Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk region

Artemiev-Verkolsky Monastery- a male Orthodox monastery in the Pinezhsky district of the Arkhangelsk region.

Story

Background

In ancient times, the territory east of the Northern Dvina was called Zavolochye, where tribes of the Finno-Ugric group called Chud lived. These lands, rich in animals and “other patterns,” became territory subject to Russian, mainly Novgorod, colonization. Christianity began to be implanted here in the 12th century, although in the 16th century “idolatry” continued to exist in remote corners, to which the local population of the “filthy” (that is, pagans - paganus translated into Russian idolater) was inclined. The colonialists sent special expeditions against them with the aim of converting to Christianity.

The place names of rivers and settlements speak about the former inhabitants, either disappeared or Russified, such as: Verkola, Pokshenga, Yavzor, ​​etc. In the 14th century, Novgorodians here began to encounter “grassroots colonization” from Muscovy - which went through Vologda along the Sukhona, Northern Dvina and Vychegda. The Novgorodians provided “stays and food” to the bands of grand dukes.

At the end of 1867, with the blessing of Bishop Nathanael of Arkhangelsk, at the place of repose of St. the youth Artemy, two miles from the monastery, there is a new wooden chapel. Soon, with donated funds, it was converted into a temple with an altar, a meal and a bell tower.

Between 1869 and 1879, a wide stone wall was built around the monastery with a majestic 30-meter bell tower above the main gate. In 1876, a temple was built in the bell tower in honor of the Iveron Mother of God.

In the period from 1878 to 1881, a 2-story stone building for monastic services was built inside the monastery.

To facilitate the delivery of water from the river, in 1879, Hegumen Theodosius built a larch water supply system, taking water from a swampy area 700 meters from the monastery.

For his labors and merits in restoring the almost destroyed monastery, Theodosius was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite in 1882. Was getting honorary awards for his ascetic activity: 1869 - awarded the pectoral cross from the Holy Synod; 1872 - Order of St. 

On the night of April 21-22, 1885, at the age of 56, Archimandrite Theodosius died. He was buried near the altar on the south side of the stone church of St. righteous Artemy.

First class monastery

In 1886-1887, under the rector Archimandrite Yuvenalia (rector from 1886-1888), bells weighing 258 poods 13 pounds (4200 kg) and two bells weighing 127 and 31 poods (2080 kg and 507 kg) were raised to the stone bell tower. . In those same years, a tower clock was installed on the cathedral bell tower.

In 1887, the relics of St. Artemy were solemnly transferred from a wooden shrine to a silver shrine.

In 1889-1891, the abbot under Abbot Vitaly (rector from 1888-1900) erected a two-story stone building with premises for the abbot, chancellery and fraternal cells.

In 1890, the Verkolsky Monastery, as outstanding among the monasteries of the Arkhangelsk diocese and having the ability to support big number The brethren were converted by decree of the Holy Synod into a First-Class Cenobitic Monastery.

In 1891-1897, the construction of a grandiose two-story stone Assumption Cathedral with a hanging gallery around the cathedral for codes of the cross, a magnificent interior decoration, gilded iconostasis and icons in a strictly Byzantine style. The upper temple was consecrated in honor of the Assumption Mother of God, lower - in honor of the Nativity of Christ.

In 1907-1909, under the rector Archimandrite Anthony (rector from 1904-1907), a three-story refectory building with the Church of the Kazan Mother of God was erected.

From 1908 to 1919, the monastery existed under the authority of bishops: Barsanuphius (1908-1917) and Paul (1917-1919)

By the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery had 60 monks as part of the brethren, of which 22 were sacred monks, one dressed in the great schema and 12 people tonsured into the ryassophore and up to 100 workers. In total there are up to 200 brethren.

Verkolskaya monastery and holy righteous John of Kronstadt

As you know, 50 kilometers from Verkola up the Pinega River is the village of Sura - the birthplace of Saint Righteous John of Kronstadt. John Sergiev, as a youth, often visited the Verkolsky monastery, when he went every year from home to the Arkhangelsk Theological School. John of Kronstadt, already a respected saint, every year when visiting his native Sura (usually on a ship) stopped at the monastery for the night.

On June 15, Archpriest John of Kronstadt, serving with other clergy, consecrated the lower church of the Assumption Cathedral in honor of the Nativity of Christ. He contributed greatly to the decoration of the monastery, annually donating sums of money for this purpose, and often sent gifts of church utensils.

In 1892, at his expense, in the Church of St. of the righteous Artemy, a gilded canopy and a new hearse were built over the relics of the youth.

Monastery in the 20th century

The last rector of the Verkolsky monastery before its closure was Bishop Pavel (Peter Andreevich Pavlovsky). In 1917, he was consecrated Bishop of Pinega, vicar of the Arkhangelsk diocese. In 1920, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed acting bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory. Arrested that same year, he subsequently died in custody in 1937. The abbot of the Verkolsky monastery under Bishop Paul was Hieromonk Eugene.

The brotherhood of the monastery consisted of 185 people.

At the end of November 1918, a detachment of Red Army soldiers arrived at the monastery. Some of the brethren went to other monasteries. Those who remained were shot and their bodies were thrown into Pinega. In December 1918, a special commission arrived at the monastery to open the relics. On December 20, 1918, when opening the chest with the relics, ordinary coal, burnt nails and small bricks were discovered. There were no signs of bones.

The bells from the bell tower were all removed and loaded onto rafts, but when they were transported to the other side, the rafts sank. The bells have not yet been found and probably lie at the bottom of Pinega.

The monastic archive and ancient manuscripts were taken by order of the central apparatus of the NKVD to the Provincial Archives of Arkhangelsk.

Church books and icons were all taken out of the churches and burned on the river bank. Some of the icons were taken home by local residents; some of them have now been returned to the monastery.

IN different time the monastery buildings housed the district party committee, a hospital for Red Army soldiers, a village commune, Orphanage, a boarding school for children with developmental disabilities and a comprehensive school.

For 70 years the monastery was heavily plundered. Almost nothing remains of the iconostasis in the Assumption Cathedral. The wall was completely dismantled into bricks, the bell tower that towered above the gate was destroyed. Domes and crosses were destroyed.

Revival of the monastery

The monastery owes its revival primarily to Lyudmila Vladimirovna Krutikova, the widow of the writer Fyodor Abramov, who was always concerned about the problem of the spiritual revival of Russia and the restoration of monasteries.

In 1989, Lyudmila Vladimirovna, on behalf of the Verkolsk Orthodox community, created by village activists, sent three letters: to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Alexander Vladimirovich Vlasov, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen and to the Council for Religious Affairs. Well-wishers helped ensure that the letters reached their recipients.

The Council for Religious Affairs of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, at a meeting on March 19, 1989, registered the religious community of the Russian Orthodox Church in the village of Verkola, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk region, with the transfer of the building of the Church of St. Artemia the Righteous for prayer purposes.

In the spring of 1990, news arrived that the Verkolsky Monastery was being transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church.

On December 25, 1991, the Holy Synod decided to open the Artemiyevo-Verkolsky Monastery.

In April 1992, the monastery was registered by the regional assembly of deputies of the Arkhangelsk region as a legal entity.

On October 18, 1990, with the blessing of Bishop Panteleimon of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, the first priest John Vasilikiv arrived at the monastery. After 2 years, he took monastic vows with the name Joasaph.

Hieromonk Joasaph began to restore the monastery practically from ruins. During almost 7 years of his management of the monastery, the roofs were repaired and new domes and crosses were installed on the Artemiyevsky Church and the Assumption Cathedral, the wooden Ilinsky Church was restored, restoration work began in the Kazan Church, the refectory was repaired, a new painting was made on top of the old one, which could not be restored, in the Temple of Artemy the Righteous . Funds for restoration came both from the administration of the Arkhangelsk region and the residents of Verkola and other admirers of the youth Artemy helped in the restoration of the monastery.

In 1994, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' flew around the Verkolsky Monastery three times in a helicopter and blessed it from the air. Then His Holiness landed in Sura in the homeland of John of Kronstadt.

In 1997, the monastery was finally given the abbot's building, in which the Verkol secondary school was located, in connection with the construction of the building new school in Verkola at the request and efforts of the school director Stepanova Vera Vasilievna and Lyudmila Vladimirovna Krutikova. All outbuildings (sheds, bathhouses, sheds) were moved outside the monastery territory.

Workers and monks from all over Russia began to come to the monastery.

Monastery today

From 2000 to the present day, the rector of the monastery is Archimandrite Joseph (Volkov)

In 2006, the chapel of the righteous youth Artemy was restored with funds from benefactors. The roof of the Kazan Cathedral has been completely replaced, and the altar grille has been added. The project includes steam or electric heating of churches.

Attempts are being made to restore the Assumption Cathedral, but due to lack of funds the work is not progressing.

Now the brethren of the monastery number 30 inhabitants: 11 people in monastic vows (7 hieromonks, 2 hierodeacons, 2 monks). The rest of the inhabitants are workers and labourers. In summer, the number of brethren grows to 60 people.

The inhabitants of the monastery conduct missionary activities in all the surrounding villages of the Pinega region.

Since the fall of 2000, in Verkola, under the auspices of the monastery, a Sunday School, which still exists today.

Patronal holidays

Most pilgrims from all over Russia come to honor the righteous Artemy in the summer on July 6 and August 5.

Temples of the monastery

• Temple in the name of the Holy Youth Artemy (built 1785-1806)- Temple with two chapels: St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. righteous Artemy Verkolsky. Nowadays in the temple there is a shrine with a particle of the relics of the youth. Active.
• Chapel-temple of Artemy Verkolsky on Ezhemeni (built in 1867)- a wooden chapel one and a half kilometers from the monastery near the village of Ezhemen. Particularly revered by local residents. Placed at the place of death of the youth Artemy. Completely updated in 2007.
• Assumption Cathedral (built in 1891-1897 according to the design of the architect R. R. Marfeld)- the largest of the monastery buildings. Includes 2 churches: Upper - Assumption of the Mother of God; Lower - Nativity of Christ (consecrated by the holy righteous John of Kronstadt). Inactive, restoration work has been going on since 1991.
• Church in the name of the Kazan Mother of God (built 1907-1909)- built as part of a three-story building with refectory and fraternal cells. Inactive, restoration work has been going on since 1996.
• Elias Church (year of construction unknown) - wooden church. Restored in 1993-1995. Active, services are held in the summer.
• Chapel in the name of the righteous youth Artemy (built in 2006)- a wooden chapel, an exact copy of the chapel that stood on the territory of the monastery for four centuries, in which the relics of the saint were kept for some time.
• Temple in the name of the Mother of God of Iveron (built in 1869-1879; now destroyed to the ground)- a temple located in a high bell tower above the main gate in the wall of the monastery. Does not currently exist.

Viceroys

• Hieromonk Eugene (1917-1918)
• Hieromonk Joasaph (Vasilikiv) (1991-1995)
• Hieromonk Alexy (Teterin) (July 1995 - May 1996)
• Abbot Joasaph (Vasilikiv) (1996 - March 7, 1997)
• Hegumen Varnava (Permyakov) (January 1998-2000)
• Archimandrite Joseph (Volkov) (since August 2000)

• All materials used in the brick buildings are from the monastery. There was a brick factory at the monastery.
• It took 1 million 200 thousand bricks to build the wall around the monastery and the bell tower.
• The bells that rang from the high bell tower during the heyday of the monastery were heard 50 miles away by the residents of Sura and surrounding villages.
• Since the existence of the monastery (over 374 years of existence), it has been ruled by 53 abbots and governors. Since 2000, the abbot of the monastery has been Abbot Joseph (Volkov)

How to get there

Once upon a time, the wall of the monastery in the name of the righteous youth Artemy rose above Pinega. Now it remains only in photographs and on icons of the holy youth, where he is still depicted against the backdrop of the monastery as it was before the Soviet destruction.

At the ends of the earth

Getting to the monastery is not so easy, so there are not many pilgrims here (unlike Solovetsky Monastery, for example), there are practically no tourists at all, and, in fact, there are also no local residents who are not related to the monastery.

By train, and even then with a transfer in Arkhangelsk, you can only get to the city of Karpogory, and from there you will need to take a minibus or taxi. To cross Pinega, you need to agree in advance with the monastery - they will send a carrier from there.

The train arrives in Karpogory at the beginning of ten, you will reach Pinega at the beginning of twelve, swallowing dust along the way, rising in an impenetrable high plume on the dirt road behind each car. (It’s hard to love those who overtake you and make you blink and cough frequently from the dust in your eyes and mouth, but you can understand them: before overtaking, they made their way through the dust from your car). But having arrived...

The subtle itching of hordes of mosquitoes is drowned out by delighted oohs and aahs. Eat us, drink our blood, but we will do our best to take photographs, blessing the artist - the Creator of heaven and earth.

In winter, on the ice, and in summer by boat (sometimes a stray wave can overwhelm it even in the calmest weather, so it’s better not to put a bag with documents and gadgets on the bottom) you can get to the monastery, and in the fall and spring there is either freezing or drifting ice - connection with the world is severed. While there were no mobile communications and the Internet, there was a complete feeling of ancient hermitage. Now the isolation is no longer complete, but the brothers love quiet time without unexpected (and even expected) guests most of all.

We are not overloaded with pilgrims and tourists. We are glad to everyone who comes, and we are glad when no one comes, because Christ is the “Chief of silence,” and external silence helps to find internal silence, says the confessor of the monastery, Hieromonk Venedikt (Menshikov).

The hot monastery horse Irtysh awaits pilgrims - you can put your things in the cart and go to the monastery lightly

From the Navy to the Kitchen

Gennady has lived in the Verkolsky Monastery since 2003: he came for three days to look and stayed - first for three weeks for haymaking, then for good. There was no one to put on the boat, but he had been in the navy before; then they sent me to the kitchen. He goes to see his family and doctor for three weeks a year.

I have a Christian family, everything is fine: my son has matured, they understand that the main thing is the salvation of the soul. And the obedience is interesting: I myself didn’t know that I was a cook, I was shocked. I went and went in the navy, but then it turned out that I could work as a cook.

Between the hot ovens and the cutting table, Gennady has been a cook for eight years. On the table of the brothers there are soups and cereals, fish, homemade cottage cheese and milk. In the 1990s there were times of famine, and several people had to share a can of canned food. Now fathers admit: the “norm” for home-baked bread remains (two slices for breakfast and three for lunch), but you can take as much of the first and second as you like.

During the time that Father Joseph has been abbot here, the monastery has developed its own unwritten traditions, and new ones who come begin to follow them. The basis of everything is Christianity and the rules of the monastery. Everyone undergoes obedience, everyone came for Christ. Take away obedience - any male community will fall apart. Everyone has to do something they don't want to do. Obedience to washing dishes, for example, does not please anyone, but everyone washes. Of course, in some ways all monasteries are similar: wherever you go, there is your own Father Benedict, your own Father Lazarus. But in some ways the people and traditions are different: we and the Siysky Monastery are completely different. We live here for years and don’t notice how we are changing, but when you go to the city, everything is foreign.

Human transformation

During the time that Gennady lives in the monastery, several monks have already taken monastic vows. He himself continues to wear wedding ring and does not think about rank:

Monk is serious. From the outside you can’t try this on yourself, or talk about it, or understand it. I have been tonsured twice, this is exactly a transformation, I say without any pathos. For the first three years I thought something like that, and then I looked at myself - I’m not a monk,” says Gennady. - One of us lived as a novice for seven years, he didn’t get tonsured - now he has a wife and children. It happens that a person is broken in the world and is looking for peace, he comes here and thinks that he has found peace. Then he leaves for the world, nothing works out there, he returns... In the world there is the same cross as in the monastery, no less.

Temptations, including demonic ones, are a reality in the monastery that cannot be ignored. After the fraternal prayer service (starts at 5-30 am) before breakfast, many go to bed for a little more sleep (“maybe the rare chosen ones read the Holy Fathers or pray,” they say in the monastery), and at this time, as the monastery confessor Father Venedict (Menshikov) ), you can dream about anything. Demons love this time very much. And in general, behind the quiet appearance of monastic life, there are storms and battles, overcoming which, a person bears spiritual fruits.

Shrine in hiding

The relics of the righteous youth Artemy were hidden by the monks in 1918 so that they would not be violated by a Cheka detachment sent to the monastery specifically for this purpose. In 1941-1942, a special detachment of the NKVD searched for relics in the Verkolsky area, but never found them.

They were not found later either.

I think the shrine of the righteous Artemy is kept near the Kumbala River on the left side, there is a birch tree with cross-shaped branches, like on Anzer on Solovki. How long have I lived - I have never seen such birch bark, pure, pure! “As a sign of God,” says local artist Dmitry Klopov, who participated in the restoration of the monastery in the 1990s. - Last year I went with an ax to get chaga, there once was a mill there, and now, if we find crayfish, we need to put a chapel there.

Hieromonk Venedikt (Menshikov), however, says that when the monks walked around Kumbala, they did not see anything similar to the description of Dmitry Klopov.

We tried to look for the relics, we even broke the steps in the Kazan Church, they shoved some mirrors there, we looked for walled-up rooms... Letters came that supposedly someone had seen that the relics were on the territory of the monastery. Our archivist Georgy was also “raving” about this idea, he had his own theory, he also searched in the Assumption Church. Someone was looking for underground passages from the monastery to Pinega - supposedly the relics were there, recalls Hieromonk Benedict, dean of the monastery and confessor of the brethren. - And then they left it all. When the Lord is pleased, he will reveal the relics. We used to read every morning at the end of the prayer service special prayer about the acquisition of relics. Now they have stopped: we need to ask for the salvation of the soul, for the correction of life, to ask for the Kingdom of Heaven, but we want power. So we calmed down.

The inhabitants of the monastery, together with the governor, are not sure that they are ready for the discovery of the relics - or rather, for the increase in the number of pilgrims that the appearance of the shrine will lead to. Although there are now many relics in Russia, they are no longer “unseen”, and the road to Verkola is difficult, there will be more people in the monastery.

How can we be sure that we will bear it? Will we overcome our passions and not seduce people? You have to be saints yourself in order to live near a shrine. But on the question of where the power is, no spiritual meaning, says Father Venedikt.

Children's Monastery

The rules of the monastery, as in former times, are strict: “Do not go to each other’s cells unless absolutely necessary, avoid unhelpful conversations at all costs: do not stop in the corridors for conversations; do not talk at all during meals; not to read loudly in cells, to be alone and always dressed, except at night: to honor each other, especially those older in years...” But this does not mean that the monks walk around gloomy and shun jokes.

One day a pilgrim came to us - he was looking for elders. He was also offended by us, he didn’t believe that there were no elders in the northern forests! - they recall humorous incidents from the life of the monastery, slips of the tongue from the readings at meals (like “Archhistratig” instead of Archangel Michael). The point is not that the brethren are simpletons: on the contrary, as they say in the monastery, a person with two higher education It can be more difficult to read in the choir, and even to remember the sequence of actions in the altar. Maybe your head is too densely packed with knowledge and new ones don’t fit?

Alexey, the son of a priest from Arkhangelsk, comes to help in the monastery in the summer

Maybe the monks should be more serious, but I attribute it to the fact that we children's monastery“We can,” jokes the brethren’s confessor, Father Venedikt.

After all, there is also the Gospel commandment to “be like children” in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Rebuilding from the Ruins

The way the monastery looks now is a faceted chamber compared to the rubble and destruction it had fifteen years ago,” recalls Father Benedict. - Two years ago a warm toilet just appeared, otherwise there were all the delights of life, especially in 56 degrees below zero.

When Father Benedict arrived at the monastery, the basketball markings in the Artemievsky Church, inherited from a school for mentally retarded children, were still glowing through a layer of paint on the floor. Hardboard iconostases, bricks falling from the walls. In winter they served in mittens and pimas (high Nenets boots made of reindeer skins).

Before his tonsure, Father Benedict lived in the monastery for a year - in those years there was no tradition of a three-year apprenticeship. He was 21 years old, he wanted to live a little and go to seminary. Once I lived, I no longer wanted to go to the seminary, so I stayed.

We found a time when the Russian Church “turned on the hairdresser”: with the help of many tonsures they wanted to fill the monasteries. But it is impossible to fill the irreparable gap at one time; it is necessary to transfer experience, including the experience of repentance and obedience, not only from books. “And sometimes it happens that a young man is seduced by the robes and the external side of life in the monastery,” says Father Benedict.

The days of the “hair salon” are gone, as are the times when the basics were lacking. But the years of “hunger” are remembered as good:

It's easy not to eat when there is nothing to eat. It may be difficult not to grumble and not to get irritated, but not to eat is easy. “And try to abstain when there is both this, and that, and the third on the table - but that’s what is truly valuable,” says Hieromonk Venedikt.

The recovery is happening smoothly, comfort began to increase only in the last couple of years. The same pilgrims come from year to year - from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Severodvinsk, Kronstadt. They say that rarely does anyone come back once.

Pilgrims work in the monastery

There is an apiary at the monastery - and every blooming rowan tree in the area is buzzing so much that it’s scary to approach

The forest path to the holy spring above Pinega is called the “bishop’s path”

Drying Pinega fish

The St. Nicholas Chapel once housed the relics of the holy youth Artemy, and the Ilyinsky wooden church is opened for worship once a year - on the day of Elijah the Prophet

History of the Monastery

In the wilderness of the Arkhangelsk region, on the left bank of the Pinega River, the famous Artemiev Verkolsky Monastery has stood for four centuries.

The monastery was founded around 1635 on the site of the discovery of the relics of St. Artemia. The first ktitor and founder of the monastery is the governor of Kevrola and Mezen, Afanasy Pashkov, who founded the monastery in gratitude for the healing of his son, which took place at the relics of St. Artemia.

In 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich assigned a salary to the monastery, and a year later his sister Irina Mikhailovna donated rich gifts to the monastery. The monastery was rich and prosperous until mid-18th century century. In 1764, by decree of Empress Catherine II, he was transferred out of state and deprived of all lands and lands.

In the 1840s, the monastery was threatened with closure due to poverty, and it was saved from closure only by the fact that it was among 340 monasteries, which, according to the will of Countess Anna Alekseevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya, were entitled to a capital of five thousand rubles.

Saint Righteous John Kronstadt, whose homeland is the village. Sura (50 km from Verkola), venerated St. youth Artemy and often visited the monastery. With his money, the Assumption Cathedral was erected - the crown of the churches of the Verkolsky Monastery, which in its scale (capable of accommodating up to 1000 people) and grandeur could compete with many great churches of Russia.

TO end of the 19th century century, the Artemiyevo-Verkolsky Monastery was awarded the title of First-Class Monastery. According to descriptions of contemporaries, the monastery then flourished: “The Verkolsky monastery even from afar attracts attention with its solidity and improvement. Exactly Small town It stands on the high bank of the Pinega, surrounded by a beautiful stone wall.” At that time, the brethren of the monastery numbered about 300 people.

But they came troubled times. After the revolution, an atheistic bacchanalia broke out in Pinega region. At the end of November 1918, a detachment of Red Army soldiers arrived at the Verkolsky Monastery. Some of the brethren had already left for other monasteries, and those who remained were shot on the banks of the Pinega. Locals They saw how from the place where the monks suffered martyrdom, a light rose to the sky. Icons and books were burned there, the walls of the monastery, towers and bell tower were dismantled into bricks. Since the 1930s, the monastery buildings housed the village commune, the district party committee, an orphanage, and food warehouses. Left without repair or maintenance, the temples suffered from bad weather and began to collapse over time.

Monastery today

Left without repair or care in Soviet years the temples suffered from bad weather and began to collapse over time.

But God could not leave this magical place to perish, and in the 90s the restoration of the monastery began. A lot of work was put in to bring the monastery to its former splendor and improve spiritual life. Everyone worked. Lyudmila Vladimirovna Krutikova-Abramova, the wife of the writer Fyodor Abramov, who back in the 70s looked with pain at the collapsing monastery and said that this great monument definitely needs to be revived. In 1990, with the blessing of Bishop Panteleimon of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, priest John Vasilikiv arrived at the monastery. After 2 years, he took monastic vows with the name Joasaph. Over the past 15 years, the life of the monastery has also been different periods: the brethren came and went. As Hieromonk Raphael recalls: “When I arrived at the monastery in 1993, Father Joasaph and about 10 workers lived there. I expected to see something completely different. Books about the pre-revolutionary monastery talked about large quantities brethren, about majestic temples... but here no monks are visible, the buildings are in a dilapidated state. But I liked the monastery, the place is good. God’s providence brought me here.” Hieromonk Benedict, who first visited the monastery in 1996, notes its desolation: “...I saw the devastation, but I liked the place, the nature is picturesque. I went to the Artemievsky Church. The basketball markings shocked me. In Arkhangelsk I went to the Ilyinsky Cathedral and the Lavra, there were candles, icons, it was beautiful. And here is a plywood iconostasis, everything is simple, meager... There is no logic in my situation, why I stayed here, devastation, complete anarchy, disorder, disorder. A lot of people passed through the monastery. And the monks came from different parts of Russia, tried themselves, but could not stand it, and left. For many people it’s too harsh here: on one side there’s a forest, on the other there’s a river.” IN better times behind last years the brethren numbered up to 30 people including workers.

In 2006, the chapel in the name of the righteous youth Artemy was recreated, which was always located on the territory of the monastery, next to the Temple of Elijah the Prophet, but was dismantled into logs during the Soviet years.

Today there is still a lot of work ahead that needs to be done to restore the monastery, but a lot has already been done. From the latest good news: the chapel on Jezhemieni (on the spot where the youth was struck by lightning) has been almost completely rebuilt. The chapel is located about 2 kilometers from the monastery. They serve there, however, only on holidays, since it is quite remote from both residential buildings and the main monastery buildings.

The Kazan Church, which is located in the fraternal building, is being restored. It’s very difficult for everyone, the brethren are overwhelmed with obediences. Unfortunately, now the brotherly ranks have begun to thin out again. There were only about 10 monks left with novices and a few laborers. Moreover, there are only three ordained priests. Again the same problem as in 1990, there is no one to serve. And we thought those days were already gone. It is difficult for Abbot Father Joseph to cope with everything: both with the management of the renovation of Kazansky and with the organization of the life of the monastery

God willing, everything will work out.

Assumption Cathedral in this moment closed, internally and externally destroyed. It is bitter to look at this great monument to the glory of God, with its high, collapsing vault and empty altar. In the Soviet years, when the fraternal building housed a boarding school for children with developmental disabilities, one of the “teachers” forced students to scrape paint off the iconostasis, thinking that it was covered with gold. It is sad to listen to such stories of the barbaric plunder of shrines and the long-term delusion of the great Russian people, the people on whom the entire Orthodox World was supposed to rest.

In recent years, attempts have been made to restore the Cathedral several times, but to do this completely and thoroughly requires a lot of money. The state will not give such people (it’s good when the monastery receives at least some crumbs from the authorities, but Lately and these times are gone), and so many benefactors cannot be found. After all, this is not the capital, but a distant wilderness that no one needs, and it is helped either by people who have roots in the place or who have fallen in love with it once and for all. There are not many of both. Both the brethren of the monastery and the pilgrims pray and believe that one day the Assumption Cathedral will once again shine in its former glory and open its doors to all worshipers.

In the wilderness of the Arkhangelsk region, on the left bank of the Pinega River, the famous Artemiyevo-Verkolsky Monastery has stood for four centuries. It was created around 1635 on the site of the discovery of the relics of St. Artemius. Voivode Afanasy Pashkov founded the monastery in gratitude for the healing of his son, which took place at the relics of St. Artemy.

The new monastery became a real peasant monastery, removed from the “vain world.” In 1764, however, the monastery was “retained by the state,” that is, it became a monastery that did not receive any funds from the treasury. The monastics were forced to live from the fruits of their labor, as well as from the funds of donors.

After a new fire (1782), the monks, with the help of the government, built a stone church, but financial affairs deteriorated so much that in 1848 the question arose about closing the monastery... It was saved from closure only by the fact that it was among the 340 monasteries that The will of Countess Anna Alekseevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya provided a capital of 5 thousand rubles. In 1890

The Holy Synod introduced the monastery into the category of first-class. In 1909, there were already six churches, three of them stone. The monks built a water supply system, a brick factory and a water mill. A Pinega native provided considerable support to the monastery Reverend John Kronstadt. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, whose homeland is the village. Sura (50 km from Verkola), revered the holy youth Artemy and often visited the monastery. With his money, the Assumption Cathedral was erected - the crown of the temples of the Verkolsky Monastery, which in its scale (capable of accommodating up to 1000 people) and grandeur could compete with many great churches of Russia.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the monastery became one of the spiritual centers of Pinega. Since 1885, the hermitage Svyatoezersky Nikolaevsky monastery near the White Sea region was assigned to the Verkolsky monastery. The highest recognition of the influence of the Verkol monks on the life of Pinezh residents was the introduction of the rank of vicar bishop of Pinezh, whose residence was located in the Artemiev-Verkolsky Monastery.

In Soviet times, the monastery experienced a common tragic fate Russian monasteries. Even before the interventionists and white troops came to Pinega, the Soviet authorities announced the closure of the monastery in the summer of 1918. The monastery property was confiscated and the relics of the Righteous Artemy Verkolsky were discovered. In subsequent decades, the monastery buildings were either destroyed or used for other purposes.

In 1919, immediately before the closure of the monastery, the monks hid in secret place shrines and relics of the righteous Artemy. So far they have not been found. In the 1930s - 1950s. the buildings and walls of the monastery were almost completely destroyed. The restoration of the monastery began with the formation on March 23, 1990 of an Orthodox community in the village of Verkole, led by priest John (Vasiliki). On February 21, 1991, dilapidated monastery churches and dilapidated buildings were transferred to the community.

The Holy Synod, by its decision of December 21, 1991, opened the Artemiyevo-Verkolsky Monastery. In the 1990s The fraternal building was restored, domes were installed on the Assumption Cathedral, the roofs on the buildings were repaired, the chimes and cross on the bell tower were restored, the churches of the Prophet Elijah and the Nativity of Christ were restored.

Shrines of the monastery.

Now in the Artemievsky Church there are several ancient icons: the Most Holy Theotokos "Georgian", the apostles Peter and Paul, the apostles James and Matthew, the prophet of God Hosea.

In December 2000 philanthropists from Moscow donated Verkolsky Monastery list of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Inexhaustible Chalice". They wrote it in the Vysotsky Monastery, which is located in Serpukhov. Then the icon was attached to the original, consecrated and inserted into the icon case. On the reverse side there is an inscription: “To the Artemiev-Verkol Monastery from the abbots, brethren and benefactors of the Vysotsky Monastery and David’s Hermitage. This icon was copied in exact measure and likeness from the miraculous image of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice.”

Before this image they pray for healing from the diseases of drunkenness and drug addiction. With the blessing of Bishop Tikhon, the brethren of the monastery serve weekly water blessing prayers with the reading of an akathist before her, remembering all those suffering from such serious illnesses. People send letters from different places in Russia, asking to pray for those who suffer from drunkenness and drug addiction.

In the Artemievsky Church there is another miraculous icon of the Mother of God - “Sovereign”. The image is quite large in size: 1.6 m in height and 90 cm in width. It was applied to the myrrh-streaming icon of the martyr Tsar Nicholas II, after which the icon of the Mother of God streamed myrrh. On the shrine stands an icon of the youth Artemy with a piece of his relics.

Also in the monastery there is an Icon of St. Maxim the Greek with a particle of his relics. In the Artemievsky Church there is a reliquary with particles of the relics of the holy saints of God: Saints Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov), Innocent of Moscow, Gabriel of Ryazan; Saints Roman Kirzhachsky, Ambrose of Optina, Isaac I and many other shrines.

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Located 400 kilometers from Arkhangelsk on the banks of the Pinega River opposite the village of Verkola, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk region. (google-maps)

If you can call it that.... the decoration of the Assumption Cathedral (built in 1897)

A little history.
In 1532, the boy Artemy was born. At the age of 12, while working in the field with his father, Artemy died from horror when a sudden strike of thunder (not to be confused with lightning).
They thought that someone had died for sin and were forbidden to bury him. They simply placed it in a field in a small log house above the ground... and forgot about it. After 33 years, one sexton, passing by, noticed a bright glow from the surface of the earth. We looked, and Artemy’s body was incorruptible! They brought the body to the church and placed it in a coffin. And later, one man, worried about his son’s shaking illness (fever), came to the coffin, took a piece of birch bark from its cover and put it to his son’s chest.... and then everything is clear and without continuation.
It was in honor of the youth Artemy that they first founded a church, and later a monastery.

photo from Wikipedia

plan from the F. Abramov Museum

Now little remains of its former power... at least the wall around the monastery has been demolished and the bell tower has been destroyed. And Artemy’s own body is lost - only a piece remains.

View from the house of writer Fyodor Abramov. Behind the sheds and in front of the strip of sand behind the hill, the Pinega River flows.
Steamboats used to sail along it (old photo above), but now it is dry and people cross it in long boats.

Pilgrims return to the village in the evening
Victor and I crossed the river on foot :)

(With) cold_n_sour Pay attention to where the water reached :)

On the shore, you will first see the wooden Elias Church.

To get to the monastery itself you have to climb a steep slope (the Pinega river and the village of Verkola are visible far behind)

Next to the Ilyinskaya Church is the Chapel of Artemy Verkolsky (on the left, remodeled in 2006)

The main buildings of the monastery are the Assumption Cathedral (1897) and the Church of St. youth Artemy (1806)
(well, I really wanted to capture the big cedar on the left in the frame;-))

Inside the Temple in the name of St. The youth Artemy is in a shrine with a piece of Artemy’s relics (on the left). The main part of the temple is currently being renovated.
(Be sure to watch the video at the end of the post)

On the bell tower of the Church of St. Artemy has a working clock that chimes even quarter hours.

Due to the renovation of the Church of St. Artemy, services are now held in the main Assumption Cathedral.

On the ground floor.... melancholy

Above... also melancholy, but mainly because huge amount"rock inscriptions" on the most inaccessible parts of the walls and paintings and the state of the vault...

“It’s okay to take photographs during the service!”... “Can I take you?”... “It’s possible”;)
Behind the clergyman there is a narrow opening, and behind it a steep spiral staircase to the upper tier (I crawled there without asking, when no one was there...;)

Refectory. We were offered to try what God sent us to eat, and the lightly salted cucumbers were highly praised... but we were somehow embarrassed to eat the workers :)

The monastery is male and active. At the moment, seven monks and two dozen workers live in it.

Work to restore the monastery is underway, but mainly clearing and conservation work.

Secluded corner under the cells

And this is the Chapel-Temple (1867), at the site of Artemy’s death, located a little away from the monastery (google-maps). Taken from Verkola.

Temple in the name of St. youth Artemy. The shrine contains a particle of Artemy's relics.
The monastery is for men, but many female pilgrims visit it. And how does this quartet sing!!! Uhhh!
(sorry for some shaking, I filmed almost without looking and “from the belly”)