Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin)

(on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death) The 10,000 Russian pilgrims who, according to official data, now come to Palestine every year, do not limit their pilgrimage to viewing the venerable places of Jerusalem and its environs, but try to visit the Jordan, Gorneya, Hebron at the Oak of Mamre and other places. Everywhere in these places our pilgrims find cozy shelter and the most cordial, truly Russian welcome. For most of them, all these shelters and premises, furnished comfortably, even for a person spoiled by life, are nothing more or less than “our buildings” or the buildings of the Palestine Society, which, according to §1 of its charter, as is known, sets itself the task of establishing “hospitals” for pilgrims; but the time is still not far off when these shelters were called “Antonin’s” or “Archimandrich’s”, after the name of their founder. “I won’t name him” 2, writes Fr. Antonin about the Russian Church of St. Trinity or Nicodemus in Athens, “the work of my own hands, but that in its present form it is the fruit of my thought, then of an irresistible desire, vigilant care; about this, if not my mouth, then his stones will cry out.” Unforgettable in the annals of Palestine, our late rector of the Russian mission in Jerusalem, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin could, with absolutely equal right, say the same thing about each of his buildings in the points we indicated above. Unfortunately, among the venerable number of fans of Palestine of our time, which is given by official data, inquisitive serious interrogators are not often found, and the name of Fr. Antonina, as a figure who worked a lot for the benefit of Orthodoxy in Palestine, most of them either say absolutely nothing, or, accidentally touching their ears two or three times during a superficial survey of the sights of Palestine, does not sink deeply into the heart and quickly disappears from memory. It is worthy of complete surprise that even our periodical press devoted very little, to say the least, to this remarkable figure of sympathy and attention, which it is sometimes not stingy with for very ordinary individuals, when death mercilessly put an end to his fruitful and tireless activity. Our official spiritual body, for example, did not find it possible to devote even a full forty lines 3 to the obituary of this tireless fighter in the Orthodox East for over forty years, 3 bearing in mind, perhaps, the fact that the year before, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of service and literary and scientific activity of Fr. Archimandrite Antonin, a very sympathetic brief sketch of his life and work, written by the ever-memorable prof. our Academy to the late I. I. Malyshevsky 4. A small, but very passionate and convex characterization of the personality of Fr. Antonina presented in the annual report of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society for 1894. who died last year, a very energetic figure for the benefit of Orthodoxy in Palestine, former assistant to the chairman, member of the council and secretary of the Society, the late V.N. Khitrovo 5, personally well acquainted with Fr. Antonin. This, one might say, is almost all 6 that the unforgettable Fr. Antonina. Called by a flattering request for us to occupy your enlightened attention at this solemn meeting of the Kyiv department of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, we decide to offer an outline of the life and work of Fr. Antonin, as an outstanding figure for the benefit of Orthodoxy in the East in general and in Palestine in particular, in order to honor the memory of this figure close to us, the people of Kiev, and to clarify before you why the Palestinian Society itself considers him its “direct teacher” 7 by whose precepts it is guided in its activities to this day. At the same time, we hasten to make a reservation that we, not wanting to impose our thoughts and thoughts, will try for the most part to speak in the words of Fr. arch. Antonin, who left precious biographical material in his numerous scientific and literary works and in the overwhelming mass of correspondence he published in our spiritual and secular periodicals. O. Archimandrite Antonin, in the world Andrei Ivanovich Kapustin, son of the priest of the 8th village of Baturin, Shadrinsky district, Perm province, in the Trans-Urals. He accurately established the day of his birth in the diary of his father, who greeted the future orientalist with the following words: “in the summer of R. X. 1817, August on the 11th day, having mowed hay in the hay field and thanked them in the evening, I did not want to spend the night in the Sands, but hurried home in the dark night to meet my child who was about to appear in the world, and so as not to be bored driving in the night, I sang I: “By the wave of the sea” and “Easter canon” to meet you. Having reached home around midnight, I fell asleep until the morning. Since our church was widowed without a priest, and the place was assigned to me, neither matins nor liturgy happened on the 12th (Sunday day), during which, at about 8 or 9 o’clock, you, good fellow, were born into this poor world, in a clear red sun, warm and pleasant weather, with all the windows closed. On your Christmas day, I think, a window in the upper room was opened to show you the white light. When your mother saw you in the light, despite all her joy, she didn’t notice your high nose.” 9 As the above excerpt from the parent’s diary shows, the family of Fr. Antonina could not boast of wealth and lived on the church’s “rule” and the labors of “her own hands.” Brought up by “ruga” and “demands”, I had all the sad opportunity to see what Fr. Antonin, as after the lamented death (in 1865) of the one who raised me, all that was left was a wooden house (on a hill) with a rowan garden and a vegetable garden with it, and absolutely nothing more. Meanwhile, the parish that fed our family consisted, I think, of exactly 350 houses, if not more” 10. During the life of their hard-working father, the Kapustin family nevertheless lived in a certain contentment and environment, quite reminiscent of the life of the majority of our clergy in the first half of the last 19th century. Taking his thoughts back to his golden childhood, Fr. Antonin paints before us a picture of this home environment on the occasion of a church holiday in his native village. “What stands irresistibly before the eye,” he writes in the Notes of a Sinai pilgrim, is a rural, still unfinished church, full of people on the occasion of the church holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The requested reader, who does not belong to the “krylos” itself, but has a privileged place on it, has just finished the first hour. The light of the beginning of a joyful day barely penetrates the winged window. Behind its bars, silhouettes of wooden shops, this time full of goods tempting for children's tastes, are outlined directly to the south. This phenomenon was repeated in the village only three times a year - on two church holidays and on ninth Friday; therefore, it is not for nothing that it still remains (at 53 years old) memorable to the soul. There was also an hour-long period of time left before mass, that is, before the bell rang for the cathedral. He (i.e., the father) has already gone home from church and is looking out the reader who is looking out the window. You can guarantee that no one would even think of sleeping at home. You have to put on your best dress, read the Apostle, look out through the balsams and geraniums for the elegant crowds heading to the church, wait for guests, and so on. Then we mean the “translation” of the bells, the light brocade vestments of the servants, the court “mercy of the world”, the blessing of cherries (of course, instead of grapes), the visiting of the shops with St. water and all-day consolation at home of all kinds” 11. However, as you can see, the described contentment and external well-being were not easy for the toiling priest of the Trans-Ural village of Baturin, whose ideal image was depicted in the mind’s eye of the fifty-three-year-old Sinai pilgrim with such charming features. “Someone’s image constantly stands above your head, affectionate and silent and invariably sad? Oh yes, I know, answers my own question about. Antonin. From the depths of a distant grave you look out for your reader and call him “home.” But, wait. The window has not yet become clear. I've only read the first hour. No, of course, the third and sixth have already been read, and the ninth hour is being read monotonously. But – all the same – come for me at the last hour of repentance, the eleventh hour” 12. A peaceful family environment, the “golden time” of childhood, in the cherished father’s “house” in the middle of the majestic, formidable nature of his native village of Baturin, behind the Solodyanka 13 drinking hole - all this left an indelible, deep mark on the impressionable soul of Fr. arch. Antonina, even at the height of his physical and spiritual strength, often served him as a source of the purest, most joyful memories, which had a calming and encouraging effect on his soul. “A three-month stay in the circle of my Russians, combined with the brotherly hospitality of the Holy Mountain residents and with the captivating terrain of the Holy Mountain, which constantly reminded me of my distant homeland with its forests, hiss about. Antonin about his stay on the Holy Mountain, kept me, however, constantly on Athos, under quiet and, as it were, kindred impressions at home” 14. “I remember talking about. Antoninus elsewhere in the same book, the heavy greatness of the north! In its boundless forests, deaf and dense - according to the popular expression, among the deep silence, the damp, phlegmatic life of the earth, you stand and are suppressed, sometimes, by an irresistible despondency - you slavishly feel your insignificance, and cannot raise your dominant gaze to anything. The distant sound of the wind in the tops of the giant trees brings into your thoughts a dull and desulting distraction, and the overcrowding of plant life, wild and savage everything subject to the influence of its forces, as if not noticing, as if denying your meager existence accidentally brought into it, fills the soul with fear. More than once I was forced to flee from the formidable wilderness of the forest in order to save my presence of mind. This is the north, severus! That is why the northern feat is harsh, unfriendly, no matter how merciful! That is why the ascetic there is sad, important, strict, cold, as if scary” 15. Fr. involuntarily associates memories with the dense, dense forests of his homeland. Antonina about the Russian autumn, mercilessly destroying all their beauty and instilling other impressions on the sensitive soul. “In our autumn, talk about. Antonin, there is so much quiet, sad beauty, so much deep moral meaning, so many soul-consonant, kindred tones, that not wanting to see it, it seems, would mean not wanting to see oneself. No! let yellow autumn and gray winter come in their own way! Even if spring were not expected for them, then let the stranger and sojourner of the world treat them with indifference (if it is no longer possible with cordiality). 16 Having learned to read Psalms 17 under the guidance of his father, a naturally sensitive, gentle soul, the very inquisitive and impressionable “poor guy,” as he calls himself, is taken to the harsh bursa of the Dalmatovo Theological School (1826–30s), admonished by the blessings and tears of his “sorrowful and intently looking at the one being taken to school” family. The bursa greeted the newcomer unfriendly, and the time spent there for five years, the late Fr. Antonin directly calls it “not fun for himself.” “Science (Latin and Greek chimera) was not given to the guy,” he writes. In class 18, he sat “low”, went to the evil threshold often, remained “without lunch” almost seven times a week, “in the notate” was almost always listed under the hieroglyphs N.V. (non bene) and οὐκ (οὐ καλῶς), rarely ER (rans, erroneous) and ἉM(αρτάνων sinner), and almost never s(ciens, knowing) and G(ινώσκων) - to the point that the name-river who was most concerned about him was already thinking about taking the “stupid” from school and turning the future archaeologist into a bornovolok... All this was a long time ago and very far from Byzantium, which even then had a lazy mind, however, he was already caught under any suitable image, and science, armed with a “vine” and “no lunch,” constantly sought to close it off from the imagination, substituting for it, instead of a bright vision, a gloomy lesson, a lesson and nothing more.” 19 Aurora musis amica, it is not for nothing that we once “proved” this in our student riddle, strewing our Ciceronianism with “errors”. Sometimes you didn’t know what to look for—whether the thoughts were appropriate, the Latin was correct, the copy was neat, the notebook was clean, the problem was submitted on time, and so on. Involuntarily, he had to be friends with the muses, for whom nothing aroused sympathy in the conditions of life at that time.” 21 But time is the best doctor of all adversity and suffering, and in the 53rd year of his life, under the roof of the Sinai monastery, far from the cultural Mipa, he found it possible to say a few warm words about the Dalmatian monastery, where his golden childhood was “not easy.” “Oh, a distant strip of land, with an unknown, but prophetic name for me,” exclaims Fr. Antonin in his “Notes of a Sinai pilgrim” - with monastery walls, a nine-domed Sinai-like church, Trinity birches, many children’s faces and laudatory voices, which almost half a century before had prepared the way to Sinai for a young heart delighted with the “Divine Songs”! I see you ever since, speaking to me with the roar of Chermnago’s wavering pontoon, and with the voice of Mariam conceiving from the face and tympanum, and with the roar of the thunders of Sinai, and with sweet manna, and with a bright cloud, I see you even here, on this very mountain of God that was once covered with Divine darkness, shaking and smoking!” 22 Once again he remembered the Dalmatovo monastery, dear to him, at the eleventh hour, just before his death, having written off, according to his spiritual will, the Cabinet Cross 23, which he wore to the grave on his long-suffering heart... In the early 30s, Andrei Kapustin entered the Perm Theological Seminary 24 to continue his education, but remained there until 1836. His desire to leave his native seminary and exchange it for the Ekaterinoslav Seminary (1836 - 1839) was prompted by his desire to be under the watchful eye of his paternal uncle, the rector of the Ekaterinoslav Seminary Jonah (Master of the Moscow Theological Academy, later Bishop of Yekaterinburg, who took upon himself further concerns about his upbringing. The transition from the harsh north to the fertile south, under the influence a gifted and educated uncle, had a beneficial influence on him in all respects: here his naturally frail body became stronger and developed, and his extraordinary, natural gifts of mind and will were revealed in all their brilliance. For his extraordinary successes in the Greek language, Andrei Kapustin, being a seminarian in the higher department, was appointed lecturer of this language (1837 - 1839) in the lower department of the seminary that educated him. payment of 100 rubles in banknotes per year. As the best student, after completing a course at the seminary, he entered the Kyiv Theological Academy in 1839 as part of the XI course (1839–1843). After completing the course with a master's degree in theology 25, as a young man showing great promise, Andrei Kapustin on October 25, 1843 was appointed bachelor of the Academy in German, which was soon replaced (and June 1845) by the more beloved language of Greek. In 1845, on November 7, Andrei Kapustin accepted monasticism from the hands of Metropolitan of Kiev Philaret with the name Antonin and was ordained as hierodeacon (November 18) and hieromonk (21 of the same month). “Entering monasticism, according to V.N. Khitrovo, was for him, as it seems, a matter of chance, that inscrutable, incomprehensible to us, God’s guidance, outlining the paths along which we have to go, without being able to realize why we chose this rather than another path in life. Archimandrite Antonin was never a monk, in the general usage sense of the word, and he himself repeatedly pointed this out. He never lived in a monastery, he never underwent any monastic obedience. Meanwhile, whoever was allowed into the room where he spent his life in Jerusalem, who saw how, even on the way, he would rather go hungry than allow himself illicit meat, which is so common in the East among even the highest hierarchs, and, finally, who more than once caught him mending his dilapidated cassock, he had to admit that in spirit he was more of a monk than the monks living in his cell.” 26 But we would hardly be mistaken if we say that the closest impetus to monasticism for Fr. arch. Antonin was tonsured into monasticism, on October 11, 1844, by Pyotr Semenovich Avsenev, with the name Feofan, professor of philosophical sciences in both of our Kyiv higher educational institutions - at the Theological Academy and at the University of St. Vladimir, who attracted people with the purity of his soul and the depth of his philosophical thinking, “plunged the whole class into deep thought.” With this man Fr. Antonin became close to an intimate friendship, which he then remained faithful to all his life, 27 submitted to the charm of his highly moral personality and tried to follow in his footsteps, maintaining the most lively connection with him in continuous correspondence even in separation. With the acceptance of monasticism, Fr. Antonin once again changed his specialty, moving on October 31, 1847 28 from Greek to hermeneutics or exposition of sacred scripture and accusatory theology, which department he held for almost three years before leaving the academy. “In the traditions of the oldest representatives of the academy, Fr. writes about the professorial service. Antonina, ever-memorable in the chronicles of our school, the late I.I. Malyshevsky, his characteristic features as a teacher of the last two subjects, especially hermeneutics, were noted, who made a deep impression 29 on listeners with the techniques of subtle analysis in explaining scientific positions, in explaining difficult passages of Holy Scripture" 30 . September 11, 1846 Fr. Antonin took over the duties of assistant inspector of the academy and carried them until May 15, 1850. The official troubles that arose during his inspection at the academy, the deprivation of an irreplaceable friend and moral support in the person of the academy inspector, Fr. Archimandrite Feofan Avsenev, who due to illness left his service at the academy and received the position of rector at the embassy church in Rome, and, finally, the constant “from childhood attraction of his soul to Byzantium, as a spiritual homeland” 31 and to the East in general - all this taken together prompted Fr. Antonina left service at the academy and sought a position as rector at our mission church in Athens. “The Kievite began to remember,” writes Fr. Antonin explained his attraction to the East that at that time, when he was still thinking about Kyiv as the happiness of another Mipa, it seemed to him that behind the Pechersk picture there was another one, and not just one, - further than it, better than it, more mysterious - that Kiev was only a crossroads to Jerusalem - to paradise. And exactly. Soon the shrine of the nerve-throne city of Rus' began to seem incomplete to him, the warmth was not sufficient, the thousand-year antiquity was too fresh, Prince Vladimir was only a reflection of Tsar Porphyrogenitus. The soul was already captivated by other images. Undoubtedly, the brightest points shine for him to the point of blinding him on the dark prospect of the future” 32. “The East is the cradle of humanity. Enough to say this, notes Fr. Antonin on another occasion to make a mental bow in the direction “from where the light flowed out.” For a person who loves to remember ancient days and think about eternal years, there is no more suitable place for this, also in its own way, a smart activity, like Byzantium, from which the Russian soul already breathes something of its own, close, but so old that all the distinctive features of a dear image are lost, and what remains in the soul is one general idea of ​​something irresistibly attractive, like the memory of a mother in a person orphaned in childhood.” 33. At the crossroads to Byzantium and Jerusalem for Fr. Antonin, however, stood in Greece, where he received an appointment on May 15, 1850. “This one word is enough for me,” writes Fr. Antonin, to suddenly be overwhelmed by a feeling of unspeakable good, some kind of spiritual kinship, pity, tenderness, oblivion... Already turned entirely into ideals, the classical world irresistibly attracts me to itself with suggestive and friendly anointing, excessively, of course, exaggerated ideas of everything young, living, light, bright, blooming and joyful. And then there is his very appearance, shining, roaring, drowning in the blue of the sea and the azure of the sky! 34. Rocky, treeless, uninhabited and generally unattractive, Attica has been writing for ten years about his stay in Athens. Antonin, tirelessly enchanted me with her subtle, aromatic air, her clear sky, her almost incessant bucket, warmth, light... and most of all with her inexhaustible past, full of the most living, attractive, as if eternally fresh, young, blooming images. I went many times to survey her beloved “in the twinkling of an eye” from the neighboring mountainous mountain called Imittos, and twice for the same purpose I climbed to an even higher point, to the top of Pentelik, from which Imittos itself seemed like a flat field.”35 But behind the enthusiasm and passion for the past of beautiful Greece and the “unsightly” Attica, the inquisitive and hardworking Fr. Antonin, by the way, here in Athens in the cathedral church on April 5, 1853, elevated, by decree of the Holy Synod, to the rank of archimandrite, Metropolitan Neophyte of Athens, followed serious, painstaking and persistent work for self-education, and for science, and for the glory of the Russian people, whom he always dearly loved. Here in Athens, during his ten-year stay, he laid a solid foundation for his future very fruitful scientific and practical activities in Constantinople and Jerusalem, which made his name known far beyond the borders of his homeland and the subject of reverent respect and amazement of all those who had the fortunate opportunity to become more closely acquainted with the activities of this truly Russian giant of thought and will... Upon his installation in Athens, Fr. Antonin first of all decided to start building a Russian church here in the name of the Holy Trinity (otherwise St. Nicodemus), which, in his mind, “until the time of its renewal, aroused in him almost tears with its mournful appearance 36, with the charming grace of its forms, and forced him, no matter what, to take its fate into his empty and weak hands” 37 “This is without a doubt, according to Fr. Antonina, there is a rare example of Byzantine architecture from the era of its prosperity, rare both in the originality of the plan, and in elegance, and in size (compared to other monuments in Greece of the same time) and even in preservation. For me, adds Fr. Archimandrite, he was a gifted, long-lasting and most pleasant school for the study of Christian antiquities. We, so to speak, gave each other a helping hand” 38.” I told Mr. Panagioti Romboti (a famous archaeologist), testifies the creator of the church of St. Trinity, the entire history of the restoration of the beautiful church, with all its sad and joyful vicissitudes, of which there was no shortage, also pointed to the Christian Panatheneon 39, which the “men of Athens” can admire and boast about, studying it in the faces on the walls of our church. Together we even climbed extensive dungeons, extending under the church and under the church fence and belonging to pagan Athens. I did all this with pity and tenderness, which even placed me at the top of our graceful bell tower, also the brainchild of my thought, which also had its own twists and turns”... 40. After the ruins of the Church of Nicodemus or the Holy Trinity, Fr. Antoninus was no less diligent in his study of Christian inscriptions in Athens, “which he found in significant quantities on the hollows (capellures) of the perimeters of some of the columns of the Parthenon’s restyle, mainly on its western façade” 41 . These are the words that greeted Fr. upon his return to Athens from Rumelia. Archimandrite Antoninus is an amazing and marvelous work of Ichtin and Kalikrates in its ruins: “I greet for countless times the most famous building, which in the past I considered so familiar and as if it were my own that I could reproduce all its details in my memory at any necessary moment” 42. “This work (i.e., making inscriptions in the Parthenon), which brought me about ten years ago, writes Fr. Antonin, such a high pleasure, became the property of the reading public in 1856. through the Athenian archaeological newspaper No. 43, where all 80 copies of the inscriptions I made are lithographed, unfortunately, very unsuccessfully on six tables, along with my own plan of the ancient dungeons that I discovered under the Church of Nicodemus, which serves as an explanation for my article in the same issue of the newspaper and the excavations I carried out under the church 43. Practical archaeological school completed by Fr. Antoninus in Athens, under the guidance, in part, of such experts on antiquities as, for example. was Romboti, brought him undoubtedly enormous benefit in his subsequent scientific work. But perhaps the most valuable acquisition for him in Athens was the acquaintance with the living colloquial Greek speech “in all the fullness of its perfections and shortcomings” 44 and the study of Greek morals and customs, also with all their advantages and disadvantages. In Greek Fr. the archimandrite wrote, as his own confession shows, already in 1856, and his style was considered, as we personally heard, exemplary even by scientifically educated Greeks. He, one might say, sacrificed his native Russian language to this alien language. “During his nine-year stay in Greece, the late Fr. Antonin, during my stay on Athos back in 1859, I became significantly unaccustomed to both Russian conversation and Russian nature. The physical setting of the Holy Mountain and the speech of my compatriots, which I heard almost exclusively for so many days, had a refreshing effect on my already cosmopolitan feelings. By the end of my stay on the mountain, I no longer made mistakes in conversation with the Russian brothers, twisting Greek words, as was the case with me at the beginning, to my own shame and surprise. Armed with the Russian spirit, I eagerly returned to the Hellenic element in order to continue with new strength to extinguish its burning flame of political ferment with the cold breath of northern indifference to political forms of life.” 45 From here from Athens usually “in the summer, which made it difficult to stay on the rocky soil of Attica under the scorching rays of the sun,” 46 for the purpose of self-education 47 o. Archimandrite Antonin undertook scientific excursions to “eternal Rome”, and to “dusty and scorched Pompeii”, and to “Thebes” with one hundred gates, and to Thebes with seven gates, and to Jerusalem, and to Athos. 48 The fruit of his last two trips in 1857 to Jerusalem were the articles, not without significance for his subsequent work in Palestine: “Five Days in the Holy Land” (Dushepol. Read. 1866 No. 1–4), and to Athos in 1859 - an excellent scientifically, which has not lost its significance to this day, book 49 under the title: “Notes of an admirer of the Holy Mountain.” The very fruitful and energetic work of Fr. Antonina in Athens won him the favor of such a wise and perspicacious Hierarch of the Russian Church as the ever-memorable Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret. The latter, back in December 1859, recommended that the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Count A.P. Tolstoy, “not without benefit” for church affairs, transfer Fr. Archimandrite Antoninus to Constantinople 50 and had high hopes for his fruitful activities in this more responsible post. The advice of the wise archpastor was taken into account and on September 18, 1860, the transfer of Fr. Antonin as rector of the Russian embassy church to Constantinople or Byzantium, which, by his own admission, “irresistibly attracted” him to itself. In Constantinople, Fr. Archimandrite Antoninus was awaited by lively, ebullient 51 church-political activity and an urgent need to enter into close living relations with the head of the Great Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the highest eastern clergy, the most respectable representatives of Greek nationality in Constantinople, such as the court physician Stefan Caratheodori and others, and our Russian diplomatic corps, without whose assistance and energetic support Any fruitful activity in the Orthodox East is unthinkable. O. Archimandrite volens nolens ends up in diplomatic school, and the lessons learned from it through bitter experience brought him undoubted benefit in his subsequent activities. On about. Archimandrite is entrusted at this time to St. Synod: mediation before the Patriarch of Constantinople Joachim II in the case of the Bulgarian-Uniate Bishop Joseph, 52 (who lived and died with us in Kiev, in Kitaev) and in general on Greek-Bulgarian affairs, 53 regarding the accession to the ecumenical throne of Patriarch Sophronius 54, regarding gifts to the patriarchs and the Archbishop of Sinai the publication of the notorious Codex Sinaiticus of the Bible, 55 a certificate to Mount Athos regarding the presentation of the codex itself to Emperor Nicholas I 56, etc.; investigative orders to Mount Athos in 1863 and to Jerusalem in 1865 regarding the indignation of members of the mission there against their boss, Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin (1863–1865), later the vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Posad, etc. 57 The extreme variety of assignments and their often delicate nature required Fr. arch. Antonin's special insightful caution and, so to speak, diplomacy, and therefore took him a lot of time to carry them out. True, his work in this direction was not always crowned with the desired success and was not always recognized by the highest authorities as “satisfactory” 58 and “corresponding to his dignity” 59, but undoubtedly they greatly hindered Fr. archimandrite in his favorite pursuits of Byzantine studies, 60 which “irresistibly attracted” him to itself, especially after the incessant work in this direction that was possible for him in happy Greece. But even in Constantinople, as soon as he had free time from fulfilling his duties, or if a convenient happy opportunity presented itself, he did not lose either one or the other and sought to use them as conscientiously as possible in the interests of scientific research. This time includes his “Trip to Bithynia” (Christ. Read. 1862, 11, 1863, I and II), “Trip to Rumelia (in two extensive volumes: St. Petersburg 1879 and 1886); a scientifically excellent article “Notes of the 12th–15th centuries relating to the Crimean city of Sugdea (Notes of the Odessa Archaeological Society. 1863, vol. V, pp. 595–628. Review of it by V. G. Vasilyevsky in the critical-bibliographic dictionary of S. A. Vengerov, vol. I, p. 629–630) and some other scientific works and articles published 61 in various theological journals and remaining in manuscripts 62 The trip to Rumelia, which lasted from May 1865 to June, according to the abundance of scientific data collected in two extensive volumes, published with an interval of six years, does not lose its scientific interest, 63 even despite the appearance in print of the bishop’s special work. Porfiry Uspensky: “The Christian East. Journey to the Meteora and Osolympic monasteries in Thessaly." The Rumelian trip was the last tribute to Fr. Archimandrite Antonin in relation to the study of Byzantium directly on the spot. Upon returning from Rumelia and Thessaly to Athens, Fr. Antonin, by telegram from Ambassador Count N.P. Ignatiev, is summoned to Constantinople 64 and, at his direction and not without the consent of the Holy Synod, 65 is immediately sent to Jerusalem in order to carry out a thorough investigation into the case of unrest in our mission. Entering its walls on September 11, 1865, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin did not even think, of course, that he would be carried out from here to Olivet in a coffin... Our Russian mission in Jerusalem was going through difficult and difficult times when the future leader, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin. The enemies and ill-wishers of the Russian Church and its successes in Palestine, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, strangers and even their own, triumphed, having achieved enormous success, which, according to the apt remark of Fr. Antonin, “Gobbat (the Protestant missionary bishop of Palestine) and Co. could not even dream of it,” namely, the removal from Palestine of the Russian Bishop Kirill, an educated man, firm in his convictions and energetically persistent in the work for which he was taking up. “In the Jerusalem Cyril history, says Fr. Antonin, we have suffered more than one temptation completely undeservedly. We were slandered, ridiculed by those whom we selflessly watered, fed and carried in our arms” 66. The allusion is made towards the highest Jerusalem clergy. But one should not lose sight of the brakes on the part of their Russians - the Russian Jerusalem Consul and the so-called Palestine Committee, who were very, very hampered by the too “high hierarchical rank of the head of the Jerusalem mission” and who in vain dreamed that the “difficulties” created in Palestine would disappear when the “spiritual mission” was placed under the command of a pious and capable archimandrite.” 67 The planned unjust case was one way or another brought to the desired end: Bishop Kirill of Melitopol was sent to Russia for a vicariate, and Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin was appointed in his place, according to the review of Metropolitan Philaret, who spent monastic life in a monastery, mainly known for spiritual improvement, for a long time with undoubted dignity 68. But has the cause of Orthodoxy in Palestine benefited from the change of persons and hierarchical position of the head of our mission, and has the desired peace been established in our mission in Jerusalem? A little over a year later (April 13, 1865), Patriarch Kirill of Jerusalem, in a special message to our Holy Synod, already accused Fr. arch. Leonid “in disorderly, disorderly and lawless behavior,” indicated that he was “in an open break with the Imperial Russian Consulate” and aroused “the general displeasure of Russian fans” against himself, asking at the same time “to replace the said Archimandrite Leonid with some other person” and recommending the “fatherly love” of Hieromonk John and Hierodeacon Arseny 69 who were indignant at the main way against his boss. In fact, this time too, the same reasons caused clashes between two Russian representatives in Palestine - the consul and the head of the mission, and created the same consequences that accompanied the removal of the Right Reverend Cyril of Melitopol from Palestine. The Patriarch and his minions, as well as our consulate, encouraged by the success in the first case, hoped to get rid of the strong man very easily, for they were dealing not with a bishop, but only with an archimandrite. However, unexpectedly they were all wrong in their calculations: on the side of Fr. The ever-memorable Moscow Metropolitan Philaret decisively stood up as archimandrite and, with his high patronage, saved the reputation of Fr. Leonidas, who was moved to Constantinople to the post of rector of the Russian embassy church. Metropolitan Philaret did not even agree to elect Archimandrite Antonin as a “mediator and conciliator” between Fr. Leonid on the one hand and the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Russian consul on the other, but recommended Fr. Antonina “accept the mission and manage it, learning from the unfortunate experience of his predecessor the rules of caution” 70. When, upon arrival in Jerusalem, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin submitted (dated December 18, 1865) a report to St. Synod “on the disorders in the Jerusalem spiritual mission,” then Metropolitan Philaret, after reading it, expressed “a feeling of sorrow that the unpleasant matter does not come out of the confusion, and about poor Archimandrite Leonid, on whom alone the whole burden of this matter is being brought down, past those more guilty than him, and, finally, about Archimandrite Antonin himself, serving with signs of dignity and with the hope of a more significant and more useful service, but in present case, which presented experience not consistent with its merit" 71 . Justice requires saying that Fr. Antonin, in the case of “disorders in the Jerusalem spiritual mission,” revealed a noticeable hesitation, which Metropolitan Philaret had foreseen even before sending him to Palestine. “If Archimandrite Antonin is sent to Jerusalem, then with what assignment? asked the Moscow ruler. If as a mediator or conciliator, can one expect success? Acting modestly and peacefully, will he also decide to say some firm words to the patriarch in order to resolve his prejudices against Archimandrite Leonidas, and to the consul in order to explain to him the wrongness of accepting the denunciations transmitted from him and the consequences? Whether it will have enough power to make the indignant monks obedient, it is difficult to decide to say this” 72. Sent from Constantinople to replace his predecessor Archimandrite Leonidas in Jerusalem, Fr. Antonin, due to human weakness, did not have enough courage to look at the matter impartially and point out directly and decisively to both the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Russian consul their wrong course of action in relation to Fr. Archimandrite Leonid. In the sixth article of his report, Fr. Antonin, by the way, “agrees to be the rector of the mission” 73, to which, according to Metropolitan Philaret, “he had no difficulties for himself either from the consul or from the patriarch” 74, i.e., in other words, he pleased both. And for this tribute to human weakness, Fr. had to pay bitterly. Antonin later. In the report of Fr. Antonina, however, quite correctly indicated the cause of the unrest. “With the transfer to the consulate of all Russian institutions in Jerusalem, Fr. wrote to the Holy Synod. Antonin, the mission, which was considered, if not the owner, then the manager of everything that was ours here, suddenly saw itself without property, without rights, without power, without strength, even without an advisory voice in the organization of our Palestinian affairs. Such a revolution in the mutual relations of the two departments should naturally have aroused in one side regret about the lost significance, and in the other a certain amount of arrogance over it. Hence the mutual coldness of the two authorities” 75. These instructions about. Antonin attracted the attention of St. Synod, but did not at all improve the “relationships between the head of the spiritual mission and the consul,” since, surprisingly, even Metropolitan Philaret, who took the interests of our mission to heart, recognized that it was best to “leave the mission in the current transitional state, awaiting a better time” 76, which, by the way, has irrevocably passed for it and will probably never return... In 1866, there was even an idea to remove the mission from Jerusalem absolutely, and only fears that the Patriarch of Jerusalem would not see in this “his strength and his victory”, and that “Western envy of Russia” would not find for itself “a happy opportunity for unfavorable for Orthodoxy, offensive and harmful views” 77 - saved our Jerusalem long-suffering mission from this sad and, without any doubt, shameful fate for our national pride. The new head of the mission in Jerusalem, with his characteristic persistence, began to study Palestinian affairs: he became acquainted with the Holy Sepulcher clergy, maintaining good and cordial relations with the head of the Zion Church, “the great simpleton of Christ Jesus” and “the most unflattering servant of God,” Patriarch Kirill 78 studied the Greek liturgical orders in Palestine 79, the Latin Church there 80 , was interested in Palestinian manuscripts for scientific purposes 81, kept a keen eye and, as far as possible, studied it personally for himself and wrote about it for the information of his compatriots about the state of Catholic and Protestant propaganda 82 in Palestine and Syria, entering, albeit timidly, into competition with them in terms of acquiring the most important shrines or lands in Palestine 83; turned his attention to the degraded position of the local Arab clergy, was glad to sincerely and enthusiastically welcome the opening of the theological school in Jerusalem at the Monastery of the Cross, where natives of Palestine - Syrians 84 were also admitted for some time to receive theological education and, finally, did not forget about his “natives”, Russian admirers visiting St. places of Palestine. The fruit of his fatherly close relationship with our compatriots at the first stages of his stay in Palestine are his “Instructions to the fans of the Holy Sepulcher after reading the great canon” (Spiritual Conversation, 1870, 1); “Greetings to the fans after communion of the Holy Mysteries” (ibid. p. 227, p. 215), “Admonition to Russian fans in Jerusalem before confession” (ibid., p. 209) and several other teachings and conversations, in the compilation of which Fr. Antonin declared himself a great master even when he was in the service of our Academy. But soon all these good undertakings, plans, intentions, thoughts and thoughts were put up with obstacles and obstacles, in front of which individuals were less powerful than the one worthy of eternal memory. Archimandrite Antonin, they could give up. And Fr. Archimandrite Antonin, who maintained good relations with Patriarch Kirill, under his successor Procopius, troubles began and relations became so strained that the coldest, strained relations were established between the mission and the Patriarchate and the Holy Sepulcher clergy. Name o. Antonin was reviled in the Patriarchate, from where complaints and insinuations were poured against him to our consulate, to the Constantinople embassy, ​​to the Holy Synod. Patriarch Nicodemus, now retired in Chalki near Constantinople, persona grata of the Russian government, lived almost all the time in Moscow as the head of the Holy Sepulchre's courtyard and knew about Fr. Antonina, more from hearsay, set, among other things, the condition of his appearance in Jerusalem on the throne, the removal of Fr. from our mission. Archimandrite Antonin... 85 With the Jerusalem consulate, for the same reasons that Fr.’s predecessors were removed. Antonina - Bishop Kirill of Melitopol and Fr. arch. Leonid Kavelin, good peaceful relations could not be established, since the new energetic Fr. the rector of the mission acted independently and with full consciousness of his dignity, as a representative of the Russian Church and Orthodoxy in the Holy Land and, by his nature, could not stoop to the position of archimandrite at the consulate... On this basis, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin’s relations with the Russian consulate were so strained and abnormal that he yielded to the consulate only after it, in the words of V.N. Khitrovo, resorted to “the armed force of the consular cavas.” 86 And from here complaints were also written to the Russian Constantinople embassy, ​​to the Palestine Committee, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Holy Synod. In this passionate struggle of the Russian mission with the Patriarchate and the Consulate, to our deep regret, outsiders also took part, coming to Palestine for a short time and falling under the influence of Fr.’s ill-wishers. Archimandrite, who was later discredited by frivolous correspondents in our Russian liberal press in the eyes of his compatriots and the venerable personality of Fr. archimandrite, and the very cause to which he selflessly served in Palestine and was devoted with all his soul... In this sad story of self-spitting, or desecration of the Russian name and Russian cause in a distant foreign land, but near and dear to every truly Christian heart, two names stand out with particular clarity: A. Ushinsky (a former official at the Holy Synod) and a certain Yu. Dobrynin (undoubtedly a pseudonym). “Admiring everything Protestant in Palestine and blaspheming our own” 87 Ushinsky, on the pages of the liberal church newspaper “Church and Social Bulletin,” which gained notoriety, published a number of articles with hostile attacks on our Jerusalem mission and called Fr. archimandrite for an energetic rebuke. G. Dobrynin (pseudonym) chose a more popular type of literature for his insinuations and attacks, in order, of course, to gain a wider circle of readers, the form of a novel with the following title: “Pace Pasha 88 and his consorts. Mosaics, cameos and miniatures from curious excavations in the slums of the Holy Land. St. Petersburg 1881". Having successfully passed the watchful eye of our censorship, Mr. Dobrynin reaped considerable fruits of his literary blackmail, especially when his book appeared in the Holy Land and began to quickly spread among Fr.’s ill-wishers. Antonina. Even our liberal magazine “Bulletin of Europe” called Mr. Dobrynin’s book “strange, thought-provoking” and downright “pamphlet.” “The pamphlet, says this magazine, is not a rare weapon in the struggle of social literary and political; There are circumstances where it fulfills its role correctly and is even the only possible means. But there are cases where it becomes a very bad tool. It seems to us that in this case the pamphlet was not delivered quite correctly” 89. Fr. himself arch. Antonin treated him with complete contempt, and the Russian censorship, who realized at the wrong time, confiscated the book and removed it from sale... But Fr. Antonin on the pages of the Church Bulletin. “We personally, wrote Fr. Archimandrite, we are very grateful to the author for his repeated flattering reviews of us. But this will not in the least hinder us from noticing that we do not live for reviews or from reviews in any sense. The notorious “Bell” long ago taught us to give the worst reviews. In good ones we also know how to find a subject for teaching for ourselves. The author's condolences that the mission does not have enough time to do its job is quite understandable to us. We understand even the deeper machinations of the higher spheres, seeking to completely close the Jerusalem mission as a useless institution, but despite this, we remain faithful to the task with which Russia once performed with such glory in the one-faith East - in the cradle of Christianity - in truth “to the fear of our enemies” and to the joy of our friends, and from which some inexplicable fatal force is now trying to distract our society back. You can break anything, even your own head, but before deciding to do this, it wouldn’t hurt for Ushinsky to think.” 91 All this taken together - the complaints of the patriarch, and the denunciations of the consulate, and the representation of the embassy, and unflattering reviews in the press - had their desired effect, and created Fr. to the archimandrite before the Holy Synod the opinion of a person “with a flavor” 92. “Unfortunately,” says Fr. Antonin about yourself, sometimes you just can’t forget when people call you “a man with a scent”, from whom you will not find either a spirit or a scent, but only a smell.” 93 The Holy Synod, as we know, has already had occasion to remain dissatisfied with Fr. arch. Antonin for his not entirely impartial attitude to the case of Fr. arch. Leonid and the unrest that happened under him in our mission, and then, when I later became acquainted with his report, presented to our Imperial Ambassador in Constantinople, on the issue of the need for more lively and constant relations with the Eastern Patriarchs through a special apocrisarium under the Ecumenical Patriarch and his assistants under the other patriarchs, 94 then both in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Holy Synod began to look at Fr. Antonina, as a restless person and even a dreamer. Fr. Antonin found himself in Palestine in a difficult situation of loneliness, with his plans, intentions and very works being ignored, offensive to his pride, standing face to face with his enemies, ill-wishers and slanderers... In these difficult years of his Palestinian activity, there was at one time a moment when the cause of Orthodoxy in Palestine was in serious danger of being interrupted, so to speak, in its midst, and Fr. Antoninus even be recalled from his post from Palestine. 95 But, thank God, the very thing, and Fr. Antonin found powerful support and patroness in the person of the “great lover of Christ,” “the most merciful mother of mercy,” the late Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the unforgettable mother of the August Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. The late empress, with a kind, gentle and loving heart, also united a deep Christian faith. All her life she reverently revered the Holy Land, was interested in the successes of Orthodoxy in it and the condition of its shrines, and constantly helped the local region with her “inexhaustible” generosity.”96 Her royal children, the Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel Alexandrovich, not without serious and solid reasons, therefore, erected an excellent monument to her in Palestine - a church in the Russian style on the slope of Olivet near the place of prayer for the cup of our Lord... With the support and patronage of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who was well aware of Palestinian affairs, Fr. Antonin owes the fact that he remained not moved from his place, and our Rus' owes it to the successes of Orthodoxy that it achieved in Palestine under him and of which it is proud at the present time... In view of the above circumstances, one might think that Fr. Antonin would give up and become an indifferent spectator of everything around him in Palestine, but he was endowed by nature with a strong, independent character, had a clear and definite program of activity before him, believed strongly in himself and in the rightness of his cause, and not only did not lose heart, but firmly and decisively walked towards his once-set goal... First of all, he tried to establish for himself a modus vivendi in Palestine. “The head of our mission in Jerusalem,” he writes in one of his numerous correspondences, is not at all a simple attorney or envoy of the Holy Synod to the Patriarchal Throne of Jerusalem. He is the spiritual head of our worship institution in Jerusalem, and his position can be considered independent of this or that whim, this or that schemer hiding behind the dummy figure of Procopius (i.e., the patriarch and successor of His Beatitude Cyril). Give way to N. Synod, out of respect for the name of the patriarch cherished for Russia, one schemer will take his place tomorrow with ten.” 97 In relation to pilgrims, he adhered to the principle of non-interference in their internal, so to speak, home life. “It was with us,” writes Fr. Antonin that the city consul ordered the caretaker of the women's shelter to inform him every time one of the members of the mission came to the shelter. What kind of spiritual supervision is possible over fans from the mission?” 98 concludes Fr. Antonin. “She (i.e., the mission) sees them only in church and gets to know them only when they themselves seek it out” 99 . “Missions,” writes Fr. Antonin (on another occasion), no one gave either the right or the obligation to lead the fans visiting Holy places. Recently, as I learned, one high Russian dignitary, temporarily staying in Jerusalem, announced to the head of the mission that, by virtue of the instructions given to him, he can assist the Imperial Consulate in this matter, but should not give orders... Now if the spiritual mission should mention its suitability for inhabiting our verbal herd in the meadows of the Holy Land, both its own and others will undoubtedly equate it to a wolf.” 100 Having thus become fully oriented to his actual position in Jerusalem, Fr. arch. Antoninus withdrew into himself, protected himself from the surrounding Mipa by the walls of his mission, beyond the line of which he went only ex officio, out of urgent necessity. But even in his isolated position, left to his own devices, he did not sit idle, but devoted the entire day and most of the night to tireless hard work. The doors of his cell were not closed from early morning until late evening: early in the morning he received the Arab natives, resolving their disputes, giving useful advice, providing them with material assistance with basic necessities and money; they were replaced by teachers and female teachers of the schools founded by him, members of the mission, asking for his advice and orders; At every moment, Russian pilgrims - dignitaries, merchants and peasants, rich and poor - walked freely and trustingly to him, trying to find from him a solution to the perplexed questions that troubled them, and Fr. Antonin talked willingly and at length with everyone, by which he managed to win many of them over to his side and persuade them to become active accomplices to him in the matter to which he devoted himself with all his soul. Only late in the evening he was left alone, but not lonely: his favorite books were his friends and interlocutors. At this time, until late at night, he would sit over some ancient manuscript or tome, then conduct scientific archaeological work, then correspond to newspapers and private individuals, then, armed with a magnifying glass and having major numismatic publications at hand, he strained all the efforts of his vision to read some ancient manuscript or Greek coin 101 (Fr. Antonin was a passionate numismatist), then he retired to the observatory he had built above the mission in order to spend some time there, studying the wondrous firmament of the sky with its innumerable variety of luminaries 102, then he sat down to his story of “bygone years,” confiding in it the thoughts, feelings, thoughts and impressions of his working day and, thus, giving the future historian of our time very good material for characterization, then, finally, armed with a needle, he darned his threadbare cassock or holey stocking... The noise of the samovar on the table and “the favorite drink of the distant homeland” - tea 103 - this was an indispensable addition to the office during this evening work of his... After such a busy day, he was often seen early in the morning leaving the Russian buildings, accompanied by his faithful dragoman Yakov Halebi, as they said jokers, “on the road around the diocese,” that is, to inspect some buildings, plots of land, the beloved Bet-Jal shelter, or shelters in Hebron, Gorneya, Jericho and other places. Who of those who visited Palestine before 1894 does not remember a cavalcade of two horsemen: Fr. the archimandrite in an old duckweed and a black kamilavochka, with long silver sidelocks spread over his ears, under an umbrella, riding with an easy waddle on a gray donkey, and behind him his faithful servant - a dragoman on a bay horse... So the unforgettable Fr. lived in the Holy Land. Archimandrite for 28.5 years, working day after day, without knowing rest. Made by Fr. Archimandrite Antonin for the benefit of Orthodoxy in Palestine during this time and left so much in the heritage of Russia that a feeling of surprise and even amazement is now expressed by those who during his lifetime sometimes stood in his way and were not averse to interfering with him... Time of appearance of o. Antoninus in Palestine as the head of our mission in Jerusalem coincided with the intensification of Catholic and Protestant propaganda here, the former being led by the famous Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Valerga. Since, in view of the success of these heterodox propaganda, hospitals were established, schools and other charitable institutions were established, and land plots 104 were acquired, especially important in historical and biblical terms, Fr. Antonin decided to use their own weapons 105 in order to raise Orthodoxy in Palestine. The first very valuable acquisition here was Fr. Antonina was the purchase at the end of 1868 of the famous Oak of Mamre... “A venerable shrine,” wrote Fr. Antonin, addressed to the editor of World Illustration, is now Russian property. And I cannot say with what joy we greeted this dear news upon our arrival here in the Holy Land. I waited impatiently for the opportunity to look at my incomparable purchase... Looking closely at my leisure, I found that all the land we had acquired went along a slope about 200 steps in length and width with a very irregular outline of the boundaries. The sacred tree is located at the southern tip of the earth, almost at its very boundary. Its trunk (5-6 girths) is lined with a round heap at the ground. This is the only thing so far that the new master's hand has marked itself in the acquired place. To the north of the Oak, beyond its branches, there is a stone gatehouse, in which a guard hired by the mission lives. To the west is a spring of cold, clean water... One stone (and there cannot be another) wall around the entire land of the pashas will cost many hundreds of rubles. And there should also be a worship shelter near Oak, so that we don’t have to look for a place to sleep in Hebron. All this, concludes Fr. Antonin, this is of secondary importance, and the main thing is a matter of time. The most difficult and important thing, with God's help, has been done. “The Mamvrian oak forest is a Russian oak forest” 106. “Under the decaying Oak of Mamre,” writes Fr. Antonin, on May 22, 1871, the Divine Liturgy was already celebrated... The ancestor of all our Trinity birches and all “cleaning”, the treasured Oak, truly speaking, was bequeathed to Russia, and therefore went to it. At sunrise on Tuesday, we saw a makeshift altar built in the very tripartite branch of the tree trunk. There, under the open sky, with the quiet rustle of ever-green branches, in the coolness and fragrance of spring, we bowed to the Trinitarian Deity” 107. Time and kind people gave Fr. Antonin needed “many hundreds of rubles”, and now in Hebron we have a stone wall surrounding a luxurious and extensive vineyard, on the top of the mountain there is an excellent two-story pilgrimage shelter, comfortably furnished at the service of simpleton admirers and even intellectuals spoiled by life 108, and not far away there is a high tower, from which a delightful view of the city and the surrounding area, immersed in green gardens. In 1870, a vast plot of land was purchased on the Mount of Olives, near the site of the Lord’s ascension into heaven. This place, according to Fr. Antonina, representing the highest point of the sacred mountain, is now occupied by a fig tree garden, but was once dotted with buildings that probably belonged to some monastery, and perhaps more than one. We were sure to be shown the remains of a magnificent mosaic floor discovered in one place at an insignificant depth in the ground with images of birds, fish, etc., very similar to that preserved in the Church of the Monastery of the Cross and constituting one of the rarities of Palestine... 109 Recently they attacked a whole heap of golden mosaics and many pieces of white marble. There was undoubtedly a church here. May there be no time again, with the blessing of Him who raised His hands here and blessed every good undertaking 110. It must be confessed, concludes this news of Fr. Antonin, that although we are (relatively) late in being owners in the Holy Land, we acquire all good things. 111 The acquired place on Olivet was first surrounded by a stone wall, planted with olive and fig trees, and then they quickly began to build a church here in the name of the Ascension of the Lord, but lack of money prevented the quick completion of this good undertaking. “Construction of the Russian Church on Olivet,” writes Fr. Antonin in 1876, stopped long ago, unfortunately, due to lack of funds. The walls are raised all around to a height of a fathom and the windows have already been started. This would be one of the oldest churches in Jerusalem, once again returned to worship. The character of the letters found on the platform of her marble slab, with the Greek signature 112, places it in the 5th or 6th century.” 113. But perseverance and patience did their job here: the church was completed and now under its arches rests the mortal remains of its builder. 114 In 1885, with great difficulty, a large bell was delivered here to Olivet, 115 and at the same time Fr. Antonin shouted a cry to the Russian people about building a bell tower at the Church of Olives: “Will there be Christ-lovers to erect Jerusalem’s Ivan the Great on the Mount of the Ascension? We would really, really like this here.” 116 This call did not go unanswered by the lovers of Christ, and the majestic bell tower of the Russian Church of Olives now dominates all the environs of Jerusalem. “From above, its observer sees, in full view, the Dead Sea and Transjordan, and with the help of binoculars, in clear weather, even the blue of the Mediterranean Sea. The powerful ringing of its bells resounds throughout the entire mountain and even Jerusalem, loudly testifying to the Gentiles about the successes of the Russian cause in Palestine, and delivering “incomparable spiritual pleasure to the truly Russian people.” 117 A two-story house with a museum of those objects that were found on Olivet during excavations, extensive pilgrimage shelters, in which our consulate often resides during the summer, and many other buildings, with a shady garden and flower beds, currently form an addition to the indicated Russian buildings on Olivet. During his first stay in Jerusalem, in 1857, driving past Bet Jala (ancient Euphratha), standing between Jerusalem and Bethlehem somewhat to the side, on a hillock, Fr. Antonin wrote: “this is the seat of the Latin false patriarch of Jerusalem and at the same time a seminary. Vigilant and calculating Fr. Valerga chose a place that was apparently least favorable for his plans. The neighboring village consists entirely of an Orthodox Arab population and is still stubbornly fighting off the intrusive newcomer, with whom they even started a lawsuit for the place where his residence was built. “But,” the narrator who told me this information added with a sigh, the matter will end with him seducing them. It also happened in Bethlehem. Anyone who has money, even if he doesn’t convince, will buy.” It's a shame if this comes true! So that a zealot of the faith of Christ can settle somewhere among the Muslims and attack them with whatever weapon he wants! The word of the Lord is true: there is one who sows, and there is one who reaps. You are reaping someone else’s harvest, uninvited reapers, but has it not occurred to you that your sowing on this land, mysterious in its destinies, “may also be harvested by other reapers.” 118 Providence wished that this desired “zealot of the faith” and “other harvester” should appear to the ever-memorable Fr. Antonin. “For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, we report,” he wrote to his antagonist A.D. Ushinsky in response to his accusations of our mission of inactivity regarding public education in the Holy Land, that as soon as we settled here (more precisely in 1866), we immediately began setting up a girls’ school in the center of papal propaganda, in Bet Jala, in order to educate future mothers there in the strict rules Orthodoxy and save the place from the final seduction into Latinism.” 119 A very elegant two-story building for a non-paid boarding house, with services and an olive garden, was handed over here to Fr. archimandrite as a legacy to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. The so-called Gornyaya served as the second point to which Fr.’s serious attention was paid. Antonina as an important educational point. “To the left on the other side and completely green valley on the foothills there are a bunch of white buildings, describes Gornaya Island. Antonin in 1870. 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 bolias born from his wives. 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. This place, dear for sacred events, is completely Latinized. 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, one that has a husband and therefore is more child-bearing than empty.” 120 Such a husband was the same unforgettable Fr. Antonin, who wrote about Gornaya in 1880, i.e. 10 years later, the following: (here) “a school was established in a Russian house and a church began in the name of the Mother of God in honor and memory of Her visit to her Yuzhika, the righteous Elizabeth, the site of whose house is surrounded by our possessions, although it does not belong to us, constituting the property and, as it were, a monastery of the Latin Baptist Monastery. Here they hope that the news of all this will be joyfully received by the numerous admirers of our holy (and, let us add, beautiful, like God’s paradise) place in Gorny, spread throughout the entire face of the Russian land. There is no doubt in our mission that in this “lot of the Mother of God” in the near future there will be established 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, which will serve as a model for the setting up of an ancient hermitage residence, without an abbess, without a treasurer, without deans and similar formalities, which will be based on the secret words of the monastery inspired icon of the Mother of God. Let it be." 121 The late Father Antonin also named the person through whom the Gornaya was built. Speaking about the death of former minister and member of the State Council P.P. Melnikov, he notes that he was “one of the most prominent and zealous supporters of our cause in Palestine, through whose efforts and partly generous donation we became the owners of a very extensive and valuable piece of land with a religious shelter and a large garden in the above-mentioned Gornaya, when, as if on purpose, some kind of benevolent fate brought an excellent man about ten years ago. Through his efforts, more than 20,000 rubles were collected. in the course of two or three months, we became the happy owners of an expensive and enviable (for the Ratisbons and similar plunderers of the Holy Land) evangelical place.” 122 Currently, in Gorny there is a beautiful and quite spacious church in the name of the Kazan Mother of God with a bell tower, near which there are scattered from 15 to 20 houses of Russian hermits, 123 surrounded (i.e., houses) by vineyards and a whole forest of olive trees, with a common monastic meal, with a very extensive worship shelter 124. According to the creator of the monastery, there are still no abbesses in it, and it is in spiritual subordination to the rector of the Russian Jerusalem mission. The Jordan has long been an attractive point for all pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, and therefore the need to create a Russian pilgrimage shelter here on the site of ancient Jericho was most urgent. Father Antonin acquired a very large plot of land here near the ancient tower of Zacchaeus with an extensive palm garden and vineyards and began to build a pilgrimage shelter on it. In 1876, he still complained about the lack of funds to finish this shelter 125, but in 1885 the shelter was already rebuilt and was a luxurious building. “Going to the Jordan and returning from there, writes Fr. Antonin, we rested in the Russian shelter in Jericho, a real palace, erected by a spiritual mission in the wilderness, which one cannot imagine without having seen it. On the way forward, a thousand people spent the night there, occupying both floors of the house, the entire garden and front garden. How can one not utter words of praise and gratitude to people who vigilantly monitor the needs of their compatriots in a foreign land? With our light hand, houses made of reeds and clay with an admixture of building stone stored in the bowels of the earth from ancient times are beginning to appear here and there in the area of ​​​​the famous Jericho. For the most part, these are Russian manors, bought and built by our northern lovers and lovers of eternal, uninterrupted warmth, and even of the kind that our hottest times do not give us a proper idea of. God help Russian colonization in the Promised Land! Who is occupied with it with such boundless passion and self-sacrifice as we, educated by the Church of the Psalter School in biblical traditions? And isn’t it a shame, isn’t it, in fact, a sin for us Russians to lag behind others in aspirations so common to all Christianity?” 126 “Whoever has been to Palestine will sign with both hands these words of Fr. arch. Antonin, to whom every visitor to the Jordan says a big Russian “thank you” from the heart. 127 In Jaffa will forever be associated with the name of Fr. Antonina acquisition of a plot of land near the tomb of Tabitha. In 1870, according to Fr. Archimandrite Antonin, this area was “a vast wasteland, at first hilly, then completely flat, having the shape of a parallelogram. This is also “Muscovy,” we were told, that is, a Russian place recently acquired by our mission. It will be 400 arshins in length and about half as wide, when it was all planted with grapes, fig trees and sycamores, but then it was completely empty. Its 7 hills are an exception in the entire vicinity of Jaffa, and seem to speak of their artificial origin. In two places, ancient caves have already been discovered that served as tombs for the ancient inhabitants of Jopia. This place bears the Arabic name Tabitha, i.e. Tabitha, according to the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Thus, we can congratulate ourselves on the acquisition in Palestine of another place consecrated by the gospel event. Every year on the third Sunday after Easter, when the apostle is read in church about the resurrection of the blessed wife of St. Apostle Peter, the Orthodox residents of Jaffa come here for an all-day celebration, which actually confirms the legend about St. Tabitha. This was probably where she was buried after her second death. We drove across our place and admired from its highest point the magnificent panorama of the countless gardens of Jaffa, Jaffa itself and the blue boundless sea. The Jaffa winter is better than our northern June, and the place in the middle of hundreds of orange orchards does not need to be praised. In about 10 years there will, of course, be an impenetrable lemon and orange forest throughout the lowland area. The upper part can be planted with any other tree of paradise, from Indian bamboo to Russian birch. The foundation of the garden has already been laid. A well of good water is dug at a depth of 11 fathoms, a hole is being dug under the reservoir, a building is being erected for the gardener and watchman, and the location of the future Russian chambers has already been indicated. 128 We personally visited Jaffa twice, in 1887 and 1899, both times we were in the Russian place of Fr. Antonin and found that his reality is many times greater than what seemed at that time an impossible dream. Now there is not only an extensive garden here, full of tropical plants and all kinds of flowers, with ponds for swimming and live fish tanks, and a house-dacha for the summer holidays of our chief of missions, but what is much more important, a beautiful church has been built here, 129 consecrated in 1893, just a year before the death of the creator, and not included in the plans of the dreamer, with a high bell tower, from which a positively enchanting view of the picturesque city and a continuous garden of greenery surrounding it on all sides. Through the works of Fr. Antonina, a whole necropolis was excavated here, long ago with many valuable archaeological finds that enriched the archaeological museum he founded at the missions. The Siloam monolith, called by local tradition “the tomb of King Solomon’s wife, an Egyptian,” the most remarkable Hebrew tombs, known as the tombs of Er-Rumaniyah or Essinieh, which may have belonged to the pious Jewish king Josiah 130, the so-called tombs of prophecies in Jerusalem, the Tiberias springs 131 and other places of interest in Palestine acquired through the labors of Fr. Archimandrite Antonin with funds obtained by him through donations from Russian people. The entire value of land holdings at their current price, transferred to Fr. Antonin to the Holy Synod at the time of his death, extends to a million rubles 132. This figure should increase even more in our eyes if we remember that only 14,000 rubles a year were allocated for the maintenance of the missions, and the abbot himself received only 3,000 rubles. (An Anglican bishop receives 15,000 rubles a year) and the consulate forbade him to collect donations in the church with a dish. Alongside the tireless, lively practical activity, Fr. Antonina is continuously engaged in scientific and literary work, the results of which are very respectable. First of all, his interest was now turned to excavations in such an archaeological point as Jerusalem 133, and when in 1883 the Orthodox Palestine Society wished to carry out scientific excavations near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in a Russian place in order to determine the antiquity of the Jewish walls and with them the threshold of those gates through which our Lord Jesus Christ left the city on Calvary, then, among many other scientists, our Russians and foreigners, it was entrusted to give an opinion on these remains of antiquity to the late Father Archimandrite Antonin. The results of his research on this issue constituted the 7th issue of the Palestine Collection of this society under the title: “Excavations at a Russian site near the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. Palestine, however, Fr. Antonin did not stop there. When the former rector of our Academy of Archives arrived in Jerusalem in 1870. Filaret 134, who died in the rank of Bishop of Riga, and planned to visit the divine Sinai, then Fr. Antonin, realizing the usefulness of travel in the matter of self-education 135 and with the goal of completing, so to speak, his acquaintance with the East 136, decided, despite the hot season (end of July), to go with him to Sinai. The fruit of his journey to Sinai and his two-month stay there is a handwritten catalog of all the Greek manuscripts 137 stored in this monastery, which still constitutes an indispensable guide for those scientists who manage to get to this distant monastery, despite the fact that the catalog of these manuscripts has already been published by the learned paleographer W. Hardthausen 138 for the most part, tacte taking full advantage of his work predecessor; “Ancient Canoner of the Sinai Library” (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. 1874, No. 5–6, “From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim” (Ibid., 1871, No. 2,4 and 8; 1878, No. 5; 1873, No. 3 and No. 9); “More about Saint Nicholas of Myra” 139 (Ibid., 1873, No. 12) “Pharaoh, Moses and Exodus” (1875, No. 11–12, Ibid.), etc. Thus passed the twenty-eight-year life and work for the benefit of Orthodoxy of the Russian spider in Palestine, Fr. Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin. One would have to think that before this tireless and, beyond all doubt, very fruitful and useful activity, envious people and ill-wishers of Fr. Antonina. Alas, but no! The dreams of this most worthy man to live where “more books and less intrigue” 140 were not destined to come true: slander and innuendo accompanied him to his grave. At the very end of his activities in Palestine, the enemies of Father Antonin were already reproaching him for his excessive trust in his dragoman Jacob Halebi, in whose name, as a Turkish subject, he acquired land plots in Palestine. Both in Jerusalem and even in St. Petersburg at one time they feared that, mortally, Fr. Antonina, we will lose the acquisitions he made, which could end up in the hands of the all-powerful Halebi. Advice came from St. Petersburg during his lifetime to transfer his possessions to the Synod, but Fr. Antonin, deeply upset by the insinuations, did not agree to follow the St. Petersburg suggestions and in 1889, transferred them only to the jurisdiction of the Russian spiritual missions, wanting, of course, to avoid embarrassing control from the outside... There was an assumption, not long before his death, perhaps not without an ulterior purpose, to appoint Fr. Antonin as a bishop, but he never wanted to part with his beloved and dear East and exchange it for his homeland, where he did not go even at the time when the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878 began. At this time, he left Palestine with great reluctance, remaining in it even when the German flag was already flying on our buildings 141 and headed not to Russia, but to places dear to him - Athens 142, where he lived until the end of the war. Fr. parted ways with his activities in Palestine. Antonin was almost on the eve of his death, five days before his death. On March 19, our Consul General in Jerusalem S.V. Arsenyev was invited by Fr. Antonin, already sent to another life, to draw up a formal spiritual testament, to which he conveyed: To the Holy Synod all the land properties he acquired in Palestine and the printed books of his valuable library. Spiritual Mission - the museum of antiquities he collected, with the exception of the remarkable bust of Herod the Great, which should be transferred to the Imperial Hermitage Kiev Theological Academy the best and most valuable thing from his property, a telescope 143 from his observatory, and another, smaller one, to his brother in Perm. To the Dalmatovo Monastery, where he was educated in school, a pectoral cross. St. Sepulcher - panagia with Siberian stones. Perm Cathedral - another panagia with Siberian stones and malachite. The Imperial Public Library has a very valuable collection of Greek and South Slavic manuscripts 144, but on the condition that 5,000 rubles be paid for them. – the price is “moderate in comparison with the scientific significance and number of manuscripts” and as recognized by the Library’s management itself. Proceeds 5000 rub. for the sale of manuscripts through the Imperial Russian Embassy in Constantinople - to pay for the construction of a church in Ancyra (now Angora, in Asia Minor), where the martyr suffered, whose name he bore “from the day of his tonsure” 145. 19 large notebooks of 4 sheets, which make up his curious diary 146, kept neatly day by day, starting in 1841, were left to the Holy Synod, but so that for 40 years from the date of his death it would not be made public. In the future, this, of course, will serve as valuable material for a historian who wishes to depict the successes of Orthodoxy in the Middle East from 1850 to 1894. Fr. rested. Antonin peacefully in the Lord in the 78th year of his difficult life, on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation in 1894. The death of this selfless figure for the benefit of Orthodoxy in Palestine evoked deep and sincere condolences from people devoted to Fr. Antonin, and numerous admirers, of whom he had no shortage 147. Even the Zion Church, which did not always relate to Fr. Antonin, during his life, sympathetically and friendlyly, at his tomb, in the person of Patriarch Gerasim and representative persons from the Holy Sepulcher brotherhood, loudly witnessed a tribute of deep respect for his many-sided and extremely fruitful activities in Palestine. “The holy land, the promised land, on which peoples, tribes and languages ​​have long been fighting over who will appear more glorious on you,” the archbishop said before the tomb of the deceased. Photius, now the Patriarch of Alexandria, is the land of salvation, in which the revered sufferings and glory of our Savior took place, a blessed land, containing Nazareth and Bethlehem, the Zion Mountains and the Jordan, Tabor and Galilee, Golgotha ​​and the New Sepulcher, a sacred land! you tell us and pass on stories for the future about the exploits of the blessed man who adorned you with St. institutions, who erected fallen walls for you, who gave you divine churches, who left you teachers’ schools as a legacy. Maybe I'm exaggerating? But Nazareth and Hebron, the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Olives, Jericho and Jaffa and all Palestine confirm my words. Most of the spiritual teaching institutions adorning these places, erected in the name of the piety of Russia, were erected by him and all had support through him. The Holy Mother of Churches rightly blesses his memory. The Russian Church should rightly be grateful to the memory of the one who, being the best fruit and excellent representative of her piety, throughout his life sowed wonderful deeds of zeal and the power of piety alone on St. place, in the place where others vainly hoped to acquire such glory." In these eloquent words of the preacher there is, of course, no small amount of personal sympathy and gratitude to the deceased for his cordial, compassionate attitude towards him during the difficult years of his imprisonment in Sinai, but undoubtedly, speaking in the presence of the patriarch and as the secretary of the Patriarchal Synod, Arch. Photius was the voice of the Zion Church itself... Fr. Antonin, who lived with him and saw his amazing, fruitful works for the benefit of Orthodoxy in the East. For us, the people of Kiev, the personality of Fr. archim. Antonin, in addition, should still be dear and close in his education and service activity in his youth in our highest hotbed of theological science - in the Kiev Academy, for the deep sympathy that he had all his life for the mother of Russian cities and her venerable shrines, for that rare living connection that he not only maintained with Kiev and with the Academy that raised him, but also testified to it in an almost continuous series of very valuable and numerous donations to Academy and the church-archaeological museum attached to it. It seems to us that at this solemn moment, bearing in mind also the fact that in two days the tenth anniversary of the blessed death of Fr. Antonin, it is natural and quite proper to honor this very fruitful worker-countryman for the benefit of the church, fatherland and science by standing up as usual in such cases and unanimously proclaiming “Eternal Memory” to him. Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Kiev department of the Palestine Society on March 21, 1904; Arch. Antonin. From. Rumelia., St. Petersburg, 1886, p. 583. Church Ved., 1894, No. 15, p. 507; Ibid., 1893, No. 45, pp. 1624 – 1630; Message Imperial Right Palestinsk. General June, 1894, pp. 299–310; For the record, the following small articles should also be mentioned: prof. S.A. Ternovsky “On the last days of life, death and burial of the rector of the Russian spiritual mission in Palestine, arch. Antonin" (Proceedings of Kiev. Dukh. Acad. 1894, vol. 2, pp. 161–169), "The word spoken at the burial of his archimandrite. Photius, secretary of the Patriarch of Jerusalem" (Ibid., pp. 185–190), Fr. prot. K. Fomenko “At the grave of Fr. arch. Antonin, head of the Russian mission in Jerusalem” (Ibid. pp. 634–666) and S.I. Ponomarev “In Memory of Arch. Antonina" (Ibid., vol. 3); Message Imperial Right Palest. General June, 1894, p.299; Ancestor o. arch. Antonina Mikh. Kapustin comes from Veliky Ustyug. Mother o. Antonina is the daughter of a priest, Marya Grigorievna Varlakova, a local native. From the notes of a Sinai pilgrim (Proceedings of Kyiv. Dukh. Acad., 1873, No. 3). Wed. From the biographical notes of Fr. archim. Antonina (Communication of the Imp. Pr. Pal. general., vol. X, p. 9); From Rumelia. St. Petersburg 1886, pp. 205–206. From the notes of a Sinai pilgrim: Works Kiev. Spirit. Academician 1879. March; Trip to Rumelia. St. Petersburg 1879, p. 17; Notes from a fan of the Holy Mountain. Kiev 1894, pp. 376–377; Notes from a fan of the Holy Mountain. Kiev 1894, p. 376; From the notes of a Sinai pilgrim, p. 15; The head of the school was an inveterate Latinist. School days of the week were divided into Latin and Greek: Monday, Wednesday and Friday were Latin, the rest were Greek. Within the classroom, students were required to speak Latin on Latin days, and those who spoke Russian were given a calculus. Everyone he visited during the day was included in the “censor” in the “note”, and inevitable reprisals awaited “at the threshold”, characterized by the name “birch porridge”, etc. In front of the class, all students were listened to by the “auditor” and those who knew were noted in the “Notat” with the letters s (ciens) and γ(ινώσχων, those who made mistakes: er(rans) and ἁμ (αρτάνων). Those who know poorly: nb. (non bene) and οὐκ (οὐ καλῶς); those who do not know: ns (nesciens) and οὐχ (οὐχί). listened again and put him “on his knees” or on the spot, or also “at the threshold.” It happened that he asked the gynosks and woe to the auditor if they turned out to be marked above their actual successes. The auditors, in turn, also “listened” to other auditors. Not without the fact that there were also abuses of power on the part of these tyrants in the form of squeezing in favors and secret extortions of bread, paper, feathers, money. There was such a competition between fellow auditors that those who had not learned the “lesson” prevented those who had learned in every possible way from answering well to the auditor. The writer of these lines did not leave the uk and enbei for two whole years only because he found himself among those for whom even e (pronounce je) rans was an object of envy.” Note O. arch. Antonina (Trip to Rumelia, pp. 17–18, note 1). Trip to Rumelia, pp. 17 – 18; Error – an error, which was indicated by a dash placed by the teacher under the place of the error. The sum of such lines was set by the teacher at the end of the task and determined “praise”, and when it reached two figures, often sabotage “to the threshold”. Note O. Antonina. Trip to Rumelia, p. 327; From the notes of a Sinai pilgrim, p. 133; Proceedings Kievsk. Spirit. Academician 1894. vol. 2, p. 162; At the Perm Theological Seminary, Andrei Kapustin discovered some exceptional talents. “Here, according to Fr. Antonin, he was known as a “poet” and became known in his circle for Dalmatovo recreation. This passion for poetry never left Fr. Antonin and in the Ekaterinoslav Seminary, where he “wrote in verse” “The Seven Passions of Christ,” printed in Kiev in 1850 as a separate brochure” (S. Vengerov. “Critical-Bibliographical Dictionary of Russian Writers and Scientists.” St. Petersburg, 1889, vol. I, p. 628, note), and then further in the service in the East until the end of his life (Proceedings of Kiev. Dukh. Acad. 1894, vol. 3, p. 634). Master's degrees about. Antonin was awarded on October 29, 1845; Message Imperial Right Palest. General 1894. June, pp. 300–301; see From Rumelia, pp. 448, 498–499; The fruit of this reverent respect for the memory of his deceased professor and personal friend is written with deep sincere feeling by Fr. Antonin obituary of the arch. Feofan Avsenev, after visiting his grave in Rome, where this most venerable professor of our Academy died. Journal Min. Nar. Enlightenment 1853. March, dept. VII, pp. 101–108; From October 24, 1846 to November 17, 1847. Antonin temporarily occupied the chair of moral theology. On February 15, 1847, he was appointed a member of the internal board for education. Fr. got these professorial successes. It's not easy for Antonin. In later times he recalled the sleepless nights of the professor, bringing to mind through bitter experience the veracity of the apostle’s saying: those who sleep sleep in the night (Thessalonians V, 7). “There was a time,” he writes, when I, as directed by the needs of the professors, had to pay attention to this expression of the Apostle, which seemed to me (until then, of course) devoid of special meaning.” (A Trip to Rumelia, pp. 159 – 160); Church Led. 1893 No. 45, p. 1628. “In the person of its oldest representatives, the Academy has living witnesses of the initial service of your academic science,” says the welcoming address of the Kiev Theological Academy dated October 22, 1893 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of service to the Church of God and spiritual science by Fr. arch. Antonin, - keeping the respectful memory of you and the sublime mood of your scientific thought, which worked in a harmonious combination of faith and reasonable consistency" (Extracted from the proceedings of the Council of Kiev. spirit. Academician for the 1893–94 academic year, p. 113); Notes from a devotee of St. Mountains, page 2. Trip to Rumelia, page 7; It was necessary to see - to talk about. Antonin. - in what pitiful form the ruins of a beautiful building stood back in 1850, and what an indescribable shame they were subjected to, especially at night, in order to understand all my boundless love for them, which, due to the mania of the Russian government, were transformed into a beloved thing - bijou, as the victorious duc de Malakoff, who returned from the Crimea, called our Holy Trinity in 1856.” From Rumelia, page 584 “Taking advantage of the freedom of the ktitor, rector and chief director for the renewal of our Athenian embassy church, I had the idea to cover its walls (in fact, the pillars) with images of saints, either born in Athens, or died, or simply lived there, in a word, were in Athens.” Note arch. Antonina; Ibid., p. 393. The Russian Imperial Archaeological Society published in 1874. his collection of inscriptions entitled: “On Ancient Christian Inscriptions in Athens.” An article with a plan of the Church of Nicodemus was published in Volume II in the 3rd century. "Izvestia" of this society for 1859. Notes from a devotee of the Holy Mountain, page 377. The following frank confessions of Fr. arch. Antonin about his forced Grecophilism. “Many times, wandering here and there in the East, I was forced to put myself in the position of a Greek,” he says, “so that the impressions that rushed to my heart from this or that historical area would be more vivid and, so to speak, primitive, speaking completely differently, of course, to my native ear than to the ear of a tourist, even a researcher - a historian, even an avowed Byzantine, but a foreigner.” Trip to Rumelia, p. 21; Notes from a devotee of the Holy Mountain, p. 3; For the first time, a traveler to the Holy Land, according to Fr. arch. Antonina, it may be with regret to note that there is a difference, often immeasurable, between the biblical images he himself created and between reality. His representations of the cities, villages, fields, forests and rivers mentioned in St. stories suddenly turn out to be untrue for him, a simple fragment of objects that had previously surrounded him. Such disappointment is difficult, but useful. It prepares the admirer to emerge from the exclusivity into which his habit of seeing the same thing in his homeland involuntarily placed him - it will expand his, for the most part, limited circle of vision on objects of knowledge and faith, and if not immediately, then little by little it will accustom him to moderation and tolerance, as much as is necessary for someone who decided to bring tribute to the Holy Sepulcher and his grateful soul, along with thousands of other strangers like him, often not similar to him in no way except one human image and a Christian name.” Shower floor. read 1866, January, Dept. 11, pp. 7–8; Notes from a devotee of the Holy Mountain, page 3, Trip to Rumelia, page 344. It is quite curious that this book, which in scientific terms is not only not lower, but even higher than his “Trip to Sinai,” is passed over in complete silence by Prof. V.G. Vasilevsky; Arch. Savva. Assembled. opinion and reviews of M. Philaret on matters of rights. c. in the East. St. Petersburg 1886, p. 72; Ibid., pp. 207,247,445, etc. Ibid., pp. 207, 311, 327–329, 395; Collection pl. and review according to school and church-state. question vol. V, part 1, page 201 Ibid., pp. 247, 255, 274, 282, 316, 350; Arch. Savva. Assembled. opinion and reviews from teachers. and church-state. question M. 1887, vol. V, part 1, pp. 487–490; Arch. Savva. Assembled. opinion and reviews of M. Philaret on matters of rights. c. in the East. pp. 440–441, 445–456; Work. Kyiv. spirit. Academician 1867, vol. IV, p. 288; A relatively detailed list of works by Fr. arch. Antonin was made his great admirer, the famous bibliographer S.I. Ponomarev" in the article: "In memory of Fr. Arch. Antonina" (Tr. Kyiv. Spirit. Ak. 1894, part 3, pp. 636–648); We mean the scientific description of the manuscripts of the library of the Holy Sepulcher in Constantinople, Phanar, compiled by him in 1862 in partnership with prof. Kyriakidis (A. Dmitrievsky. Travels in the East and its scientific results. Kyiv, 1890, p. 5, note I) See the review about her by Prof. V. G. Vasilievsky as a critic-biographer. Russian dictionary pissing and scientists S. A. Vengerov, vol. 1, pp. 633 – 635 Decree of the Holy Synod on the appointment of Fr. Antonina was appointed head of the mission on July 16, 1865; see Arch. Savva. Collection pl. p review on business Ave. Church in the East, p. 440. Church West. 1877, No. 41, p. 8; Arch. Savva. Assembled. opinion and review. m. Philaret for rights affairs. churches in the East, 498; Arch. Savva. Assembled. opinion and review Metropolitan Philaret for Rights Affairs. churches in the East, pp. 445 – 446. The fact that between Fr. arch. Leonid and Fr. arch. Antonin did not violate good comradely relations. In September 1868, Fr. Antonin, while in Constantinople, enjoyed the hospitality of Fr. arch. Leonida and extols him with all kinds of praise (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. 1869, part 1, p. 452, note 1) Arch. Savva. Collection opinion and review, M. Philaret for Rights Affairs, c. in the East, pp. 445 – 446, 440 – 441 Labor Kyiv. Spirit. Academician 1868, part II, p. 54. The fruit of this study are the following articles about. arch. Antonina: “The Feast of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem” (Church. Let. 1866, No. 9 and 10); “January 6 on the Jordan” (Khers. Eparch. Ved. 1867, No. 5); “News about the succession of divine and sacred spirituality” (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. 1867, book 11, pp. 304 – 319); “Easter in Jerusalem” (Khers. Eparch. Ved. 1867, No. 12); “Patriarchal service in Jerusalem (Church. Let. 1867, No. 30); “January 26 in the Lavra of St. Savva” (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. 1868, part 11, pp. 42 – 83); “Blessing of Water in the Church of the Resurrection” (Khers. Eparch. Ved. 1869, No. 5); “From Jerusalem” (ibid. 1871, no. 16); “The selection and dedication of a new patriarch in Jerusalem” (Church Years 1875, No. 30 and 31), etc. These are the articles: “Latin divine service of the last week of Lent in Jerusalem” (Christ. Reading. 1866. No. 5, p. 468); “Dedication of the Latin Bishop in Jerusalem” (Northern Mail, ) 1866, No. 209). In 1868 Fr. Antonin was engaged in the review and description of the manuscripts of the Lavra of St. Savva the Sanctified (Works. Kiev. Spirit. Acad. 1873, No. 12, p. 243; From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim: Works. Kiev. Spirit. Acad. 1873, No. 3), now included in the patriarchal library in Jerusalem, at the direction of the blessed Patriarch Nicodemus I. “From the Bosphorus to Jaffa” (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. 1869 11, 406 – 415); “From Jerusalem” (1869, No. 19 Kherson. Eparch. Ved.); “From the notes of a Sinai pilgrim” Kyiv, p. 6 – 27; “Latin Tradition in the East” (ibid., 1870, No. 3); “Letter from Jerusalem” (Northern Post 1868, No. 94); “From Jerusalem” (Church. West. 1876, No. 51); “Protestant propaganda in Palestine” (Church Vestn. 1877, No. 41 “On the way from the Holy Land” (Civil 1878, No. 23 – 24), etc. 1872 We mean in 1869 the acquisition into Russian ownership of the Oak of Mamre (World. Illustration 1869, No. 42, p. 243) Shower floor. read 1866, March, pp. 141 – 142; April, pp. 193 – 197; Proceedings Kyiv. Spirit. Academician 1869, part 11, pp. 406 – 413 Message Imperial Right Palest. General St. Petersburg 1894 June, page 307 Message Imperial Right Palest. General St. Petersburg 1894 June, page 308 This title was given to the novel because Fr. arch. Antonin was in the habit of combing the strands of hair on his head and placing them in front like Jewish sidelocks, the resemblance to which was especially noticeable in an ordinary home environment, when his head was covered with a skufa. Bulletin of Europe, 1881 book. 11, page 891 The mission cannot and does not have the opportunity to find out how many fans there are in Jerusalem during the year, nor who they are, nor where they are from, nor how long they stay, nor what they do, wrote Fr. Antonin in response to Mr. Ushinsky to this reproach; she sees them only in church and gets acquainted only when they look for it themselves (Church. Vestn. 1875, No. 50, p. 2) Church Vestn. 1875, No. 50, p. 4. About his character Fr. Antonin gives the following description: “My childhood memory tells me, although fair, perhaps, nevertheless an offensive nickname for the green mind. Then I remember not very old, a reproach in a moving mind... What is surprising if, over the course of years, a reproached mind, as if ripening more and more in an incorrect development, receives the characteristic of a high one. Prophetic word. I'm afraid of him too. But what, however, will it do to me? (From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, Trud. Kiev. Dukh. Acad. 1873, No. 3). Trip to Rumelia, page 161 Message Imperial Right Palest. General 1864, June, pp. 306–307 “We ourselves,” says Fr. in one correspondence. Antonin, - without any need, they took away from it (that is, the mission) first the aura of greatness, which has such an effect on the masses and is so necessary for the honor of the truly Great Russian Church, then systematically, step by step, taking away from it its original purpose, out of jealous fear of its predominant weight and supposedly political activity, we drive it intensively into the narrow framework of the parish worshiping church, to the point that in the past (1878) in the month of May, some St. Petersburg Palestinian commission, unknown to anyone and not found anywhere, decided (so far in principle), at the request of our Jerusalem consul, to destroy our spiritual mission in Jerusalem” (Civil. 1878, No. 23 - 25, p. 455). Church Vest. 1880, No. 5, p. 8; in the same place, 1885, No. 14, p. 239 Citizen 1874, No. 31, p. 799 Church West. 1875, No. 50, p. 2 Ibid., 1885, No. 14, p. 239 Our venerable Consul General (in Smyrna), archaeologist and numismatist, writes Fr. Antonin, having lived here for so many years, managed to compile a rich collection of gold and silver coins from Asia Minor, among which there is one unknown to the scientific world. In it, for the first time, I saw Persian darics (i.e., coins of Darius), as well as coins of fawn gold, as well as coins of our Cimmerian Bosphorus. I cannot resist the attractive force of antiquity. When I meet her anywhere, I definitely see my cradle. I feel sad, happy, and embarrassed before her testimony. The denarius of Augustus and the drachma of Alexander, one might say, burn me with the historical warmth of their names. The faces of Diocletian and the two Maximilians also deeply trouble the soul. The proud and cruel faces of the sworn persecutors of Christ clearly indicate that the Christian martyrology is not fiction. In short, every coin has something to say to the mind and heart.” (Notes of a devotee of the Holy Mountain, pp. 393 – 394; cf. From Rumelia, p. 513; From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, p. 73; Christian reading. 1863, part 11, p. 268) He testified his love for astronomy on a trip to Sinai (From the notes of the Sinai god., p. 52) and correspondence to illustrated publications, as well as donating his best asset to the Kiev Theological Academy - a telescope worth 1,500 rubles Without tea, according to Fr. Antonina, nothing seems complete” (From the Western Sinai pilgrim, p. 132; Notes of a devotee of the Holy Mountain, p. 235) Since the time of the Crusades, there has not been such a phenomenon in the Holy Land as the last year became famous, Fr. wrote in 1869. arch. Antonin. Then the crowned rulers of Europe took Palestine directly and openly with the sword. Now they are already taking it apart in secret, albeit bowing to the Saladins of our time (of course, the Austrian Emperor and the Prussian Crown Prince), and quite unexpectedly they suddenly find themselves the owners of this or that sacred area. And yet, even then, now my last goal is to take possession of something in the Holy Land” (From the Zap. Sinai. Bogom., p. 18). “To us,” Fr. admitted in 1870. Antonin arch. Filaret, rector of Kyiv. Spirit. Academy - you can’t even buy a single arshin of land in Turkey. And it’s impossible not because no one allows it, but because we ourselves don’t want it. People who don’t care whether there is a Holy Land in the world or not, buy it like hot cakes, and we, who breathe, so to speak, with it, stubbornly deny from ourselves the right of ownership in it” (ibid., p. 13). Here is his principle: “You just have to really want something, and add something to it..., and the job will be done” (ibid., p. 20) World Illustration, 1869, No. 42, p. 243 Kherson. Eparch. Ved. 1871, No. 16, pp. 329 – 330; Wed From the notes of Sinai. Bogomolets, page 20 A. V. Eliseev. With Russian pilgrims in the Holy Land. St. Petersburg, 1885. page 107. Kherson. Eparch. Ved. 1871, No. 16, p. 326 The inscription reads like this: “Theodosius, most glorious cuvicular.” Church. Vest. 1880, No. 28, p. 5 Church West. 1876, No. 32, p. 5 Labor Kyiv. Spirit. Academician 1894, vol. II, pp. 634–666 The bell at 308 p. was donated by A.V. Ryazantsev from Solikamsk. In August, this bell, “with the help of the Christian Countess O. E. Putyatina,” was dragged from the pier in Jaffa to a Russian country garden near the grave of St. Tabitha, and in February delivered to Olivet. “On Sunday, January 27th,” Fr. Antonin, - a proper appeal was made to the people of God for help. 105 people (2/3 women) hastily arrived in Jaffa on Tuesday morning and got to work. Thanks to the general enthusiasm, within 7 days the bell, despite a thousand difficulties, was safely delivered to our buildings. On the evening of February 5, he received an enthusiastic meeting that raised the entire city to its feet. Then the whole mass of fans began to drag the bell to St. Olivet to his destination." (Church Vestn. 1885, No. 14, pp. 239 – 240). Church West. 1885, No. 14, p. 240 O. Antonin was a big fan of “thick” ringing. (Church Vestn. 1881, No. 9, p. 6; see Notes of a devotee of the Holy Mountain, pp. 30, 402). Soulful. Read 1866, book 11, p. 85 Church West. 1876, No. 15, p. 5 From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, page 11. Church Vestn. 1880, No. 41, p. 21 Father Antonin dreamed of creating a monastery for men in Jerusalem on Olivet in his buildings, but these dreams of his were not destined to come true. Church Vestn. 1876, no. 15, p. 6. A. V. Eliseev. With Russian fans in the Holy Land, page 147 Church Vestn. 1885, No. 32, p. 5 Church Vestn. 1885, No. 14, p. 239 A. V. Eliseev. With Russian pilgrims in the Holy Land, page 244 From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, p. 25 Church Vestn. 1893, No. 9, pp. 420 – 421 Labor Kie. Spirit. Academician 1875 November, page 20 Message Imperial Rights Palest. General 1894, June, p. 309. Soulful. read 1866, III, 148, 149, 157. Articles related to the study of antiquities in Palestine: “Letter from Jerusalem” (Northern Post, 1868, No. 94); “January 26 in the Lavra of St. Savva" (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad. vol. II, 1868); "St. torment of St. Domnina" (Ibid., 1869, vol. I); "St. Venerable Martyr Sosanna of Palestine” (ibid., 1877, vol. I); “How Dr. Sepp discovered the ancient church of Baal between Jerusalem and Bethlehem” (ibid., 1878, vol. I); “Doctor Sepp with the Samaritans” (ibid., 1875, vol. III). Wed. From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, page 2 Soulful. read 1866 January, dept. II, p. 7. What I didn’t find, I dreamed about. Antoninus, - going to Sinai, neither in Greece nor on Athos, I will find here, I thought, - the Byzantine era of its best time in intact monuments, untouched by either destroyers or restorers" (From the notes of the Sinai pilgrim, p. 123. Sn. p. 14) About his catalogue, Father Antonin says that it “must be done satisfactorily, so that the monastery can then boast of it to others” (From the notes of the Sinai Mantis, p. 30). “Our catalog is moving quickly and promises to be useful. Of course, I did not and now do not have in mind to compile a real scholarly, even less pragmatic catalogue, for which I hasten to make a reservation and apologize. I leave this painstaking task to posterity. I am only paving the way for him... Let him (i.e., the researcher) favorably attribute my mistakes and inevitable mistakes of all kinds to the lack of time and the inevitable haste of the study for this reason” (ibid., p. 44). Prof. Theological School in Jerusalem, companion of Fr. Antonina, Saruf compiled a catalog of Syriac manuscripts. Catalogus codicum graecorum Sinaiticorum, scripsit W. Gardthausen lipsiensis. Oxon. 1886 an.: About this catalog Hardthausey expresses himself as follows: “Numeri...notati sunt in Catalogo manuscripto bibliothecae Sinaiticae quem monachum (sic!) Russicum olim fecisse dicunt (Catal. Praef. pag. VIII). For Hardthausen’s borrowings from this catalog, see my “Travel in the East and its scientific results,” pp. 122, 148, and in the Critical-Bibliographical Dictionary of Russian Writers and Scientists, S. Vengerov, vol. I,” p. 632. Oh St. Nicholas there are early articles about. Antonina: “St. Nicholas, Bishop of Pinar and Archimandrite of Zion" (Trud. Kyiv. Dukh. Acad., 1860, No. 6) and "Transfer of the Relics of St. and the wonderworker Nicholas from Lycia to Italy" (ibid., 1870, no. 5). “I once dreamed,” says Fr. Antonin, - to serve I don’t know how many years, to earn I don’t know what kind of pension, and then to travel around the world, choosing where it’s warmer in winter, where it’s fresher in summer, where “there are more books and less intrigue,” as one person very familiar with life and paper said. Goodbye innocent dreams! Day by day I am more and more convinced that the most blissful position of a person on earth is when he sits as a child, clinging to his mother, and does not think about anything, not even about games, and does not count on anything even the most true” (Trud. Kiev. Dukh. Acad. 1869, vol. II, pp. 156 - 157) Church Vestn. 1877, No. 22, p. 4; No. 25, p. 11; No. 18, p. 448 Ibid., 1878, No. 35, p. 635; Citizen 1878, No. 35 – 37, p. 636 Regarding this donation, the Academy Council received from Fr. Archimandrite Antonin, in response to greeting him on his fiftieth anniversary of service, the following statement: “I cannot find words to express my heartfelt gratitude to the highly respected Academic Corporation, which honored me with a joint statement (Oct. 22, 1893, No. 829) of its favorable attention to my wretched personality, who once had the good fortune to be part of its current composition. Bearing the loud but modest title of Bachelor of the Academy, I was far from any ostentation and, having left the Academy, I did not leave anything in it to perpetuate the memory. My more than modest position in the foreign service gave even less reason for anything giving a name. My meager offerings to the institution that gave me a patent for title, honor and daily bread were a childishly natural expression of the desire to keep up with my beloved mother, holding on to her, if not with my hands, then with the work of my hands. The rector of the Academy, mourned by science, the merciful Philaret, of blessed memory, honored me with a special, highly flattering, undeserved honor, which there is no need to tell the eye-witnesses about, which tied me even more to a place that was already kindred to me. The starting point of the new universal declaration by the highly respected corporation of its favor towards me - my service anniversary - is a hidden farewell hymn to the body-bearer departing from Mipa, burdened, if not with service, then with “summer routine”. Remembering this last meaning, I, in a tender place, extract from my weak lips a testamentary word. The best item of my property - the astronomical telescope (E. Secretan. 1877, Paris) may be a new offering to my matri almae, condescendingly granting me the right to use it usque ad supremum momentum, when neither eye will see nor ear will hear any human greeting. (Extracted from the proceedings of the Council of the Kiev Spiritual Academy for the 1893/4 academic year. K. 1894, pp. 112–113) A description of this precious collection of manuscripts (mainly Greek, Slavic, Hebrew and Arabic) was made in the Report of the Imperial Public Library for 1899 St. Petersburg. 1903, pp. 6–89, is a brief and unscientific description. Kiev.Spirit. Academician 1894, vol. II, pp. 162–163 Ibid., 1894, vol. III, p. 648 Labor Kiev.Spirit. Academician vol. II, pp. 163–164, 168–169 You might be interested in: