Alexander Arkhangelsky: “I am not from an intellectual family. Alexander Arkhangelsky: A writer is a profession, a writer is a vocation

“Arkhangelsky listened to those mysterious verbs,
which sound in the human soul, overwhelmed by the waves of the sea of ​​\u200b\u200blife.
In their best works he leads us into the recesses of the suffering soul
and seeking humility in God."

Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky is an outstanding Russian spiritual composer and choral conductor. Although he lived more than 20 years in the 20th century, he still remains prominent representative St. Petersburg school of composers late XIX V.

Arkhangelsky's works demonstrate knowledge of the possibilities of combining individual voices and choral groups; polyphonic episodes are often encountered. Alexander Andreevich was one of the first Russian composers to interpret the chants of the Liturgy and all-night vigil as a single cycle with harmonic and intonation connections. The melody of his compositions is close to everyday chants and folk songs. The transcriptions of ancient chants are made in a strict diatonic style of harmony with limited dissonances. Some cycles by Arkhangelsk were recommended for parish schools and theological educational institutions.

According to researchers, it will probably never be possible to create a complete “picture” of Alexander Andreevich’s life: unfortunately, part of Arkhangelsky’s archive was lost during the looting of his St. Petersburg apartment in 1924.

“I have rarely met people who embraced life so joyfully until the end of their days. Anyone who, like me, saw the gentle light in the eyes of Alexander Andreevich during a sad time of illness will understand why he never ended a musical thought with a sad verse of a psalm, but always led it to a soothing resolution. Therefore, it does not seem an accident that Alexander Andreevich began many of his works with a simple and touching prayer: “Lord, I have called to You, hear me”” (from the memoirs of contemporaries).

Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky was born on October 11 (23), 1846 in the village of Staroye Tezikovo, Narovchatsky district, Penza province, in the family of priest Andrei Ivanovich Arkhangelsky. Mother, Elizaveta Fedorovna, organized home concerts at home in moments of rest. In addition to the younger Alexander, there were two more children in the family.

Peasant life and the sudden loss of his father early childhood taught the future regent and composer to constant hard work. In childhood, Alexander's main interest began to manifest itself - in music.

His mother and uncle Vasily Ivanovich took charge of preparing Alexander for entry into theological school. At the age of ten, the boy entered the Krasnoslobodsky Theological School. By the end of the first year of study, Bishop Varlaam (Uspensky) of Penza and Saransk arrived at the school. The singing abilities of young Alexander attracted the attention of the Bishop - in the fall of 1859, the talented young man was immediately transferred to the second grade of the Penza provincial school religious school and enrolled him as a singer-soloist in the bishop's choir. And after successfully graduating from school in 1862, Arkhangelsky was transferred to the Penza Theological Seminary.

Arkhangelsky quickly acquired the necessary professional skills and already at the age of sixteen successfully replaced the ill regent, but despite this, he acutely felt a lack of knowledge. In order to fill the gaps, he actively educated himself and spent his modest earnings on lessons in music theory, composition and harmony; for seven years he studied violin with an accompanist opera house Rubinovich. At the same time he met the famous Penza musical figure and the composer of sacred music Nikolai Mikhailovich Potulov 2.

After completing the course, Alexander worked as a regent of the bishop's choir and a singing teacher at the seminary, organized concerts of choral music at the Penza Music Club, tried his hand at composition and still dreamed of continuing his education. Later, in a letter to his friend Eduard Frantsevich Napravnik 3, he will write: “Ever since my studies at the seminary, I decided that it was necessary for myself to receive a higher education, even regardless of what kind. I don’t know why, but there is a strong desire and conviction that every young man should graduate from higher education. educational institution, just followed me..."

In the summer of 1870, in the 24th year of his life, the young regent went to St. Petersburg and in the fall of the same year he became a volunteer student in the surgical department of the Military Medical Academy. But he did not forget about music, at the same time accumulating and deepening his musical and professional knowledge. He took private piano lessons and solo singing. Arkhangelsky believed that the regent-conductor should sing professionally himself, know the rules of voice production, so as not to “spoil” the voices of the singers. Without studying even a year at the Medical Academy, Alexander Arkhangelsky transferred to the Institute of Technology. But even then he realized that such a life did not correspond to his spiritual interests and physical abilities. And then the 26-year-old student submitted a petition to the director Singing Chapel Nikolai Ivanovich Bakhmetev about passing the external examination for the title of regent. After receiving an advanced certificate, Arkhangelsky got a job as regent of the Sapper Battalion, then of the Horse Guards Regiment, and finally of the Court Stable Church. Due to difficult financial conditions, the regency had to be combined with the civil service of an accountant at the Control Chamber of the Ministry of Railways.

Since the mid-1870s. Arkhangelsky thought about organizing his own choir. Thanks to the help of his fellow countryman, Minister of Railways F. Neronov, in 1880 Arkhangelsky created his own choir of 16 people 4, and three years later his first public performance took place, which immediately attracted attention. -mania of the public and musical figures.

In 1885, Alexander Andreevich implemented a long-planned decision - he made changes in the choir, replacing the boys with a female cast, which was an innovation in the practice of performing choral works. This made it possible to have permanent staff choir and reach the heights of performing skills.

Arkhangelsky’s successes as a composer are also associated with the beginning of the choir’s concert activities. Spiritual works occupied a significant place in his work. Researchers life path note that he, along with such authors as Dmitry Bortnyansky, Alexey Lvov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, took a “major step forward” towards creating his own original Russian church music. Arkhangelsky's spiritual works (and this is the main thing in his work - about a hundred) were distinguished by a high professional level. The composer's first works were published in 1887. These were prayer chants: “Diligently to the Mother of God” and “Quench the Sickness” (arrangements of tunes from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra), as well as two “Mercy of the World”. The composer treated the texts of church hymns with the greatest respect, not allowing himself to rearrange words or repeat them. Appears almost at the same time whole line other works: “Liturgy of John Chrysostom”, “Mercy of the World” (No. 3, 4, 5), “All-Night Vigil” (this was an arrangement of everyday chants for eight voices), Triodion Services, memorial services, etc. By 1904. Arkhangelsky was already the author of many spiritual works (besides those named): eight Cherubic, eight “Mercy of the World”, 16 hymns (instead of sacramental verses). The composer often addressed his spiritual compositions to parochial schools, where performance opportunities were more modest. Also noteworthy is his “Funeral Liturgy 5,” which at the time of printing was the only Liturgy of a funeral nature.

The choir under the direction of Alexander Andreevich became increasingly famous in church and secular circles of St. Petersburg. He was invited to lead joint choral groups of several hundred people at concerts organized according to special occasions. The repertoire of the Arkhangelsky Choir included works of domestic and foreign classics. But it was sacred music that more often found its listener than any other. The reviews noted: “A master of church singing and a great connoisseur of church music, A.A. Arkhangelsky, even on the concert stage, gave church chants a special splendor and that inner solemnity that is characteristic of Russian church singing... We followed with particular interest the performance of the first half of the program, which included church chants.”

The concert activity of the Arkhangelsky Choir has become a bright page in the history of world musical art. The best examples of chants Orthodox Church were open to the general public. Thanks to his talent and organizational skills, Arkhangelsky led the choir for 43 years - a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian art. Alexander Andreevich paid a lot of attention to the directors of church choirs, helping them expand and enrich their repertoire.

The Arkhangelsky Choir traveled both throughout Russia and abroad, its popularity was extraordinary. Alexander Andreevich was called the best choral conductor in the world. From the reviews of that time you can read: “Mr. Arkhangelsky is not only a serious musician, but also a wonderful expert in the field, which he serves with love and rare energy... All of Russia loves to pray to the music of A.A. Arkhangelsky".

Through his efforts, the first Church Singing Charitable Society was created in St. Petersburg, whose task was to provide assistance (medical and financial) to singers of choirs (not only their own choir) during illness, disability and the payment of old-age pensions. This work to unite the singing forces in Russia was then the impetus for the convening of the First All-Russian Congress of Regents in 1908. And Arkhangelsky’s St. Petersburg “initiative” was already taken up in Russia: church singing charitable societies arose in Moscow, Kharkov, Penza, Chernigov, Rostov, Saratov. For organizing charitable societies, Emperor Nicholas II awarded Arkhangelsk the Order of St. Vladimir, IV degree. And as an outstanding choral conductor in 1908, he was awarded a gift with a monogram image of “The Highest Name of His Imperial Majesty.”

Alexander Andreevich accepted the revolutionary events as Orthodox Christian- with humility, sharing the sorrowful lot of his people. In 1918, the composer’s small estate in the Kostroma village of Kalikino was plundered. The “people's” government announced that the musician was deprived of rights to his property. The choir's repertoire was now approved by the People's Commissariat of Education, expelling all Orthodox music, and the choir itself was renamed the State Choir. Despite everything, Arkhangelsky continued to work and in the winter of 1921, during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Arkhangelsky’s choral activity, he, the first of the choral conductors, was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Republic.

But the title did not help Alexander Andreevich survive. His letter from 1922 to his friend Alexey Vasilyevich Kastorsky 6 in Penza has been preserved: “Under difficult circumstances, I am writing to you, my dear Alexey Vasilyevich; In addition to all the troubles that have befallen the intelligentsia, I and we have famine in the future. I can’t go to my estate, because everything there has already been stolen by “comrades”, and I don’t know where to lay my head for the coming summer. And so I decided to go to my homeland... Can I somehow get a job in Penza or in some village?..

I can’t say anything special about my life in Petrograd; My choir (in a reduced composition) is functioning, but everything around me is so burdensome... What should I do? The devastation is complete and general...”

In connection with the renaming of the St. Petersburg court singing chapel In the State Academic Chapel, the existence of two state choirs in one city was considered “incompatible”; Arkhangelsky was offered to organize the State Chapel in Moscow. However, Arkhangelsky refused this proposal, citing illness and old age.

In 1923, through Alexander Grechaninov, the composer received an invitation to work in Prague. Together with his wife Pelageya Andreevna, he moved to Czechoslovakia. Here Alexander Andreevich successfully worked with the All-Student Russian Choir 7. Rehearsals of the newly created team were interrupted due to the illness of the leader. In the summer of 1924, Arkhangelsky was invited to Italy for treatment. Feeling better, he returned to Prague. At the same time, the consequences of the October revolution in his homeland left a heavy mark on the composer’s soul. On November 16, 1924, he scheduled the next choir rehearsal, but an hour before it began, the great composer’s heart stopped forever...

In October 1925, the ashes of Alexander Andreevich, according to his expressed will, were transported by his wife to Leningrad, and there, after a conciliarly celebrated funeral Liturgy in the Kazan Cathedral, with the singing of the “former” choir of the beloved regent of Russia, he was given burial on Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On the tombstone are inscribed the words: “Inspire, O God, my prayer.”

Every year, on the day of Arkhangelsky’s death, the All-Student Choir (which subsequently began to bear the name of the choir named after A.A. Arkhangelsky) participated in services in the Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God at the Olshansky cemetery, where a memorial service for the great choral conductor and to the director of the General Student Russian Choir and to all deceased members of the choir. After Arkhangelsky’s death, the choir board found it possible to invite Alexander Grigorievich Chesnokov, a professor at the Petrograd Conservatory, brother of the famous composer and regent Pavel Chesnokov, to the post of conductor. Having been fired from the conservatory “for unknown reasons,” Alexander Chesnokov accepted the choir’s offer.

and gave his word “to use all my efforts and abilities to make this choir the best among organizations of this kind.” Chesnokov noted that “musical work among foreign Russian students... is not only a respectful task, but also has a deep meaning for the future of our Motherland.” But, ultimately, the choir gradually began to decline and in 1935 was finally disbanded.

The creation of a Russian music publishing house in Prague, which began under Alexander Arkhangelsky and continued under Chesnokov, was a special event, since the need for Russian music was great. Arkhangelsky had long been coming to the idea of ​​the need to look for a way out of the situation of “note famine.” The few publishing houses abroad published practically nothing in the field of choral music. The little that existed on the foreign music market was completely inaccessible to the majority of Russian choirs abroad due to its high cost.

First of all, the music publishing house organized by the choir sought to produce sheet music at the lowest price, without pursuing any commercial goals. The music publishing house decided to produce sheet music using the so-called “mechanical light painting”, which, given the clarity and clarity of the musical and verbal text, significantly reduced the cost of printing.

First of all, Arkhangelsky’s spiritual works were published, as well as adaptations of Russian folk songs. Over the next few years, over forty scores and more than a thousand individual voice parts were published. The music library consisted of about two thousand titles of sacred music.

In addition to the music publishing house, the choir organized a music copying bureau, whose task was to supply Russian choirs with notes of secular and church music, copied by hand from printed scores. As an official institution within the choir, the sheet music copying bureau contributed to the fight against the increasing irresponsible and often anonymous copying of sheet music at that time, which often led to incredible distortions of the original melodies. The catalogs of church and secular music available to the music correspondence bureau, with prices approved by the choir, were sent immediately upon request.

Arkhangelsky and his choir played one of the key roles in the formation of modern Russian choral culture. His activities contributed greatly not only to the creation of a wide network choir groups throughout the country and the promotion of the best examples of choral literature, but also the emergence of new works by Russian composers, designed for the “choral standard” created by Arkhangelsky. It is largely thanks to the many years of efforts of the “first regent of Russia” that today we can hear the “Liturgy” of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the “Vespers” of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov, the choirs of Viktor Sergeevich Kalinnikov, Ivan Sergeevich Taneyev and, of course, Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky himself.

Natalia Kuzina, director of the Tallinn choir “Rainbow”, described the work of Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky in the following words: “ Musical language Arkhangelsky is natural, just as human speech is natural and expressive. His compositions are distinguished by their extraordinary softness, clarity, warmth in music, and prayerfulness.”

According to the observation of one of Alexander Arkhangelsky’s contemporaries, “the person praying is fascinated not only by the beauty of the voice, but, most importantly, under the influence of Arkhangelsky’s music, he lights up with an even stronger religious feeling. The reason for this influence is the deep religious feeling of the author himself...” 8.

The basis of the legacy of Alexander the Archangel is the transcriptions of Church life. He wrote two original Liturgies, up to 50 small works, including 8 “Cherubim” songs, 8 hymns “Mercy of the World”, 16 hymns used during worship instead of sacramental verses. He also wrote two “Vespers”, in which common musical roots can be traced. The first is the arrangement of Greek, Kiev and Znamenny chants. The second (better known to many church choirs) is a free author's composition. Diverse musical means transmission of content: rich variation and expressive melodiousness of melodies, their transition from voice to voice create the continuity of the melodic phrase and the versatility of the choral texture. One gets the impression that the chants of the “All-Night Vigil” were written in one breath, at the behest of the heart - the word and music are so fused together.

The composer's bright individuality and impeccable mastery of choral writing also manifested themselves in large-form works and in multi-part sacred concerts. In them, Alexander Andreevich used rich techniques of expressiveness to convey the content of the text. In the roles of soloists, he sought to express all the subtlest shades of experience: deep spiritual reflections (“Inspire, O God, my prayer”), reconciliation with God, the inner renewal of a believer (“I think about a terrible day”), the depth and fullness of spiritual joy -sti (“Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel” - from the last part of the concert “Blessed is he who considers the poor and wretched”).

What is happening in/in Ukraine is a real civil war. We will never agree on who started it first and who is more to blame. Although I remain my point - we are obliged to maintain rationality, it is our duty to analyze sources, compare pictures, check facts and not fall for propaganda from any side.

But it is quite obvious that whoever started it, and whoever fanned the fire, and whoever provoked the crowd, those who behaved brutally will be guilty both before the human and before God's court. It doesn’t matter under what slogans. Maidan or anti-Maidanov. Pro-Russian or Russophobic. And those who rejoiced at the sight of burning people in Odessa. And those who shot at football fans from behind the protesters. And those who took hostages in Slavyansk.

IN civil war, even if you take someone’s side, you need to remain human to the last. And for me, the heroes of future novels about the Ukrainian tragedy will not be politicians who played on death, not die-hard fighters, not fiery ideologists, accusers, angry empty-headed people, but those who hid and saved their enemies. Who, being on one side of the barricades, pulled out of the fire and from the bullets those who were on the other.

There are times when lack of ideas, aka following the commandment - in defiance of the state, people, commune - becomes the highest idea. The count goes to one person, not to the human masses.

"White Guard", not "Destruction".

In connection with what was happening, it became finally clear that instead of the meaningless subject of life safety, media literacy lessons should be introduced at school. How to distinguish propaganda/counter-propaganda from information, how to compare sources, how to superimpose sincere but emotionally charged versions of events from both sides in order to get a three-dimensional picture, how not to fall for mutual fakes, how not to fall into hysteria and depression.

Actually, this is modern life safety.

She entered the life of our generation in a halo of anecdotes - it couldn’t be any other way in a country devoid of a sense of history and immersed in a sleepy myth; An anecdote is a pathetic echo of mythology, its last outburst, its final outburst. “Dear Margaret Thatcher... Leonid Ilyich, this is Fidel Castro!!!... Yes, but it is written - Thatcher.”

Then it was as if the glass had been wiped, and Margaret Thatcher found herself very close: during the visit of Gorbachev (not yet Secretary General, still a young Secretary for Hopeless Agriculture) to Great Britain, it suddenly became clear that they sympathized with him, that something human was shining in him , that he and Raisa like outside the USSR, and Thatcher takes care of the young 55-year-old politician. People later said that she gave him a checkered mohair scarf, everyone’s dream at that time; however, Gorbachev actually did have a scarf, and he wore it proudly.

And after the scarf, Margaret herself appeared - after M.S. was elected general secretary; her interview with Soviet political observers, the first live television interview with a foreign politician of the non-Soviet era, blew up the television audience. What we have long been accustomed to - that the Western leader responds sharply, independently and cheerfully, seemed like something lunar or Martian; she didn’t get angry at stupid questions, didn’t wag her legs, didn’t have complexes - but respectfully put the propagandists on both shoulder blades. And this meant that information space the real revolution has begun.

The revolution, as expected, has subsided, the tides have changed, two decades have flown by - and now I find myself in London, at a reception with her participation. A small, inflexible old woman walks along the rows and exchanges words with everyone. "What are you doing?" - she asks Volodya Ryzhkov. He triumphantly answers: “I am a politician.” “What else can you do?” - she suddenly asks sarcastically. “And I’m also a history teacher, I can teach at school,” Ryzhkov objects without being confused. “Then hello.”

I didn’t hear that she asked Khodorkovsky, Robert Skidelsky, and what she talked about with Lena Nemirovskaya. But she tricked me wonderfully.

I was the deputy chief of the then Izvestia. "Who are you?" - she asked her signature question. "Editor at a newspaper." “So, do you publish editorial articles?” "It happens." “I was always surprised - nothing happens, and the next morning there is an editorial in every newspaper.”

And now she's gone.

Boris Berezovsky died. Whatever we think about him (and on the day of his death it’s either good or not), he was a key figure of a bygone era. An era of historical, adventurous, bold, vile, large-scale, petty and reckless. They speak irritably about such people during their lifetime, and after death they write books and make films.

Grandiose picaresque novel finished.

To talk about Stalin and objectivity, in particular, to the latest articles and statements of M. Yu. Sokolov, whom I respect. (Precisely “to”, and not “against.”) Is it possible to distinguish in Stalin’s activities actual villainy in terms of intent and execution, half-villainy - only in execution, half-villainy - in the spirit of that strange time, and not villainy at all? Of course you can. We just need to determine in advance why we are doing this. For getting three-dimensional picture era, full historical knowledge? Then yes, definitely. For a general assessment of the leader’s personality and activities?

If we are talking about academic assessment, we should also agree and even welcome this approach. And if about moral, religious and (at a lower level) political, then the assessment should be summary and final - it is ultimately evil or not evil. Ultimately, it is evil, and quite on a satanic scale. When the Antichrist comes, he will also do a lot of good things, and an honest historical analysis will oblige us to admit this, but the result will be the same - “Children, the Antichrist!”

Alexey German Sr. died.

Stubborn, painfully great, not taking into account the rules of the party and the rules of cinematic aesthetics, going ahead, trusting instinct more than intelligence and calculation, creating his own cinema, equally far from Hollywood celluloid and from petty arthouse...

How lucky we were to have him.
May the kingdom of heaven rest with him.

As the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine reported, Grigory Pomerantz died - how can one determine his profession? philosopher? not quite? theologian? Not good? religious writer? and not a writer... a deeply religious reasoner about the meaning of life. He was born in 1918, went through the war, it was there, next to death, that he experienced a meeting with eternity, and he didn’t want to think about anything, talk about anything, write about anything, and couldn’t. Only about the main thing... The Kingdom of Heaven for a person who calmly, quietly and brightly walked the path that he considered the only correct one.
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You already know about this yourself. It is important that this is not just a personal decision of an old and a lot of sick person (I’m leaving because I can’t stay), but a responsible act of a real pontiff (I’m leaving because it will be difficult for the Church to deal with me - the way I become due to physical weakness). But perhaps more importantly, it is an act associated with modern ideas about life, responsibility and will; antiquity did not see spiritual strength in the renunciation of lifelong power. For such an act to become possible, it was necessary to firmly decide for oneself that some of the experience of confused, disorganized, hysterical modernity has passed the test of eternity. And above all, the attitude towards power as a tool that is best transferred before the tool falls out of hand.

Catholics can feel humble pride in such a pope, but we have deep respect.

Ilya Kolmanovsky, an excellent teacher and director of the “Pocket Scientist,” was fired by the school director because Ilya publicly clashed with supporters of the law on homosexuality near the State Duma. The law is completely stupid and harmful - among other things, because sooner or later, because of such laws, the pendulum will go into reverse side; forms of protest against it in the form of same-sex couples kissing are deeply alien to me.

But what happened to Ilya is more important than both the law and the reaction to the law. One of the best teachers in Moscow, he was fired not for what he did at school (he could do nothing but good there), but for what he did outside of school - and without disturbing the order. This is a disastrous precedent; It would be right to immediately fire the director, distraught with fear, for actions incompatible with his profession, and return Ilya with an apology.

Basya GRINBERG

In the TV show “Meanwhile,” he reflects on lofty things, that is, on culture and enlightenment. On “Echo of Moscow” he descends to the sinful earth, analyzing political events. He is a learned man, as evidenced by his degree, and the father of four children.

In the TV show “Meanwhile,” he reflects on lofty things, that is, on culture and enlightenment. On “Echo of Moscow” he descends to the sinful earth, analyzing political events. He is a learned man, as evidenced by his degree, and the father of four children. - Alexander, how old are you? - Forty four. - At forty-four, you are engaged in science, writing textbooks and books, hosting radio and television programs... How do you manage to keep up with everything? - Strictly speaking, I am no longer involved in science. You either need to do it constantly or not do it at all. I have certain academic skills that are useful in life, that's all. But you are right, I defended my dissertation at the philological department in Pedagogical Institute named after Lenin and taught for quite a long time, almost twenty years. First at the same Leninsky, then at the Conservatory at Humanities Department... But I never made money from teaching. Except, of course, for the period when he lectured in the West, at the University of Geneva. I taught the history of Russian civilization there. - It turns out that you sacrificed science for the sake of journalism? - No no. There are scientists by vocation. I've never been like that, though. Even when I was studying scientific activities, it could rather be called enlightenment. And today I have a column in Izvestia, in the Profile magazine, in RIA-Novosti, a weekly TV show “Meanwhile” on the Culture channel and once a week broadcast on the Ekho Moskvy radio station. If I didn’t need money at all, I would probably give up something extra, but not public lectures; I would continue to do this even for free. Although I get paid quite well for my lectures in the regions. -Do the regions really value science so much that they are willing to pay decently for it? - Firstly, there is money in the regions, and secondly, intellectual interest is not satisfied. At least for young businessmen. Both social and cultural topics are in demand. - Your program on the “Culture” channel (“Meanwhile”) is intended for what kind of viewer? - The viewer changed with us. I think today our audience is the traditional intelligentsia, and over forty. Also, young businessmen. Students also started watching us. That is, we work for educated people. Serious people working in the financial sector are also our audience. - But still in to a greater extent Are people of advanced age watching the show? - I think two-thirds for sure. But this is the channel. You know, Mikhail Shvydkoy once said: “The Culture channel is watched by old communists and young rightists.” - Why then are almost all invited guests, as a rule, over sixty? - Firstly, not everyone; most of them are from forty to fifty - you can count it yourself. Secondly, imagine that a young expert comes to the studio. In two cases out of three, he simply has nothing to say yet. By the way, we live in a country where even the program of such a narrowly targeted TV channel as “Culture” has an audience of a million viewers. What is a million viewers? These are ten stadiums. And in general, judging transmission based on age is not entirely correct. Chat with Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov, who was born on September 30, 1917. The October revolution has not yet occurred, but it has already appeared! A clear, bright mind, and who cares how old he is? - On TV you have a program about culture, and on the radio about politics. Do you have such diverse knowledge? - Can you imagine how it is possible to engage in culture and not engage in politics? You can be involved in politics and not be involved in culture, but not vice versa. - Well, what is closer to you? - Life itself is closer to me, that is, everything that surrounds us: culture and politics. * * * - Alexander, you are a happy father of four children. In our time, this is akin to a feat. - In my opinion, children are very good. They not only take, but also give. In addition, I earn enough, and my problems with money cannot be compared with what the average Russian experiences in this regard. I am raising two boys and two girls: Timofey is 19 years old this year, Lisa is 16, Sophia is 7, and Tikhon is 4 years old. Two in each marriage. - Do you manage to spend enough time with them? - Just don’t expect parental groans from me: they say, I would like to pay as much attention to the children as possible, and so on. You know, there was such a wonderful Soviet teacher Simon Soloveichik. So he had the following formula: the light breaking through under the door of his father’s office educates better than all the notations in the world. Therefore, I believe that my lifestyle raises my children better than if I lectured them. I have trustworthy a good relationship with all the children. - The leading TV channel “Culture” probably also has cultural leisure time? - Nothing elitist, everything is like everyone else’s. Sometimes I go to the cinema with my children. Tomorrow, for example, I will go to the dacha with my middle daughter, and tomorrow my eldest son will take an exam at the institute and join us. We'll take a walk, eat okroshka, and go back at night. -Are you a strict father? - Rather, yes. I believe that parents should feel authority in the eyes of their children. When I performed at graduation party eldest son, I thanked the teachers for not stopping me from doing my job. I checked the diary no more than three times during all 11 years of my son’s education. I think children should have a demand for information and education. If children see their parents reading books, and family guests quote quotes from good works, - this is deposited in the subcortex and forms a life attitude. My son is studying at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, and, I tell you, there are no drugs at all. Children from ordinary families, what well. After all, where there is extra money, nothing good happens. And the school where Timofey studied was the most ordinary. After all, what is the most important thing in school? Good atmosphere, children must adapt to society. They have to live here in Russia, so the habitat should be normal - one in which they will later have to exist, and not an elitist one. Well, of course, in the tenth and eleventh grades, education needs to be increased through private teachers... - Alexander, you live not far from Old Arbat. Did you spend your childhood there? - Not really. I bought this apartment not so long ago, and was born in Sokolniki. I lived in Matveevka, then near the Planernaya, Oktyabrskoe Pole, Barrikadnaya metro stations... It’s good to live in the center. I work late, and when I have to get home, I don't have to worry about spending a lot of time on the road. -Who are your parents? - My mother’s name is Lyudmila Tikhonovna, she raised me alone. I separated from my father when I was very young. Mom worked as a radio typist in the very building where the Kultura TV channel is now located. By the way, this place is also memorable for me because the editorial office of the Soviet children’s radio “Pionerskaya Zorka” was located there, where I began my career. It was terrible. - Why is this also? - I am always ready to compromise, but there is a limit to everything. I was simply sick of the very way the program was produced, of some false drum-pioneer enthusiasm, of the fact that people had been working in the editorial office since the 50s, and no one could remove them. Imagine, on the editor-in-chief’s desk there was a list of writers, opposite each name there was an epithet that could only be used in relation to him. For example, Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich is a genius, Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich is great, and so on. I only worked there for nine months, couldn’t stand it and quit. But, as you can see, I didn’t completely leave the radio... * * * - Alexander, have some traditions been preserved in your friendly family - for example, New Year meet together or celebrate birthdays. - The New Year is not always successful. After all, my two older children meet him with their mother, that is, with my first wife. And as for birthdays... You know, I’ve been celebrating mine on business trips for about five years now. - Okay, but what about national Jewish traditions? - I’ll disappoint you: I’m not a Jew. My appearance is of Greek descent from my mother’s side. True, I have only one-eighth Greek blood. But my second wife - yes, she has Jewish roots. Her grandfather's last name is Bronstein... True, I also managed to suffer for the great Jewish people. I remember when I came to enroll in graduate school at the Lenin Pedagogical University, the head of the department looked at me carefully and said: “It’s better for you not to enroll.” I was surprised: “Why?” She thought and answered: “And therefore...” - But, judging by the program “Meanwhile”, in your work you have to communicate with representatives, as you say, of the great Jewish people. - Of course, this is an intellectual transfer. Jews throughout history have defined their identity through intellect. Intelligence cannot be lost, it is something that always stays with you. In intellectual spheres, almost all representatives of this particular nationality. On one side they have analytical warehouse mind, and on the other - emotionality. -Have you been to Israel? - Yes. Well, what can I say - a great, fantastic country. By the way, I studied a little about the history of Palestine, read descriptions of travelers of the 19th century. Of course, what can be seen today in Israel is not at all similar to the pictures from the life of the past. Nowadays it is a green, settled country... Jewish quarters are easily distinguished from Arab ones by the presence of greenery and the absence of dirt. Strange, they seem to be the same historical roots and natural-geographical conditions, but life is completely different. As for politics, I think stubbornness ruins Jews. The last twenty years on the political scene have simply been a continuous series of mistakes. It was necessary to come to an agreement with the Arabs earlier: to give even more autonomy than they wanted in the 70s, or then not to give anything. We can't show weakness in history. And what is happening now is very big mistake. I'm afraid this may end in the loss of East Jerusalem. But this may be followed by the death of Israel. I hope it doesn’t come to that... * * * - Are there any taboo topics in your TV show? - Certainly. I will never discuss the corporation where I work, nor will I talk about the television activities of my colleagues. When I finish doing television, then please. You cannot be a judge of those with whom you work in the same field. - What about taboo topics in politics? - I think I will not discuss the personality of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. I still work on a state channel, and I have certain restrictions. And in general, his personality is not very interesting to me - it’s different from his activities. As for politics in general, I consider everything that happens after October 25, 2003 a mistake. On that day, Khodorkovsky was detained, and no matter how anyone treated this businessman, it was his arrest that entailed a chain of consequences that, from my point of view, lead us to a dead end. You see, when Putin talks about adoption in his address to the Federal Assembly, I support him, but when he uses the word “democracy” only twice, and then with a negative connotation, I am strongly against it. And I am sure that this is not the future for the country where my children live.

Alexander Arkhangelsky.

Gennady Avramenko

Alexander Arkhangelsky: “I am not from an intellectual family”

He is best known as the host of the analytical program “Meanwhile.” However, when analyzing the life of the country, he prefers to leave his own behind the scenes.

— Alexander Nikolaevich, maybe you just don’t consider your personal history so significant on a national scale?
- Who knows. Maintaining near anonymity in our time is worth a lot. There is just a feeling that people are trading in the most expensive things in order to be present in the secondary ones. I don't want to do this. Sometimes I pull something out, some absolutely intimate things. For example, I have a book “1962”, addressed to my son, and there I describe partly invented, partly true, rather intimate biographical facts: about my mother, family stories. But I do it very carefully. In a time when everything is public and for sale, a person should still have something of his own.

— Nevertheless, your opinion is considered authoritative; you are often asked for comments on both political and historical issues. That’s why it’s interesting to learn more about you. I'm from yours short biography I concluded that you somehow immediately decided on your future destiny. After school, you chose the Faculty of Russian Language and Literature, and after that your career began to gradually develop in this direction. It must be a special talent to find yourself like that right away?
— Prishvin has a wonderful expression: you need to find a clamp around the neck. I was lucky: I found him almost immediately. At school I excelled in all subjects related to literature. And I very quickly gave up doing mathematics, which I was good at at first. Not because I didn’t have the ability, but because I don’t know how to do something that doesn’t interest me. I find it interesting to work with words. And no matter what I do, everything is somehow connected with him. Both television and literature. The area where I could still realize myself is, perhaps, business. But I'm not interested. Not because I don't like money. (I’m not against money, but it should have its place in life.) But because I know for sure that then I won’t happy man or at least I won’t be happy with my fate. Make me rich, but take away what interests me - I don’t need it.

— Such a love for literature—shouldn’t it be nurtured somehow? You probably grew up in a reading family?
- No. I was alone with my mother; she was unmarried and worked as a radio typist. My mother’s parents died very young, and she raised me with my great-grandmother, her grandmother, who lived to a ripe old age. She worked as a primary school teacher. That is, we had the usual Soviet family. I grew up on the outskirts of Moscow, “life on the sidelines.” But at some point in my life I was incredibly lucky. I went to the Palace of Pioneers to sign up for a drawing club. And along the way, by chance, for company, I also signed up for a literary circle. As befits a teenager, I wrote absolutely graphomaniac poems, but I didn’t read the books. And there in the Palace of Pioneers there was a woman who actually made me literary man. Zinaida Nikolaevna Novlyanskaya - thank God, she is alive and well. She was a young psychologist and actually gave us a whole series of examples. Consider the fact that working at the Palace of Pioneers means a salary of 17 rubles per group. That is, she definitely did not do it for money, but for something more important. And so she led us, and without making us, thank God, writers; it was not a breeding ground for future creators. But it was aesthetic education when a person enters the world of literature and some inner worlds which have been closed until now. And there I realized that I was in an environment that was completely my own. At school, I did not have good relationships with my classmates; we did not have spiritual and mental closeness. And we still communicate with the guys I met in the circle in 1976. I remember our friendly marches after the circle from the Lenin Hills along the embankment, and from the Petrovsky Monastery to the cultural park, when our poor parents were tearing their hair out because it never occurred to any of us to take a two-room apartment and call them. As my middle daughter told me: “Of course you didn’t have mobile phones, but there were messengers." No, we didn’t have messengers either. (Laughs.)

— Today you constantly review upcoming books. How do you choose the works to read from the masses of those published?
- There are two questions in one. Me as a reader and me as a reviewer. As a reviewer, it's my responsibility to take on new things that are either about to be released or have just appeared. They must be very different. But as a reader, I act completely differently. If we are talking about a paper book, then I buy them, as a rule, twice a year. I take a big bag and go to Moskovskaya book fair, I type it, then lay it out in piles, take whatever is on top, and read it. If it goes well, I continue, if it doesn’t go well, I put it off. Since I stopped working out literary criticism, my relationship with literature has become much better: I don’t have to finish reading. This is a big advantage: after all, there is a lot of crap - and it’s a pity to waste time on it. And so it can be any literature - plot, non-story, intellectual, detective, translated, native, postmodern, realistic.

— Do you still prefer paper books?
- Differently. I have several readers. I travel a lot, and you can actually load a whole library into it and take it with you. It's comfortable. And a paper book is an aesthetic feeling. But it is not a condition for the existence of literature; it is only one of its accidental forms. And since I’m already used to it, why should I give up this pleasure?

— How big is your library?
- Three thousand books - all world classic from ancient oriental and ancient to modern. It is listed directly chronologically, by last name. At some point, I limited myself to a rule: one in, one out. I leave only those books that I will re-read. That's why I refused to build a second row of shelves so that I wouldn't be tempted to endlessly layer them on top of each other. The books that stand in two rows are already lost. But, apparently, I will have to deviate from my principle, because now the volumes are already beginning to nest on my floor.

— There was a House of Pioneers, a literary circle... And then after the pedagogical institute you decided not to become a teacher, but to study literature?
— Honestly, why did I go to pedagogical school? My mother did not have the opportunity to pay for my preparation for university. In the exams I was guaranteed to fail at least the language, and most likely not only that. But I didn’t want to join the army at all: it was 1979, when there were only a few months left before Afghanistan. Therefore, I went to the pedagogical school, as it was the least risky: firstly, they needed boys, and secondly, there was less competition. But I never intended to be a teacher. I don’t like school at all, I don’t like to obey. And already in my first year I went to work at the Palace of Pioneers, that is employment history I have had one since I was 18, as the head of a literature club. Please note that in our time after college there was also distribution. But since I didn’t want to go to work at school, I simply forged a medical certificate stating that due to asthma I could not teach. I impudently added something there, and they left me alone. Although they could have been jailed, of course. (Laughs.)

— And then the magazines started?
— Radio first. After the Palace of Pioneers, where, I repeat, I worked for 17 rubles a month (for comparison, the student scholarship was 40 rubles), I was the first and last time In life, through connections, I got a job on the radio. My mother, who worked in the children's editorial office, went to pray for me, and I got the job. But I shouldn’t have gone there. It was a departure Soviet power, and I managed to catch all the charm of that time. Therefore, when they tell me that under Soviet rule there was high culture- I know for sure that this is bullshit. The aunts were sitting on the radio retirement age, and my editor-in-chief has worked there since 1953, that is, since the death of Stalin. And she produced programs for children until Gorbachev came. Nine months later I escaped from there, and then they took me to the Friendship of Peoples magazine, and perestroika began. At the age of 24, I became a senior editor and remember well how I came home to my wife (and I was already married by that time) and told her: “You can congratulate me, I have reached the peak of my career.” Because it was clear that if I did not join the party (and this was not part of my plans), then this was the ceiling. Then I had several options left, none of which suited me. The first is to become a dissident. But I didn’t want to be a dissident, I deeply respect them, but it’s not mine. The second is to leave. Don't want. Why on earth? And the third thing is to get drunk. Better. Fortunately, it passed, because then everything broke. And then the magazine was fun. We had just published “Children of the Arbat,” and all these ups and downs with the republics began. This was “friendship of peoples”. I spent half of my term on business trips - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan in 1986 I saw the first performance of young people with national slogans. I felt how everything was changing, what history was made of. It was an incredible opportunity and luckily I took it.

- You are very attentive to political processes, as befits a caring father of many children. Intelligence reported that you have four children...
- Yes. I won’t call anyone by name, I don’t know if they will be happy. These are children from two marriages, and they grew up practically mixed. The eldest is 25, he graduated from Mechanics and Mathematics, but defended himself in linguistics, and is now teaching at High school economy. The middle one studied at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, and is now completing a master's degree at the Higher School of Economics in political history. Works at a news agency. The middle daughter is still in school, she is 14 any day, and the youngest is 11 this year. Who they will be and where they want to live is their business. Whichever clamp fits is the one they will put on. My mother did not put pressure on me to choose a profession, and I will not put pressure on them.

— By the way, about the place of residence. You spend a lot of time in France. Your beloved foreign country?
— My dearly beloved country is Switzerland, where I worked in the 90s. These were happy months, I had summer terms. I received a Swiss salary for three months and lived on it here for the rest of the year. And this, by the way, also gave me the opportunity to teach - I was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory in the humanities department. It was my best contract in my life, where it was written that I had the right to be absent for one third of the school year due to extensive concert activities. (Laughs.) And now, yes, I’m spending some time in France. It happened. By my mother’s side, I am a southerner and, due to some medical indicators, I must sometimes sit out short climatic periods somewhere. Here in France I sit them out. And since housing there is cheaper than in Moscow, anyone receiving a flat salary can afford to take out a loan and buy a not very expensive apartment there. I don't mean Paris.

- But on foreign languages You do not speak?
- No. Unfortunately, I have no gift for languages. But my children all speak very well and laugh at me. But it’s very nice, because you understand that the children have surpassed you.

“Then maybe you can tell us about their mothers?”
— My first wife was Yulia. She is engaged in activities close to the church. The second is Maria, works as a journalist. We live in the Arbat area. Again, we were incredibly lucky: at one time we took the risk of taking out a loan and bought an apartment in the center at a price that is hard to believe today.

— You probably walk along Arbat when you are free.
“I haven’t been able to go for walks or play sports for the last year and a half.” Which is very bad. I hope that when I give up my plans, I will at least return to sports. And so I plan to fly away for ten days every two months, switch off and work for myself. Moscow is too dense a city. It’s good to go to work here, but it’s completely impossible to write or come up with anything. Therefore, it is better to condense for a while, process, but then withdraw into yourself.

— Last year you turned 50 years old. Significant date. Do you think your main work has already been written or is it still to come?
— This question is formulated incorrectly. Many people ask themselves this question, but it has no answer. I hope that each of my next books will be better than the previous one, that each film I make documentary will be better than the previous one. The Lord gave me the opportunity to try myself in one direction, but in different forms. And live together with my heroes, be they cinematic or literary, some other number of lives. I just do my job, and I don’t care if I get paid for it, if it fails to sell, or how long it takes. The process is important. Someone asks: are you satisfied or happy? When the book comes out, I’m happy. And when I write it, I’m rather happy.

In the Cathedrals of Voronezh and Lipetsk saints, as well as new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church

Since then, he has been a priest in the village of Lipovka (not far from the town of Liski), Voronezh province, where he served for two and a half years.

Since one year he has been a priest in the village of Mechetka, Voronezh province. In the village of Mechetka, Father Alexander served as the second priest. The rector of the church was Father Peter Sokolov, with whom Father Alexander was family friends.

In the year he was elevated to the rank of archpriest, appointed rector of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Buturlinovka, Voronezh province, and dean of the Buturlinovsky district.

April 8, Commissioner secret department The OGPU summoned Father Alexander for interrogation and asked how the priest felt about Soviet power. “I recognize the Soviet workers’ and peasants’ government as people’s power and I submit to it unquestioningly,”- Father Alexander answered. The investigator began asking about other people who had already been arrested in the Voronezh case, and about church literature. Father Alexander answered: “I don’t know Dulov and this is the first time I’ve heard his last name. I saw priest Butuzov at the liturgy in the St. Sergius Church, but he didn’t attend and didn’t have conversations with him. I didn’t receive the brochure “What an Orthodox Christian Should Know,” but I heard that It's as if she exists."

Soon Father Alexander was arrested on charges of "belonging to a church-monarchist organization whose goal was to raise an uprising against Soviet power and restore the monarchy." He was involved in the group case "The Case of Bishop Alexy (Buya). Voronezh, 1930."

The investigator began asking him about the prayer service for the Pope and about the brochures. Father Alexander answered:

“As for the proposed question about my serving a prayer service for the Pope of Rome and about reading some brochure about Orthodoxy in the presence of priest Ivan Markin and other persons, I have the duty, out of purely priestly conscience, to declare: I did not serve any prayer service for the Pope of Rome and could not serve , since it has nothing to do with our Orthodox Church... Also, regarding the reading of some brochure, I must say: I did not have or read any brochure. This rumor is completely ridiculous and was started, probably, to harm me in the eyes of the authorities, before which I am clear in my conscience."

“I did not know any nuns-preachers, and I never visited them in Buturlinovka, I heard their names only here, in the OGPU. I did not give any directives to any women or men for any kind of preaching, especially absurd ones against the authorities , which I myself, first of all, fundamentally recognize as power given from God. I cannot believe in one thing and say another... Collective farm construction in Buturlinovka was carried out and passed very successfully, painlessly, and I could not and cannot do that to anyone -or to speak against him... no one asked me about this in Buturlinovka... The notice of the Pope’s speech became known after the first week of Lent, I did not serve any prayer service for the Pope and could not serve, because it was contrary to the canons Orthodox Church... The prayer service was ordinary, and it did not have any political themes, and I only greeted with the communion of the Holy Mysteries and closeness with the Savior.”