GBOU RM SPO "Saransk State Industrial and Economic
College"
Research work
Shrines of Mordovia
Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya hermitage
Startsev Corner
Completed by: Elena Ukhanova,
2nd year student
specialties
"Economics and Accounting"
Head: Kozlova N.V.
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...3
Legends and traditions about the emergence of Startseva Ugla……………………….4
Historical features of the emergence and development of the shrine -
Startsev Corner……………………………………………………………………………….8
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………19
References……………………………………………………………20
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………21
Introduction
Every person has their own small homeland, the place that is closest to him in the world. And wherever fate takes him, the city or village in which he grew up will forever remain loved. And the warmest memories are inextricably linked with our native land. It's always nice to remember him.
Some time ago, our family moved from the Bolsheignatovsky district to the suburbs of Saransk. There is a place in our area with a surprisingly interesting history, rich in legends and legends, and a past. This place is popularly called Startsev Corner.
Relevance of the problem. Preserving the heritage of our ancestors, preserving traditions, remembering and knowing the history of our region, ennobling holy places - this is necessary for the spiritual and moral development of the individual, for the education of patriotism.
Target My job is to conduct a study of the shrine of Mordovia - the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage, or as this holy place is also called - Startsev Ugol.
Based on the relevance and goal, I set myself the following tasks:
Find and describe legends and traditions about the emergence of Startsev Ugla;
Consider the historical features of the emergence and development of the Elders Corner shrine, having studied and analyzed special literature.
Object my research work stands the shrine of Mordovia - Startsev Ugol. Subject The same is a study of the peculiarities of the emergence and development of the Elders' Corner shrine.
During my work, I used the following research methods:
Conversations with the priests of the Bolsheignatovsky district, Father Alexander and Father Alexey, old-timers of the villages of Gorki and Torgovoe Talyzino, pilgrims who visit this holy place;
Analysis of local history literature.
Legends and traditions about the emergence of Startsev Ugla
In order to obtain research information regarding legends and traditions about the emergence of Startsev Uglamnaya, conversations were held with the priest of the Bolsheignatov Church, Father Alexander, and local residents of the villages of Gorki and Torgovoe Talyzino. The popular veneration of the holiness of the place is connected not only with the monastic monastery that was there, but also with a tradition that goes back centuries.
Priest Alexander told about a legend that has come down to us since the era of Ivan the Terrible.
... The Emperor-Father was on his way to Kazan. His daring army went to fight the adversaries. The Mordovian prince Ignat met the Terrible Tsar. He greeted him kindly, gave him food and drink, took him through his possessions and reached the border. It was customary among the Mordovian people to accompany dear guests to the springs, where they said goodbye. But Prince Ignat reached the border of his domain, and there was no source. They began to say goodbye. The king ordered a water blessing prayer to be served. While reading the Gospel, an old man approached the king. They served a prayer service and began to say goodbye. Here the old man gives Tsar the Terrible a scroll and says: “Peace be with you, Tsar Ivan!” You are going to do great things. God's blessing to you. Here is my scroll, but don’t read it until you take Kazan.” With these words, the elder handed over a scroll and stuck his wooden staff into the ground at the very feet of the king. And a key struck from under the staff! Everyone was happy: a good omen. And the old man disappeared. Tsar Ivan and Prince Ignat separated. The royal army went to their great cause - to take Kazan. On the way, Tsar Ivan could not resist; he unrolled the scroll, and it was written in Greek letters. The Greek king Maxim ordered him to invite him to read the scroll. They called, Maxim read the following: “You, Tsar, will take Kazan. If it is your will, then build a temple in the place where we met, and if you are diligent, then build a monastery. "And the signature is St. Spyridon, the Wonderworker of Trimifunts. The king and all his neighbors marveled at the wondrous miracles of God.
They took Kazan and went home to Moscow by a different route. But the king did not forget about his meeting with Saint Spyridon. From Moscow he sent monks to build a monastery on that spot, provided the monks with everything they needed and ordered them to offer prayers to God day and night and remember St. Spyridon. This is how a monastery arose in the Mordovian outback. There were monks living among the pagans, and they had to endure so much! During one of the raids, the pagans set fire to the monastery. The monks all went to the temple, and this temple went underground... The holy place was empty, and the spring kept flowing.
In Elder's Corner, prayer never faded, the monastery was revived, poverty set in again, the monks left, but someone remained and in the dugouts performed their feat of silence and prayer. New times have come. The temples were all extinguished. And the people kept coming and going to the holy springs. The old-timers remembered the holy tradition that Saint Spyridon consecrated that place with his appearance.
With the blessing of the Bishop of Saransk and Mordovia Barsanuphius, it was decided to erect a cross, which was carried out in 1998. Cross made of white marble, carved, in the middle - in full height Saint Spyridon blessing the people. To the right of the saint is the Mordovian prince Ignat, seeing off the king, and to the left is Saint Spyridon pouring out water in a dry place. Above Saint Spyridon is the Savior not made by hands.
On Spiritual Day, a procession of the cross came out from the Archangel Michael Church in Bolshoi Ignatovo. They went to venerate the Holy Cross. There was also a procession of the cross from the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.
They united at the Cross and served a prayer service. This is already a tradition - on the Day of the Spirits and on the Transfiguration, to go in procession to the holy place, marked by the Life-giving Cross.
There were many legends among the local population about the mysterious monks who lived in underground caves. Nobody knows where these caves are. During the years of persecution of the Church, security officers tried to find them more than once; they reached the stream with dogs, but here the dogs lost track. The NKVD documents contain inquiries about a certain hieromonk Mikhail, whom the authorities were looking for in several areas. He was hiding in one of the caves on the edge of the Startseuglovsky cemetery. People knew him well and still remember him as an ascetic who remained faithful to his monastic vows in difficult conditions.
Now in the place where the temple went underground there is a mound that is growing every year. Father Alexander wanted to build a chapel here. When they dug a hole for the foundation, at night he had a dream that light was coming from there, and the temple was standing. He realized that there was no need to build anything. And what else is unusual! Everything that was dug up was thrown back into the hole. But the hole could not be filled! So she stayed. Between the stone cross and this hillock there is a lowland, densely overgrown with grass and willows. There used to be a swamp here. They say that in the twenties, 80 clergy were brought here from all over the area. They forced them to dig a hole, and then threw them there alive and covered them with swamp mud and mud. They say that in this place, to this day, at night, if you listen to the ground, you can hear the groans of the martyrs.
Local residents are constantly drawn to Startsev Corner, because three springs have been revered in the desert since ancient times: Spiridonsky, Spassky and Nikolsky.
The people have a custom associated with them: when you approach a well, you must wash your face with water, or even better, douse your head. This water has a certain energy that cannot be explained. Spiridonium water heals the thyroid gland and infertility in women.
But it’s best to take a bath in the Nikolsky spring. It is located in thickets of willow and hazel, so we do not immediately see the chapel, the cross, the well frame and the stone on which they wash themselves with water from the source.
The well is shallow, the water quickly becomes clouded with silt rising from the bottom. Father Alexander said that there stood a chopped chapel painted blue. It was burned in the early 60s of the XX century. Under the chapel there was a gap between the stones, and the water flowed through the gutter very quickly. Now this place is overgrown, but previously there was a font below, and they bathed in it, and the stone, they say, floated on the water.
Many residents of the surrounding villages, on the eve of winter, when the road to Startsev Ugla is not yet blocked, take water from the springs. And in winter, if someone gets a cold or another illness, they simply wash themselves with this water and the illness goes away. But not only water here has power, but even air and earth. Being in these places, you feel the influence of history.
Following further along the path, you can stumble upon traces of an old well. Here is what Father Alexander says about him: “One woman from Sergach told about her resurrection when she was a girl. This was after the war. She was visiting her grandparents in Sechenov. I started playing with my friends and fell asleep next to a dung heap. The children saw that she was sleeping and ran away. Two days later she began to have a headache, and a week later she dies. The doctors said: “Suspicion of meningitis. All!" Her parents left Sergach to pick her up to bury her, and her grandparents rode on a horse and brought her to Startsev Ugol. It was on Elijah’s day, August 2. At that time, Mother Margarita (the nun) was walking from the source of Spyridon to the chapel. And just halfway there, the grandparents laid down the dead body of the girl, for whom the doctors had already issued a death certificate. They turned to their mother for help. “What can I do,” she asked, “I can only pray.” She began to pray, raised her hands to the sky and began to ask the Lord to perform a miracle on the girl. And water began to bubble up from under her feet. She mixed this water with the earth, poured it into the girl’s ear and turned her over to the other side. And then worms and maggots crawled out of her head, and the girl was resurrected and is still alive. She never left God, raised a son, a grandson, and now she has accepted the schema. And from that moment on, there were worms and larvae in the water, but it was a dry place.”
1 | |
Pilgrimages
24 April 10 Olga Larkina
Everything here breathes holiness... (pilgrimage to Startsev Ugol)
On Holy Spirit Day, many hundreds of people gather in Startsev Ugol near the Mordovian village of Gorki. Pilgrims from distant towns and villages travel in cars and buses, parishioners of local churches go in religious processions. This year, on June 16, many worshipers gathered in this holy place, where, according to old-timers, at least until the nineties of the last century, the secret life of old people did not stop, where everything breathes holiness. Even on our first visit to the Mordovian village of Bolshoye Ignatovo, to the relics of Priest Constantine, crucified during the years of revolutionary unrest, we heard about a hidden desert, where, as in Vavilov Dol, during the enemy invasion, the church along with its worshipers went underground - but not a temple , no people died, and to this day, they say, from under the hill you can hear either the ringing of bells, or monastic singing, or a pillar of light that will illuminate the darkness of the night. And the hill itself is gradually rising up...
The history of Startsev Ugla dates back to the time of the campaign against Kazan by Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Here Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky appeared to the Russian Sovereign and Prince Ignatius of Mordovian and predicted the victory of the Russian army over the Kazan kingdom. In memory of this, a stone temple was built with funds donated by the Tsar - the same one that later hid the Orthodox underground. In one of the petitions of 1685, the Preobrazhensky monks wrote that their hermitage had existed since the time of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, and that it was established according to the charter of Patriarch Joseph. The joint reign of Autocrat Michael and Cyrus Joseph fell on five less than a year old, between 1641 and 1645. It was then that the Elder-Uglovskaya Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage was founded. Meanwhile, the prayer elders lived in this quiet place for a long time, and the name Elders’ Corner was assigned to it even before the foundation of the monastery. The pious governor, who received these lands, which were already in oblivion, for his service, having learned their history and the fact that monks still lived secretly in the caves, decided to build a monastery here. Mordovia considers this monastery its own, the Nizhny Novgorod region its own, over the centuries the borders have constantly changed. And now the place where the later monastery was, during the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Catherine’s times, belongs to the Nizhny Novgorod side, and the first monastery, where the temple went underground, is located on the Mordovian side.
During the lean, lean years, the monastery always helped the population with bread, because the economy was strong, the monks themselves uprooted the forest and cultivated the fields. Several times the hermitage went through difficult times - the famous Decree of Catherine II on the secularization of monasteries in 1764 abolished this hermitage too, but it was revived again - and again the enemy slander allegedly tonsured here secretly either a runaway serf or a recruit, and again the monastery was closed, and the monks are transferred to the Alatyr Holy Trinity Monastery. But who could forbid the elders to pray in the holy Elders’ Corner?..
According to documents, the last church of Startseva Ugla was sold for firewood due to its disrepair at the end of the 19th century in order to heat the church in the neighboring village. But it turned out that, as the old-timers recall, the temple, already sold for firewood, stood until the 30s of the 20th century.
The old people I found remember this Spiridonov Church well,” said the rector of the Bolsheignatovsky Church, Priest Alexander Nikitin. - They remember the elders Mikhailov - two schema-monks who went into seclusion after the revolution. They lived in caves and were hunted for a long time, but the dog never found the trail. The monks left by water, and the entrance to the caves was arranged so that there was a puddle in front of it. A lot of interesting legends and beliefs around this holy place. Elder Pelageya lived with us in Ignatovo; she knew Metropolitan John (Snychev) and Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky) well. Polya’s grandmother said that during the years when Vladyka Manuel ruled the diocese in Chuvashia, they often visited Startsev Corner. They got to Alatyr, and from there they got there under the guise of stove-makers - they changed clothes, such simple peasants - and with several faithful people they got to Startsev Ugol. There is evidence of Alatyr old-timers who remember this well. Vladyka John told his spiritual daughter that once Vladyka Manuel left him in a chapel erected on the site of the St. Spiridon Church. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, Vladyka Manuel was not there, he only came in the morning. Vladyka John left the chapel and saw that candles were burning on every grave in the monastery cemetery. And when I came closer, I didn’t see any candles.
After the war, believing village women came to clean the chapels for the holiday, and then there were four of them - in the cemetery and at all three sources. The widow of Agrafen sat down on a bench near Spiridonov’s well, looking at the Holy Hill, and she herself wondered: is it true what they say about this place, will the church come out of there, or is there nothing there - so, people came up with... “I’m at the market there was - I bought wool for one price. And by the time I got home, they asked how much I took - I added two rubles. So, maybe there was something here once, but they came up with who knows what..." Suddenly he sees - the slide opened and an Angel rides out from there - as if on a horse. White vestments sparkle like lightning, his appearance is like fire. In fear, she crossed herself and crossed him - but he did not disappear. The angel drove around Agrafena, and the old man was next to her. He took me by the hand and took me inside the slide. She disappeared there for three days, and who says - seven. And it seemed to her that she had been in this underground church for 24 hours. I saw the elders there and stood at the service. And there she took monastic vows, and the successor of Schema-nun Vera became the well-known ascetic schema-nun Margarita (Nikitina), who to this day is called Ignatovskaya by some, and Ardatovskaya by others, after her resting place. The road to the caves and the underground church was well known to her. But she forbade talking about the fact that she was also in the cave. Just before her death, Mother Vera revealed all this. And then, after being tonsured, she was taken out in schematic clothing and sat down in the same place from which she was taken. He sits and doesn’t know whether it’s a dream or reality. And he hears in amazement: “Pear, is it you?! Where have you been, we’ve been looking for you here for so many days! The children don’t know where you went...” She began to tell me that she was taken to the underground church, but they didn’t believe it. Only Mother Margarita stood nearby and smiled quietly, without saying anything.
Schema-nun Margarita was the builder of the last women's community in Startsev Uglo. They did not have time to register the community, because just before the revolution it was just being built. Cells were built, a chapel was erected, but the only church was officially considered as a church in the churchyard, the mothers came here for services, and for the midnight office they gathered in the chapel, there was no priest at the church. During the hard years, the nuns were dispersed and the land was taken away. In order to destroy the very memory of Elder’s Corner, the cells were dismantled, the frame of the temple was taken away, and the chapel was burned. Mother Margarita went to the village of Sechenovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, to which Startsev Ugol belonged, to look for the truth. But she was going to suffer, the perspicacious mother knew that she had to accept severe torment from the atheists. She came - and here she was accused of all sorts of sins. Mother was shot, but the Lord left her alive, people dug her up and saved her... Mother Margarita herself - a wonderful miracle worker - deserves a separate story. About the prediction of St. Philaret of Ichalkovsky - and mother’s close acquaintance with Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky). About her resurrection of a dead girl and the appearance of a fourth “forbidden” well in the Startsev Corner. And you can read about many more spiritual exploits of mother in one of the upcoming issues of Blagovest.
Six years ago, water from three miraculous springs of Startseva Ugla was taken for examination. What’s interesting: the wells are located in the same area, at the same level, but the water in the springs is different in composition. But the most amazing thing happened on the way, while jars of water were being transported for examination. Five people were in the car, and they all witnessed the miracle. The jars had labels made of plain white paper, and on them it was written in pencil which source this or that water was taken from. And suddenly faces appeared on the labels one after another: on a jar of water from the spring of Spyridon of Trimifuntsky - the image of St. Spyridon, on another jar - of St. Nicholas, and on the water from the spring Mother of God two images appeared at once: the Lord and His Most Pure Mother. These faces were visible all the way.
One night several nuns were praying at Elder's Corner. This was just when a marble cross was brought to Startsev Ugol in memory of the appearance of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky. The nuns read akathists to the Mother of God, Saints Spyridon and Nicholas the Wonderworker. And then at three o'clock in the morning a terrible thunderstorm broke out.
Father Alexander woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to look for a car to transport the people who remained in Elder’s Corner after the consecration of the cross, and in the morning, as the Lord directed, he and the parishioners would return there. But he didn’t succeed with the car. In the morning after the prayer service we arrived at Startsev Ugol - thank God, everyone is alive. The pilgrims told the priest: “While we were praying, we suddenly saw a pillar of light, and our eyes were involuntarily drawn to it. One novice asked her mother for her blessing to go and see what was shining there. And mother said: “Stay where you are. There is no need to be distracted from prayer." They finished the akathist to St. Nicholas, sang the magnification - and went to the chapel. And they saw halfway between the chapel and the springs, not far from the forbidden well, a trickle of water above the soil." It turns out that at night, in the place where they saw the pillar of light, lightning struck and broke through the turf, and water came out from there. good pure water some step from the well from which water is not ordered to be taken.
And priest Andrei Bublienko told us about the amazing history of an unremarkable-looking icon kept in the Archangel Michael Church in the village of Bolshoye Ignatovo, painted on a rough sheet of tin by a non-icon painter - one of the last elders of the pre-revolutionary desert, Schemamonk Mikhail. Icon "Assumption" Holy Mother of God"was written on the day when Russia renounced the Sovereign. "But how Mother of God did not die, but only fell asleep, so Russia will still wake up from its sleep,” said schemamonk Mikhail. Many miracles were revealed from the icon. On June 18, 1996, it saved Bolshoye Ignatovo from an unheard-of hurricane, which caused a lot of trouble to the surrounding villages. Father Alexander with He carried it out of the temple with prayer, lifted it up - and the terrible black cloud approaching the village seemed to split against an invisible wall... At times the icon streamed myrrh. On the first anniversary of the discovery of the relics of the murdered priest Constantine, three swarms of bees flew into the temple - and surrounded the closed coffin with the relics and precisely this icon. The bees did not harm anyone, and only the sweet streaks of honey on the burial cloth and on the icon testified to a miraculous visit. There was another case. The old woman-pious mentally condemned her fellow villagers, sitting idle on a bench: “I’m going to church I’m walking, and they..." But when, entering the temple, she wanted to venerate the icon, she was horrified: the Apostles depicted on it turned their faces away from her! “Judge not, lest you be judged”...
Recently the Lord vouchsafed us, four Samara pilgrims, to visit Elder’s Corner. We prayed in the chapels, washed ourselves with water from all sources, and venerated the holy crosses. There was an enduring feeling of miracle, and if underground prayer had sounded at that time, we would have taken it for granted. However, it was a miracle that our desire to visit the holy Elder’s Corner came true. But the greatest shock for us were the three stones at the well of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the largest of them, if you look closely, you can see smooth hollows - footprints, which could be left by a person kneeling in prayer. How many elders prayed here for centuries that the rocky firmament became like wax under their feet. And what power was their prayer!
ELDERS CORNER. Its history dates back to the time of the campaign against Kazan by the 150,000-strong army of Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1552). Here Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky appeared to the Russian sovereign and Prince Ignatius of Mordovian and predicted the victory of the Russian army over the Kazan Khanate, which at that time was a fragment of the Golden Horde. In memory of this, a stone temple was built using funds donated by the king. Monastic elders settled nearby - hence the name. Since then, holy places have protected their inhabitants more than once. Subsequently, according to legend, the temple hid Orthodox Christians underground during an enemy invasion...
This year, on Spirit Day (June 20), hundreds of people again gathered in the desert near the Sechenov village of Buldakovo and the Mordovian village of Gorki. The pilgrims traveled by car, and from Mordovia by bus. And not only on this day it is crowded here. Summer is the peak of the greatest attendance at holy places. For believers and simply travelers from Russia and even abroad, Startsev Ugol is an ancient and most mysterious desert. People still come here to pray and be healed of mental and physical ailments. On the website of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Federal Tourism Agency even has a route - Sechenovsky district, Startsev Ugol - the celebration of Spiritual Day. Organizers: Chuvash and Mordovian Dioceses. Since ancient times, Startsev Corner has been shrouded in secrets and legends passed down from generation to generation. Legends combine historical and, in fact, folklore evidence, fictional details and real events. It is not always possible to separate truth from fiction, beneficial phenomena from superstition. Everyone determines this for themselves.
Quite recently, the editorial office received a call from the Ulyanovsk region asking for directions on how to get to the springs and inquired about a temple under construction. People have heard about the miraculous powers of the desert. There is a video on the Internet “Vesti Mordovia” from 2012. "Startsev Corner". It has 9349 views. Our fellow countrymen comment on what they saw: “Wonderful places, healing, the soul rests”, “There is such an aura there”, “The soul sings when you visit there”, “I was born in Buldakovo, I live in the city. My grandmother and I often visited there when we were children,” “At least if they improved everything a little, it would be absolutely wonderful...”
The newspaper's correspondents also visited Trinity Week in the Spiridonovskaya Hermitage. From Sechenov to Buldakov it’s 30 km, along the highway to Mordovia (to the left) – another 5. Then there’s a sign indicating a left turn, to Startsev Ugla – 4 km through fields and meadows on a well-trodden road. There are no other good nearby roads. The Buldakovites pass through fields on their side, covering some eight kilometers on foot. In past years, Trade Talyzin youth walked on their own paths. On July 14, a group of believers from V. Talyzin is planning a trip to holy places by bus. Our impressions of the trip were very good, but still different.
At the entrance to Startsev Corner there is a full house - the Moscow Patriarchate of Saransk and Mordovian Metropolis of Ardatov Diocese of the Spasopreobrazhensk Men's Hermitage Startsev Corner - and a sign. But behind the bushes and trees you can see a house; at first glance you can see that it is temporary housing. He has already stood here for two winters. There was a lot of unused firewood left over from the last one. The path is not found, confirming that only one person lives here, which is what knowledgeable people told us about. They knocked on the door to ask permission to visit holy places, not only for the soul, but also to do work, but no one answered. The old man was not at the construction site either. Later, Trade Talyzin residents explained that he could have prayed somewhere on a hill or at a spring, gone on a bicycle to a neighboring village, or gone somewhere else. He is the rector of the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Syava, Poretsky district. Hieromonk Jordan is glad to come; he himself is the builder of the new Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on his own initiative.
In a place open to public view, construction is nearing completion. So the gilded dome rushed into the blue sky. For true faith, it turns out, nothing is impossible. There are almost no building materials left at the construction site. The door of the temple is open, finishing work is going on inside, under a kind of dome there are faces of saints. On the floor are materials, tools and... a bicycle. Behind the temple is the builder’s “utility” yard - a washbasin made from a plastic bottle, tables, a bench, a well, and a large saucepan for cooking over a fire. Apparently, lunch here is not always for one person - God also sends helpers in the holy task. Near wooden chapel Built in 2002, consecrated in honor of the Transfiguration of the Savior. On August 19, on Yablochny Spas, the throne is here and it will be crowded again. Believers leave donations in each chapel.
The path leads to the Spasov spring. A few years ago, the bushes here were hung with all sorts of ropes and rags, but now this is not the case. The clergy do not approve of the rituals, considering them pagan. However, someone somewhere off to the side will definitely tie some piece of wood to a branch, lie down on the hill where the church has sunk underground, and slip a note with a wish between the logs of the chapel. There is a renovated chapel, a well, a cross, and icons.
The path to the source of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker goes to the left. Three holy stones, on the largest of them there are two depressions “from the knees of the elders who prayed on it for many years.” People douse themselves with water on them.
To the right of the Spasov spring, the trail approaches the source of the Wonderworker Spyridon. There are four springs on the territory - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Nameless, Holy Resurrection, Spyridon of Trimifuntsky. They are located nearby, and the water in them has different composition.
Several times the monastery was abolished and revived again. More than once monasteries and churches perished and rose again. The last temple (in the churchyard nearby) was destroyed at the beginning of the last century, and then schema monks lived here, already in caves. In the 30s, the desert was completely destroyed - cells and chapels were destroyed, and the monks were shot and buried right there in the ravine.
Mordovia considers these places of worship to be its own, and the Nizhny Novgorod region – its own. Over the centuries, borders have constantly changed. And now the place where the later monastery was, during the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Catherine’s times, belongs to the Nizhny Novgorod side, and the first monastery, where, according to an old legend, the temple went underground, is on the Mordovian side. All guests arriving in the Sechenovsky district try to get to the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage. Some people go on their own to be alone with nature, others invite a guide from the department of culture and tourism with them. After visiting these places, many say that they would like to return here. And we had the same desire: to walk along the paths in silence again, listen to the birds singing, drink some water, wash in the font, gather herbs for tea, stand on the Holy Stone and the Holy Hill near the marble cross, feel this magical grace...
And having looked on the Internet, we discovered a lot of new things for ourselves from legends, responses from pilgrims, historical information on the websites of the Ardatov and Nizhny Novgorod metropolises. We took some notes for you, dear readers.
Saint Spyridon is very revered in the world. The saint’s relics rest on the Greek island of Corfu, where four times a year the saint’s memory is celebrated with religious processions. But the saint and the “walking” saint himself, that is, literally the one who goes around the world, the places where his name is called, need gracious help.
Not far from the marble cross there is a hill, which is credited with healing properties: you need to slowly walk around it three times, reading the Mother of God to yourself.
Here is a message from the Ardatov diocese of the Mordovian Metropolis “On September 10, 2015, His Eminence Benjamin, Bishop of Ardatov and Atyashevsky visited the Elders Corner. On the territory of the reviving men's monastery, the Ruling Bishop held a meeting with Abbot Kallinik (Vdovin) and the head of the Bolsheignatovsky municipal district T.N. Polozova. Issues of reviving the monastery and prospects for joint cooperation were discussed.”
The temple is being built by Hieromonk Jordan. He was born in 1947. Graduated from the food industry technical school and institute. A builder at heart. He worked as a graphic designer. Moved to Alatyr. On April 20, 2003, he was tonsured a monk. He carried out obedience in the monasteries and farmsteads of Chuvashia. For more than 70 years, the church (built in 1825) in the village of Siyava was inactive. Thanks to personal initiative and with the blessing of Metropolitan Barnabas, Father Jordan restored the temple from ruins, which in 2011 opened its doors to believers. After that, he decided to develop Startsev Corner. Quietly, with God's help, he is being reborn. O. Jordan asks the residents of the area to help decorate the temple
At the site of the supposed miraculous appearance of Saint Spyridon to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, with the blessing of Bishop Barsanuphius of Saransk and Mordovia, a white marble cross was erected in 1998. In the middle part of the cross there is a full-length image of St. Spyridon, on the left are Prince Ignatius and Tsar Ivan the Terrible, on the right is the bringing out of water on a dry place by Spyridon of Trimythous. Above – Savior Not Made by Hands
Different feeling
Startsev Corner. I've heard so much, and now I'm meeting you. But this is not how it should have happened. You need to prepare for this. To really want this meeting, to gather your thoughts so that the sensations and impressions are not just pleasant, but correct. First of all. And confirmation of this was found immediately. In appearance, the pensioner called himself Uncle Misha. With him are his son and granddaughter (from Saratov). Uncle Misha himself is from the village of Kurakina, Ardatovsky district of Mordovia. The youth is here for the first time, he came for the second time. When I got sick, my legs brought me here on their own. Easier.
“It’s beautiful here, it’s quiet, you can relax your soul—so far this is the only feeling I have.” Probably, another feeling should come - sincere faith, so as not just to see the natural beauty, but to feel the need to be here. I hope so.
He is right. That day we even walked the same route - from Sechenov and Kurakin to Startsev Ugol, 35-40 kilometers. And our paths converged at the turn to the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage. And thoughts converged, and expectations.
You can find many articles on the Internet talking about Startsev Ugol.(For example)
All of them, basically, begin with the history of the emergence of Startsev Ugla...
The history of Startsev Ugla dates back to the time of Ivan the Terrible’s campaign against Kazan. The king had a dream in which Saint Spyridon gave him a letter, and in it it was written: “I, Saint Spyridon, will help you overcome the Khanate.” And so it happened - Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan. After the victory, the king built a church in the place where he had his dream. From that time on, the elders began to live here, and during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich (between 1641 and 1645) the Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage was formed...
By “opening” the photo: you can click on the icon with a magnifying glass under the photo (on the photo page) and read about the history of Startsev Ugla in the large image
The history is also told on signs at the springs.
I would like to try to tell in my own words about my observations and impressions received during a visit to Startsev Ugla, which I had long heard, read about and was definitely planning to visit...
The road from Nizhny to Startsev Ugla took about 3.5-4 hours with several stops. Having left at 10 am, I was already there at 2 pm.
Route: N. Novgorod - Rabotki - B. Murashkino - Knyaginino - Sergach, Urazovka, Sechenovo. In Buldakovo we had to clarify the road: in one of the articles on the Internet it was said that there were two roads leading to Startsev Corner - from Buldakovo and the second from Mordovia, from the village of Gorki. In the first yard, a young local resident explained that there is a road from Buldakovo, it starts immediately after the village and goes to the left across the field. But there is one bad place - a ford (dam) across a small swampy stream (a tributary of the Piana), which cannot be bypassed, so you can get to Startsev Ugol by car only from the Mordovian village of Gorki.....
-From Buldakovo there is a good, new, asphalt road to the south, to the Republic of Mordovia. Soon after crossing the border, it comes out onto a highway running from west to east. At the crossroads you need to turn left, to the east, the first village will be Gorki. It should be noted here that almost the entire road from Nizhny to the village of Gorki is in very good condition. All the routes are new, and the regional centers along the way have ring roads, and you can drive very quickly.
To the left of Gorki, across the road, is a cemetery. In front of it is an asphalted area, from which a good dirt road begins to the northeast, leading after 3-4 km to Startsev Uglo. There is only one fork, at which you need to take the right, along a more compact road. This road, well-trodden in summer, goes through black soil, which in times of mud probably turns into a slippery mess. The road approaches the car park next to the Chapel.
From the chapel there begins a staircase that goes down into the Startsev ravine.
The ladder leads to the Spasov spring. There is a chapel, a well, a cross.
The path to the source of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker goes to the left.
Near this source there is also a chapel, a well, a cross
and three holy stones, on the largest of them there are two depressions, “from the knees of the elders who prayed on it for many years.”
Some people, having collected buckets of water from the source, douse themselves while standing on this stone.
To the right of the Spasov spring, the trail approaches the source of the Wonderworker Spyridon.
Next to this spring there is a well-placed and comfortable font.
They say that you cannot drink water from the source of the Wonderworker Spyridon - there is dead water there. Why i do not know...
According to legend in Vavilov Dol, during the enemy invasion the church and its worshipers went underground - but neither the temple nor the people died, and to this day, they say, from under the hill you can hear either the ringing of bells, or monastic singing, or a pillar of light illuminating the night darkness.....
Perhaps there was once a church on it. They say that this church can reappear, rising straight from the ground. Believers walk around the hill three times, reciting prayers.
A little lower, on the southern bank of the ravine, in the 90s of the last century, a very beautiful marble cross was erected in memory of the appearance of St. Spyridon of Trimythos to Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Prince Ignatius of Mordovian.
During its installation, several visiting nuns held a prayer service, staying at the cross overnight; there was a strong thunderstorm at night, and lightning struck the ravine, which opened another spring, which was then called the spring of All Saints. This is the last source in Elder's Corner. There is a well and a wooden cross.
On the northern bank of the Startseva ravine, near the source of All Saints, there is a small cemetery,
and on the south there is another site with a wooden cross.
That's all there is now in Startsev Ugol.
There really is a road to Buldakovo, but it is very poorly traveled. If you walk along it or drive about 2 kilometers from Startsev Ugla, you will come to exactly that ford that only a four-wheel drive tractor can overcome. The resident of Buldakovo was right that he did not advise going here.
There are no other roads towards the neighboring villages of Chadayevka or Ratmanovo. All around there are fields, ravines or tall grass. But there are beautiful views of the surrounding surroundings, rapeseed and wheat fields,
on a hill to the north of Startsev Ugla, claiming to be the highest in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Being in the Elder's Corner, you literally feel some kind of energy - this happens when you are in a holy, prayed place.
And if you spend another night there...
For those who decide to do this (so as not to embarrass the visiting pilgrims), it is better to go down a little lower, along the southern shore of the ravine, at least 80 meters, you can find a parking place on the edge of the field there. Well, when organizing an overnight stay, it is best to use tiles and, of course, take all the garbage with you.
From the parking lot you can easily walk to the springs, the font, admire the evening views and sunset...
If you're lucky, at night you can hear bells ringing, church singing, or see a pillar of light from the Holy Hill...
-After swimming several times (in the afternoon, in the evening, in the morning) in the font,
after drinking holy water from the springs, standing on the Holy Stone, the Holy Hill near the marble cross, recharging with the energy emanating from the earth (feeling this magical grace), then, upon returning home, you will probably feel a surge of strength for several more days, being impressed by this trip .
I am sure that Startsev Corner is truly one of the most mystical places, a place of “power” in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Startsev Corner was so memorable to me that I visited it twice more in 2014 and 2015. During this time, the chapel at the Spasovy Spring was completed in Startsevoy Ugla, the old font was painted, and a new font was being built at the St. Nicholas Spring.
There is dust over the field roads - we are riding on a red horse, looking for Elders Corner. Over the field roads, a gray-haired harrier patrols the Mordovian border, killing mice coming from the Nizhny Novgorod diocese to annoy Father Kallinik. And here he is - in black clothes, but glowing. The horse was let into the meadow, we approached: “Father, bless.” And he beamed up more unusually than before, blessed, hugged: “The Orthodox have arrived!”
We stand at the hut, and the smell of incense quietly mixes with the hot floral spirit. Holy places. Through these places Grozny went to Kazan, and Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky appeared to him and predicted the victory of the Russian army. Ivan the Terrible built a stone temple. So it still stands, underground only - it went underground, sheltering the Orthodox in the hour of death. And the old monks sing in the caves. Those who lived here since the time of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. I put my ear to the grass and heard the sixth psalm, sung by a harmonious choir: “Lord, do not rebuke me with Your wrath, nor punish me with Your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are broken..."
His companions did not believe it, but Father Kallinik was not at all surprised.
A girl came, she says, spread out like a star on the Holy Hill so that more Grace could enter, and then she stood up and husked the seeds. I told her: “Here you need to read “Virgin, Mother of God, Rejoice”.” And she: “Tea is not Diveevo!” Then I got into it, and I saw that I stopped spitting.
“Here is a marble cross. Here Spiridon appeared to the king. Church under the cross. Diggers come and we have to beat their hands off. As long as I'm alive, there will be no excavations. We must pray, save our souls,” my father draws a mug from the first source, crosses himself, drinks, and hands it to me.
The water is clean, hard, with underground iron. In the May heat it is wonderfully fresh. And the boys, I see, are scratching themselves. Deniska, Ruslanchik and Seryozhka arrived in shorts, so the mosquito gives them life! “Nothing,” the father consoles, “you have cleansed yourself from demonic blood.” I’ll tie you up next time and leave you here if you come in shorts.”
We walk along a quiet path, through the bushes, along the birch trees.
What a wonderful white staircase!
It is convenient to climb up it to tickle the birds of paradise and touch their delicate feathers. Bath at the Spring of All Saints. Yesterday the Nizhny Novgorod Cossacks took a dip, but we will refrain and drink some water from the source.
The boys fill the canister, and Father Kallinik and I sit on the bench, listening to the nightingales.
But Seraphim of Sarov ate this kind of grass. Her name is snivel, but he called her food. The holy father visited these regions. Father Kallinik bites the stem.
The chapel is here. We go in and pray for our loved ones and for the Fatherland.
Let's try some water again. “I’m not a master at telling stories,” the father laments, “here’s our dean... You’ll be heard!” And I don’t need stories. So let’s sit and be silent about something interesting. The story can be printed from the Internet onto sheets of paper. And in winter, make tea with currant leaves and read under the floor lamp. I'm thinking of doing so.
Father returned along the path in his enviable boots, and we went up to the large chapel. Tyrk-tyrk, locked. Oh, there’s a brick blocking the door, so we’ll move it aside.
The icons here are old. You can’t even distinguish their faces...
The kids sat on the mountain; you can’t take in the vast space with your eyes.
And there's an old cemetery over there. Well, let's get there. Good in shorts through nettle thickets. Lizards are running, the sun is shining. We got there, it’s not that old. The chapel has grown into the ground, empty inside. A grave with a Soviet helmet, a bumblebee buzzing.
Let's go back.
We returned to our father's hut.
He says don’t go inside – it smells like mice. Satan in their form attacked me, he wanted to gnaw through my soul, now there is a hole in the heart of my beloved clothes. Why everything? From disobedience! I told the grandmothers: don’t carry so much food, I live alone. No, they're dragging me. So they bred mice. Both from the Mordovian and Nizhny Novgorod diocese they are interfering, I can’t save them. And everything is calm, I pray.
Bless us, father, let's go home.
Startsev Corner is quietly being revived. Hegumen Kallinikos is working and calling on those who wish to be his assistants. You can come and help. I’m lazy and weak, I climbed onto a red horse and rode off to the accompaniment of a Greek chant and the tinkling of nightingales...
And this is the bush that Father Dionysius noticed. And I, a fool, passed by.
