Charitable Foundation of the Moscow diocese for the restoration of destroyed shrines. Appeal of Metropolitan Yuvenaly “Let's restore the destroyed shrines Trinity Church with. Trinity

The history of this image of the Virgin, according to legend, written by the Evangelist Luke during the life of the Virgin Mary, is closely connected with the history of iconoclasm.

According to church tradition, at the height of the struggle with icons, it was kept by a certain pious widow in Nicaea. On a denunciation, guards came to her house and wanted to chop up the icon with swords. The first blow fell on the image of the right cheek of the Virgin, and blood came out of the wound. The woman paid off the confused soldiers with money, and when they left, she lowered the icon into the sea, and it was washed ashore on Mount Athos, where she became a revered shrine of the Iberian Monastery, founded at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries by the Georgian commander Torniky.

Since then, on all lists from this image, the Virgin was depicted with a small wound on her face.

In the 17th century, Archimandrite Nikon of the Novospassky Monastery, the future patriarch, turned to Archimandrite Pachomius of the Iberian Monastery with a request to send an exact list of this miraculous icon to Moscow. Athos monk Iamblichus wrote a copy on a cypress board with paints mixed with holy water. A year later, the monks of Athos brought the image to Moscow. He was met on October 13 (October 26, according to a new style) in 1648 at the Resurrection Gate by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with his family, the patriarch and a great multitude of people.

Subsequently, the Iberian icon was owned by Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna and her daughter Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna, and after her death, the icon was in the Novodevichy Convent. Another list was made from it, placed on the Resurrection Gates of Kitay-Gorod. In 1669 it was transferred to a wooden chapel, and in 1791 a stone one was built in its place. Since the 17th century, the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God has become the most revered Moscow shrine.

The winners entered Red Square through the Resurrection Gates, all Russian tsars and emperors, having arrived in the old capital, first of all went to bow to the Iberian Icon. According to tradition, anyone going to Red Square or the Kremlin kissed the icon before entering the gate, and men were supposed to pass under the gate without a hat.

Only once did she leave Moscow - in September 1812, together with the Vladimir Icon, she was taken to Vladimir, saving her from the French.

In 1929, the Iberian chapel was closed, demolished, and in its place, at first, a sculpture of a worker with a hammer in his hand was installed, and in 1931, the Resurrection Gate itself was demolished, making way for demonstrations and car traffic. And after the closure of the Novodevichy Convent, the original of the Moscow Iberian Icon, along with other relics and valuables, ended up in the funds of a branch of the State Historical Museum.

In November 1994, Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the laying of the Iberian Chapel and the Resurrection Gate, and they were restored. And on October 25, 1995, a new copy of the Iberian Icon, written on Mount Athos at the request of the patriarch, was delivered to Moscow and on October 26, 1995 it was carried in procession along Nikolskaya Street and, after the liturgy in the Kazan Cathedral, was installed in the restored chapel.

In the media, on the Internet, you can easily find photographs of the churches of Donbass burned, shot from guns. There are dozens of them. Many Orthodox residents of the long-suffering Donetsk land are sure that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian Armed Forces) are deliberately destroying the Orthodox shrines of the “Muscovites”. And yet, in the conditions of war, the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate continue to minister to the faithful, who now more than ever need it. We begin a cycle of materials about the life of the Orthodox parishes of Donbass with a story about the church of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow in the village of Zaitsevo, which is actually on the front line.

Our churches have been shot at and will continue to be shot at

When they talk about the events in Donbass, they most often mention the brutal shelling and casualties. But perhaps even more terrible is the everydayness with which local residents are accustomed to perceive the realities of the war.

I arrived in Zaitsevo in the morning by taxi. Yes, at this time, drivers still do not refuse to drive here. From about 8-9 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon, you can hardly hear the shooting here. A couple of scheduled buses manage to slip into the center of Gorlovka (Zaitsevo is considered a district of this city). After 3 hours life stops. People are sitting at home, ready to run to the basement at any moment.

The small building of the Tikhonovsky temple made of gray brick seems to be hiding under the protection of the walls of the once mighty Holy Intercession Church, destroyed in Soviet times, but still strong.

So it is - as I found out later, these ancient walls more than once took on shells flying from behind the front line. Locals call them "arrivals". And only thanks to this shield, the Tikhonovsky temple has so far escaped with several minor injuries from fragments of mines and shells that exploded nearby.

When I crossed the threshold of the church, the liturgy ended there, the little inhabitants of Zaitsevo took communion - a few quiet girls and boys with not childishly distant views. Parishioners in the temple - about two dozen.

People have been living in conditions of constant war for more than two years, - says the rector of the temple, Father Nikolai. - It's scary to say, my parishioners smiled when they saw on the news the noise that was raised during the fighting near Avdiivka in February. Here the war almost never stops. My choristers live behind the school. It's very close to the front line. Often in the mornings they literally crawl to work. Snipers "work" on them. They pass by, often with knocked-down knees and elbows, in dirty clothes, asking: “Batiushka, wait a bit, we’ll catch our breath, we can’t sing.” Children come to the service - the clothes smell of dampness and mold, because they spend nights in the basements.

At 7 a.m., the rumble of guns is still over the village, so the morning services had to be moved an hour later. At 8 am it is already relatively safe, although the “arrival” can happen at almost any time.

As a rector, I am hurt and offended that my parishioners are leaving. But I bless them to leave, because I understand that they live here like hell.

We are talking with Father Nikolai in a small house next to the church. The day is sunny, slightly frosty, surprisingly quiet. Only a couple of times nearby, as the parishioners said, automatic bursts sounded (I did not hear them), and once, somewhere in the distance, a gunshot hooted dully. Silence and smoothness according to local concepts. I, a visiting journalist, was hospitably organized a tea party. Guests from a different peaceful life in Zaitsevo are now a rarity.

Even the Red Cross and the OSCE, having come under fire, refused to travel to Zaitsevo more than a year ago. What's there - and the "ambulance" from the center of Gorlovka, also, in general, a front-line city, comes here extremely reluctantly or very late. There is no one to provide medical assistance, except for a paramedic at a recently opened point. Therefore, the inhabitants of Zaitsevo learn to help each other themselves.

So it turns out that the church is now one of the few strongholds of life in the village. Both believers and unbelievers come here for help. On the most difficult days of constant shelling, free bread is brought here from the Gorlovka and Slavyansk diocese and distributed to the residents. Fortunately, there is no famine, as it was in the Donbass in 2014 and early 2015. The most necessary - cereals, simple canned food - comes as humanitarian aid from various sources.

However, a significant part of the village lives without electricity, many do not have money for the most necessary things - for coal for heating houses, for seeds for the garden. Desperate people come to the temple, and here they are helped not only spiritually, but also materially, with which they are rich ...

Have there been more believers over the years that there is a war going on here? - I ask Father Nikolai.

I'll tell you this - some external, ostentatious side has left. Previously, someone went to the temple to show others and themselves their "piety". Now there is more honesty. People pray sincerely, often on their knees, with tears in their eyes. Of course, there were fewer parishioners - out of the three thousand inhabitants who lived in Zaitsevo before the war, about two-thirds left. And I don't blame these people. I understand how hard it is for them. Although, it would seem, I need to take care that my income increases, but I perfectly understand people whose children sleep in basements, whose windows burst from explosions in their houses. There are times when it is simply physically impossible to serve in our church, the walls are shaking from close gaps. There are practically no houses in the village that were not damaged by shelling. As a rector, I am hurt and offended that my parishioners are leaving. But I bless them to leave, because I understand that they live here like hell.

Orthodox Christians also live on the other side, probably, and there are a lot of them among the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, did you have to go there, make rites?

Undoubtedly. I do not divide people on different sides of the front line into good and bad. Both in the DPR and on the other side there are Orthodox, whom we are obliged to feed.

Zaitsevo is just torn apart by the front line. When there is an opportunity, we go to perform trebes to the other side of the village, occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I remember about a year ago, last winter, I went there, came under fierce fire. I had to jump out of the car, lie in the snow for half an hour. The fact is that Ukrainian soldiers and soldiers of the DPR see each other in our country, the distance between the positions is half a kilometer or less. Imagine how we feel when we enter the field between these positions. It is never known whether the shelling will begin, whether they will shoot at our car. There was a case when the headman of our parish was detained on the other side, they put a bag over his head, and interrogated him. The attitude towards Orthodox priests and even ordinary parishioners there is not easy, let's put it this way.

Do you share the point of view that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are targeting Orthodox churches?

Yes. For example, in Gorlovka, near the wooden Church of the Annunciation, which burned down from a direct hit, Ukrainian soldiers purposefully shot for several days. Our churches have been shot at, and will continue to be shot at. Because for many on the other side the temples of the Russian Orthodox Church are a sign of the hated "Muscovites". However, I always wear a cassock through checkpoints. Because I always remember the words of the Lord: "Whoever is ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of him."

Sometimes they stop at a Ukrainian checkpoint and ask: “Pop? And what kind of patriarchy? “Canonical,” I answer. "Ah, Muscovite..."

However, according to Father Nikolai, it is impossible to cut all the soldiers of the Ukrainian army with the same brush. There are those among them who terrorize the locals, entertaining themselves by shooting at their feet with sniper rifles. They are mostly mercenaries and members of the so-called national battalions, like Azov. And there are those, and such an overwhelming majority, who do not want this war, and would immediately go home if an order had been received.

At the beginning of the war, there was a case indicative for me, - Father Nikolai continues, - I should have gone to Mariupol, to my relatives. The city was already under the APU. On the way back, at a Ukrainian checkpoint, a young soldier, just a boy, stopped me. He needs to inspect my car, but he is shy. I'm asking:

What is your name?

It was a long time ago, but I remember his name. He says:

My name is David.

Where are you from?

From Lvov.

Are you Orthodox?

No, Catholic. Father pray for me. I don't want to fight and kill. Though I am a Catholic, but you will pray.

Zaitsevo is torn apart by the front line. When there is an opportunity, we go to perform services on the other side of the village occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Father Nikolai, at my request, leads me through the deserted streets of the village. It is still noon, cheerful sunlight floods residential and abandoned houses with cracked walls, broken windows, broken roofs. At the modest monument carved by fragments to the inhabitants of Zaitsevo, who died in the Great Patriotic War, we take pictures.

Here we are entering the zone of "work" of snipers, - father Nikolai says casually. We just as calmly move on, but after these words of his, the sonorous air seems to thicken, and in the silence you involuntarily begin to catch every subtle sound.

Have you been serving in the Tikhonovsky church for a long time? - I ask not to be silent.

Just in the spring of 2014, Vladyka blessed me here. I myself am from Gorlovka, but since then every weekend, every holiday is here. Often, as today, I bring my mother and my children with me. By the way, it has been noticed that just before the big Orthodox holidays, the national battalions from the other side are shooting at us especially fiercely. We say to each other: "The devil is pushing them in the ribs." There was a case when I already said goodbye to life under fire, was preparing to appear before the Lord, lay on the ground, at some point the militia threw a bulletproof vest on my back. And I just hear how a fragment clinked on it. However, almost everyone here can tell more than one such story. We are all tired here, of course, it’s terribly from the war, but what can you do, then such is our cross.

Is reconciliation possible, in your opinion?

I recently buried a local young guy who was killed by snipers. He has three children left, like me. And now how do mothers raise them? With each such tragedy, I understand that the abyss is getting wider. And how we will overcome it - only God knows. Much time must pass.

Father Nikolai breaks off the conversation and turns off the dangerous street, probably angry in his heart with himself for bringing me here.

We return to the walls of the destroyed Intercession Church. In them, as before, the former greatness is guessed.

It happens that shells fly off these walls, they cannot do anything to them. In the 19th century, the whole village collected money for this temple, built it with their own hands, soundly, fastened the bricks with mortar mixed with chicken eggs.

And now, in tragic times for a dilapidated village, the dream of restoring this temple does not die among the believing inhabitants. Moreover, the place, according to the parishioners, is marked by God. No wonder the Orthodox elder Timothy is buried here. People come to his grave for healing not only from nearby places, but also from various parts of Russia and other countries.

And I don’t know why, but I left Zaitsevo with the thought that, sooner or later, the Church of the Intercession would be restored.

The fighting in Zaitsevo does not stop. I recently received the following news.

“A psalm-reader on the kliros had a stroke right during the service. The ambulance refused to come, as the shelling of the village continued. In the end, they themselves, as best they could, helped her. A day later, she was buried in the Tikhonovsky church. Her name was Lubov Shuklina. Her house was destroyed, she lived recently in the gatehouse at the temple. For three years, death bypassed her, and now ... Rest, Lord, the soul of the servant of God's Love.

In our temple you can buy a NAMED BRICK. The name brick is a good Orthodox tradition. According to the established custom, personalized bricks are purchased by people who not only want to participate in the restoration and construction of temples and monasteries, but also those who care about their loved ones and relatives, the living and the already dead. A good gift for a personalized brick will be a Christian on the day of baptism, name day, for great holidays. But most importantly, dear brothers and sisters, we must understand that any sacrifice we bring to the Lord should glorify the name of God, because He will grant us the Kingdom of Heaven for free, just like that, because everything that we bring to Him is not at all ours, but His! The amount of donation for one brick depends on your good will. The minimum donation for one brick is 250 rubles - a rather symbolic amount so that each person can take part in the good work of restoring the temple.

In 2016, work was completed in eight churches:
- In 3 churches, restoration work was completed on the basis of projects previously developed at the expense of the Fund:
1. Temple of the Ascension in the village. Sennitsy of the Ozersk district (Ozersk deanery). The great consecration took place in July of this year;
2. Ilyinsky temple in the village. Prussians of the Kolomna region (Kolomenskoye deanery). The great consecration took place in September of this year;
3. Church of the Resurrection in the village Voskresenskoye, Ruzsky district (Ruzsky deanery). The work has been completed. The great consecration is scheduled for November this year.

In 5 churches, emergency response work was completed under projects previously developed at the expense of the Fund:
1. Nikitsky temple in the city of Kolomna (Kolomenskoye deanery).
2. Gate Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord of the Luzhetsky Monastery (Mozhaisk).

4. Church of the Resurrection with. Old Hotcha (Dubna-Taldom deanery).
5. Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God with. Nikolskoe (Ruza deanery). 2016 – the first stage of emergency response work was completed.

In the final stages of work there were 3 temples:
1. Demetrius Church Beloozersky, churchyard of Dorki (Voskresenskoye deanery).
2. Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Bolshie Belynichi (Zaraisk deanery).
3. Nikitsky temple in Kashira (Kashira deanery).

On October 20, 2016, at the Governing Council of the Foundation, applications for the following temples were considered and accepted for work:

1. Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Bolshie Belynichi (Zaraisk deanery) - carrying out the second stage of restoration work;
2. Church of the Resurrection in the village of Staraya Hotcha (Dubnensko-Taldom deanery) - the second stage of anti-accident work;
3. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary with. Nikolskoe (Ruz deanery) - the second stage of emergency response work;
4. Sorrowful Church with. Peresvetovo (Dmitrov deanery) - the first stage of restoration work;
5. Nikitsky Kashirsky Monastery. Church of the Great Martyr Nikita, Kashira - the second stage of restoration work;
6. Kazan temple with. Rastovtsy (Kashirsky deanery) - development of a restoration project;
7. Church of the Holy Trinity in the village of Zakharovo (Klin deanery) - development of a restoration project;
8. Exaltation of the Cross Church in the village of Maryinka (Stupino deanery - development of a restoration project;
9. Guslitsky Transfiguration Monastery. Bell tower with the church of St. Photius, Metropolitan of Moscow, Kurovskoye - development of a restoration project.

At the expense of the Fund, the following projects have been designed and are awaiting their turn of work:
1. Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God with. Yakot (Dmitrov deanery);
2. Odigitrievsky temple with. Chernevo (Zaraisk deanery);
3. Church of the Nativity in the village of Mytniki (Ruza deanery);
4. Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God with. Verkhovlyan (Malinsk deanery).