Procession of the Cross: features of the ceremony. Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province Repin description

For a long time in Rus' there was a pious custom of celebrating the days of remembrance of the most revered miraculous icons with processions of the cross. I. E. Repin witnessed one of them in Chuguev in 1877. A bright and impressive spectacle served as the basis for the plot of the film “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.” The idea for the painting took full shape after visiting the famous Root Desert. It was there that religious processions attracted the largest number of pilgrims.

"Religious procession in the Kursk province." Description of the picture

The work on the painting was finally completed in 1883. The canvas takes the viewer to a hot summer day. Along the dusty road, amid the sultry haze, an endless procession of the religious procession moves from the depths of the picture. They carry the miraculous icon to the place where it was once revealed to people.

All the details of the picture are painted with amazing specificity. This is the sun that dries up everything around, the rays of which seem to be concentrated in the gold of church vestments, the air filled with dust and the monotonous rumble of the crowd moving towards the viewer, and, most importantly, the faces of the participants. In them, Repin managed with extraordinary skill to convey both the awareness of the significance of the work they were doing, and at the same time, attachment to purely earthly thoughts and passions.

But Repin’s “Procession in the Kursk Province” is not just a genre scene stating a certain event, it is a whole gallery of portrait images skillfully created by the artist. It depicts representatives of various strata of society in post-reform Russia. A documented and accurate picture of social stratification and inequality is provided.

Repin's painting - criticism of hypocrisy and hypocrisy

Ilya Efimovich belonged to the well-known community of Peredvizhniki artists who mainly adhered to the highly social orientation of their works. “The religious procession in the Kursk province” also belongs to this subject category. However, it should be understood that criticism in this case is not directed at religion as a whole and not at Orthodox rituals, as they tried to interpret this during the period of the atheism, but only at the hypocritical and sanctimonious expression of religiosity.

“Masters of Life” and the Rural Poor

In the central part of the picture, in the depths, a fat landowner with a swaggering and arrogant face is vividly and satirically depicted, proprietarily clutching the icon to herself, and next to her is a rude village elder, driving away the peasants pressing from all sides with a stick from his benefactor. In the artist’s work “Procession in the Kursk Province” a clear distinction is presented: on the one hand, the “masters of life” are the landowner herself, and the retinue following her, and the entire so-called pure public, which makes up the main part of the procession, on the other hand, “the rolling “, as it is customary to call the lower strata of society in Russia, the powerless and disadvantaged. They accompany the procession on both sides, jealous of the salvation of the soul, they also want to bow to the shrine, but they are driven away from it by mounted gendarmes and overly zealous lordly servants.

The figure of a crippled beggar in the foreground of the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” is very characteristic. He, like no one else, needs God's help and is trying to at least get closer to the shrine. It is clear that the hunchback is trying his best, but his path is blocked by the stick of a man who has arrogated to himself the right to decide who should be near the miraculous and who should not.

Exposing the hypocrisy of the clergy

Repin’s “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” is also a satire on representatives of church circles who replace high spiritual service with worldly and vain concerns. This is, first of all, a group of priests following a landowner carrying an icon, surrounding an important gentleman in a semi-ring and conducting obsequious conversations with him. It is clear from everything that all their attention is given to a possible benefactor, and they have nothing to do with the miraculous icon.

Pictures of the social life of society

The painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” (the genre of which, of course, is highly social), is generally believed to be the most striking manifestation of the author’s creative direction. Repin was never attracted to small, episodic topics. He always took on large-scale subjects, including diverse scenes of social life. An outstanding master, Repin knew how to combine in his paintings a sharp grotesque with the deep individuality and psychologism of his heroes.

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It is traditionally believed that the painting depicts a procession of the cross accompanying the miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, which is transferred annually, on the 9th Friday after Easter, from the Cathedral of the Sign in Kursk and the Kursk Root Hermitage, where the icon remained until the 12th (24th) September, after which she returned to Kursk.

Procession of the Cross in Kursk Province (1880–1883)- one of the most famous paintings by Ilya Repin.

The religious procession attracted from 30 to 60 thousand participants in the second half of the 19th century and was among the most popular religious processions in Russia.

The artist was critical of the procession depicted. The “pure” public, protected by horse guards from the “gray”, is a kind of freak show, one face more absurd than the other.

Security is rampant. The simpler the characters in the picture, the more sympathetic they are to Repin. The men carrying the icon already look decent. The hunchback being driven away from the icon evokes sympathy.

In general, we have before us a canvas that combines the splendor of painting technique and the traditional Wanderers-populist attitude towards what is depicted: it is obvious that the author does not particularly believe in God (in any case, he does not consider it necessary to drag a huge crowd behind icons), and social stratification upsets him.

A painting is not a photograph.

We know the ceremony of religious processions with the Root Icon, approved back in the 1830s, and this allows us to understand that the artist was quite free with what he saw. All elements and participants who seemed to Repin to be harmful to the composition were removed from the procession.

For example, many cavalrymen of the Kazan Dragoon Regiment took part in the real religious procession.

But, apparently, Repin considered it necessary to emphasize the role of the police, and the army seemed to him inappropriate to the direction of the picture - and so the dragoons disappeared.

Following the dragoons, other inappropriate objects also disappeared - for example, badges of Kursk craft shops.

At the same time, the golden artifact carried on a stretcher in the center of the picture is not mentioned in the ceremony and I cannot find an explanation for it.

In any case, it should not be mistaken for the Root Icon - in all religious processions the main shrine is traditionally (and in our time too) carried in front, only crosses, banners and church lanterns are carried in front of it.

By the way, the object on the stretcher on the right in the foreground is also not the Root Icon.

This is a large lantern with lit candles, specially arranged for this ceremony. It was carried immediately behind the icon, which, therefore, was not included in the picture.

The clergy fled.

Kursk and the Korennaya Hermitage are separated by 29 kilometers.

This path, easily covered by any peasant in a day, seemed beyond the strength of the clergy, unaccustomed to physical exertion. The Kursk bishop did not accompany the icon even to the city limits of Kursk.

The Kursk clergy also departed near the city limits. To further accompany the icon, the path was divided into four segments, on each of which the icon was accompanied by the village clergy: the dean, six priests and four deacons. And only at the monastery itself the procession of the cross was met by his brethren with the archimandrite.

Repin, without adhering to photographic accuracy, further strengthened this note: in the picture we see only two priests, two hieromonks and a deacon.

Compared to the countless crowd of ordinary people, the clergy is almost absent. At the same time, apparently, the four priests are not official participants; they are walking in the crowd.

In general, of the eleven clergy appointed to accompany the icon, ten disappeared somewhere, leaving the deacon to take the rap for everyone.

Repin hit the nail on the head: the clergy, and especially the academic scientists, had little approval of the religious style of the common people, associated with the veneration of artifacts. Bishops, starting from the Elizabethan era, treated relics, icons, religious processions, kissing of shrines, etc. from positions reminiscent of the Anglican Low Church: we ourselves are not interested in this and seem unnecessary, but if someone believes, then we will not interfere .

By the way, the religious procession itself was prohibited by the Kursk bishop from 1767 to 1791: the bishop was unpleasant that the clergy of the Kursk Cathedral and the brethren of the Root Hermitage were fighting among themselves over the division of income received from the shrine.

Having cleared the canvas of clergy, Repin tells the viewer: before you is the faith of the common people and the ruling class, who at the same time cannot unite in faith and overcome social barriers, but not the faith of the clergy.

The boyars, peasants and police diligently trudge through the heat behind the shrine, dragging their usual conflicts behind them, while the clergy, meanwhile, have merged somewhere.

Very few police.

The police in the picture are an excellent illustration of the principle “the truth of life is not the truth of art.” The picture seems crowded with police officers beating someone, intimidating them and not letting them in.

In fact, for the entire huge crowd there are four ranks of police: a police officer, his assistant and two police officers (these are the lower ranks).

All other equestrian people with plaques are elected officials of rural societies, village elders or sotskie.

And no wonder: according to the standards of that era, there was only one full-time police officer for every 2,500 people in the rural population.

All the rest - something like vigilantes who were forcibly involved in maintaining order - could not be refused the choice of village elders and sotskys, and the sotskys were often not even paid, but they were obliged to carry out police orders (for example, to appear to guard a church procession) .

In our era, after an old man appears on the street with a handwritten sign saying “peace to peace”, within three minutes a bus with riot police and ten employees of the “E” center in plainclothes appear.

This is not how old Russia was structured: a crowd of thirty thousand people calmly walked through the halfway, accompanied by four policemen.

Not knowing the future, contemporaries (and obviously Repin among them) naively considered Russia a country overcrowded with police officers, which was fully reflected in our canvas.

The Emperor did not demonstrate the zeal in protecting the feelings of believers from blasphemers, which is expected from the authorities today: given that the idiot staged the explosion at night so that people would not get hurt, the Tsar ordered the criminal prosecution to be stopped and simply exiled him to Akmolinsk for five years.

Repin Ilya "The Hunchback. Study for the painting. 1881 Oil on canvas, 63 by 52 State Russian Museum

Repin Ilya "Wandering Mantises". Study for the painting 1878 Oil on canvas, 73.3 by 54.5 Tretyakov Gallery
“Prayer pilgrims. Sketch for the painting “Religious Procession in Kursk Province”

Forest.

The procession passes by a hillock on which a forest recently grew, cut down in the most barbaric manner.

Instead of selectively cutting down mature trees in a forest of different ages, the entire forest was simply razed to the ground.

This is a manifestation of the huge environmental problem of that era, the deforestation of Central Russia. The rural population grew rapidly, and peasants, desperate for land (as well as landowners, desperate for money), began wasteful and harmful destruction of forests.

The results were not long in coming: the climate deteriorated, droughts intensified, rivers became fuller in the spring and shallower in the winter.

In a broad sense, the viscous heat, well conveyed by the artist (of course, all the peasants in the procession hope that the icon will send them the rain they need for the harvest), is a consequence of the cutting down of the forest we see.

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Department of History and Socio-Cultural Service

Abstract on the history of the Kursk region on the topic:

"Religious procession in Kursk Province"

Introduction

Chapter 1. History of the monastery

Chapter 2. Procession

Chapter 3. Interesting facts from the history of the main Kursk shrine

Conclusion

Applications

Bibliography

Introduction

Founded in 1597, on the site of the appearance of the icon of the Sign of the Mother of God. In 1295, on the site of the village of Svoboda, Kursk region, there were dense forests and people came there to hunt. Hunters from Rylsk arrived there. One of them, walking through the forest, saw a board that he picked up. It turned out to be an icon, and at its location there was a source. The pious hunter placed the icon in a hollow and followed his comrade. A few years later, a wooden chapel was built on this site. During the Tatar-Mongol yoke, they wanted to transport the icon. But a terrible storm arose on the Tuskar River and then the people prayed to the Mother of God that they would take the icon back, if only the storm would stop, as it threatened their death. The storm stopped and the icon was returned. After some time, the clergyman of this chapel was detained. Before his eyes, they cut the icon in half, scattering the halves in different directions, and burned the chapel... When he was freed 20 years later, he came to the site of the chapel and saw a rose bush among the weeds. He came up. There was half an icon there. Then he looked around and saw another bush nearby. Half of the icon was there too. When he folded them, the icon miraculously grew together. During the civil war, in 1919, the icon (kept for most of the year in the Kursk Znamensky Monastery) was taken from Kursk: to Belgorod, Taganrog, Rostov, Ekaterinodar, Novorossiysk. On March 1, 1920, on the steamer "St. Nicholas" she departed for Constantinople, from where to Greece and Serbia. Not for long, at the request of General P.N. Wrangel, to encourage his troops, the icon stayed in Crimea. In 1944, the icon was delivered to Munich, and then to the USA, where since 1957 it has been in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in New York.

Chapter 1.History of the monastery

At the end of the 13th century, on September 8, 1295, as legend says, in the surrounding forests near Kursk, in the roots of a tree, the Most Holy Theotokos revealed her face to one pious man. “...And he saw, near the Tuskar River in a semi-mountain, at the root of a large tree, an icon lying prostrate, which he had only just lifted from the ground, when a source of water immediately flowed from that place. Seeing this, the husband placed the honestly found icon in a hollow tree, and then he himself announced this Orthodox miracle to his comrades, who, having agreed among themselves, built a chapel several fathoms above the mentioned place and, having placed the miraculous icon in it, returned to their own world ..."

The found icon was reminiscent of the Novgorod icon of the Sign of the Mother of God (1170). This icon, found on the bank of Tuskar, went down in history under the name Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”, and for seven centuries it has been the patroness and intercessor of the Kursk land.

Many mysterious and significant events are associated with this icon. According to one of the modern researchers of the history of this icon, J. Senatorsky, through the centuries, “miraculous signs and mercies of God descending on everyone who with faith touched the miraculous image of the Kursk Root Mother of God of the Sign” have reached us.

The appearance of this icon occurred at a turning point in history for the Russian land: many Russian cities and settlements were torn apart and destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols. One of these cities that experienced terrible disasters was Kursk. The residents of this city saw in all the misfortunes that befell them the wrath of God, the punishment for their sins. They also connected their liberation from foreign robbery with God's grace, which descended on them in the images of miraculous icons, which in significant numbers appeared to the Russian people in the lands enslaved by the Mongols.

Church sources have preserved the names of such famous icons in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, revealed to our forefathers at different times, as Kostroma (1239), Ustyug (1290), Kursk Root (1295), Tolgekaya (1814), Chukhloma (1350). Donskaya (1380), Tikhvinskaya (1383), PutivLskaya (1405), Kolochskaya (1413), Pskov or Chirskaya (1420), Kazanskaya (1579).

True, disputes have flared up more than once among church historians regarding the year of the appearance of the Kursk Root Icon. This was explained by the fact that in a number of lists of “The Tale of the Appearances of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kursk...” (a literary monument of the 17th century), the year 1295 is not named at all, but only mentions that it was the time of Mongol rule.

But be that as it may, one of the handwritten legends names the year 6803 from the creation of the world or 1295 from the birth of Christ. And it is this date that is celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church as the time of the appearance of the Kursk shrine.

One of the first chronicle mentions of the miracles of the Kursk Root Znamenskaya Icon is associated with the name of Prince Vasily Shemyaka, to whom his sight returned after fervent prayer in front of the image of the Mother of God.

With the intercession of this icon, the Kursk residents associate overcoming the consequences of a terrible famine (1601-1603) during the reign of Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles with innumerable troubles from impostors, repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars, Lithuanians and Poles.

The miracles and signs associated with the Kursk Root Icon so amazed everyone with their divine power that their fame spread throughout Rus', and gradually this image became a national shrine. This icon became one of the most popular; copies of it (exact copies) were richly decorated and distributed in churches, monasteries, and troops.

When in 1689, during the Russian-Turkish wars, Russian warriors set off on the Crimean campaign, the image of this icon adorned the regimental banners with the inscription: “We place all our trust in You, Mother of God. You have favored us from all our enemies with your invincible - wondrous leadership, keep us forever in your shelter.”

In 1769, under the shadow of this image, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov became stronger in health - one of the greatest, along with the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Russian saint. The future saint was born on July 19, 1759 in the city of Kursk into the Moshnin merchant family, who at their own expense built one of the pearls of religious architecture - the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral in the center of Kursk. Even in childhood, the wondrous cover of God was repeatedly revealed over the holy youth, clearly showing in him that he was chosen by God. When he was seven years old, his mother, who was inspecting the still unfinished St. Sergius Church, took him with her to the very top of the bell tower that was under construction. Due to carelessness, the boy fell from the bell tower to the ground. Agathia ran downstairs in horror, thinking that her son had fallen to death, but, to indescribable joy, she found him safe and sound. Three years later, the boy became seriously ill, so much so that his family no longer believed in the happy outcome of his illness. At this time, Seraphim’s father saw the Most Holy Theotokos, who promised him Her forgiveness and speedy healing from his illness. And soon this prophecy came true. In Kursk, an annual religious procession took place with the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos (called the Root); this time, due to rain and mud, the religious procession passed right through the courtyard of Agafy Moshnina. Agathia hastened to carry out her sick son and placed him near the miraculous icon, after which the boy began to recover and soon completely recovered.

During its long history, the icon traveled a lot. So, in 1597, at the end of the 16th century, the icon was sent to Moscow, where Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich met it along with Patriarch Job, all the cathedral clergy and army. By order of the king, the icon was decorated with a silver-golden frame, pearls and precious stones. A cypress board was made around the icon, on which the Lord of hosts was depicted, and on the sides and below were prophets with scrolls in their hands and sayings corresponding to their scriptures. Tsarina Irina Feodorovna hung a veil of red satin on the icon, which she embroidered with gold and silver threads and decorated with precious stones.

After the return of the icon to Kursk, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, shortly before his death, issued a Decree on the construction of a monastery on the site of the appearance of the icon. For four centuries now, this monastery has been known to the Orthodox world as the Kursk Root Nativity of the Virgin Hermitage.

This monastery is not only an Orthodox shrine, but also a monument of architectural art, since on its territory there are churches of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Life-Giving Spring, All Saints, an almshouse, a covered gallery leading to the source, ponds, outbuildings, and picturesque surroundings. Many people regularly flocked here during the religious procession and the world-famous Root Fair, which was considered the largest along with Makaryevskaya near Nizhny Novgorod and Irbitskaya in the Urals.

Chapter 2. Procession

The very first religious procession in history with the Kursk Root took place in 1618, on the ninth Friday of Easter, by the highest Decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. On this summer day, the miraculous icon was solemnly transferred from the Znamensky Monastery (founded in 1612) to the “hermitage” that is still standing.”

The duration of the shrine's stay in the Root Monastery changed: at first - one week (1726-1765, as recorded in church sources), from 1765, at the request of the abbot of the Root Monastery, Isaiah, the Moscow Patriarch extended this period to two weeks.

And in 1768, by Decree of the Holy Synod, it was forbidden to wear an icon in the Root Monastery due to violation of the Spiritual Regulations, which resulted in undignified disputes between the abbots and monks of the Znamensky and Root Monasteries regarding the income from the religious procession and the Root Fair. And during the religious procession in 1767, even riots arose.

The ban on the religious procession to the Root Hermitage lasted 22 years. It occurred during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who considered herself to be guarding the morality of her subjects. The religious procession, which had a 150-year tradition, attracted pilgrims to the Root Monastery. After its ban, the authority of the Kursk Fair began to fall, the interests of the trading people began to be undermined, which ultimately caused significant damage to the state treasury.

And only in 1790, after numerous requests from the clergy and bureaucrats, the Holy Synod heeded the requests of the Kursk residents and again allowed religious processions to be held. After 22 years, in June 1791, on Easter Friday, the miraculous icon, accompanied by thousands of pilgrims, solemnly marched from the Znamensky Monastery to the Root Hermitage. Among the participants in the resumed religious procession were pilgrims from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Greece, Poland, Wallachia and other countries.

Since 1805, the terms of the icon’s presence in the Root Hermitage have also been changed. This was done by Alexander I in response to the request of the abbot of the Root Monastery, Macarius. The Russian emperor allowed the miraculous icon to remain in the Root Hermitage not for two weeks, but from the ninth week of Easter until September 12 (25), the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the middle of the 19th century (May 1852), the State Council decided to make the days of the religious procession non-working. The tradition of the procession, which was strengthened over the centuries, was a well-established order and ceremonial part. After Kursk received the status of a provincial capital (1775) and a diocesan administrative center (1833), the importance of this rite increased significantly. Elevated to the rank of a provincial holiday, the religious procession united the people of Kursk, bringing together secular officials, clergy and ordinary people. In addition, participation in religious processions by governors and clergy gave this rite special solemnity and significance.

According to the recollections of Archbishop Seraphim of Kursk and Belgorod, on the eve of the removal of the miraculous icon, on Thursday evening, in addition to the bishop’s all-night vigil in the Znamensky Cathedral, a people’s all-night vigil was also served on a special platform in the middle of Krai Square. It started after 8 pm and ended after midnight. Tens of thousands of faces were illuminated by candles burning in the darkness. A hundred-voice choir carried sacred songs throughout the area. The ringing of the monastery bells was picked up by the bell ringers of all Kursk churches. And grace descended on everyone who gathered for the procession from the near and far provinces of Russia and other countries... The great I. E. Repin conveyed this state of mind very realistically in his painting “The Procession in the Kursk Province.”

The tradition of the religious procession in the Kursk province was interrupted by the events of 1917. After the decree was issued (01/23/1918) on the separation of church from state and state from church, as His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', wrote in his desperate message in those days, “the most severe persecution was erected against the Holy Church. Holy churches are either subject to destruction through executions from deadly weapons... or to robbery... by the godless rulers of this century... The authorities... everywhere show only the most unbridled self-will and continuous violence against everything and, in particular, over the Holy Orthodox Church.” .

The monastery in which the icon was kept was plundered during the civil war, but the Kursk Root Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God was saved. In October 1919, this shrine was transported first to Belgorod, and then to Taganrog with the direct participation of Bishop Feofan of Kursk and Oboyansky. And on April 1, 1920, the icon left Russia on the steamer “St. Nicholas”. The last time the icon was on Russian territory was in the same 1920, in September-October, at the request of General Wrangel in his troops. After this, only a copy of it remained in Russia.

In exile, the icon was located in Greek Thessaloniki, the Serbian city of Nishche, Belgrade, Vienna, and Munich. She walked this path for thirty years and finally finally stopped in the New Root Desert near New York (USA). From the moment the icon left Russia (1921), the Kursk image of the Most Holy Theotokos has been the main shrine of the Russian Orthodox emigration.

The monastery in the Root Hermitage was closed in 1923, and then completely destroyed, looted and desecrated. Thus, Russia lost another of its national shrines, the Life-Giving Spring, consecrated by the Mother of God herself, and they tried to wipe it off the face of the earth by filling it with concrete. But the source made its way in new places. Not only the monastery suffered, but also all those who did not want to forget the tradition that had existed for centuries. The territory of the monastery was surrounded by a four-meter high fence, and vigilantes were posted at all approaches to the monastery. A hunt was organized for literally every pilgrim; They tried to erase the very memory of the procession to the Root Hermitage from the believers.

But it was impossible to eradicate faith by force. By all means, believers sought communication with their shrine. Changes occurred only in 1988, on the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. This year, the ruling bishop of the Kursk diocese, Juvenaly, addressed the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen and the head of state M. S. Gorbachev with a request to return the Root Monastery to the believers.

After this appeal, on August 7, 1989, the executive committee of the regional Council of People's Deputies issued a decision on the phased transfer to the diocesan administration of part of the historical and architectural complex “Kursk Root Nativity-Virgin Hermitage. On August 15, the first service took place on the site where the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary stood before the 1917 revolution.

From that moment on, the revival of the Kursk Root Hermitage began as a monument of the 16th century. The restoration of this monument was carried out in almost five years. A belfry and temples of the Root Hermitage were erected on the site of the ruins. At the place where the icon appeared, a temple was again erected, built at one time by an associate of Peter I, Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, at his own expense in honor of the victory over the Swedes near Poltava.

In addition to the main buildings of this Orthodox monument, a monastery was revived with a house church, a hotel, outbuildings, pastures and vegetable gardens, a fish pond and a barnyard. Land routes to this historical shrine were re-established.

Once interrupted Orthodox traditions were also revived. The first religious procession after a long break took place on June 15, 1990, the ninth Friday of Easter. It differed in scale from its historical predecessors (its length was only 900 meters); it was carried out inside the monastery fence. Subsequent religious processions regained their previous historical scale. Having become a national holiday, the religious procession to the Root Hermitage was carried out by thousands of pilgrims from near and far abroad. The atmosphere and all the events that happen are sanctified and carry a huge amount of spiritual energy.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', who visited this monastery in September 1091, called the Kursk Root Hermitage the third spiritual center of Russia, along with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Diveyevo monastery of Seraphim of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

This holy place to this day never ceases to amaze its pilgrims with miraculous signs. Thus, in the year of the 700th anniversary of the appearance of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign,” the religious procession was accompanied by a natural miracle. The procession took place on Friday, June 23 and was especially crowded and solemn. It was preceded by a week during which it rained heavily. It rained during the night from Thursday to Friday. On the day of the procession, early in the morning, when in the Znamensky Cathedral, before the removal of the miraculous icon, Bishop Juvenaly began the divine liturgy, the sky suddenly cleared of heavy clouds, and the whole area was illuminated by the gentle summer sun, which shone throughout the entire path of the procession.

On this day, for the first time after the resumption of the procession, Kursk residents and guests of the city solemnly carried the intercessor of the Kursk region through the streets of Kursk to the Vvedensky Church of the Yamskaya Sloboda with thanksgiving prayers in the Upper Holy Trinity and Resurrection-Ilyinsky churches and the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral that stood on the way of the procession.

Chapter 3 Interesting facts from the history of the main Kursk shrine

Prince Shemyaka's epiphany

The appearance of the icon occurred at a turning point in history for the Russian land: many cities and settlements were destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols, and Kursk also experienced terrible disasters. Its inhabitants saw in all misfortunes the wrath of God, punishment for sins. They also connected their liberation from foreign robbery with God's grace, which descended on them in the images of miraculous icons, which often appeared to Russian people in enslaved lands.

Among church historians, disputes have flared up more than once regarding the year of the appearance of the Kursk Root. This was explained by the fact that in a number of lists of “The Tale of the Appearances of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kursk...” (a literary monument of the 17th century), the year 1295 is not named at all, it is only mentioned that it was the time of Mongol rule. But be that as it may, one of the handwritten legends names the year 6803 from the creation of the world or 1295 from the birth of Christ. It is this date that is celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church as the time of the appearance of the Kursk shrine.

One of the first chronicle mentions of the miracles of the Kursk Root Icon is associated with the name of Prince Vasily Shemyaka, to whom his sight returned after fervent prayer in front of the image of the Mother of God. With her intercession, the Kursk residents associate overcoming the consequences of the terrible famine of 1601-1603 during the reign of Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles with innumerable troubles from impostors, repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars, Lithuanians and Poles.

Victory of arms and healing of Sarovsky

The miracles and signs associated with the Kursk Root Icon so amazed everyone with their divine power that their fame spread throughout Rus', and gradually this image became a national shrine. This face became one of the most popular; copies (exact copies) of it were richly decorated and distributed in churches, monasteries, and troops.

When in 1689, during the Russian-Turkish wars, Russian warriors set off on the Crimean campaign, the image of the icon adorned the regimental banners with the inscription: “We place all our trust in You, Mother of God. You have favored us from all our enemies with your invincible - wondrous leadership, keep us forever in your shelter.”

The copy of the miraculous Kursk Root Icon was sent by the Kursk people to the active army of Prince Mikhail Kutuzov in 1812, and throughout the war with the French it guarded Russian soldiers.

In 1769, under the shadow of the icon, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, one of the greatest, along with the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Russian saints, became stronger. As you know, he was born on July 19, 1759 in Kursk into the merchant family of the Moshnins, who built the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral at their own expense. When Prokhor was 7 years old, his mother took him to inspect the still unfinished temple. Due to carelessness, the boy fell from the very top of the bell tower under construction to the ground, but remained safe and sound. And after 3 years he became seriously ill and was healed only when there was an annual religious procession in Kursk with a miraculous icon. The mother carried out the sick Prokhor and placed him on the “Sign”. Soon the boy recovered.

During its long history, the icon traveled a lot. So, in 1597, Lik travels to Moscow, where he is met by Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich with Patriarch Job, all the cathedral clergy and army. By order of the sovereign, the icon was decorated with a silver-golden frame, pearls and precious stones. A cypress board was made around it, where the Lord of hosts was depicted, and on the sides and below were prophets with scrolls in their hands and sayings from their scriptures. Tsarina Irina Fedorovna hung a veil of red satin on the image, which she embroidered with gold and silver threads and decorated with jewelry.

Conclusion

The monastery in its modern form

The monastery now has 4 functioning churches, but in fact services are conducted only in one of them - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Brothers of the monastery

The governor is Abbot Veniamin. The acting dean is Hieromonk Damascene. Housekeeper - Hieromonk Joasaph. Treasurer - Hieromonk Alexy. The sacristan (the dean of the church) is Hieromonk Aristarchus. Regent - novice Roman.

The religious procession that brought together thousands of pilgrims, when the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos was transferred from Kursk to the Korennaya Hermitage, was reflected in his painting “The religious procession in the Kursk province” by Ilya Repin.

Listliterature used

1. Holy Kursk Land: artist. photo album / comp. and ed. V. Kulagin; photoil. O. Sizov. - Kursk, 2004. - 263 p.

2. Traveling around the Kursk region: routes of excursions and hiking trips to historical and memorable places. - Kursk, 2004. - 103 p.: ill.

3. Pakhomova A.N. Kursk region in the process of forming the state and law of Ancient Rus': [textbook. allowance] / A.N. Pakhomova; KSTU. - Kursk, 2006. - 291 p.

4. Materials from Internet sites: www.korennaya.ru, http://www.museum.ru/M2246, http://foto.rambler.ru/users/arnosha/23/