does not have any special needs, but satisfies its ordinary needs with its own resources. About the third-class Staro-Ladoga Dormition nunnery The Old Ladoga third-class Dormition nunnery is located in the Novo-Ladoga district of the St. Petersburg province, 148 versts from St. Petersburg, 12 from Novaya Ladoga, 2 from the Old Ladoga Nikolaevsky Monastery, on the excellent bank of the Volkhov River, flowing near the monastery on the eastern side. The opposite bank of the river consists of a steep mountain, and this place of the monastery is picturesque. On other sides it is level, and on the south the monastery fence adjoins the garden of the Tomilov landowners. And in other directions the worldly villages are very close. The monastery enjoys tranquility due to the simplicity of the morals of the neighboring population, especially in winter, when navigation along the Volkhov stops and neighboring landowners leave their estates to live in St. Petersburg. There are 154 acres of land at the monastery, of which 100 are under forest. Has its own garden; There is very little arable land and haymaking, since the monastery is staffed and the sisters are fed and clothed at their own expense. The stone fence of the monastery forms a regular quadrangle, oblong from east to west, containing a significant space. In the middle of the monastery, but closer to the west, there is an ancient cathedral, mostly made of slabs, with three altars, two of which are in the choir. The main altar is in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and in the choir - in the name of the Kazan Mother of God on the right, and the Great Martyr Barbara on the left. Recently, a warm low-lying church in the name of the Annunciation of the Mother of God was added to the cathedral. Outside the monastery, at a considerable distance from it, in the cemetery of worldly people there is a small church in the name of Alexy, the man of God. In this church, marriages are celebrated that previously took place in the monastery itself, since the two priests attached to the monastery also have a parish together. On the eastern line of the monastery fence there is a two-story building of cells for sisters; other cells, and abbess and sisters, as well as outbuildings are wooden. The sacristy of the monastery is very satisfactory. The capital of the monastery, which in 1838 consisted of 5 thousand 458 rubles, increased by October 1, 1856 to 19 thousand 832 rubles; The monastery's income, which in 1838 reached 2,750 silver rubles, in 1855 reached 7 thousand 18 rubles. The monastery has little need for funds to support the sisters, since the sisters are obliged to have their own cells and support themselves at their own expense. The monastery only uses its income to support the churches: why almost all of the monetary income, received in very small quantities from visitors to the monastery and reaching the above figure, through collections and donations, can almost entirely be used to renovate the monastery. The meeting of sisters, which in 1838 consisted of 15 nuns, 26 novices, 34 living for worship, a total of 76 sisters, by 1856 consisted of 18 nuns, 26 novices, 1 determined to be a novice, 101 living for worship, a total of 146 persons. The sisters of this monastery live, for the most part, very meagerly, to which their situation has been and is especially now being paid careful attention; some among them lead a particularly attentive life and have deep knowledge in Christian asceticism. The lady abbess has very good abilities as an abbess: with her directness and kindness she attracted the love and trust of the sisters, and with her obvious successes in building the monastery she attracted the attention and significant donations of the laity. From the facts presented in this essay, the following general conclusions emerge, accurately depicting the current state of the monasteries of the St. Petersburg Diocese and the success they have achieved from 1838 to the current 1856. The income of all monasteries in general in 1838 extended to 33 thousand 754 silver rubles. The income of the same monasteries for 1855 extended to 119 thousand 552 rubles in silver. The capital of all monasteries in 1838 reached 46 thousand 970 rubles. The capital of these same monasteries in 1856 increased to 282 thousand 455 rubles. The monasteries increased their capital by 185 thousand 485 rubles. Buildings, as mentioned above, were produced in the Sergius Hermitage in the amount of 500 thousand silver rubles; in the Valaam Monastery, two churches and a hotel are valued at 150 thousand silver rubles; other buildings in this monastery, such as the fence and cells in the Skete, the hospice house and other smaller ones, cost up to 50 thousand silver rubles. In the Vvedensky and Nikolaevsky monasteries, two three-story buildings cost 50 thousand silver rubles. Superstructure over two stone buildings, construction of a hotel, barnyard, harbor in the Konevsky Monastery; construction of a fence with stone services in the Vvedensky Monastery; renovation of the church in Nikolaevskoye; renovation of the church and construction of a fence in Cheremenetskoye; renovation of the church and construction of a fence in the women's Assumption can also be estimated at 30 thousand silver rubles. The assessment provided here is the most moderate, at local prices, not at all at metropolitan prices. The total value of the buildings reaches 560 thousand silver rubles. According to the sacristy, donations were received to the Sergeev Hermitage, at the most moderate estimate, for 70 thousand rubles in silver, to other monasteries, according to an equally moderate estimate, including bells donated to the Vvedensky and Valaam monasteries, and a silver shrine over the relics of St. Arseny Konevsky, for 100 thousand rubles in silver. In total, in all monasteries - 170 thousand rubles in silver. Thus, the monasteries from 1838 to 1856 (inclusive) made acquisitions of capital, buildings and sacristy items in the amount of 915 thousand silver rubles. Moreover, the acquisition of lands, especially the Sergius Hermitage, is very valuable. The brotherhood of all monasteries in 1838 consisted of 369 brothers and 76 sisters. By 1856 it consisted of 450 brothers and 147 sisters. All these figures appear to represent only material improvements in the monasteries; but in fact, they serve as a faithful image of the moral success of monastic monasteries, since experience has proven the immutable truth that as morality rises in a monastery, its material condition develops, and vice versa. As a result of careful observation since 1838 of the morality of the brotherhood of monasteries, it can be said that gross vices have greatly decreased and that the reading of the Fatherly books has greatly developed. But true monastic deeds, according to their secrecy, are judged by One God. From this sketch it is clear that some monasteries made more acquisitions in the period from 1838 to 1856 than from their founding or restoration to 1838. When carefully searching for the reason for this fact, it is found solely in the abilities, good intentions and degree of monastic education of the abbots. Justice requires that in this conclusion the abbot fathers should be mentioned: Damascene, Apollos and Israel and the lady abbess Dionysia, as abbots who lead the monasteries entrusted to them to special prosperity with special zeal and success. To the Holy Governing Synod. Bishop Ignatius, manager of the supernumerary, cenobitic Nikolaev Babaevsky Monastery I have the honor to present for the consideration of the Holy Synod a report on the state of the monastery I managed for 1863. Your Holiness's most humble novice, Bishop Ignatius. Report on the condition of the secondary dormitory of the Nikolaev Babaevsky Monastery for 1865 The time of the foundation of the Nikolaev Babaevsky Monastery cannot be determined with accuracy, because its written documents, like in many Russian monasteries, were destroyed by fires. The Babaevsky Monastery was also subject to fires, in which the entire structure, with the exception of the cathedral church, was wooden, replaced at the beginning of this century with stone. It is known that the area now occupied by the Babaevsky Monastery belonged to the Moscow Ugreshsky Monastery, founded by the Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy. The foundation of the Babaevsky monastery, therefore, must date back to the time of Donskoy’s successors. The Nikolaevsky Babayevsky Monastery, according to its charter, is a cenobitic monastery, but according to its hierarchical meaning it is supernumerary. He, like other ordinary monasteries and deserts, receives 85 rubles 71 kopecks in silver per year in alms. There are two miraculous icons in the monastery: 1) the Iveron Mother of God, 2) St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. With this icon there is a particle of the relics of this Pleasant of God, stored in a silver shrine. The icon of the Saint was found on babaykas, that is, on oars, which were laid on the Volga River. For this reason, both the icon and the monastery are called Babaevsky. The place where the monastery is located is quite picturesque. This is an elevated cape formed by the confluence of the Solonitsa River into the Volga. The monastery stands a hundred fathoms from the river and the river, very deep at its mouth. The opposite banks and rivers belong to the Yaroslavl province. The southern side of the monastery is decorated with an oak grove, the western - with floodplain meadows and abundant springs of the purest spring waters, springing from the bowels of the earth and flowing in a stream into the Volga; on the east there is a monastery plowing field; on the north there is a two-story stone hotel for receiving and visiting visitors to the monastery. The monastery, distinguished by its climatic convenience and being very secluded, especially in winter, attracts lovers of ascetic life; His brotherhood, with those trained in monastic life and not yet belonging to the clergy, consists of more than a hundred people. According to the regulations of the Holy Synod, held in 1823 and the Highest rules approved in 1832, the Babayevsky Monastery was granted to have thirty monastics and the same number of novices. By 1864 there were: rector, in the rank of abbot; 11 hieromonks, 8 hierodeacons, 5 monks, 30 novices, 1 priest, 2 deacons. Staff: 1 abbot, 1 hieromonk, 1 monk. Divine services are conducted according to the order introduced in all well-maintained communal monasteries. The charter was originally borrowed from the Sarov Desert with some modifications and application to local customs. The most notable application is to serve the prayer service to the Mother of God and St. Nicholas on Sundays after the Liturgy, to read the Akathist to St. Nicholas on Wednesdays after Vespers, to read the Psalter day and night, between services, in church during the first week of Lent. In the Babaevsky Monastery, the brethren, according to the general custom of the hostels, in addition to participating in Divine services, are engaged in various monastic obediences, according to their abilities. In the summer they take part in agricultural work. Heavy work, such as arable land, mowing hay, reaping, and others, is carried out by civilian workers, and the brotherhood, having at its head a rector or one of the senior hieromonks, leaving at the church a leading hieromonk, a hierodeacon and several wingmen to perform divine services, goes out to harvest hay, to harvest sheaves, to collect vegetables from the gardens and similar works. Some of the brothers are engaged in fishing. There are four churches in the monastery, all made of stone. 1) The Cathedral Church in the name of the Iveron Mother of God, two-story, extremely dilapidated and cramped. At this church there is a bell tower equipped with a sufficient number of bells, of which the main one weighs 600 pounds. 2) Warm church in the name of St. Nicholas, spacious and very comfortable; Divine services are held there in winter and summer, and in the cathedral only early Liturgies are served in the summer. 3) The Church in the name of St. John Chrysostom and St. Sergius of Radonezh, called the hospital church, because it has four cells in which sick and decrepit monks are placed. In this church, the day-night reading of the Psalter is performed with remembrance for the health and repose of the brethren and benefactors of the monastery; in winter, early Liturgies are served here. 4) The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God above the Holy Gates, very small; Divine services are held in it once a year, on the day of the church holiday. The abbot's cells, the fraternal meal and a significant part of the fraternal cells are located on the western side of the monastery, in a stone two-story building, with some windows facing the monastery and others facing the Volga. This body is 50 fathoms long; in the middle of it are the Holy Gates, and at the ends of the tower. On opposite corners there are towers in which the brethren are placed. The retired Bishop is housed in the upper floor of the building attached to the hospital church. The fence of the monastery on the western side is made up of the mentioned long building of cells, on the southern side, up to half of it, the hospital church and the building attached to it; on the other sides there is a stone fence six arshins high. The sacristy and library of the monastery are in a satisfactory position relative to its needs. The monastery has up to 990 acres of arable, haymaking, forest, most woodland, and also inconvenient land; but the monastery has very little land, which is why agriculture is not properly developed and does not satisfy the needs of the monastery. The land belonging to the monastery is located in different places, at greater or lesser distances from it, and is most often given for rent. The monastery has in the city of Kostroma: a stone chapel; a stone two-story house for rent; two state-owned shops, of which one is under the mentioned chapel, rented out. The capital of the monastery consists of: 1) from tickets without the right of transfer in the amount of 26 thousand 402 rubles in silver, 2) from tickets with the right of transfer in the amount of 4 thousand rubles in silver. The monastery's income is made up of the following amounts: 1) candle money, 2) prayer service, 3) prosphora, purse money, 4) synodical, given for commemoration, 5) hotel, from visitors staying at the hotel, 6) chapel, received from the Kostroma chapel, 7) interest, 8) rent from the house, shops and lands, 9) transportation, for transportation through Volga and 10) extraordinary from donors, which can be very diverse. The annual income of the monastery in recent years ranged from 7 to 11 thousand rubles per year. The monastery's income in 1863 extended to 12 thousand 955 rubles, expenses up to 12 thousand 628 rubles. The parish was built to such an amount by extraordinary donations. Of the 3 thousand rubles borrowed and interest-free from some philanthropists for the urgent repair of monastery buildings (this was mentioned in the report for 1862), 2 thousand rubles were donated by these philanthropists; 1 thousand rubles remain to be paid, which will probably also be provided to the monastery. The funds of the monastery, for the needs of the monastery, were provided by decree of the Holy Synod of August 26, 1861, No. 3283, to be managed by me. As a result of this, ordinary expenses, following the example of previous years, are made by the rector and the elder brethren, and for extraordinary ones they ask my permission. Since the monastery does not have a regular amount, but only one non-salary amount, the income and expenditure book is issued by me, with my seal and seal; income and expenses are submitted monthly for my consideration; Moreover, the book is revised by me at the end of the year. Donations in 1865 were as follows: 1) 100 rubles in silver by the Kostroma merchant Anfisa Borodatova, 2) 100 rubles in silver by the Yaroslavl merchant Nikolai Dimitrievich Rabounov, 3) 1000 rubles to an unknown person, 4) 300 rubles to an unknown person, 5) 1000 rubles by a peasant Yaroslavl province by Osip Fedotov, 6) 300 rubles by peasant Ivan Lednev, for the proposed construction of a new cathedral church. In total, 2800 silver rubles were donated. Various benefactors donated to the church: 1) a canopy over the shrine of the relics of St. Nicholas, worth approximately 2,200 rubles, 2) a silver gilded chasuble for the icon of St. Nicholas worth 981 rubles, 3) bronze ripids worth 140 rubles, 4) a pendant and two lamps worth 320 silver rubles. The buildings of the monastery proper, which had fallen into extreme disrepair, were repaired as much as possible; It was impossible to begin repairing and rebuilding outbuildings due to lack of funds. The monastery's economy has been somewhat improved, but still requires significant improvement. Materials are being prepared for the construction of a new cathedral church, which is urgently needed due to the dilapidation and cramped conditions of the existing one. For my further labors, which are very weak due to weak health and strength, but can bring benefit to the monastery with the careful assistance of the abbot, the brethren and some benefactors, I have the honor to ask for the blessing of the Holy Synod. Description of the Valaam Monastery and the unrest that occurred there 26 Compiled by the dean of the monasteries of the St. Petersburg diocese, Archimandrite IGNATIUS Your Eminence was pleased to entrust me with the study of the turmoil currently disturbing the Valaam monastery and a review of it in all respects. Having accepted this obedience with the most reverent zeal and fulfilled it in accordance with my meager strength, I submitted to the Consistory during the report the authentic interrogations of the investigators and the testimony of the defendants; and here I have the honor to present before Your Eminence in six articles those of my comments and thoughts about the Valaam Monastery, which are subject solely to the gaze of the Archpastor. Antiquity of the Valaam Monastery. Location. Soil. A product of the plant kingdom. Fish. Climate. Monastery buildings. Means for improving them. Means of maintenance. The foundation of the Valaam Monastery dates back to the century of Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. In her time, says legend, two Greek monks, the Venerable Sergius and Herman, sanctified the desert of Valaam with pious deeds. History is silent about the details of their lives, but their incorruptible relics loudly proclaim that this life consisted of deeds pleasing to God. After them, Valaam was the permanent home of the monks. Repeatedly the peaceful huts of the monks were destroyed by the Swedes, and the monks themselves were given over to the edge of the sword. However, the convenience of the place again attracted lovers of solitude. Here St. Alexander of Svirsky studied monastic life, from here St. Savvaty went to the shores of the White Sea and laid the foundation for desert life on Solovetsky Island. Rocks consisting of wild stone, called luda in this place, rising from the deep Lake Ladoga, form an island up to 30 versts in circumference and twenty-five miles away from the nearest shore. The location of the island is picturesque, but wild: exposed rocks stick out everywhere. The ground on the entire island is solid stone, half an arshin or less covered with earth. The forest, consisting mostly of pine and spruce, does not achieve proper growth; in vain the roots of the tree, looking for more food, try to penetrate into the depths of the earth: there is none, and they are forced to stretch and intertwine along the surface. But this thin layer of earth is very fertile: the stones, which emit moisture during the most intense and prolonged heat, completely protect the soil from drought. Up to ten thousand poods of hay can be collected. Little grain is sown; but judging by the many convenient places for arable land and the fertility of the land, with the organization of the economy, the Valaam monastery can be content with its bread. Equally, haymaking can be intensified. On the slope of the mountain near the monastery, by noon, an orchard was very successfully planted; trees can easily withstand winter frosts and produce a bountiful harvest; Last year, up to fourteen thousand apples were harvested. Also, the garden generously rewards labor, providing a year's supply of all kinds of vegetables. Fish is not caught on the shores of the island at every time of the year; but when it is caught, it is in such quantities that a significant supply is salted and left for future use. Whitefish are caught in abundance in the fall, but less than the usual Ladoga whitefish, and, in addition to home consumption, it is sent to St. Petersburg, where it is sold under the name Valaam whitefish. So, the monastery has the following household items: firewood, hay, fish, some bread, vegetables. For the building it has the following materials: wild stone and logs, brick with its own firewood costs no more than 12 thousand rubles; lime is conveniently obtained by water and is obtained without payment from government-owned marble quarries. No need for rubble for buildings. It is natural here, and the buildings erected on it stand without any damage. The monastery was built at the lip of Lake Ladoga on a high exposed stone rock. Its plan consists of two quadrangles, one of which is placed inside the other. Along the line of the internal quadrangle are the following buildings: the cold Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord, five-domed, with a bell tower with a large bell of 550 pounds. Below it is the Church of St. Sergius and Herman, where their relics rest hidden in a silver shrine. This church is very low, but the cathedral is very proportional and magnificent: inside it has four pillars supporting the middle dome, an ancient iconostasis, the lower tier of which is decorated with rich vestments. There is one drawback, in my opinion, in the architecture of this church: it is extremely covered with multi-colored paintings, especially the ceiling is decorated in the roughest taste. On the left corner, inside the inner quadrangle, there is a warm Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, in which Divine services are held in winter; in its simplicity and convenience, it is a real monastic church; and on the right is a small church in the name of St. Nicholas. The warm church is connected to the cold cathedral through a wide and long gallery, illuminated on both sides by windows with strong louvres. This is the sacristy. In the middle there are cabinets in two rows, opening to the windows, filled with rich vestments, and in significant quantities; vessels and other utensils in abundance. The amount in accordance with the laws is also stored here. At the warm church there are the sextons' cells; Next is the fraternal meal, quite spacious and mercilessly decorated; The kitchen is very cramped and connects to the meal. Opposite the cathedral are the abbot's cells, which are very cramped, low, and uncomfortable. They consist of two rooms, of which one serves as a bedroom and the other as a reception room; in this latter the abbot cannot receive more than ten or twelve brothers, it is so small, although it is twice the size of the bedroom. The quadrangle ends in a line parallel to the refectory, perpendicular to the cathedral and the abbot's chambers, containing the brethren's cells, cramped, low, damp on the lower floor, fatal to health. The dampness on Valaam is sharp, evaporates from the stones and penetrates strongly into the body, producing severe rheumatism, from which many of the brothers suffer. In the outer quadrangle the cells are somewhat better. In it, near the Holy Gate, there is a hotel on one side, a ruined one on the other, and opposite the cathedral there is a library containing many rare Fatherly books, some of them ancient seals, some of them written, which are now sealed by Abbot Veniamin. Among other books, I saw the writing of St. Theodore the Studite - this is such a rarity that I meet in the first monastery. A church was built above the gate in the name of Peter and Paul; in symmetry there is a hospital two-table church with chapels of the Life-Giving Source in the upper floor and the Holy Trinity in the lower floor; In total there are five churches in the monastery, seven chapels. The inner quadrangle was built by Father Abbot Nazarius, and the outer one by Abbots Innocent and John. A wide and long stone staircase, built by Abbot Veniamin, leads from the pier to the monastery. The churches and some of the cells are covered with iron, while the other part has wooden roofs. The climate on Valaam is very harsh, its severity is complicated, firstly, by the winds from the lake, which freely act on the monastery due to its high and open position; secondly, by evaporation from stones, which causes almost continuous fog in the fall, and in the summer, during the most intense heat, one cannot trust the deceptive charity of the air; Colds have a very strong effect on Valaam, a significant reward for the severity of the climate and place. I think the arrangement of the cells is prudent. Even now, some of them are widespread and improved by combining two cells into one. This remedy is all the more convenient because there are many empty cells. To reduce dampness in the lower floor, I believe it is necessary and convenient to raise the floors and install dormer windows so that the air, passing freely in the summer under the floor, will carry out rotten dampness. I plan to gradually cover the roofs with iron, as is already being done. The abbot's chambers need to be multiplied, although one room is large enough to receive the brethren. All these improvements can be made easily; Every year, up to ten thousand rubles in savings remain from expenses. It would be useful to build a hotel outside the monastery or, at least, to block the entrances to it from the inside of the monastery; now it is in a fence; visitors of both sexes stay there, which is indecent for a well-maintained monastery and is the cause of empty rumors and temptations. The vastness of the island, covered with forest, in which there are no large carnivorous animals, the long distance from the villages, household auxiliary means of maintenance, monetary income, extending to forty thousand a year and increasing from unforeseen cases by ten and twenty thousand, give the Valaam monastery the opportunity to flourish both in the moral monastic attitude and in external structure. Poverty of coastal Finns. Their connection with their subordinates. The harm from these is the last. Means to avert this harm. The coasts of Finland, approaching the Valaam island, present a more striking picture of wild nature than Valaam. 20 versts from Kexgolm, bare stone mountains begin, interrupted by lakes, and accompany the traveler almost to Serdobol. You drive for several miles and don’t even see bushes - only stones are witnesses to the barrenness of the country and the poverty of the people. This part of the shore of Lake Ladoga, rich in stones, is very rich in beggars. In summer, the lake is covered with canoes carrying beggars across the stormy abyss; in winter, as soon as the ice freezes, whole flocks rush to the monastery, regardless of the distance or the severity of the frost - for a crust of bread; in another month there are up to 10 thousand of them in the monastery. Women with babies, children, and disabled old people are coming. Crossing the lake is very dangerous for half-naked poor people, and often the unfortunate ones freeze to death in the middle of the lake. Having reached Valaam, they scatter around the island, walk through fraternal cells, through deserts in secluded forests, to Skete - and thus, by the untimeliness of frequent visits, they not only disturb the peace of the monks, but also introduce two kinds of temptations: the temptation of active sin and the temptation of suspicion of sin. The evil is not limited to this... In order to strengthen the well-being and peace of the Valaam Monastery, the following measures seem to me necessary and useful in this regard: 1. A cenobitic monk has not only no material property, but also no will; therefore, according to his own will, he cannot and should not give alms, but gives it on behalf of his hostel. The boss, through those brethren to whom this obedience is entrusted, and therefore, it seems to me, is much more convenient for the beggar, and much calmer for the monastery, and more spiritually beneficial for the brethren, to distribute alms on Serdobol, in the monastery courtyard there, allocating an annual amount for this according to the opportunity and announcing such an order through the zemstvo police to the coastal residents; in the monastery, do not give anything at all, so that the beggars will soon wean themselves from traveling on canoes and on ice, which is dangerous for themselves and harmful for the Valaam brethren. Saint Isaac the Syrian, this great mentor to monastics, discusses this subject in the following way (Homily 13): “All alms, or love, or mercy, or anything for the sake of God is unforgivable, and forbidding from silence, and fixing your eye on the world and plunging you into care, and confusing you from the memory of God, and stopping your prayers, and leading you into rebellion and fickleness of thought, and forbidding you from the teachings of Divine readings, which is a weapon that delivers from soaring and weakens your guard, and causes you to walk on a hedgehog, and even to come together in solitude, and arouses buried passions in you, and allows the abstinence of your feelings, and resurrecting your death from this world and bringing you away from the cultivation of the angels, and supplying you with the parts of the world, so that this truth may perish” 27. If a brother who has property is placed in a dormitory and wants to distribute part of it to the poor, then he is obliged to hand over this part to the abbot, and not to distribute it himself, as the saints command about this: “Do not give,” says Simeon the New Theologian, “without your father like God, you brought alms from the pennies.” 2. The welfare of the monastery even more requires the removal of the subordinates, who themselves fall into a state of despair and set a sharp example of immorality for the brethren, tempt them with evil conversations, weaken them in pious deeds. Just as care with the goal of mercy, so commendable for a worldly person, can be harmful for a solitary monk, so an example of vice and evil conversation has an incomparably harsher effect on a monk than on a secular person. “Like ferocity,” says Saint Isaac in the 69th Homily, “embracing the new growth, human conversation also burns, the root of the mind, which has begun to bear the grain of virtues, and even the conversation of those who abstain for some reason: therefore, belittling those who have little, usually harms the soul, if only the conversation and vision of the ignorant and but not a river of worldly things" 28. The subordinate, living against his will on Valaam, never ceases to be bored, to be indignant at the length of service, the severity of the regulations, the severity of the place, to wear out with his tongue the debauchery and blasphemy living in his heart, to pour his despondency and frustration into the soul of his neighbor. The two subordinate hierodeacons Joseph and Matthew serve as a terrible and regrettable example of despair: they never confess or partake of the Holy Mysteries, never, on the Bright Feast of Easter, can they be forced to come to church: they live as strangers to God and faith, indulging in the most vile vices. Their faces were the likes of which I only happened to see among the convicts in the Dinaburg fortress; other subordinates, perhaps in other monasteries, would have shown more fruits of correction than at Valaam. In remote monasteries, sparse in monastics, they could carry out some duties and bring themselves and society, albeit a small benefit. I think these are: 1. Hieromonk Herman the First. 2. Hieromonk Herman II, Chereshnetsky. 9 . Deacon John Nikolaev-Sergiev. 10. Deacon Timofey Veshchezerov. These ten brothers serve in spirit as a burden for the Valaam monastery; in the Olonets and Vologda provinces, in which the monasteries are known to me, they may even be necessary and useful. Their departure is not at all sensitive for the Valaam Monastery: in it there are 45 people in the indicated brotherhood, in addition to those living on passports. Moreover, the rumor about the removal of the subordinates from Valaam will soon spread throughout the Russian monasteries and many zealots of the ascetic life with this good news will flow into the bowels of the monastery, famous for its convenience in fulfilling monastic vows. As for the hierodeacons Joseph and Matthew, I believe it is necessary to escort them to places where there could be a single military guard over him. In general, Valaam, deprived of full-time servants of the military command, a separate decent place for keeping people who have indulged in violent passions, cannot be a place of correction and exile; and in my opinion, it is essential to seek a permanent position for both this monastery and other well-maintained monasteries, which would prohibit the placement of people of vicious morality and subordinates into it. For these latter, special monasteries with special rights can be identified in the same way as it was in Mount Sinai. “There,” describes Saint John of the Climacus in an article on repentance, “there is a monastery separate from the others, called a “dungeon,” which, however, is subordinate to the monastery, the verb: “lamp of lamps.” He speaks about this same prison in an article on obedience: “There was a place in the same field from the great ones of that monastery, a distant guard (or prison), spoken inconsolably, where no smoke from the oven was ever visible, no wine, no oil at the meal, and nothing except bread and a little food was consumed. In this place, the abbot imprisons, without any escape, those who, upon entering monasticism, have become entangled in some sins. He also appointed a governor over them, a famous man named Isaac, from those entrusted to him, he demanded almost incessant prayer and cultivated a lot of trees, from the branches of which they wove combs to drive away laziness.” Similar to this establishment of Mount Sinai, where the place of the prison is still shown, it seems that in Russia some monasteries could be designated for subordinates. In my opinion, in the St. Petersburg and Novgorod diocese, the most capable of this are the ancient monasteries: Kirillov Bolshoi and Iversky. They have a lot of premises, high walls, 25 full-time employees; Kirillov is located in a district town, and Iversky is very close to the city, therefore, in case of need, both of these monasteries can have a permanent military guard of soldiers of the internal guard stationed in these cities. In Kirillov, the city prison is located in the monastery wall and near the gates, at which, for this reason, a guardhouse is constantly maintained. The simplicity of the brethren of the Valaam Monastery. People are educated, but doubtful about Orthodoxy; they cannot be comprehended or corrected by the Valaam elders. About the heresy on Valaam. Examining the formal lists of the indicated brethren of the Valaam Monastery, I found among 115 brothers from the clergy rank 8, all of whom had not completed the course and had not been to the seminary at all, except for Hieromonk Appolos; of the nobles 4, who only know how to read and write; of the merchants - 4, who somehow knew how to read and write. So, only 16 people are from such classes in which they achieve significant external education; of these 16 educated people, only one is Hieromonk Apollos; the education of others extends no further than the knowledge to read and write. The other 99 brothers are either from the bourgeoisie, or peasants, or freed lackeys, there are 7 retired soldiers. From this we can conclude about the simplicity and ignorance of so many natural Valaam elders. They are zealous for Orthodoxy, demanding prison and chains for heretics (as Abbot Varlam and monk Isaiah put it). They themselves are indignant and outrage the educated people sent to them, who, seeing their jealousy turning into cruelty and frenzy, are seduced by their Orthodoxy. Hieromonk Appolos is in this false position, and, as far as can be seen, Archimandrite Plato was. The mentioned hieromonk is tempted by the unbrotherly love of the Valaam elders and their intrigues; and in fairness; The Valaam elders are also rightly seduced by his erudition and certain expressions, so that from his 9-year stay on Valaam it is impossible to deduce a decisive result, whether he is Orthodox or not; and in order to resolve this issue, it is necessary, in my opinion, to entrust Father Apollos to an educated clergyman, who has enough time to learn his thoughts and enough prudence and meekness to destroy false concepts in him, if any. The notebook of the monk Porfiry on eight pages, to which the informers refer as handwritten, incriminating, written evidence of the heresy of the author, is in the original with the file. In this notebook, informers find that Porfiry calls the Sacraments a proforma, that in his opinion Moses is honored in the church, and a veil lies on his face; that the church has only one appearance, that the church is like a Jewish synagogue, devoid of spirit. Regarding the thing itself, this notebook contains the following thoughts: I would not like to believe, as others claim, that all these slander are the consequences of malice; however, having rejected this latter, one cannot help but admit extreme recklessness. As evidence of the heresy of Archimandrite Plato, Valaam zealots cite the arrival of the serf Mr. Rudovitsky to the Valaam Monastery and the secret conversation of the Archimandrite with this messenger in the forest, a circumstance in which Fr. Plato, during his placement in the Valaam Monastery, was completely devoted to the teachings and person of Mr. Rudovitsky, which is proven by his own written review. Already towards the end of his stay on the Valaam Island, a reliable rumor reached this desert about the barbaric treatment of Mr. Rudovitsky with his daughters, about his cruel and refined lust, which completely alienated the archimandrite from him; Finally, the daring and insane demand of Mr. Rudovitsky destroyed the last shadow and disposition in the archimandrite - the demand that Fr. Plato recognized him, Rudovitsky, as God. These circumstances were unknown to the Valaam elders; they only knew that a suspicious person had come to Valaam, that the archimandrite had intercourse with him. For this reason, I consider this embarrassment quite natural. Doubt about heresy has become so widespread among the zealots that they consider every brother who makes any kind of extracts in his cell to be a heretic. The plaintiff, monk Josiah, asked the commission to search the cell of novice Alexei Popov, who, in his opinion, is the most evil heretic. The cell was searched by a member of the commission under the deputy on the part of the abbot: the notes found in it, attached to the case, only serve as proof of the ignorance and reckless zeal of the monk Josiah. “Be careful,” says the great Barsanuphius to a certain monk, “let not your thoughts show you a mosquito like a camel or a pebble like a rock.” This could be advised to those seven or eight Valaam elders who suspect the abbot and up to sixty brethren of heresy. When I asked them on what they based their suspicion, the monk Josiah answered: “The fact that the abbot and the cathedral hieromonks were kind to Archimandrite Plato and Hieromonk Apollos means that they themselves are heretics.” This is the whole heresy of the Valaam Monastery. Quite a lot of time should have been spent explaining to the zealots that it was not in the spirit of our Church to burn heretics at the stake, languish in chains and use other measures characteristic of the age, person and religion of Sixtus V. Condescending to such simplicity of the Valaam elders, in order to stop and prevent confusion about heresy, I believe it is necessary to establish the following rules: 1. Do not accept to Valaam people of scientists who are doubtful regarding Orthodoxy, but bring out Hieromonk Appolos. 2. Request from the library all books translated from foreign languages, even if they were passed by the censor; The books of the Holy Fathers, written and printed now by Abbot Veniamin, taken from the brethren and sealed, should be printed and given to the brethren for reading, although they were not censored. The monastery's patericons, flower beds and other paternal books have been sealed, the usefulness of which and their Orthodoxy no one doubts. 3. It is strictly forbidden for the brethren to compile notes of their own composition, and whoever has the disposition to engage in writing can, with the blessing of the abbot, rewrite the books of the Fathers, which are not in print, for example, the Great Barsanuphius, St. Simeon the New Theologian, St. Isaac the Syrian and others. This activity is very useful, as it combines work for the mind and hands; The Monk Athanasius of Athos, Simeon the New Theologian and many other holy Fathers were engaged in this. In our times, in southern Russian monasteries this handicraft is in general use, and it especially flourished in the Moldavian Nyametsky monastery. 4. The Holy Bible should not be given to novices at all, allowing them to read the books of the New Testament, and from the books of the Old Testament only the Psalter, and equally not to give novices the book of the Philokalia, as by its very purpose it has an exclusive one-sided goal: sacred sobriety and mental prayer, work appropriate for those who have succeeded in monastic feat, unapproachable for novices, serving as a reason for these latter charms. Saint Isaac the Syrian, this great mentor of monks, speaks about this in the 55th Word, which constitutes his letter to the Monk Simeon the Wonderworker: “Let us understand the desecration of demons who thirst for the destruction of the saints, and let us not desire thoughts during our high lives, let us not be mocked by our evil adversary.” The writings of this holy man are filled with similar protective advice. Dormitory of the Valaam Monastery. Obediences. Elders and disciples. Arbitrariness. Lovely. Church charter. Means for correcting deficiencies. The Holy Church recognizes the first community of the faithful in Jerusalem as a model of community life, about which the Evangelist Luke speaks in Acts (chapter 4, v. 32): But the people who believed had one heart and soul, and not only did they have their own from their possessions, but they had all things in common. With regret, I saw a spirit completely contrary to this in the Valaam monastery, where harmony was lost, where the monks fear, suspect, and revile each other. Denunciations flared up from quarrels and personalities, as the informers themselves admitted. “What could be more uncharacteristic for a monk than litigation,” says Saint Simeon the New Theologian, “while the Lord commanded that even the slaughter itself be given in order to avoid the judgment seat!” The Apostle Paul cries out to the litigating Corinthians: It is no shame for you that you have litigation among yourself. Why don't we offend you more? Why are there nothing worse than deprivation? In vain do abbot Varlaam and monk Josiah trumpet that they are ready for the cross: this is the word of inexperience. “Do not believe,” says the unappearing Vasily, “to shine in great deeds for those who are faint-hearted in small sorrows.” It is much closer to humbly call the irritable state of mind in which informers find themselves a temptation; This consciousness escaped Father Abbot Varlaam several times in his conversation with me. In the primary Church of Jerusalem, the Evangelist narrates (Acts 4:35): Giving to anyone who demanded it. This is not how the zealots of Valaam think about this: they, eliminating reasoning, this queen of virtues, according to the unanimous recognition of all the holy Fathers, demand a literal indiscriminate community, forgetting that in the community of the Apostles “It is given to anyone who demands it.” As much as people differentiate among themselves by the strength of their physical constitution, habits instilled by education, and mental abilities, so much should they differentiate by their needs. Basil the Great discusses this in detail in his writings and forbids defending nature. Some father shows community life as an earthly paradise, and virtue - holy obedience - as a tree of life planted in the middle of this paradise, from which the monk who feeds will not die a sinful death. The art of monastic life of the abbot, his ability to bear the infirmities of his neighbor with patience and meekness, constitute the necessary conditions for the brethren to trust him; trust is a condition of obedience, which without power of attorney turns into hypocrisy, in front of the eyes, people-pleasing and flattering, behind the eyes, disobedience and self-indulgence. I noticed little sincere obedience in the Valaam monastery. The second of the pitiful reasons for this lack is the incorrect concept of the elders and disciples. No one contradicts the example given by Abbot Varlaam of managing a community: he points to Moses, who ruled the people of Israel with the help of 70 elders. But the elders should be assistants to the abbot, and not each form a separate party, the members of which no longer want to know the abbot and are more his judges than his subordinates. Thus, on Valaam, the disciples of the hermit schemamonk Amphilochius, including the monk Josiah, are all in great irritation against the abbot. I consider self-rule to be the third most important cause, that is, many of the brethren live completely arbitrarily, take on high deeds and fall either into delusion, or into drunkenness, or other weaknesses. These are the consequences of immoderate self-imposed feat, always associated with a high opinion of oneself and contempt of the great council. “Extremes,” says the Monk Moses to Saints Cassian and Herman, “harm both the elder equally: excess fasting and satiation of the belly. For we have led away some who were not overcome by gluttony, but who were overthrown by immeasurable fasting, and who crawled toward the same passion of gluttony because of the weakness that transpires from immeasurable fasting.” Regarding delusion, there were striking cases on Valaam: under Abbot Innocent, a certain self-made ascetic, revered by many as a great saint, saw various apparitions of supposedly angels and saints of God. One day, after such a phenomenon, he ascended the bell tower and, as the brethren were leaving the meal, suddenly the ascetic threw himself from the bell tower and, hitting the platform, was broken to death. Now I have not noticed those who were seduced to a strong degree; one monk Pachomius, the work assistant, seemed only doubtful. Firstly, pride and pride are noticeable in him to a strong degree; secondly, he says that he feels sweetness in his heart; thirdly, the next vision that he told me about is quite a vision of the seduced; Father Pachomius says that he allegedly stood in the church during a prayer service, saw the abbot without a face, and a certain spirit approached him, Pachomius, and ordered: when you approach the cross, then take it from the abbot’s hands with your own hands and venerate it, but do not venerate it from the abbot’s hands. When Pachomius performed this, a strong sweet feeling appeared in him that if the spirit had ordered him to immediately kill the abbot, he would have “rolled away” him immediately. These are Pachomius's own words. No important changes have been made regarding the charter; if they were made, then those that were submitted to the will of the abbot by the church charter. For example, they complain about Sunday matins, which are held in winter instead of all-night vigils: the charter completely submits this to the will of the abbot, says: “If the abbot wills it.” The zealots are so carried away by attachment to their charter that they speak with contempt about the singing of the Kyiv Lavra, therefore one might think that Valaam singing does not deviate at all from printed usage - and in vain! They grumble that Abbot Veniamin changed the singing, that is, he ordered to relentlessly adhere to the Znamenny chant according to printed church books. Their own singing, Valaam, is something of its own, it is a distortion of the Znamenny: it is known in southern Russian communities under the name of homemade; whoever wants to be worthy of hearing this homemade work can come to the Skete: there the zealots of the Valaam charter preserve this shrine in all its inviolability; They give disgusting blows to the nose without any consent and rank, so characteristic of the church - this earthly heaven. The Kiev Lavra is such a monastery in which the church charter is carried out unfailingly from one iota to the next. The statute adopted by the Church is the statute of the Lavra of Sava the Sanctified; The Valaam Rule is a copy from the Sarov work of some hieromonk Isaac: he doubles the hallelujah together with the schismatics, before the all-night vigil he reads the midnight office, and on Bright Week he reads the canons and akathists. The great Russian lamps Anthony, Theodosius of Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh did not invent their charters! Obeying the filial Mother of the Church, they reverently kissed her holy charter. This holy charter is so detailed, how satisfying! It would seem that there is nothing to add, but we, the abbots of modern times, poor in virtue and rich in pomp, wanting to show off our self, want to be glorious not before God by obedience, but before people by our arrogant reason. In the southern monasteries: Plashchanskaya, Optina, White Banks, Sofronieva, Glinskaya - the church charter is observed with precision, like the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. These monasteries, with the exception of Sophronie, lagging behind Valaam in means of maintenance, in the order of church services, in the order of meals, in the order of obedience, they were far ahead of Valaam, exalting their charter above all, and exalting themselves above all; the Valaamites retreated from church unity. This world, a sure sign of blessing from above, has withdrawn from their monastery: since 1817, the synod has been going there to investigate denunciations of either state crimes or the most disgusting vices. Careful observation clearly shows that the cause of all the denunciations, all the evil on Valaam is their charter. If this charter was blessed to be observed by the Metropolitans Gabriel, Ambrose and Michael, then it was blessed because it selected various articles from the writings of Basil the Great and other Holy Fathers, consideration of which is useful, and not in order to destroy the charter of the Holy Ecumenical Orthodox Church and allow a schism on Valaam. To correct these incompatibilities, I believe the following means are necessary. 1. Father Abbot Veniamin, having spent 30 years in incessant economic labors, was engaged in the renewal and decoration of the New Lake Monastery on behalf of the most venerable elder Archimandrite Theophan, who, in the likeness of the righteous Job, left the work of external objects to Father Benjamin, himself constantly engaged in prayers and the Word of God. I was at the New Lake Monastery and saw the work done by Father Veniamin, of which I was especially surprised by the fence. It is based on piles driven into the lake, with a water depth reaching in places up to 3 fathoms; There are up to 20 tons of such piles, hewn wild stone runs along them in two rows, and on this base stands a beautiful stone fence. All the buildings of the New Lake Monastery cost at least a million rubles at St. Petersburg prices. In the Valaam Monastery, he built a magnificent stone staircase from solid slabs of wild stone from the pier to the monastery, some of the cells were covered with iron, and he again prepared up to 300 poods for the gradual continuation of this work; a church was built with the amount donated by the merchant Nabilkov; the economy is conducted in better order and with greater prudence than before; in the fifth anniversary of his administration, the monastery capital increased by 40 thousand rubles in tickets and cash. Considering, on the one hand, his economic labors and abilities, on the other hand, considering it almost impossible for the Valaam brethren to be reconciled to him, I consider it very useful and appropriate to give him such an abbot’s position that could serve as a reward for his many labors and where he could be useful with his abilities, rather than in the Valaam monastery, which was established and only requires some amendments. 2. Although the viceroy, Hieromonk Irinarch, was acquitted as a consequence, due to the reproach for such a vile vice, he can no longer remain in his position and in the monastery; the treasurer, Hieromonk Irinarch, accused of similar vices under Abbot Varlaam, and in this last denunciation of monk Josiah, who turned out to be the latter’s first and only accomplice, should be deprived of his position and removed from the monastery. Upon the dismissal of both the governor and the treasurer from the fraternity of the Valaam monastery, I believe that a decree is absolutely necessary so that in the future they will never be accepted into this monastery. Moreover, it is necessary to repeat the strict prohibitions on hiring Finnish boys as workers at the Valaam Monastery. 3. I consider it necessary to take the superfluous abbot Varlaam out of the Valaam monastery, both because in his papers he was impudent in his expressions about his superiors, and reckless in his denunciations, believing all sorts of rumors, and because he can no longer be calm in the Valaam monastery and not interfere, as he himself admits, in the administration, for which he is completely incapable, as proven by experience; In similar circumstances was Abbot Nazarius, the renovator of the Valaam monastery: already living in retirement, he could not help but get involved in the management of the monastery, and the Diocesan authorities were forced to take him out of Valaam. Taking into account the old age of Father Varlaam and the fact that in all matters he is only a tool for others, I believe that he will be moved to the Optin Skete of the Kaluga Diocese, so that the Kaluga Diocesan authorities will instruct Hieromonk Leonid, who lives there, to pay special attention to his spiritual structure. Hegumen Varlaam confessed to me that he felt a lot of benefit from the advice of the mentioned hieromonk. Optin Skete is a most beautiful place, like an earthly paradise. Having shown so much courage on the wild rocks of Valaam, the elder will calm down both in soul and body in a more gentle climate. Although he bravely climbed to the cross, it was desirable that he endure this easy, corrective, completely lenient measure, without giving in to cowardice. This measure was necessary: ​​his jealousy reached the point of violence. 4. Hieromonk Ambrose, monks Josiah, Pachomius and Amphilochius should be removed from the Valaam monastery, and since they are sober people, they can be usefully used for the Belarusian monasteries. In various positions that can provide food for activity and some absent-mindedness, which in particular the last two are needed to eliminate the signs of emptiness. 5. Hieromonk Arseny, on whom suspicion falls of seeking the abbess of Valaam, I submit his request to be dismissed from the monastery. 6. To stop arbitrariness and disobedience, to protect, if possible, from delusion, I find the best way to establish, as the famous Paisius established in the Nyametsky monastery, from 4 to 6 confessors, and to entrust all the new ones to them. These confessors must be in spiritual union with the abbot, and in complete obedience to him; then they will definitely be some semblance of the 70 elders, Moses’ assistants in leading Israel to the Promised Land. I believe that those capable of this position are: Damascene, the monastery leader, who alone seemed to be the only fairly skilled monk in all of Valaam, and until people capable of this are formed, due to real need: hieromonks Dionysius and Barsanuphius and monk Athanasius the hermit. With this institution, parties will be destroyed, unity will be established, and all the brethren will have spiritual instruction, according to the commandment of the Holy Fathers. The rest of the brethren are strictly forbidden from giving unauthorized instruction to their neighbors, including the elder monk Anthony, in whom I do not see any charm, and I recognize his teaching as too lofty and therefore harmful for beginners who must enter into knowledge by deed. I think it is useful not to allow anything sharply distinctive, for example: complete silence, as is common on Valaam. “As you gather to your brethren,” says Saint John Climacus, “look into yourself and be careful not to show anything more righteous than them.” In this way you will do two evils: you will seduce the brethren with your hypocritical “piety”, and you will incur arrogance for yourself. “Be good and vain in soul, without showing this in your body, neither in image, nor in word, nor in fortune-telling.” The Holy Fathers advise timely silence and they themselves tried to maintain it; complete and constant silence was maintained only by those saints of God who, from the abundance of grace, were in constant horror. “The perfection of silence,” says Saint Isaac, “is silence about everything.” Thus the great Barsanuphius, who had the gift of prophecy and the gift of miracles, fell silent; the silence of a passionate man is highly suspicious of charlatanism. 7. I find it necessary that all brethren engage in work within their power and avoid in every possible way idleness, the mother of vices. Those gifted with health can work in the kitchen, cellar, carpentry, bakery, prosphora maker, laundry, and other similar duties. People of poor health can do handicrafts in their cells, such as: sewing underwear, hoods, kamilavkas, knitting nets for fishing, preparing sulfur matches, cutting spoons, writing according to the rules, painting icons, and so on. In this regard, I noticed an omission: many healthy people do not want to touch anything with their fingers, they even demand that the worker bring wood to the stove, they apologize with their commitment to silence and smart work, and in the evening it is strange to see this smart worker in a drunken state. 8. I believe it is significantly useful to establish the obedience of a goalkeeper, who was in the hostels of St. John Climacus on Mount Sinai, St. Serid near Gaza, in the Kyiv Lavra, under the Venerable Theodosius of Pechersk, and now exists in the Beloberezh desert. It is his duty not to allow him to leave the gate early for a walk or to visit a hotel. A monk who wishes to visit someone in a hotel or go out for a walk must obtain the permission of the abbot or dean; Without this permission, the goalkeeper will not let you out of the monastery, which prevents a lot of evil. 9 . To calm the monastery, it is necessary to take the above-mentioned charter, this code of the aristocracy and the source of unrest in the Valaam Monastery, into the archives of the Consistory, presenting one to be guided by the charter of the great Saint Sava, accepted by the entire Church, and in moral terms to be guided by the books of the Fathers. 10. Finally, I propose that the monk Porfiry, for his persistence and untimely teaching, with which he seduced many, be moved to the Old Ladoga Monastery due to the real need of this monastery for the brethren; His behavior is sober and modest. Three miles from the monastery there is a monastery with a church, surrounded by cells, separated from one another and from the church by a stone's throw. The cells in the Skete are unusually thin and unhealthy; I have never seen anything like this in any Russian monastery: the floor is on the ground, the walls up to the windows are made of wild stone, which creates an unusual, deadly dampness. I think it is absolutely necessary and very cheap to rebuild them in the image of the cells of the Optina Skete, that is, to build wooden ones on the existing stone foundation and arrange them so that each wing has two or three cells for two or three brothers, and one should not be allowed to live unless he has achieved significant years and, especially, spiritual success. The great fathers of the Egyptian Skete, who especially loved silence, such as Arseny, Daniel, had disciples with them; Saint John Climacus, living in the desert, had a disciple Moses, and in the second degree of the book of the Ladder he wrote: “The monastic life is divided threefold, that is, into hermitage, into living with one or, at most, two ascetics, and into community life, which requires patient coexistence.” “Do not turn aside,” says Ecclesiastes, “neither on the right hand nor on the side, but follow the royal path. The average of the many predicted is favorable to happen. “Woe to the one,” he exclaims, “for when he falls into despondency, or sleep, or laziness, or despair, then raise him up as a man.” And where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of them, says the Lord.” In the Skete there is an incessant reading of the Psalter, with the remembrance of the departed brothers and benefactors of the monastery. On Valaam Island there are hermits, each living separately in a hut built in the forest. The structure of the desert huts, in my opinion, should also be improved, and the very life of the hermits should be brought under the rule of the Holy Church. Just as the spirit of self-rule reigns in the community of Valaam, so it does in the Skete and in the deserts; they do not want to follow the rules of the Holy Fathers, and set their own everywhere. This seems to be the reason why in the entire monastery there is barely one monk who has several spiritual skills. And among the hermits there is not a single one who is skilled, that is, one who would have a proper understanding of passions, of warfare with thoughts, of mental and physical temptations, of mental and heartfelt work. Innocent, a disciple of the Venerable Nilus of Sora, who traveled with his elder to Palestine and the Holy Mount Athos, found in this Mountain the disciples of the great mentor of monks - St. Gregory of Sinaite, and studied there systematically monastic life, which is proven by the writings of him and St. Nilus, returning to Russia, complains about the hermits of that time, completely similar to the hermits Valaam. “The Holy Fathers,” he says, “divide all monastic life into three categories: 1) hostels; 2) in the royal way, or the middle way, they call those who live in two or three, the common acquisition of the needy, common food and clothing, common labor and handicrafts and every industry of life to have over all this, cutting off their own will, obeying each other in the passion of God and love; 3) solitary hermitage, which is the work of perfect and holy men. Nowadays, the netizens who do not heed the power of the Holy Scriptures, having invented for themselves, not of their own free will, not according to the tradition of the Holy Fathers, the fourth rite, or life: they build cells wherever they want, far or near, they live in solitude, everyone preferring their own will, and acquiring with the care of the gonish. And due to this rank, their residence is likened to a hermit; according to the renunciation of the saints, the Father and according to the terrible prohibition of all those who are sick with spiritual passions and who dare to fight as a hermit with demons; like the essence of self-initiators and self-offenders; Having invented life for themselves, they themselves stumble in it, unable to live peacefully and permanently in it. If they take a closer look at the book of Saint Gregory of Sinaite, they will find nothing but self-indulgence and single combat, just such a solitary, unattached life. Most of all, the writer of the life of this saint shows that not a single one of his disciples was allowed to live near or further away in his own cell, but in three Laurels and two pyra (towers). Having gathered together many monks, old and young, he gave them the rite of cutting off their will and obedience. And this blessed elder himself, with many and terrible words about those who want to live a solitary life, and who are still passionate, having given up, and highly praising the royal path, says: the order and charter of this life in the holy Mount Athos, and to this day the ancient and new construction of the cells themselves, like a living image, shows everyone the royal path. Even if there are cells with a church, or kalibas, in addition to the church, there will be two or three of them, and not enough space for one.” Some Valaam hermits, to whom one can regretfully add the words of St. Gregory of Sinaite, for years, and through useless desert and sweet silence something seems to be, cite the following in their justification: further from people, further from sin. In this way, even in the time of Innocent, self-initiators were justified: “What is the word of such,” writes this elder, “let me not be angry, I say, I will not be angry with my brother, but I will shy away from condemnation and idle talk, the only ones who live. Don’t you think, friend, that this, what you said, and the like, humbles and puts a person to shame, and does not exalt, as the fathers decided: it is good for youth to fall. Vanity and opinion, and deceit, and the like, they have and pompously. For this reason, it is better for those living with a brother to recognize their weakness and measure, and for this to pray for themselves, repenting before the Lord and to be cleansed by the daily grace of Christ, rather than to carry vanity and opinion with wickedness inside, to cover them up and nourish them with a solitary life, for their sake not a trace of solitary silence is commanded by the Climacus with all the great fathers see. And this very solitary life does no small harm to the habit of doing something passionate; “Silence,” said the great Barsanuphius, “brings guilt to arrogance, and if the very passions of the soul force him to do this, then what hope is there for such a single combat of insolence and not obeying the teachings of the holy Fathers, who are silent in two or three times on the royal path.” It should be noted that Elder Innocent lived in the same century in which the spirit of arbitrariness and rudeness matured in Russia and was preparing to express itself in the absurdities of the schism. The harm from such unauthorized living, contrary to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, was revealed in the Valaam Monastery by many unfortunate experiences, of which it is enough to mention two that happened after 1825. There was a hermit named Porfiry, who, like other Valaam hermits, lived on his own, practiced mental prayer and came to have a high opinion of himself, supposedly he was a saint. One autumn, having visited the skete elders, he wanted to return to his desert and said to the elders: I will go across the lake. They did not advise him to walk on the lake, which had just risen, but he answered: “But how did the ancient Holy Fathers walk on the waters, because I, too, have already become light.” No matter how much the elders tried to persuade him, he did not want to obey; went down to the lake, took a few steps, the ice broke under him, and he drowned before anyone could give him a helping hand. Another elder, Seraphim, wanted to build himself a cell in a rock, in a place where the lake is up to twenty fathoms deep, fell into the abyss and his body could hardly be found for burial. Saint Cassian the Roman, in his Homily on the Eight Passionate Thoughts, says the following: “It is fitting for the Divine Law to follow, to strive with all our might against the spirit of anger and against the illness that lurks within us, and not on the contrary, the wrath of those who strive, to retreat into the desert and solitude, as there is no existence for him who moves us to anger and as virtue is convenient in solitude longsuffering will correct. Because of pride and because we don’t want to reproach ourselves and attribute guilt to our negligence, we want to get rid of embarrassment from our brethren. Even though we attribute guilt to our weaknesses, it is impossible for us to achieve the perfection of long-suffering. The beginning of our correction and peace does not come from the long-suffering of our neighbor towards us, but from our kindness towards our neighbor. When the feat of long-suffering retires into the desert and retreats into solitude, if we are not healed from our passions, we will take the veil there, and not destroy the essence; for the desert and hermitage of passions not only preserves this message for those who have not escaped, but also knows how to cover them up, and does not feel in themselves, by which passion they are overcome, allows them, and as long-suffering and humility have been corrected, he assures them, irritate and tempt them to no end. When some kind of guilt occurs, moving the abyss inside, covered by passions and previously lurking, like unbridled horses running away from their camps, and fed in long silence and idleness, they drag their rider greener and more ferociously to destruction. More and more passions are raging in us that have no training from a man!” This can be seen in the self-made hermits of Valaam, most of whom have unbridled temper. The already mentioned hieromonk Ambrose, a cave dweller, once became so furious during the abbotship of Father Varlaam that in front of all the brethren at the meal, trembling with rage, he shouted to the abbot: “We thought of you that you are a blessed man, but now we see that the heathen are reeling in you; You should herd pigs, not people,” and other similar absurdities. It is with regret that I discover this event, so that the circumstances of Balaam are clear, and I must note that it is one of the easiest. In a terrible sight worthy of tears: a faster, a hermit, a cave dweller, a recluse, an old man - indulges in anger to the point of frenzy. But having delved into the teaching of the Holy Fathers, you will find this natural. “Let us take a closer look,” says St. John Climacus (degree 8), “and in many furious vigils, diligent vigils and fasting, silence is created: the intention is for the demon to plant passions of this substance, the wine of repentance and crying to thus be added.” This Saint John advised some silent people, as he himself writes, to come out of solitude and into community, so that they do not turn from people into demons. The reason for all such inconsistencies on Valaam is a deviation from the path of the Holy Fathers into self-rule. “Az,” says Saint Abba Dorotheos, “and attacks not by all monks, but by believing in your own heart. They say, “This is how a man falls, as if he were killed, and we don’t know what attack happens to anyone, except for this.” Have you seen anyone fallen? Convince yourself as if you followed yourself: what is worse than following yourself, nothing more destructive than this.” For these reasons, I propose to allow, as before, desert living on Valaam, but so that the elders remain silent in twos or threes, and not at all alone. Hermitage is allowed only to those who are perfect in monastic life, remembering that even in ancient times church history very rarely presents ways to hermitage, and those who died on this most exalted path are very often self-initiators, as St. John Climacus notes (Homily 27): “Rarer are such people who have completely learned the wisdom that exists in the world; I say that even fewer are the number of those who truly practice philosophy in silence. Those who truly do not know God are not capable of silence, and being in it for many, they expose themselves to disasters. The silence of the unskillful destroys.” Saint Isaac speaks about the hermitage of the Great Basil and Gregory the Theologian: “Blessed Basil, Blessed Gregory did not come to silence from doing the commandments, but first lived peacefully and kept the commandments, as it is fitting for those living with many to keep, and thus came to the purity of the soul, and was granted spiritual vision. I truly believe that when a person lives in a city, he accepts strange people, visits the sick, clothes the naked, washes the feet of those who work, and even if someone feeds them in this field, one walks two. And when they have kept the commandments, those who exist must remain among many, and their minds begin to feel the first stillness, and the Divine, and the mysterious vision, from there they were relieved and went out into the silence of the desert, and from there they endured with their inner man, as if to be that visual one, and remained in spiritual knowledge, until they were called by grace to be the shepherd of the Church of Christ.” It should be noted that Saint Isaac was himself a hermit. “Let him go into the desert,” says Saint Cassian, “completely perfect and purified from all passions to the end, living in congregation with others, having exhausted all his unrighteousness and rejecting, and he can go to it. And let him not run away out of cowardice, but let him acquire Divine vision, desiring a perfect and bright vision of the Lord God. This can only be accomplished in solitude. Any passions that a monk takes with him into the desert will remain covered in him, and will not be destroyed. The desert is precisely a corrected custom for those who have the opening of water for cheerful basking and the vision of bright spiritual Angels, but all of them who are not corrected in customs are to keep malice - not exactly, but also to transform it into the most cruel.” The famous hermit Onuphrius the Great first lived in one of the communal Egyptian monasteries and, being already 60 years old, having been granted a vision of the Divine Light, retired into the desert. Saint Peter of Athos already had the gift of miracles, called upon by Providence, and retired to Mount Athos in a hermit’s cave. Saint Arsenius the Great, although he was placed in monastic life by the Divine voice, nevertheless entered into obedience to the Monk John Kolov to be instructed by his teaching, and when this, written in the Skete Patericon, introduced him in detail to monastic art, then he blessed him to live in a special hut. Although there have been very rare examples of some moving directly from the world to desert hermitage, such as Mary of Egypt, this exception does not destroy the general rule. “The order of the action of Providence,” says Saint Isaac, “distinguishes from the ordinary order of man. You keep the general rank. If grace precedes you, this is yours, or if not, then in the way of all people who have walked, following succession, ascend to the ascent of the spiritual world.” It remains for me to conclude this remark by repeating what was said before, namely, that the root of all the unrest on Valaam is their charter, by which the spirit of self-will, arbitrariness, coarse pride, and schism is brought up in the Valaam brotherhood. Their superior and their subordinate are together, each one bows to him, and each one points to him, being allowed to do so by the charter. Although this charter was signed by three metropolitans, its fruits force one to speak against it with truthful zeal; it is the product of people whose holiness has not been proven by anything. The rules of the hostel are the work of Hieromonk Isaac, the rules of the monastery and the hermitage are the work of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Innocent. If it is preserved in the Valaam monastery, then one can never expect either peace, moral order, or success in monastic life. Submitting this remark for the consideration of Your Eminence, I have the honor to present the charter of the Valaam Monastery in the original. "Christian Reading". 1853, May. P. 411. – Ibid. 1852. Valaam Island and the monastery there. P. 19. – Hereinafter the footnotes are the author’s The following Psalter of the Kiev press of 1822, p. 315. Judgment - district, department of subordination; one of the parts into which a volost (patrimony) is divided, a department. – Ed Designation of the date according to the archaic chronology (728 corresponds to 1728, etc.) – Ed These words are written in Slavic gold, and the title of Metropolitan that follows is written by him in his own hand. There is a tradition about the last two images in the Zelenets monastery that these were the holy namesakes and heavenly patrons of the parents of the Most Reverend Cornelius the Metropolitan. This idea is also confirmed by another ancient image of the holy martyr Paraskeva, which was constantly located almost at the tomb of the Right Reverend, but has now been removed on the occasion of the placement of the image of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in this place It consists of 105 books, including liturgical books. In the Novgorod and Novoladog dialects, the letter s instead of e is often heard today, for example, he s instead of he e A Gospel printed in 1644 was found in the property of the former abbot of the Zelenetsky monastery, abbot Barsanuphius. – It was sent to the St. Petersburg Spiritual Consistory, at its request, in 1851. This sheet is no longer available. These two books went to the Zelenetsky Monastery, apparently at the time when the Nikolaevsky Monastery was assigned to it The name of the monastery is unknown The Monk Arseny died on June 12, 1444 It was elevated to the third class in 1825. In Finnish it was called Randasari - a coastal island It is few and far between . About the Divine names of chapters 13; About the church hierarchy of chapters 7 Local monks know, however, that the life and two legends mentioned here were compiled by the late Archimandrite Hilarion of the Tikhvin Monastery, when he was rector of the Konevsky monastery (1807–1823) and that the life of St. Arseny was borrowed by him from an ancient (leather) scroll with five lead seals, kept in Valaam monastery, which, unfortunately, has been lost. Delivered to the Konevsky Monastery by the late Archimandrite of the Yuriev Monastery Photius, who found them in the archives of the Derevyanitsky Monastery No other bell cast from this era has been found OR RSL. F. 425. Cardboard II. CGIAL. F. 796. Op. 442, case 138. OR RNB. F. 1000. 1924. 171 If alms, or love, or mercy, or anything considered to be done for God, interferes with your silence, turns your eye to the world, plunges you into worries, darkens your remembrance of God, interrupts your prayers, produces confusion and confusion in your thoughts, causes you to stop engaging in Divine reading, leaves this weapon that relieves you from soaring of the mind, weakens your caution, produce that, having been hitherto bound, you begin to walk freely and, having entered into solitude, return to the society of people, they awaken buried passions in you, allow the abstinence of your feelings, they resurrect for the world you, who died to the world, from angelic work, about which you have only one concern, they degrade you, and place you on the side of the laity - then let such truth perish! – Abba Isaac the Syrian “Ascetic Words.” M, 1993. P. 54. Ed. And just as strong frost, covering the greenery that has barely grown from the ground, burns it, so a conversation with people burns the root of the mind, which has begun to produce from itself the seed of virtues. And if conversation with people who are in some ways abstinent, and in others who have only minor shortcomings, is usually harmful to the soul, then isn’t talking and meeting with people who are ignorant and stupid, not to mention the laity, much more harmful? – Abba Isaac the Syrian “Ascetic Words.” M. 1993. P. 355. – Ed.