Ilya Repin. Painting "Religious Procession in Kursk Province"

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 cross is moving 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 roar 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, 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 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 Rus', 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 characters.

The outstanding Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in 1844 in Chuguev in the Kharkov region into the family of a retired soldier. He received his initial painting skills from Chuguev icon painters. In 1863 he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and graduated from it in 1871. Regularly participated in exhibitions of the Itinerants. He painted portraits, genre and historical paintings. Lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg; the last years of his life - in Kuokkala, on the Karelian Isthmus (now Repino, Leningrad region). There he died in 1930. Dozens of monographs, hundreds of articles, memoirs and publications have been written about Repin, but the topic of the artist’s life and work is far from exhausted... "

About Repin's graphic drawings

During his long career, Repin painted tirelessly. The pencil is his inseparable companion and comrade. According to the testimony of those who know him closely, he takes every opportunity to draw: whether he is sitting at some meeting, or talking with a friend or acquaintance on the street, he sketches everywhere in an album or on a piece of paper. While working on a painting or portrait, he again draws along the way; looking on paper with a pencil for the most perfect expression of his idea... "

Memoirs of Repin's contemporaries

I recognized Ilya Efimovich Repin when I was still a child, probably about seven years old, while he was painting a portrait of my mother, Polixena Stepanovna Stasova. This portrait hung in our apartment in St. Petersburg, first on Malaya Morskaya Street, and then on Furshtadskaya, in my father’s office above the sofa. To the right of him, at an angle, hung a portrait of his uncle, Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov, painted by I. E. Repin in 1883, during three days in Dresden. In addition to these works by Repin, my parents had one more of the initial sketches for “Barge Haulers”...

K. BASILASHVILI - 14 hours 11 minutes, Ksenia Basilashvili is at the microphone. This is the Tretyakov Collection program. We sent my co-host Ksenia Larina home early; she probably felt a little unwell because of the weather. So, Ksenechka, good health to you, don’t get sick. Well, Tatyana Yudenkova, a senior researcher at the State Tretyakov Gallery, and I are opening the doors of the Tretyakov Gallery. As always, this happens with us on Sundays, and today we invite you to look at one of the most famous paintings in the gallery - this is “The Procession in the Kursk Province”, Ilya Efimovich Repin. Hello Tatiana.

T. YUDENKOVA - Hello.

K. BASILASHVILI - But, probably, there are no Soviet and Russian schoolchildren who would do this... both past and present, who would not know this picture; it was always in “Native Speech”, and they wrote expositions based on it. It has never been banned, although opinions, oh, how different there have always been about this picture.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, indeed, the painting has been familiar to all of us since childhood, loved by all of us, it has always hung on display in the Tretyakov Gallery. Very rarely has it been exported to other countries for exhibitions.

K. BASILASHVILI - What's the matter here?

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, because this is one of the central works of Russian art, and the gallery has always believed that such key things, significant ones, should be on display.

K. BASILASHVILI - Well, we will now enter the hall where this painting hangs and talk about it in detail. But first, as always, at the beginning of our program “An Incident in the Museum,” and this time from its general director Valentin Rodionov.

V. RODIONOV - I noticed at the transition to the gallery about 15 young people of 20-22-25 years old, there were about 15 of them, one was older. And they stood and smoked all together. Maybe I didn’t pay attention, but I noticed that they were all wearing tarpaulin boots. And just when there was a muddy season and the sowing campaign, I thought: probably these people are from Serebryanye Prudy, or from the Kashira district, or from Stupinsky. They stood and smoked, and then the elder said: guys, let’s finish our smoke break, let’s go to the temple. He said “to the temple”, not “to the museum”. And they went to the main entrance of the Tretyakov Gallery.

K. BASILASHVILI - Valentin Rodionov, who invites everyone to his gallery, we follow him, but first, naturally, the question will now be asked, and the prizes that we are giving you today are an invitation to the opening of the exhibition of Dmitry Zhilinsky, “Graphic Painting " The exhibition will open in the Engineering Building of the Tretyakov Gallery. This is from the series “Living Classics, Living Legends”, the wonderful contemporary artist Dmitry Zhilinsky at the vernissage, the vernissage will take place on September 13 at 4 pm. We have several invitations for you. In addition, CD-ROMs with walks through the Tretyakov Gallery and a new issue of the Tretyakov Gallery magazine, also with detailed announcements of the exhibitions that will be held, with those collections, including private ones, which you can get acquainted with on the pages of the Tretyakov Gallery "and in the Tretyakov Gallery itself. And now the question, attention. Ilya Repin's wife Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova was passionate about everything new and passionate about it. Among other things, she was a consistent vegetarian, a feminist, and also read the latest philosophical teachings, including being a fan of the teachings of this then famous theosophist, then her name began to thunder throughout Russia, and well, throughout the world. I hope that you yourself will be able to name the name of this theosophist; if not, I will help, I will tell you some of her works. I’m just afraid to do this in advance - then everyone will answer right away. So. Who is this theosophist, whose teachings Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova, the wife of the artist Ilya Repin, was fond of? Please send your answers to our SMS +7-985-970-45-45. Well, don’t forget to ask our guest Tatyana Yudenkova questions. Well, let's get to the picture. So, “Religious procession in the Kursk province.” They scolded the picture and praised it.

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, when the picture appeared at the exhibition, at a traveling exhibition in 1983 in St. Petersburg, naturally, it caused a flurry of critical reviews of a very negative, sharply negative nature, although the censorship reacted quite favorably to this picture, it was not withdrawn from the catalogue, was not removed from the exhibition. But critics were unhappy. Critics were mostly dissatisfied with the depiction, in fact... the plot itself is the Procession of the Cross, such a solemn religious procession, and the critics were outraged that in this procession there were Russian people, the Russian people, who, in general, of course, personify the whole of Russia here. In the selection of the people themselves, criticism found deliberately ugly, brutal, idiotic types.

K. BASILASHVILI – Somehow it seems to me that everything is quite realistic.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, it seems so to me too.

K. BASILASHVILI - I travel on public transport - in general, nothing has changed in their faces.

T. YUDENKOVA – This, in fact, was the opinion of Repin’s contemporaries. “Moscow News” wrote: “This fat caricature of the Procession of the Cross is a mockery of the plot. In its main figures there is only one accusation, unfair, strong, exaggerated. No, this is not an impartial depiction of Russian life, but an exposure of the artist’s views on this life.” It must be said that this theme of the caricature, the theme of criticism of modern Russia, it sounded every time in relation to Repin’s painting, and also, in fact, Soviet art historians, they continued this theme, the theme of criticism of the various social strata of Russia, which are depicted here in this picture.

K. BASILASHVILI – Let’s then recall the picture itself. In front of us is such a vast field, or is it a road.

T. YUDENKOVA - No, there is a big road in front of us, this is a highway that leads from the city of Kursk, where in the Znamensky Cathedral there was a great shrine - this is the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign. Root, it was so called because it was found at the root of a tree, it lay like a whorl in the ground, and one peasant was walking in the forest - this happened at the end of the 13th century...

K. BASILASHVILI – Such a legend exists.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, there is such a legend. So, actually, I came across this icon. When he lifted her, a life-giving spring began to flow from the root of the tree. And around this time a chapel was built on this site. Some time later, a monastery arose, which was called the Nativity of the Mother of God Hermitage, a monastery. That is, this is the place where this icon was found, which later became miraculous and performed many miracles. But it was kept all year in the Znamensky Cathedral in Kursk, and only for a while was it taken out of the cathedral by the procession of the Cross. Here is the Root Desert...

K. BASILASHVILI - That is, she made the same journey...

T. YUDENKOVA - I made this journey, was carried out in the procession of the Cross.

K. BASILASHVILI – This usually happened in the summer...

T. YUDENKOVA - This always happened in the summer and was timed to coincide with the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which according to the old style took place on September 8, and according to the new style on September 21. This icon was brought out on the ninth Friday after Easter, that is, it always happened at different times, depending on the actual day of Easter. And already back the icon lived, so to speak, the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Root Hermitage, and after this holiday it was returned back to Kursk in a less solemn procession of the Cross. That is, what we see is the most solemn procession from Kursk to Korennaya Pustyn, to the monastery.

K. BASILASHVILI - But these were very famous religious processions.

T. YUDENKOVA - This was one of the most famous Processions of the Cross, which attracted many pilgrims; this Procession of the Cross has its own history. It somehow faded away, came to naught. At one time he was under Catherine II... these religious processions were prohibited. Then, at the request of the merchants, the religious processions were resumed again, because at the time of the transfer of the icon, a large Root Fair was opening in the Korennaya Hermitage, which was third in importance and dignity after the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and the Irbitskaya Fair, which took place in Siberia.

K. BASILASHVILI - By the way, now, when we were preparing for the program with you, we found a lot on the Internet and in printed publications, and I, for example, discovered that this fair has now been resumed in Kursk, and they again remember the picture “Religious procession in the Kursk province”...

T. YUDENKOVA - They remember this picture again...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... Kursk authorities.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, and, moreover, this icon, of course, has its own interesting and tragic story...

K. BASILASHVILI – We’ll talk about this more now, I just wanted to turn directly to the canvas itself. It's big, right, very big?

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, this canvas is large, but, naturally, people are depicted smaller than, in fact, in real life, because otherwise it would be a colossal canvas. But it is large, monumental, and here it is completely Repin, in addition to the fact that he turns to a fairly traditional subject in Russian painting, because we know that many famous Russian artists also turned to the theme of the Procession: Perov, Solomatkin, and Pryanishnikov , but Repin surprisingly solves this plot from a compositional and coloristic point of view. And in this sense, he is simply an innovator, an innovator-realist who depicts a procession that has no end and beginning.

K. BASILASHVILI – Absolutely. There is some kind of huge... in the foreground we can still distinguish faces, like three foregrounds, and then just a huge field of heads, which is why I compared it to a field.

T. YUDENKOVA - Indeed, here they are walking along a deserted road, along a dusty road, we see a clear blue sky above them, which also plays a big role in this color and plastic composition. We see the gold of the sand, this silver dust, which...

K. BASILASHVILI – It feels like it hasn’t rained for a long time, it’s such a drought.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, yes, yes. And usually, when they prayed to this icon, they asked for fertility and for the sending of rain, because all the religious processions took place in the summer. And here, in fact, it is also interesting that, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, on the day of the procession the sun was always shining. And this, too, was one of the miracles that this shrine actually bestowed. And Repin depicts in the picture the moment of the midday procession of this procession, the midday sultry sun. You see how short the shadows are in the picture. Repin, as a realist, as a lover of details, there are a lot of different kinds of interesting details, the smallest details that we simply examine with interest and rapture, thus immersing ourselves in this solemn, sedate procession, and, how to say,... being carried away by each image. Repin works on each image, develops it and characterizes it. Someone with the help of action, movement, someone with the help of posture, there, a gesture...

K. BASILASHVILI – Is this all real, real people? Did everyone have some kind of prototype, prototype, model?

T. YUDENKOVA - I think that, of course, there were many prototypes. Repin worked directly on the canvas for two years, created a great many sketches, and he specifically... after all, Repin was a person who worked from direct impressions, it was important for him to see a certain event, and then somehow creatively rework it. And he specially goes to the Kursk province for this religious procession. That is, he himself is an eyewitness and witness to this procession. Besides…

K. BASILASHVILI - And he passed, or did he watch?

T. YUDENKOVA - We don’t know these details, but we know that he specially went there, observed, made various kinds of sketches and sketches, and then for two years he lived in Khotkovo, not far from Abramtsevo, where people walked past him pilgrims to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and he actually observed these types there and sought them out. And there are a lot of letters where he writes that I worked very hard all week, because the sun was shining all this week. He needed...

K. BASILASHVILI - The same weather.

T. YUDENKOVA - He needed sunny weather, yes, he needed the sun.

K. BASILASHVILI – Here there are types that just appear somehow in individual portraits. This boy, a cripple with a stick...

T. YUDENKOVA - The crippled hunchback is one of, in general, the central images of this canvas. And Repin searched for this image for quite a long time...

K. BASILASHVILI - There are portraits, yes, in my opinion, separate ones?

T. YUDENKOVA - There is a whole series of pictorial sketches of this hunchback. Repin talked with him. Here we have a hunchback, we have a hunchback sitting on a bench, a watercolor sketch, there is sepia, there is oil. That is, he worked on this image for several years.

K. BASILASHVILI - And did you leave any memories about this man?

T. YUDENKOVA – I even left a verbal portrait about him. What’s interesting is that for Repin, in order to comprehend the image of a person, it was not enough for him to experience it plastically and artistically in watercolor, in oil; he also creates a literary portrait of some of his images. This also tells us about the method of work of this artist, in general, quite extraordinary. Here is what Repin writes about this hunchback: “The hunchback, a monastery hanger-on, he loves large convents, and the nuns love him very much, especially the old women. In the monastery kitchen he is a necessary assistant. With his long arms, the hunchback washes plates and puts away dishes with extraordinary dexterity and agility. He's great. He has a thin voice. Lots of character and energy. At religious processions, with the help of a crutch, this young man manages to overtake the procession several times and run ahead to collect alms. He is a religious, decent, honest young man, you can rely on him. He is not talkative and will keep his word.”

K. BASILASHVILI – That’s interesting...

T. YUDENKOVA – It’s actually interesting that Repin...

K. BASILASHVILI – A whole destiny...

T. YUDENKOVA - A whole destiny that he writes in the portrait and then introduces it into the picture. In the film, in fact, this is one of those very important images, because the dramaturgy itself in the film is structured in such a way that it is important for Repin to identify in the picture different shades of attitude towards faith, towards the icon. And the hunchback is that highest, pure, sincere attitude to what is happening, and the hunchback is one of the few in this picture who is filled with genuine faith.

K. BASILASHVILI - But I can understand why, suppose, the authorities did not immediately accept this picture, because the power here is shown in an unsightly form. Who is there? Escort, or who is it?

T. YUDENKOVA - These are military men, foremen who...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... just about to hit someone from the crowd with his whip. As it appears…

T. YUDENKOVA - ... some kind of intruder.

K. BASILASHVILI – Apparently, even a woman, because there is a woman’s hand here.

T. YUDENKOVA - Here is a woman's hand and a man's hand. And this type of police officer...

K. BASILASHVILI - Now he will whip very painfully!

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, yes. This type of police officer haunted many of Repin’s contemporaries, including Vereshchagin and Tretyakov. They were extremely dissatisfied and advised Repin to remove this policeman, and even Tretyakov in one of his letters expressed such regret: if only this policeman who... waving a stick would get rid of.

K. BASILASHVILI – Because they were afraid that they wouldn’t exhibit because of this?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, they weren’t afraid, the painting was already on display. But the picture, naturally, was very lively discussed, both in the press and in letters, as I already said. Here is a police officer, he seemed to be disgusting to many of his contemporaries. But let's get this straight with you. A crowd of thousands is walking along the road, and, as contemporaries write, when the procession itself reached its final destination in the Korennaya Hermitage, the monastery, some people were still leaving Kursk. That is, this procession stretched for several kilometers, the path itself was about 30 miles. Naturally, such a crowd of people had to be regulated somehow...

K. BASILASHVILI - Everything is clear, but don’t be a whip on the head!

T. YUDENKOVA - ... definitely yes. But Repin, in fact, as he writes in many of his letters and more than once, is a fan of the truth, and he never embellishes nature or idealizes it. This is what he sees that he, in fact, is trying to convey on his canvas.

K. BASILASHVILI – Is it true that...

T. YUDENKOVA - And he was not ashamed of this truth.

K. BASILASHVILI - But it’s true that Tretyakov also asked to rewrite this image... here, in my opinion, one of the peasants is walking, yes, such bearded men. And he asked to be rewritten as girls who were more attractive.

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, there is a certain preface here, which I will tell you about, because I don’t want to take it out of context so easily. The fact is that Repin had two paintings. The very idea of ​​the “Procession of the Cross” arose in Chuguev in 76-77, when Repin came from Paris to his homeland, and for the first time he saw the Procession of the Cross, the local Procession of the Cross, Chuguev, in a field, and made the first icon. And so the first icon - it’s like some kind of confusion is happening in this procession, when the peasants are trying to fight for the right to carry the icon. And this sketch turns out to be abandoned. The second large sketch of the painting is “The Procession of the Cross in the Oak Forest” or “The Revealed Icon,” which seems to reproduce the patriarchal, so to speak, very decorous Procession of the Cross, and for Repin this is a memory of Chuguev’s life, memories of his childhood years. And in this Procession of the Cross, in the first version of this large painting, there was a dean girl who carried the icon with delight, with reverence. And it was Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov who remembered her and asked Repin to include her in this second, final, final version of the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.” And I have the words of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, which I would like to read out.

K. BASILASHVILI - Let's do this without fail, but after a short news release.

NEWS

K. BASILASHVILI - 14 hours 34 minutes, “The Tretyakov Collection” continues, Ksenia Basilashvili is at the microphone, our guest is senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery Tatyana Yudenkova. We are talking about Ilya Repin and his painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.” But first, starting this second half of our program, I will answer the question, there are already winners. We asked you a question: Repin’s wife, Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova, was interested in everything new, including being a consistent vegetarian, a sincere feminist, and also read the latest philosophical teachings, was a fan of the teachings of this famous theosophist, and so, indeed, the correct answer is this Elena Blavatskaya. And there were many who answered correctly, but here are the names of the winners: these are Laura 912, Irina 686, Andrey 8-904-700, Victor 8-909-919, Andrey 916907 and Anna 916-212, they will definitely call you all, you will receive your rightful prizes. Well, we return to the picture itself. So, I wonder what Tretyakov responded to the wish, to Repin’s words that the truth, that very realism, is closest to him?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov just said that... he said it very subtly. He said that the other day I heard a conversation between artists that the people in Repin’s paintings were all ugly. This is exactly what the press was talking about, that they are all deteriorated against nature. And there is, perhaps, some truth in this, says Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, in the previous “Procession” there was only one girl, a pretty girl, who carried the icon with some kind of hope, with faith or even with hope. It would be nice... but you destroyed it. Now, it would be good if you avoided all the caricature and imbued all the figures with faith, then this would be a truly deeply Russian picture. Tretyakov wrote these words to Repin. Repin responds to Tretyakov: I cannot agree with the conversation between the artists that you write about. These are all outdated homemade theories and templates. For me, the truth is above all, look at the crowd anywhere. How many beautiful faces will you meet, and they will certainly come to the fore for your pleasure? And then look at the paintings of Rembrandt, Velazquez, how many handsome men and beauties can you count in them? You can leave in the picture only such a face as is tolerated in a general artistic sense. Embellishment, any embellishment would ruin the picture; for the living harmonious truth of the whole it is impossible not to sacrifice details. A painting is a very complex, subtle and difficult thing. And only by exerting all the internal forces into one feeling can one perceive the picture. And then you will only feel that above all is the truth of life. And I, like, refuse to correct it, I consider it profanation and sacrilege.

K. BASILASHVILI – Somehow he answered sharply, in general, to his benefactor, by and large, Tretyakov. Which…

T. YUDENKOVA – ...Repin responded sharply to quite a few people...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...paid quite a lot for the purchase of his paintings. After all, he bought this painting!

T. YUDENKOVA - I think Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov bought this painting, moreover, he agreed with Repin on the first day of the opening of the exhibition that he would buy it, but, as you know, Tretyakov already appeared in the 80s competitors. And one of these venerable collectors, a famous industrialist and philanthropist, was Fyodor Tereshchenko, who wanted to purchase this painting.

K. BASILASHVILI – Outbid.

T. YUDENKOVA - And there was even a small scandal at this... at the exhibition, here. But, nevertheless, Tretyakov...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...what kind of scandal?

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, it’s a scandal, because Repin did not put up the price of this painting for a long time and there was no... there was no sign on the painting that the painting had been sold. And it was five...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...intrigued so...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...there were five competitors, yes, for the purchase. And people came to Repin’s studio and turned to the board of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions with a request to set the cost, to determine the price of the painting. And a rumor was even spread that Tereshchenko bought this painting for 15 thousand rubles. But, nevertheless, Tereshchenko bought Repin’s second very popular painting “Poprishchin”, which Tretyakov also wanted to buy, and Tretyakov was offended for this not by Repin, but “The Procession” was bought by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov for 10 thousand rubles.

K. BASILASHVILI - Now let’s listen to the story of how the painting came to the gallery, its further journey from Elena Chinyakova.

Path to the gallery.

The painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” was acquired by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov in 1883. The author had the opening of the 11th traveling exhibition in St. Petersburg. It is interesting to note that the collector enjoyed a special right to visit artists’ studios and view paintings before the grand opening of the traveling exhibitions. Having seen the “Procession of the Cross” before the insertion, Tretyakov appreciated the magnitude and significance of this work in the history of Russian art, and decided that this work should certainly replenish his collection of national art. On the first day of the exhibition, March 2, 1883, the collector agreed with Repin on the cost of the painting, offering 10 thousand rubles for it - a huge sum at that time. This is how Ilya Efimovich Repin’s work “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery.

K. BASILASHVILI - Tatyana, I have a question. And why do I see here: in all catalogs there is a clear date, the painting was written in 1877-1883. At the same time, it is known that for some reason Repin completed it in his Penates...

T. YUDENKOVA - No, no, Ksenia, this is an option...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...in the 20s.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...firstly, this book is old from the Soviet era, there is a dating error. “The procession in the Kursk province”, which we are talking about today, dates back to the year 81, that is, at the moment when Repin began working directly on canvas, when he visited the Kursk province for the procession and until the 83rd year when he exhibits this painting at an exhibition and...

K. BASILASHVILI - ... but he didn’t finish writing it later?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, no, no, he completed it later, made minor amendments, the painting was already acquired by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov directly in the halls, but this is an insignificant moment in its history. But there was another picture that I was talking about, “The Procession of the Miraculous Icon”...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...this one...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...in the oak forest, which seemed to reproduce the previous Procession of the Cross, the patriarchal Procession of the Cross...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...a more dean...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...a more dean, about whom Repin himself wrote such good words: “... the Orthodox people rose with all holiness and carried the icon solemnly revealed in the forest to the place of its appearance.” These are, in fact, the words of Repin himself to Kramskoy in 1978, the year when...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...he returned to her in 24...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... no, no, he came to her ... this canvas was in his studio, it was not finished. Carried away by the “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province,” he abandoned the “Miracle-Working Icon.” She stood on his easel. And, by the way, one of those collectors who wanted to buy the “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” came to Repin’s workshop and asked him to sell the “Miracle-Working Icon”. But Repin refused him because it was unfinished. And for his personal exhibition in 1991, Repin completed this painting with the large “Miracle-Working Icon.” And he exposes her. A small photograph of this icon has survived, so I brought it. Of course, it’s difficult...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... icons?

T. YUDENKOVA – ...sorry, paintings. It is difficult to make out what is depicted here, but we see that here a solemn procession is taking place in an oak forest.

K. BASILASHVILI – I see a huge cross...

T. YUDENKOVA – ...cross...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...the priest in the foreground.

T. YUDENKOVA - That same deacon, here, in fact, is a sketch of the protodeacon of the year 77, which was painted in Chuguev, he was the prototype of this image, he was painted for this painting. This means that the painting was exhibited in 1991, no one bought it. And only later, in 16-24, before being sold to a certain collector, Repin rewrote this painting. And now this painting, it dates back to 1877-1924...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...understood.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...and it is located in the Czech Republic in the city gallery of Hradec Králova.

K. BASILASHVILI – In the Czech Republic - why?

T. YUDENKOVA - She got there because after the revolution of 17, Repin lives in Penates, yes, it turns out...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...in Finland.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...in Finland, yes. And, in fact, those works that were with him in the studio, they disperse, in fact, throughout Europe and his daughter, the eldest daughter Vera, she helped her father, but, in fact, to sell his works and this work went to a certain Czech, as far as I understand...oh, no, first she went to the Czech Industrial Bank, and then...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...to the collectors.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...to the meeting of a certain Mavrich.

K. BASILASHVILI - In the picture to which our program is dedicated, “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province,” there is, after all, some plump, curvaceous lady, she is carrying...

T. YUDENKOVA – ...she carries a miraculous image...

K. BASILASHVILI - ... now, the fate of this miraculous image, this particular icon, is known, because this is a work that existed, does it still exist?

T. YUDENKOVA - It really exists now.

K. BASILASHVILI - What is the story?

T. YUDENKOVA - Now, I have already begun to say that, in fact, this is the Kursk root icon of the Mother of God of the Sign, which was found at the end of the 13th century. And, in fact, there were many, so to speak, attacks on this icon, the Tatars ran into the chapel where it was kept, they cut it into two parts, by some miracle these two parts were found, they grew together, this icon healed people, it helped... Peter the Great prayed before her before the Battle of Poltava. A list with this icon was sent to Kutuzov’s headquarters and it illuminated the Battle of Borodino. This icon healed St. Seraphim of Sarov when he was still a young boy... Prokhor Moshnin. His mother brought out her sick son, put her to this icon, and he was healed. It is interesting that, in fact, they tried to blow up this icon at the end of the 19th century...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...to blow up? My God…

T. YUDENKOVA - ...to be blown up by revolutionary terrorists. And everything around it, around this icon, was blown up and mutilated by bombs, but the icon remained safe and sound. This icon was stolen and...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...how was it kidnapped?

T. YUDENKOVA - ... was kidnapped during the revolution in 1717, she disappeared from the temple. Then she was found again. And already in 1919 she was taken out... the rector of the temple took her out, took her abroad, she was in Serbia for a long time during the war, and there she also kept the people who kept this icon. And already somewhere in the mid-50s she was taken to the USA. And in the USA a new Root Hermitage was founded, where at one time this icon was kept, and now it is kept in one of the cathedrals in New York, this icon. And already representatives of the Russian church abroad, although now it is already a single structure, as it were, an institution, they call this icon Adigitria of the Russian abroad. In 1989, when changes began in our country, a list of this icon came from New York. And now in Kursk... in the Znamensky Cathedral in Kursk, yes, it has, in fact, been restored, it has become operational, religious processions have begun, and there is a list of this icon, and the townspeople of the city of Kursk, they hope that someday...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... will return. Are such negotiations ongoing?

T. YUDENKOVA - Such negotiations are underway, they really are underway, but, as far as I understand, now there is not even a question of this shrine coming to Kursk for some time and, in fact, visiting its native land, not yet.

K. BASILASHVILI – It would be interesting to display it next to this painting too. I wonder if there would be such a turn...

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes.

K. BASILASHVILI – ...for the Tretyakov Gallery.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...also interesting, in any case, this icon has its own history, very interesting, and it is curious that in many memoirs dedicated to this icon, the history of the Kursk Znamensky Cathedral, the history of the Root Hermitage, one way or another, Repin’s painting is mentioned, which immortalized this religious procession. And every time they write that in this picture, in fact, Repin conveyed the very grace that descends on people participating in the procession. And today this picture is perceived in this way by many believers. This is interesting. Meanwhile, as we have already talked to you, in the 19th century this picture was treated with both a plus and a minus sign...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...you were amazing, reading to me...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... yes, yes. So I want to read it now...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...the opinion of Korney Chukovsky...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...well, Korney Chukovsky’s opinion was quite negative...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...well, okay... Korney Chukovsky, in general, did not communicate closely with Ilya Repin...they lived nearby...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... in one of his articles in 907, he wrote that this is an orgy of bestiality, a pandemonium of everything base, muddy, and so on. And he is indignant that... he gives an example that the dean... the noble, or rather the German... representative of the German bourgeoisie is indignant that this painting was approved by the government and is in the museum. And while in the guidebook of the Tretyakov Gallery of the same year it was written that this picture conveyed with great brightness a living folk feeling, religious reverence for the shrine. But I would like to give an example of our critic Stasov, who wrote a lot about Repin and treated this picture quite well and appreciated it highly. And he described some images, and I just want to compare...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...of course...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...and how neutrally and, not even neutrally, but somehow complacently Stasov described this picture, here, individual images. And then I will give excerpts from the works of the Soviet period of Soviet art history, just curious for comparison, for some small accents.

K. BASILASHVILI - Please.

T. YUDENKOVA - So, now, where is our lady... here she is: “... the center, the miraculous image, small, all in gold, with a ray of light hitting it, which is carried with great parade and swagger by a local aristocrat, merchant's wife or landowner, fat , stocky, steamed by the sun, squinting from it, all in bows and silks. Nearby is a local influential person, a tax farmer, a gold bag, in a German frock coat, but clearly a peasant: a rude, impudent, shameless fist..."

K. BASILASHVILI - ...I’ll interrupt you, how interesting it is, even he will recognize the classes. We... now we have completely lost this sense of who is who... tax farmer...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you need to look closely, and each image is amazingly characterized, the character is given here very aptly...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...question: who is the tax farmer?

T. YUDENKOVA - ...yes, here, in fact, are the images of these two bourgeois women who are carrying an empty icon case, with what piety...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... bourgeois women? And I thought they were peasant women.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...as they step carefully, they are afraid to stumble. But behind them comes... there is a choir, and here is the old regent, he teaches the little boys how to correctly strike the right note. And... and here, actually, returning to the topic we started, how in Soviet times they described this lady of ours who comes with a miraculous image.

K. BASILASHVILI - Yes.

T. YUDENKOVA - The face, swollen with fat, expresses stupid arrogance, a consciousness of superiority over those around him, next to him is an angry headman with a badge on his chest, who furiously swung his stick at the peasant who dared to approach the shrine. And next to her...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...by and large, this is also possible...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... of course, and next to her, listen further, this tax farmer who interested you: a fat-faced merchant made of fists, swollen from the heat, his pumpkin-shaped face with small evil eyes betrays the predatory nature of a bloodsucker, an exploiter... in general, it must be said, What…

K. BASILASHVILI – ...that’s how we wrote the presentation.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...that’s how the presentation was written, yes. The fact is that the procession itself takes place along this road and against the backdrop of the landscape. It’s no coincidence that this landscape with cut down tree stumps ends up here, too. Repin regretted that in the 80s, with the advent of the big bourgeoisie, deforestation began, and he wrote with regret in one of his letters: they cut down my beloved forests. These are the forests, in fact, of his childhood. And this image of these same stumps sticking out is also an image of Repin’s contemporary Russia, post-reform Russia. And, in fact, this is how it all is... all these people with different characters, with different social status, with different attitudes towards shrines, towards faith; By the way, Stasov noticed a very correct thing when he described this picture. That they are walking, they are already tired, and everyone is busy with their own business, gradually being distracted from the important thing they owe...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...Tatiana, I have a question for you, forgive me, I’ll interrupt you, but you were on your own, it wasn’t like that, out of pure curiosity, go there, check how it is...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you know, after this program I will definitely go! This is exactly.

K. BASILASHVILI – You’ll go, right?

T. YUDENKOVA - Of course, with great pleasure.

K. BASILASHVILI – ...and what position will you choose for yourself, like Repin, he looks, it seems like he’s not from the crowd, yes, he’s a little bit away. Or, after all, you will come in...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you mean, I don’t know whether I will go to the Procession of the Cross, but I would really like to see it...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...didn’t look, no, didn’t see, just for comparison? This is how it all is, or did the artist really come up with something...

T. YUDENKOVA - No, I think that, of course, what Repin captures in his canvas is, in fact, how it was. Because if you and I begin to analyze all the images in detail, we will see that there really is no embellishment here.

K. BASILASHVILI - And my question is, why did he even decide to paint this picture?

T. YUDENKOVA – Repin is quite...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...was it a religious picture for him, was it a joke for him, was it really a caricature?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, in no case is it an anecdote or a caricature.

K. BASILASHVILI - What is this? What is the goal?

T. YUDENKOVA – Repin was looking for quite a long time for a plot that would embody the basic idea of ​​his time, the nerve of his time. Such a plot was quite difficult to find. And at the time when he conceived the theme of the Procession of the Cross, when he found it for himself, he turned to various kinds of subjects. And he had stories on the theme of peasant life, mainly, there, the village volost government, the village court, the village school, various kinds of stories, from this revolutionary Narodnaya Volya theme, we discussed this last time. There were many subjects that interested and attracted him, but when he attacked the plot of the Procession of the Cross, he realized, in fact, the significance of this plot. And when in one of his letters he describes this plot to Kramskoy, Kramskoy answers him: you have found yourself in a gold-bearing vein, that is, this plot itself gave Repin the opportunity to reveal, in fact, the entire comprehensiveness of Russian life, Russian Russian life, to which, in fact, , Repin wanted and strived. Find that same nerve.

K. BASILASHVILI – ...there was already a “Religious Procession for Easter”, a terrible picture.

T. YUDENKOVA - there was a “Procession of the Cross for Easter” by Perov, there was a Procession of the Cross by Savrasov, and Pryanishnikov, and Solomatkin, there were many of these Processions of the Cross that were painted by artists. Because what is the Procession of the Cross? The religious procession is a moment of such highest tension in the spiritual life of the people. Yes? Here, in this case, Mother Russia herself is coming towards us, and the composition is built in this way... I also wanted to say that here Repin finds a place for the viewer, and the viewer is on the side of the road, and he is, as it were, a witness to what is happening, the composition as if it draws the viewer into this space, into this procession.

K. BASILASHVILI - But at the same time, he was practically his contemporary, Nesterov - we recently had a program dedicated to him - who somehow had a completely different attitude to this topic. I think that if he, probably, it seems to me, absolutely did not accept this position, he probably would not have put cripples in the foreground, in his foreground there is a boy with a thin, handsome face, so handsome, handsome .

T. YUDENKOVA - Very good, but the fact is that Nesterov...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... two so different, two absolutely... two different phenomena, if you like...

T. YUDENKOVA -... Nesterov is an artist of the younger generation, nevertheless. He was much younger than Repin. Here. Therefore, it’s like this is a different approach to life, a different analysis of life, a different worldview. And, in fact, the fact that Repin puts this cripple in the foreground, look at this cripple, at this face. This is a face overshadowed by faith, overshadowed by hope. And this wonderful image was found by Repin, who really... there were many such images, there were many of these wanderers, there were many cripples, holy fools who inhabited our Mother Rus'. And Repin, in fact, was not ashamed of this, he was not ashamed of this truth, he was not afraid of it. And every time he painted a picture or a portrait, he, in fact, wrote about it without fear, without hiding what he saw.

K. BASILASHVILI - Why then did he decide not to return to Russia, when they offered him that, that was his name? And Lunacharsky sent commissions to Kuokkala, to Penates to Ilya Efimovich, and they wrote letters, and soldiers and sailors came. And this picture then thundered throughout Russia, it was raised almost like a poster image of that pre-revolutionary bad Russia.

T. YUDENKOVA - No, understand that the post-revolutionary time was a completely different time for Repin, and he was already an old artist, he already had his own habits, concepts, and how to change this life, go into the unknown, go to the unknown... what was waiting for him there in St. Petersburg? After all, various rumors were heard, not only some kind of ideal coloring with a proposal from Voroshilov, who wrote letters to him, inviting him to return to Russia, or Lunacharsky, or Brodsky’s stories, but, apparently, there were also some more sober views on what happened in Soviet Russia. And Repin was a sober man, quite perspicacious, he then, apparently, too... this fact is known about how hard life was for his youngest daughter Tatyana, who remained with her family in Repin’s Zdravnevo estate, and how many different kinds of troubles she had to endure been through. And Repin knew this too.

K. BASILASHVILI - Tatyan, I feel that we will simply return to Repin more than once. I recently drove past Penaty, I really wanted to go there, I didn’t have time. It seems to me that you can visit Repin endlessly. We will definitely do this with you...

T. YUDENKOVA - And, in my opinion, we still need to return to a couple of paintings...

K. BASILASHVILI - Let's go back...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... because we talked a little about this picture.

K. BASILASHVILI – ... and not just for one picture. And now it’s time for us to say goodbye. I thank Tatyana Yudenkova, senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery and invite you to museums and galleries in Moscow.

T. YUDENKOVA - Thank you very much.

K. BASILASHVILI – There are angels among us! Unknown Anatoly Zverev, but first to the Tretyakov Gallery. Of the temporary exhibitions at the Tretyakov Gallery, only one is open - the gallery is frozen in anticipation of the new season, which is about to start, but in the meantime, look in the graphics halls at a cozy exhibition from the collections of old Moscow collectors. On Krymsky Val, the renovated halls of the “Art of the 20th Century” await you. Now, next to the dignified classics of socialist realism, there are works of repressed artists. In the circles of Muscovites of the sixties generation, it is probably difficult to find a family who is not familiar with the work of Anatoly Zverev. For the capital, he was something of a living legend, just as in Leningrad Dovlatov could go to the nearest store around the corner in his slippers. And his watercolors multiplied in the apartments of friends and casual acquaintances. Now that Zverev’s drawings are sold – and expensively – at auctions, collectors have learned the value of gifts, sometimes written on scraps of paper. Graphics by Anatoly Zverev, new, from private metropolitan collections, are being exhibited again and again, in the Nashchokin House gallery now. Will last until October 21. What does seeing an angel symbolize? For some it is the birth of God, and for others it is the news of the end of the world. How do they look? Really with wings behind your shoulders, as the ancestors thought, or is it different? Contemporary artists, from Mamyshev-Monroe's one-man orchestra to Zurab Tsereteli, present their reflections on angels. A new angelarium has opened at the Museum of Modern Art on Ermolaevsky Lane. The angels descended on the Patriarch's for a short time - until October 7.

Painting by Russian artists
Painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin “Religious procession in the Kursk province”, oil on canvas, 178 ? 285.4 cm. The artist began the large work “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” in Moscow. The idea for the work arose in 1877 in Chuguev, where Repin had the opportunity to observe a colorful procession of a rural religious procession, but it finally took shape much later, after a trip to the Kursk province, to the famous Root Hermitage, famous for its crowded and solemn religious processions. Work on the painting lasted several years and was completed only in 1883.

Repin depicted in the picture the carrying of the “miraculous” icon to the place where, according to legend, its miraculous appearance to believers allegedly took place at one time. On a hot afternoon, a crowded procession moves solemnly and decorously along a wide dusty road against the backdrop of hills with stumps from predatorily cut down forests. Repin, with remarkable specificity, managed to convey the entire atmosphere of what was happening: the sweltering heat that dried out everything around; clouds of dust raised by the movement of an innumerable mass of people; the dazzling brilliance of the sun's rays, as if concentrated in the deacon's golden robe sparkling in the sun and reflected in the rainbow shimmer of colors of the gilded lantern decorated with flowers and ribbons; the measured roar of the crowd, possessed by the consciousness of the seriousness of the work being done and at the same time busy with their vain passions and thoughts. All this creates the impression of authenticity of what is depicted, allowing you to literally feel the swaying of the human sea in the haze of dusty, heated air.

But Repin did not limit himself to this external recording of the event. Depicting the crowd, he created a whole gallery of vivid images of representatives of various estates and classes of post-reform Russia, revealed the essence of their social relations, the inequality reigning in society, showed the deprivation and lack of rights of the people and at the same time made it felt that the people live an intense inner life, strive to find the truth on earth, dreams of a better life. In the center of the crowd, unceremoniously clutching the icon to herself, a fat landowner, dressed to the nines, floats majestically, looking at the surrounding mob with swaggering arrogance. With her is an arrogant and rude village elder, protecting the lady from the pressure of the crowd with a baton and shouts. Following them, just like in a parade, marches an important and stupid retired military man. And a little to the side, a cynical, cunning and tight-fisted contractor with a red, shiny face walks with a master's step. All these “masters of life” are surrounded from behind by a semi-ring of clergy fawning on them and busy with their conversation, who do not care about the “miraculous woman.” The procession with the icon is opened by a red-haired, portly deacon in a magnificent golden robe, dapperly waving a censer and coquettishly throwing back his scattered curls from his forehead.

Kramskoy considered this plot a “gold mine.” And this was indeed so, especially in relation to Repin, who by his talent was an artist of a large theme - small, random episodes and events, inexpressive types and characters never attracted him and could not inspire him to create paintings. Stasov called Repin an artist of great tasks and far-reaching horizons. Developing the traditions of Perov the accuser, Repin interprets these images in an acutely grotesque way and at the same time very independently, in Repin’s way, carried away by the bright specificity of his characters, as if snatched from the thick of life. He made a lot of sketches and sketches and completed the grandiose canvas already in St. Petersburg, presenting it at the Eleventh Traveling Exhibition.

The picture really made an unprecedented impression on its contemporaries. Conservative-minded sections of society immediately raised an aggressive controversy around her. The reactionary press criticized the work for its unfair denunciation and poisonous sarcasm. But all the artist’s friends, progressive youth, students, intelligentsia and educated commoners received her with delight. All of Repin's latest works evoked rave reviews from his friends. The progressive-minded intelligentsia praised the artist to the skies.

A significant event in the life of the Kursk region in the 19th century. There was a religious procession with the miraculous icon of the Kursk Root Mother of God from the Znamensky Monastery to the Root Hermitage. Thousands of pilgrims from surrounding villages, county towns and from all over Russia gathered in Kursk on Friday 9th Easter. The opening of the fair was also timed to coincide with this event. It was only in 1806 that the majestic order of the religious procession was established, which so captured the imagination of contemporaries and was reflected in the painting by I.E. Repin “Religious procession in the Kursk province” Artsybasheva T.N. Orthodox Kursk region. Kursk, 2002.P.212..

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. Since 1765, at the request of the abbot of the Root Monastery, Isaiah, this period was extended by the Moscow Patriarch 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 religious procession from the near and far provinces of Russia and other countries... This state of mind was very realistically conveyed by the great I. E. Repin in his painting “The religious procession in the Kursk province” Bugrov Yu. History of Kursk diocese. M., 2000.P.123..

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 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. Kulagin V. Holy Kursk Land. Kursk, 2004.P.153.

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 take place 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.

Ceremony observed during the procession:

• 1) Police officers on horseback.
• 2) Part of the pilgrims of all classes.
• 3) Banners and in the middle of them two church lanterns with lit candles are carried by the deacons.
• 4) An icon case with a list of the revealed icon is carried on a stretcher by pilgrims.
• 5) Two large lanterns with lit candles. Especially arranged for this ceremony, pilgrims carry them on stretchers.
• 6) On both sides there are guild badges, carried by artisans belonging to that guild, and in the middle the merchants carry three crosses.
• 7) Cathedral choristers, and on their sides deacons carry banners.
• 8) The clergy with some archimandrites behind, in full church vestments with Icons, gospel and cross. Two banners and two large lanterns with lit candles, the same size as No. 6; banners are carried by deacons, and lanterns are carried by pilgrims.
• 9) The bishop's choristers and their guild badges on their sides are carried by the artisans belonging to that guild, and on the right side, behind them, is the Kursk police chief on a horse.
• 10) The Grand Cross and banners are carried by the deacons.
• 11) The governor and the provincial leader of the nobility in ceremonial uniforms carry the revealed Icon of the “Sign” of the Most Holy Theotokos, and over it the deacons hold ripids.
• 12) The bishop is in full church vestments, and on his sides the protodeacons and deacons carry banners.
• 13) Officials of the city of Kursk in uniform, their families, merchants and visiting pilgrims of all classes, and on the sides the lower ranks.
• 14) Two lanterns with lit candles, the same as number 6, are carried by pilgrims.
• 15) Two banners carried by deacons.
• 16) Two church banners are carried by citizens of the city of Kursk.
• 17) Two lanterns with lit candles, identical to No. 6, are carried by pilgrims.
• 18) Two banners carried by deacons.
• 19) Two lanterns with lit candles, the same as under No. 6, are also carried on stretchers by pilgrims Firsov A. Root Hermitage. M., 2000.P.135..
• 20) The last eleventh and twelfth large lanterns with lit candles, identical to No. 6, are also carried by pilgrims.
• 21) Two banners and two badges, carried by deacons and craftsmen.
• 22) Throughout the entire procession, lower ranks march in a chain on both sides; in some places, city police soldiers stand so that the people do not crowd the procession.

Meanwhile, every non-resident pilgrim from a simple rank has a stick on his shoulders with a small piece of linen tied on the top of it or a different color, while others see a small bunch of straw, a branch from a tree, and the like on the stick; With these signs they reveal themselves to their comrades who have come from the same place, and at the end of the procession, each party very easily and quickly comes together.

Even a month before the icon was taken to the Root Hermitage, the holy icon was taken from home to home. The people of Kursk said goodbye to their intercessor. The pilgrims came in groups and, in order not to get confused, each group carried its own pole, decorated with ribbons, twigs, flowers, which made the whole procession take on a colorful, festive look.

About a week before the removal, “12 lanterns” were installed in front of the cathedral in the form of churches with silver-plated domes. Many candles were constantly burning in them. It was the custom of the Kurdish people to crawl under a lantern; it was believed that this would help with toothache. In addition, every girl wanted to attend the removal of the miraculous icon, since only then could they count on a good marriage.

On the night before the removal of the icon, a special “folk all-night vigil” was served on Red Square on a special platform, surrounded by “lanterns.” The powerful bells of the cathedral and other Kursk churches complemented the singing of the hundred-voice church choir. Tens of thousands of people stood with lit candles.

In the morning, at sunrise, pilgrims began to move along Moskovskaya Street, along which there was a cordon of troops. At 11 o’clock in the afternoon, the largest and oldest “lantern” was taken out of the gates of the Znamensky Monastery, which was carried in turns by 40 people all the way to the Root Hermitage. Behind him were carried out the remaining 11 lanterns with lit candles. After the liturgy, the miraculous worker in her most ancient robe, a gift from Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, was carried out of the church by the bishop and entered onto a high platform covered with red cloth in the square. Accompanied by singing and the ringing of bells, the bishop blessed the city on all four sides with the icon. It was the most magnificent moment. The people of Kursk consider it a miracle, a gift from the Mother of God, that on the day of the miraculous removal there is always good weather.

The Bishop then gave the icon to the governor and the provincial leader of the nobility, who carried it to the old St. Elias Church. In front were military units with an orchestra, followed by monastics, a bishop's choir of singers in crimson caftans and two rows of priests in festive Easter vestments. In the middle was the shrine and patroness of the Kursk region - the miraculous icon of Pakhomova A.N. Kurshchina in the process of forming the state and law of Ancient Rus'. Kursk, 2006.P.324..

At the Ilyinskaya Church, the icon was handed over to the mayor and the chairman of the zemstvo council, who carried it to the Annunciation Church of the Sisters of Mercy Hospital of the Kursk-Znamensk Red Cross Community. Then, according to custom, the governor carried the icon out of the city gates. A short prayer service was served in a small chapel outside the Moscow Gate and then, through the Yamskaya Sloboda, they carried it to the Korennaya Hermitage. The religious procession arrived there at 8 o'clock in the evening, where she was solemnly greeted and services were held. The icon returned to Kursk in September, but less solemnly. Only in 1993 the custom of performing a religious procession was revived in the Kursk region.

In the Root Desert in the 19th century. many changes took place. In 1860, a cathedral church was built on the mountain in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and with a chapel in honor of St. John the Baptist. The temple was built in the Byzantine-Russian style. Its vaults were supported by two rows of massive columns. The lower church in the name of the Life-Giving Spring was also rebuilt, instead of the dilapidated church built by Count Sheremetev in honor of the victory in the Battle of Poltava. In the middle of the church there was a fenced holy well. A chapel was added to the southern side of the temple, built over the roots of the tree where the miraculous icon was raised in 1295.

White stone covered gatherings, built in 1831-1841, led to the church in the name of the Life-Giving Spring from the upper monastery platform. The gatherings gave the Root Hermitage a look reminiscent of the gatherings in the Kyiv caves, or the appearance of the Athos monasteries.

The facade of the monastery was facing west. On both sides of the holy gates there were two-story cell buildings. In 1875, on another hill, a temple was built in the name of the icon of the “Sign” of the Mother of God. The monastery was surrounded on all sides by orchards and apiaries.57 Nowadays, extensive restoration work is being carried out on the territory of the monastery in the Korennaya Hermitage.

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 the enslaved lands of the Shpilev A.G. Znamensky Monastery. Kursk, 2002.P.13..

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.

Religious processions with the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kursk during the war years (1914-1916). The religious procession took place from April 3 to May 8, 1915 in the following villages of the Kursk district: Nizhneye - Gutorovo - Ryshkovo, Lebyazhye, Konarevo, Nizhneye Shumakovo, Lyubitskoye, Lubyanka, Vorobyovka, Malyshevo, Dubovets - Complete Rozhdestvenskoye, Novo-Cheremoshnoye; Oboyansky district: Medvenka, Drachevka, Vyshny Reutets; Kursk district: Vysokoye, Spasskoye, Gostemlya; Sudzhansky district: Sula; Oboyansky district: Lipovets, Bashkatovo, Kosinovo, Dolzhenkovo, Rybinskie Budy, Bushmino, Peny, Samarino, Beloe, Cherenovo, Kamenka, Pavlovka, Uslonka, Trubesh, Mokroe Solotino, the city of Oboyan, Kursk.

On July 26, 1914, led by Bishop Feofan, a solemn religious procession was held outside the Kherson Gate, to the location of the Military camp, to serve a farewell prayer service before the miraculous image of the Sign of the Mother of God for the troops of the Kursk garrison, who went to the battlefields.

At 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the procession from the Znamensky Monastery arrived at the advantageous field near the camps. The bishop addressed the soldiers with a word, then began a prayer service. The population of Kursk presented the warriors with folding icons. Firsov A. Korennaya Pustyn. M., 2000. P. 92..

Bishop Theophan blessed the troops and people with the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God.

1) Procession with the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk.

Every year on the eve of October 2, a solemn religious procession was held with the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk. With a large gathering of pilgrims and a long ringing of bells, the icon is taken out of the Smolensk Cathedral in the city of Belgorod to a chapel built nearby. After the prayer and akathist, the icon returns to the church for a solemn and crowded all-night vigil. On the very day of the appearance of the icon, many prayer services are held until the late liturgy.

2) Procession with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The religious procession with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker usually took place in May from the Belgorod Holy Trinity Monastery to the village of Ustinka, where the Korennoy Nikolaevsky Monastery was previously located. On the same day, the religious procession was held in the opposite direction.

Religious processions in the Kursk diocese, in addition to the regular ones that enjoyed all-Russian fame, took place quite often in rural areas with local church relics. Rural religious processions were mainly conducted by rural priests, at the request of the flock. The reasons for their holding were either droughts, or incessant rains, or some epidemics and other disasters. There were several regular processions of the cross: in the village of Deryugino, Dmitrievsky district on April 23, in the Yamskaya settlement of Suzhdansky district on Holy Week, in the village of Gryaznoye Tim on the day of the Holy Trinity, and on September 4 with the icon of the “Unpolyable Bush” in the village of Tim on September 14. Religious processions were also held in the cities of the Kursk province. This was the case during the war of 19147-1917, when they were held everywhere with prayers and the granting of victory to the Russian army.

Let us pay special attention to the hagiographic churches of Kursk and their probable age. In the pre-Mongol period in Rus', just one church, more or less large, took four to five years to build, and about a year to paint. Moreover, it seems that until the end of the 11th century. there was only one artel in Kyiv” for the construction of stone churches throughout Rus'. So the Kursk churches of the Feodosian period were most likely wooden, like the vast majority of pre-Mongol churches, especially on the periphery of the ancient Russian state. To build two churches at the same time, even wooden ones, was hardly possible for the urban community of an average Russian city of that time, especially one newly built by the conquerors from Kyiv. Consequently, the construction of those two or three churches in Kursk and its surrounding area, which are implied on the pages of the Life, required at least 10-15 years. A bolder assumption is that Mstislav, like his older brother Yaroslav, and their father Vladimir, invited master slab makers and architects from abroad. Most likely, “from the Greek”, from Constantinople. Or maybe from the Caucasus, or from some other southern center of Christianization, close to its original Tmutarakan domain. In the construction of the main monument to his life’s exploits, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov, begun by this prince, modern art historians see “similarities with Asia Minor monuments and even Armenian ones (profiles of beam pilasters).” Moreover, “on the walls of the Spassky Cathedral we encounter many ornamental masonry motifs earlier than on the Byzantine monuments proper.”

It is tempting to compare these Chernigov materials with the remains of pre-Mongol buildings in the Kursk region. Unfortunately, samples of plinths of a very archaic, generally speaking, appearance, found in the historical center of Kursk, as well as in the neighboring Ratsky settlement, have not yet been examined by specialists to clarify their age and origin.

Whatever the case with archaeological evidence, in Kursk itself, already under Theodosius the boy, there were, judging by the text of the monument, at least two. Let us repeat that their construction was unlikely to take place simultaneously. Moreover, the churches on the banks of the Seim were actively functioning already in the first years of the life of the future saint: only in a systematically functioning church could he become acquainted with the divine wisdom, which he longed to learn so early. From here again, for the third time, independent sources confirm the approximate period of 10 years (at least) for the existence of Kursk of the ancient Russian appearance at the time of the arrival of the Theodosius family, i.e. around the mid-1030s. It turns out that the founding of Kursk dates back to the mid-1020s. This, we repeat, is no longer Vladimir’s, but not yet Yaroslav’s, but Mstislav’s time on the Left Bank.

The mere fact of the presence of not one, but several temples on the territory of the fairly compact Kursk district testifies to the density of its population already in the years of Feodosian youth, above the average Russian standards of that time. According to the conclusion of a knowledgeable historian of Russian Orthodoxy, in Kursk there were then “at least 5-8 thousand inhabitants, for the very construction of churches is always caused by the excess of the population, which does not have the opportunity to satisfy its religious needs in one temple.” The fortified area of ​​Kursk by the middle of the 11th century. reached 8.5 hectares. It is difficult to say without new excavations whether this urban area covered the entire settlement or only its core - the Detinets. If we assume at least a small “roundabout city” outside the Kursk citadel and roughly take their total area of ​​10 hectares, then there will be about 500 people per 1 hectare. This figure seems overestimated. By early medieval standards, even in the largest cities of Europe in the 12th-14th centuries. The population density reached 100-120 people per hectare. At the same time, i.e. in the middle of the 11th century. in England, for example, peripheral cities numbered from one to eight thousand inhabitants. As you can see, several thousand inhabitants were not recruited in early Kursk itself, but throughout that entire country with its several cities, each of which was surrounded by villages, according to the Life of Theodosius. According to the calculations of the authors of excavations in neighboring Lipin, there in the 12th century. up to 2-3 thousand people lived. It is unlikely that there were less on Rati. Assuming a noticeably smaller population of the Kursk region in the first half of the 11th century, it is possible to conclude that the total number of inhabitants of its neighboring “cities” could well be close to 8-10 thousand.

If, based on the above about the significant urbanization of this region in the early Russian period of its development, we subtract at least 10 years from the approximately 1034 years of the appearance of Theodosius with his parents in Kursk, we get the mid-1020s. as a hypothetical time for giving this settlement an ancient Russian appearance. The period of time appears immediately after the victorious Battle of Listven for Mstislav, when he received the entire Left Bank into his rightful possession. The “great silence in the country” that came then and struck the chronicler turned out to be extremely favorable for urban development, the pace of which, judging by archaeological data, increased noticeably on both the right and left banks of the Dnieper. This event context seems to me much more convincing as the historical start of the city of Kursk than the much more abstract assumptions about the era of Vladimir I as its creator, which still prevail in historical and local history literature.

Thus, the first candidate here for the role of the founder of Kursk churches and other ceremonial buildings, post-Roman fortifications is Mstislav (the customers of official, especially stone buildings in pre-Mongol Rus' were almost exclusively princes, less often bishops). And the proximity of the dates of the death of this prince and the arrival of Theodosius’s parents in Kursk, traced in historical literature, confirms the assumption about the “lord” of the “Life” as no longer a Chernigov, but a Kiev mayor, appointed here by Yaroslav the Wise immediately after the final annexation of the Left Bank to his state. In any case, by the time of complete transition to the jurisdiction of Kyiv, the leaders of this city had the time and means to build “mansions” for their “lord” and churches for Christians of the first generations among the local population.

Mstislav Vladimirovich differed from other Rurikovichs of that era in his increased sympathy for the Christian church. He even named his son not two, but one, immediately Christian name - Eustathius. This is the only Christian “maternity” name among the Rurikovichs of this generation - the numerous grandchildren of Vladimir I (another such name in the mentioned series - Ilya still contains a pagan connotation, given that Saint Ilya replaced Perun as the patron of the squad).

In the same spirit of exaggerated commitment to Christianity, the tamga of this grandson of Vladimir the Saint stands - the bone onlay found during excavations of the Taman settlement contains an image of the Rurikovich trident, which differs from the related tamga of Mstislav by two signs of the cross - on the middle prong and on the base. Further, according to the vow made in a duel with Rededya, Mstislav himself built a church in Tmutaraka in honor of the Mother of God. The Spassky Cathedral, founded by Mstislav in Chernigov, competed in size with the Novgorod and Kyiv Sophia. It is hardly by chance that in the same period such luminaries of Orthodoxy as St. Anthony and St. Theodosius, and, it seems, Daniel the Pilgrim, emerged from the territory of the Seversky Left Bank.

Researchers are forced to assume that Abbot Daniel is a resident of the south of Rus', most likely a native of the Chernigov principality, because of the heartfelt comparison made by this writer of the Palestinian Jordan River with the New River. Commentators on this site of the monument point to the Snova River, a tributary of the Desna, which flows into it in the Chernigov region, and takes its source near the city of Starodub. Let me draw your attention to the fact that this hydronym is not alone on the Dnieper Left Bank. So, the river Again flows through the Kursk land; taking its source near the Oka and Ochka and flowing on the right into the Tuskar River. Another river, the right tributary of the Don, flows in the Lipetsk region. Both rivers I mentioned are located in those places of the river network of the Poseymya and Don region that were actively used as trade and general travel routes, starting from the early Middle Ages. It was Don who began his journey to the Holy Land, another famous pilgrim, already in the 14th century. - Metropolitan Pimen. The Slavic etymology of this hydronym is transparent. And the Slavic layer of left-bank hydronymy is historically the latest, referring to relatively small streams (the largest received Iranian and Baltic names from the predecessors of the Slavs on these lands). Therefore, it is not surprising that the Russian pilgrim takes special pride in his native river.

The noted number of people from the Dnieper Left Bank - outstanding Christians - should be replenished by the father of our hero. In his “Epistle on the Latin Faith,” Theodosius calls himself “in a pure and faithful faith, born and raised good in the law by an orthodox father and a Christian mother.” For a representative of the prince’s senior squad in Rus' at the beginning of the 11th century. this is already a common state.

A striking argument in favor of the faster pace of Christianization of the Left Bank compared to other centers of emerging Rus' is the recent discovery of an image of a cross, which turned out to mark the tip of a spear, originating from the famous mound - the Chernigov Black Grave.

So those churches in which Theodosius of Pechersk labored in Kursk and its district were most likely erected there on the initiative of the most Christian prince Mstislav. Moreover, we have factual data at our disposal that allows us to assume with a certain degree of confidence the name of the oldest church in the city of Kursk (although its name is not mentioned in written sources).

The first churches of the Kursk land should have belonged to the Chernigov bishopric of the Kiev-Russian Metropolis, which is considered the third in time of origin and significance after Belgorod and Novgorod. Moreover, “Chernigov and Pereyaslavl dioceses received for some time in the 60s of the 11th century. status of titular metropolises. Consequently, dioceses must have existed here before,” which is indirectly confirmed, in particular, by the archaeological and hagiographic materials I have summarized from the first half of the 11th century. The planting of churches and parishes in the far southeast of the Old Russian state immediately following its official adoption of Christianity prepared the church and administrative rise of this region, which, after all, was located closer to Byzantium. After the baptism of Rus', the role of Constantinople in the cultural and ideological development of Theodosius’s homeland became equivalent to the influence of the Scandinavian North.

G.V. Vernadsky even suggested that Mstislav, while still in Tmutarakan, established a special archbishopric there, to which the part of Rus' that had ceded to this prince was subordinate in church terms. And the establishment of the metropolis in Kyiv is explained by Yaroslav’s retaliatory step in the struggle of these half-brothers, the Vladimirovichs, for supreme power in the country. This assumption is not too different from the above, if you look at the situation from the point of view of the northerners of Poseimye who are converting to the new faith.

New data on the spread of Christianity in Khazaria can testify to the real possibility of extra-Byzantine, and maybe even extra-Kiev origins of the initial Christianization of this region: unexpectedly numerous Christian symbols have recently been discovered during excavations on its indigenous territory, in the Caspian region. Among them, the remains of four richly decorated Christian churches of the 6th-8th centuries stand out. at the cemetery of the ancient capital of the Kaganate - Belenjer. Christian churches and Christian Khazars are noted in written sources in other Khazar cities of the 9th-10th centuries, located closer to the Dnieper Left Bank. This circumstance facilitated, as can be seen, the transition of part of the Khazaria defeated by Svyatoslav to a kind of protectorate of Rus'. It is not for nothing that subsequently one of the grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise, the prince of Chernigov and Tmutarakan Oleg Svyatoslavich (died in 1115) bore the titles of kagan and, in addition, “archon of Matrakha, Zikhia and all Khazaria” according to the act seal-bullet. And the ideological influence of Khazaria on the extreme southeast of its Slavic borderland has been repeatedly noted by researchers of this latter region. In confessional terms, he could well have initially “pulled” towards the northern dioceses of the Khazar Metropolis. The church organization of world religions always has a tendency to “creep” political boundaries for the sake of missionary work.

All these considerations help explain the clearly increased for the middle of the 11th century. concentration of churches and parishioners in the Kursk region, lying somewhere halfway from the Tmutarakan Azov region to Chernigov. As already mentioned, the customers of most ancient Russian stone buildings, including churches, were princes, and less often bishops. This consideration additionally points to Mstislav as the more likely first builder of the Kursk churches - since the newborn Kursk was located closer to his last capital and the center of the diocese he nurtured, Chernigov.

Mstislav laid the foundation for his main one - the Spassky Cathedral in Chernigov one or two years before his death, since this new building at that time had risen, according to the chronicler’s observation, “as high as you can reach with your hand while standing on a horse.” If we agree with the date of his death specified above - approximately 1034, then the foundation of the Chernigov Savior falls at the very beginning of the 1030s. Around this time, the construction of Christian churches could begin in Poseymye Shchavelev S.P. Feodosius Pechersky-Kuryanin. M., 2008.P.157..