Глава XIII.
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Bishop Ignatius, during his long abbotship in the Sergius Hermitage, not only did not accumulate any capital for himself, but reached such a position that he did not even have the means to complete the long journey ahead without outside help. He was always extremely generous with alms, and did not refuse anyone if he had something to give. When there was no money, he gave them things, so the cell attendants tried to give the petitioners money as much as possible, warning the petitioners against personal relationships with the archimandrite. Therefore, when it was necessary to leave St. Petersburg, the bishop was forced to resort to financial assistance from a spiritually close person, who provided him with an allowance of 1000 rubles.
On November 25 he left St. Petersburg and on the 26th arrived in Moscow, from where he went to the Sergius Lavra. On the evening of December 5, he arrived in Tula, where, having been received favorably by His Eminence Alexy 141, he celebrated the liturgy, and on the 7th he set off on his further journey. In Orel he did not find Archbishop Smaragd, who during his time at the Synod had shown sincere affection for the then Archimandrite of the Sergius Hermitage, and traveled to Fatezh, where, due to illness, he lived for three days in the house of the merchant Kharichkin. On the evening of the 13th he arrived in Kursk, where on the 15th he served the liturgy in the cathedral at the invitation of Iliodor, Archbishop of Kursk and Belgorod, and on the 18th he moved to Kharkov, where he served the liturgy on the 20th.
On the 21st, at four o'clock in the afternoon, very dark, the bishop turned from the Golaya Dolina station to the Svyatogorsk Monastery, twelve miles away from there. It was one degree warm. We rode in wheeled carriages. When we turned from the main road onto the country road, towards the monastery, a strong steppe snowstorm arose. Nothing was visible at a distance of a fathom. The drivers lost their way and drove randomly. Finally, the horses stubbornly stopped for no apparent reason: it turned out that the bishop’s carriage was standing on the edge of a deep cliff, right above the abyss, and only at two o’clock in the morning, under a brightly shining moon and at twenty degrees below zero, did the bishop arrive at the monastery.
Proceeding further from Bakhmut, he went to the estate of Baroness Campenhausen, who invited him to spend the Nativity of Christ with her. (This estate is forty miles from the mentioned city). For the move, six excellent horses were sent to the bishop. For the first twenty miles the horses raced quickly along a summer road covered with an icy crust. When the next 20 miles began, the road was already covered with snow. The horses walked at a pace. The further we went, the deeper the snow became, and the six stopped. They sent for other horses. Another six was brought. Dormez, harnessed to twelve horses, set off, but the snow became deeper and deeper - the horses walked with difficulty and often stopped.
Night has come. The coachmen lost their way in the steppe and, of necessity, were forced to stop. Fortunately, the night was not cold. Several horses were unharnessed, and the riders rode off to look for villages and help. At the sound of the festive bells, the horsemen arrived in the village. The priest and deacon, preparing to serve the liturgy, gathered a sufficient number of people, horses and bulls and set off to rescue the traveler who had spent the night in the steppe. The bishop transferred from the dormez to a sleigh and arrived at the estate at seven o'clock in the morning. The crew was brought in on oxen. It turned out that we lost our way seven miles from the estate due to the steppe being completely covered with snow.
On January 4, 1858, Bishop Ignatius arrived in Stavropol Caucasus at four o'clock in the afternoon. There was no bishop's house, and the newly arrived bishop stayed in an apartment prepared for him in the house of the merchant Stasenkov.
There was a small house, more like a hut, which fourteen years earlier had been donated by the Stavropol merchant Volobuev for the temporary quarters of the first bishop Jeremiah 142. Attached to this hut was the same simple half of two small rooms, called the hall and the living room. The latter also served as a prayer room for the bishop, since the window and the entrance door to the small stone church attached to this hut - the Cross Church - were made from it. Then this poor little house fell into extreme ruin, so that the citizens were ashamed to accept a bishop into it. Motivated by goodwill, they rented an apartment for him at their own expense.
On the day of his arrival, the Right Reverend received in his apartment the clergy of the cathedral, citizens with bread and salt, and the head of the province, Lieutenant General A. A. Volotsky 143. In the evening I attended the all-night vigil at home and the next day - Sunday - January 5, I served the liturgy in the Ryadskaya Cathedral Church, with a large gathering of employees of both the civil and military departments and citizens of the city, crowded in an effort to attend the first service of the new pastor. After the prayer behind the pulpit, the bishop greeted his flock with a word of spiritual peace about Christ our Lord. We present this word as an exact expression of the spirit of all the relations of the new shepherd to his flock. 144
“Peace to this city (Matthew 10; 12).
I pronounce this greeting, beloved brethren, according to the will of my Lord, having come with the shepherd’s staff to the God-saved city of Stavropol, so that I preach and speak in this city and in the surrounding cities and towns, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near (Matthew 10:7).
The Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). The Kingdom of Heaven is the peace of Christ. In the soul in which passions have subsided through submission to God, God reigns and the peace of Christ reigns.
But the world of Christ is by no means the world of this age. The Lord does not provide His peace in the same way as peace is provided by the custom of fallen humanity (John 14:27). The unity of an empty, even ill-intentioned, goal often establishes temporary and soul-destroying harmony between people. The world of Christ is holy! The world of Christ is all in Christ! The peace of Christ is sown in the soul by the Word of God, is born from cultivating the field of the heart with the commandments of Christ, is nourished by this invisible, but not difficult feat, and grows from it. From the action of the Holy Spirit, the peace of Christ embraces the mind, heart and body of a perfect Christian, unites these parts, cut and separated by sin, into one; a person, reconciled in himself and with himself, already constituting one and whole, as he was before the fall, unites with God. I ask for such peace for myself and for you, beloved brethren, from the only Giver of true and holy peace, from our Lord Jesus Christ.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, according to the living and precise concept of the apostle, guard our hearts and minds for Christ, may it preserve for Him our earthly activities and our eternal destiny, which depends on this activity. Amen".
On the day of Epiphany, after performing the liturgy, he blessed the water in a pool located in the middle of the city, with a significant gathering of troops, with the sprinkling of banners and with a large crowd of people who received the bishop warmly. This pool is located in the gap between two sections of the boulevard, running along the entire main street to the Tiflis outpost. The boulevard divides the street into two paths, and the basin forms the intersection of the boulevards with the street running from the stairs from the summer cathedral to the inner part of the city. On the corners of this street facing the pool, on one side are the rows of the Gostiny Dvor with the Row Church above them, on the other - the corner of the house, at that time occupied by the gymnasium with its two-class pedagogical department of specialists.
On the day of Epiphany the weather was extremely warm. The windows of the gymnasium building facing the pool were open, and during the blessing of the water, curious school boarders with guards and mentors crowded in them, and in the window closest to the pool, the director of the gymnasium, Iannuariy Mikhailovich Neverov, was among the spectators.
Loud and noisy conversations with laughter and laughter from the schoolchildren gathered in these windows continued throughout the service, but they were heard especially loudly when the bishop read the prayers for the blessing of water. The satanic wild laughter of the director himself sharply covered the noise and din of this entire society to the temptation of all those present, so that the head of the province, Lieutenant General Volotskoy, was forced to send a request to stop these inappropriate antics of the students. This circumstance gave the bishop an unmistakable concept, which was later fully justified in practice, about the most harmful direction of the director of the gymnasium, Neverov, who set the main goal of educating youth to develop freedom of thought in them, not allowing this freedom to be limited even by the most thorough criticism.
The diocese of Stavropol, established around 1840, could not be established due to special circumstances, which not only prevented the successful progress of this good government undertaking, but also complicated the work ahead of Bishop Ignatius, the need to return each and everyone to the correct relationship to the work entrusted to them, and the very government institutions and authorities of the region to a favorable attitude towards the episcopal see.
The first bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea was the Right Reverend Jeremiah - a very pious man, but of a tough character. Out of jealousy for Orthodoxy, he treated the schismatics very strictly, who in significant numbers inhabited the villages of the Caucasian linear Cossack army. The courage and courage of the combat units of the army paved the way for them to initiate energetic opposition to the bishop through their closest military superiors, according to whose proposal the entire population of the Linear Cossack army was removed from the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop and transferred to the department of the chief priest of the Caucasian army. Thus, in the newly established diocese, of the five hundred thousand souls who made up its flock, exactly half (that is, two hundred and fifty thousand) left the administration of the bishop, who in no way suspected even the possibility of such a separation.
Since this diocese was placed in the third-class category, its bishop had to be supported on a salary of two hundred and eighty-five silver rubles per year. Due to the fact that such a sum was extremely insufficient for the newly opened department, which required all the necessary equipment and arrangements, the Holy Synod determined to temporarily allocate to the bishop from the synodal sums one thousand silver rubles per year in pocket money and one thousand five hundred rubles for the maintenance of the bishop's house, until the complete establishment of the department.
The Right Reverend Jeremiah, highly respected in society and the people for the holiness of his ascetic life, by his actions against the schismatics aroused the displeasure of all the highest authorities of the region, and therefore was not successful in all his undertakings regarding the material structure of the department. He soon asked to retire, to which he was dismissed, without having time to do anything lasting for the establishment of his department.
His place was taken by the Right Reverend Ioannikios, 145 who went to the opposite extreme: leaving behind only the ordination, he left the conduct of affairs entirely to the will of the Consistory, whose views he was guided in all his relations. 146
The consistory was then ruled with complete autocracy by the cathedral archpriest Krastilevsky, as a result of which the affairs of the diocese gave rise to a formal investigation, which was carried out by Archbishop Eugene of Astrakhan by order of the Synod. The consequence of this was the dismissal of Bishop Ioannikis and the actions of Archpriest Krastilevsky and other members of the Consistory being left for the consideration and order of a new bishop who was about to arrive. As a result of this course of affairs, the diocesan clergy, very rich materially due to the wealth of the region itself, always squeezed by the Consistory, could not have any influence among society, but lost confidence among the common people.
The fruit of such mutual pledges between the clergy and the people was, on the part of the latter, disrespect for the holy order, disrespect for the Holy Church, for its statutes and rituals. Wasn’t it worthy of surprise and regret, for example, that two archpriests, members of the Consistory, were postal holders: Krastilevsky along the Georgian Military Tract, and Gremyachinsky according to Mozdoksky? Although they did not directly maintain the stations on their own behalf, they acted with their own capital, the safety of which they personally took care of both in public places and with civil authorities.
Many investigative cases involving denunciations of ordinary people against the clergy and vice versa - from the clergy to citizens - burdened the administrations and employees of both departments and incited mutual enmity and anger, which the instigators and slanderers tried to take advantage of, finding in these unrest the satisfaction of their selfish aspirations. The funds of the clergy in general were so significant that in one hundred and ten parishes of the diocese, the clergy had capital on interest in the Stavropol Order of Public Charity, which amounted to more than 3/4 of the total capital of the Order.
Having familiarized himself with the current office work of the Consistory, with the persons who comprise it, with their relations to society, to the clergy and to other administrations of the region, Bishop Ignatius immediately took decisive measures, firstly, to restore good and proper relations between the clergy and the inhabitants of the city, both citizens and employees and boards of the military and civil departments, and secondly, to ensure the conscientious and disinterested movement of affairs in the Consistory. We will give a detailed account of his activities below, from his report for 1858.
It was very natural for Bishop Ignatius to want to immediately begin to carry out two urgent, most necessary actions: a personal review of the diocese and his treatment with mineral waters. To this end, in the summer of 1858, he decided to travel around the entire eastern half of the diocese, combining the review with treatment in Pyatigorsk and its environs, treatment necessary for the possible restoration of his health, shaken from childhood, caught with scrofula and subsequently completely damaged in the swampy area of the Sergius Hermitage by rheumatism, improper treatment and hemorrhoids.
Having left Stavropol, he headed to Georgievsk, and from there to Pyatigorsk, where, on the advice and guided by the instructions of the chief doctor of the military hospital Krasnoglazov, he drank and took a full course of sulfur baths, then alkaline baths in the village of Essentuki and, finally, in Kislovodsk, the strengthening baths of Narzan. From Kislovodsk, in the first days of August, the bishop traveled to Georgievsk to meet with Metropolitan Isidore 147, who had been moved from Tiflis to Kyiv. The Metropolitan was traveling to St. Petersburg, from where he already intended to go to Kyiv that same autumn. He arrived in Georgievsk at eleven o'clock in the evening. In the diary of Bishop Ignatius, his own handwritten note was found under 5, b, 7 and 8 August.
“The Metropolitan talked with me and the civil governor, Lieutenant General Volotsky, until two o’clock in the morning. Almost only the metropolitan spoke, and only about secular subjects, and he spoke with great eagerness. On the 8th, he got up in the morning at six o’clock and began talking with me alone for about ten minutes about subjects relating to the Caucasian diocese and the Church in general. In this shortest time, he touched on many subjects, showed on many of them the most ordinary and even the most insufficient knowledge, a direction of mind with a superficial look and Caucasian self-confidence. He is about sixty years old - a little over a year or two. He is less than average in height, but not the smallest either. His head sits in his shoulders, his neck is very short. He is a manly man in his manners, but very sharp - his eyes dart around. He constantly distinguished himself by his sharpness in the field of his ministry. Sami is still very fresh, although rumor has proclaimed him everywhere to be very sickly. The Metropolitan expressed his displeasure at the Russian nobility for their slowness in dismissing the peasants.”
The bishop, informing the metropolitan about his relationship with the seminary, conveyed, among other things, that in order to encourage the professors and student youth, he invited several teachers and with them several of the most worthy young men for tea in the evenings on holidays, at the same time they were offered treats with fruits or other sweets and conversations of a spiritual and edifying direction were held.
The metropolitan did not like this action so much that, despite the presence of the governor of the province, he did not stop showering the bishop with reproaches, reprimanding him for this, as if for some crime, and was carried away to such an extent by his unbridled irritation that Lieutenant General Volotsky considered it not indecent to calm him down, presenting to him the bishop’s silence in the face of his accusations as a sufficient reason to moderate his anger and put an end to his noisy behavior. reprimand.
Having completed his treatment in Kislovodsk, Bishop Ignatius set out on his way to survey the diocese along the southern and then along the southeastern side of the Stavropol province.
In order to understand, as accurately as possible, the current state of the diocese that he found, let us turn to Bishop Ignatius’s own view of it, expressed by him in his annual report for 1858, when he had already personally examined most of it, but had not yet seen the Black Sea region, having not had time to visit it late, much of which was taken away by the anticipation of the arrival of the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail Nikolaevich, who visited the Caucasus in the fall of that year and passed through Stavropol. Let us turn to extracts from the annual report on the state of the diocese for 1858. 148
Consistory. Personnel of the Consistory. In 1858 (that is, the year Bishop Ignatius arrived at the see) it changed significantly. At the beginning of 1858, following Bishop Ignatius, the new rector of the seminary, Archimandrite Herman 149, and the new inspector, cathedral hieromonk Isaac 150, arrived in Stavropol.
The first of them, according to the right acquired by the rectors, began to be present in the Consistory, and the second - at the proposal of the bishop, on whose proposal this order was approved by the Synod. A new secretary arrived in March.
Such a sensitive change in the composition of the Consistory shook the authority of the member of the Consistory, Archpriest Krastilevsky, who had hitherto dominated the Consistory because of his very good abilities, because of his experience in business, and especially because of the unlimited trust that the Right Reverend Ioanniki had in him. The fear of Krastilevsky somewhat weakened in the former members, and member Archpriest Sukharev - a candidate at the Moscow Academy, a person of truthful character - who had been silent until now, began to give his voice to the benefit of the cause.
But Krastilevsky’s abilities and knowledge of the affairs of the Caucasian region could not help but attract the attention of other members and the secretary to his opinions. Following attention, a power of attorney also began to be attracted, especially since the rector and inspector, busy with the seminary, could not devote as much time to the affairs of the Consistory as these matters require for a thorough consideration of them. Superiority in knowledge of the matter over other members, innate cunning, reaching the point of deceit, again gave Krastilevsky primacy and predominance in the Consistory and would have achieved it if there had been no other power that limited and curbed him.
There was a noticeable clash in business, unnoticeable for many: the cunning Krastilevsky barely saw that his opposition was becoming noticeable, as he immediately resorted to evasive compliance. But this, in certain cases, compliance could not change the general direction, and the clash became noticeable in the administrative goal itself, in the moral and spiritual goal. Correcting Krastilevsky turned out to be impossible: his removal from the Consistory turned out to be necessary. From the edge of the diocese to the other, complaints and screams were heard against him.
The clergy, accustomed for decades to see him as an unlimited ruler, were in awe of him. In this year of 1858, although it noticed his limitation in influence and actions, it did not trust this state of limitation, unusual for Krastilevsky, and, knowing from experience his steadfastness, expected from minute to minute his entry into his usual rights of autocracy. Many things progressed slowly, while others did not progress at all for the sole reason that the persons to whom they were entrusted, knowing Krastilevsky’s view of them, did not dare to act displeasing to him.
The latter circumstance served as a very important obstacle to putting the diocese in order, and in some cases could give rise to the most unpleasant and loud events, as this will actually be proven and depicted when describing the bishop’s visit to the city of Mozdok. Having received such a practical concept of Krastilevsky from examining cases not only on paper, but also in their results, the bishop, upon his return from reviewing the diocese, considered it his first and sacred duty to eliminate from diocesan activity that principle that for such a long time had deprived diocesan activity of beneficial correctness and henceforth, in the direction he had acquired, would not cease to serve as an inexhaustible cause of the most harmful influence.
On this basis, the bishop, by the right granted to him, dismissed Krastilevsky from his presence in the Consistory and submitted to the Holy Synod about the complete dismissal of this person from the title of member of the Consistory. The Holy Synod respected this idea.
At the same time, the bishop considered it necessary for the decisive liberation of the members of the Consistory from the influence that Krastilevsky should have retained over them, removing him from the diocesan city. Krastilevsky was dismissed from the post of cathedral archpriest, he was given the abbot of the Mozdok cathedral and the deanery over it without, however, any influence on the Assumption Country Church, whose parishioners are mostly Ossetians and Circassians. And since Krastilevsky considered it incompatible for himself to be placed in Mozdok due to the hatred of Christian mountaineers towards him, which is quite fair, then when a vacancy opened, he was moved to the city of Georgievsk with the same rights under which he was appointed to Mozdok.
Krastilevsky's place in the cathedral and by his presence in the Consistory was taken by the dean of St. George Archpriest Vasily Popov, of an open, direct character, direction corresponding to the character of good intentions and abilities, proven by fourteen years of service in the position of dean, which he retained for himself, despite Krastilevsky's coldness towards him. The Holy Synod approved Archpriest Popov as a member of the Consistory, who, with his detailed knowledge of many matters, was not slow to justify his election and very noticeably influenced the change in the character of the Consistory, in which only one member remained - Archpriest Gremyachinsky - with the same direction, but this person, due to his abilities, could not influence the rest of the Consistory. Archpriest Sukharev turned out to be a very useful figure.
Thus, during 1858, both the composition of the persons and the nature of the actions of the Consistory changed especially and decisively. Assistant Secretary Albanov, against whom there were many complaints in the Holy Synod, in June left service in the Consistory, which entered the service field in 1859 with a renewed composition and character. The new members and the secretary took a closer look at the affairs and church needs of the region. The measure of beneficial severity used by the Holy Synod in relation to members who openly opposed the saint, a measure supported by the removal from the Consistory of Krastilevsky, who covered his opposition with evasiveness, inspired the existing members with special vigilance over the manner of their activities, brought them unanimity in the pursuit of the common church good. From this vigilance, from this unanimity, the activity of the Consistory suddenly received special energy and development. 151 152
The Ekaterinodar (in the Black Sea region) spiritual government remained unchanged in its personnel. The small number of cases made it possible to clear them in a timely manner, without detention.
Care of the poor of the clergy. The care of the poor primarily paid attention to providing a means of subsistence both to those who, due to their advanced years, did not have the strength to support themselves with their own labor, and to young orphans. To the one hundred and eighteen families who received guardianship benefits in 1858, twenty-two families again came under his patronage.
The funds at the disposal of the guardianship included: from the collection on invitation sheets, from the circle collection and from the proceeds of candles in cemetery churches. This fee covers all annual expenses, and the savings acquired by him in the past years, consisting of sixteen thousand fifty rubles and fifty-nine kopecks in silver, remain inviolable in credit institutions. The presence of the guardianship consisted of two archpriests and one priest, of whom Archpriest Sukharev was the rapporteur on guardianship matters.
Deanery. Bishop Ignatius found it necessary, after examining the most populous part of his diocese, to add two deaneries, and to divide the remaining sixteen according to local conveniences. In the city of Kizlyar, significantly removed from diocesan supervision, the bishop established, in addition to the official dean, confidential supervision over the clergy of Kizlyar and its environs in the person of the rector of the Kizlyar Holy Cross Monastery, Abbot Herman, an elder of strict moral life. The abbot was given the right to edify the clergy, stop violators of good behavior, and inform the bishop in general about the morality of the clergy and in particular about those who would allow themselves to act indecently, despite the abbot’s reminder, but he did not have the right to enter into relations with the Consistory on this instruction.
Archpriest Sukharev, dean of the churches of the city of Stavropol, at his request, was dismissed from this position due to his many activities as a member of the Consistory and a teacher of the law at the Stavropol gymnasium. At the same time, many other transfers, dismissals and new appointments of deans were made.
In order to give deanery supervision greater development, the bishop made the following orders: “All priests, deacons and clergymen, if they wish to move from parish to parish and in other similar circumstances, are required to present evidence of the consent of the dean (or of the freedom to do so) of the dean, if both parishes are under the jurisdiction of one dean. If the parishes are in different deaneries, then the petitioners are required to have the testimony of both deans in their petitions. Moreover, deacons and clergymen are obliged to present the certificates of their parish priests.”
This measure had a most beneficial effect on the spirit of the Caucasian clergy, which bears the imprint of the national character common to the entire population of the region - the character of courage and self-will. Deacons and clerics henceforth actually see that parish priests are their superiors, and the clergy of the deanery see their dean as their superior. It is worthy of note that all the well-behaved members of the clergy accepted this order with love, but the weak members did not like it. Because of this order, many well-intentioned and well-behaved people became known to the bishop and were given a turn, and many restless characters and lacking morality were also revealed.
In order to curb and admonish the willful and disobedient, for violation of the above-mentioned order the punishment has been established with a small monetary penalty in favor of the guardianship. Along with the moral benefits, this measure also brought another significant benefit: it significantly reduced the written works of the Consistory.
The second measure to provide certainty to the influence of the deans was the following: previously, different priests were appointed as investigators for various cases that arose (at the discretion of the Consistory). Thus, many affairs of the deanery remained unknown to the dean. Moreover, priest investigators, especially those who were most often entrusted with investigations, often with the removal of the dean from the investigation for bringing the investigation to the right course, these investigators, fully aware of their authority, mysteriously and mysteriously entrusted to them, already imputed nothing to their deans.
To eliminate this disorder, so reminiscent of the troubled waters of the Russian proverb, the bishop proposed that the Consistory use only the dean for investigations into the deanery. Although deans are mostly found in two-parish churches, and in the event of their absence on deanery matters, their comrade can replace them upon arrival, but since, in the spirit of the times, investigative cases have multiplied greatly, and the diocese is sparsely populated and spread over a large area, it is left to all deans to elect an assistant, approved by the bishop, and to entrust this assistant with matters of secondary importance (Ust. spirit. Consist. Art. 69).
The third means of strengthening deanery supervision is recognized to be the closer relations between the bishop and the dean, who are granted, by the way, in addition to official reports that receive legal processing, to treat the bishop with confidential reports, which should remain in the bishop’s office without publicity and the subject of which may be information that does not tolerate formality, but is very necessary for completeness and clarity in administrative terms. This completeness and clarity of information, as providing a correct and definite concept, is essential for the bishop. All of the above-mentioned orders are set out on paper and announced throughout the diocese in circulars with the aim of eliminating confusion if possible and freeing the Consistory from unnecessary correspondence that distracts from proper attention and attention to matters of paramount importance.
General view of the diocese. During the period of service of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus, this region was in a transitional state and, apparently, was supposed to remain in this position for a considerable time. Russian weapons constantly pushed the mountaineers into the mountains. For this reason, strategic points changed, the villages of the linear Cossacks were moved to the very base of the main ridge of the Caucasus Mountains. Cities were quickly built and began to take on a flourishing character; even faster they emptied and fell. The military principle dominated the region. The direction of all other principles was adapted to the successful achievement of military goals.
Most of the various departments were headed by military people. They lived in cities as if in a camp. In Georgievsk, especially in Mozdok and Kizlyar, from evening until morning it was impossible to go out onto the streets unarmed or without being accompanied by armed people; from twilight to the whole night, shutters and gates were tightly closed. It seemed that everything and everyone was ready at the first demand of circumstances to be removed and transferred to another place. In Stavropol itself, buildings were built in haste. Many of them are quite magnificent in appearance and size, but all of them are very insufficient in strength, location and in economic terms. Private houses are built with the goal of achieving the greatest benefits in construction at the lowest construction costs.
It is quite natural that such a state of the region had a significant impact on the state of the diocese. The Bishop, the Consistory, the Seminary hovered in temporary shelters, in the most inconvenient apartments. At first, the civil department assisted the diocesan department. Subsequently, it cooled towards him, directing all its attention to delivering development to the city and society in a European direction. Citizens, who willingly gave donations to the Church, turned their zeal to institutions in the spirit of the West. And it should be noted that the local merchant class at that time fell greatly, because almost all government contracts and supplies passed into the hands of the Transcaucasian Armenian merchants.
With the arrival of Bishop Ignatius in the Caucasus, the prince governor and the manager of the civil part of the governorship, State Secretary Kruzenshtern, turned beneficial attention to the Caucasian See.
On behalf of Prince Baryatinsky 153 in 1858, the commander of the Right Wing was drafting a project to divide the Caucasus region into two regions: western and eastern. The first, constituting the right flank, is called Kuban, the second - the left flank - Tersk.
According to this project, Stavropol could remain the only district city. The main city of the Kuban region should have been located on the Kuban River, and the main city for Terskaya already existed - Vladikavkaz, on the Terek. Such a division of the region, required by military considerations, should have had an impact on the position of the diocese. The question of this was proposed to the bishop in the form of a confidential relationship. Due to their very curious content, both the question and the bishop’s answer are included here in the text without abbreviations.
“Completely confidential.
His Eminence the Most Reverend Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea.
Most Reverend Bishop, most merciful Archpastor!
The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Prince Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky, in administrative terms, proposed dividing the entire Caucasus region into two regions: Kuban and Terek, introducing all parts of heterogeneous administrations into the management of the regions on a special basis.
The Kuban region should include the entire Black Sea army and part of the Cossack line with the Trans-Kuban population, most of the civilian population of the Stavropol province with their departments, which, according to the assumption made, in civil terms have to form one common whole, since the remaining parts of the region have to enter into one common whole of the civil administration of the Terek region.
Such a division of the region, changing most of the existing relations and dependencies of places and persons, will naturally require, at the same time, changes in the very locations of government institutions. These points must be determined by the centrality of the new areas and possible rapprochement with our current military lines of operations.
The inextricability of all these changes requires corresponding changes and devices for diocesan management.
In this conviction, I have the honor to ask Your Eminence to take the trouble to express your opinion and considerations about the structure of a diocese that would embrace both regions under one administration.
The vastness of the entire region, the difficulty of traveling in it and the need for the bishop to frequently visit the constantly militant Orthodox population give rise to the idea of either dividing the diocese or establishing a vicariate. I convey this thought to Your Eminence at your discretion, in accordance with the spiritual needs that are more familiar to you.
For the management of the Orthodox Church in the settlements of the linear Cossacks, there is now management through the chief priest. In relation to that part of this army that should become part of the Kuban region, I recognize the need to unite the administration of the Church in the person of one shepherd - the bishop. This personal conviction of mine is based, among other things, on a close, comparative study of the morals and religious principles of the Black Sea and linear Cossacks.
But, considering apparent convictions alone to be insufficient, I appeal to Your Eminence with a request to outline the spiritual grounds for the establishment of diocesan administration in Orthodox settlements, so that I can use them to support the facts that I noticed in the Linear Cossack Army. These facts constitute the decline of Orthodoxy, the strength and triumph of the schism and general immorality, protected from government measures by the courage and courage of the combat units of the troops.
At the same time, I consider it necessary to draw your Eminence’s attention to the truly sorrowful consequences of the actions towards the linear schismatic Cossacks of the first Caucasian Eminence Jeremiah. They are blamed on the Orthodox bishop and they are contrasted with the main reason preventing the restoration of this church power in the settlements of the Caucasian linear Cossack army.
I fully understand that the character of a person may differ greatly from the character and spirit of the Church, but I find it difficult to imagine spiritual grounds that would support my administrative convictions. Therefore, I would ask Your Eminence to tell me your view and your opinion on this matter.
Committing myself to your holy prayers and asking for the archpastoral blessing, I have the honor to be your eminence, most gracious archpastor and father, most humble servant: Original signed by the head of the Right Wing of the Caucasian Line, Lieutenant General Philipson 154.
September 20, 1858 Stavropol.”
His Excellency Grigory Ivanovich Philipson.
Your Excellency, most gracious sir!
To Your Excellency’s letter dated September 20, 1858, No. 719, I have the honor to present the answer in the following lines 155:
1. Completely sharing the opinion of Your Excellency that the vastness and diversity of the Caucasian region, its rapid development, promising a significant future, its special requirements, especially when divided into two regions, each of which should have its own separate military and civil authorities, indicate the need for changes and additions in relation to the spiritual department of the region. I think, in the first case, to be content with bringing in a vicar bishop to assist the diocesan bishop and strengthening the Caucasian Consistory. I recognize the establishment of two dioceses as premature, based on the following facts:
a) The Caucasian diocese, vast in space, is very sparsely populated, in terms of its population and the number of churches it is equal to 1/4, 1/5, 1/6 and even 1/10 of other Russian dioceses, why, if divided into two dioceses, these dioceses would become prohibitively small (especially the Terek diocese), due to their smallness excessively weak in action and influence.
b) With the establishment of two dioceses, two staffs would be needed for two episcopal houses, two consistories, two seminaries. All this would require double expenses for establishment and double expenses for maintenance. Meanwhile, the essential spiritual need of the region is precisely the one that you astutely discerned and to which you pointed out: the need for frequent, attentive, by no means hasty and superficial visits by the bishop to the vast region along often difficult and unsafe paths. This need can be well met by a vicar.
2. Since the region is in a transitional state and at the present time it is impossible to determine where its main city will be, even where its main cities will be (for the needs of the region at the present time cannot in any way be its needs in its future), I find it still impossible to indicate where the seat of the diocesan bishop will be. It is obvious that Stavropol should remain a diocesan city for some indefinite time.
Events indicate that it was only a camp for the main military and civil authorities of the Caucasus - let it be for a while the spiritual camp for the Caucasian diocesan department. From this camp it will make its initial orders and will see its permanent and lasting residence, revealed by time and circumstances. Stavropol is the central point of the country. It already has its own shelter for the bishop, and has its own premises for the Consistory. With the removal of many government places and persons, many buildings will remain empty and can serve as temporary premises for the seminary and even for the vicar bishop, who, in my opinion, in order to be significantly useful, must certainly live in the same city with the diocesan bishop, following the example of the vicars of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kyiv.
The direction and activity of the vicar must merge into one with the direction and activity of the diocesan bishop. As much as a vicar's frequent visits to the diocese are needed, so is the constant presence of the diocesan bishop at the point from which all orders issue. Careful observation and experience have convinced me of this last truth, which, I am sure, is obvious to Your Excellency.
3. Dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church are divided into three categories, or classes. The first class is assigned to metropolises, the second to dioceses that are especially important in the state, especially large or populous, and governed by governors general. The third - to dioceses, the least significant in terms of government, governed by governors.
It is obvious that the Caucasian diocese, which, with the new administrative division of the region, should combine two regions, each of which will be governed by a person vested with the rights and authority of the governor-general, should be ranked among the dioceses of the second class, as has been done with respect to some dioceses, for example, with respect to the Don, Riga, and Warsaw. Nowadays the Caucasian diocese is in the third class.
4. It is necessary to petition the Caucasian diocese for the staff and salary given to the Western dioceses, due to the decisive similarity in relation to the means of support that the Caucasian diocese has with the Western dioceses and due to the decisive impossibility of existing on the salary currently assigned to it.
Currently, it is provided with a salary on par with ancient Russian dioceses. But in ancient Russian dioceses, bishops' houses are either located at monasteries that have a particularly good income, or monasteries with a good income are assigned to them. Part of this income supplements the insignificant salary, which since ancient times was allocated from the treasury to the bishop and his staff.
So, for example, the Kursk bishop receives 285 silver rubles per year in addition to his salary, which is the same amount as the annual salary of the Caucasian bishop - 7,500 silver rubles from monastery income. Accordingly, the bishop and the persons who make up his staff receive a supplement to their salary from income. Similar to the above example, in other ancient dioceses the insignificance of the government salary is fully and abundantly replenished by income.
The Caucasian diocese does not and cannot have such income, for the miraculous icons and holy relics that constitute the reason for the income in the monastery inside Russia cannot in any way belong to a region that is completely new in Christian terms. Consequently, the only means of supporting the bishop and the entire Caucasian diocesan department should be a salary paid from the treasury. And since Western dioceses in a similar situation, also without local income, are rewarded with a salary, then this remedy, according to logical consistency, can and should be applied to the Caucasian diocese.
The beggarly - so one can express it with all justice - salary served as one of the main reasons why the Caucasian diocese, since its establishment, not only did not develop for fifteen years, but, barely established, was already almost destroyed. This salary was the cause of significant unrest that invaded the Caucasian diocesan administration: it forced many members of the administration to resort to abuse in order to get themselves a piece of daily bread. Since beyond the line drawn by the law lies an endless expanse of evil, some have moved from the desire to satisfy what is necessary to the desire to enrich themselves.
This salary did not allow and does not allow any worthy official to serve in the consistory office: only those officials serve there who, due to force of circumstances, cannot serve in another place. Thus, the Caucasian diocesan department, left to its own devices and their poverty, in many cases served not as an edification, but as a temptation for the Caucasian flock.
Not with the aim of condemning any order or person, but in order to give an accurate idea of the current situation of the Caucasian diocese and thereby provide a reason for correcting what has been done wrongly, for replenishing what has been done insufficiently, I find it necessary to say the following.
The Caucasian diocese was initially established for the entire Caucasus region, which geographically and statistically constitutes a whole. This character of integrity, recognized as a treasure for every country and department in administrative and economic relations, was violated by the expulsion of the churches of the Cossack Linear Army from the diocesan department. The division produced by this deduction is completely different from the division now proposed. Now the country is divided correctly, with administrative and economic meaning. The division of the diocese by the expulsion of the Cossack churches is meaningless; at the same time there is division and confusion.
I am writing this with a map of the Caucasus region at hand, which shows the diocesan department scattered throughout the region. It is like a broken vessel, all of whose components are present, but are in a separate state, which for this very reason is unfit for use. On the right flank, the Church of the Line went deep into the diocesan department. On the contrary, starting from the center, the diocesan department is scattered across the land of the Linear Army, like islands in the sea. Already Stavropol itself constitutes an island, a separate island is constituted by Georgievsky, a separate island by Pyatigorsky, a large separate island by the deaneries of Milovidov and Zamyatin. Then again there are separate islands: Rostovanovka, Mozdok, Kizlyar with Tarunovka and Black Market.
There is no such nonsense in all of Russia. It is in vain that they cover it up with a loud phrase, saying that it was done for administrative purposes. This is erroneous: the fruit of administrative considerations should be the most convenient situation, but here the opposite is evident. An order, contrary to all the rules of modern science, proven by experience to be completely worthless, carried out with extraordinary haste, admits of itself that it is the fruit of a clash of passions.
I repeat that I am not saying this to blame anyone. I know that mistakes and hobbies are common to all people, and are especially convenient for those who do not strictly monitor their minds and hearts in the light of the Gospel. I speak frankly, motivated by love, for the good of the cause and only in a secret conversation with a statesman. Concealing the truth from a statesman is a state crime.
The same should be said about religious institutions in Stavropol. There is no system visible in the selection of places for them, in their projects themselves. They are all scattered in different parts and ends of the unpaved city. Communication between them is extremely difficult during autumn, winter and spring, meanwhile, the persons belonging to them must mostly walk.
Founders and builders must always keep in mind not only the construction and establishment of something, but also the provision of amenities, the provision of funds for the maintenance and repair of institutions and buildings. For this purpose, our intelligent ancestors for the most part united in one place the cathedral, the bishop's house, the Consistory, and the seminary.
Imitation of this order for the purpose of administrative and economic benefits is necessary especially when the diocesan department gets the opportunity to leave its temporary camp - Stavropol - and settle in the city that will become the main city of the region, or, more precisely, the right flank, which has a huge advantage over the left, corresponding to the huge advantage of the Black Sea over the Caspian both politically and in trade.
In order for the actions of the diocesan department and its very existence to take proper development, it is necessary to have the assistance, and not the opposition, of the civil department. The real relationship between these two departments is depicted by the following facts:
1) The other day I just received a grant for the place occupied by the temporary shelter of the bishop, despite the fact that by the highest command it was ordered to transfer this place to the diocesan department even under the Right Reverend Jeremiah, almost following the opening of the diocese.
2) The dacha, which was located at the opening of the diocese at the end of the city, and now located in one of its best places, partly given by the city society to the diocesan department for the construction of a bishop's house with services on it, partly acquired by purchase, is now in the process. Outwardly, this is the process of the official Krupinsky, who has seized the entire middle of the dacha, but in essence it is a process headed by the manager of the civilian part. He, hiding behind a well-known legal sophistry, which always intensifies to cover up predation - supposedly the desire for public benefit - strives, while exceeding his power, while trampling on the laws, to arbitrarily steal from the bishop's house the entire central part of the dacha and transfer it into private hands, which should destroy all the dignity of the dacha. This lengthy and tedious process for the diocesan department made it hitherto impossible to build a bishop's house on a specific site.
3) Until now, the civil authorities have not allocated land according to the law for the maintenance and maintenance of the bishop's house with its accessories, which should have been done simultaneously with the establishment of the diocese. Instead of land (due to the lack of any nearby), the Caucasian diocesan authorities are asking for a monetary reward. Less significant facts express the same sympathy and affection. I found such relations formed upon my arrival at the diocese, and it is already difficult for the current civil authorities to change the direction they have taken. But my personal relationship with the governor, Lieutenant General Volotsky, is the best.
5. In your letter, you indicated the sad consequences perceived by Your Excellency of the present management of the churches of the Cossack Line Army and with logical consistency you turn your observant gaze to the very beginnings from which such consequences flowed and should flow. I extract my answer from the law of God, from church decrees, from the Holy Scriptures and the holy fathers. I will not tell you my own opinions, but I will expound a teaching recognized by the entire Orthodox Church, recognized by it as divine, which it is, and not human.
The bishop is the beginning of the church hierarchy. He is the successor of the apostles, the representative on earth of the Lord. 156 He ordains the presbyter and the deacon, he consecrates the church or the most essential part of the church - the antimension, he consecrates the holy chrism, this is something that thousands of presbyters gathered together cannot do. He is the beginning and source of all Christian sacraments and worship itself: the Christian Church cannot exist without him.
The Apostles, preaching the Gospel throughout the universe, appointed bishops in all cities and regions, and the bishops ordained presbyters (priests) to fully satisfy the needs of Christians. In the ecclesiastical sense, priests are the bishop’s tools: these tools act as long as the bishop acts with them. When he ceases to act with them, then they are deprived of all their power, for their powers and reality are not their own, but borrowed.
The entire community of Christians in general was called the Universal Church, and the private and local Church was and is called the community of Christians in a city or region: the Churches of Rome, Jerusalem, Corinth, Carthage, and Athens were local.
The presbyter has never been and could not be the head of the Church, for the clear reason that he acts not with his own power, but with the power granted, granted and terminated by his authority, which is the bishop. When Presbyter Paulinus became the head of a certain part of the Antiochian people, separating from Bishop Meletius, but not in the least separating from the unity of faith, the Universal Church took all measures that depended on it to eliminate this disorder, and called it nothing more than a schism. 157
This circumstance is known in church history under the name of the Eastern Schism, since Antioch, the capital of Syria, with the neighboring countries: Mesopotamia, Armenia and Georgia, was called the East, constituting the eastern extremity of the Roman Empire; Persia was no longer understood as part of the East.
The present administration of the churches of the Line Army also has a character similar to that of the Eastern schism. It is very natural that the main Russian shepherds, who constitute the Holy Synod, look at this circumstance in an ecclesiastical sense and would like, if the opportunity arises, to eliminate the violation of church order and regulations, especially since it serves as a cause of sorrow for the true sons of the Church, a cause of temptation for very many who do not understand the needs and types of administrative ones and begin on this basis to doubt the very Orthodoxy of our Church. On this basis, schismatics inside and outside Russia reproach, accuse and convict our Church of apostasy from Orthodoxy.
Due to such temptations, which often invade the Church under the influence of the more or less clear West, many are seduced into the schism that is constantly growing in our fatherland. This is proven in fact: under Emperor Peter I, when the population of Russia reached 17 million, there were up to 700 thousand schismatics. If they were multiplied in proportion to the population, then with a current population of seventy million, the number of schismatics should not exceed 3 million, but their number extends beyond 12 million.
Since in the open reports read by the public, almost no seduction into schism is visible, and only one conversion from the schism to Orthodoxy is visible, meanwhile, in fact, the schism is growing rapidly and has already assumed gigantic proportions, this leads to a logical and practical conclusion: the schism is spreading in Russia most in ways and means unknown to the government or becoming known only when they have completed their work and brought abundant fruit. One of the most reliable weapons for limiting and reducing the schism lies in reverence for the most holy decrees of the Holy Church, which are the decrees of God, the decrees of the Holy Spirit, and in protecting them.
The archpriest has only the right, according to his ecclesiastical rank and significance, to occupy the first place among his brother priests. 158
He by no means has the ecclesiastical right to govern the churches of an entire region. The assimilation of this right to the priest belongs to the character of Protestantism and is so understood by all who have thoroughly studied the Christian religion.
For any local Church, the deprivation of a bishop is the deprivation of God-established ecclesiastical authority, the deprivation of a religious principle, the deprivation of the source of the sacraments, the source of hierarchical authority and court, the source of church Orthodox dogma and moral teaching. This is the removal of the head from the body, the removal of parents from children, the expulsion from the Church of the image of Christ, Christ’s representative. The inevitable consequence of such disunity should be a decline in religious teaching, from which schisms and heresies develop in the country, and a decline in moral teaching, from which a sinful, depraved and unguided life of conscience develops in the country, which is all seen by Your Excellency.
But since the Orthodox Church of the country cannot exist without a bishop, this only source of Christian sacraments, then for the churches of the Linear Army priests and deacons are ordained, antimensions and everything else that requires the power and rank of bishop are consecrated, by the Caucasian bishop, by order of the Holy Synod, which has the character of leniency to the demands of circumstances, but not in accordance with the rules and spirit of the Orthodox Church. Churches.
According to church rules, a bishop must perform ordinations only within his diocese, and not outside it. He must prepare the person for ordination by abundant edification and study of the person; after consecration, he must again edify the ordained person and observe him. 159 Ordination is a great sacrament: through it, a person is suddenly reborn from a verbal sheep into a shepherd. The performer of this rebirth is the bishop. Due to spiritual rebirth, through consecration, the bishop enters into a spiritual relationship with the initiate. 160
Both the performer of the sacrament and the one on whom the sacrament was performed vividly feel this kinship. The bishop sees in the ordained his spiritual child, the fruit of his ordination, the fruit of the Spirit, and the ordained sees in the bishop his father, who brought him a new being, he sees the image of his Creator, who transformed him from a sheep into a shepherd. The spiritual seal placed on the soul by consecration is indelible, because it is Divine. What God has joined together, says the Gospel, let no man separate (Matthew 19:6).
The excommunication of a bishop from the presbyters ordained by him, the excommunication of a bishop from the flock for whom he performs all the duties of a bishop, is similar to the forcible excommunication of parents from their children immediately after their birth. Using the bishop as a machine for ordinations and other church needs is like using parents only to produce children. In one case - a violation of the natural law established by God, in the other case - a violation of the spiritual law, also established by God.
The separation of Presbyter Paulinus from the Bishop of Antioch, which I mentioned above, lasted a long time because it was supported by the government, which often, in administrative forms, demanded various concessions from the Church and, in the meek spirit of the Church, received them when they did not involve a violation of the dogmas themselves. But church history actually testifies that the most faithful and reliable administrative measure consists in carefully protecting church decrees; evading them in administrative forms, which initially seemed useful, later turned out to be harmful in its results, contributing to the disunity of the people and the weakening of the state.
6. Your Excellency’s remark that the character of a person invested with church rank must be completely different from the character destined for the rank by the Church is very valid. Both in human society, and in particular in every person, evil is mixed with good. This confusion serves as one of the practical irresistible proofs that humanity constitutes a category of fallen beings. At the same time, it gives repentance and repentance the dignity of human virtues, and makes cleansing from evil, both private and public, an indispensable duty of people. I accept evil and good in the broadest, correct sense, recognizing as evil both a lack of prudence and a lack of self-knowledge. 161
No earthly orders, no higher callings, starting with the apostle, remained undefiled by the fall of humanity, and therefore the Orthodox Church never stopped replacing an insufficient or unworthy person with another person, more satisfactory. Patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, in a word, all ranks of the church hierarchy, were subjected to this fate, but the order itself, as an institution of God, was always sacredly preserved by the Church.
7. You deigned to mention in your letter about His Eminence Jeremiah, the first Bishop of the Caucasus. I am not familiar with him and have never seen him, and in the local consistory archive there is no file that would depict the nature of his actions regarding the schismatics. In general, it must be said that jealousy and enthusiasm, which are always very pleasant for the masses of the people, are always devoid of a correct view of the Orthodox Christian faith. The famous church writer Saint Isaac of Syria called this direction alien to spiritual reason and pointed to meekness as a sign of spiritual strength that can have a beneficial effect on human infirmities. 162
But people with a superficial understanding of Christianity recognize enthusiasm and zeal for holiness. Such jealousy is the most unreliable weapon against those infected with false teaching. Heresy and schism are sins of the mind. Just as every way of thinking is accompanied and promoted by a spirit or state of the heart that is consistent with it, heresy and schism are always accompanied by hardening of the heart; jealousy can intensify this hardening.
“Whoever wants to successfully fight against heresy,” said some spiritual writer, “must be completely alien to vanity and enmity towards one’s neighbor, so as not to express them with some mockery, some caustic or cruel word, some brilliant word that can resonate in the proud soul of the heretic, arouse and disturb its passion. Anoint the scab and ulcer of your neighbor, as if with whole oil, with the only words of love and humility, so that the merciful Lord will look upon your love and your humility, may they be announced to the heart of your neighbor, and may God’s great gift be given to you - the salvation of your neighbor.
The pride, insolence, stubbornness, and enthusiasm of the heretic have only the appearance of energy: in essence they are weakness, in need of prudent condolences. This weakness only multiplies and becomes fierce when people act against it with reckless zeal, expressed in cruel reproof.”
This, in my opinion, should be the nature of the activity of an Orthodox archpastor in relation to heresy and schism.
I believe that in these lines I have stated the answer to the questions proposed to me by Your Excellency in your letter, the answer is as satisfactory as my meager abilities and knowledge allowed. It remains for me to wish that the merciful Lord, the Giver of all blessings and their beginning - good thoughts, would send down to you from His spiritual treasury wise and venerable thoughts, so that he would lay them as the foundation of the work entrusted to you. With a feeling of excellent respect and perfect devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency's most humble servant: Original signed by Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea.
October 3 days 1858."
This assumption, however, did not come true. At the end of 1858, a circular order was received from the prince governor outlining another project that eliminated the above-mentioned one, but which did not yet represent anything positive, as it was introduced executively only in the form of an experiment for two years from January 1, 1859. According to this latest project, only the governor’s mode of action changed; it did not affect the diocesan department at all.
The two assumptions presented here actually and picturesquely depict the transitional state of the region and thus enable the Holy Synod to correctly formulate its administrative considerations regarding the Church.
Bishop's House. By 1858, the bishop's house was, in fairness, almost destroyed.
1. The wooden, dilapidated and cramped hut, donated by the merchant Volobuev to the Right Reverend Jeremiah for a short time, until the time of construction of the bishop's house, was supposed to serve as a shelter for the bishop much longer than that. The inconvenience and extraordinary simplicity of this shelter deprived the bishop of the opportunity to deal with diocesan affairs with due clarity. Moreover, the hut, which was already a dilapidated one, fell into complete disrepair within fourteen years and began to collapse. The bishop had to spend the winter from 1857 to 1858 in a private house. The place itself, quite large, but inconvenient for the bishop's house, which should stand separately and have the character of a monastery, approved by the highest command for the bishop's house back in 1846, was not transferred by 1858 under various pretexts to the diocesan department.
2. Another place, in the best part of the city, called Vorobievskaya, very convenient and picturesque, was purchased by the Right Reverend Jeremiah from the headquarters. At this place there is a forest cottage with broken slabs, donated to the house by the city. At this dacha, a process is being carried out with a private person who has arbitrarily and forcibly seized a significant plot of land in it and is trying to expand his possession. Naturally, given the situation of this place, and with the unknown how the matter will be decided, building a house on it is premature. A project for the house was drawn up, but it was so insufficient that Bishop Ignatius did not dare to submit it for approval by the Holy Synod.
3. The Caucasian authorities, who petitioned for the opening of a diocese in the Caucasus, intended to immediately provide the maintenance of the bishop and his house with land or a sum of money for the land, but this provision has not yet been realized, both the person and the house of the bishop were left in the most difficult situation. Bishops Jeremiah and Ioannikios were given an allowance of 1,000 silver rubles in addition to their salaries and 1,500 silver rubles for the maintenance of the house, the last 1,500 rubles were allotted in 1858.
4. With the opening of the diocese, forty-four ministers were given to the house, chosen from the state-owned villagers of the Stavropol province. The house obviously had neither the means nor the space to house these full-time servants. The means to support them consisted in their meager salary and in the meager allowance that the house could give them. For this reason, the position of full-time ministers, especially those with families, was completely homeless and disastrous.
The following measures were taken to extract the Caucasian bishop's house from the state of decline and destruction in 1858: 1. An intensive petition to the civil department to carry out the highest command by taking possession of the site donated for temporary shelter to the bishop. And the house was taken into possession of the said plot, and a deed of possession was issued by the Civil Chamber. 2. The wooden hut in which the bishop lived turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt from the very foundation. This was done during the summer, and the house was given a different location, more convenient and somewhat larger in size.
In accordance with the high cost of building materials in Stavropol, the new temporary premises of the bishop have the most modest character, however, not alien to the elegance brought to the building by its harmonious architectural dimensions, convenience and simplicity. Placed at the end of the city, away from the noise, in the middle of a garden, the episcopal shelter is reminiscent of secluded Russian monasteries and hermitages: Gethsemane, Optina Hermitage and others like that. Although this temporary shelter is not convenient enough to house the bishop, and the bishop’s house is supposed to be built in another, very convenient place, all measures were taken to build this shelter with all care and strength for two reasons.
Firstly, it is not known how long it should be occupied by the bishop, since it is not known when the episcopal house will be built in Stavropol. This last unknown is based on another unknown: whether, due to the transitional nature of the region, Stavropol will remain the provincial city or will suffer the fate of Georgievsk, which quickly rose and quickly fell.
Here, more than in other places, there is a need for a school for girls of the clergy, since many villages with their churches are located in remote steppes and are almost deprived of all means of education. The bishop's current shelter is especially convenient for such an appointment. Near it there is a theological district school, and on the other side there is a place for building a seminary. Consequently, mentors from both the seminary and the school can also be mentors in a theological women's school.
In addition, the buildings of the episcopal shelter are located inside the garden, surrounded by a fence, and in the garden there are vines and fruit trees, the care of which the girls can learn, since gardens and vineyards bring significant benefits to many of the local clergy.
In order to acquire funds to restore the episcopal shelter, the bishop addressed the flock with an appeal. Initially, the appeal was made to the Stavropol merchants, who, despite the recent formation of the society and their meager funds, presented 3975 rubles in silver. Due to the extraordinary high cost of materials in Stavropol, especially forest materials, which are four times more expensive than in St. Petersburg, this amount turned out to be insufficient.
The correspondence regarding the delivery of the amount for the initial establishment from the Holy Synod, which was at first very vigorously conducted by the Caucasian chief authorities, who petitioned for the establishment of the diocese, was subsequently poorly supported and did not result in any result. Even if this correspondence were successfully initiated at the present time, the fruit from it could be expected in a few years, and the fruit could be very unsatisfactory.
Meanwhile, the need for housing for the bishop did not tolerate delay: Mr. Stasenkov provided him with free housing only for a six-month period, and the bishop not only did not receive apartment money, but in this 1858 he did not receive even that thousand rubles, in addition to his salary, which his predecessors received: renting an apartment, apart from being completely inconvenient, was completely impossible. This situation itself pointed to one way: a way to strengthen the merchants’ donation with other donations.
To achieve this goal, in accordance with previous examples in the Caucasian diocese and examples in other dioceses, the bishop turned to the clergy with a proposal to make a feasible donation from the purse money for the construction of a shelter for the bishop. This proposal was accepted by the clergy with extraordinary sympathy. By January 1, 1859, up to eight thousand rubles in silver had been received. This amount of money was enough for a thorough and durable construction.
3. The place in the Vorobyovskaya part of the city, which was in litigation with the official Krupinsky, by 1858 almost went, through the means of untruth and violence, to a large extent to the mentioned official, who arbitrarily seized the entire middle of the dacha and thus took away all the dignity of the dacha, of which only the outskirts remained behind the bishop's house.
When the bishop arrived, due to a particularly happy coincidence, it turned out to be possible to stop Mr. Krupinsky’s willful disassociation of land belonging to the house and to forward the whole matter to the Holy Synod, on the basis of Art. 306. IX vol. Holy Law, ed. 1842, which decrees that no decision by which anything from the actual possession of monasteries and bishops' houses is condemned can be carried out without a review of the case in the Senate and without the approval of the Imperial Majesty.
Despite the process and protest, Mr. Krupinsky owns the seized land, but has stopped further predation. Meanwhile, the Caucasian governor had already given an order to the Stavropol civil governor in favor of the bishop's house on this matter last summer.
4. Regarding the allocation of land to the house, appropriate measures were immediately taken: in particular, relations on this subject with the governor of the Caucasus, Prince Baryatinsky, turned out to be very successful. State Secretary Kruzenshtern notified the bishop in a formal manner dated September 25, 1858, No. 3702, that the prince had come with a report to the Emperor through the Caucasian Committee on the annual issuance of 3,800 silver rubles to the bishop's house in lieu of land that the region could not provide.
5. The regular servants of the house, due to their difficult situation both in relation to the house and in relation to themselves, could not remain any longer in this position. Therefore, the bishop entered into communication with the Stavropol Chamber of State Property about whether it was possible to replace the ministers with money, moreover, proposing this as a temporary measure, indicated by the violence of the circumstances at home, for which he cannot currently give his regular servants any shelter, even any means of maintenance.
Following a meeting of the Chamber with peasant societies, to which the bishop expressed his consent, a proposal was made in the form of a temporary measure to the prince viceroy to issue from the Chamber to the bishop's house, instead of regular servants, the amount of 1,760 rubles in silver, counting 40 rubles per person per year. This measure has received the highest approval.
Seminary. The Caucasian Theological Seminary does not have its own house, but is located in an apartment in private houses built for speculative purposes on a large street. For this reason, it is impossible to have in it either the cleanliness or the amenities that are available in buildings built or adapted specifically for the seminary. The successes of the students and their morality depend a lot on the premises they occupy: the fact that the seminary is located on the best street in the city, on the boulevard, close to public entertainment, has a great effect on the students.
Stavropol is a military city, a cheerful city. There is no other apartment that would satisfy the needs of the seminary in terms of space and would not present the above-mentioned disadvantages. The place allocated for the seminary near the Varvarinskaya Church is good, it already has a significant garden, it is located near the temporary episcopal shelter and is very secluded. Regarding amenities and facilities, the success of the pupils and their morality are satisfactory. The present rector and inspector perform their duties incomparably more carefully than the previous seminary authorities: with such careful fulfillment, naturally, comes greater demands on the students, which must inevitably bear fruit.
On the occasion of the proposed construction of a seminary in Stavropol last year, 1858, reference prices for building materials were sent to the Theological Educational Administration. It should be noted that prices for materials had increased unusually by 1859 and the sent list of reference prices is now completely incorrect.
We present here the bishop’s proposal dated February 18, No. 21, which sets out his critical view of the building project for the Caucasian Seminary 163. This proposal indicates the degree of attention the bishop paid to the matter of the convenience of the seminary premises.
“Considering the judgment of the Caucasian Seminary Board according to its journal dated February 17, 1858, to be very thorough, very maturely considered, I find it necessary to submit for the discretion of the higher authorities, in addition to what is written in the journal, the following: the material from which all stone buildings in Stavropol are erected consists of a very porous stone, very easily penetrated by air, dampness and cold. Stone buildings in Stavropol are particularly susceptible to the influence of wet weather, mainly the influence of wind and frost. For this reason, when designing a building for a seminary in Stavropol, you need to keep in mind completely different considerations than what you have when designing buildings to be built from brick.
Moreover, Stavropol is located very high (that is, it is located at an altitude of up to 250 fathoms above sea level), which is why it is exposed to winds and frosts much more than its entire surroundings. It often happens that in Stavropol there are frosts and there is snow, but in the steppes around it, even to the north of it, spring is in full swing, and arable land is being produced. The place allocated for the construction of the seminary is picturesque and very healthy, but it is on an elevated open hill, and therefore most exposed to frost and wind.
The winter of 1857–1858, accompanied by severe frosts and winds, served as experimental proof of how necessary it is to take precautions, taking into account the properties of building materials, in order to protect buildings from the influence of the atmosphere: most of the stone houses were permeated with cold, all efforts to heat them were in vain, which resulted in a significant development of colds in the population.
On these grounds, I find that the living rooms of the designed seminary building, especially the student bedrooms, must suffer extremely from frost and wind. Based on experiments, we can say with certainty that with a frost of ten degrees or more - and with wind and much less frost - in these rooms it will be impossible to achieve more than five degrees of heat with the most intensive heating.
Rooms on the second floor No. 5, 11, 8 and 9, as well as rooms on the 1st floor No. 5, 6 (corner), 12 and 13, should suffer greatly from winds and frost. In general, all rooms of the building, relative to the local conditions described above, are shallow and will require strong heating. In addition to the fact that people who will have to spend most of their time in cold rooms will inevitably be exposed to disease, heating the building itself, given the extreme high cost of firewood (now in winter it reached 18 silver rubles per fathom) will be extremely burdensome for the seminary.
Measures to avoid the above inconveniences are the following: 1) In general, the building plan should be increased in width and decreased in length, making the rooms deeper (they should be up to six fathoms deep), therefore less susceptible to the influence of wind and frost. 2) At one end of the building, build a church, and at the other, a staircase, so that all the living quarters, in which the students are intended to spend their lives with their rector and inspector, will face only one side to the air, and the other three sides will be completely fenced off. With this plan, the following will be preserved: 1) the precious health of the building’s residents; 2) a significant amount of money for heating the building.
I propose that the board attach this opinion to the case, and, leaving a copy of it with the board, present the original to the opinion of the highest authorities.
Stavropol Theological School. The Stavropol Theological School is located in its own stone house, located near the episcopal house itself, donated by the merchant Gnilovsky under the Right Reverend Jeremiah. The school building, in appearance, promises much more than what it actually is, in terms of the general character of Stavropol buildings. It does not have the amenities necessary and useful for the school. However, there is an opportunity to rebuild it and make it more convenient.
Visit to the diocese. In 1858, the bishop visited that part of the diocese occupied by the Stavropol province, the southern and eastern parts of which are scattered, like islands on the sea, throughout the region of the linear Cossacks. The cities can rightly be called islands: Kizlyar, Mozdok, Pyatigorsk, Stavropol itself, they are surrounded on all sides by lands belonging to the linear Cossacks. This situation of the cities of the province, crowded on a small corner of the earth in the middle of another department, is associated with great inconvenience in the civil sense. The bishop, when visiting diocesan cities, necessarily had to travel through the Cossack villages, in which, as a result of the newly made order, he entered the churches of God and talked with the village population.
Stavropol. The provincial city of Stavropol, as first seen by the bishop in 1858, has the right to have a description of it in ecclesiastical terms take first place in the description of the department of the diocese visited by the bishop. The city was recently a Cossack village. Recently, mountaineers lived in its gorges. These sons of wild freedom, noticing that the Russians’ settlement here was secure, and that living for the mountaineers in their character and direction was inconvenient and even impossible, they retired to the mountains, the aul was replaced by a village. When the climate of Georgievsk turned out to be extremely harmful to health, and the area now occupied by Stavropol, one of the best in the Caucasus, very high (Stavropol rises 300 fathoms above sea level), abounding in excellent spring waters, then the provincial city was moved here. The Cossack village with its wooden church moved beyond the Kuban.
The hill that crowns the Stavropol Upland is now occupied by a cold cathedral in the name of the Kazan Mother of God, Tone architecture. From a distance the church can be seen standing, as if on a cloud, above the entire city. The view of the city from the site on which the church is located is also picturesque. Unfortunately, episcopal service can be performed in this beautiful and spacious church only during the six summer months. It is cold, and if it were warm, it would be very difficult to heat it, because in winter the strongest winds rage here, and the church is built from local, very brittle stone, unable to withstand either cold or wind. In winter, solemn services are held in a warm church, almost like a brownie, built above the benches of the guest courtyard and therefore called Ryadskaya, in the name of the Savior.
On the large street leading from the Petersburg outpost to Tiflis, in sight of the cathedral, there is the Trinity Cathedral, also cold, in which, however, services are held in winter, since it has a wooden floor, is not as high as Kazan, and stands on an incomparably lower terrain, less susceptible to bad weather. Trinity Cathedral has an indeterminate architecture, which has become even more indefinite with extensions. The Cathedral and Trinity Cathedrals each have their own parish; In addition to them, the Church of the Great Martyr Barbara on the south-eastern tip of the city and the Church of the Great Martyr George on the south-western tip have parishes.
There are two Episcopal Cross churches, both warm: Holy Cross at the temporary shelter where the bishop resides, and in the name of St. Andrew the First-Called on Vorobyovsky Heights, where it is proposed to build a bishop's house. At this church of St. Andrei, standing in a most picturesque place, accommodated several monks who were on the staff of the house and arrived from deserted Russian monasteries. One of these monks, very experienced in monastic life, was made confessor of the women's St. John-Mary community, to the greatest consolation and edification of the sisters. There are three house churches: in the gymnasium, in the women's shelter and in the prison castle.
Churches in villages. Churches in the villages of the Stavropol province are, in general, very sufficient, some are very rich. This position of the churches, naturally, arose from the special wealth of the peasants, a wealth that is provided to them by the extraordinary abundance of the region, which generously rewards the easiest work. Many villages have the appearance of county towns, and the population is several thousand souls. Although grain is produced in abundance and, due to the convenience of sale, is always at a good price, the main income of the inhabitants comes from vineyards, then from cattle breeding, and partly from arable farming, gardening and vegetable gardening. There are peasants who produce up to 10,000 buckets of wine, each bucket sells from one to two rubles. Such a peasant has up to 150 heads of horses and a corresponding number of other livestock, which feed on pasture almost annually, even in winter.
The most notable churches are located in the following villages: the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village. Novoselitsy - a stone three-aisle building, unfortunately, belongs to an uncertain architecture, is very insufficient in artistic terms, poorly located, and therefore cramped. The same should be said about the main church in the village. Vorontsovka, owned by Prince Vorontsov: this church is even larger than the church in Novoselitsy. Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the village. Praskovei is built in the character originally used by the architect Ton, in the character that for a long time was known as Byzantine. This church is not inferior in size to the cold Stavropol cathedral, painted by Moscow artists according to the taste and abundance of the region.
The best church in the entire Caucasus region in terms of architecture should be recognized as the Church of St. Nicholas in the vast and rich village of Petrovskoye. It is in the character of the first churches of Ton, very similar to the Church of Catherine the Great Martyr in Kolomna and the Entry into the Semenovsky Regiment in St. Petersburg, but its decoration is much rougher. The size of this church was extraordinary, and in terms of the mutual harmony of its parts it is superior to the Stavropol Cathedral, which according to it is the best church in the Caucasus in architectural terms. The utensils and sacristy are sufficient everywhere, and in many churches they are rich.
The church in the name of the Three Saints was re-consecrated on September 12 in the village of Otkazny. The consecration was performed by the bishop in front of a significant crowd of people. The church was built in the above-mentioned Ton character at the expense of the villagers of the state department of the village of Otkazny.
G. Georgievsk. In the provincial town of Georgievsk, once a provincial town, there is a wooden, vast and durable cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas. The zeal of the citizens increased to build a stone cathedral, but the city was quickly emptying and becoming poorer. The pious intention of the citizens is unlikely to come true.
Opposite the city of Georgievsk, three miles from it, on the left bank of the fast Podkumka River, is the Churekovsky village, inhabited by those mountaineers who, recognizing the power of the Russian Tsar over themselves, expressed a desire to accept Christianity. The village consisted of Christian mountaineers. At present these mountaineers are all Mohammedans without exception.
A sad incident happened quite recently, during the reign of the region by Prince Vorontsov. Reliable persons say (although they talk about it confidentially) that the mountaineers of the Churekovsky aul, in the presence of many, asked the prince to allow them to return to Mohammedanism from Christianity. The prince answered them that he left this completely to their will, as long as they served the sovereign with fidelity. The consequence of this answer was the establishment of Mohammedanism in the village, in which a mosque was immediately built.
Even the political view expressed in the above response of the government official is incorrect. The spread of Mohammedanism among the mountaineers was carried out by Turkish missionaries, most at the end of the last century, not so much in religious forms as in political ones. The mountaineers have the most insufficient understanding of the Mohammedan religion.
Their mullahs are completely unfamiliar with the Arabic language, and since Alkoran has not been translated from Arabic into Tatar, commonly used among the highlanders, Alkoran is completely unknown not only to the people, unknown to the mullahs themselves, but the idea that the Turkish Sultan is their only legitimate sovereign is planted and deeply rooted in them. It is obvious that the communication of this idea to the mountaineers was most interested in the Turkish missionaries, since Latin propaganda is most interested in the primacy of the pope. The consequences of this prevailing thought, expressed in fact, are clear. At present, they look at Mohammedanism more insightfully, and the main authorities of the Caucasus are providing greater assistance in converting Mohammedans to Christianity.
A significant reason for the fall of the mountaineers of the Churekovsky aul is that the mountaineers, especially the female sex, do not know the Russian language, and our clergy does not know the language of the mountaineers, among whom the Tatar language is the commonly used language. Communication between the clergy and Christian mountaineers must, of necessity, be carried out through translators, and this is always difficult, and when performing the sacrament of confession it is completely inconvenient. Given the meager knowledge of Christianity, which the mountaineer Christians necessarily had to have, their coldness towards Christianity and their falling away from it become understandable.
The sad event - the aforementioned deviation of Christians into Mohammedanism - is an event that is not only retold by eyewitnesses, but also proven by written documents: in the church archives of the village of Goryachevodskaya, some notes survived, from which it is clear that people from the mountains were sent from the mountains for baptism, according to their desire, and the priests who were entrusted with performing Holy Baptism were named. The village belonged to the Assumption Church, located in the Georgievskaya village, near the city of Georgievsk, which was later moved to another place. Confessional paintings for 1799, 1800, 1801 and 1821 that belonged to this church have been preserved: they indicate the names of Mohammedan mountaineers who converted to Christianity and were assigned to the Linear Cossack Volga Regiment.
G. Pyatigorsk. As much as the city of Georgievsk declines, gradually becoming a provincial town and, finally, a provincial town, the provincial city of Pyatigorsk grows and begins to flourish, due to the government’s special attention paid to it and the significant annual gathering of the public to the healing waters located in Pyatigorsk itself and its environs. The area of Pyatigorsk is picturesque.
The fast Podkumok runs along the valley below the city, the city is spread out at the base and along the slopes of Mount Mashuk, from which hot sulfur waters flow in different places at different temperatures and which has 240 fathoms of perpendicular height above Podkumok. Healing springs flow at an altitude of 30 to 50 fathoms. The mountain has an unusually beautiful shape, the vegetation on it is excellent, in some places there are bare rocky rocks and, adding diversity and diversity to the picture, elevate its dignity. A person’s hand, when it touches such elegant works of nature, should be guided by special prudence and special reverence.
Pyatigorsk is an example of modern civilization. At the springs and partly above the springs themselves, extensive galleries were erected, mostly made of stone, which with their weight affected the springs. Narzan itself - this colossal, most healing spring in Kislovodsk, 40 versts from Pyatigorsk, was almost suppressed by the gallery. Despite its oppressive severity, it appeared again, but its healing power weakened significantly. One of the gentle Essentuki springs was completely destroyed under the burden of the galleries (18 versts from Pyatigorsk, in the village of Essentuki, where alkaline waters are located).
Along the waters both in Pyatigorsk and in Essentuki and Kislovodsk there are huge parks in which military music is played in the evenings. On a very convenient place, a stone Latin church was built and surrounded by a stone fence. The Orthodox Church of Our Lady of All Who Sorrow, wooden, cramped, low, is located in the lower part of the city near the boulevard. Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, visiting Pyatigorsk in 1837, deigned to note that the Church of All Who Sorrow is extremely cramped and does not meet the needs of the city in all respects, being at the same time the most modest building in it.
To generate construction capital, the sovereign ordered an invitation to donations to be issued throughout Russia. In this way, more than fifty thousand silver rubles have been collected to this day. The church was founded in 1847, by 1858 it was built up to the domes. The severe cracks that appeared throughout the building forced the continuation of work to stop, and, after examining the damage by technicians, it was found necessary to dismantle the church to the very foundation, since the foundation itself turned out to be completely insufficient.
The construction of the church is carried out by a committee of civil dignitaries and officials; two priests of the Sorrowful Church participate in the committee and deliver information about the progress of the matter to the diocesan authorities, who had not previously paid the slightest attention to the construction of the church, since the committee directly relates to the vicar in everything. Whatever the reasons for the unsuccessful actions of the committee, the lack of the city of Pyatigorsk in relation to the church remained by 1858 in the same position in which it was seen by the sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich in 1838 (sic.).
The bishop, having visited the Church of the Mother of God of All Who Sorrow, in consultation with the city clergy and citizens, found it possible to expand the church and put a wooden dome over it in order to ward off the unbearable stuffiness that was happening in the church, especially in the summer heat. A project has been drawn up, approved by the Stavropol Construction Commission, and residents of Pyatigorsk are invited to make donations.
Inspired by pious zeal, the citizens quickly collected a sufficient amount of money and extracted forest material from the mountains of excellent quality. With the departure of the summer visitors, work began actively with materials prepared in good time, and to the indescribable joy of the inhabitants, the two-aisle, vast church, crowned with a dome, was completely completed and consecrated at the end of the Lent of St. Philip the Apostle. The people of Pyatigorsk already celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in the new church, placing triple the number of people opposite the old church.
In addition to the wooden cathedral, there is a house church in Pyatigorsk, a very cramped church in a military hospital, and a separate stone church in a cemetery. It is extremely unfortunate that this small church, recently built from excellent local material, has shown severe cracks; the truth must be told - the local architects are very insufficient.
In the vicinity of Pyatigorsk, in the villages of the Linear Cossack Army of Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk and Kislovodsk, there are schismatics. In the village of Essentuki there is a Edinoverie church, however, with a small number of parishioners.
Mozdok. The path from Pyatigorsk to Mozdok and from Mozdok to Kizlyar lies along the villages of the Linear Army. Notes on the latter will be given a place after the two named cities belonging to the diocesan department.
Mozdok (now a provincial town) was formerly the seat of the Bishop of Mozdok and Madzhar. Outside the city, on a plain irrigated by the Terek, where the bishop's house was located, there is now one wooden church, with a city cemetery attached to it. The city is populated mostly by Armenians of the Gregorian confession, engaged in trade and living well; there are much fewer Russians, they live much more meagerly. The Armenian cathedral church is made of stone, much larger and more magnificent than the Orthodox one, which is made of wood.
Outside the city, at the opposite end of the cemetery church, there is a wooden church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. In it, behind the right choir in the icon case, there is an ancient miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God. Historical information about this icon is as follows:
In the twelfth century, the famous Georgian queen Tamar, after the death of her first husband, the Russian prince Georgiy Andreevich, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, entered into marriage with the prince of the Ossetians. Together with her hand, she delivered Christianity to the prince and his people. The pious queen spared neither labor nor expense for the establishment and establishment of the holy faith among the Ossetians. In the country, their numerous ruins testify to the large number of Christian churches that formerly existed in it. The creation of these churches is attributed by legend to Tamara.
Tradition claims that one of the ruins in the Kartalinsky Gorge constitutes the remnant of the church in which the icon of the Iveron Mother of God was placed and kept - the most precious gift of the God-loving Tamara to the Ossetian people. Twice the church was destroyed to the ground by fire, and both times the icon of the Mother of God was found intact. For six hundred years the icon remained in the Kartalinsky Gorge.
At the end of the last century, Mohammedanism, through Turkish missionaries, invaded the Caucasus Mountains with the greatest fanaticism, more political than religious. It destroyed among the mountain peoples that weak Christianity that still lingered among them, which clung more nominally than in reality. Ossetians leaned towards Islamism, like other mountaineers. But they, like all the mountaineers, did not become real Mohammedans. Alkoran is unknown to them because the mountaineers do not know the Arabic language in which the alkoran is written. The Highlanders do not have a translation into Tatar. It is unknown to the mullahs of the mountaineers themselves; they consider it an inaccessible book of the highest wisdom.
The Mohammedanism of the mountaineers is limited to the observance of some external Mohammedan rites. They leaned toward certain beliefs instilled in them by missionaries; most of the concepts of the former vague religion, in which signs of Christianity are still visible, remained with them. The main concern of the missionaries was to convince the mountaineers that their only legitimate sovereign was the Turkish Sultan.
In religiously troubled times, that is, during the preaching of Mohammedanism among the mountaineers at the end of the last century, the icon of the Mother of God kept many families of not only Ossetians, but also Circassians faithful to Christianity, and kept them faithful through wondrous signs.
In 1763, our government invited Christian mountaineers and mountaineers who wanted to convert to Christianity to cross the Terek and settle near Mozdok. As a result of a repeated invitation, in 1793, a party of mountaineers arrived at Mozdok on the eve of Pentecost, taking with them an icon of the Mother of God. The icon marked its journey and arrival in the Orthodox city with miracles.
His Grace Gaius, Bishop of Mozdok and Madzhar, having learned about the arrival of the famous icon in the Caucasus, went out to venerate it with the clergy with crosses and banners. The archpastor brought it into the cathedral, intending to give the icon a place of honor here. But the Mother of God, by a special miracle, informed the bishop that She wanted to stay outside the city, at the very place where She stopped and spent the night on a humble Circassian cart - that’s the name of the two-wheeled cart of the mountaineers. His Eminence Gaius hastened to build a chapel at the indicated location, and subsequently the parishioners built a wooden church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The icon has 1 arsh. and 12 vershoks in height, 1 arsh. and 7 inches wide. The icon, apparently, was painted on a gold background. Others claim that it became covered with soot during the aforementioned fires in the Kartalinsky Gorge. The facial features of the Mother of God in the icon are strict, the character of the writing is Georgian. The icon painter of Queen Tamara, as legend says, prepared to paint the icon by fasting for forty days and praying for forty days.
Currently, the Assumption Church has parishioners of 2,243 males and 2,155 females, of which 1,238 are Ossetians and Circassians and 1,153 are female. Ossetians recognize the icon as their property, have a fiery affection for it, which must be handled very carefully and prudently, due to the ardor, determination and ignorance of the Asians. The icon is glorious in the mountains. Many Mohammedan mountaineers flock to worship her. Armenians of the Gregorian confession honor the icon along with the Orthodox.
The icon performs many healings; under it on a cord hang numerous silver images of members of the human body, hung by those who received healings. Many Mohammedans, amazed by the miracles performed at the icon, accept Christianity; many Mohammedans, for the same reason, having confidence in the icon, also have confidence in Christianity. Icon - apostle.
Exactly! The miraculous icon of the Mother of God serves as an apostle in this region, promoting and bearing witness to Christianity with signs. It is necessary that people also make efforts, characteristic of them, towards the holy cause of enlightening the mountain people with the Light of Christ. Here the bishop found a strange order, and the Christian mountaineers were found in the most alarming state because of such an order. Many of the Christian Ossetians and Circassians understand very little of the Russian language, many do not know it, the female gender is completely unfamiliar with the Russian language.
On the contrary, all the priests at the Assumption Church were Russians, completely unfamiliar with the Ossetian and Circassian languages, even completely unfamiliar with Tatar, commonly used among the highlanders. For this reason, relations between the shepherds and the flock were extremely difficult, in many cases completely impossible, especially the female sex was deprived of all edification, all spiritual food. The need for this food forced the Christian mountaineers to invite mullahs into their homes, who with their instructions extremely damaged Christianity among the female sex and would certainly have distracted all the Mozdok mountaineers from Christianity if it had not been for the icon of the Mother of God that kept them in Christianity.
Asians, due to their unusually ardent nature, when they get excited, lose completely common sense and are guided solely by their temperament. Their alarming situation became known to the prince governor, and he convincingly asked His Eminence Ioannikiy to remove from the Assumption Church that Russian archpriest with whom the mountaineers were especially dissatisfied. The Russian archpriest was replaced by another Russian archpriest.
Upon the arrival of Bishop Ignatius in Mozdok, the deputation of the mountaineers presented themselves to him to explain their predicament due to their inability to understand the language of Russian speech spoken by their priests, and vice versa, cannot be understood by priests completely unfamiliar with their language. The mountaineers complained that they were completely deprived of the sacrament of confession, that they were completely deprived of the opportunity to receive the concepts they desired about Christianity due to the inability to communicate with their priests. They complained especially about the unfavorable influence of Archpriest Krastilevsky, whose former archpriest was a relative. The slowness of the investigation into the abuses of the former archpriest, attributed to the influence of Krastilevsky, greatly worried the mountaineers.
Due to the false situation, unbearable for the impatient and wayward mountaineers, they were already planning to steal the icon and retire to the mountains with it. This intention became known to the military authorities and would have been carried out by the ardent mountaineers if they had not been satisfied. 164
They expected satisfaction from the new bishop. The bishop offered the mountaineers priest Bartholomew Sinanov, a Georgian who had completed a course at the Caucasian Seminary in the first category, knew the Ossetian language, and was placed, according to some strange calculations, in a village adjacent to the Kalmyk nomads in the Astrakhan province. The Ossetians accepted this proposal with delight, another priest was given to them, also from Georgians, who knows the Tatar and Ossetian languages, the archpriest from the Russians was left to his discretion. To console the Circassians, the bishop invited them to choose from among themselves a well-behaved and capable young man to prepare in theological schools for the service of the Church.
This proposal was accepted with the greatest pleasure: they elected a young man from a noble family who had received some education at the Mozdok school of the civil department.
The bishop entered into communication with the prince governor about the dismissal of the Circassian from the Cossack class in order to enter the clergy. To this the prince expressed full consent and went up with a presentation to the Minister of War, who reported this to the Emperor. His Majesty was pleased to greatly approve of this measure. The expulsion of the Circassian from the Cossack department to the spiritual department is being carried out, meanwhile, on a ticket issued by the ataman, he lives in the bishop's house and attends the seminary.
In Mozdok, the need for the Caucasian clergy to know the Tatar language, as commonly used among the mountaineers, became extremely clear. This need is obvious everywhere in the villages of the Black Sea and Linear troops, bordering on the villages of the highlanders, and especially in the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar. The Armenians, who make up the majority of the population in these cities and trade with the mountain peoples, all know the Tatar language, they study it from childhood in order to succeed in industry. Why shouldn’t the clergy study it from childhood for the success of Christianity?
The Mozdok religious school is housed in a dilapidated wooden house of the diocesan department. In the silence that prevails in modest Mozdok, which stands far away from the main road from St. Petersburg to Tiflis, and, therefore, away from modern civilization, the pursuit of science could proceed successfully. Despite the well-intentioned and capable superintendent of the school, by 1858 it was found wanting in all respects. Such a weak state should be attributed to two reasons: the poverty of his contents and the extremely inconvenient premises.
Now the first reason has been eliminated, concerns have been taken to eliminate the second one. The Mozdok School, being located in a city inhabited by people of other faiths who are attracted to Christianity by the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, can provide the greatest benefit. An intelligent caretaker understands this, having a lot of warmth from his heart, he is ready and can be useful for the Church.
Kizlyar city. Kizlyar should be called a completely Asian or, more precisely, Armenian city.
Residents of Kizlyar, both Orthodox and Armenians of the Gregorian confession, especially respect the icon of the Life-Giving Source, which is recognized as miraculous due to its antiquity and according to legends about the miracles performed under it, which were not recorded anywhere. This icon is located in the parish Life-Giving-Source Church and is placed behind the right choir.
The Kizlyar Monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross should have been important in relation to the church administration, since it is located in a city inhabited by Gentiles, at the very end of the diocese, 500 miles from the episcopal see. Unfortunately, it does not satisfy this goal.
The main reason for this must be recognized as the fact that the Caucasian authorities hitherto had in mind the satisfaction of military needs alone and sacrificed everything else to them. Recently, citizenship began to develop here and civic life began to be recognized as essential for a person, an inhabitant of the earth. Recently the idea has begun to emerge that war and the army are the instruments by which citizenship is established and protected.
When looking at the region previously, very profitable fishing was taken away from the monastery by the military department. Private individuals, seeing this course of action, also allowed themselves to appropriate the monastery lands. The current abbot of the monastery, Abbot German, is an active, sober old man, following the ancient rules - he spent his twenty years of management in constant processes. Naturally, given this situation, the monastery did not receive proper development; it should be considered fortunate that it was not destroyed.
Actually, the Russian clergy in Mozdok and Kizlyar, especially in Kizlyar, due to the small number and poverty of the Russian population, is in an extremely poor condition. The benefit of the Church requires that it be supported.
Armenians. Here it seems very useful to outline the religious state of the Armenians, who live in significant numbers in the Caucasian diocese, and in the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar they make up the majority of the population. They do not understand the Eutychean heresy, therefore, they do not understand the significant dogmatic difference that separates their Church from the Eastern Church. They attribute the separation to differences in rituals.
They do not have that special attachment to rituals that is noticeable among the Russian people. The Armenians easily abandon their ritual, when its incompatibility is explained. Thus, they have the custom of breaking their fast on Holy Saturday, at the end of the service of that day. A certain person from their clergy introduced them to the strangeness of this custom, pointing out the solidity of the custom of the Orthodox, and the Armenians with love, without any dispute, agreed to break their fast on the day of Holy Easter, after the liturgy. In general, there is a noticeable unfeigned, heartfelt desire in them to get closer to the Orthodox, to the Russians. This circumstance is, in my opinion, of particular importance. It is important not only from a religious point of view, but also from a state point of view.
If Providence had favored the Armenians to unite with the Orthodox Church, for which the only explanation needed for the perplexities on both sides is needed, then their state benefit in this region would be incalculable. Their trade covers not only the Caucasus, but also the Transcaucasian region and the mountains themselves. Knowing the Tatar language, commonly used among the mountaineers, they wander freely in the mountains, visit auls and peaceful and non-peaceful mountaineers, and have established close relations with them. Under the guise of industrialists, they could be excellent missionaries and excellent political agents, having excellent, innate abilities to perform all these duties.
Now the moral position of the Armenians is uncertain. It should be like this: they have a spiritual attraction to the Russians, but the perplexities are not eliminated, there is no unity, the natural and logical consequence of these conditions is uncertainty.
Villages of the Caucasian Linear Army. The path from Stavropol itself, through Georgievsk, Mozdok, to Kizlyar lies past the villages of the Cossack Linear Army. A sad impression is made by this region, to which they are trying to instill a Protestant position that is not characteristic of the Orthodox Church, contrary to the wishes of the population. The ecclesiastical character of the region is the character of a schism. This is quite clear and perceptible to anyone who has a definite understanding of the Eastern Church. The Cossacks themselves see and feel this, many of whom study and have studied the faith. Everywhere in the villages the bishop was greeted with the greatest cordiality, in some deputations came to him expressing their sincere desire to have a bishop at the head of their Church. The question was even proposed: “Will we soon belong to the Orthodox Church?”
This question determines the concept that the Cossacks have about their religious status. I repeat: many Cossacks study faith very carefully; their concepts of faith should in no way be compared with the concepts of people in the highest educated circle. The very development of the schism between the Cossacks serves as proof that faith is for them a subject of deep, strict reflection and study, by no means a subject to which they would be indifferent, to which they would look superficially and in passing.
With all the above-mentioned expressions of sympathy, the bishop replied that the present situation of the churches of the Linear Army is a consequence of administrative considerations, and that in satisfaction of the pious feeling of the Orthodox, the bishop was ordered to visit their churches and provide them with all the desired Christian edification and consolation. Such an answer, if not completely reassuring, then imposed silence on the lips. It could not have been offered to more educated people. Here everyone knows the religious direction of Prince Vorontsov: he did not stop publicly from showing special attention and affection to the Mohammedan clergy, giving them in many cases preference over the Orthodox clergy.
Just as the three Jewish youths in the cave and captivity in Babylon confessed that God in truth and in judgment brought all this down for their sins (Dan. 3:28), so the Caucasian diocesan authorities must talk about their position in relation to the churches of the Cossack line army. And now the name of Krastilevsky is pronounced with horror by the clergy of the army, as if the name of Shamil. This clergy speaks loudly about former abuses, and the highest officials, talking about the time of the break and remembering this time, set an inviolable condition for the reunion that must sooner or later follow, meekness and the preservation of decency when dealing with them.
The administrative types in which Prince Vorontsov transferred the churches of an entire region to the management of a presbyter, taking them away from the bishop, in contrast to the decree of the Holy Spirit, have not yet been explained. But they must someday be explained, albeit for the sake of history, as a violation of the inviolable, holy character of the Orthodox Church. Such an explanation must inevitably turn out to be very difficult, and the phrase proclaiming an administrative consideration is unfounded and therefore unsatisfactory.
Defenders of the measure must present as the reason for it, as they now put forward, the irregularity and inconsistency in the actions that the Bishop of the Caucasus allowed himself to do. But this does not justify the measures taken against such actions. Church tradition represents that into all ministries, the most holy and lofty, starting with the apostolic, man introduced abuse and sin, which were internalized by humanity. In such cases, the Church never stopped eliminating the person who abused the ministry, but the ministry itself, as established by the Holy Spirit, it constantly preserved inviolable.
An apostle who turned out to be unworthy of apostolic service was replaced by another apostle. Patriarchs and other bishops who fell into heresy or revealed activities incompatible with their service were deprived of their thrones and dignities; their thrones and dignities were transferred to more worthy persons. But the replacement of a bishop for an entire region by a presbyter, with the use of the bishop as a machine and instrument for the consecration of churches, ordinations, and other things for which it is impossible to do without a bishop, is new in the Orthodox Church. This news seems to mean nothing to those who do not understand faith. It is also of great importance in the eyes of schismatics: for the doctrine of the bishop belongs to one of the most important subjects of their thoughts and judgments.
The Bishop of the Caucasus fulfills all the church needs for the region of the linear Cossacks, but does not govern this flock of his. The chief priest of the Caucasian army is located at the army headquarters, in Transcaucasia - in a region completely separated by a significant, natural demarcation from the country actually called the Caucasus, which has almost no natural relations with Transcaucasia. Governing churches from such a distance is quite unnatural and plunges these churches into the most disastrous situation in every respect. The Cossack ataman, his headquarters, and the main officials of the Cossack administration have their residence in Stavropol, surrounded on all sides by the villages and churches of the Cossack Line Army.
Communications about the affairs taking place before our eyes must be done with Tiflis, at a distance of five hundred miles, behind the gigantic ridge of the gray-headed Caucasus, with the chief priest, who has his own special duty at home and cannot in any way satisfy the management of the churches of the Cossack army entrusted to him due to their very remoteness and alienation from him. A situation for which it is so difficult to find meaning cannot last.
Monasteries. By January 1, 1858, in the Caucasian diocese there were two monasteries and one monastery for women. Of these, the male one - the Ekaterino-Lebyazhinskaya Hermitage and forty versts from it - the Mariinskaya Hermitage - were established with special rights, highly approved in the regulations on the Black Sea Cossack Army. Both are not far from the Sea of Azov, and the first of them can stand alongside the best Russian monasteries in terms of means of maintenance. It is governed by an archimandrite, who is also the dean of both these hermitages.
The Holy Cross Kizlyar provincial monastery is located at the opposite end of the diocese, not far from the Caspian Sea. The monastery has an annual income of up to 2,000 silver rubles, but is very shaken in its welfare by the processes in which it was involved regarding the lands it owns.
Near the provincial city of Stavropol, eight miles from it, there is a St. John-Mariinsky women's community, the construction of which into a monastery was presented to the Holy Synod.
Monasticism. Monastic life in the monasteries of the Caucasian diocese is in its infancy, and it is difficult that it can soon emerge from this state. For monastic spiritual success, a peaceful state of the monasteries is necessary. But both men's monasteries do not have this peaceful state and are not expected to be able to receive it until secular power comes into the same relationship with spiritual power as it is everywhere in Russia. And this can only happen when war ceases to be solely the beginning, the goal, the excuse - right or wrong - of all considerations and measures. The abbots here need knowledge and abilities, mainly clerical ones; their clerical occupations are especially significant.
In the Ekaterino-Lebyazhinsk Hermitage there is a committee chaired by the abbot, in which some secular persons participate to manage the monastery’s economy. For a long time, this committee was dominated by a great disunity between its spiritual and secular members, which was the reason for very difficult correspondence. Nowadays, with the bishop’s very good relations with the main Black Sea authorities, this separation has been destroyed.
But it is impossible to make any significant changes in the church character, according to the church rules: neither one nor the other is known or understood. Friendliness alone can act with some success against power that finds in military considerations a means to be unlimited. It alone can mitigate the evil produced by inattention to the decrees of the Church. With patience and submission to the Providence of God, we must await the time when it will be possible to introduce in the Black Sea Monastery such a charter, which is outlined for all Orthodox monasteries in general by the tradition of the Holy Church, under which moral and spiritual improvement in monastic monasteries is only possible.
Churches. The Caucasian diocese consists of one hundred and sixty-eight churches altogether. The population of the Caucasus is constantly and rapidly increasing with new immigrants from Russia, who are primarily concerned, as many experiences testify, with establishing a house of prayer to satisfy spiritual needs. Having received a permanent settlement, they also try to build churches.
Supervision of churches is carried out by deans at least four times a year. Church writing, which, due to the lack of literacy of church elders, is mostly carried out by clergy, is in a satisfactory state.
Clergy. The clergy of the Caucasus originally gathered in this remote region from various places in Russia. These immigrants were not particularly well-behaved, belonging primarily to the category of people who did not hope to get good places in their homeland and rushed to the then deserted Caucasus with the hope of finding shelter and contentment there. This calculation turned out to be unmistakable. The children of aliens, having received an education in a seminary established in the Caucasus, form a new generation with their own character, very comforting, they carry out their important service differently than their fathers did - they pass it very satisfactorily.
In the Caucasus it is spacious. It seems that characters are formed in accordance with space and contentment: in the character of the Caucasian clergy, special cordiality, hospitality, and frankness are noticeable. The last feature is especially striking for a person new to the region. There is a lot of excellent dignity of people among priests.
The clergy, in general, is not lazy in the conduct of worship and the edification of their flock. Errors and omissions, which no human society can do without, are corrected by measures provided in full abundance by the moral tradition of the Church.
Experience proves that from the time a new generation enters the field of church activity, in general, the entire clergy gradually changes, rises, and ennobles. If ignorance and gross vices also appear, then they manifest themselves mainly in the clergy of the Black Sea army, which was made up of Cossacks who learned to read and write, but even there, at present, the moral state of the clergy is improving due to the gradual replacement of opening priestly vacancies with seminary graduates.
The clergy of the Caucasus, receiving salaries from the treasury and using alms from parishioners, for the most part does not suffer need, except in the Black Sea region, where they, without receiving salaries, although they are content with offerings from parishioners, but with very meager offerings. Some of the clergy, in order to support themselves and to educate their children in educational institutions, engaged in cattle breeding on a small scale, are very embarrassed by the fact that in the stanitsa yurts [Cossack villages with all the lands - ed.] there are no mowing or arable places allocated for them, and when making hay the clergy always get the most unfavorable places.
At present, the Caucasian diocese has no shortage of clergy.
The attitude of the Orthodox clergy towards non-believers and non-religious residents living in the city of Stavropol and mainly in Kizlyar and Mozdok is favorable. This is evident from the fact that Armenians eagerly visit Orthodox churches, and in the city of Kizlyar, out of jealousy for the house of God, which was destroyed several years before this fire, they ask to be given the title of church builders, in which, of course, one cannot help but see the influence of the clergy on them.
Charitable institutions. There are no hospitals or almshouses at the churches of the Caucasian diocese, except for the city of Yekaterinodar, where at the Sorrow Church there is an almshouse for sixty people and a hospital for twenty-five, under the direct supervision of the military authorities.
Split. The schism in the Caucasian diocese, although insignificant in number, is very persistent in errors. The essential, main, almost the only reason for this is the adjacent villages of the Caucasian linear Cossack army. It can be said without a doubt that these villages, all without exception, are more or less infected with schism. Heresy teachers come from there to seduce the inhabitants of the Stavropol province into schism. The villagers who have become seduced into schism find reinforcement for their errors in the villages, and from there they receive mentors who allow themselves to perform the sacraments and affirm that only there, in the villages, is the true Church of Christ preserved.
With such a harmful influence of the village schism, the Orthodox clergy encounters an insurmountable obstacle to the success of converting their schismatics into the bowels of the Orthodox Church. In addition, unfortunately, a new nest for schism has opened in the Caucasus in the newly populated city of Yeisk, where schismatics flock in large numbers, taking advantage of the privileges bestowed on this city and avoiding persecution in their previous places of residence. There are already sad examples of children of Christ’s Church being torn away from the flock of Christ.
In order to suppress this evil, the diocesan authorities approached the city governor of the Caucasus with a request to prohibit the admission in Yeisk of persons who do not present evidence of their Orthodoxy from their previous parish priests, and even to completely prohibit the inclusion of schismatics in the city of Yeisk. The archpriest of the city of Yeisk, a very active person, was ordered to carefully monitor schismatics, prevent seduction and admonish those who are mistaken and seduced.
Enlargement of the flock and its spiritual development. The Caucasus, rich in land, constantly welcomes new settlers, from whom independent parishes are formed. Thus, on the lands belonging to the Kalmyks, nomadic in the vicinity of the Stavropol province, several villages were settled by order of the government, in which houses of prayer were established, and even in some priests were assigned to correct Christian needs. In addition, the Caucasian hierarchy acquired new children from other Christian denominations and non-Christians into the Orthodox Church.
To our consolation, the sense of piety in the true children of Christ is very developed. Each settlement of the diocese takes care of creating churches for public prayers and, without resorting to government benefits, from its surplus brings gifts to the altar, not only sufficient to create churches, but also to ensure their maintenance and repair.
The zeal of the Orthodox to visit the churches of God and fulfill their Christian duty, by the grace of God, does not diminish. Those cases are rare when an Orthodox Christian, due to negligence or weakness of consciousness in the need to clear his conscience, is forced to confess by intensive measures.
In an uneducated class, alien to literacy, one cannot find a clear knowledge of prayers and a complete understanding of the commandments, especially the truths of faith. But despite all this, the firm conviction in the holiness of the professed faith lies deeply and is imprinted in the hearts of the Orthodox believing people. With the beneficent care of the government, which strengthens the education of peasant children in schools, the love and custom of edifying reading also enters the families of the common people, providing the clearest understanding of the elementary truths of the faith and commandments, which together contribute to the study of the most necessary prayers.
There were four most remarkable donations to the churches of God: I) 4000 rubles in the village. Safe peasant Lunev; 2) in the village. Praskovei peasant woman Ternovskaya - 2000 rubles; 3) in the city of Yeysk, an iconostasis worth 2000 rubles was built by the pool of five merchants; 4) in the city of Ekaterinodar, the Cossack Sesurey restored the church for 1287 rubles.
Catechetical teachings were introduced in sixty-six churches. All those educated in seminaries and who have completed the course are obliged to preach sermons of their own composition as assigned by the diocesan authorities. To review catechetical teachings, a special committee was established in the city of Stavropol from persons who have received higher spiritual education, to which they are sent through the Consistory. But a general systematic program for the sequential pronunciation of catechetical teachings has not been drawn up. However, the drafting of one was proposed to the committee through the Consistory. These teachings are pronounced on holidays and Sundays at the end of the liturgy.
In the Caucasian diocese it is planned to establish a women's school at the Black Sea women's desert. But according to news from the monastery itself, this school has not yet received proper organization. The drawing up of a project for this school was previously provided to the Black Sea military authorities, as they were most closely acquainted with the spirit and needs of the local residents. The guardian abbess of the desert has already established a school in size and amenities consistent with the means of the monastery.
From the statement delivered by the Chamber of State Property, it is clear that twenty schools for peasant children have been established in rural churches of the Stavropol province. They are generally trained by parish priests, with good, according to the opinion of the same Chamber, successes that can be expected in a peasant life, in which no more than six months of time are devoted to training, and for the rest of the time the children respond to homework and field work. Many schools do not have decent premises, but teachers gather students in their homes.
Conclusion. The Caucasian diocese only borders on the north-west with the Orthodox population - the region of the Don Cossacks. At its eastern end it adjoins the Caspian Sea, in the west – to the Azov and Black Sea. A significant part of the Stavropol province is an uninhabited desert, and the entire Caucasus region is the most populated along its outskirts. The widest face is to the south. Here the neighbors of the Russians are mountain tribes of the Mohammedan confession. Just as China is separated from Mongolia by a wall, so the peaceful civilian villages of the Caucasus region are separated from the mountain peoples by an unbroken chain of villages of the Black Sea and Linear Cossack troops.
Along the shores of the Caspian Sea, the border of the diocese is very short. Along it, between the Russians live in significant numbers Nogais and Trukhmens (Turkomans), peoples of the Tatar tribe. The extensive northern and northeastern border is occupied by Mohammedan Tatars; a small number of idolatrous Kalmyks (up to four thousand souls) roam the northern tip of the diocese.
So, almost the entire border of the vast diocese is occupied by Mohammedans of the Tatar tribe or Mohammedan mountaineers. Among the latter, the Tatar language is both generally accepted and commonly used, just as French is among Europeans. This is not enough: a significant number of highlanders, called civilians, live on this side of the chain of Cossack villages, inside the country, or are in the chain itself. Also, Tatars live in significant numbers in the villages of the civil department, either permanently or temporarily, being hired as workers.
From this view, the most important church need at the present time is obvious. It lies in the fact that a thorough study of the Tatar language should be developed in the Caucasian seminary, that the teaching of this language should begin in theological schools, so that students would be familiar with the language not only in books, but also in spoken language. The development of the Ossetian language is needed on a much smaller scale than the Tatar language: there are few Ossetians, and all of them, like other highlanders, know the Tatar language.
Knowledge of the Tatar language makes it possible for priests to communicate with the highlanders and Tatars and persuade them to accept Christianity, especially since these Mohammedans, as explained above, have the most confusing and incorrect concept about the Mohammedan religion. Knowledge of the Tatar language will give priests the opportunity to literally fulfill the clear and valid testament given to the shepherds by the Lord Himself: Go and teach all nations (Matthew 28; 19).
This is the only feature and need that comes to the fore when carefully examining the Caucasian diocese and needs immediate satisfaction. Other needs, which, however, are clear from this report, are much less important. They can be satisfied, and the shortcomings and inconsistencies that exist in the diocese can be mitigated and eliminated gradually, through gentle admonition. It's time to explain to many what is now unclear to them.
Then, by asking forgiveness from the Holy Synod for those errors that can be seen in the field of 1858, and by asking for blessing and prayerful help for the field that has opened this summer, Bishop Ignatius ends this report.
In addition to this report, we find it useful to report a private letter from the bishop to Yakov Alekseevich Poznyak, director of the Synodal Chancellery, 165 dated January 18, No. 7:
“Having familiarized myself, in general, with the affairs of the Caucasian Consistory, I consider it worthwhile to present my view of them to the discretion of Your Excellency.
The local clergy are drawn from different dioceses. Necessity forced us to accept people without strict criticism, and it is impossible to thoroughly recognize, even with the most severe criticism, a person who came from a distant country and has not lived in place for a long time. For this radical reason, it is impossible that in the newly established diocese, with such a composition of the clergy, there would not be significant unrest. Strict supervision and punishment can more or less curb the immoral, but rare of the immoral can completely change and become moral. Consequently, the most necessary way to correct the clergy is to replace the old, stubborn ones with new, well-behaved students of the seminary. This method takes time.
The affairs of the Consistory are not so complicated, and the paperwork is not going at all as bad as it seemed during the struggle that arose from the clash of passions, and both sides wrote with passion, and many cases are presented one-sidedly, and, consequently, incorrectly.
So, for example, one case about Archpriest Petrov was taken and presented with the actions of the diocesan authorities on it to the highest authorities. It turns out that Petrov was tried in twenty cases, of which each has an order from the diocesan authorities, and all these orders are related to each other. Taking one case out of the midst of these twenty cases and presenting it separately, precisely without showing the connection between the decisions of the diocesan authorities, gives its decision in one case a strange appearance.
Some other cases are in the same situation as the Petrov case. I ordered all such heterogeneous cases about one person to be reported to me together and I hope to present in the correct form the cases that need to be presented to the Holy Synod. You can see for yourself that this course of action takes time. But it is also very accurate and will facilitate the work for the office of the Holy Synod itself.
Invoking God’s blessing upon you” and so on.
Delving into the material life of the ranks serving in the office of the Caucasian Spiritual Consistory, the bishop transferred three hundred silver rubles from his property to it at the proposal of the Consistory of the following content 166.
“Drawing attention to the difficult situation of the officials of the Caucasian Consistory, who are content with the general salary set for the consistory offices in Russia in general, while in Stavropol food items are incomparably more expensive than in Russia in general, I considered it my duty to show my pastoral active participation in the situation of the officials of the Caucasian Consistory. Satisfying the requirement of my pastoral duty, I offer the Consistory three hundred rubles in silver from my property for distribution to officials according to a schedule, which I propose to the Consistory to draw up and present at my discretion.
We hope that with this meager gift of ours, like with the giving of an archpastor, the blessing of God will come, since, on the contrary, illegal giving removes the blessing of God from those persons and houses by which these illegal donations are attracted. The deliverer of this proposal and with it the sum of three hundred silver rubles, my cell novice, the cassophore novice John, is to issue a receipt signed by a member of the Consistory and the current secretary. March 10, 1858, No. 29."
The personal relationship of Bishop Ignatius with the local civil and military authorities had a decisive influence on the good relations of the entire population with the clergy. This influence was especially manifested in the relations of the Linear Cossack army, when touring the diocese, where, by preliminary communication of the Synod, an order was made to receive the bishop in the churches of the villages that he passed while making an overview of the diocese.
Particularly remarkable was his conversation with the schismatics of the village of Chervlennaya, where the commander of the Gorsky regiment, Baron Rosen, invited the bishop to spend the night in his house and introduced him to all the officers of the regiment and the society of schism officials. At the end of the conversation, the schismatic Cossacks said: “See, how simple you are, Vladyka! And you understand us, and we understand you and can talk to you - maybe we would fall for your words, but you are today, and tomorrow someone else will take your place, who will not speak to us the way you do, and who will not want to listen to us.”
On the twelfth of May 1858, the consecration of the St. George Banner, the highest granted to the Linear Cossack Army, took place in the village of Mikhailovskaya, seven miles from Stavropol. Selected soldiers from all regiments were gathered for the celebration, all the headquarters and chief officers who had the opportunity to leave their posts arrived, and the line clergy also arrived in pleased numbers. For the celebration of the liturgy, an extensive camp church tent was pitched. To perform the divine service, and then the ceremony of consecrating the banner, the leadership of the Linear Cossack army, represented by its ataman, invited the bishop and with him all the senior clergy of the city of Stavropol, in which the army’s main quarters were permanently located.
The meeting of the bishop was made by the line clergy according to the order of the Holy Synod. All the circumstances, it seems, were agreed upon and agreed to bring a special splendor to the celebration, which was quite special in nature. The weather itself, moderately warm, quiet, favored the founders of the festival, and two choirs of singers, each one hundred people, composed of regimental Cossack choirs, with a choir of bishops’ singers, performed the singing of the divine service with such harmonious harmony that this church festival, unprecedented in the magnificent grandeur of the setting, delighted the entire military population and all those present with him.
At the end of the long service, a common meal was offered in a special, purposely constructed large tent, completely open on one side. The clergy and generals, military and civil officials dined, and on both sides of the tent at long tables the soldiers who had arrived from other villages for the celebration dined. After toasting the health of the Emperor, the Grand Duke and Heir, the Prince Viceroy of the Caucasus, the ataman proclaimed a toast to the health of the Right Reverend. This army responded to the toast with a loud, prolonged “Hurray”, throwing their hats in the air and other usual expressions of pleasure.
When the bishop left, the army surrounded his carriage and saw him off with shouts of “Hurray,” and some horsemen accompanied the bishop all the way to his house, showing their daring and gaiety with dashing horsemanship and horse riding.
On this occasion, the desire of not only the leaders of the Linear Cossack Army, but also the military population itself, to have a bishop at the head of their spiritual administration was especially directly and clearly expressed. This desire was shared by the line clergy, who were burdened by the remoteness of administration in Tiflis and preferred to have relations with Stavropol, which was quite natural due to its proximity to the army’s villages and due to the most everyday needs.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, before performing the sequence established for the consecration of the banner, the bishop delivered a speech to the army, which the military authorities ordered to immediately print in several hundred copies for distribution throughout the Linear Army. We present it in full 167.
"Brethren! - said the bishop - The Christ-loving army is glorious for its valor before the kings of the earth - it is also glorious for it before the King of Heaven. Many warriors proved this, the holy great martyr George the Victorious proved it: he began his feat with earthly victories - he ended his feat by delighting Heaven. Saint George is a knight both earthly and heavenly.
The most pious autocrats of all Russia point their army to the Great Martyr George as an example of a perfect warrior. They commemorate the warrior who performs the highest feat with the name and icon of the Great Martyr George.
But here a special spectacle is presented!.. Here, not one warrior from the host of brave ones is distinguished from his other friends in the name of the victorious George, the whole army receives a banner on which is the image of the Knight of God, on which is his glorious and holy name. What does this mean? This means that the Russian Tsar recognized the Caucasian Cossack linear army as perfect in courage, worthy of the highest military honor and award. He recognized every warrior in this army as a hero, every warrior worthy to stand under the banner of the greatest of warriors - George! What the Russian Tsar recognized, all of Russia recognized.
Brethren! Through arduous deeds and streams of blood, you, your fathers and grandfathers, acquired the high mercy of the Orthodox Tsar, which has now been poured out on the Caucasian Cossack linear army. With it he rewards and crowns the army for many years of exploits of the army, with it he calls you to new exploits - no longer only to exploits of the flesh - to spiritual exploits. You have received on your banner a leader capable of leading you to the mountains of earth and to the mountains of Heaven.
Victorious George knows no barriers: there are no obstacles, cliffs, abysses for him, all depths and heights are easily accessible to him. Follow him, brothers! Follow him! To the most formidable and longed-for gates to eternity. Punish and crush the enemies of the Tsar and the Fatherland, as you have punished and crushed them before, but together strive to win victory over the invisible enemy of God and humanity - over sin, which kills man with eternal death.
May each of you be crowned with a special crown, just as the irresistible George was crowned, who surprised both men and angels with his valor! May each of you be honored to say with boldness and joy: I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; and now the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord will give me! (2 Tim. 4; 7, 8). Amen!"
The bishop reported this celebration to the Holy Synod, to whom he presented a copy of his speech.
As an expression of the general nature of the actions of the Right Reverend, which endeared him to the society of the laity, we cite the following case. Shortly before this time, one of the heroes of Sevastopol died from wounds in Stavropol: fleet captain 1st rank Konstantin Georgievich Popandopulo, whose body, at the suggestion of the bishop, on March 4, 1858, was buried in his Cross Church.
The funeral liturgy and funeral rite were performed by Bishop Ignatius with solemnity, with which he wished to honor the heroic deeds of the deceased. Popandopulo had no close relatives. Death overtook him in Stavropol, where, returning from mineral waters, he was forced to stop and spend the winter, due to the impossibility of returning to his homeland due to illness. The coffin of the deceased, therefore, was predominantly surrounded only by persons who paid their debt to military merit, whose lively, warm participation was expressed by reverent and attentive presence throughout the bishop’s leisurely and majestic service.
Before the funeral service for the body of the deceased, the Right Reverend, with a short speech, united those present in their readiness to see off the departed warrior-hero with reverent and spiritual tenderness. Walking towards the funeral service for the body, the bishop, stopping at the pulpit, addressed the upcoming meeting of military and civil officials with the following words 168:
“Pious listeners! Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
The deceased servant of God, the warrior Constantine, demonstrated such supreme love with his life and proved it with his death: he laid down his soul for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. Now he is silent in the grave, but his very silence is a loud, living, most convincing sermon about high love.
Brethren! To the deceased knight, who sacrificed himself to love, let us offer a feasible, farewell gift of love: let us pour out our warmest prayers to the Lord, that He may receive and instill the soul of His servant in the heavenly abodes of eternal peace, from where all sorrow, all sighing are forever removed, where the Everlasting Light and endless bliss dwell. Amen".
After the funeral service, the body of the deceased was taken to his homeland in Crimea.
Alexy (R.I. Rzhanitsyn, 1813–1877) – Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky, formerly of Tula and Belevsky.
Jeremiah (I. I. Solovyov, 1799–1884) - the first bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea from 1843 to 1849.
Alexander Alekseevich Volotskoy (1806–1875) - senator, lieutenant general, governor of the Stavropol Territory, native of Vologda, peer and good acquaintance of St. Ignatius since childhood.
Speech delivered upon arrival at the diocese in the Stavropol Cathedral, January 5, 1858 // Ignatius (Brianchaninov). T. 3/4. A word about death. Ascetic sermon. M., 1993. P. 5–6.
Ioannikiy (I. Ya. Obraztsov, 1790–1880) – second bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea from 1849 to 1857.
As an example of this voluntary, conscious submission of Bishop Ioannikis to the Consistory, we cite a circumstance that happened to the local vice-governor who ruled the province. He lived in the parish of St. Great Martyr Barbara, where the rector of the church was priest Gabriel Orlov, who enjoyed the love of the entire parish. Having learned that it was proposed to transfer him to another parish, all the parishioners and the priest himself asked the Vice-Governor to petition the Right Reverend to leave Fr. Gabriel is in place. The governor of the province went to the bishop, to whom he outlined the request of the parishioners and his own, asking him to favorably take it into account. But the Eminence answered very indifferently that this did not depend on him and invited the governor of the province to address his request to the Consistory.
Isidore (Ya. S. Nikolsky, 1799–1892) – Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg from 1860 to 1892.
Extracts from the annual reports of St. Ignatius to the Holy Synod about his visits to the Caucasian diocese and about the spiritual and Christian state of the region, including for 1858; also presented in the book: Sokolov. Part 1. pp. 211–300; PST. T. 2. pp. 468–518.
Now the Bishop of Krasnoyarsk.
The bishop expressed this view of the success of the Consistory to the Consistory itself with a proposal given to it on January 13, 1859 for No. 2. He wrote to the Consistory: “With heartfelt consolation, I see that the Caucasian spiritual Consistory in the past 1858 has made significant progress in its character and dignity, which lie in justice, in impartiality, in prudent Christian a look at the weaknesses of society, in a friendly, modest, positive and firm tone when dealing with other departments; in caution, prudence, avoidance of heat, which is always accompanied by passion and always exposes the presence of passion and deviation from the truth; in the non-stop, if possible, solution of cases, which is so gratifying for those whom these cases concern.
St.'s proposal Ignatius on the significant success of the Consistory in 1858 (dated January 13, 1859, No. 2). Published for the first time.
Alexander Ivanovich Baryatinsky (1815–1879) - prince, field marshal general of the Russian army, from 1856 to 1861. Governor of the Caucasus and Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army.
Grigory Ivanovich Philipson (1809–1883) – lieutenant general, senator, since 1858 commander of the troops of the Right Wing of the Caucasian Line, in 1860 – chief of staff of the Caucasian Army.
This material is entitled: “Question from the head of the Caucasian line [G. I. Philipson] and the answer of the bishop [Ignatius] about the Caucasian See in its relationship to the Caucasian linear Cossack army, the importance of the bishop and archpriest in the Orthodox church hierarchy (Sept. 20 - Oct. 3, 1858)" was published in full (with minor discrepancies) in the book: Sokolov. Part 2. App. pp. 1–13. The document characterizes the state of the Caucasian flock during the period of its administration by Saint Ignatius and introduces him to his church-administrative views.
The difference between a bishop and a presbyter is excellently expounded in the book “The Truly Ancient and Truly Orthodox Church of Christ” (p. 81). This presentation is especially important because it points to St. fathers of the Orthodox Church and together on schismatic books talking about the same subject. In this department of doctrine, most of the schismatics agree with the Orthodox Church.
A schism is actually a separation from the Universal Church without a violation of unity in dogma.
When a priest is promoted to archpriest, the only prayer for this rite reads as follows: “Clothe our brother with Thy grace and adorn him with honesty at the beginning of the position of elders of Thy people.” This is the entire meaning of the church archpriest: during divine services he has the right to occupy first place among other priests (see Order of Ordination).
This is how the saints were commanded to act and acted. apostles. Three years, says St. The Apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus, day and night, he continually taught each of you with tears (Acts 20; 31).
The bishop, ordaining a presbyter, in his prayer reads, among other things, the following: “This one you have deigned to guarantee from me in immaculate life and unwavering faith, deign to raise up this great grace of Your Holy Spirit...”, clearly expressing with these words the spiritual origin, the birth of the presbyter from the bishop through ordination (see Rite consecration).
“The great evil is ignorance,” said St. John Chrysostom. – Ignorance does not know its ignorance. Ignorance, thinking to do good, does evil.”
Word 89th. – Here, of course, the jealousy is material, spiritual: it exposes itself to materiality by the heating of the blood it produces. Spiritual zeal is always faithful to the law of God and is alien to heat.
St.'s proposal Ignatius on the design of a building for the Caucasian Seminary (dated February 18, 1858, No. 21). Published for the first time.
The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Prince Baryatinsky, personally asked Bishop Ioannikiy to change the rector of the Assumption Church to a more trustworthy person and instructed the head of the province to inform him when this demand would be fulfilled by the bishop.
Letter to St. Ignatius to the director of the Synodal Chancellery Ya. A. Poznyak about the affairs of the Caucasian Consistory (dated January 18, 1859, No. 7). PST. T. 2. pp. 519–520.
St.'s proposal Ignatius on the distribution of three hundred silver rubles from his property to the officials of the Consistory in connection with the difficult financial situation of the officials (dated March 10, 1858, No. 29). Published in the book: Sokolov. Part 1. pp. 228–229; PST. T. 2. pp. 524–525.
Speech of St. Ignatius before the consecration of the St. George Banner, the highest granted to the Linear Cossack Army (Mikhailovskaya village, May 12, 1858). PST. T. 2. pp. 527–528. Report of St. Ignatius on the completion of consecration (dated May 13, 1858), see the book: Sokolov. Part 1. pp. 252–254. (Sunday); PST. T. 2. pp. 529–530.
Speech of St. Ignatius at the funeral service of the Sevastopol hero, fleet captain of the 1st rank, K. G. Popandopulo in the Cross Church of Stavropol (March 4, 1858). PST. T. 2. P. 524.