Preobrazhenskaya Old Believer community. Preobrazhenskoye, St. Nicholas Edinoverie Monastery, Pomor Old Believer community Old Believer Church on Preobrazhenskaya Square

Transfiguration Cemetery.

Our walking route No. 2 from the "Walking around Moscow" series can start either from the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro station or from the Semenovskaya metro station. Between them, closer to Preobrazhenka, at Preobrazhensky Val Street, 17a, is the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was an Old Believer cemetery, and was the center of the so-called. Fedoseevites(representatives of the bespopovsky persuasion of the Old Believers). Now it is one of the prestigious city cemeteries in Moscow.

On the picture: Belfry and St. Nicholas Church (1790) on the territory of the former Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery (1866 - 1920s).

The Transfiguration Cemetery was founded in the terrible time of the plague of 1771 behind the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val. (In order to somehow defuse the situation, the authorities at that time allowed private cemeteries and quarantines to be set up in the vicinity of the city). The Transfiguration Cemetery was founded behind the Preobrazhenskaya Zastava by one of the courtiers of the princes Golitsyn, the merchant Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, who, having organized a plague quarantine here, at the same time arranged the Fedoseevsky almshouses and built a chapel, thus laying the foundation for an entire monastery. Before the revolution, the territory of the Preobrazhensky cemetery was the second after the Rogozhsky cemetery. the center of the Old Believers.

In 1784-1811, according to the project of the architect F. K. Sokolov (at the expense and under the direction of the merchant Kovylin), a large complex of buildings (which included the male and female monasteries) was built in imitation of the Vygoretskaya hermitage.

In the cemetery and around it, the merchant Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin gradually built houses, shops, factories and chapels. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were about 10,000 parishioners here. And in the surrounding shelters, there were up to 1,500 people. Thus, the community became the largest charitable institution in Moscow.

To limit the activities of schismatics, on the orders of Emperor Nicholas I, on April 3, 1854, the Assumption Church was re-consecrated to Orthodox. In 1866, the men's yard was moved to the women's, where the Old Believer community was preserved, and the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery was opened on the territory of the former men's yard. At the Preobrazhensky cemetery there was a rich library of writings about the schism, collected by the merchant A. I. Khludov; ancient icons were kept (including 1300 icons collected by E. E. Egorov), works of ancient Russian art. In 1920, all the Fedoseevsky chapels, except for the Exaltation of the Cross, were closed, those who were being looked after were evicted. In the early 1920s St. Nicholas Convent closed. Khludov's library and part of Yegorov's collection were transferred to the State Historical Museum, ancient icons - also to the Historical Museum, from where some of them later ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and a small amount in the Kolomenskoye Museum. In the 1920s a labor school was opened in the building of the former monastery school and in the cells of the monastery, and later various institutions were located, for example, the hostel of the Radio plant.

After the Great Patriotic War, the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery became the de facto center of all Russian bezpopovstvo, there were spiritual centers of three consents - Stary Pomorsky (Fedoseevsky), Marriage Pomorsky (DPTs) and Filippovsky, to which the Fedoseyevites gave the chapel at the cemetery.

The cemetery operates the Cathedral Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Transfiguration Cemetery, the Pomeranian Prayer House and the Church of St. Nicholas at the Transfiguration Cemetery, the former cathedral church of the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery.

For a long time the churchyard was exclusively Old Believer. There are many merchant graves in the cemetery. More than 10 thousand soldiers and commanders of the Red Army are buried at the military site.

Pomeranian Old Belief.

In the middle of the 17th century, a schism occurred in the Russian Church, perpetrated by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon. Moscow becomes one of the centers of the movement for the preservation of the Old Faith. After the bloody repressions began, many defenders of the Old Faith were executed, the rest were forced to leave Moscow. The few remaining Christians lived mainly on the eastern outskirts of the city, as well as in the nearest villages: Preobrazhenskoye, Izmailovo, Cherkizovo.

The church life of the Old Orthodox Christians in Moscow began to revive only by the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, the Pomeranian Old Believer society consisted mostly of townspeople (townspeople) and merchants. Pomeranians began to be called Christians who served according to the Pomeranian Church Charter. At that time, they gathered for worship at home prayers ...

After the middle of the 18th century, among the Pomeranians, the most famous was the home prayer room of Gabriel Artamonov. It was here, at the insistence of the spiritual father Vasily Emelyanov, that the ceremony of an unholy marriage was adopted. At that time, there were about 50 merchant families in the community. Among them are such famous Moscow merchants as Zaikins, Monins, Alekseevs, Zenkovs. In the 1790s, the first public prayer house on Pokrovka was organized by the efforts of the merchants. The property was assigned as a private property to VF Monin, and the prayer house was named "Moninskaya". Vasily Yemelyanov was elected rector.

In 1807, Skachkov G.I. became the mentor of the prayer room, who introduced the specially composed "Rite of Marriage Prayer" into use.

During the war of 1812, the "Moninsky" temple burned down, but all the communal values ​​were preserved. Instead of the burnt-out wooden chapel, the efforts of the parishioners managed to build a stone two-tiered church with a spacious room for the parishioners in the same place a year later. The Monino prayer house became a real center of the cultural and spiritual life of the Pomeranian Old Believers, an almshouse and a church school were in operation.

In 1826 there were over 6,000 parishioners. Antipa Andreev then served as a mentor, who later became known for introducing naon singing into the community, modeled on the Transfiguration Monastery.

In 1837, by order of the authorities, the Monin prayer house was closed. Since the 1860s, the so-called "Lyubushkinskaya" prayer room has become its successor. Other domestic prayer houses began to appear. By the middle of the 19th century, there were already more than 40 of them in Moscow. On the basis of these groups, by the beginning of the 20th century, the 1st and 2nd Moscow communities were formed.

After the tsar's manifesto on religious tolerance in 1906, the 1st Moscow community was organized with the tradition Naon singing during worship, the temple of which was located in Perevedenovsky Lane. 2nd Moscow community with tradition adverbial singing settled in the temple, built in 1908 in Tokmakov Lane. In 1909 and 1912, the 2nd Moscow community hosted the All-Russian Councils of Pomeranian Christians.

After the 1917 revolution, religious freedoms began to curtail in the country. In 1922, the church of the 1st Moscow Community in Perevedenovsky Lane was closed. Now all Moscow Pomortsy began to gather for the cathedral service in the Church of the Intercession of the Resurrection in Tokmakov Lane. In 1930 this temple was also closed...

The community moved to the Assumption Church provided by the authorities, located on the territory of the former male half of the Transfiguration Monastery. Here the community of Pomeranian Old Believers remains to this day, being one of the largest in Russia.

In the northern part of the complex, not knowing what else to come up with, the authorities placed a police station with pre-trial detention cells (CPC), various hostels. Right on the territory of the monastery in the 1930s, the Preobrazhensky collective farm market was opened, which still functions today.

Entrance group of the men's courtyard of the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin", also known as the Old Believer monastery, outside view. Photo by Yu. Zvezdkin
Entrance group of the men's courtyard of the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin", also known as the Old Believer monastery, view from the inside. Photo by Yu. Zvezdkin

Old Believer Monastery on Preobrazhensky Val, bell tower. Photo by Yu. Zvezkin

Based on the materials of our live tour "The Kremlin, which you did not know about, or the Old Believers on Preobrazhenka with a visit to the ancient cemetery", which you can sign up for.

The guide Irina Strelnikova says:

The history of the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin" is connected with the conversion to the old faith of one remarkable person - Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin (the one who bought the Kremlin's Lion Gate,). The owner of a brick factory in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, where the Old Believers have settled for some time. Convinced by their teaching, Kovylin, at a quite conscious age, converted to the old faith - he was re-baptized in 1768, at the age of 37. And just three years later, having shown miracles of ingenuity and talent for negotiating, he had already founded the Old Believer cemetery in Preobrazhensky and with it the first Old Believer chapel in the long years of persecution of schismatics. After all, we remember that since the time of Nikon's reform, since 1656, the official Orthodox Church considered those who were baptized with two fingers to be heretics and not only did not allow them to build anything, but simply cruelly persecuted them. So Kovylin, one might say, managed to accomplish the impossible.

Here, in fact, a small digression into the old belief is needed. The fact is that there are a great many types and subspecies of the old faith, and the Old Believers of different communities are so different that, apart from double-fingering, salting the procession of the cross, briefly writing the name of God - Jesus and prostrations, there are perhaps no common features. Well, just as there is little in common between Anglicans, Lutherans and Puritans (although they are all Protestants). Today we are talking about the Old Believers-bespopovtsy. Which, in turn, were also completely heterogeneous, and already at the end of the 17th century they were divided into three communities: large Fedoseevsky (how the Fedoseevites appeared and who Theodosius is can be read) and Pomeranian and still small Filipovskaya. The first two are connected with the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin" and the Preobrazhensky cemetery. Also, by the way, by no means agreeing with each other in everything, but still more similar than different, and closely related to each other. Who cares what the difference is, you can inquire here, we will not bore the rest with details. Unlike the less radical Old Believer communities, the Bespriests do not recognize baptism in the "Nikonian" official Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate at all. So the new converts are re-baptized. That is why they are bespopovtsy - they simply have nowhere to get priests. If some priest went to them, with a new baptism, his ordination to the priesthood was canceled. At the same time, they themselves could not ordain anyone - this requires a bishop. But somehow there were no schismatic bishops (it was a dangerous business, it could even come to a bonfire) ... Foreign bishops (including Greek ones, but even from Athos!), who had long since switched to triplets, Fedoseyevites and Pomeranians are for the Orthodox in principle does not consider Russian “Nikonians”, all the more so ... Less radical Old Believers, who did not require re-baptism, could afford to accept fugitive priests from Nikonians - this is how the priesthood was formed, which in turn also split into two directions over time. And the Fedoseyevtsy with Pomortsy - alas .... And there are no priests, which means that there are no sacraments (with the exception of two that are allowed to the laity out of need: baptism and confession). Including there is no marriage, since there is no one to marry. Fedoseyevtsy and Pomortsy for some time unanimously adhered to the so-called celibate consent.

Until the 80s of the 18th century, the Bespopovtsy lived like that. That is, for 100 years they did not give birth to children. For some time they did not care too much - Nikon's reform was perceived by them as a clear sign of the Apocalypse. The feeling of the coming end of the world was so real for the Old Believers that sometimes it even came to curiosities. We, however, have already talked about this in a note. In general, if the end of the world happens just about, what kind of children are there ... Well, the communities of Fedoseev and Pomortsy were reproduced solely through active preaching among the Orthodox, a considerable number of whom the Old Believers managed to convert to their own faith. An official of the Cabalers in 1851 wrote in a report to St. Petersburg: “<Староверы>they cunningly know how not only to notice people who are in a difficult situation of economic affairs, but also to involve in such a situation, especially those prone to a split, and then give them a way to get out of this situation, and even provide them for the future, donating significant money for this subject ” … Simply put, by converting to the old faith, a person could count on material assistance from the community, or on an interest-free loan to open or develop his own business. What many people with an entrepreneurial streak willingly used (and this is largely due to such a high concentration of Old Believers among Russian entrepreneurs of the 19th century). You ask: where did the community get such money from? From donations and wills (and who else to bequeath if there are no children?). The community initially included several wealthy merchants, and then capital by attracting to the community

more and more talented entrepreneurs only increased. By the middle of the 19th century, the total capital of the Fedoseev community exceeded 6 million rubles. In general, socio-economists are closely studying the phenomenon of increased business success of Protestants in Europe and Old Believers in Russia. There is a certain similarity in the economic sense between the Calvinists (also a kind of bespopovtsy) and our Old Believers. Both those and those are successful in business largely due to their special ethics. They have a special attitude to work: idleness is considered a sin, and any work (even a goldsmith, even a gravedigger, even a doctor) is equally honorable. Waste is also a sin. The industrialist lives a little richer than his workers, because he cannot afford sinful luxury on the eve of the Last Judgment. And, therefore, he does not spend what he earns in vain, he puts everything into action. The Old Believers do not have this eternal as to acquisitiveness, something not quite worthy. It is not a shame to earn, to acquire capital for them. This is not money-grubbing, but a charitable deed, because the whole community lives on what you earn and is saved from the sinful world that has surrendered to the Antichrist.

This is how Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin earned money not for the sake of personal enrichment, but for his Preobrazhenskaya community of Fedoseevites. And as a result - the creation of a real center of priestlessness - the Preobrazhensky cemetery. It all started with the plague of 1771. Kovylin took advantage of it as an excuse to obtain relief from the authorities from the eternal persecution of the community. With his community members, he undertook to treat those sick with the plague, for which quarantine was arranged. There, the patient was isolated and treated to the best of his ability (of course, the plague is not cured. But you can strengthen the patient's immunity, support his strength with proper care, and perhaps the body will cope on its own). But first of all, of course, they were introduced to their faith, that is, they were baptized. It is interesting that the Old Believers do not recognize "splash" baptism - only three times immersion in water with the top of their head. For this purpose, Khapilovsky Pond was used in Preobrazhensky. And the case, by the way, took place in late autumn and early winter. The water in the pond - you can imagine what it is. So there were many cases that patients after this ice bath were on the mend. Which, however, does not contradict medical science - after all, shock kills some, and stimulates immunity for others ... Well, if the patient did die, the Old Believers buried him and buried him (no one else bothered with such things - there were too many deaths for this, an epidemic claimed about 100 thousand lives, that is, half of the then population of Moscow). For this, they were allowed to build the Transfiguration Cemetery and a chapel attached to it. The Fedoseyevites were not afraid of getting infected - what can scare people at all in anticipation of the imminent end of the world?

Here, of course, we must pay tribute to the philanthropy of the then authorities. Between the options “let them die and lie down in the ground inveterate, so long as they do not go over to the forbidden old faith” and “let them cross, maybe they will survive, or at least receive a Christian burial,” Count Grigory Orlov chose the second (about how Grigory Grigoryevich was sent from St. Petersburg to fight the Moscow plague and how cleverly he ordered, we tell on our excursion). Be that as it may, Kovylin's calculation was a success. A good deed for the city - plague quarantine - became its pass to the right people. Ilya Alekseevich did not skimp either on generous dinner parties or on gifts to influential people. And in the end he managed to get an appointment with Mother Catherine herself. After all, he planned to build a whole complex at the Preobrazhensky cemetery - an almshouse for the Old Believers-Fedoseyevites: a male and female monastery for the poor or simply wishing to live a righteous life, strictly speaking, not a monastery, but an institution with a monastic strict charter ... With two large churches - on the women's and men's yard. Well, that is the same Preobrazhensky "Kremlin". It was still necessary to manage to get permission for this. And… the empress didn’t exactly allow… She, let’s say, didn’t forbid. That is, she simply remained silent in response to the question: is it possible. And that was enough. Kovylin built all this at his own expense. Well, I bought the Lion's Gate at the same time ...

The “Kremlin” began to be called the Transfiguration Convent for the impregnability of the walls. It was built by the architect Fyodor Sokolov (who, by the way, designed the arsenal building in the Moscow Kremlin). Which was clearly influenced by Vasily Bazhenov with his fabulous "pseudo-Gothic" pavilions of Tsaritsyn ...

One can also speak of the almshouse of the Old Believers in Preobrazhensky as a monastery. Although the inhabitants did not accept tonsure. But after all, they did not need to take tonsure, the Fedoseyevites lived celibately anyway. Here is how a royal official sent to investigate describes the order in their monastery: (leather devices for counting prayers, originally used in Russia, but later replaced by the Orthodox with a rosary, and the Old Believers, of course, left in their original form - Approx. SDG). Men who were seen drunk were subjected to bows, and women were put on a hairy shirt and tied with an iron chain.

Kovylin's activities greatly spurred the growth of the community. By the end of his life, there were already about 10 thousand parishioners of the Preobrazhensky cemetery ... Which, however, was greatly facilitated by permission for marriage and childbearing, which in the end was received by the Bespopov Pomortsy community living in Preobrazhensky next to the Fedoseyevites from their spiritual mentors in the 90s of the XVIII century . True, Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin himself was an implacable fighter against this innovation and did not allow the Fedoseev community to follow the disastrous path of childbearing. But, as soon as the two almost kindred communities parted on the issue of marriage, those Fedoseevites who could not bear celibacy began to actively move into Pomortsy. This is exactly what the glorious representative of the Morozov dynasty, Elisey Savvich, did. At the same time, he did not lose ties with the Fedoseev community of the Preobrazhensky cemetery, and as a result, he rested on it. No matter how fanatical his faith was (about his amazing focus on the Antichrist we), he still did not agree with the monastic life. At the same time, there were also Pomortsy (often elderly), dissatisfied with the innovations and leaving for Fedoseyevtsy. Between transitions back and forth, children were born, communities grew ...

By the way, it was also not easy for the Moscow Pomeranians to get permission to marry from their spiritual shepherds, who lived in the harsh, northern Vygovsky monastery. But here the same newly converted merchants played a role. Not only is the cross of celibacy heavy in itself, but not everyone wanted to leave the earned and accumulated property to the community, private property presupposes heirs. Again, the end of the world was clearly dragging on, and it became impossible to turn a blind eye to the problem any longer! We agreed as follows: even though marriage, as an obvious sacrament, is impossible, there is no one to marry the spouses. But there may be invisible, spiritual mysteries! Nothing is impossible for God. A rite was developed for marriage: parents blessed the young with icons in the church, mentors of the community read the appropriate prayers ... In the end, these same mentors (not priests, but “simple people” respected by the community) perform baptism, accept confessions, bury the dead ... Well and the conclusion of marriage was included in their competence. At the same time, the Vygov elders did not tire of reminding that, whatever one may say, the true truth and grace are still in a celibate life. And only out of indulgence for human weakness did they generally agree to this, that's all ... Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin did not want to show indulgence. Since then, the communities have finally divided, and the Pomeranians had to look for another place for themselves ...

The authorities, of course, still looked with disapproval at everything that happened around the Preobrazhensky cemetery. But the degree of this disapproval was different and depended on the character of the crowned bearer. The worst of all for the Old Believers was under Nicholas I, who did not tolerate free-thinking, including in matters of faith. His first decrees aimed at fighting schismatics (for example, the decree of 1826 on the destruction of all prayer houses founded ten or more years before the decree was issued), the Fedoseyevites managed to paralyze with bribes. But in the 1940s, the Preobrazhensky Men's Court was nevertheless taken away from them in favor of the Edinoverie church. By the way, it was then that the altar part was attached to the Nikolo-Assumption Church - initially there was no apse and could not be, because there are no priests - there is no need for an altar. So, strictly speaking, the Bespopovites never built churches - only chapels, just sometimes - quite large.

Well, what about the Fedoseyev community members evicted from the men's yard - they simply moved to the women's yard to the community women, occupying a separate building. Years passed, and the Moscow Fedoseyevites were more and more inclined to believe that the Pomortsy were right about something. For those who married in one way or another, concessions were made: they were no longer expelled from the community and from the temple, now they were allowed to pray together with everyone, but only silently, to themselves and without the sign of the cross ... Which, however, caused a tough condemnation from other Fedoseevsky communities - for example, Kazan. (In general, probably no other human community can find as many fundamental reasons for disagreement as the Russian Old Believers do...) But then a revolution happened, and the Old Believers were not up to strife and disputes. The persecution of faith that unfolded in the first years of Soviet power affected everyone: Orthodox, priests, non-priests ... The militant atheists did not understand these subtleties. And they took away from the Old Believers all the residential and utility rooms of the Transfiguration Convent, except for the Exaltation of the Cross Church of the Women's Yard. Everything else was given over to refugees from the starving provinces.

But the men's yard suffered especially: for some reason, the bell tower was demolished there (later it was restored) and most of the wall, and the liberated territory was not even really built up with anything. It’s good that the temples were not demolished, somehow the hands, apparently, did not reach. Well, in 1932, the collective farm market was transferred from Sukharevskaya Square to the site formed between the walls of the women's and the remains of the men's courtyard. (By the way, the Preobrazhensky market is still operating, and there is a very good selection of seasonal vegetables and fruits).

At the same time, what was left of the Men's Court was divided in half: having taken away half from fellow believers, this time they gave it to the Renovationists. And when Stalin changed his attitude towards the Orthodox Church during the war and abolished the Renovationists, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. And half in the 30s was offered to be occupied by the Pomeranians, who had just been taken away from their own shrine and spiritual center - a church of marvelous beauty in Tokmakov Lane (). So the Fedoseevites and the Pomorians again found themselves in the neighborhood: some in the women's courtyard of the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin", others in the men's. Time did not contribute to strife - it was necessary to survive. Well, from the end of the 80s, the state began to gradually return the buildings of the complex to them, and life in the Preobrazhensky "Kremlin" improved. As a result, the communities live very amicably. Those who need to get married go into Pomeranian harmony and make up the parish of the Nikolo-Assumption Church. The elderly and the lonely often prefer to join the Fedoseyevites: to stay at the same time to live in the world, at home (and go to services in the Holy Cross Church), or to settle in one of the cells of the monastery, which again operates in the women's courtyard (and again there is a building for men, and there is for women) - it's like anyone. It happens that mentors also move from Pomortsy to Fedoseevtsy, and this does not cause contention or condemnation. These two communities are now like communicating vessels. In the end, not all the Old Believers only split up and quarrel among themselves ...

Now it is difficult for a stranger to enter the women's yard, behind the wall. Still, there is a monastery with a strict monastic charter. But in the men's yard - you can. And they will even let you into the Nikolo-Assumption Church. The main thing is to be properly dressed, not to be baptized there with three fingers, inside the temple without special permission not to take pictures and in no case touch anything. And, you know, I would not neglect such an opportunity! Firstly, there is an incredible collection of ancient icons (any museum will envy). And secondly, Fedor Sokolov is an excellent architect. And through the round windows, such a clear, such a clearly defined, such a powerful stream of light penetrates inside that it is a pleasure to look at.

At the same time, in the western half of the men's courtyard and in the vestibule of the Nikolo-Assumption Church, the Orthodox of the official ROC remained. Inside the temple is partitioned off, the entrances of the confessions are different. And it cannot be said that they get along peacefully and without problems (well, this extremely confusing story cannot have a simple ending!). In any case, the author of these lines, who dropped in to the Old Believers to talk and buy some research literature (on the basis of which all this was eventually written), was resolutely attacked by an Orthodox parishioner, who stood in the way and tried to physically not let the heretics-bespriests. That is, passions are still boiling, as if three and a half centuries have not passed since the time of Nikon ... Well, or something, help us all, God ...

And finally, a few more photos. Just take a look.

P.S. About the dynasty of merchants-Old Believers Nosovs of the same community of the Preobrazhensky cemetery - on ours.

Until most of the wall was demolished and everything around was built up, the “Kremlin” looked even more spectacular. Photo from www.pastvu.com

The cultural and pilgrimage center named after Archpriest Avvakum organizes a local history walking tour on the topic: “MOSCOW TRANSFORMATION OF THE OLD BELIEVERS MONASTERY” Duration of the tour: 3 hours. Route: the monument to S. Bukhvostov - the territory of the Men's Court - the Preobrazhensky Necropolis - the territory of the Women's Court. The tour is conducted by the Old Believer Pomorets Podstrigich Alexander Vsevolodovich.

02 Preobrazhenskoye is a unique historical corner of Moscow, one of the main historical milestones of which, starting from 1771, is closely connected with the emergence here of the center of the Old Believers-bezpriests of the Fedoseevsky consent. The foundation of the Moscow community was laid in 1771, at a time when the plague was raging in Moscow. On September 14, 1771, at the request of the merchants Fyodor Anisovich Zenkov, who kept a cloth factory, and Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, who had brick factories on the outskirts of Moscow, quarantine was established in Preobrazhensky to care for the sick, and the dead were buried in the cemetery here. The originally formed quarantine was called the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery (by the Decree of Catherine II it was forbidden to bury the dead from the plague in the Moscow city limits). Gradually, the center grew more and more, attracting merchants who, often, being from the people's environment, were drawn to the people's church. Already at an early stage in the history of the Preobrazhensky cemetery, it was headed by prominent and active entrepreneurs of that time, such as I. Kovylin. Later, by the accession to the throne of Alexander I, the names of wealthy Fedoseyevites were known throughout Moscow: Zenkov, Kovylin, Shalaputin, Grachev, Sokolov, Bolshov and others.

03 At the beginning of the 19th century, the community property was divided into two parts - the men's and women's yard. The men's courtyard with the Assumption and Holy Cross churches (chapels) was expanded and surrounded by a jagged stone wall with hipped towers. A strict monastic charter operated on the male and female halves. In fact, two monasteries appeared here. The architectural ensemble of the Transfiguration Monastery took shape over 27 years - from 1784 to 1811, when the stone Holy Cross Chapel was erected in the women's courtyard. Chapels, as well as almshouses with prayer rooms in the women's courtyard, were built by the talented architect Fyodor Kirillovich Sokolov (1760-1824).

04 On May 15, 1809, Alexander I by his decree approved the plan for the establishment of the “Preobrazhensky Almshouse” and ordered it to continue to be officially called it, endowing it with the rights of a private charitable institution. By that time, more than 1,500 people lived in the community, and the number of parishioners exceeded 10,000; up to 200 young children were placed in the children's ward. The new charitable organization was given the right to self-management, unaccountable management of its capital, including the development of trade commerce.

05 In August 1812, before the French army entered Moscow, about 300 wagons loaded with valuables and important documents, ancient icons and books left the Preobrazhensky almshouse for the village of Ivanovo in the Vladimir province. More than 200 girls and young women, the inhabitants of the monastery, were sent there. Many of the men who lived in the monastery dispersed, leaving only the sick and the elderly. Prayers were closed, and services were performed only in a large chamber in the Men's Courtyard.

06 In the post-war period, the economic life of the community revives. By the 1830s, 32 large and 120 small factories for the production of woolen, cloth, silk and paper products were associated with the community. So, F.A. Guchkov owned the largest factory in Moscow at that time. To understand the role of the Preobrazhensky Almshouse, it is appropriate to quote the words of the Minister of Finance Ivan Alekseevich Vyshnegradsky: “Our Christ-loving Old Believers-Preobrazhensky are a great force in Russian trade and factory business, they founded and brought our domestic factory industry to its fullest perfection and flourishing state.”
During the reign of Nicholas I and Alexander II, the times of cruel repression against the Old Believers returned.

07 In the 1840s, a real threat of ruin and even complete destruction loomed over the Transfiguration Monastery. In this situation, the Fedosevites are planning to prepare for the establishment of a monastery in a safe place abroad (in Prussia), where they could move the Moscow center of priestlessness and its shrines. This is how the bezpopovsky Voinovsky monastery appeared (now near the town of Voinovo in Poland). However, circumstances later changed for the better and the plan was abandoned. The buildings of the Voinovsky monastery still remain, and there is now an Orthodox female monastery of the Fedoseevites.

08 In 1854, the Assumption Church and the Exaltation of the Cross Gate Chapel were taken away from the Fedoseyevites and transferred to fellow believers. More than one and a half thousand ancient wooden icons collected by the Old Believers also went to fellow believers. The entire territory of the men's yard with all the buildings and property was finally taken away from the Old Believers, and in 1866 the dominant church opened the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery on this territory, the main purpose of which was to fight the Old Believers. Prizrevaemye on the territory of the men's yard are transferred to the buildings of the women's yard.

09 The period of 1905 - 1917 - the period of gaining real religious freedom by the Old Believers. During this period, the community manages to do a lot. Spiritual and economic life revives. A school for boys and girls is opened, a printing house and an icon-painting workshop are being created. In 1912 according to the project of the architect L. N. Kekushev, a hospital with 75 beds is being built, equipped with modern medical equipment, which during the First World War, by decision of the Fedoseyevites, was provided for the treatment of wounded front-line soldiers. The First World War and the revolution that broke out in 1917 prevented the implementation of many of the plans of the Fedoseyevites.

10 In 1923, the St. Nicholas Monastery was closed and the authorities handed over the Assumption Church to the Renovationists (schismatic reformers within the dominant Church). In the 1930s, the authorities closed the temple of the Pomeranian Old Believers in Tokmakov Lane, and the community was asked to occupy part of the Assumption Church.

11 In the 1940s, the church parish of the Renovationists, who occupied the Nikolsky Limit, ceased to exist and the community of the Moscow Patriarchate took its place.

12 During the years of Soviet power, all the remaining almshouses with prayer rooms were taken away from the Fedoseyevites, with the exception of the Exaltation of the Cross Church. In the eastern part of the taken territory in the 1930s, the authorities set up an agricultural market, which still exists today.

13 In the 1990s, part of the buildings were returned to the Fedoseyevites, which were repaired by the community. At present, on the territory of the former Transfiguration Monastery there are communities of the Fedoseevsky consent, Pomeranian Old Believers and the parish of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the third part, we will talk about the Old Believer churches of other accords. In the first and second parts, I talked about the temples of the Belokrinitsky consent, the largest among the Old Believers. Their spiritual center on Rogozhskaya was founded in 1771 in connection with the plague. In the same year, and for the same reason, the Preobrazhenskaya community of the Fedoseyevites arose. A special role was played by one of the courtyard people of the princes Golitsyn, the merchant Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, who organized the almshouse and sponsored large-scale construction. And since Kovylin was a Fedoseevite (one of the largest denominations of priestlessness), the Preobrazhensky community became the center of this denomination, and indeed of priestlessness in general, in Russia. In 1784-1811, according to the project of the architect F. K. Sokolov (at the expense and under the direction of the merchant Kovylin), a large complex of buildings (which included the male and female monasteries) was built in imitation of the Vygoretskaya desert.


Fedoseevsky Monastery, later St. Nicholas Edinoverie

In the cemetery and around it, Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin gradually built houses, shops, factories and chapels. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were about 10,000 parishioners here. And in the surrounding shelters, there were up to 1,500 people. Thus, the community became the largest charitable institution in Moscow.
“In order to limit the activities of schismatics,” at the direction of Emperor Nicholas I, on April 3, 1854, the Assumption Church was transferred to fellow believers (that is, Old Believers who recognize the power of the Moscow Patriarchate). In 1866, the men's yard was moved to the women's, where the Old Believer community was preserved, and the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery was opened on the territory of the former men's yard. At the Preobrazhensky cemetery there was a rich library of writings about the schism, collected by the merchant A. I. Khludov; ancient icons were kept (including 1300 icons collected by E. E. Egorov), works of ancient Russian art. In 1920, all the Fedoseevsky chapels, except for the Exaltation of the Cross, were closed, those who were being looked after were evicted. In the early 1920s St. Nicholas Convent closed. Khludov's library and part of Yegorov's collection were transferred to the State Historical Museum, ancient icons were also transferred to the Historical Museum, from where some of them later ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and a small amount in the Kolomenskoye Museum. In the 1920s a labor school was opened in the building of the former monastery school and in the cells of the monastery, and later various institutions were located, for example, the hostel of the Radio plant.
The entrance to the monastery is through the Exaltation of the Cross gate church, rebuilt in 1854 (the cupolas were built on) from an Old Believer prayer house (that is, a prayer house) built in 1801.

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Opposite the Exaltation of the Cross Gate is the oldest church of the Transfiguration community: St. Nicholas Church of the Assumption. The temple was built in 1784, and originally bore the dedication of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was reconsecrated into the St. Nicholas Church in 1854, at the same time it was rebuilt, including an apse that was unnecessary for the bespriests. V.I. Bazhenov was supposedly considered the architect of the cathedral before, but according to the latest, most reliable searches, the project was F.K. Sokolova. Now in the building of the church there are two churches of different confessions, separated by a blank wall: the Nikolskaya Church of the New Believers in the western part, and in the eastern part, the Assumption Pomeranian. Actually, an unprecedented case!

Old Believer (Pomorskaya) Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and St. Nicholas Church

Eastern, Old Believer part of the temple

The bell tower, built already under fellow believers, in the 1870s - although it is designed in the same style with the original buildings, it differs slightly from them:
Initially, not a single temple of the Transfiguration community was called a "church" - there were either prayer rooms or chapels. The Assumption Chapel became a church, apparently, only under fellow believers, having received an apse, and then this name spread throughout the community.
After the Great Patriotic War, Preobrazhenskoye became the de facto center of all Russian priestlessness, there were spiritual centers of three concords - Stary Pomor (Fedoseevsky), Marriage Pomor (DPTs) and Filippov.
The Transfiguration Cemetery next to the monastery for a long time was exclusively Old Believer. There are many merchant graves in the cemetery. During the Great Patriotic War, active civilian burials began. There are more than 10 thousand soldiers and commanders of the Red Army on the military site of the grave.

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker "On the Nine Crosses" at the Transfiguration Cemetery

Old Believer (Fedoseevskaya) Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Transfiguration Cemetery

One more tomb Fedoseevskaya chapel at the Transfiguration cemetery

Fifty meters north of the Nikolsky Monastery, is located Preobrazhensky Old Believer (Fedoseevsky) almshouse. In the usual sense, this is a monastery. Now it is called the pilgrimage center of the Old Believers-Pomortsy named after Archpriest Avvakum. The architectural ensemble of this part has been preserved almost unchanged since the time of construction, and the female part itself was more extensive and orderly. Now all of it belongs to the Fedoseevites - the second in time of occurrence (1706) and the largest current of priestlessness, which broke away from the Pomeranians because they collaborated with the "power of the Antichrist" - for example, they prayed for the tsar. Fedoseevtsy (or Old Pomortsy) is a more radical wing, they retained only 2 Orthodox rites (Baptism and Repentance), rejected marriage, and their principled position is the rejection of any existing power.

Exaltation Cathedral

Prayer of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Prayer Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos

Prayer of the All-Merciful Savior

Prayer of the Prophet Elijah

In addition to the Preobrazhensky cemetery, there are several other Old Believer sites in Moscow that I did not talk about in the first two parts. ABOUT Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Zamoskvorechye already discussed in the second part. It was consecrated on September 26, 1910 as Belokrinitsky. Closed in the 20s. And in 1990, the temple was transferred to another sense of the Old Believers - the Old Orthodox Church (DOC).

The first Old Believer church of the Pomor community, built immediately after the release of the tsar's manifesto on religious tolerance in 1905. The idea of ​​building the temple belonged to longtime and close employees of V.E. Morozov and his sons: I.K. sons”, as well as I. I. Anufriev, a member of the board of the partnership. Built in 1907-1908. in the ancient Pskov style with the introduction of features of Pomeranian architecture, which was expressed not only in the absence of an altar, but also in the severity and modesty of architectural forms and interior. On the pediment of the belfry were placed the figures of two angels supporting the icon of the Savior (not preserved). In 1930 the temple was closed. It housed a children's theater, a library, a factory ... Since the 1960s. the church was occupied by the shop of the clothing factory "Cosmos". An active restoration is currently underway.

Photo taken in 1991 (by aj1972)

In the former transformer house Fedoseevskaya Prayer Room on Semyonovskaya

And now a little about the buildings in which there were Old Believer churches or prayer houses.
Whoever drove along Baumanskaya Street could not help but pay attention to what was left of the bell tower of the former Old Believer Church of Catherine the Great Martyr. It was located in the house of the merchant of the 2nd guild I.I. Karasev since 1872, on the second floor. In 1915, according to the project of N.N. Blagoveshchensky, the same detached bell tower was built. The church belonged to the Nikolsko-Rogozhskaya Old Believer community (the so-called "Beglopopovskaya"). It is believed that the upper part of the bell tower is a miniature copy of the bell tower at the Rogozhsky cemetery. In 1979, the house of Karasev, where the church of St. Catherine was located, was demolished, but the bell tower was preserved.

Not far from the Kursk railway station, in Podsosensky lane, house 21, building 3 Old Believer (Pomeranian) prayer house in Morozov's house

In Zamoskvorechye, on Bakhrushina, in a building now furnished and arranged in it as a cinema, in the former house of Lubkova, there was Domovaya Old Believer (DPC) Kazan Church

Above, I mentioned co-religionists. Edinoverie cannot literally be called old faith. Although they recognize the ancient liturgical rites (two-fingered service, service according to old printed books, etc.) and everyday life, BUT they also recognize the hierarchical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Nevertheless, I will tell you about their Moscow churches.
I spoke about the Nikolsky Edinoverie Monastery above. I will tell you about three more temples.
On Taganskaya street, scrap 20a is located Edinoverie Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on Studenets. It was built as a "New Believer" building in the center of Semyonovskaya Sloboda in 1672-1673. (according to other sources 1699-1702) on the site of the temple of the XVI century. Rebuilt in 1712 (architect O. Startsev). The temple was closed in the 1920s. It has been destroyed and remodeled. Here was a factory dormitory. In 1965, they were going to destroy the church, but this was avoided thanks to numerous public protests. In 1966-1969 restoration was carried out. The church was returned to believers in 1992. It was re-consecrated in 1996 as the center of the Moscow community of the same faith.

In Lefortovo, on Samokatnaya, two large churches stand side by side. Trinity and Vvedenskaya churches. They were built, and until the 1930s of the last century they were of the same faith. In the 1990s, they were transferred to the "New Believer" community for restoration. Edinoverie Church of the Life-Giving Trinity near the Saltykov Bridge was built in 1817-1819. like a summer temple. A little later, in 1829, a winter (warm) temple of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos was erected next to it. The church belonged to the Trinity-Vvedenskaya (Newly Blessed) Old Believer community. In 1931, the church was closed. The building of the temple was successively occupied for housing, a warehouse, premises of a scientific institute, and a production workshop. Divine services were resumed in 1992.
, was located not far from the Rogozhskaya outpost, on the Vladimir highway (now the Enthusiasts highway, the territory of the Hammer and Sickle plant). It was founded at the Newly Blessed Edinoverie cemetery in 1862 in memory of the liberation of peasants from serfdom. It was finally arranged in 1866. In 1922 the monastery was closed. The territory was included in the Hammer and Sickle factory (the former Guzhon factory), the temples were broken in 1934. The only surviving building was founded in 1873 Nicholas Church(Shosse Entuziastov, 7).

Currently mutilated and devoid of signs of the temple. It is located at the intersection of the Third Transport Ring and the Highway of Enthusiasts. Nikolskaya Church was privatized in the early 1990s and is used as an office building.