The guest of the “Bright Evening” program was the vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia, Mikhail Yakushev.
Our guest spoke about the history of the creation and activities of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia, as well as about ongoing programs for the delivery of great Christian shrines to Russia, Holy Fire from Jerusalem and about organizing a live broadcast Easter service from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Presenter: Liza Gorskaya
L. Gorskaya
The program “Bright Evening” is broadcast on radio “Vera”, in the studio of Liza Gorskaya. Today our guest is Mikhail Yakushev, candidate historical sciences and first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. Hello, Mikhail!
Hello!
Our dossier:
Mikhail Yakushev is an orientalist historian, candidate of historical sciences, full member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. The St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation was founded in 1992, its projects and programs are focused on a single goal - the preservation Orthodox faith. Over the 22 years of its existence, the Foundation has organized many large church and social events, in which millions of people took part. This and religious processions, and bringing great Christian shrines to Russia.
L. Gorskaya
Mikhail Ilyich, let’s first tell our radio listeners about your Foundation, what it does, and why it is needed.
The Foundation of the All-Praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called was created in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union with the goal of strengthening and restoring spiritual traditions Russian society. And in 2002, on the basis of this organization, another organization was created called the “Center of National Glory”, which in its charter stated “strengthening state foundations Russian Federation“, that is, there are both spiritual and state ones here. And both of these organizations exist both as one whole and sometimes act separately. But in principle, they have the same leadership, the President of the Foundation is Mikhail Yuryevich Baidakov, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees - this is the highest body of our two organizations - is Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin. It must be said that the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation is much more famous than the Center of National Glory, although in terms of the number of people working in the Center more people, but the programs that the Foundation implements are on everyone’s lips, as it were, and television regularly covers these programs. L. Gorskaya
Which for example?
First of all, the annual program “Pray for Peace in Jerusalem”, which began in 2003, is a prayer for the Holy Land, in Jerusalem, with the presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Jerusalem and all Palestine, together with the delegation of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. And the bringing of the Holy Fire to Russia with its further spread throughout the Russian dioceses Orthodox Church.
L. Gorskaya
Is this what you do?
This is what we do directly. I am the head of the working group of this program. You know, when I worked and served as a diplomat in the Holy Land from 1994 to 1999, when you are present at divine services or at the Holy Fire ceremony, your diplomatic status gives you the opportunity to stand more calmly than when you come there as part of a pilgrimage delegations. And every year, especially in 2003, if you remember - then the first live broadcast of the ceremony taking place in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem began - and every year this topic began to interest not only the Orthodox community, but also interested the Armenians... in Armenia, in Georgia... Christians became interested in this topic.
L. Gorskaya
TV broadcast exactly?
The theme is exactly what is happening...
L. Gorskaya
And, by the toe itself.
Yes. What's happening in Holy Saturday. And the number of delegations from these countries, and from America, and from other countries is very large... The temple, which can accommodate a little more than 10 thousand people, is already so crowded that it is impossible to walk there, if you take a place, you stand and stand - small passages for the police, for the clergy. Therefore, on the one hand, it seems that we did a good deed when we introduced the Orthodox public in Russia and are still introducing them to what is happening in the Holy Land. L. Gorskaya
On the other hand, you can’t just look at it anymore.
On the other hand, we created this excitement, which is now forcing us to change the canons. The canons that said that if you took a place in the temple, the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, at night, then in the morning you are already a full-fledged holder there, the owner, no one will drive you away.
L. Gorskaya
Can they drive us away now?
Now the Israeli police, in my opinion, over the past 6-7 years, have been completely clearing the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the morning. In order to then begin the organized entry of delegations, which pass through special passes issued with the blessing of the Patriarchate - the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, the Armenian Apostolic Church, other faiths that are present there; in order to attend this main ceremony. Catholics have their own ceremony, since our Easters have been on the calendar since 1581, “thanks to” Pope Gregory such a new one was created church calendar, according to which almost the majority now serve Christian churches, But...
L. Gorskaya
Known as "Gregorian".
Yes Yes. Gregory XIII, in my opinion, was this Pope. But here is the Russian Orthodox Church and the Jerusalem, Athos, Georgian and...
L. Gorskaya
Bulgarians?
No, they've moved on. In my opinion, the Serbian Orthodox Church remained in the positions of the traditional old Orthodox or Eastern calendar. In general, now this is a whole military operation: to enter the temple, to be present - standing for about four hours takes place; and then leave the church, crowded with people, and have time to board buses with the Holy Fire, fly to Moscow, hand it over to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', and still remain, so to speak, safe and sound.
L. Gorskaya
And we get it here!
C God's help! Because, you know, 2-3 working trips need to be made from the beginning of the year in order to agree on everything, to be understood correctly and to receive the necessary help. But every year, when we come again, all these agreements often do not work, because some metaphysical circumstances intervene and interfere with the fulfillment of what was agreed. But in a providential way, in the end everything returns to normal, in the end we find ourselves in this hall, however, with great, very great temptations, and with the same temptations we return here, to Russia, to Moscow, where particles are already waiting in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior fire for transmission.
L. Gorskaya
How do you return? On a special military plane?
No, no, the plane is normal, civilian. But we are in a hurry, we want to arrive as quickly as possible. And since the speed is limited, about 850 kilometers per hour, and we need 900, sometimes no less, there was a case when the pilots said: “Give us a lamp with fire,” a vacuum flask in which the Olympic flame they carry it, - “and we will put it on our plinth, on our panel.” And we saw that when we installed this lamp, we reached a speed of 900 kilometers per hour. I don’t know what they flooded there. But the miracles do not end, and we arrive in Moscow; Chairman of the Board of Trustees Vladimir Yakunin gives an interview with the blessed Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', bishop or archbishop, metropolitan, and suddenly this group of the first cars leaves for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, with the help of the traffic police, “green wave”. But when we bring fire home, to our churches, if before we were the first to bring it, now people are so quickly - masses of thousands of people meet us at the airport, there is such a crush, in a good way this word - they are already quickly arriving in the places where we come, and we are far from the first. What does this mean? Of course, this tradition, not canonical, which was not written down anywhere, has now become traditional in the Russian Orthodox Church. And often Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' likes to joke: “Wow, the non-canonical, so to speak, tradition has already become a good tradition.” Therefore, God willing, this tradition will continue.
L. Gorskaya
Tell us in more detail how convergence occurs. You said something casually about something you just can’t see. At least the atmosphere can probably be conveyed?
You know, when this number already goes beyond 15, you understand that each time the mystery of convergence happens in its own way. And everyone’s feelings are different. For those who attend this for the first time, it is, of course, mostly disbelief: “well, this can’t happen, it’s obviously something that was set up.” Moreover, in some notes, including those of our priests, and Porfiry Uspensky wrote in his diaries that the Greeks were chemicalizing something there, and, in general, was skeptical about this. But when you are present and waiting, you are overcome with such a feeling of excitement, trepidation, even fear. But when the fire goes down, it’s not even just joy, it can be compared to a state of euphoria, that is, joy overwhelms, and people begin to run an open flame over their face, hair, and beard.
L. Gorskaya
Is it really true that nothing is burning?
Well, at least it doesn’t light up in the first seconds. Although I wouldn’t recommend getting carried away with this, because those who get carried away can sometimes set something on fire for themselves.
L. Gorskaya
Don't tempt God.
Yes. But euphoria, it is created right in the temple, you know, a feeling of celebration. And Easter has not yet begun in Russia, but everyone who is present in the church, they all come out delighted, people even have tears of joy, tenderness, you know? - tears flow, rejoice, smear them without hesitation. And these feelings are difficult to convey, because in our worship we do not experience such celebrations or such jubilation, because it is either not accepted among us... And many are surprised who are present there for the first time, in Jerusalem, standing in the cathedral, they they wonder why they are happy. There is jubilation, joy, noise, din. And with this joy we fly here. And the people who flew in from Jerusalem are very different - their eyes are sparkling, they smile, they are in a good mood. The cars we are driving drive when the light turns green, the traffic lights are all ours - the road is open. And you feel it, you wonder: “Wow, why is this?” But somewhere during the week of Bright Week, you yourself become bright. All the people who communicate with you say: “There is something about you!” Of course, there is, because that charge... I would even say not a charge, but the grace of God falls on you, and you begin to transfer it to people. And the more you convey it, the more of this grace you have. That is an amazing state of mind. This is what, I repeat, at our services... there is a different state - this is Easter, this is the Resurrection of Christ. Easter has not yet arrived for us, but we are already celebrating and saying “Christ is Risen!” with the first flames. But there is no need to understand this miracle and there is no need to dig into it. Because we were asked by scientists, including from Russia, physicists, to be part of the delegation and measure these...
L. Gorskaya
Glow?
Yes. Glows. But we refused because they did not receive blessings in the Jerusalem Church. And at their own peril and risk they did this for about two years...
L. Gorskaya
Underground?
Underground. But their results shocked the physicists themselves, and surprised the people of little faith. Because the volume of power of the splash when the fire converged was so powerful, as if there were power plants there. And they could not understand the nature of this fire. They just noted that something incomprehensible was happening - that is, it was impossible to strike a match and light the lamps. Because in the observations of pilgrims, even back in the Middle Ages, our pilgrims wrote that this happens, and this also happened to us, one member of our delegation testified: what came from the Edicule, the flame directly, you know, everyone lights up on the right honestly... .
L. Gorskaya
Is this a cuvuklia?
This is the chapel in which there is a grotto or tomb, the bed on which the body of Christ was laid. Saint Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, we remember them. Saint Joseph of Arimathea donated his tomb, the one he bought for himself, for the burial of Christ. And here the fire came from the right side and from the left side of the altar of the Catholicon of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church of the Greek Patriarchate, and converged simultaneously in the center, above the dome in the Church of the Resurrection, which is called the “Navel of the Earth.”
L. Gorskaya
That's where he is - the Navel of the Earth!
Yes, the Navel of the Earth! My friends saw when the candles lit up for someone standing in the distance, who stood and looked at the Edicule when the Patriarch came out. And at that moment, when the Patriarch came out with lit candles, his candles, standing to the side, flared up. So he began to blow them out, because he needed to receive from the Patriarch the fire that would come from there. Although they say that it is a great grace when fire descends on the candles of those praying, and not necessarily monastics, these can also be secular persons.
L. Gorskaya
I remind our radio listeners that the “Bright Evening” program is on air and our guest is Mikhail Yakushev, candidate of historical sciences and first vice-president of the Andre the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia.
Michael, we understand who has been organizing the delivery of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem to us for every year.
Since 2003.
L. Gorskaya
For more than 10 years, last year there was an anniversary. What other projects does the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation have?
- “Ask for peace in Jerusalem” is, as I already said, an annual program. If you remember in 2003 there was a very famous program “Bringing the Foot of St. Andrew the First-Called from Athos.”
L. Gorskaya
Then we brought shrines: the right hand of John the Baptist in 2006 from Montenegro, Cetinje. There are three shrines there, which at one time were called “Palestinian”, then “Rhodes”, then “Maltese”, then “St. Petersburg”, and then Maria Feodorovna took them out after the revolution and handed them over to the Serbian king. And they were kept for a long time in the former Yugoslavia, during the occupation by Germany they were hidden, and then the honorable right hand of John the Baptist, together with part of the Honorable Tree of the Cross of the Lord, is kept in the Cetinje Monastery by Metropolitan Amfilohije. In Montenegro there is the city of Cetinje, which used to be the capital of Montenegro, there was even our embassy there, Russian Empire, in the era of imperial Russia, imperial. And the third shrine is the Vilna Icon Mother of God letters of the Apostle Luke, is kept separately in the Cetinje State Museum and is under state protection, and access to it is limited, it is under protective glass... These three shrines, they... The Order of John the Baptist or the Order of St. John the Baptist from Jerusalem, after the Crusaders were driven out of the Holy Land, Palestine, they settled in Rhodes. And after the Ottomans, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, captured the island of Rhodes by force in 1522, he allowed the knights, who showed their valor in the defense of their island, to take out by ship everything they considered necessary. And so they took these shrines and brought them to Malta. And when Napoleon in 1798 decided to seize Malta, the Russian Emperor Paul was chosen by the Order of St. John, the Order of Malta, which owned these three shrines, formerly Palestinian and Rhodes - the most pious monarch in Europe was considered, there was no better, more pious Paul.
L. Gorskaya
What are the parameters, excuse me?
In all respects! Paul the First was truly an Orthodox Christian, you still have to look for them.
L. Gorskaya
Europe. No, I understand. How did Europe evaluate it, by what criteria?
Evaluated not by affiliation Catholic Church or Orthodox, just like a Christian - observing fasts and...
L. Gorskaya
So this was known about him?
This was known, and this was in fact true. By the way, it was a surprise for me to learn that on the eve of the First World War the question of the canonization of Paul the First was seriously discussed in the Synod. Well, in our historiography, especially in Soviet, it was impossible to think about this. Therefore, this once again says that we must treat history more reverently and more deeply than using those clichés that were introduced to us in our historiography, especially in Soviet historiography, which denigrated, is trying to denigrate everything that happened in our Russian Empire. Although we are proud of the achievements and buildings, they were mainly created during the era of the Russian Empire. But these shrines we are talking about are now located, all three, in Montenegro. After the division, in my opinion, it was in 2006 - we then asked to transfer these shrines, in June 2006, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy - and then Serbia and Montenegro were separated. Based on these intentions, they largely tried to obstruct us in the transfer of this shrine, one of the three, because they believed that we were, as it were, trying to promote reunification or prevent this split. But this was already a decided matter, so we were not allowed to bring these shrines to Serbia, only from Podgorica, the current capital of Montenegro, to take them straight to Moscow. It must be said that there were also well-known programs - “Bringing particles of the relics of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky to Minsk and in the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church”, “Bringing the Belt” Holy Mother of God from Athos”, “Bringing the Honorable Cross of St. Andrew the First-Called from Patras” last year, as the main event of the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. You remember that then we brought the cross from Patras to St. Petersburg and then to Moscow, where, in the host of Patriarchs, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' delivered the cross to Kyiv by train, and from Kyiv the cross went... Yes, it was then installed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and all eight presidents Orthodox countries led by Putin and Yanukovych approached the cross and venerated themselves in the Lavra. And then the cross traveled to Minsk, and from there we transported it again, returned it to Patras, where it is kept to this day, in the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called. These are the programs that were most famous.
L. Gorskaya
Why is it so important, why are you doing it, and what is the point of it? Because, you know, there is a lot of debate about these queues: is it worth standing, is it worth taking a bite, or is it not worth it? For what?
You know, this question does not stand before us in the context in which you just asked it. Because now, in conditions of quite overhead, high costs when moving from city to city, from country to country, you understand that the inability of people to venerate the shrine is one problem. The second problem is that it happens, for example, that a particle of the relics of the saint whom we bring, and these are general Christian shrines, may be located not only somewhere in a Moscow church or St. Petersburg or somewhere else. But the very approach to the shrine - this awakening occurs in every consciousness of a person who feels the need, especially the belt of the Virgin Mary. What motivates these people? I can’t say, but people who did not feel churched suddenly wanted to get closer to the belt. And we have already noted many cases of both healing and conception, that is, women who had problems in this area, in family relationships, in such a miraculous way...
L. Gorskaya
Did you somehow record this?
Yes. I can say that we have a lot of friends who later told us, and it was joyful and gratifying. And even our leader, Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin, in his staff there are several girls, women who suffered in their wombs. They were so happy and grateful: “We would never have thought why this happened. It wasn’t, it wasn’t, but here...” And approaching the shrine in general is not necessary - that’s why this shrine is that. Although we did not officially declare the bringing of the belt of the Most Holy Theotokos as a goal. But it arose when our leader came to Athos, and he was told that when the Greeks take this shrine to the Greek islands, in general, miracles with childbearing happen there. And this prompted him to bring in the development of the “Sacredness of Motherhood” program - a program of our Center of National Glory and the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, which has already become an all-Russian program - in order to reverse the depressing situation for Russia in demographic terms.
L. Gorskaya
That is, the goal is practical?
You know, one of the goals, one of the goals. What do you think? If we look at the numbers, it will be a depressing dramatic situation for the fate of Russia in 20-30 years. And you and I will be in the same position. Firstly, not everyone will survive, but as for childbearing, we have very big problems here. And these problems, they are not solved by medications, they are solved by completely different circumstances. Look, if you say that the economic situation is depressing, inflation, housing conditions - we understand all this perfectly well. But here are the numbers, let’s say, on the eve of the First World War in the Ottoman Empire, in the Russian Empire - the number of children was approximately equal, 7, 8 children each.
L. Gorskaya
In family?
In the same family. Both Muslims and Christians have equal numbers. And now for Muslims the numbers remain the same, but for Christians there are 1-2 children in a family, both in the Middle East and here in Russia. What happened, why?
L. Gorskaya
What happened?
These are the questions for scientists, but we have our own question: why are we degenerating? And this is very sad. And it is very frightening, I think for all of us, in the context of what is happening, for example, in the East. Look, in Turkey, in Egypt they are already catching up, they will soon catch up with us, in Japan. We are on par with the Japanese. Can you imagine this tiny...
L. Gorskaya
Island country.
And what about China and India - what’s going on there. And why is this situation in our country? These questions, of course, are probably for scientists, for sociologists, for politicians who have only now begun to address this topic. I repeat, last year the Center for National Glory and the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation held an international forum dedicated to family values and large families. And how much dissatisfaction there was in the West about this, that those who came from the West, they, in general, had to represent not their organizations in which they belong, but only themselves. And they were intimidated and told: “Where are you going - Russia is under sanctions,” and, in general, it was clear that they were under serious pressure here. But when they arrived and saw what they were talking about here, how they were talking about it here, they said: “After all, we are the majority, but the only thing is those laws that are adopted here in the West, we did not vote for them.” And this is a problem that has already struck Western countries, while Asian countries are still holding out, but Russia also faces a choice, because these trends, same-sex marriages, are a very big social problem for our country.
L. Gorskaya
Let me remind you that the program “Bright Evening” is on air, our guest is Mikhail Yakushev, we’ll be back in a minute, don’t switch!
L. Gorskaya
And again the “Bright Evening” program is on air, in the studio with Liza Gorskaya and Mikhail Yakushev, candidate of historical sciences, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia.
Mikhail Ilyich, I know that exactly 10 years ago your foundation initiated a visit to Russia with the relics of the venerable martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
And the nuns Varvara. It must be said that at the beginning of 2004 the Foundation began, with the blessing His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, to the program of restoration of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. And he then asked Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin to organize a fundraiser and gather trustees for the restoration of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery for the 100th anniversary of its revival. The Martha and Mary Convent was created at her own expense by Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, widow of the Grand Duke, uncle of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, sibling Emperor Alexander III. Elizaveta Feodorovna was the sister of the wife of Emperor Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna. And then, when we were faced with this problem, how to restore the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, which needed major repairs.
L. Gorskaya
What happened to her then?
Then these were the workshops of Igor Grabar. The church itself and the territory of the church, it was largely cut down by nearby houses and was used for other purposes. That is, old, elderly people still remembered that it once was Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent, for many Moscow residents these were Grabar’s restoration workshops. And then the task was set by His Holiness the Patriarch to try to restore it. It must be said that 2 years before this, the British royal family held a charity concert in London with the participation of Gergiev and the leadership of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery of that time, and raised about half a million pounds sterling for the restoration of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. And this money was mainly used to restore the medical medical building. But this was extremely insufficient, and in 2004 a board of future trustees was assembled. But the basis for the restoration of the Martha and Mary monastery was the idea of trying to ask the Church Abroad, with which the Moscow Patriarchate did not then have prayerful and eucharistic communication, that is, diplomatic relations, in secular terms, to ask to bring these relics to Russia. They gave us at least a week, and that would have been enough. This letter was written by Vladimir Yakunin to the First Hierarch of the Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus. And there it was received with great enthusiasm. And they said: “A week is too short, a month is not enough. Let’s do it for six months!” In fact, for about seven months the holy relics of these two saints traveled throughout the dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate, on the initiative and with the organization directly of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. With the support, naturally, of the Russian Orthodox Church, because it was the first one at that time, we presented it as the first joint project of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad. With the assistance, they so modestly stepped aside, with the assistance of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation.
L. Gorskaya
First project in what period of time?
First joint project ever! Because... on the map we made the territory of the former Russian Empire, surrounded everything - from Iturup, where military personnel were baptized with the relics, and Magadan, and to China, except for Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
L. Gorskaya
That is, a full-fledged missionary trip.
Yes, sure! That's ten and a half million.
L. Gorskaya
We handed out small icons. And we counted according to the icons distributed. And, it must be said, that when people began to learn about the feat of Elizabeth Feodorovna, about her life, it made a powerful, unforgettable impression on all people. Because even in Azerbaijan, where the holy relics were solemnly greeted, both Muslims and Jews came, Tats, mountain Jews came down and came with their rabbi.
L. Gorskaya
And why?
But because the august person is a saint, and it doesn’t matter that she was a Christian. These are, after all, former subjects of the Russian Empire, and people still have historical memory, it is being revived, recovering from that amnesia. And people understand what a holy person means - by the feat of his death, a person showed his holiness.
L. Gorskaya
And with his life he showed his holiness.
Yes, both life and death. Because you can live boldly, but die ingloriously. And here she lived - a living person, a pious woman, a wife, a widow, the founder of the Martha and Mary Convent after the death of her husband, who forgave her husband’s murderer.
L. Gorskaya
This is amazing, it amazes me. I can't contain it. Forgive me, but with her own hands she collected pieces of the body of her husband, who died in a terrorist attack.
It's impossible to imagine!
L. Gorskaya
I can't imagine it. And then she went and asked to pardon the murderer, this terrorist who killed Prince Sergius.
Nicholas II did not pardon the murderer, Kalyaev. This is a Christian. In general, who reads about her... There are, I know, people, in England there is a society of friends of the Martha and Mary Convent, headed by Prince Charles, and there is one woman there who had a vision of Elizabeth Feodorovna, and she converted from an Anglican to Orthodox, and came here for the celebrations on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. And she just says that anyone who has become acquainted with the life of Elizaveta Fedorovna begins to look at life differently and relate to the memory of this woman, the feat of this woman. And we saw this by the number of people who came to venerate or venerate the relics of both Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and nun Varvara, who did not leave her friend and remained with her until the end of her days, until her death. I must say that at the end of July we brought the relics from Jerusalem to Moscow, and already in mid-August, at the Council of Bishops in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus'...
L. Gorskaya
Are we still in 2004?
Yes, we were back in 2004, back when the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate could not, did not have the right to pray in the same church if a priest of one or another Church came.
L. Gorskaya
And take communion.
Taking communion is even more difficult, even praying! And there was such a situation when Bishop Michael of Boston, who brought these relics on himself from America to us in Moscow, and then they went to Jerusalem; he carried these relics, and Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and All Belarus says: “Vladyka, let’s now change our clothes and serve.” And the representative of the Church Abroad, Vladyka Michael, reminded the Metropolitan of Belarus that they do not have the right to do this, since they have no communication. And this served as a signal for His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' to announce at this Council of Bishops the restoration of prayerful communication between representatives of the two Churches - the Foreign Church and the Moscow Patriarchate. I repeat, this is August 2004. In 2005, in February, we returned the relics of the Church Abroad, and on May 17, 2007, an act of canonical communion between the two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church was signed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. De jure the Church united with the Church Abroad, the Moscow Patriarchate. And since then we have been talking about a single Russian Orthodox Church. Although the property under the jurisdiction of the Church Abroad still remains with them.
Yes, it must be said that at the same time, in August 2004, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy withdrew all claims in international courts against the Church Abroad that the Moscow Patriarchate had. This was a very responsible, serious step aimed at restoring the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church. And then, already in 2007, on March 17, I repeat, in the presence of the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, this act on canonical communion was signed. And this was a signal for the restoration of the Russian world, which was split by the revolution of 17 and the Civil War.
And from there further steps followed to bring the Russian world closer together. A year later, exactly a year later, on May 17, 2008, the Center for National Glory, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation initiated the reconstruction of the memorial complex of the Russian army in Gallipoli and members of their families, who in 1920 left Crimea and went into dispersion through Turkey, creating the institution of Russian emigration of the first wave . And by recreating this memorial, it was a signal to the Russians abroad that we now need to restore not only church communion, but also social ties, reunite the Russian world, heal the wounds inflicted by the revolution of 17 and the Civil War.
L. Gorskaya
It turns out?
It turns out. In 2010, we organized a joint campaign with the Abroad from Tunisia, where the Russian fleet was scuttled, which departed from Sevastopol through Constantinople; Bizerte was the final destination of our fleet. From there, after praying at the cemetery of Russian sailors, through Malta, Lemnos, Gallipoli, Constantinople, we returned to Sevastopol, exactly on July 27, 2010, Russian Navy Day. A historically unprecedented campaign by the descendants of those who left Crimea and those “Reds” who consider themselves to be representatives of those who remained in Russia. In general, the “whites” and “reds” returned together to Sevastopol, which returned to Russia this year. Do you understand what the connections are? Russian world, Russian Orthodox Church, reunion. I can say that the Crimean War, we know that we celebrated two conferences in 2004 and 2006, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Crimean War and the 150th anniversary of its end. Now is the 161st anniversary, so many years have passed, but I can say, judging by what is happening now, the Crimean War did not end in 1856 at the Paris Peace Conference. Because what we see now can be attributed not to a hot war, but to a cold war for sure. Only a blind person could fail to see the connection with what happened more than a century and a half ago.
L. Gorskaya
Let me remind you that the program “Bright Evening” is on air, our guest is Mikhail Yakushev, candidate of historical sciences, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia.
Mikhail Ilyich, what has changed in the 10 years since you brought the relics of the Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the nun Varvara to Russia? When many people who came to worship often might not even know who these saints were or what their lives were like. What has changed since then?
If you come to the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery now, you will see many young women with children, they are walking there, relaxing, and it is gratifying to see that the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, restored in full, has healed new life. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' performed the consecration in a small rite, and after the death of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, Patriarch Kirill performed the great rite of consecration. And Patriarch Alexy said that this is the “pearl of Moscow” - the revived Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. Now it acts and influences even the people who come there. It’s very good there, it’s gratifying to be there. It must be said that the attitude has changed not only towards Elizaveta Fedorovna, but also towards the entire Romanov family. And the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov, and the exhibition organized by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) in Manezh, and now the exhibition dedicated to the Rurikovichs, says that we have changed our attitude towards Russian history, we started talking... Two years ago in Veliky Novgorod was organized by our Foundations and Moscow State University, together with St. Petersburg University, international conference, dedicated to the 1150th anniversary of Russian statehood. Moreover, it was officially called “Russian statehood,” but this is not entirely accurate. Russian statehood. And, speaking about Russian statehood, we are talking about what we also mean here is what is now called “Ukraine” - the former Little Russia and Southern Russia. And in this sense... Belarus is White Rus', White Russia; Great Russia and Little Russia. These celebrations once again reminded us that we are talking about the unity of Russian history, which began not in 1917 and not in 1991, as we heard. The attitude towards Elizaveta Fedorovna changed the attitude towards faith, people came to faith, saw what kind of person she was. Not a Russian person, not a drop of Russian blood, but she is perceived as Russian, she remained in Russia. When Mirbach, the German ambassador to Russia, asked her to leave Bolshevik Russia, she said: “I will stay with my people.” With your people! When she said: “I cannot accept help from a country at war with my Motherland.” The homeland was now not the German Empire, but Russia. And now, when we were in Darmstadt, which was important, we saw how the local population does not very well understand and remember about their holy Duchess of Hesse, Elizaveta Feodorovna.
L. Gorskaya
Are you even interested?
And I stopped being interested. And we proposed to name one of the streets of Darmstadt after her and hang a board.
L. Gorskaya
Do you agree?
Well, they think. We thought about it. They do not clearly relate to our history. And some dissatisfied statements were even heard, such as: “Well, what are we talking about? This is the legally killed emperor.” “The legally killed emperor”... Can you imagine?
L. Gorskaya
But they have everything in order with their history.
Everything is fine with them in this sense. But Darmstadt showed that the Russian world exists there too, because Nicholas II built for his wife Alexandra Feodorovna in her homeland, in Hesse, and for Elizaveta Feodorovna, Alexandra Feodorovna’s sister, a stunning temple on the highest point of Darmstadt. I would also say that these two women were raised...
L. Gorskaya
Alexandra and Elizabeth.
Alexandra and Elizabeth were, of course, not raised to be queens and empresses. They were raised in a godly environment by godly parents. They were both modest and zealous, they embroidered and did everything with their own hands. And this, when you begin to get acquainted with their life back in the Hessian lands, you understand, of course, that coming to Russia and getting to know the Russian Empire made an indelible impression on them. And getting acquainted with Orthodoxy... Elizaveta Feodorovna, who could have remained, as a Grand Duchess, in the Lutheran faith, she, contrary to the will of her father and older brother, said that she wanted to convert to Orthodoxy. We can say that after Darmstadt there was a trip to Serbia as part of the visit of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. And we were invited to join the delegation precisely because we proposed, two years ago, to the Moscow Patriarchate to consecrate a memorial bronze plaque to Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, as if to the Primate of the Church Abroad. Who was accused in many ways in the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate - of schismatics and unworthy acts. What was not true, and it needed to be said openly. And the fact that His Holiness the Patriarch included in the program of his visit the installation and consecration of a plaque dedicated to Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky is also recognition of the merits of this great foreign bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. A very important component of the visit. Because we are saying that after the signing of the act of canonical communion, there was a kind of rehabilitation of the leadership and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Because this will allow the two branches of the Russian Orthodox Church to come even closer together, after the signing of the act of canonical communion in 2007. It is very important.
L. Gorskaya
Now the Nativity fast is underway, and it would be strange if you, an expert on the Holy Land, did not talk about the place of the Nativity of Christ - about Bethlehem.
We must keep in mind that Bethlehem is part of Jerusalem, historical Jerusalem. That is, the people of Bethlehem walked 8-10 kilometers every Sunday from their villages and hamlets to the Jerusalem district to pray at the Church of the Resurrection, precisely on Sunday. Therefore, the fact that Bethlehem is now separated by a wall from Jerusalem is a depressing phenomenon for everyone, both Christians and Muslims. Since the tomb of Rachel, which is located in Bethlehem, is also closed to access to Muslims and Christians, now only Jews have the opportunity to enter there, which violates the centuries-old status quo. Bethlehem is always Christmas, it's a holiday. But the sad thing is that the majority now, for several years now, there are Muslims, and the Christian population is being washed out, unfortunately. Once upon a time in Nazareth the majority was, when I was still there, Christian Orthodox, now the majority, for more than 10 years, is the Muslim population. There are problems between them, although they speak the same language Arabic. And it cannot be said that with the arrival of the Palestinian National Authority in Bethlehem and gaining control over the city, the security situation has improved. We remember that a few years ago, Israeli troops fired at the Church of the Nativity, people died, and, unfortunately, they fired from the territory of our hotel, which...
L. Gorskaya
How did this happen?
How did it happen? They just broke the gate and climbed in, ruined both the room and the furniture, that was a problem, they didn’t want to pay yet. I don’t know if they were able to pay off their debts to the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem; that was a big problem then, several years ago.
L. Gorskaya
But now is it possible to go to Bethlehem on a pilgrimage trip?
Certainly! Of course you can go. And you should definitely go there in order to get acquainted with the place of the Nativity of Christ, and in general, to feel the grace. And I definitely recommend that our radio listeners visit the Lavra of St. Savva the Consecrated, which is a 30-minute drive by taxi or minibus. This is the only remaining laurel in the Holy Land, Palestine.
L. Gorskaya
Only women, as far as I know, will not be allowed there.
Women will not be allowed in, but they can come to the gate and receive olives and olive oil, and receive the myrrh exuded by Sava the Sanctified. This is a great Orthodox saint, whose relics were in the Vatican for a long time, stolen by Latin Catholics, and then were returned again to the Lavra of Saint Sava. Sick people and women, especially those suffering from infertility, from cancer, and men too, attach themselves precisely to this world, which is distributed to the suffering. Therefore, women can stand right next to the temple. But you definitely need to visit this place if you want to understand what a monastery is in its original style, the form that was in early Christianity - you can talk about this monastery, this Lavra of Saint Sava near Bethlehem. We remember that the problem began with Bethlehem, the war that we talked about today - the Crimean War. It was in 1847 that the star was torn from the place of the Nativity of Christ, from Orthodox altar. And this led to the fact that in the 50th year an outbreak of demands arose in Constantinople to restore the status quo in the holy places of Palestine. And this led to the beginning of the Crimean War, which is known in the Arab East as the “war for the holy places of Palestine.” We must remember this, because at one time, even in Soviet times, we did not tell the whole truth about this. You talked about the book, in this book I devote one of the chapters to the topic “How the Crimean (Eastern) War began - the war for the holy places of Palestine.”
L. Gorskaya
The book “Antioch and Jerusalem Patriarchates in the Politics of the Russian Empire. 1830s - early 20th century,” which we will talk about separately again, because this is a whole big, interesting topic. Now, unfortunately, our time is running out. I remind dear radio listeners that the guest of “Bright Evening” is the first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, the Center for National Glory of Russia, candidate of sciences Mikhail Yakushev. Thank you very much, Mikhail Ilyich! All the best!
Thank you! Goodbye!
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Report read at the international monastic conference “Patristic heritage in the light of Athonite traditions: spiritual guidance.” Ekaterinburg, May 27-29, 2016.
On the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which marked the victory over iconoclasm, that is, the triumph of Orthodoxy, a definition was adopted according to which God should be served, and icons should be worshiped. This definition got character church dogma, which was also related to the topic of Orthodox pilgrimage. That's why in Byzantine church tradition pilgrims were called “worshippers,” that is, pilgrims who traveled for the purpose of worship Christian shrines. Almost immediately after the Baptism of Rus', pilgrims of the ancient Russian state went to venerate the holy places of the Orthodox East. In the 12th century, Abbot Daniel visited the holy land, leaving after his journey a detailed description of his proscinary. These traditions of worshiping Christian shrines and describing their “walkings” were then continued by other “Old Russian admirers” who visited the territory of the former Byzantium, on the ruins of which the great empire of the Ottoman dynasty lay. The most famous traveler of that era who described his journey was the Muscovite Vasily Guest (1466). However, only almost a century later, the next admirer who left us a description of his journey was the Smolensk merchant Vasily Pozdnyakov, who in 1558 set off with gifts from Tsar John IV to the Orthodox East. The so-called “Walking of Trifon Korobeinikov” was very famous, who, as the tsar’s ambassador, on behalf of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, first in 1552, and then in 1594, at the behest of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, carried out his walks to the Orthodox East. The tradition of Russian pilgrims was continued by the Kazan merchant Vasily Gagara, who visited the provinces of the Ottoman Empire - Syria, Palestine and Egypt between 1634 and 1637. He walked from Russia by “dry route” to Tiflis, Erivan, Ardahan, Kars, Erzurum, Sebastia, Caesarea, Aleppo, Amidonia, Damascus, Jerusalem. Of the Russian admirers of the 17th century, perhaps the most prominent place is occupied by Arseny Sukhanov, first the archdeacon of the Chudov Monastery, and then the builder Epiphany Monastery, which belonged to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Being an authoritative representative in church affairs, Arseny Sukhanov received a high order from his government to travel to Palestine and Egypt, where he went with Patriarch Paisius of Jerusalem in 1649, and arrived only a year later, having also met in Egypt with the Patriarch of Alexandria. Returning to Russia four years later, in 1653, by “dry route” through Palestine, Syria, Georgia and the Caucasus, he did not find the one who blessed him alive in long haul Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, to whose chair Nikon ascended, who again sent him to the Orthodox East in order to acquire new Greek books for the successful implementation of the correction church books and rituals. So, at the beginning of 1654, Arseny was sent to Athos, from where he took about five thousand books of all kinds. Arseny returned from a business trip two years later. In January 1656 he was appointed cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Unfortunately, Arseny’s workload on Athos did not allow him to leave for us a detailed description of the monasteries and the monastic life of their inhabitants.
However, thanks to the dedication of the above-mentioned fans, we have interesting descriptions Christian holy places in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire - Syria, Palestine and Egypt. However, at that time the Russian government, as well as the Greek-Russian Church, did not have reliable information about the holy Mount Athos.
This gap was filled by the next generation of fans from the early 18th century. In 1681, in Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Crimean Khanate, which was a subject of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean, or Bakhchisarai Treaty, was signed, in which Russian pilgrims were assigned the right to freely visit holy places on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. This right was confirmed in the Treaty of Constantinople between Russia and the Sublime Porte in 1700.
The main and, perhaps, the most detailed description of his almost quarter-century “walks” in holy Christian places was published at the end of the 18th century by order of Prince Grigory Potemkin “The Wanderings of Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky in Holy Places from 1723 to 1747.”
We find the following description of Athos at the end of the 18th century in “Description of the journey of Father Ignatius to Constantinople, Mount Athos, the Holy Land and Egypt. 1766-1776", published at the end of the 19th century. edited by V.N. Khitrovo.
In mid-1845, Porfiry (Uspensky) went to Athos, where he stayed until June 1846, visiting all the Athos monasteries and carefully studying their libraries. He compiled a detailed list of manuscripts stored on Mount Athos, and even rewrote many of them. The result of the activities of Porfiry (Uspensky) was his work (in 2 volumes) on history Mount Athos, covering the period from ancient times to mid-19th V. He described in detail natural conditions Athos, the most interesting architectural monuments, explained the origin of the name of the area and gave a description of its inhabitants.
But let’s return to “The Wanderings of Grigorovich-Barsky, which was published at the end of the 19th century in four parts with 145 drawings, edited by A.P. Barsukova - “from an authentic manuscript.” This is the description given to this work by the outstanding church historian, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy and emeritus professor of Moscow University A.P. Lebedev (1845-1908): “This is a monument that has no equal either among the Greeks or in Europe when it comes to studying the internal aspects of the Greek Church of the 18th century. We can only describe its dignity with the following incorrect, but this time the most appropriate expression: this monument is too good.”
So what kind of pilgrim is Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky? According to the testimony of his brother Ivan, Vasily was “curious” about all kinds of sciences and arts from childhood and “had a desire to see foreign countries.” This was the reason for Vasily’s decision, leaving the Kyiv Academy, to leave with his comrade Justin Lenitsky for Lviv, where they resorted to cunning and declared themselves natives of the Polish city of Bar in order to get into the Jesuit Academy, since Orthodox Christians were not accepted into it. Soon the deception was discovered, and the friends were expelled. In Lvov, the travelers met the Russian priest Stefan Protansky, with whom Vasily and Wilian went to Pest, and from there to Vienna, Padua, Ferrara, Pesaro, Fano and Ancona along the shore of the Adriatic Sea - to Loreto. There, Barsky insisted on first “going to venerate the relics of Saint Nicholas of Christ” in Bari, and only then to Rome. “If,” he writes, let us go first to Rome, we will be satisfied with the vision of his majesty, beauty and glory and we will be lazy to go venerate the relics of the saint Holy Hierarch Christ Nicholas." The travelers walked under the scorching sun of Calabria. The misfortunes did not stop: Vasily lost his patents, and a pilgrim without patents, according to Barsky, is the same as “a man without arms, a warrior without weapons, a bird without wings, a tree without leaves.” At the tomb of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Bari, Barsky fervently and with tears prayed to the Pleasant of Christ for finding patents and healing his sore leg. And lo and behold! His patents were found, and his bad leg healed! But a severe fever held Barsky back in Loretto, as a result of which his companion Justin Lenitsky did not wait for his friend to recover and went to Rome without him. After recovery, the lonely wanderer Vasily Barsky visited Rome, where he spent days inspecting churches and cardinals’ courts. By the way, he even managed to take advantage of the hospitality of the Pope himself, who invited the Russian pilgrim to dine with him. After a three-week inspection of the eternal city, Barsky returned to Venice, where he met his new companion, the former archimandrite Tikhvin Monastery Reuben Gursky. The Italian spring of 1725 arrived and with the arrival of warmth, the wanderer Vasily was drawn to the Holy East. With a new companion, Vasily went by sea to Corfu, then to the island of Chios, where he met the Patriarch of Jerusalem Chrinsaf. There, the travelers decided, instead of Jerusalem (where, according to the patriarch, a lot of money was required), to go to Athos only to venerate the shrines, and then return to their fatherland. Vasily's companion Reuben Gursky died, and Barsky alone went by sea to Thessaloniki, from where he rushed to Athos on foot. He endured many travel hardships, visiting all the monasteries. His permanent place of residence was the monastery of St. Panteleimon. He had to endure a whole persecution for his trip to Rome and dinner with the Pope. He was not even allowed to receive Communion, and only after the bishop’s permission was he admitted to the “Most Holy Eucharist.” Having received information that “peace and silence can be heard everywhere,” Barsky returned to Thessaloniki to board a ship sailing with admirers to the Holy Land from there “free of charge,” that is, “without charge,” or free of charge. Having passed Rhodes and Cyprus, Barsky went ashore in Jaffa, and from there on foot with a caravan of wanderers went to Jerusalem through Ramlya and other Arab villages. He was on the Jordan and the Dead Sea, in Bethlehem, in the Lavra of Saint Sava. Traveled through Sinai, Egypt. In Cairo, the Patriarch of Alexandria took pity on him and sheltered him in his courtyard. By that time, Barsky had already mastered Latin and Greek. From Egypt, Vasily Barsky went north to Syria, to the boundaries of the Antiochian Church. He visited Damascus and Aleppo. Not finding a Greek priest, he confessed to an Arab Orthodox priest. In 1729, Vasily Barsky decided to visit Jerusalem again, hoping to “receive perfect health” from the Holy Places. From Tripoli he went through Nazareth to Samaria. Near Jerusalem, a Russian traveler was robbed and beaten by robbers, even taking away his clothes. So without clothes and money, Barsky could not pass without paying the local Muslim pickets. Then our pilgrim pretended to be a holy fool for Christ’s sake, “speaking outrageously and disobediently and running as a reproach to all the people,” and in this form he came to Jerusalem for Easter. Then he walked all over Palestine again and described what he saw. From Tripoli, Barsky wanted to return through Constantinople to Kyiv. But he stayed for five whole years to live and study at the Patriarchal Orthodox School for a deeper study of the Greek language. From Tripoli Barsky traveled to Egypt to Patriarch of Alexandria Cosmas to accept his blessing for collecting alms. The Patriarch of Antioch Sylvester met Barsky in Damascus and, falling in love with him, wanted to keep him near him. On January 1, 1734, he tonsured Vasily as a monk. However, all this did not change Barsky’s desire to leave Damascus. Traveling through Greater Syria continued again. Barsky visited Cyprus, then moved to Patmos due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ottoman war in 1736. On Patmos, Barsky received news of the death of his father, but he refused the request of his mother and brother to return to Kyiv.
The news about the stay of the amazing Russian monk-pedestrian on Patmos reached the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself and Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky. In May 1743, Barsky received from our resident in Constantinople A.A. Veshnyakov’s letter, in which he reported that, as a result of Her Imperial Majesty’s highest decrees, Barsky was summoned to Constantinople, “before here,” Veshnyakov writes, “in your person there is especially no need.” With sadness and reluctance, he left Barsky Patmos, boarding a ship on the day of St. John the Evangelist, September 26, 1743, but already armed with the Sultan’s firman in his name. Being under the patronage of two august persons - the Russian empress and the Ottoman padishah - Vasily Barsky began to reap the fruits of his many years of labor. Upon entering the island. Chios Barsky was stopped by a Jewish customs official, but upon seeing the firman, he immediately let the Russian monk through. When the monks of the Agiamon monastery learned about his arrival in Chios, they sent a whole deputation “from the cathedral elders” to Barsky with a request to visit their monastery. To this invitation, Barsky ironically remarked to them that he had already visited their monastery twice and then was received by them as an artist asking for bread. Barsky made this remark to the elders with the aim of denouncing their “then unstrange love and ninish caresses.” But, not wanting to show “an image of pride and contempt,” he accepted their invitation. On Chios, many Russian slaves, men and women, came to Barsky asking for a petition for their release from captivity. Barsky took the most cordial part in their grief and promised to do everything in his power in Constantinople. In 1743, he saw the Ottoman capital from the sea - the “reigning city”. A.A. Veshnyakov, having become acquainted with Barsky’s works, “praised him before everyone” and gave him “no little alms,” inviting him to the Lord’s table. He used the money he received as follows: he spent some of it on buying books, the other on clothes; he sent the third and most of it to Fr. Patmos to the monastery of St. Evangelist John the Theologian “not instead of charity,” notes Barsky, but “instead of gratitude for good deeds and mercy,” and he kept the rest and a small part of the money just in case.
Resident Veshnyakov wanted in every possible way to keep Barsky at his diplomatic mission. He even included him in his retinue for an audience with the Grand Vizier. Then he intended to appoint Barsky as “his chaplain,” which greatly embarrassed the learned monk. But Barsky was again attracted to the pilgrimage, and in May 1744, supplied by Veshyakov with a new Sultan’s firman, Barsky entered St. for the second time. Mount Athos. This time our Barsky was received on Mount Athos not in the same way as the first time, but with “multiple love and reverence.” Barsky explained this change as follows: firstly, by his knowledge of the Greek language; secondly, the greatness of Russia, from which the Greeks, especially the monks, hoped to receive deliverance; and thirdly, Barsky was honored with a firman “from Constantinople and a letter from the high-ranking Mr. Resident Alexei Andreevich Veshnyakov.” These circumstances allowed Barsky to penetrate the most secret monastic archives, which allowed him, according to Metropolitan Eugene, to introduce him with his detailed description of Athos to the wealth of historical sources hidden in the Athos libraries.
With a description of his second visit to Athos, Barsky completes the manuscript of his wanderings through the Holy Places of the East, and at the same time his biography. From Athos he went to Thessaloniki, then to Trikala and Arta, and visited the monasteries in Meteora. Then he sailed to Patras, and from there he visited Kalavrit, Athens, Fr. Crete. In mid-1746, he returned to Constantinople, where he found a change unfavorable for him. In place of Veshnyakov, who died in 1745, a new diplomat, Adrian Ivanovich Neplyuev, arrived, who immediately took a dislike to Barsky, whom ill-will had already slandered the new resident. Neplyuev threatened to send Barsky to St. Petersburg with the first steamship under guard, which prompted the Russian monk to hastily leave the Ottoman capital and go home. Through Bucharest, Iasi, Mogilev to Kyiv. He arrived home on September 5, 1847 and died a month later. The body of monk Vasily was solemnly buried in the Kiev-Brotherly Monastery. A letter of permission from the Patriarch of Jerusalem Khrinsaf was placed in the coffin with him.
Published at the end of the 18th century by order of His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky’s walks inspired and motivated a whole galaxy of pilgrims-worshippers who flocked to the Orthodox East to worship the Holy Places of Palestine. Among them in early XIX century, one of the most famous and unusual Russian admirers was a resident of the village of Pavlovo, Gorbatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, a serf peasant of Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Shetemetev (1803-1871), Kir Bronnikov. He made a pilgrimage to Palestine in 1820-1821. Kir Bronnikov’s route to Jerusalem ran through Odessa, Constantinople, Jaffa and Ramla.
Even before Bronnikov’s arrival at the port of Jaffa, the first Russian vice-consul in Jaffa, George Mostras (1820-† 1838), was sent there from the Russian diplomatic mission in Constantinople to his place of permanent service. In September 1820, Mostras received from the Russian envoy in Constantinople two letters of recommendation addressed to Bronnikov and his companion, retired Life Guards cavalry regiment Lieutenant Yegor Bessarovich, to whom the vice-consul provided a kavvas (Arabic guard, security guard) and an Ottoman-speaking Russian servant It is noteworthy that Bronnikov was almost the first pilgrim who found and described the initial period of the anti-Ottoman uprising of the Greeks. Immediately after Easter in Jerusalem, he sensed something was wrong and, with the help of the Russian consul, quickly got to Jaffa to continue his pilgrimage. Having said goodbye to Mostras, Bronnikov set sail on a ship to the holy Mount Athos. On board with the Russian pilgrim were Greeks, Bulgarians, Moldovans and Russians from Athos. The Turks also joined the passengers, but having heard “unpleasant rumors, they were afraid and left for Rhodes on hired boats.” Even before Kir Bronnikov sailed to Athos, Mostras prudently issued him a consular certificate for Greek with your signature and seal. Lieutenant Bessarovich, who was with the vice-consul, for his part, gave Bronnikov “for guidance” an extract in case “if it is not possible to travel from Mount Athos to Russia via Constantinople.” Bessarovich advised his former pilgrimage companion to follow through the Ionian Islands to Morea, and from there to Austria. Nevertheless, the travelers continued their pilgrimage, visiting the islands of Rhodes, Patmos, Chios, and Ipsar. Only on Ipsar did passengers learn about the Greek uprising that broke out on Easter in Constantinople, as a result of which Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory V was “put to death by diarrhea” on the same day, April 10, being hanged by the Ottomans in all festive patriarchal attire at the gates of his residence.
Having landed on the Athos shore, Russian fans were able to visit almost all twenty monasteries, including the monastery of St. Panteleimon (“formerly Russian,” notes Bronnikov), which was then owned by the Greeks, as well as the Russian monastery of the holy prophet Elijah. According to Kir Bronnikov, up to forty brethren labored there. All of them were Russian subjects from the Black Sea, Don and partially Little Russian Cossacks. In the Athos monastery of Dionysiata, Cyrus Bronnikov presented the abbot of the monastery with letters that had been given to him for this purpose in Moscow. Despite all the persuasion to stay at the monastery, Bronnikov replied that he did not intend to stay on the Holy Mountain for long. Then the abbot recommended that the Russian guest return to Russia, bypassing Constantinople, since he himself was in the Ottoman capital on Easter and saw everything that happened there.
Reporting about the Vatopedi monastery, Bronnikov describes the cup, which, according to the assurances of the inhabitants there, was in the hands of the Savior during the Last Supper. Here our admirer incidentally notices the mention of this cup by his famous predecessor Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky. Having visited all twenty Svyatogorsk monasteries and hermitages, Kir Bronnikov concludes that they are inhabited by representatives of “different peoples”: Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Moldovans and Russians. In total there are about 15 thousand people, “but the fathers themselves do not know the correct count, because among them some are sent from monasteries to collect alms, others return to the monasteries with what they have collected, and others, without asking, at their own request, move from the Holy Mountain to other places to live.” , and some come again.” In his “Travel,” Bronnikov sincerely laments that “due to vague circumstances” he could not return to Russia through Constantinople, but had to go through Austria-Hungary. Anticipating significant expenses on the way back, he regretted that for this reason he donated “very little” to all the Athonite monasteries. True, he notes that the Svyatogorsk monks “remained very pleased with these modest donations,” accepting with gratitude and not showing the slightest displeasure about this. Moreover, Kir Bronnikov was pleasantly surprised that “for this...small alms” they supplied him with wine, bread, olives and fish for the road,” as required by Svyatogorsk hospitality.
While visiting and describing the monasteries, Bronnikov noticed “great anxiety between all the inhabitants of the Mountain.” Every day in Kareya (the council of deputies of Athonite monasteries - M.Ya.) certain representatives, or “leading monks,” gathered and decided what measures were necessary to take to prevent the trouble that threatened them from the Ottoman authorities. In the kareya, for the defense of Athos, strong and young monks and “Balti” (representatives of the white clergy - M.Ya.) were recruited from monasteries, and cannons, rifles, gunpowder and spears were distributed. In all the monastery forges and lathes, they again began to manufacture various military weapons. At the Solunsky Isthmus, at a narrow passage up the mountain, they placed a reinforced armed guard with cannons and shells, blessing the defenders to eat any food. Everyone on Athos, according to Bronnikov, “waited hourly for the Turks, trembling day and night.” On June 5, 1821, Archimandrite Kirill of the Iveron Monastery and Father Sylvester, at the request of Cyrus Bronnikov, sought out a friend of the Greek ship owner to transport 13 Russian admirers from Athos to the Greek island of Skopelos, located 70 miles from the Holy Mountain for a total fee of 200 leva . On the same day, rumors spread about the defeat of three hundred Turks marching to Mount Athos by Greek villagers. Soon a rumor came that from Thessaloniki, the capital of Thessaloniki Pashalyk, an Ottoman army of up to two thousand people had advanced directly to Athos and was already four hours from Holy Mount Athos. On their way they burned Greek villages and villages. Fleeing from the Turks, women, for whom entry to Mount Athos was strictly prohibited, took refuge “inside the Mountain.” On June 9 (June 21, New Art.), the owner of the ship received from the monastic board in Kareya a Svyatogorsk certificate that the Greek shipowner was taking Russian fans returning to Russia from Jerusalem to the island of Skopelos, who had visited all Mount Athos monasteries. Cyrus Bronnikov said goodbye to the abbot and the brethren of the Iversky Monastery, who signed his monastery seal on his Sinai certificate of worship. Three days later, the ship with Russian pilgrims set sail from Athos. From the poor Greek fugitives from a passing ship, they learned that in the Ottoman Empire, “a great deal of indignation, or civil strife,” began in the Ottoman Empire on all the islands, during which the Turks slaughtered the Greeks without any mercy, and in other places the Greeks slaughtered the Turks: “where more Turks, there is their power; and where the Greeks strengthened, the Turks were exterminated.” The next day, June 13, the fans arrived on the island of Skopelos. Then they moored to Hydra Island. On August 11, our wanderers entered the Trieste harbor, where they met a group of refugees of 60 people led by Consul Mostras, who, due to the threat to the lives of Russian fans and his own life, was forced to hastily leave Jaffa, leaving his family there.
Kir Bronnikov returned to Moscow only on November 15, 1821, and three years later his book of travels to holy places was published. The uniqueness of this work lies in the fact that in addition to a detailed description of the sights and holy places of Palestine and Mount Athos, it describes the customs and morals of the local residents and the Ottoman authorities. It should be noted that the events described by the author occurred before his eyes or were recorded from the words of witnesses of a dramatic period in the history of the Ottoman Empire at the very beginning of the Greek uprising. But, despite information about the beginning of anti-Ottoman protests and punitive operations against the Orthodox Greek population, Russian pilgrims chose to complete their pilgrimage to the holy Mount Athos, where their lives were in mortal danger.
The descriptions of Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky and Kir Bronnikov, written by the authors in the genre of travel and diary notes, became a logical continuation and development of the tradition of Russian pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Palestine and Mount Athos, which aroused great interest not only among readers of the 18th and 19th centuries, but also among modern readers .
Mikhail Ilyich Yakushev, Candidate of Historical Sciences
Elena Zelinskaya: Hello, dear TV viewers! My name is Elena Zelinskaya. The program “In Search of Meaning” is on air. And today my guest is Mikhail Yakushev, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. Hello, Mikhail Ilyich!
Mikhail Yakushev: Hello, Elena Konstantinovna.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, I know that you are a big fan of sitting in in social networks, and I, too, frankly speaking, sometimes don’t get out of there, maybe even too much. And every time I see you traveling from one wonderful city to another. Now I have a photograph of Mikhail Ilyich on Mount Athos, then I have a photograph of Mikhail Ilyich in Athens. But the latest photographs, I noticed, have already arrived from Jerusalem. I immediately had a question for you. Are you a traveler, an amateur traveler, or is something else drawing you to these places, sacred to many of us?
Mikhail Yakushev: Let's start with the fact that any person who visits holy places used to be called not, as is now customary, a pilgrim, but a fan. Devotee of holy places. It has always been there - fans, worship, pilgrimage.
Elena Zelinskaya: From the word “bow”?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, worship of holy places. Walking – “walking” even earlier. These were such wandering walkers.
Elena Zelinskaya: Pedestrian.
Mikhail Yakushev: Pedestrian. And all this meant a pilgrim, a Russian pilgrim. And not only Russians, because before Russian pilgrims there were Christians who went to the Holy Land, who had previously accepted the faith of Christ. The tradition of pilgrimage has deep roots in the very cities that you have already indicated. Plus, of course, Constantinople and Constantinople. The Holy Land began from this place for pilgrims.
Even Foros, which we know because it is unpleasant for all of us tragic story the collapse of a great power, an empire, this place is the most extreme point, the closest point to the Holy Land, to Constantinople. Danilevsky chose a special place where to be buried, because he is a Christian, Orthodox, he wanted to be as close as possible to the Holy Land, and this is a straight line, a line - and Constantinople, already the Holy Land. Therefore, when, under this bias, you look at what happened to our power, to our empire, then you understand that this has a great tragic meaning for the pilgrims who trampled this path to the Crimea, and then followed on ships.
Elena Zelinskaya: You have paved the way for yourself to Jerusalem. This is probably not the first time we’ve been there, and I hope, of course, that it’s not the last. In general, visiting the Holy Land for any person is probably a shock, an event in life. Going there as regularly as you do can probably change your whole life, views and worldview? For example, I know very well that your foundation... Even more precisely, thanks to your foundation, we here, Russian Orthodox Christians, annually get the opportunity to touch one of the greatest miracles - this is the fire that descends in the temple. This is happening thanks to your foundation, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: Thanks to two blessings - the Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. These are two blessings, when they are there, they are there - then what happens happens.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, after all, such a close contact with the Holy Land, with such great miracles, did it somehow influence your life?
Mikhail Yakushev: Without a doubt. You know... Who would have said that, say, 20 years ago, that fate would turn out so that I would leave the government service, the diplomatic service and move to this fund.
Elena Zelinskaya: Are you a diplomat by training?
Mikhail Yakushev: By education I am an oriental historian, Ottomanist and Arabist. Not a diplomat. And it so happened that I went to work at the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. And the statutory objectives of this organization, which arose in 1992, the year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, are to strengthen the spiritual foundations of our society. The Center of National Glory, whose tenth anniversary we celebrated last year, is an organization aimed at helping to strengthen the foundations of Russian statehood. And in general, together, these two organizations work, first of all, to help the public, church institutions, and, of course, sovereigns in the implementation of the tasks that face our country, our society.
Elena Zelinskaya: This is, of course, what you did. And my question was more precisely directed. How did this closeness to everything affect your own personal life, your state of mind?
Mikhail Yakushev: It influenced me in such a way that it is even difficult to explain why I made the choice to go to work for these organizations that are engaged in the work that you have already outlined. By doing this, we understand that... It is difficult to explain why this happened.
Indeed, when you become involved with a spiritual theme, it opens you up, it draws you in, and you cannot recognize yourself from yesterday, the day before yesterday. Then you feel, especially after visiting holy places, you arrive, they tell you: “Listen, some kind of energy comes from you, something else.” And you yourself understand what people mean, because you come, say, from Mount Athos, from Jerusalem, your eyes glow, your smile. The feeling of anger becomes somehow incomprehensible.
On Athos, in general, if you come there with a hard heart, you push off from Ouranoupolis in a boat, walk for half an hour on a motor boat, and then set foot, and all your grievances are gone, they are gone. This is a miracle that cannot be explained. Maybe a psychologist will tell you, explain it in Latin, legally, maybe somehow professionally, but a person changes. When you are doing what you said, traveling, wandering around these holy places where...
Why are they saints? Are they associated with or earthly life Christ, or with the earthly life of His disciples, or the Mother of God. We take Athens here; we remember the Apostle Paul, first of all. We take here Mount Athos, the Mother of God. We take those cities where the apostles went. You walk in the footsteps of saints - not only apostles, but also pilgrims. If we take, for example, in the footsteps of Abbot Daniel, already 905 years ago, he made a pilgrimage and described it. He described it with such precision that he could actually put to shame a poorly prepared guide in Israel who had not read the work of Abbot Daniel.
Elena Zelinskaya: You know, Mikhail Ilyich, I read with great interest the notes of the pedestrian Vasily Barsky, who, this is also probably 300 years ago...
Mikhail Yakushev: This is from 1727 to 1743.
Elena Zelinskaya: How many centuries has it been?
Mikhail Yakushev: Twenty-three years passed. This is after Peter I, but as a result of these Constantinople treatises, which described the unhindered movement of Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem, Vasily Grigorovich, nicknamed Barsky, he visited the city of Bari, he went down in history.
Elena Zelinskaya: Imagine, I walked on foot, unlike us who fly on planes on pilgrimage. I walked.
Mikhail Yakushev: He left for Italy.
Elena Zelinskaya: And with a bad leg.
Mikhail Yakushev: Having been beaten half to death more than once, robbed, and shot at, miraculously he remained alive. He took monastic vows at the hands of the Patriarch of Antioch. Knew the Patriarch of Antioch, Jerusalem, met with the Patriarch of Alexandria. He was a unique person. Became a monk. And he returned home to his homeland.
Elena Zelinskaya: You know, he was buried in Kyiv. What struck me most was that he accompanied these notes with drawings. And these drawings are not of an artistic nature. He sketched what he saw during his travels, including temples. I was especially struck by the drawing of the Catherine Monastery, which is located right at the foot of Mount Sinai. And not only the monastery itself is completely drawn there, but also the location, the layout of the rooms inside and a separate refectory, where the tables and chairs are, how it was all located.
Do you know what's most interesting? That I talked to specialists, and they told me such an interesting thing that he painted without special tools. What a year it was. He drew as if by eye, measured it all by eye, and so on. So, all the proportions, all the ratios of height, length, volume - everything absolutely exactly coincides with the measurements made by modern architects-researchers of all these buildings. That's what's interesting. This means what a huge talent the person had, among other things.
Mikhail Yakushev: Known at the court of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
Elena Zelinskaya: And, probably, a zeal that is still incomparable to ours.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, absolutely. You know, when he first came to Mount Athos, the elders treated him with coolness. In general, as if, because he visited Bari, he probably picked up the Latin heresy. In general, they did not accept him.
And when he arrived after Elizaveta Petrovna drew attention to him, and sent the paper to our envoy Vishnyakov in Constantinople, and he asked him to stay, to become his de facto priest of the embassy church, he refused. He did everything to go to Athos again. And when he already arrived on Athos, the elders already received him in a completely different way.
It must be said that he did not remind them how... But in his notes he noted this, that is, how the attitude towards him changed when he became more famous. But he did not deteriorate, his head was not blown off. This was a real traveler, wanderer, and, in the opinion of the Byzantinist Lebedev at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, who wrote that neither the Greeks, nor anyone, nor the Serbs, nor the Bulgarians have our Barsky Vasily Grigorovich. Because the work he created described how he could wear it while being robbed more than once.
Elena Zelinskaya: I’ll add something else to you to end this wonderful story with this point. He, as you rightly noted, did not deteriorate, but we turned out to be ungrateful. And the grave of Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky is completely neglected in Kyiv, and so far no one has gotten around to it...
Mikhail Yakushev: Kiev-Pechersk Lavra nearby.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, yes, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is nearby. And the grave is abandoned. And it is known where it is. I’m taking this opportunity to address you right on the air as a representative of the fund. Let's somehow find those who are interested in this. And the memory of such a wonderful traveler, writer, artist and simply, in my opinion, a holy person, in some sense, should be revered in a different way.
Mikhail Yakushev: I will take this opportunity to try to say. What does it mean, the ingenuity of a pilgrim, a monk. A man goes to Jerusalem on Easter and is robbed right outside Jerusalem. I really wanted to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem and see the fire. This is a tradition. Easter is the main event of any pilgrim; years have been spent on this. He is beaten very severely once again and stripped naked. He had rich clothes, as it seemed to him. And, you know, what would we do in this situation? Ask this question to each of us. This man pretended to be a holy fool, and he was allowed through without any duty. He was so drawn to go to Jerusalem, where he had already been several times. Come, pray and, in general, be on Easter.
Elena Zelinskaya: How did you end up in Jerusalem for the first time?
Mikhail Yakushev: First time in Jerusalem. I'm even trying to remember. I'll tell you now. This was in the December days of 1994. Then I was sent as the first secretary to work at our embassy in Tel Aviv, and from November 15, 1994 to May 30, 1999, I served as a diplomat at our embassy. And he was engaged in his line of work. This was my burden – connections with the Jerusalem Patriarchate. But this load has become my favorite thing. Then there was also Patriarch Diodorus, by the way, a recipient of the international award of St. Andrew the First-Called “For Faith and Fidelity” - Diodorus I. This was the first. This year I have already visited Jerusalem five times. I visit about 5-6 times a year.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, it is clear that you are coming on important matters, about which I will now ask you. But an ordinary person who comes, a pilgrim, a pilgrim, a worshiper, comes to the Holy Land, not as a tourist, but wants to follow the path of a real pilgrim, whatever opportunities he has for this. Will they meet him there, will they help him there? What does it all look like now?
Mikhail Yakushev: Now this is especially true Lately, especially after the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', even under Patriarch Pimen, and already the accession to the patriarchal throne of Patriarch Alexy, after his historical pilgrimage in 1991 and 1997, and in subsequent years, it must be said that now, from the beginning of the 90- In the 1960s, with the arrival of the Patriarch, Mother George also came, who still heads the Gornensky convent for women, but serves under the Russian Spiritual Mission.
The Russian Spiritual Mission - its history begins with the visit of the Holy Land by Porfiry Uspensky. Also, as if under the guise of a pilgrim, I went there from the Synod and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1843 and until... He stayed there for about a year, and then, in 1947, he was sent by the Sovereign Emperor at the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission more openly. But everyone understood that the Synod, after all, was like a ministry in the government of the Russian Empire, and it was taken for an official person. Before the start of the Crimean War, he was in Jerusalem. And even after the start of the Crimean War, when the state flag had already been lowered, it still remained until the French consul drew the attention of the Ottomans to it, which was a representative of the Russian government, with whom the Ottoman Porte was engaged in military operations.
In general, he had to leave this place. The Russian Spiritual Mission then, after the Crimean War, was restored, and it began to operate and continued until the First World War, when again we lowered the flag, and the mission, and the Moscow Russian buildings were occupied by the Ottomans, then the Germans, and then the British came.
18th year - a schism occurs in our country, like a conflict in the Church, because not everyone recognizes this power of the Bolsheviks. And the Church Abroad in Karlovci in Serbia makes a decision... The Church actually splits into two parts. Contacts were maintained, but eucharistic and prayer communication ceased from then on. And now this civil war, and after the revolution, strife - I invite you...
In 2007, or rather, even earlier, in 2004, when the foundation initiated the bringing of the honest relics of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and nun Varvara (2004-2005). As soon as we brought particles of relics from Jerusalem, at the end of July, in August, His Holiness the Patriarch at the Synod of Bishops, by his decree, decided to restore prayerful communication with the Church Abroad. It was already possible to pray, while in the same church, to foreign representatives and the Moscow Patriarchate.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, I remember this time well. It so happened that I found myself in last years before this event, the greatest, I would even say, event, I found myself in Jerusalem, and we went to the temple - you will name it for me now - and so...
Mikhail Yakushev: Church of the Resurrection of Christ, right? Main temple.
Elena Zelinskaya: No no. No, not to the main temple.
Mikhail Yakushev: There is a monastery of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes Yes. And just on the Mount of Olives we entered the monastery of Mary Magdalene, and so we shifted around and stood there. This is, after all, a shrine that is common to all of us, but this feeling of awkwardness that you don’t understand how to behave there, I remember it, this feeling. And, of course, I think greatest event, that now this is a thing of the past, and we can calmly... I haven’t had the chance to go there yet, but if someday, God willing, I find myself, I’ll go into the Church of Mary Magdalene with a completely different feeling.
Mikhail Yakushev: Because in 2007, on May 17, 2007, an act was signed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior by two representatives - the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and the primate, the first hierarch of the Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, signed an act of canonical communion. Now not only could representatives of the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate pray prayerfully in the same church, but also receive communion from the chalice. That is, this is Eucharistic communion restored, that is, this is actually the highest form of unity. That is, again the Russian Orthodox Church became a single organism. God willing, now that pilgrims and worshipers are coming to the Holy Land, the Russian Spiritual Mission continues its activities.
Elena Zelinskaya: How does she look? What exactly does it consist of? What is the Russian Spiritual Mission?
Mikhail Yakushev: The Russian Spiritual Mission is a large territory that is located on a historical site. There, in the 67th year and 70th year of our era, the legions of the Roman emperor Titus, even the future emperor, were stationed, he was the son of the emperor Vespasian. He took Jerusalem right from this place. When in the Ottoman era, there was a place there called Maidan - a square ledge, parades of Ottoman troops took place there, and troops left for war, including with Russia.
After the Crimean War, the Sultan promised to donate a piece of land in this place. And he donates about one third of this plot. Two-thirds were purchased with money from the Russian government by order of Alexander II and, in general, this piece, where the Russian buildings are, a complex of buildings arose there, the buildings of the Consulate General, the Trinity Cathedral, the Elizabethan Metochion, the Russian Spiritual Mission, a hospital, a hospital. The Russian Spiritual Mission existed there just before 1948. But since the age of 21 there...
Elena Zelinskaya: You omit the first two digits so much that I'm already confused. Then you jump to Emperor Titus, where we have the year 67. Then suddenly the year 1948 flashes here. What year are you referring to specifically?
Mikhail Yakushev: Excuse me, for Christ's sake, because it really needs to be called.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, you need to call it.
Mikhail Yakushev: Titus is, of course, the first century AD. The Russian Spiritual Mission is the second half of the 19th century, when Russian buildings grew, which is called Moscobia, Muscovy. There is the Trinity Cathedral, there is the building of the Russian Spiritual Mission. Unfortunately, in 1964, part of...
Elena Zelinskaya: Thousand…
Mikhail Yakushev: Since 1964, literally two weeks before Khrushchev was removed, on his initiative and with his support, a number of Russian real estate properties were sold. Unfortunately, this happened when there was a struggle, again, since the early 60s of the 20th century, against the Russian Orthodox Church. We, of course, have lost a lot from the Russian heritage. I’ll even say, the Russian state - here are the Romanovs, here are the pilgrims who paid a lot of money to buy plots and bequeath them to the Imperial Orthodox Church Palestinian society or they corresponded to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the husband of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, just the brother of Alexander III and uncle of Nicholas II, chairman of the Imperial Palestine Orthodox Society.
This is the Russian Spiritual Mission and was called upon to defend the interests of Russian pilgrims, because at the beginning of the 19th century, when our pedestrians came, they encountered the Greeks who received them, and could not always confess to them in Russian.
And the pilgrims were, for the most part, illiterate. There were serfs. Imagine, let’s say, Count Sheremetyev corrects his peasant Kira Bronnikov’s passport, gives him money, sends it, writes to Ambassador Stroganov to accept him, give him the necessary papers - such was the concern for the pilgrimage feat, to pray not only for himself, but, above all, , about the authorities, and about the master. In general, this was the tradition: any person who goes to pray can pray for his lord, master, if he is a serf, for all his relatives, acquaintances, for the entire village, for the entire volost, perhaps. Because this is a feat that he knows that he is carrying, and must fulfill, fulfill to the end, especially if according to the will. Therefore, the Russian Spiritual Mission, even later, when it was already established, helped create pilgrimage routes so that Russian people would feel at home there. And so it happened. Russian Palestine is the end of the second half of the 19th century. And now you won’t surprise anyone with this word - Russian Palestine.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, over the last 20 years, probably... You haven’t been working there for 20 years, but you probably know the whole story. Changes took place, did you manage to return something, restore something that was lost during the years of Soviet power?
Mikhail Yakushev: Thank God, I was still a diplomat at that time and was involved in Russian real estate issues. In 1996, before the arrival of Yevgeny Vasilyevich Primakov in October, we managed to obtain a document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the re-registration of real estate from Soviet to Russian, because the collapse of the Soviet Union was again a blow. These are Ukraine’s claims, first of all, to part of this church real estate. In general, the Israelis also thought for a long time about what we should do, and so on and so forth.
The position of Yasser Arafat also helped here, who came out categorically in support of the Moscow Patriarchate. Maybe he even took it too hard, because he had a dispute with his wife Sukhaya on this issue, because he supported the position of Patriarch Alexy. And then this wound that was there, it was bleeding, of course, I’m talking about the mid-90s. Thank God, she was healed there because the Grand Duchess tried here too, so that we understand that we need to heal those wounds inflicted, first of all, by the revolution and civil war.
Because now the date is approaching - the 100th anniversary of the First World War, and the loss of Russian Palestine in its entirety is precisely the result of the events and mistakes of the Russian government.
Elena Zelinskaya: Soviet government.
Mikhail Yakushev: Even the Russian government, the tsarist government. Because the documents on how we got involved in the First World War, as we expected, have not yet been studied very well. And these documents are archival, they exist. And in 2010, we conducted a historical campaign with the descendants of those people who left Crimea in 1920-21. And then on board, after heated debates, we adopted the document “Never Again,” where we recognized that all classes of the Russian Empire were responsible for what happened - for the revolution, for the civil war.
This is very important to know in order to understand what happened to us. Because we are now all the problems that we face in the demographic, in spiritually, morally, politically - in many ways the origins lie in those distant years, which seemed to be the First World War.
Elena Zelinskaya: If I had been on board with you that day, of course, I would have joined this document, since it corresponds to my ideas about those catastrophic events, with one exception. I completely exclude the Russian army from the list of culprits, because both the officers of the Russian Empire and the soldiers of the Great War probably showed themselves in the best possible way.
Mikhail Yakushev: Great - that's what I mean...
Elena Zelinskaya: World War I.
Mikhail Yakushev: The First World War was truly a Great War.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes.
Mikhail Yakushev: You know, I would like to say that on this ship we met two people: the son of Alexander Alexandrovich, Prince Trubetskoy, Vladimir met a girl, Alena Velitovskaya...
This is the result of a seemingly simple action that was aimed at healing the wounds that were inflicted by those tragic events. When we talk about the Holy Land, then, of course, it would be very good to imagine this Oecumene as a single whole, as The Golden Fleece. Indeed, the Holy Land, Palestine, in the Middle Ages in Europe it was designated as the Golden Fleece, gold on the map. And everything around could be green or blue. But the Holy Land is gold, therefore... Jerusalem has never been anyone's capital, except now Israel proclaimed it in 1980. And so this was... This was a province. Whoever conquered these territories was the one...
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, the Russian mission is located in Jerusalem. But, besides Jerusalem, all of Israel practically, one way or another, correlates with what you say, with the Holy Land.
Mikhail Yakushev: All of historical Palestine can be taken even more.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes. Let's talk about other places, for example Bethlehem. Does the Russian mission have anything to do with this city?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes. Bethlehem is a city that was administratively subordinate to Jerusalem. This has always been the Jerusalem district. Located 8-10 kilometers away, a village, a village. And on Sundays, the Orthodox Arab population walked to prayer services, this was the norm, not even everyone could.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, when I happened to be, I was once in the Holy Land, where I happened to be, I remember well that we went to Bethlehem, and we had to cross checkpoints, we were stopped. There were very pretty girls standing there with machine guns. And although it was friendly, nevertheless, the feeling was wary and gloomy.
Mikhail Yakushev: Of course, because as a result... The state of Israel has a policy - to cut off the Arabs from Jerusalem. Now this wall that passed, it cut off Bethlehem. If someone drives into Bethlehem, the first thing they see is a concrete wall, and they drive through this wall.
When I was a diplomat, you won’t believe it, I went to Gaza from Tel Aviv, even Israeli patrols didn’t stop me. And the Palestinians simply saw the numbers, and... And in Bethlehem there was the same situation. This was 94-95. The result of the signing of the 1993 agreement - the Declaration of Principles in Washington. We, the Russian delegation, were in Washington at that time and saw how this document was signed on the lawn near the White House.
But, unfortunately, the policy is changing. The current prime minister distinguished himself very much back then; he had a very tough position. And now what you said is the result of pure politics, because even the tomb of Rachel, and this is, as it were, tied to Bethlehem - “Rachel’s cry is heard throughout Bethlehem” - this is now a completely concreted building that belongs to Israel on the territory of the Palestinian national administration. And neither Christians nor Muslims are allowed there anymore, but that was Holy place for representatives of three religions.
Therefore, there is access to the Church of the Nativity, it is there that we see the Nativity Cathedral, a place in the nativity scene or in the cave of the Nativity, we see a star, the place where Christ was born in this stable, because there was not enough space in the hotel. We go down a little lower - this is the place of Christ’s manger.
You see, when we talk about the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, we mean, first of all, this joy, which is celebrated, among other things, by the Palestinian authorities. When power was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority, then it was Yasser Arafat, now Abu Mazen, the president or head of the Palestinian National Authority is always present every Christmas. This is already such an established tradition. Because even the authorities... The majority there, of course, are now Muslims. Previously, by the way, in Bethlehem the population was overwhelming, 100% were Orthodox, in the 19th century, at least in the first half. Now, unfortunately, the Orthodox population, the Christian population in general, is being forced out, squeezed out, emigrating. It's a very difficult situation. But this is a holy place for Russia. There is a Russian hotel there, and the Russian language can be heard.
Elena Zelinskaya: I didn't stay there, but I went in. I saw this hotel, yes.
Mikhail Yakushev: I invite those who will be in Bethlehem to stay there, because it is very beautiful, good and right next to the place of the Nativity of Christ. I repeat, this is only 10 kilometers from the holy city of Jerusalem.
Elena Zelinskaya: Ten thousand... can't even be pronounced. Ten-millennium!
Mikhail Yakushev: Ancient Yafa and Jericho are very cities... Jerusalem is not inferior. There are places there that are a must visit. Yesterday we were in Tretyakov Gallery and saw the painting “Christ in the Desert.” We see this desert, and we see a 40-day mountain. 40-day mountain Karantel. That is, the word “quarantine” is 40 days. So it received this name, where the evil one approached the Savior three times after fasting. When you are there...
We have been there many times, we were with His Holiness the Patriarch in June 1997, when he blessed us to go up. A Russian temple was founded there. The foundation is still on this highest mountain. Until 1914, before the outbreak of the First World War, a Russian temple was being built, which was stopped because of this tragic, sad war. And we talked about the Gornensky Monastery. Mother George heads the Gornensky Monastery, also from the Russian Spiritual Mission near Jerusalem, now this has also become Jerusalem. There was a second temple there, which began to be built in the year 14. It was no longer possible to install the ceiling up to the second floor.
After that historic pilgrimage in June 1997, Patriarch Alexy blessed the temple in the name of all the Saints who shone in the Russian land. It has now already been illuminated by Patriarch Kirill. And there was a great consecration. There was also a small consecration. Like these connections with the First World War. We understand that by recreating, or rather, finally building, this church and consecrating it, we can thereby close this page.
Elena Zelinskaya: How would they tie another knot, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: The Lord says here too: it is necessary, since they began to build, it is necessary to restore.
Elena Zelinskaya: If we return to this Russian temple, to the temple that was founded on Mount Jericho. There are no such considerations - to complete it and bring it to mind?
Mikhail Yakushev: Probably a matter for the future, because, thank God, there is a foundation, but I know that this is the highest strategic point. The Israelis use their radars to listen and track what is going on in the Judean desert. But Russian pilgrims always went to Jericho and described these places. We went to the Dead Sea, which they also described. This, if you walk, will literally take 4-4.5 hours with a good walk. Otherwise, by car it takes 40-45 minutes, and you are already there, in Jericho. And if you go to the right, 400 meters below sea level, you will get to the Dead Sea.
Of course, Nazareth is a must. Nazareth is a city in the upper Galilee, which is good news for all Christians. This is the gospel Greek word- good news. The good news sounded there from the lips of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. You definitely need to visit there, because further on you will see the Sea of Galilee, where the Savior Christ met those people who became his first disciples - the apostles, whom he blessed to preach his teachings throughout the world.
And today we remembered St. Andrew the First-Called, he reached Scandinavia. Pavel visited Athens. Peter and Paul are in Rome. Apostle Mark is responsible for the baptism of all Africa.
Elena Zelinskaya: You and I are having some kind of joyful, good conversation.
Mikhail Yakushev: Imagine what missions!
Elena Zelinskaya: Just listing these places even changes your mood and feeling about life.
Mikhail Yakushev: At that time there were no airplanes, there were no such types of transport, people walked, preached, explained. Moreover, when people heard these verbs, incomprehensible, then, if it were not an apostle, and people not from God...
Elena Zelinskaya: You have not reached my most beloved city, close to my heart, Capernaum.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, “woe to you, Jerusalem, woe to you, Bethsaida. And you, Capernaum, who ascended to heaven, will be cast down to hell!” Capernaum is an amazing city; it is believed that, as the Savior said: “You will be cast down to hell,” it went under water. And excavations show that there really was a city there, there was a church, a synagogue, and they even found a longboat, which was preserved in very good condition in the silt.
In the same place, the Mount of Beatitudes is nearby. Holy places - you feel there, of course, under the influence of that spirituality and spiritual influence of joy that you are where your ancestors would have strived, but they could not. You see, the burden is on you - you carry these thoughts, dreams that were in the hearts of your ancestors.
This is how it all affects you, so naturally you will remember as many names as you remember in your family. Unfortunately, after our revolution we don’t know much. But who knows the third, fourth generation - thank God. And so, if you don’t know the 12th generation, the 15th. And in the east they know. You understand, of course, that our history in this sense is tragic, that after a fratricidal war, a split in the Russian army, when the bayonets of the brothers turned against each other, you and I got what we got.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, you told us so fascinatingly about this journey, I just, because, as I already said, I was there once, I traced this path again before my eyes. It was I who traveled as a pilgrim. Surely you are not traveling as a pilgrim? Are you going there on business?
Mikhail Yakushev: No. I'll disappoint you. When we went there with my wife and son as diplomats, it seemed to us that we, diplomats, were going there on a business trip. Many people go there as tourists. And we go there as tourists. Everyone goes there - some as diplomats, some as tourists, some as merchants, but all return as admirers. Something happens to a person that, as it were, a genetic code begins to work, historical memory turns on, and then you read about the Holy Land upon your return, your foot, your foot has already walked in these places, and the perception is completely different. And you are already drawn to it. It's such an attractive force. Visiting Jerusalem once is just the beginning. That's why…
Elena Zelinskaya: However, now we will jump from your own feeling to your travels as a representative of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the national Center of Glory. Still, does it somehow contribute to the development of the Spiritual Mission, and how they spend time there, and does your foundation provide any assistance to pilgrims?
Mikhail Yakushev: It must be said that since our program, the main program of the year, “Ask for peace in Jerusalem,” it exists with the blessing, as I already said, of two Patriarchs - Jerusalem and Moscow. And the representative of our Patriarchate is, as it were, an ambassador, the head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, then, naturally, our visit there becomes part of our joint work. Because more and more pilgrims are accepted every year, especially after the abolition of visas.
Elena Zelinskaya: Are there any numbers? Somehow, do you see how many pilgrims go there, just pilgrims?
Mikhail Yakushev: I would be afraid to give exact numbers. About six months ago, the Ministry of Tourism told us that these figures impress our Israeli colleagues, because it is no coincidence that visas were cancelled. This turned out to be a relief for them, and it was beneficial. The fact that you can easily get to the Holy Land and does not create any problems for Israelis. They create conditions for people to cross this border without any hindrance without a visa.
Development of pilgrimage infrastructure - we constantly come to the Russian Spiritual Mission, we see how it is changing. There are a lot of expenses for this - for receiving pilgrims and fans. And the whole program... After all, what is coming to Jerusalem? This is the preparation of the program. She's going to Easter. But in order for everything to happen the way it happens every year, and you see the live broadcast on TV, work trips are necessary for this.
Elena Zelinskaya: You are talking about fire. But we don’t only see this on TV. We see this with our living eyes, because, as you know, you deliver this fire by plane to Moscow, and many Orthodox Russians have the opportunity to light their candle from real fire. I managed to do this even in a temple in the Moscow region, and the fire didn’t quite burn, it wasn’t... You could still raise your hand.
Mikhail Yakushev: You know, what happened here is that our program was aimed at restoring spiritual and historical memory. Abbot Daniel describes that he set up a lamp for the entire Russian land - for the princes, for his relatives, relatives, and then for himself, the unworthy. This tradition has been with us for generations. And before Abbot Daniel, there was also Abbot Varlaam, fulfilling the same tradition. Even, I think, before the adoption of baptism in Rus' there were already the first Christians in Rus', they took the same tradition that was then developed by Christians in other countries. It wasn't there then church schism, Great Schism, and for us, those whom we call Catholics were Orthodox then. They were like this until 1054, before this split.
But this tradition developed, somehow changed, but our movement itself, it turns out that we take, we do not just copy, we preserve this tradition. Because you need to come, pray for peace in Jerusalem and throughout the world together with the Patriarch of Jerusalem and greetings - this grace from your brother, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, bring to the Patriarch of Moscow.
Here the connection between Jerusalem and Moscow is not only in movement, but the blessing that we receive from the Patriarch. Together with him, our bishop cares for our delegation with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow. There are a lot of foreigners there. The Polish delegation often becomes the Polish Orthodox part of the Russian delegation. They are in vestments, they are very similar to Russian church vestments, and... Greeks, Romanians, Americans, French, Orthodox - you know, when you stand there, you ask: “Who are you, brother?” The man converted to Orthodoxy a year or two ago.
And when I was now at the Patriarch of Jerusalem, I left him, there was a group of Londoners - Russian people who live in London. They have a parish there. And Bishop Elisha blessed them, then he was the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission, when I was still serving as a diplomat in Israel. In general, I said hello to them, they said: “We have a newly baptized person.” An Englishman, a young guy who was with them. Fresh from Jerusalem, that is, from the Jordan River, he, in general, accepted Orthodoxy and is drawn to the Russian language. In England, Great Britain, it turns out that Orthodoxy is very popular. And many members of parliament accept Orthodoxy. Amazing things that maybe we don’t propagate very much, I don’t know if it should be propagated, but Orthodoxy has become popular in Western Europe. Catholic churches are closing - Orthodox parishes come, or are redeemed.
Elena Zelinskaya: Since we’ve already started talking about this topic, I really love Finland and go there often. She made many programs about the life of Finland, including, of course, about Orthodoxy in Finland. I talked a lot with priests – both Russians who serve in Finland and Finns. They are seeing the same trend. Not a day goes by without... They gave me this figure: not a day goes by without another Finn joining Orthodoxy. But where Orthodoxy exists, there it triumphs.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes indeed.
Elena Zelinskaya: You and I made such a trip to the Holy Land and returned to Moscow. As I understand it, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation in Moscow also works to benefit the development and restoration of these broken threads, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes.
Elena Zelinskaya: Let us remember, our program is already running out, but still we will remember what happened here in the Kremlin, not without the help of your foundation. I mean about the Spasskaya Tower.
Mikhail Yakushev: It so happened that a representative of the Church Abroad appeared in the foundation when there was no prayer communication yet. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, we entered into authorized contact and, in general, we ourselves did not expect how much communication with a representative, with a bishop of the Church Abroad, would change us.
Bishop Mikhail Donskov, in the world Simeon Donskov, Semyon Vasilyevich is a Don Cossack, he came to our foundation at the end of 2003, after Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin met with the bishops of the Church Abroad. In general, the result of this meeting was the idea of transferring the holy relics of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - this is one part. And the second part is that he told us that during the work of the commission of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad, as a demand that was submitted by the Church Abroad to the Moscow Patriarchate, it was the restoration of the gate icons in the Kremlin and, in order to remove the stars, they were replaced with These are the old imperial crosses. This surprised us very much, because we somehow never thought that...
Elena Zelinskaya: Why are there these icons?
Mikhail Yakushev: For us it was... So that led to us asking if there were any photographs. A year later, we received a photograph and began to think about how we could get to these white sheets above the entrance to the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers. In general, Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin, chairman of the board of trustees of our foundation, wrote a letter to President Putin in May 2007, and he responded positively with what could be done. And we asked, using the funds we collected, not state, but public, to check whether there was anything there. If not, then try to recreate it. And if there is something there, then try to restore it.
Elena Zelinskaya: You spent a lot of time research work, and the result...
Mikhail Yakushev: The result was that now you see, the Savior on the Spasskaya Tower and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker have been restored, they look at us and bless us openly, no longer being walled up. Probably, for everyone who was involved in this project, this is a miracle; there is no other word for it. Suffice it to recall the Kremlin commandant how he perceived this. You could just see from him, you know, that it was a miracle, it couldn’t be described.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, it remains to fulfill the second requirement and return the crosses above the icon on the Spasskaya Tower to the other towers. This nonsense, when over the holy icon...
Mikhail Yakushev: Of course of course.
Elena Zelinskaya: The symbol of the godless state still stands. Probably, this nonsense also needs to be resolved somehow.
Mikhail Yakushev: When the mausoleum is standing, perhaps it is good as a monument. I know that some people say that it should be preserved. But the presence there of the remains or mummy of the leader of the Bolshevik state is, of course, a controversial issue, to say the least. I don't know how it can be.
There were such disputes, or rather rumors, but this was not confirmed historically, it was like a joke. When Patriarch Tikhon was already ill, they said that the sewerage system had burst near the Mausoleum and sewage was pouring in. This is a joke that happened in the 20s. Then the Patriarch allegedly said: “According to the relics and the oil!” There is no subtraction or addition here. Unfortunately…
Elena Zelinskaya: Let's hope that here, too, history will still follow the straight path, and we will increasingly get rid of such inconsistencies in our lives. On the contrary, more and more tie the knots that connect our history and expand our opportunities to live within the framework of Russian history, Russian geography.
Mikhail Yakushev: I agree, Elena Konstantinovna, I agree, but I would ask our St. Petersburg friends to pay attention. Indeed, St. Petersburg, and the region is Leningrad.
Elena Zelinskaya: Agree.
Mikhail Yakushev: It’s as if it’s an image of Christ, and his halo is, so to speak, the Antichrist. You know, inconsistency.
Elena Zelinskaya: Well, Mikhail Ilyich, we will pray with you and expect that next year, maybe not next year, in the near future, at least in our lifetime, we will get rid of all these inconsistencies, and Russian history and Russian geography will be restored in a way that is consistent with the Russian national way of life, the Russian character, our idea, and for the Glory of God.
Mikhail Yakushev: For the Glory of God. Amen.
Elena Zelinskaya: It’s probably best to end our program with this word. Thank you very much for your fascinating story about your journey through the Holy Land. It’s as if I walked with you through these great cities, the mere listing of whose names pleases the heart of anyone. Orthodox Christian: Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jericho.
Mikhail Yakushev: Jericho, Bethlehem.
Elena Zelinskaya: Bethlehem.
Mikhail Yakushev: Nazareth.
Elena Zelinskaya: Thank you very much, Mikhail Ilyich, for this trip, and all the best to you.
With this, dear TV viewers, I, Elena Zelinskaya, say goodbye to you. Today my guest was Mikhail Yakushev, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. Until next Monday. We do not promise you ready-made answers. We don't know them. But we are going to look for them and find them, thinking with you. There will be a day, there will be a search.
Panarin:
Hello, dear radio listeners! My guest is a man of legendary destiny who went through diplomatic school. Now he is engaged in the rise of Russian history, Russian statehood - this is Mikhail Ilyich Yakushev, first vice-president of the Center for National Glory of Russia. Hello, Mikhail Ilyich!
Yakushev
: Good afternoon!
Panarin : A representative of the National Glory Center is in this studio for the first time. What kind of organization is this? For what purposes is it intended?
Yakushev : Historically it happened that This year the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation turns 20 years old.
Panarin : Specific event.
Yakushev : In 1992, this public non-religious non-governmental organization was created, which took the name of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Many foundations were created both before and after, which also bore the names of saints. But here we need to highlight a feature: its creation was primarily associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Panarin : In fact, this disintegration, collapse, scrapping made it possible to try to create some kind of structure that would fill the resulting vacuum?
Yakushev : I think that when this fund was created in 1992 (it was created by Alexander Melnik), no one could have imagined that there would subsequently be such dynamics.
Panarin : Positive dynamics, I would say.
Yakushev : Yes. The charter stated that there must be a strengthening of the spiritual foundations of Russian society.
Panarin : The key is precisely the spiritual component of the development of society. This was very important in those difficult years.
Yakushev : It’s interesting that when the organization offered its programs in 2003(offering the foot of St. Andrew the First-Called), it was a marvelous miracle. A common Christian shrine was brought from Athos - the foot of St. Andrew the First-Called from Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, and then the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church were shocked. For us, the laity, this was also a shock, since the practice of bringing did not exist in the Soviet Union, it was still in the Russian Empire.
Panarin : It was continuation of the traditions of pre-revolutionary Russia? Continuity, relationship.
Yakushev : There should be no gap. The Soviet Union is the successor of the Russian Empire . And its disintegration should not cause damage, which, unfortunately, has been caused and continues to be caused to this day.
One organization was not enough. The head of the board of trustees at that time was Yegor Semenovich Stroev, and in 2001 happened in the history of our foundation significant event, the most significant in beginning of XXI century. Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin became the chairman of the board of trustees.
Panarin: He has been heading it for 11 years. Your center was born from this fund.
Yakushev : I often joke, saying: how the Center of National Glory grows out of Gogol’s “Overcoat”. At that time I was still in the diplomatic service, and soon became a federal official and knew nothing about these organizations. When they came to invite me to the first meeting in 2003, at the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations,” neither the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation nor the Center for National Glory were known to me.
Panarin: This dynamic turned positive, and Rhodes welcomed guests from all over the world for the tenth time. Before we return to this topic, I wanted to say that it was no coincidence that I called you a legendary figure: it was Mikhail Ilyich Yakushev is the man who annually delivers fire from the Holy Land to Russia. Right? Have you been doing this for many years?..
Elena Zelinskaya: Hello, dear TV viewers! My name is Elena Zelinskaya. The program “In Search of Meaning” is on air. And today my guest is Mikhail Yakushev, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. Hello, Mikhail Ilyich!
Mikhail Yakushev: Hello, Elena Konstantinovna.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, I know that you are a big fan of being on social networks, and I, too, frankly speaking, sometimes don’t get out of there, maybe even too much. And every time I see you traveling from one wonderful city to another. Now I have a photograph of Mikhail Ilyich on Mount Athos, then I have a photograph of Mikhail Ilyich in Athens. But the latest photographs, I noticed, have already arrived from Jerusalem. I immediately had a question for you. Are you a traveler, an amateur traveler, or is something else drawing you to these places, sacred to many of us?
Mikhail Yakushev: Let's start with the fact that any person who visits holy places used to be called not, as is now customary, a pilgrim, but a fan. Devotee of holy places. It has always been there - fans, worship, pilgrimage.
Elena Zelinskaya: From the word “bow”?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, worship of holy places. Walking – “walking” even earlier. These were such wandering walkers.
Elena Zelinskaya: Pedestrian.
Mikhail Yakushev: Pedestrian. And all this meant a pilgrim, a Russian pilgrim. And not only Russians, because before Russian pilgrims there were Christians who went to the Holy Land, who had previously accepted the faith of Christ. The tradition of pilgrimage has deep roots in the very cities that you have already indicated. Plus, of course, Constantinople and Constantinople. The Holy Land began from this place for pilgrims.
Even Foros, which we know from the tragic history of the collapse of a great power, an empire, which is unpleasant for all of us, this place is the most extreme point, the closest point to the Holy Land, to Constantinople. Danilevsky chose a special place where to be buried, because he is a Christian, Orthodox, he wanted to be as close as possible to the Holy Land, and this is a straight line, a line - and Constantinople, already the Holy Land. Therefore, when, under this bias, you look at what happened to our power, to our empire, then you understand that this has a great tragic meaning for the pilgrims who trampled this path to the Crimea, and then followed on ships.
Elena Zelinskaya: You have paved the way for yourself to Jerusalem. This is probably not the first time we’ve been there, and I hope, of course, that it’s not the last. In general, visiting the Holy Land for any person is probably a shock, an event in life. Going there as regularly as you do can probably change your whole life, views and worldview? For example, I know very well that your foundation... Even more precisely, thanks to your foundation, we here, Russian Orthodox Christians, annually get the opportunity to touch one of the greatest miracles - this is the fire that descends in the temple. This is happening thanks to your foundation, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: Thanks to two blessings - the Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. These are two blessings, when they are there, they are there - then what happens happens.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, after all, such a close contact with the Holy Land, with such great miracles, did it somehow influence your life?
Mikhail Yakushev: Without a doubt. You know... Who would have said that, say, 20 years ago, that fate would turn out so that I would leave the government service, the diplomatic service and move to this fund.
Elena Zelinskaya: Are you a diplomat by training?
Mikhail Yakushev: By education I am an oriental historian, Ottomanist and Arabist. Not a diplomat. And it so happened that I went to work at the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. And the statutory objectives of this organization, which arose in 1992, the year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, are to strengthen the spiritual foundations of our society. The Center of National Glory, whose tenth anniversary we celebrated last year, is an organization aimed at helping to strengthen the foundations of Russian statehood. And in general, together, these two organizations work, first of all, to help the public, church institutions, and, of course, sovereigns in the implementation of the tasks that face our country, our society.
Elena Zelinskaya: This is, of course, what you did. And my question was more precisely directed. How did this closeness to everything affect your own personal life, your state of mind?
Mikhail Yakushev: It influenced me in such a way that it is even difficult to explain why I made the choice to go to work for these organizations that are engaged in the work that you have already outlined. By doing this, we understand that... It is difficult to explain why this happened.
Indeed, when you become involved with a spiritual theme, it opens you up, it draws you in, and you cannot recognize yourself from yesterday, the day before yesterday. Then you feel, especially after visiting holy places, you arrive, they tell you: “Listen, some kind of energy comes from you, something else.” And you yourself understand what people mean, because you come, say, from Mount Athos, from Jerusalem, your eyes glow, your smile. The feeling of anger becomes somehow incomprehensible.
On Athos, in general, if you come there with a hard heart, you push off from Ouranoupolis in a boat, walk for half an hour on a motor boat, and then set foot, and all your grievances are gone, they are gone. This is a miracle that cannot be explained. Maybe a psychologist will tell you, explain it in Latin, legally, maybe somehow professionally, but a person changes. When you are doing what you said, traveling, wandering around these holy places where...
Why are they saints? They are connected either with the earthly life of Christ, or with the earthly life of His disciples, or the Mother of God. We take Athens here; we remember the Apostle Paul, first of all. We take here Mount Athos, the Mother of God. We take those cities where the apostles went. You walk in the footsteps of saints - not only apostles, but also pilgrims. If we take, for example, in the footsteps of Abbot Daniel, already 905 years ago, he made a pilgrimage and described it. He described it with such precision that he could actually put to shame a poorly prepared guide in Israel who had not read the work of Abbot Daniel.
Elena Zelinskaya: You know, Mikhail Ilyich, I read with great interest the notes of the pedestrian Vasily Barsky, who, this is also probably 300 years ago...
Mikhail Yakushev: This is from 1727 to 1743.
Elena Zelinskaya: How many centuries has it been?
Mikhail Yakushev: Twenty-three years passed. This is after Peter I, but as a result of these Constantinople treatises, which described the unhindered movement of Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem, Vasily Grigorovich, nicknamed Barsky, he visited the city of Bari, he went down in history.
Elena Zelinskaya: Imagine, I walked on foot, unlike us who fly on planes on pilgrimage. I walked.
Mikhail Yakushev: He left for Italy.
Elena Zelinskaya: And with a bad leg.
Mikhail Yakushev: Having been beaten half to death more than once, robbed, and shot at, miraculously he remained alive. He took monastic vows at the hands of the Patriarch of Antioch. Knew the Patriarch of Antioch, Jerusalem, met with the Patriarch of Alexandria. He was a unique person. Became a monk. And he returned home to his homeland.
Elena Zelinskaya: You know, he was buried in Kyiv. What struck me most was that he accompanied these notes with drawings. And these drawings are not of an artistic nature. He sketched what he saw during his travels, including temples. I was especially struck by the drawing of the Catherine Monastery, which is located right at the foot of Mount Sinai. And not only the monastery itself is completely drawn there, but also the location, the layout of the rooms inside and a separate refectory, where the tables and chairs are, how it was all located.
Do you know what's most interesting? That I talked to specialists, and they told me such an interesting thing that he painted without special tools. What a year it was. He drew as if by eye, measured it all by eye, and so on. So, all the proportions, all the ratios of height, length, volume - everything absolutely exactly coincides with the measurements made by modern architects-researchers of all these buildings. That's what's interesting. This means what a huge talent the person had, among other things.
Mikhail Yakushev: Known at the court of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
Elena Zelinskaya: And, probably, a zeal that is still incomparable to ours.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, absolutely. You know, when he first came to Mount Athos, the elders treated him with coolness. In general, as if, because he visited Bari, he probably picked up the Latin heresy. In general, they did not accept him.
And when he arrived after Elizaveta Petrovna drew attention to him, and sent the paper to our envoy Vishnyakov in Constantinople, and he asked him to stay, to become his de facto priest of the embassy church, he refused. He did everything to go to Athos again. And when he already arrived on Athos, the elders already received him in a completely different way.
It must be said that he did not remind them how... But in his notes he noted this, that is, how the attitude towards him changed when he became more famous. But he did not deteriorate, his head was not blown off. This was a real traveler, wanderer, and, in the opinion of the Byzantinist Lebedev at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, who wrote that neither the Greeks, nor anyone, nor the Serbs, nor the Bulgarians have our Barsky Vasily Grigorovich. Because the work he created described how he could wear it while being robbed more than once.
Elena Zelinskaya: I’ll add something else to you to end this wonderful story with this point. He, as you rightly noted, did not deteriorate, but we turned out to be ungrateful. And the grave of Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky is completely neglected in Kyiv, and so far no one has gotten around to it...
Mikhail Yakushev: Kiev-Pechersk Lavra nearby.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, yes, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is nearby. And the grave is abandoned. And it is known where it is. I’m taking this opportunity to address you right on the air as a representative of the fund. Let's somehow find those who are interested in this. And the memory of such a wonderful traveler, writer, artist and simply, in my opinion, a holy person, in some sense, should be revered in a different way.
Mikhail Yakushev: I will take this opportunity to try to say. What does it mean, the ingenuity of a pilgrim, a monk. A man goes to Jerusalem on Easter and is robbed right outside Jerusalem. I really wanted to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem and see the fire. This is a tradition. Easter is the main event of any pilgrim; years have been spent on this. He is beaten very severely once again and stripped naked. He had rich clothes, as it seemed to him. And, you know, what would we do in this situation? Ask this question to each of us. This man pretended to be a holy fool, and he was allowed through without any duty. He was so drawn to go to Jerusalem, where he had already been several times. Come, pray and, in general, be on Easter.
Elena Zelinskaya: How did you end up in Jerusalem for the first time?
Mikhail Yakushev: First time in Jerusalem. I'm even trying to remember. I'll tell you now. This was in the December days of 1994. Then I was sent as the first secretary to work at our embassy in Tel Aviv, and from November 15, 1994 to May 30, 1999, I served as a diplomat at our embassy. And he was engaged in his line of work. This was my burden – connections with the Jerusalem Patriarchate. But this load has become my favorite thing. Then there was also Patriarch Diodorus, by the way, a recipient of the international award of St. Andrew the First-Called “For Faith and Fidelity” - Diodorus I. This was the first. This year I have already visited Jerusalem five times. I visit about 5-6 times a year.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, it is clear that you are coming on important matters, about which I will now ask you. But an ordinary person who comes, a pilgrim, a pilgrim, a worshiper, comes to the Holy Land, not as a tourist, but wants to follow the path of a real pilgrim, whatever opportunities he has for this. Will they meet him there, will they help him there? What does it all look like now?
Mikhail Yakushev: Now this is especially true recently, especially after the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', even under Patriarch Pimen, and already the accession to the patriarchal throne of Patriarch Alexy, after his historical pilgrimage in 1991 and 1997, and in subsequent years, it must be said that now, since the beginning of the 90s, with the arrival of the Patriarch, Mother George also came, who still heads the Gornensky convent for women, but serves at the Russian Spiritual Mission.
The Russian Spiritual Mission - its history begins with the visit of the Holy Land by Porfiry Uspensky. Also, as if under the guise of a pilgrim, I went there from the Synod and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1843 and until... He stayed there for about a year, and then, in 1947, he was sent by the Sovereign Emperor at the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission more openly. But everyone understood that the Synod, after all, was like a ministry in the government of the Russian Empire, and it was taken for an official person. Before the start of the Crimean War, he was in Jerusalem. And even after the start of the Crimean War, when the state flag had already been lowered, it still remained until the French consul drew the attention of the Ottomans to it, which was a representative of the Russian government, with whom the Ottoman Porte was engaged in military operations.
In general, he had to leave this place. The Russian Spiritual Mission then, after the Crimean War, was restored, and it began to operate and continued until the First World War, when again we lowered the flag, and the mission, and the Moscow Russian buildings were occupied by the Ottomans, then the Germans, and then the British came.
18th year - a schism occurs in our country, like a conflict in the Church, because not everyone recognizes this power of the Bolsheviks. And the Church Abroad in Karlovci in Serbia makes a decision... The Church actually splits into two parts. Contacts were maintained, but eucharistic and prayer communication ceased from then on. And now this civil war, and after the revolution, strife - I invite you...
In 2007, or rather, even earlier, in 2004, when the foundation initiated the bringing of the honest relics of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and nun Varvara (2004-2005). As soon as we brought particles of relics from Jerusalem, at the end of July, in August, His Holiness the Patriarch at the Synod of Bishops, by his decree, decided to restore prayerful communication with the Church Abroad. It was already possible to pray, while in the same church, to foreign representatives and the Moscow Patriarchate.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, I remember this time well. It so happened that I found myself in the last years before this event, the greatest, I would even say, event, I ended up in Jerusalem, and we went to the temple - you will name it for me now - and so...
Mikhail Yakushev: Church of the Resurrection of Christ, right? Main temple.
Elena Zelinskaya: No no. No, not to the main temple.
Mikhail Yakushev: There is a monastery of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes Yes. And just on the Mount of Olives we entered the monastery of Mary Magdalene, and so we shifted around and stood there. This is, after all, a shrine that is common to all of us, but this feeling of awkwardness that you don’t understand how to behave there, I remember it, this feeling. And, of course, I consider it the greatest event that now this is a thing of the past, and we can calmly... I haven’t had the chance to go there yet, but if someday, God willing, I end up, I’ll go into the Church of Mary Magdalene with a completely different feeling .
Mikhail Yakushev: Because in 2007, on May 17, 2007, an act was signed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior by two representatives - the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and the primate, the first hierarch of the Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, signed an act of canonical communion. Now not only could representatives of the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate pray prayerfully in the same church, but also receive communion from the chalice. That is, this is Eucharistic communion restored, that is, this is actually the highest form of unity. That is, again the Russian Orthodox Church became a single organism. God willing, now that pilgrims and worshipers are coming to the Holy Land, the Russian Spiritual Mission continues its activities.
Elena Zelinskaya: How does she look? What exactly does it consist of? What is the Russian Spiritual Mission?
Mikhail Yakushev: The Russian Spiritual Mission is a large territory that is located on a historical site. There, in the 67th year and 70th year of our era, the legions of the Roman emperor Titus, even the future emperor, were stationed, he was the son of the emperor Vespasian. He took Jerusalem right from this place. When in the Ottoman era, there was a place there called Maidan - a square ledge, parades of Ottoman troops took place there, and troops left for war, including with Russia.
After the Crimean War, the Sultan promised to donate a piece of land in this place. And he donates about one third of this plot. Two-thirds were purchased with money from the Russian government by order of Alexander II and, in general, this piece, where the Russian buildings are, a complex of buildings arose there, the buildings of the Consulate General, the Trinity Cathedral, the Elizabethan Metochion, the Russian Spiritual Mission, a hospital, a hospital. The Russian Spiritual Mission existed there just before 1948. But since the age of 21 there...
Elena Zelinskaya: You omit the first two digits so much that I'm already confused. Then you jump to Emperor Titus, where we have the year 67. Then suddenly the year 1948 flashes here. What year are you referring to specifically?
Mikhail Yakushev: Excuse me, for Christ's sake, because it really needs to be called.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes, you need to call it.
Mikhail Yakushev: Titus is, of course, the first century AD. The Russian Spiritual Mission is the second half of the 19th century, when Russian buildings grew, which is called Moscobia, Muscovy. There is the Trinity Cathedral, there is the building of the Russian Spiritual Mission. Unfortunately, in 1964, part of...
Elena Zelinskaya: Thousand…
Mikhail Yakushev: Since 1964, literally two weeks before Khrushchev was removed, on his initiative and with his support, a number of Russian real estate properties were sold. Unfortunately, this happened when there was a struggle, again, since the early 60s of the 20th century, against the Russian Orthodox Church. We, of course, have lost a lot from the Russian heritage. I’ll even say, the Russian state - here are the Romanovs, here are the pilgrims who paid a lot of money to buy plots and bequeath them to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society or they corresponded to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the husband of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, just the brother of Alexander III and uncle Nicholas II, chairman of the Imperial Palestine Orthodox Society.
This is the Russian Spiritual Mission and was called upon to defend the interests of Russian pilgrims, because at the beginning of the 19th century, when our pedestrians came, they encountered the Greeks who received them, and could not always confess to them in Russian.
And the pilgrims were, for the most part, illiterate. There were serfs. Imagine, let’s say, Count Sheremetyev corrects his peasant Kira Bronnikov’s passport, gives him money, sends it, writes to Ambassador Stroganov to accept him, give him the necessary papers - such was the concern for the pilgrimage feat, to pray not only for himself, but, above all, , about the authorities, and about the master. In general, this was the tradition: any person who goes to pray can pray for his lord, master, if he is a serf, for all his relatives, acquaintances, for the entire village, for the entire volost, perhaps. Because this is a feat that he knows that he is carrying, and must fulfill, fulfill to the end, especially if according to the will. Therefore, the Russian Spiritual Mission, even later, when it was already established, helped create pilgrimage routes so that Russian people would feel at home there. And so it happened. Russian Palestine is the end of the second half of the 19th century. And now you won’t surprise anyone with this word - Russian Palestine.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, over the last 20 years, probably... You haven’t been working there for 20 years, but you probably know the whole story. Changes took place, did you manage to return something, restore something that was lost during the years of Soviet power?
Mikhail Yakushev: Thank God, I was still a diplomat at that time and was involved in Russian real estate issues. In 1996, before the arrival of Yevgeny Vasilyevich Primakov in October, we managed to obtain a document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the re-registration of real estate from Soviet to Russian, because the collapse of the Soviet Union was again a blow. These are Ukraine’s claims, first of all, to part of this church real estate. In general, the Israelis also thought for a long time about what we should do, and so on and so forth.
The position of Yasser Arafat also helped here, who came out categorically in support of the Moscow Patriarchate. Maybe he even took it too hard, because he had a dispute with his wife Sukhaya on this issue, because he supported the position of Patriarch Alexy. And then this wound that was there, it was bleeding, of course, I’m talking about the mid-90s. Thank God, she was healed there because the Grand Duchess tried here too, so that we understand that we need to heal those wounds inflicted, first of all, by the revolution and civil war.
Because now the date is approaching - the 100th anniversary of the First World War, and the loss of Russian Palestine in its entirety is precisely the result of the events and mistakes of the Russian government.
Elena Zelinskaya: Soviet government.
Mikhail Yakushev: Even the Russian government, the tsarist government. Because the documents on how we got involved in the First World War, as we expected, have not yet been studied very well. And these documents are archival, they exist. And in 2010, we conducted a historical campaign with the descendants of those people who left Crimea in 1920-21. And then on board, after heated debates, we adopted the document “Never Again,” where we recognized that all classes of the Russian Empire were responsible for what happened - for the revolution, for the civil war.
This is very important to know in order to understand what happened to us. Because now all the problems that we face demographically, spiritually, morally, politically - in many ways, the origins lie in those distant years, which seemed to be in the First World War.
Elena Zelinskaya: If I had been on board with you that day, of course, I would have joined this document, since it corresponds to my ideas about those catastrophic events, with one exception. I completely exclude the Russian army from the list of culprits, because both the officers of the Russian Empire and the soldiers of the Great War probably showed themselves in the best possible way.
Mikhail Yakushev: Great - that's what I mean...
Elena Zelinskaya: World War I.
Mikhail Yakushev: The First World War was truly a Great War.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes.
Mikhail Yakushev: You know, I would like to say that on this ship we met two people: the son of Alexander Alexandrovich, Prince Trubetskoy, Vladimir met a girl, Alena Velitovskaya...
This is the result of a seemingly simple action that was aimed at healing the wounds that were inflicted by those tragic events. When we talk about the Holy Land, then, of course, it would be very good to imagine this Ecumene as a single whole, like the Golden Fleece. Indeed, the Holy Land, Palestine, in the Middle Ages in Europe it was designated as the Golden Fleece, gold on the map. And everything around could be green or blue. But the Holy Land is gold, therefore... Jerusalem has never been anyone's capital, except now Israel proclaimed it in 1980. And so this was... This was a province. Whoever conquered these territories was the one...
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, the Russian mission is located in Jerusalem. But, besides Jerusalem, all of Israel practically, one way or another, correlates with what you say, with the Holy Land.
Mikhail Yakushev: All of historical Palestine can be taken even more.
Elena Zelinskaya: Yes. Let's talk about other places, for example Bethlehem. Does the Russian mission have anything to do with this city?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes. Bethlehem is a city that was administratively subordinate to Jerusalem. This has always been the Jerusalem district. Located 8-10 kilometers away, a village, a village. And on Sundays, the Orthodox Arab population walked to prayer services, this was the norm, not even everyone could.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, when I happened to be, I was once in the Holy Land, where I happened to be, I remember well that we went to Bethlehem, and we had to cross checkpoints, we were stopped. There were very pretty girls standing there with machine guns. And although it was friendly, nevertheless, the feeling was wary and gloomy.
Mikhail Yakushev: Of course, because as a result... The state of Israel has a policy - to cut off the Arabs from Jerusalem. Now this wall that passed, it cut off Bethlehem. If someone drives into Bethlehem, the first thing they see is a concrete wall, and they drive through this wall.
When I was a diplomat, you won’t believe it, I went to Gaza from Tel Aviv, even Israeli patrols didn’t stop me. And the Palestinians simply saw the numbers, and... And in Bethlehem there was the same situation. This was 94-95. The result of the signing of the 1993 agreement - the Declaration of Principles in Washington. We, the Russian delegation, were in Washington at that time and saw how this document was signed on the lawn near the White House.
But, unfortunately, the policy is changing. The current prime minister distinguished himself very much back then; he had a very tough position. And now what you said is the result of pure politics, because even the tomb of Rachel, and this is, as it were, tied to Bethlehem - “Rachel’s cry is heard throughout Bethlehem” - this is now a completely concreted building that belongs to Israel on the territory of the Palestinian national administration. And neither Christians nor Muslims are allowed there anymore, but this was a holy place for representatives of three religions.
Therefore, there is access to the Church of the Nativity, it is there that we see the Nativity Cathedral, a place in the nativity scene or in the cave of the Nativity, we see a star, the place where Christ was born in this stable, because there was not enough space in the hotel. We go down a little lower - this is the place of Christ’s manger.
You see, when we talk about the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, we mean, first of all, this joy, which is celebrated, among other things, by the Palestinian authorities. When power was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority, then it was Yasser Arafat, now Abu Mazen, the president or head of the Palestinian National Authority is always present every Christmas. This is already such an established tradition. Because even the authorities... The majority there, of course, are now Muslims. Previously, by the way, in Bethlehem the population was overwhelming, 100% were Orthodox, in the 19th century, at least in the first half. Now, unfortunately, the Orthodox population, the Christian population in general, is being forced out, squeezed out, emigrating. It's a very difficult situation. But this is a holy place for Russia. There is a Russian hotel there, and the Russian language can be heard.
Elena Zelinskaya: I didn't stay there, but I went in. I saw this hotel, yes.
Mikhail Yakushev: I invite those who will be in Bethlehem to stay there, because it is very beautiful, good and right next to the place of the Nativity of Christ. I repeat, this is only 10 kilometers from the holy city of Jerusalem.
Elena Zelinskaya: Ten thousand... can't even be pronounced. Ten-millennium!
Mikhail Yakushev: Ancient Yafa and Jericho are very cities... Jerusalem is not inferior. There are places there that are a must visit. Yesterday we were at the Tretyakov Gallery and saw the painting “Christ in the Desert”. We see this desert, and we see a 40-day mountain. 40-day mountain Karantel. That is, the word “quarantine” is 40 days. So it received this name, where the evil one approached the Savior three times after fasting. When you are there...
We have been there many times, we were with His Holiness the Patriarch in June 1997, when he blessed us to go up. A Russian temple was founded there. The foundation is still on this highest mountain. Until 1914, before the outbreak of the First World War, a Russian temple was being built, which was stopped because of this tragic, sad war. And we talked about the Gornensky Monastery. Mother George heads the Gornensky Monastery, also from the Russian Spiritual Mission near Jerusalem, now this has also become Jerusalem. There was a second temple there, which began to be built in the year 14. It was no longer possible to install the ceiling up to the second floor.
After that historic pilgrimage in June 1997, Patriarch Alexy blessed the temple in the name of all the Saints who shone in the Russian land. It has now already been illuminated by Patriarch Kirill. And there was a great consecration. There was also a small consecration. Like these connections with the First World War. We understand that by recreating, or rather, finally building, this church and consecrating it, we can thereby close this page.
Elena Zelinskaya: How would they tie another knot, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: The Lord says here too: it is necessary, since they began to build, it is necessary to restore.
Elena Zelinskaya: If we return to this Russian temple, to the temple that was founded on Mount Jericho. There are no such considerations - to complete it and bring it to mind?
Mikhail Yakushev: Probably a matter for the future, because, thank God, there is a foundation, but I know that this is the highest strategic point. The Israelis use their radars to listen and track what is going on in the Judean desert. But Russian pilgrims always went to Jericho and described these places. We went to the Dead Sea, which they also described. This, if you walk, will literally take 4-4.5 hours with a good walk. Otherwise, by car it takes 40-45 minutes, and you are already there, in Jericho. And if you go to the right, 400 meters below sea level, you will get to the Dead Sea.
Of course, Nazareth is a must. Nazareth is a city in the upper Galilee, which is good news for all Christians. This is the Gospel, the Greek word is blagovest. The good news sounded there from the lips of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. You definitely need to visit there, because further on you will see the Sea of Galilee, where the Savior Christ met those people who became his first disciples - the apostles, whom he blessed to preach his teachings throughout the world.
And today we remembered St. Andrew the First-Called, he reached Scandinavia. Pavel visited Athens. Peter and Paul are in Rome. Apostle Mark is responsible for the baptism of all Africa.
Elena Zelinskaya: You and I are having some kind of joyful, good conversation.
Mikhail Yakushev: Imagine what missions!
Elena Zelinskaya: Just listing these places even changes your mood and feeling about life.
Mikhail Yakushev: At that time there were no airplanes, there were no such types of transport, people walked, preached, explained. Moreover, when people heard these verbs, incomprehensible, then, if it were not an apostle, and people not from God...
Elena Zelinskaya: You have not reached my most beloved city, close to my heart, Capernaum.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes, “woe to you, Jerusalem, woe to you, Bethsaida. And you, Capernaum, who ascended to heaven, will be cast down to hell!” Capernaum is an amazing city; it is believed that, as the Savior said: “You will be cast down to hell,” it went under water. And excavations show that there really was a city there, there was a church, a synagogue, and they even found a longboat, which was preserved in very good condition in the silt.
In the same place, the Mount of Beatitudes is nearby. Holy places - you feel there, of course, under the influence of that spirituality and spiritual influence of joy that you are where your ancestors would have strived, but they could not. You see, the burden is on you - you carry these thoughts, dreams that were in the hearts of your ancestors.
This is how it all affects you, so naturally you will remember as many names as you remember in your family. Unfortunately, after our revolution we don’t know much. But who knows the third, fourth generation - thank God. And so, if you don’t know the 12th generation, the 15th. And in the east they know. You understand, of course, that our history in this sense is tragic, that after a fratricidal war, a split in the Russian army, when the bayonets of the brothers turned against each other, you and I got what we got.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, you told us so fascinatingly about this journey, I just, because, as I already said, I was there once, I traced this path again before my eyes. It was I who traveled as a pilgrim. Surely you are not traveling as a pilgrim? Are you going there on business?
Mikhail Yakushev: No. I'll disappoint you. When we went there with my wife and son as diplomats, it seemed to us that we, diplomats, were going there on a business trip. Many people go there as tourists. And we go there as tourists. Everyone goes there - some as diplomats, some as tourists, some as merchants, but all return as admirers. Something happens to a person that, as it were, a genetic code begins to work, historical memory turns on, and then you read about the Holy Land upon your return, your foot, your foot has already walked in these places, and the perception is completely different. And you are already drawn to it. It's such an attractive force. Visiting Jerusalem once is just the beginning. That's why…
Elena Zelinskaya: However, now we will jump from your own feeling to your travels as a representative of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the national Center of Glory. Still, does it somehow contribute to the development of the Spiritual Mission, and how they spend time there, and does your foundation provide any assistance to pilgrims?
Mikhail Yakushev: It must be said that since our program, the main program of the year, “Ask for peace in Jerusalem,” it exists with the blessing, as I already said, of two Patriarchs - Jerusalem and Moscow. And the representative of our Patriarchate is, as it were, an ambassador, the head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, then, naturally, our visit there becomes part of our joint work. Because more and more pilgrims are accepted every year, especially after the abolition of visas.
Elena Zelinskaya: Are there any numbers? Somehow, do you see how many pilgrims go there, just pilgrims?
Mikhail Yakushev: I would be afraid to give exact numbers. About six months ago, the Ministry of Tourism told us that these figures impress our Israeli colleagues, because it is no coincidence that visas were cancelled. This turned out to be a relief for them, and it was beneficial. The fact that you can easily get to the Holy Land and does not create any problems for Israelis. They create conditions for people to cross this border without any hindrance without a visa.
Development of pilgrimage infrastructure - we constantly come to the Russian Spiritual Mission, we see how it is changing. There are a lot of expenses for this - for receiving pilgrims and fans. And the whole program... After all, what is coming to Jerusalem? This is the preparation of the program. She's going to Easter. But in order for everything to happen the way it happens every year, and you see the live broadcast on TV, work trips are necessary for this.
Elena Zelinskaya: You are talking about fire. But we don’t only see this on TV. We see this with our living eyes, because, as you know, you deliver this fire by plane to Moscow, and many Orthodox Russians have the opportunity to light their candle from real fire. I managed to do this even in a temple in the Moscow region, and the fire didn’t quite burn, it wasn’t... You could still raise your hand.
Mikhail Yakushev: You know, what happened here is that our program was aimed at restoring spiritual and historical memory. Abbot Daniel describes that he set up a lamp for the entire Russian land - for the princes, for his relatives, relatives, and then for himself, the unworthy. This tradition has been with us for generations. And before Abbot Daniel, there was also Abbot Varlaam, fulfilling the same tradition. Even, I think, before the adoption of baptism in Rus' there were already the first Christians in Rus', they took the same tradition that was then developed by Christians in other countries. At that time there was no church schism, the Great Schism, and for us those whom we call Catholics were then Orthodox. They were like this until 1054, before this split.
But this tradition developed, somehow changed, but our movement itself, it turns out that we take, we do not just copy, we preserve this tradition. Because you need to come, pray for peace in Jerusalem and throughout the world together with the Patriarch of Jerusalem and greetings - this grace from your brother, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, bring to the Patriarch of Moscow.
Here the connection between Jerusalem and Moscow is not only in movement, but the blessing that we receive from the Patriarch. Together with him, our bishop cares for our delegation with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow. There are a lot of foreigners there. The Polish delegation often becomes the Polish Orthodox part of the Russian delegation. They are in vestments, they are very similar to Russian church vestments, and... Greeks, Romanians, Americans, French, Orthodox - you know, when you stand there, you ask: “Who are you, brother?” The man converted to Orthodoxy a year or two ago.
And when I was now at the Patriarch of Jerusalem, I left him, there was a group of Londoners - Russian people who live in London. They have a parish there. And Bishop Elisha blessed them, then he was the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission, when I was still serving as a diplomat in Israel. In general, I said hello to them, they said: “We have a newly baptized person.” An Englishman, a young guy who was with them. Fresh from Jerusalem, that is, from the Jordan River, he, in general, accepted Orthodoxy and is drawn to the Russian language. In England, Great Britain, it turns out that Orthodoxy is very popular. And many members of parliament accept Orthodoxy. Amazing things that maybe we don’t propagate very much, I don’t know if we need to propagate this, but Orthodoxy has become popular in Western Europe. Catholic churches are closing - Orthodox parishes are coming or being bought out.
Elena Zelinskaya: Since we’ve already started talking about this topic, I really love Finland and go there often. She made many programs about the life of Finland, including, of course, about Orthodoxy in Finland. I talked a lot with priests – both Russians who serve in Finland and Finns. They are seeing the same trend. Not a day goes by without... They gave me this figure: not a day goes by without another Finn joining Orthodoxy. But where Orthodoxy exists, there it triumphs.
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes indeed.
Elena Zelinskaya: You and I made such a trip to the Holy Land and returned to Moscow. As I understand it, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation in Moscow also works to benefit the development and restoration of these broken threads, right?
Mikhail Yakushev: Yes.
Elena Zelinskaya: Let us remember, our program is already running out, but still we will remember what happened here in the Kremlin, not without the help of your foundation. I mean about the Spasskaya Tower.
Mikhail Yakushev: It so happened that a representative of the Church Abroad appeared in the foundation when there was no prayer communication yet. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, we entered into authorized contact and, in general, we ourselves did not expect how much communication with a representative, with a bishop of the Church Abroad, would change us.
Bishop Mikhail Donskov, in the world Simeon Donskov, Semyon Vasilyevich is a Don Cossack, he came to our foundation at the end of 2003, after Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin met with the bishops of the Church Abroad. In general, the result of this meeting was the idea of transferring the holy relics of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - this is one part. And the second part is that he told us that during the work of the commission of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad, as a demand that was submitted by the Church Abroad to the Moscow Patriarchate, it was the restoration of the gate icons in the Kremlin and, in order to remove the stars, they were replaced with These are the old imperial crosses. This surprised us very much, because we somehow never thought that...
Elena Zelinskaya: Why are there these icons?
Mikhail Yakushev: For us it was... So that led to us asking if there were any photographs. A year later, we received a photograph and began to think about how we could get to these white sheets above the entrance to the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers. In general, Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin, chairman of the board of trustees of our foundation, wrote a letter to President Putin in May 2007, and he responded positively with what could be done. And we asked, using the funds we collected, not state, but public, to check whether there was anything there. If not, then try to recreate it. And if there is something there, then try to restore it.
Elena Zelinskaya: You have done a lot of research, and the result is...
Mikhail Yakushev: The result was that now you see, the Savior on the Spasskaya Tower and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker have been restored, they look at us and bless us openly, no longer being walled up. Probably, for everyone who was involved in this project, this is a miracle; there is no other word for it. Suffice it to recall the Kremlin commandant how he perceived this. You could just see from him, you know, that it was a miracle, it couldn’t be described.
Elena Zelinskaya: Mikhail Ilyich, it remains to fulfill the second requirement and return the crosses above the icon on the Spasskaya Tower to the other towers. This nonsense, when over the holy icon...
Mikhail Yakushev: Of course of course.
Elena Zelinskaya: The symbol of the godless state still stands. Probably, this nonsense also needs to be resolved somehow.
Mikhail Yakushev: When the mausoleum is standing, perhaps it is good as a monument. I know that some people say that it should be preserved. But the presence there of the remains or mummy of the leader of the Bolshevik state is, of course, a controversial issue, to say the least. I don't know how it can be.
There were such disputes, or rather rumors, but this was not confirmed historically, it was like a joke. When Patriarch Tikhon was already ill, they said that the sewerage system had burst near the Mausoleum and sewage was pouring in. This is a joke that happened in the 20s. Then the Patriarch allegedly said: “According to the relics and the oil!” There is no subtraction or addition here. Unfortunately…
Elena Zelinskaya: Let's hope that here, too, history will still follow the straight path, and we will increasingly get rid of such inconsistencies in our lives. On the contrary, more and more tie the knots that connect our history and expand our opportunities to live within the framework of Russian history, Russian geography.
Mikhail Yakushev: I agree, Elena Konstantinovna, I agree, but I would ask our St. Petersburg friends to pay attention. Indeed, St. Petersburg, and the region is Leningrad.
Elena Zelinskaya: Agree.
Mikhail Yakushev: It’s as if it’s an image of Christ, and his halo is, so to speak, the Antichrist. You know, inconsistency.
Elena Zelinskaya: Well, Mikhail Ilyich, we will pray with you and expect that next year, maybe not next year, in the near future, at least in our lifetime, we will get rid of all these inconsistencies, and Russian history and Russian geography will be restored in a way that is consistent with the Russian national way of life, the Russian character, our idea, and for the Glory of God.
Mikhail Yakushev: For the Glory of God. Amen.
Elena Zelinskaya: It’s probably best to end our program with this word. Thank you very much for your fascinating story about your journey through the Holy Land. It was as if I had walked with you through these great cities, the mere enumeration of whose names gladdens the heart of any Orthodox Christian: Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jericho.
Mikhail Yakushev: Jericho, Bethlehem.
Elena Zelinskaya: Bethlehem.
Mikhail Yakushev: Nazareth.
Elena Zelinskaya: Thank you very much, Mikhail Ilyich, for this trip, and all the best to you.
With this, dear TV viewers, I, Elena Zelinskaya, say goodbye to you. Today my guest was Mikhail Yakushev, first vice-president of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Center for National Glory of Russia. Until next Monday. We do not promise you ready-made answers. We don't know them. But we are going to look for them and find them, thinking with you. There will be a day, there will be a search.
Nature
