Russian Gornenskaya women's community in the "city of Judah" near Jerusalem

“To the left on the other side of the completely green valley on the foothills there is a bunch of white buildings,” describes Gornaya 1 about. Archimandrite Antonin in 1870, heading from Jerusalem to Sinai together with his learned companion Arch. Philaret, rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy, who died in the rank of bishop of Riga. The most conspicuous central part of them is an orphanage, recently built by the Ratisbon brothers, who converted from Jewry to Catholicism. The eastern end is occupied by the Latin monastery of the Nativity of the Baptist, built on the site of the house of Zechariah, where he was born “in those born of bolias.” On the western edge of the village, another group of buildings marks the place where the Mother of God met with Elizabeth and spent three months with her, called simply and briefly by Catholics: Magnificat. I remember the minutes we spent in Gornaya, where we also carefully traveled a week before. Dear for sacred events, this place is completely Latin. The Orthodox have neither a church, nor a house, nor a piece of land there. The land, however, exists, occupies a prominent place, consists of solid rock and is decorated with a Russian name, has owners and has been waiting for their arrival for many years. But I am afraid that this “barren woman” will not expect anything and will never rejoice over the children of many. I see in my imagination a completely different area, having a husband, and therefore childbearing rather than empty.” 2 Providence was pleased to indicate Fr. arch. Antonin received such a desired “husband” in the person of the “incomparable,” as this latter calls him, the former Minister of Railways, member of the State Council Pavel Petrovich Melnikov, who was at the veneration of the holy places of Palestine in October 1869 and, as he himself later admitted, took from this trip “so many impressions that were comforting to the soul and so many pleasant memories, mostly thanks to the friendly welcome in the Holy City of Fr. arch. Antonina." Thanks to the efforts and amazing energy shown in collecting donations by P. P. Melnikov, Fr. arch. Antonin managed to acquire Russian ownership of a plot of land in a picturesque area, marked by one of the most touching events in the life of the Mother of God, who prophesied here the future greatness of the Servant of the Lord, whom all generations would please (Luke 1:48). From the mountainous ridge along which this significant site is located, full of touching biblical memories, a charming view of the surrounding area opens up, and at the base of the ridge there flows an abundant spring, where, as legend says, the Mother of God herself went to fetch water during her three-month stay here in the house of the righteous Zechariah and “Yuzhik 3” her Elizabeth, and bearing the name “Spring of the Virgin Mary.” Therefore, the duty of justice imperatively dictates that we give space in this essay and a brief description of this magnanimous alms collector and donor - for the acquisition of Gorny - P. P. Melnikov, who, it turns out, is not only a lover of Palestine, but, moreover, an ardent guardian of the prosperity of the Russian Spiritual Mission and the Russian cause in the Holy Land in general. The personality of this donor of the site in Gorney, the former Minister of Railways P.P. Melnikov, as a pilgrim of the Holy Land and as a good Christian, is clearly outlined before us in all its attractiveness in his correspondence with Fr. arch. Antonin. Finding himself in Palestine in October 1869 and traveling through its holy places under the leadership of Fr. arch. Antonin, he was imbued with deep respect for the personality of the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem and for his fruitful activities for the Russian name here. Having promised Fr. Antonin on October 5 to do some good deed in the Holy Land and being directed by him to acquire a plot of land in Gorneya, they strained every effort in Russia to collect the necessary capital for this, in his opinion, a holy and useful deed. With his personal connections in the highest government and financial spheres, he provided Fr. Antonin, other members of the Jerusalem Spiritual Mission and the Russian cause in the Holy Land are generally irreplaceable services. In 1870, for example, the question arose about the appointment of Fr. Archimandrite Antonin as bishop to North America, which was the appointment of Fr. Antonin rejected himself, and P.P. Melnikov and admirers of Fr. Antonin was even considered harmful to the success of the Russian cause in Palestine. “I learned about the assumption of your relocation from A.P. Ozerov,” wrote P.P. Melnikov on May 10, 1870. On the same day I went to the Metropolitan of Moscow (Innocent), who is especially interested in this matter, since you were supposed, as far as you understood him, to take the post he previously occupied, with a stay in St. Francisco. The old man, apparently, was upset by the telegram from you, for he wanted a completely reliable person to continue and strengthen the work of preaching among the pagans, which he had begun. I spent the whole evening with him and, it seems, convinced him that in Jerusalem it would be difficult to replace you, but for St. Francisco there would be a person with greater ambition and better health. The other day I received news from Comrade Chief Prosecutor that you will not be disturbed from Jerusalem. It seems to me that this idea of ​​​​moving you belongs to the Most Reverend Innocent, out of trust in you, without any ulterior motive of selling off an inconvenient person.” “It has come to my attention,” wrote P.P. Melnikov on October 10 of the same year, “that your health is not good and forces you to urgently ask for dismissal from your current position. This would be extremely regrettable for our Russian cause in Palestine, and even for the small cause we undertook in Gorny. I will be especially sorry if you are not in Jerusalem if our good Empress arrives there, and She has a strong desire to undertake this trip, and it was almost decided to carry it out this fall, leaving the Crimea around October, but political circumstances interfered and forced us not to cancel, but to postpone this idea. If, as I hope, this will be carried out next autumn, then, of course, the Empress would be very pleased if you met her there and accompanied her, firstly, because She was very warned in your favor, and secondly, because no one would introduce Her so thoroughly and so cordially to all the shrines of Jerusalem. I ask you that everything I say about Her Majesty’s assumptions remains between us.” With the thought of resigning Fr. Antonin raised the issue of assigning him a lifelong pension. “The question of pensions,” wrote Fr. Antonin P. P. Melnikov on November 15, 1870, was considered in a special commission, with the participation of N. P. Ignatiev, who was here. They informed me immediately of the consequences. The case was about 600 rubles, but, at Ignatiev’s insistence, they increased it to 1000 rubles. per year pension, which will be issued when you wish to leave the service. Ignatiev, apparently, gives you a real assessment. They promised to help when it came to legalizing the land we were buying in Gornaya” 4. Assignment of pension about. arch. Antonina was filled with doubt and even an alarming fear of being removed from Jerusalem. “The concerns you expressed regarding the impact of your application for a pension,” P.P. Melnikov reassures him in a letter dated November 25, “should not bother you, as you could see from my last letter. The pension was assigned for your merits in case you decided to retire, but it does not in the least predetermine the conditions of retirement, at least that’s what Ignatiev told me.” At the request, Fr. arch. Antonin, P. P. Melnikov undertook great efforts before the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Count Tolstoy, about appointing Hieromonk Veniamin, a member of the Jerusalem Mission, who had received monastic tonsure abroad and, by the Highest command on July 11, 1816, did not have the right to be in the Russian service in his current rank, and achieved the opportunity at first only “he should be attached to the Mission and benefit from its support” (letter dated November 13, 1870). The awarding of the cross to the nun Magdalene, the head of the Russian women's shelter in Jerusalem (letter dated May 10, 1870), and the receipt of the medal by the Arab Dzhel-Yad, seller and former owner of the Gorney (letter dated March 16 and November 13, 1870), are due to P. P. Melnikov and his efforts. Through P.P. Melnikov, icons of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Myrrh-Bearers of Mary Magdalene (Angels of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II and His Wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna), painted by the famous artist Nef, for obvious reasons “not in the Greek style” and “without frames,” but in “rich frames” (letter dated May 10, 1870). But the name of the generous donor for the acquisition of the Gorny remains unforgettable forever due to his warm, heartfelt sympathy for the success of the Russian cause in the Holy Land in general and the activities of the Russian Spiritual Mission in particular, and especially thanks to the attraction to them of high attention and patronage of the kindest and most pious Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who all her life was flaming with sincere ardent love for Jerusalem and its cherished Shrines dear to the Christian world. “My companion is a German artist,” wrote P. P. Melnikov about. Antonin on May 10, 1870, - made a collection of very good views of the interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The Empress wished to see them and promised to let me know when I could be with Her. On the appointed day he could not receive, on the occasion of the death of his little Grandson, and since then he has not sent. If I manage to see the Empress before my departure, then I will talk to Her about our affairs in Jerusalem and give hints about Gorny.” “Taking advantage of the leisure, which, as I describe it now, I have no shortage of,” informs P. P. Melnikov on February 3, 1870, “I wrote two thick books diary of my trip to the East. They are not intended, of course, for publication, but were written with the sole purpose that, if I succeed, our good Empress will read them. This will introduce Her to the state of our affairs in Palestine, to the personalities of the Russian representatives, the difficulty of their situation, and will especially encourage Her to undertake a trip to the Holy Places without further delay. The whole question is how to get Her to read these notes, which, unfortunately, turned out to be very voluminous. I will bring them to you if my dream comes true to once again go to the veneration of the Holy Sepulchre, and especially to go accompanied by the August Admirer.” “A considerable consolation of my present life,” wrote P. P. Melnikov on December 22, 1872, “are the memories of my journey to the East and the worship of the Holy Sepulcher. Every day, morning and evening, I thank God that He has vouchsafed me to pray in places sanctified by His earthly life, and on this occasion I cannot help but remember the good Father Antoninus, who contributed so much to make this journey beneficial for the soul. The diary of this journey, written by me hastily in order to confirm for myself all the slightest details, was read by the Empress during her stay in Livadia. She, apparently, was pleased with this reading, but I would like a slightly greater result, namely, that it would move Her to travel to Jerusalem and draw Her attention to all the unfavorable aspects of the situation of our Spiritual Mission in the Holy City. I dwelled on this subject more than once and spoke about personalities precisely in the hope that the Empress would read my notes. After the Empress returned, I had not yet had an audience with Her, but She promised to demand me to come to her one of these days. In this meeting I will see to what extent She paid attention to the serious side of the notes.” “I would be very happy,” wrote P.P. Melnikov back in 1871 on March 16, - if he had been torn away from these studies by the invitation of our Empress to accompany Her to Jerusalem, but, to tell the truth, I have little hope that this assumption will come true. The Empress continues to passionately desire this journey, and I try to support Her in this good intention, but many considerations, financial, diplomatic, and the state of health itself, are mixed in here. Neither one nor the other will serve as a hindrance.” The deep impressions taken from the trip to the Holy Land had a beneficial effect on the private charitable activities of P. P. Melnikov in his homeland. “In gratitude for the fact that God has vouchsafed me to pray to the Holy Place of Jerusalem, I would like,” he writes Fr. Antonina on March 16, 1871, - to establish at the dacha (70 versts from St. Petersburg) an almshouse for old women of the parish and a shelter for elderly girls of noble rank. The houses are already ready. Church after. All that remains is to replenish the house with the necessary utensils.” And these noble impulses of P. P. Melnikov’s generosity are all the higher and more valuable in our eyes because, according to his frank admission, despite his high state position, he personally possessed “small capital” (letter dated November 29, 1878 and November 13 of this year). When Patriarch Kirill II of Jerusalem (1845–1872) and the Metropolitan of Bethlehem approached him with a request for a monetary donation: the first for the construction of a church in the name of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and the second on Bethlehem, P. P. Melnikov wrote to Fr. Antonin on March 16th like this: “I would be sincerely glad, but at this moment, with the institutions I am undertaking at the dacha, I have absolutely no strength, that is, there is not enough money. Over time, when I gather my strength, I will not forget their hospitable treatment in St. Bethlehem. I do not lose hope of thanking the deeply respected Patriarch. Let him pray to God that our Queen has time to perform the worship She desires, and then they will receive more than they can collect from us, who are richer in desire than in money.” The more valuable, therefore, in the eyes of God, the more memorable it should be for the happy nuns of Gornaya, and the more ardent gratitude in posterity the unforgettable P. P. Melnikov deserves, both for his personal sacrifice for this good Russian cause, and especially for his tireless labors and amazingly energetic efforts to collect the necessary funds for the acquisition of a plot in Gornaya and bring the whole matter to a happy, favorable end. When it turned out that the Arab Hanna Karlov Jelyad, the owner of a plot in Gorney, asked for 5 tons of Napoleons 5 for it, P. P. Melnikov began to seek all measures to collect this amount in St. Petersburg among his acquaintances. “The matter of acquiring a place in Gornaya is,” he wrote about. arch. Antonin on May 10, 1870, - did not stop studying. I hope to express this to my rich friends and add that to this day I have a subscription for 22 thousand rubles in silver. To make 5 thousand Napoleons, you need 33 thousand at the current insignificant exchange rate. Therefore, another 11 thousand are missing. I will work hard, but I’m afraid that I won’t get the whole amount soon... If I manage to see the Empress (Maria Alexandrovna) before I go abroad, I’ll talk to Her about our affairs in Jerusalem and give a hint about Gorny. Maybe She will take part in the fundraiser.” “Upon arrival from abroad, I hastened,” writes P.P. Melnikov in a letter on October 10 of the same year, “to dispose of the collection of money signed for the purchase of a place in the Gornaya city of Judah 6 . So far 17,825 rubles have been sent. silver, which I sent yesterday through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You will receive a draft to a banker in Jerusalem who will issue the money. It is necessary to ensure that he does not count the extra courtage 7 and commission. Then I expect another 4,000 rubles, which I will not hesitate to send in the same manner. I don’t know if I’ll be able to collect anything else, but in any case, if I have time, it won’t be much. In these circumstances, I would think that one should limit oneself to the purchase of such part of the entire place as is possible in terms of amount. You can’t imagine how difficult it is to do something of this kind under the present difficult circumstances and general lack of money.” “Four thousand Napoleons,” P.P. continues to make calculations. Melnikov in his letter dated November 13, - at the rate of 315 sant. (per ruble) about 25,400 rubles. ser., and at the rate of 310 centimes per ruble, about 25,800 rubles, in addition to shipping costs and banker’s commission, and since I collected only 21,825 rubles, then 3,575 rubles – 4,000 rubles will be missing. pp., depending on the exchange rate, and maybe more if the exchange rate drops further, which can be expected in the current political circumstances. But I, no matter how limited I am by means, will willingly take this difference into my own account, because I believe that it is impossible to make a better use of money. “Write also,” adds P. P. Melnikov as a request to Fr. Archimandrite in the same letter - what kind of device is supposed to be made in the acquired place and from what source the maintenance costs can be covered. Is it possible to extract some kind of income from fruitful trees and from admirers? " Worried by doubts and fears that the beloved plot of land in Gorney would not leave his hands, and by the impossibility of collecting money in the amount that the self-interested owner wanted to receive for it, P.P. Melnikov eight days later (i.e. November 20) wrote to Fr. Antonin: “Your last letter (dated October 29), dearly respected Father Antonin, received by me on the third day, convinces me that it would be more prudent for us to limit ourselves to the purchase of one two-story house with such a part of the garden that will correspond to our funds. It is better to have a less extensive property, but have the means to adapt it for a comfortable shelter and fence it, than to seize a large volume and wait until it is possible to use it. If we buy the whole place and both houses with the aim of selling the excess part, then we will hardly get back what we spend for the extra place, and it is indecent for the Mission to sell places. However, do what you think is best, but at the same time you must keep in mind that further collections of money will meet with great difficulty in the current circumstances. The moneyed people pressed in so hard that it took me a lot of work to scratch out what I had managed to collect. I didn’t want to mix the Imperial Family into this matter, because it would immediately take on a completely private nature of the matter and would lead to the obligation of some kind of reporting.” In January 1871, the question of purchasing a plot in Ain Karim was as follows: the owner, Arab Hanna Karlov Jelyad, demanded from Fr. Antonina 100 Napoleons for the destruction of waqf 8 and 200 gold for delivering a private property document into his hands. On February 16 of the same year, the deal finally took place, and the “hojet” (bill of sale) was drawn up in the name of the mentioned Hanna Karlova Jelyad, and paid for it - according to Fr. Antonina, “a knot with an unknown amount of money.” “The mission, therefore,” Fr. writes in his diary. arch. Antoninus, under this number, owns the fifth sacred place in Palestine. We take it, don’t wash it, just ride it. Bow to the ground to the unparalleled P. P. Melnikov.” With the end of this desired task, Fr. Antoninus immediately hastened to joyfully share with the main culprit the mission's well-being in Jerusalem. “I hasten to congratulate you on the successful outcome of negotiations with the owner of the land in Gornaya,” answered P. P. Melnikov about. Antonin on February 3, 1871 - You masterfully handled the diplomatic side of this matter. I transferred 20,875 rubles twice. With. I hope to send another thousand or one and a half in a short time, depending on how I gather the money. So you will have 22 or about 22½ thousand. And since the landowner needs to pay 20 thousand rubles, then, therefore, more than 2 thousand rubles. will remain for the necessary expenses for the deed of sale and for the establishment of the acquired area.” “Your last letter, dearly respected Fr. Antonin, I,” wrote P.P. Melnikov, “received it on March 8th and only today, the 16th, am I answering. I was waiting for the last money to be sent and an explanation from the Chief Prosecutor (Count Tolstoy of the Holy Synod) on the subject of a reward for our cross-loving seller. 4 days ago I sent 1,300 rubles to the Asian Department, and before that 3,000 rubles were sent. (instead of the 2,000 that I wrote about). These last ones have already been correctly received by you - a total of 4,300 rubles, but since, according to the first, 17,825 rubles were deposited, then a total of 22,125 rubles were sent. ser. I sincerely congratulate you and myself on this acquisition for our Mission. It caused you troubles and worries, but for this useful, I will say, holy cause, you could work without complaint.” Having taken possession of a plot of land in Ain Karim, or Gornaya, Fr. Antonin first of all planted 5,000 grape vines, many olive and almond trees, cypresses, birches, etc. on the slopes of the mountains, then he took care of satisfying the spiritual needs of the nuns of the community he was newly creating, as well as those natives who returned from Latinism to the bosom of the Orthodox Church. To this end, he, first in a tent, and then in a large house set aside for a pilgrimage shelter, built a house church with an altar and obtained from the patriarch the appointment of a special priest here - an Arab, whom the patriarchy accepted for support, and the Mission gave him a free apartment. But that's about it. arch. Antonin, however, could not stop. Among the inhabitants of the Gorny community there was an energetic mother Leonida, who took on the difficult task of helping to further improve Gorny by collecting donations in Russia, which was the constant dream of the unforgettable Fr. Antonin. On September 22, 1879, Mother Leonida went, with the blessing of Fr. Antonina, to Russia to collect donations for the planned Fr. Antonin the Russian church in Gornaya in the name of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God (The first sacrifice of Mother Leonida from Odessa was received in Jerusalem on November 14, along with donations from other persons in the amount of 135 rubles). This church was erected in order to maintain Orthodoxy among the local inhabitants, who were strongly influenced by the Catholicism that had built a strong nest there, and therefore, on the advice of the Sebastian Archbishop Nicephorus, the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, and the Russian consulate, it was decided to build a “Russian-Arab church” in Gorneya within the Russian possessions. This is how Archimandrite talks about the construction of the church in Gornaya, in the evangelical city of Judah (Saint Jean du desert). Antonin in a letter addressed to B.P. Mansurov dated March 16, 1882: “For more than 10 years, having owned a large plot of land in this sacred area with two houses, a garden, etc., the Mission managed to acquire considerable significance in the village of Ain-Karim located there, consisting exclusively of Mohammedans and Catholic Arabs. In April 1880, 6 Latin families turned to the Mission with a statement to accept Orthodoxy and be under its jurisdiction. The mission rejected this illegal honor and sent them to the local Orthodox Patriarchate, against their wishes. The Patriarchate, unaccustomed to missionary work, timidly and reluctantly agreed to the request of the proselytes; finally, we managed to settle the matter, and on July 8 of the same year, Archbishop of Sebaste (now Metropolitan of Petra of Arabia) Nicephorus, who was then (in the absence of the Patriarch in Constantinople) the patriarchal vicar, people were accepted into the fold of Orthodoxy through the sacraments baptism and confirmation. Following this, the Patriarchate, together with the Mission, set up a temporary church in the village for converts, and precisely, for the sake of safety and better observation, on Russian territory, first near our worship shelter under a tent, and then, when winter weather came, inside our so-called big house. At the same time, in order to properly strengthen Orthodoxy in the area, it was agreed between me and the patriarchal governor to immediately begin building a small church; Since neither the converts themselves nor the Patriarchate had their own land in the village, a very suitable and attractive place in our possessions was chosen for this, which the governor himself blessed during my specially arranged trip with him to Gornaya. It did not occur to either him or me then to turn to anyone else for permission to build it, since the place we had chosen for this enjoys extraterritoriality, 9 and the many examples of the unimpeded creation of Latin and Protestant churches in foreign territories before everyone’s eyes allowed us to think that we were completely free in our work. The construction of the church began in this way, and a little over a year later it was successfully completed. At the same time, Orthodox worship was constantly performed in the village by an Arab priest specially appointed by the Patriarchate, who received maintenance from the Patriarchate and an apartment (rented in the village) from the Mission. The hopes of Latin propaganda that those seduced into schism 10, according to custom, would not hesitate to return to the bosom of the mother church, became weaker and weaker. Meanwhile, the example of 6 families from Gorny had an encouraging effect on the inhabitants of Bethlehem, and on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ in the same 1880. more than 200 Latins there converted (also through our Mission) to Orthodoxy, and were baptized by the same archbishop, partly in the presence of the patriarch himself. This completely irritated and angered the local Catholics and their protector, the French consul. Their combined pressure on the local pasha, a Frenchman by upbringing and a Russophobe 11 by principle, made it so that this official, who turns a blind eye to everything that foreigners do here, considered it necessary, out of fear of slander against him before the Sublime Porte 12 , to submit to our local Consulate a paper about which your Institution already has information. He, without hesitation, said here that he was forced to act this way by the noise raised by Catholics about Russian propaganda in the region. He also urgently demanded from the Patriarchate that it buy itself a place in Gornaya to build its own church on it, and forced it to demand from Porta firman 13 for that church, which it had already received long ago. According to the pasha’s assurance, everything is behind our church in Gornaya” 14. On June 16, 1880, a place “at the very gate on the first terrace” was chosen for the future “Russian-Arab” church. On July 10, a deal was finally concluded with the master, who undertook to build the church for 250 Napoleons, not forgetting, at the same time, to give himself the usual baksheesh 15. Somewhat later, he added a price of 300 Napoleons for his work. On April 5 of the following year, 1881, by a new agreement for 30 Napoleons, the same master undertook to build a bell tower. These are good beginnings. Antonina in Gornaya cost him a lot of trouble and trouble. Having reached a very friendly agreement with the rector of the Catholic monastery of St. I. the Baptist on the issue of freedom of action on the acquired plot, he at first used this right, but when the Custodian of the 16th Holy Land in Jerusalem changed (June 18), Fr. Antonin immediately lost his benevolent neighbor, who was removed precisely because he “gave the opportunity for the schismatic tendencies of the Ain-Karim to emerge and be realized.” On April 12, 1881, it became known that the Jerusalem governor Reuf Pasha, who was considered a Russophile 17, demanded that during the construction, both in Gorny and on Olivet, Fr. Antonin procured the Sultan's firman, and before receiving it he would have stopped all construction. The Jerusalem Patriarchate did not remain calm either, having unraveled the secret intentions of Fr. arch. Antonina - to turn the “Russian-Arab church” into a purely Russian one over time, and therefore began to slow things down in every possible way. Patriarch Hierotheos (1875–1882) wrote in 1881 regarding the construction of Fr. Antonin of the churches on Olivet and in Gornaya to the first member of the Holy Synod Isidore, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, a special letter in which, rejecting the accusation of the Russian ambassador in Constantinople, Mr. Ignatiev, who provided powerful support in the favorable resolution of the Gornaya issue, that the Patriarchate allegedly wanted to subordinate “Russian sacred churches to its spiritual superiors” and that it allegedly “secretly petitioned for that the (Turkish) government does not issue the firman requested (by the embassy," complained, however, that Fr. arch. Antonin “built the above-mentioned churches without notifying us first and without receiving our consent,” and thereby “deviated from the canons and decrees of the church,” which Fr. Antoninus, thus, in his actions “acts unbearably and has completely exhausted our patience.” “We believe that the favorable outcome of this matter,” wrote Patriarch Hierotheus, “is this: let the Holy Synod of the Russian Church send us a message in the spirit of Christian love and demand from us our canonical consent to the establishment of the above-mentioned churches, assuring that these churches will be governed in accordance with the canons and decrees of the Holy Church.” The Holy Synod, through Metropolitan Isidore, willingly wrote such a fraternal peace letter to Patriarch Hierotheus and, pointing out in it the extraterritoriality of the churches on Olivet and in Gorny and the prematureness, before the completion of the construction of these churches, to ask for a patriarchal blessing for the consecration of these churches and the beginning of services in them, at the same time they expressed the firm confidence that Fr. arch. Antonin will not hesitate, upon completion of the buildings, to ask for such a blessing from His Beatitude. Simultaneously with this m. Isidore petitioned the patriarch for an unhindered and immediate blessing for the consecration and opening of divine services not only for the named churches in Gorny and on Olivet, but also for the Gethsemane church in the name of St. Mary Magdalene, created with funds from the generosity of the Russian Imperial Family in memory of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. But no matter how difficult all these unfavorable circumstances were for the planned holy work, the construction of the church in Gornaya and its preparation for consecration proceeded non-stop. Donations constantly poured in for this cause from various people visiting the Holy Land. Among these, one cannot fail to note the donations of the family of Count E.V. Putyatin 100 rubles. and 10 gold and, together with V.N. and S.D. Khitrovo, “100 francs per day from everyone” for the entire time of their stay in the Holy Land (1880). The collector M. Leonida, who successfully collected in Russia, on March 15, 1881, ordered an iconostasis in Russia for 700 rubles and purchased a magnificent shroud for the same church, silver vessels, crosses, a tabernacle, icons and a bell worth 41 1/2 poods, donated by the Samoilovs. There were other donors to the Gornensky Church with money in small amounts, church utensils and liturgical accessories and vestments. By the beginning of 1882, the construction of the church in Gornaya was completed, and the time had come to think about consecrating it. But here the above-mentioned difficulties and all sorts of delays stood in the way, partly on the part of the Patriarchate, and partly even on the part of the Russian Consulate General. True, the elderly Metropolitan of Petra of Arabia Nikifor, who lived in Gornaya and was well disposed in favor of the Russians by his spiritual daughter Maria Gladkaya, was inclined to consecrate the Gornenskaya Church, without even asking for the blessing of the Holy Sepulchre brotherhood, but the Russian consul V.F. Kozhevnikov asked him secretly not to do this until the Sultan’s firman was received at Gornenskaya construction. In secret, “Saint Peter,” as Metropolitan Nikephoros was called in Palestine, informed Father Antonin about this on September 1, 1882, which message the latter treated, however, with complete distrust. But the letter of the consul of the same day to Father Antonin, recommending him not to rush to consecrate the church “for political reasons,” according to Fr. Antonin, "torn his heart into 23 pieces" and showed him clearly that his "disbelief" was completely unnecessary. The Holy Sepulchre brotherhood, for its part, recommended Father Antonin to wait for the elections of a new patriarch, which at that time were very protracted and extremely stormy, and from him to obtain permission for the long-awaited consecration of the church in Gornaya. On February 5, 1883, finally, the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne agreed “to the transfer of the antimension from the temporary church to the newly created one in Gornaya,” and he informed Father Antonin, among other things, that the consul three times “sought from him some kind of written response about the matter of the Gornaya church, giving Father Antonin the blessing to carry out the transfer of the antimension from the house to the church.” This time Fr. Antonin did not wait for written permission, but, taking advantage of the verbal blessing of the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, began to quickly prepare for the minor consecration of the Gornenskaya Church in the name of the Kazan Mother of God. On February 13, having prepared the “face of thorns” of the Savior for the Gornensky new church, a work of his own zealous, but insufficiently skilled in art, brush, Father Antonin with almost the entire Mission set off for Gornaya at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The weather was relatively good, and the mood of the travelers was very complacent. By five o’clock in the evening, the travelers arrived in Gornaya and settled in a large house. After resting for a while and After consulting about the upcoming service, everyone went to the church to make the necessary preparations for the upcoming consecration. They even had to rebuild the altar, and therefore about two hours of time passed unnoticed with these efforts. With the onset of dark night, the first sound of the bell rang out throughout the entire neighborhood from the bell tower of the new church, and the all-night vigil began, as Fr. Antonina, “with all festive aplomb.” Fans filled almost the entire church. and the anointing with oil lasted until the end of the canon. The evening service ended at eleven o'clock. The morning of February 14 was foggy and rather cold. Father Antonin was already on his feet from 6 o'clock in the morning and was engaged with his employees in transferring icons and other items of church furnishings from the temporary church to the "newly created" one. At 8 o'clock the bell began for the liturgy, which was performed by the builder himself with 4 priests and two deacons. With a solemn procession of the cross, they transferred the antimension from the temporary church to the new one, performed the blessing of water, and washed the tables intended for table and altar, dressed them in the vestments established for this item, with the holy antimension, in the presentation of banners and crosses, made a religious procession around the church, “spoke, according to the church charter, with the singers at the entrance to it,” that is, with the recitation of the verses of the psalm: “Take the gates of your princes,” etc. and laid St. antimension for the meal. “Thus,” according to Father Antonin, “it turned out that the church was almost completely consecrated. The first liturgy in it,” Father Antonin adds in his diary, “of course, filled my heart with tenderness.”... The liturgy ended at 1 o’clock. Having returned to the shelter in the rain and hail after congratulations and drinking tea, everyone began cleaning the iconostasis and the entire altar in the temporary church, in which the Royal portraits were immediately installed and the necessary dining furniture was moved for the ceremonial, on the occasion of the celebration, dinner prepared for 22 people. The dinner passed lively, with general enthusiasm, with the singing of psalms and magnifications befitting a celebration. Until the evening, local Orthodox inhabitants came to Fr. Archimandrite Antonin with congratulations. In the evening, an all-night vigil was held in the newly consecrated church, and the next morning, February 15, the wound was served by a member of the Mission, Fr. Parthenium liturgy. Father Antonin blessed two old women to serve at the church and, having made the necessary orders there, inspected the entire household in his domain, visited Mother Leonida, who had worked hard to create the church, and some other venerable old women, and with a feeling of complete satisfaction, after dinner for 15-20 people, he left the Gornaya, dear to his heart. Before leaving, he received a visit from the envoy Fr. Guardiana 18 of the neighboring Catholic monastery. Return to Jerusalem Fr. Antonina took place in very stormy and windy weather. After this, the life of the nuns of the Gornensky community flowed peacefully under the protection of the Kazan Mother of God, having the loving and experienced Father Antonin as their spiritual leader and builder. The community quickly grew in size. Therefore, the inconsolable grief of the nuns of the Gornensky community was unfeigned when the unforgettable venerable elder Fr. Antonin rested from his labors on March 25, 1894. Under arch. Antonina, the Gornensky community sometimes received benefits from the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. So, in 1891, for the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, Fr. arch. Antonin 2,000 francs. for the women's community in Gornaya, “deprived of ordinary income, due to the prohibition of issuing foreign passports in Jerusalem for Russian pilgrims,” due to excessive drought and lack of water in Russian buildings. In 1892, following the example of the previous year, she was assigned an allowance in the same amount “in view of the still unestablished correct movement of Orthodox pilgrims to the Holy Land,” but with the difference that the distribution of this money was left to the “closest discretion” of the manager of the Society’s farmsteads in Jerusalem, N. G. Mikhailov. In 1897, Fr. was appointed head of the Mission in Jerusalem. Raphael, abbot of the Sarov monastery, pupil and confessor of the Russian Panteleimon monastery on Athos. Not devoid of physical and some spiritual natural gifts, Fr. Raphael, however, did not have the willpower, administrative abilities, or authority of his ever-memorable predecessor, although, at the same time, he was not alien to conceit and delusions of grandeur and dreams, as he wrote to V.N. Khitrovo in his letter dated September 20, 1897, even the Spiritual Mission itself “to be aimed at spiritual and material perfection.” In these, although good, but premature and insufficiently balanced reform efforts, Fr. Raphael conceived the idea of ​​introducing some improvements in the order of the internal life of the Gornensky community, to which he was encouraged by both V.N. Khitrovo and Consul General A.G. Yakovlev. In order to make the sisters of the community more dependent on the head of the Mission, as V.N. Khitrovo wrote to K.P. Pobedonostsev on June 29, 1897, Fr. Raphael, on his advice, introduced a common meal there, for which the Palestine Society promised him 10,000 francs annually. A.G. Yakovlev, for his part, recommended establishing more precise rules for transferring the houses of the inhabitants of Gorny after their death to the Mission or their heirs 19 . In the same ways of regulating the lives of the inhabitants of Gorny and vigilantly monitoring their behavior, Fr. Archimandrite Raphael made the choice of the “elder sister”, which turned out to be Mother Rachel. This choice was not to the liking of many sisters, and they put forward their candidate in the person of Maria Gladkova, who had a loud reputation in Jerusalem, called “Mother Maria.” In Gornaya there was a division into two parties. The unrest among the elders of the community assumed such a threatening character that it required the intervention of Consul General A.G. Yakovlev, who, in order to calm minds, with the help of the Kavass 20, was forced to remove Maria Gladkova from Palestine. In order to establish proper order and peace in the Gornensky community, in a letter to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev dated May 4, 1898, A. G. Yakovlev petitioned for approval of the “written rules” he had drawn up for the Gornensky community. True, oh. Rafail found “these rules are not strict enough,” but, according to Consul Yakovlev, “first, it is necessary to give non-strict rules in order to accustom the old women to at least some kind of order. In a year, these rules can be made stricter under the guise of improving them.” Consul Yakovlev even expressed wishes 1) that a nun of high monastic life be sent from Russia to fill the post of elder sister of the community and 2) that the inheritance rights of the nuns of the Gornensky community be regulated. "0. Antonin, according to A.G. Yakovlev, inviting the old woman to build, allowed it to be transferred to another person before the house was transferred to the Mission. I heard this myself from Fr. Antonina, everyone here knows it too. If you order, Mr. Yakovlev wrote, that the house, after the death of the builder, should go directly to the Mission, then I will try to force them to draw up such a statement. But it will make some noise and cause a lot of complaints against me. The old women, selling houses or parts of them to each other, completely quarreled among themselves, and also my fear that they would not turn to the Turkish authorities during the sale (to which they have the right), makes me ask Your Excellency to honor me with a notification in code through the 1st Department about your approval of this statement in full or with such and such changes" 21 . Desire o. arch. Raphael is fulfilled. The draft rules for the Gornensky community, proposed to K. P. Pobedonostsev by Consul General A. G. Yakovlev, were approved, and the rules, with a few exceptions, received approval in the Holy Synod on July 24, 1898 No. 2699. These rules generally remain in force in the Gornensky community to this day and read as follows: 1) “The Gornenskaya women’s community consists of subordination and obedience to the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, who is its immediate superior and patron. 2) Sisters of the Gornensky community are recognized as Russian subjects who own a house or part of a house within the community fence on the basis of a legally drawn up application (according to the form attached at the end of these rules). 3) All available sisters, in a predetermined meeting, with the blessing of the head of the Spiritual Mission, elect 5 candidates, of whom the head of the Spiritual Mission appoints one as a senior sister, another as her assistant and a third as head of the sacristy, which he reports to the Holy Synod. 4) The elder sister is in charge of the internal order, the economic part and the general dining room of the community. She alone communicates directly with the head of the Spiritual Mission on community affairs. 5) The assistant takes the place of the older sister, in the event of her absence, illness or death, and carries out all the tasks that will be assigned to her by the older sister. 6) The head of the sacristy has supervision over the sacristy of the community, which she accepts and hands over only according to the inventory, and also takes care of the splendor of the church. 7) Anyone who wishes to spend one night in the community, or from one of the sisters, asks for permission from the elder sister, without which she cannot stay overnight in the community. 8) Anyone wishing to spend more than one night in the community or with one of the sisters must have written permission from the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission with an exact indication of the time of stay in the community, and whether she can use the common dining room. This permission must be presented to the older sister. 9) Husbands and relatives of sisters and male persons in general are not allowed to stay in the community at night in any case. 10) Sisters planning to spend the night outside the community must have the written permission of the elder sister. 11) Anyone wishing to build a new house within the community fence must first obtain written permission from the head of the Spiritual Mission with the exact designation of the location and conditions of construction. This preliminary permission must be submitted by the person wishing to build to the Imperial Consulate General, which draws up a legal application according to it (according to the form attached at the end of these regulations). 12) Those who wish to rebuild a house, pull out stones and cut down trees must obtain written permission from the head of the Spiritual Mission with the exact designation of the conditions of the permitted location. This permission must be presented to the elder sister before starting work. 13) To avoid misunderstandings, those wishing to enter into contracts with a contractor during the construction or reconstruction of a house can contact the Imperial Consulate General to draw up a contract. 14) All vegetables and fruits located in the community fence, with the exception of those growing near houses and planted by the owners themselves, constitute the common possession of the community, are cultivated and collected by order of the elder sister. 16) A sister who is unable to leave her room due to illness has the right to receive one portion of lunch and one portion of dinner from the common dining room. 16) The sale of wine and strong drinks in the community is strictly prohibited, and the person guilty of such sale is immediately expelled from the community. 17) To avoid misunderstandings, your orders regarding property in the event of your sister’s death must be made through the Imperial Consulate General. 18) In the event of the death of a sister, the eldest sister, or the one who takes her place, immediately notifies the head of the Spiritual Mission, who personally lets the Imperial Consulate General know about this. 19) Upon removal of the deceased, the elder sister or the one taking her place, in the presence of the sacristans and two sisters of the community, locks the door of the deceased’s apartment, and the others apply their seals, takes the key to the door to herself and takes all measures in her power to secure the property of the deceased until the lawful disposition. 20) For violation of the above approved rules, the perpetrators are subject to punishment imposed by the head of the Spiritual Mission, who, if necessary, seeks the assistance of the Imperial Consulate General. 21) After a year has passed since the introduction of these rules, the head of the Spiritual Mission is obliged to submit to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod his thoughts regarding changes and additions to them. Appendix to §§ 2 and 11 regulations "Statement". I, the undersigned (name, patronymic, surname and title of the applicant, owner of the house), hereby declare that I built at my own expense in the tree of Ain-Karyem (Mountain Place) near Jerusalem, on land now owned by the waqf of Fr. Archimandrite Antonin, former head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (1,2 or part) house(s). At the same time, I accepted the following conditions: 1) I can live in this house until my death and, dying, I have the right, through the Consulate General in Jerusalem, to sell or donate it to another female person, exclusively a Russian subject, with the fact that after the death of this latter, this house immediately and free of charge becomes the property of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem; 2) if I do not indicate this person to the local Consulate General during my lifetime, then this house, upon my death, immediately and free of charge becomes the full property of the local Spiritual Mission, and I deprive my heirs of the right to make any claims to it; 3) I do not have the right to mortgage this property without the permission of the head of the Spiritual Mission and without the help of the local Consulate General. As a result of all of the above, I, with the consent of the head of the Spiritual Mission, hereby declare that, after my death and on the conditions listed above, the mentioned house must be transferred free of charge for the lifelong use of a Russian subject (rank, first name, patronymic and surname of the person for whose lifelong use the house is given), who must appear in person within (such and such a period) at the Consulate General to draw up the final act. Jerusalem, date, month and year. Signatures of the owner of the house and two witnesses. I give my consent to all of the above. Jerusalem, day, month, and year. Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem (signature) (m. p.).” “I, the undersigned (title, first name, patronymic and last name of the person for whose lifetime use the house is given) accept the said house on the above conditions and repeat that, after my death, the head of the local Spiritual Mission has the right, if he so desires, to immediately and free of charge take possession of this house, and that my heirs are deprived of the right to make any claims to the house. Jerusalem, date, month and year. Signature of the persons for whose lifetime use the house is given. Signature of two witnesses. Certification from the Consulate General." ___________________________ Succeeded by Fr. Raphael is a humble and kind arch. Alexander (Golovin) (from 1899–1903), who died in 1915 to retire as a bishop and rector of the stauropegial Resurrection Monastery, called “New Jerusalem,” was alien to any reform efforts. A man of peace and love and a thrifty owner, Arch. Alexander took care to provide the community with untouchable capital, so as not to make it dependent on random donations and this or that influx of Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem. For this purpose, from 1899 to 1903, for greater strength of capital in% of securities of various names belonging to the Gorno community and the Spiritual Mission, in the amount of 60,402 rubles. 78 k. 22 was deposited in Petrograd in the Economic Administration of the Holy Synod, hoping to support the community on interest on capital, aggravated, of course, by the influx of possible donations from worshipers of God. The new head of the Spiritual Mission since 1903, Fr. arch. Leonid (Sentsov), a product of the secular and theological schools, an architect by profession, with a lively, active character and broad aggressive and polemical tendencies, did not imitate the cautious prudence of his predecessor. Having in the past the high example of the head of the Jerusalem Spiritual Mission, unforgettable in the annals of the Jerusalem Spiritual Mission. Antonina and wanting to lead the Mission along the same path, to deep regret, he forgot, however, about the caution inherent in this great figure and the rare ability to find access to the hearts of pious, rich and influential pilgrims. O. arch. Leonid II became interested in land acquisitions in the Holy Land, often having neither sacred nor materially valuable significance, and sometimes even directly burdensome for the cash-strapped treasury of the Jerusalem Spiritual Mission. As for the aggressive polemical tendencies of Fr. arch. Leonidas in his energetic activities in St. Earth, then, unfortunately, they were sometimes directed not only against heterodox propaganda, which creates dubious Christian legends and the most risky traditions in holy places, but also against the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate (for example, the Russian Bethany at the foot of Olivet, which caused a storm of indignation against the Mission in the Jerusalem Patriarchate) and even against the traditions shared by the Russian Spiritual Mission itself (for example, the site of Beth-Zacharia, where the parents of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John allegedly had a house, and, therefore, the place where, according to the Gospel, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God stayed for three months with her happy “yuzhika”). But oh. arch. Leonid, alien to possible fears of depleting the resources not only of the Mission, but also of the Gornensky women’s community closely connected with it, a clear understanding of the pointlessness of some of his land acquisitions in Palestine and the above-mentioned ideological contradictions, so to speak, with himself, worked a lot and even not without success to improve and bring the mission’s possessions into order. In particular, in relation to Gornaya o. Leonid, having spent over 66 thousand rubles, did a lot there. So, in 1913, he acquired a new plot of land of 5,100 square meters, known in Gornaya as the “seating stone”, where, according to legend, the Mother of God rested during Her stay in the “City of Judah”. For this plot they were paid 3,232 rubles. 42 k. from the untouchable capital of the Gornensky community, which, as is known from the report of Fr. arch. Leonid in the same 1913, an urgent need for material satisfaction. On the site itself, called Gornaya, acquired by Fr. arch. Antonin, at 222.591.37 meters = 52.770 square fathoms, o. Leonid again built 24 houses for the sisters of the community, installed 9 water tanks worth 3,460 rubles, expanded and decorated the hotel - a shelter for 200 intelligent pilgrims, built again a refectory, handicrafts with a book and icon shop and a library for reading, a bathhouse with a tank on its flat roof for water, heated by the burning rays of the sun, supplying and a laundry, which, given the high cost of fuel in Palestine, is of great importance in saving it, a cowshed, with a house above it, an oil mill with presses and storerooms and with a small house near it, an exemplary poultry house filled with many domestic birds of various breeds to obtain eggs necessary for the monastic meal, beekeepers, a house near the eastern gate and a house near the new cathedral under construction, a stone staircase and a fence. But the crown of all buildings in Gornaya, according to Fr. arch. Leonidas, the newly founded vast cathedral, which had been built up to the vaults by the beginning of the real war and had already cost up to 12 thousand rubles, was to serve. Although this cathedral is not currently an urgent need for the community, which is satisfied with its old church in the name of the Kazan Mother of God, and in the future, for the elderly nuns of the community, it can even be imagined, in view of its location on a high mountain, many difficulties when they attend divine services, however, one cannot refuse Fr. arch. Leonid in a successful choice of place for him. From this place a marvelous view of the surrounding area opens up, and the church, located on the slopes of the Gornensky ridge, will make an impressive impression on the natives and pilgrims with its majestic view. The founder of the Gorny women's community, Archimandrite Antonin, wrote the following about Gorny in 1880: “In our Mission there is no doubt that this is the “lot of the Mother of God”, in the near future there will be an extensive shelter for eminent Russian hermits who want to end the days of their more or less troubled life in complete and undisturbed silence of spirit, for which the charter of the ancient monastery residence will serve as a model, without an abbess, without treasurer, without deans and similar formalities, which will be based on the secret words of the inspired song of the Mother of God! Let it be!” 23 But this dream of the idealist monk was not destined to come true even in part. From the time of its creation to the present day, the Gornensky women's community of the “city of Judah,” if we do not mention Mother Maria (Gladkova), who acquired a loud but sad reputation in the Holy Land, did not and does not know “famous Russian hermits,” even simply intelligent Russian women. Into this “lot of the Mother of God”, “beautiful as God’s paradise”, most of those semi-intelligent women, even from the lower strata of our society, rushed, and most often the cassock novices 24 and monastic nuns 25 of Russian monasteries, who, having arrived on pilgrimage and worship of the great Christian Shrine in the Holy Land and succumbing to the charm of the enchanting charms of a free life, did not want to return again to my homeland. Some were kept in Jerusalem by the emotional and heartfelt disappointments and broken hopes they experienced in their homeland, others by the search for space and tempting freedom of life, often after the heavy oppression of severe obedience from the days of their youth in our convents, others by new sympathies and aspirations that arose here, unexpectedly for themselves, in the hope of pleasure, captivating their weak human nature with unexperienced joys and sensations, etc. d. Rarely of them were wealthy and financially independent persons, the majority were poor and orphans who placed their hope only in God and in their personal labor to earn a piece of their daily bread. For many of them, purchasing a house or at least part of it for a quiet and serene life was the object of their desires and dreams that were rarely realized in reality. Is it possible, therefore, to hope that such a composition of hermits of the Gornensky community could be fully imbued with the “secret words of the inspired song of the Mother of God” uttered in this holy place and be guided in life by the “rules of the ancient monastery residence”, free and unsupervised by the elders experienced in spiritual life. Hence it was quite natural that the phenomenon in the life of this community was that while the creator and leader of its arch. Antonin, in the community and without a charter, the life of the nuns was relatively peaceful and friendly. All sorts of deviations and disturbances in the community of Fr. arch. Antonin stopped with his authority and the power of his moral influence. But as soon as this authoritative guardian passed away into eternity, and people of a different spirit and strength found themselves in his place, the weak human nature of the nuns immediately showed itself, and disorder and discord appeared in the community. It was necessary to suppress them, or at least put a barrier to them, by creating certain rules for the community, approved in 1898 on July 24 by the Holy Synod. These rules, created by a person who is little familiar with monastic life, cannot, however, be considered satisfactory for their purpose. They speak in general terms about the sisters who are in charge of the community, their rights and relationships, about relations with the head of the Mission and the Consul General, about the acquisition of houses by the nuns and their inheritance, about the common meal and visitors to the Upper Room - and nothing more, but about how the internal life of the inhabitants of the community should proceed, where and how they obtain funds for clothing and other necessary needs of life - all this is not covered by the rules of 1898 affected. That is why it is necessary here to briefly touch on this side of the life of the nuns of the Gornensky community. The untouchable capital of the community, collected by its creator to ensure the existence of the nuns, as we already know, is not great, but in view of its expenditure, Fr. arch. Leonid has recently brought the funds for the purchase of land and new buildings to an extremely insignificant figure (3,057 rubles 47 kopecks). The community's income from fans and other items is very modest: in recent years before the present war, its income was expressed in the following figures: in 1911 in the amount of 9,769 rubles, in 1912 in the amount of 15,859 rubles. and in 1913 in the amount of 6,176 rubles. With two hundred nuns of the Gornensky community at the present time, such insignificant incomes are quite naturally not enough even for a more or less satisfactory common meal, and, as the head of the Spiritual Mission, Arch. Leonid, the sisters had to literally “starve.” In order to have at least a small amount of money to meet the needs of basic necessities and to work in the gardens and vegetable gardens available in almost every house, carefully caring for fruit trees and garden vegetables, the community sisters need, in their free time from these works, to engage in sewing sacred vestments, airs, shrouds, making mortal shirts and shrouds, writing icons on wood or sacred pictures on paper, reading the magpies or the psalter of eternal remembrance (in the Russian Alexander Metochion of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, five sisters of this community permanently live to read for the deceased members and donors of the Society of the Vigilant Psalter at the Threshold of the Gate of Judgment), etc. Sisters, illiterate and ignorant of any handicraft that provides income, come to serve as servants in the Russian metochions of the Palestine Society and the Russian Spiritual Mission and even to Russian subjects and foreigners living privately in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Haifa and Jericho. All this clearly indicates that the internal life of the community is far from the ideal specified by its ever-memorable creator, Arch. Antonin. “This was not a monastery,” according to the fair remark of V.N. Khitrovo in his letter to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, K.P. Pobedonostsev, dated July 29, 1897, “not even a community, but, so to speak, free female Cossacks.” The nuns of Gornaya have no time left for God and for contemplative life, and her small church in the name of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God, especially on weekdays, often remains empty, due to the complete absence of pilgrims in it. But even after the introduction of the synodal rules of 1898, even with those improved methods of running a complex economy in the community, which was conceived by the zealous Fr. arch. Leonid II, little attention was also paid to the internal spiritual side of the life of the nuns of the community. And this will undoubtedly continue in the Gornensky community, which in this respect is inferior even to the Olivet community in Jerusalem, founded in 1906, until this community is provided with funds from regular sources and receives rules regulating in detail the internal side of the life of its nuns. The village of Gornaya is located south of Jerusalem and is an hour's drive away along a good highway. From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, page 11. Elizabeth, your little girl. Onion. Uzhichestvo, yuzhichestvo, kinship right, according to which the closest relative of a husband who died childless inherited his wife. – note from the electronic editors. “Melnikov,” wrote Fr. Antonin, Count I. I. Ignatiev on November 22, 1870, told me about your new idea - about buying the meeting place of the Mother of God with Elizabeth. You should have set up a shelter near the Oak (Mamvri) first, otherwise, perhaps, you will chase two hares and not catch either one well. Napoleondor (lit. “golden Napoleon”) is a French gold coin of 900 purity of 20 francs. – note from the electronic editors. The names of those who signed and how much each donated, P. P. Melnikov reported to Fr. Antonin in a letter dated October 22, 1870. Here is a list of them: I. Zhuravlev, merchant of the 1st guild, 2,000 rubles, Eliseev brothers, merchants of the 1st guild, 1,000 rubles, Polezhaev brothers, merchants of the 1st guild, 1,000 rubles, S. Polyakov, merchant of the 1st guild, 1,000 rub., I. I. Gubonin, merchant of the 1st guild, 4,000 rub., A. Varshavsky, merchant of the 1st guild, 3,000 rub., A. A. Mark, merchant of the 1st guild, 1,000 rub., M. Gorbov, merchant of the 1st guild, 500 rubles, A. Gladin, merchant of the 1st guild, 1,000 rubles, A. Busurin, peasant, 200 rubles, K. N. von Meck, state councilor, 5,000 rubles, N. Putilov, active state councilor, 1,000 rubles, A. Kazakov, retired major general, 1,000 rubles, Countess Perovskaya 125 rub. Total 21.825 rub. This list is especially valuable for us because it accurately establishes the number of donations collected by P. P. Melnikov, which at one time raised doubts in the Holy Synod, both regarding their exact number and the correctness of their expenditure by Fr. Antonin. “I heard from Fr. Archimandrite Antonin. Money in amounts over 20 tons. rub., but I will not claim that exactly 27 thousand rubles, as stated in the letter (of course, a denunciation of Antonin Island), were collected by P.P. Melnikov, upon his return from Palestine, that is, when he was no longer a minister. Among the donors I remember the names of Eliseev, Polyakov, Mark. This money was transferred by P.P. Melnikov personally at the disposal of Fr. Archimandrite Antonin for the purchase of a large place with buildings in Gornaya, which was accomplished. The circumstances of this acquisition are so little hidden that on the entrance doors of the house purchased with this money there is a marble plaque on which the names of the donors are carved and, if my memory serves me correctly, then even next to each name, and the donated amount.” Curtage - payment to the money changer for change, to the banker for transferring money; fee to a broker, per ruble, for merchant cash transactions. – note from the electronic editors. Waqf - in Islamic law, property transferred by the state or an individual for religious or charitable purposes. Waqf may include both immovable and movable inalienable property. – note from the electronic editors. Extraterritoriality (relating to territory) - special rights and benefits granted to foreign diplomatic missions and employees of these missions in the host country. – note from the electronic editors. Schism is the same as schism. Violation of peace and unity with the Church due to differences not related to the distortion of true teaching, but for ritual and other reasons. – note from the electronic editors. Russophobia is a biased, suspicious, hostile, hostile attitude towards Russia and Russians. – note from the electronic editors. Porta (High Porte) is the name of the government adopted in the history of diplomacy and international relations. – note from the electronic editors. Firman - Decree of the Sultan signed by him. – note from the electronic editors. Baksheesh (to give) is a tip, a donation, and a form of some forms of corruption and bribery in the Middle East and South Asia. – note from the electronic editors. Custode, whose position is equivalent to that of an abbot, is at the head of the “Custody of the Holy Land,” an independent administrative district of the Franciscan order. – note from the electronic editors. Russophile M. - One who treats everything Russian favorably, with interest and respect, to the Russians themselves. – note from the electronic editors. Guardian. - guard, guardian, abbot of the monastery in the Franciscan Order. – note from the electronic editors. Letter to K.P. Pobedonostsev dated May 4, 1808. Women's community. Kavass are the guard of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, a formidable-looking Turk. This is their appearance. On their heads they wear a high red fez and a traditional Turkish cap with a tassel. Kavass are usually dressed in richly embroidered robes. An indispensable attribute of these Turkish guards is a long, heavy staff, with which they strike the floor or pavement menacingly. – note from the electronic editors. The entire capital of the Mission and the Gornensky community in interest notes was 71,510 rubles. At present, only 1,015 rubles remain in the Economic Administration belonging to the Mission. 59 k. and Gornensky community 357 rub. 47 k., and the remaining capital arch. Leonid, for various reasons were demanded back to Jerusalem and, for the most part, were used to purchase land plots and various economic structures on them. Thanks to the caution of Fr. arch. Alexander, according to competent people, “the financial situation of the Gornensky community in recent years has not been particularly alarming,” which, however, unfortunately, cannot be said at the present time. Church Vestn. 1880 No. 41, p. 21. A novice novice is a monastic novice who is blessed to wear certain monastic robes, including a cassock. – note from the electronic editors. Monateinaya (mantle) nun - from the word mantle. – note from the electronic editors. You might be interested in: