Monument to the regimental priest in Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga region.

The prototype of the creation was the regimental priest of the 19th Chasseur regiment Vasily Vasilkovsky, who led the Russian soldiers to attack in the battle near Maloyaroslavets in 1812. In the battle, Vasily Vasilkovsky was wounded twice, but remained in the battle until the end. For courage, Vasilkovsky was the first of the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church to be awarded the Order of St. George.

“The creation of temples, memorials and monuments in Russia has always been a common cause of the believing people. The sacrifice for the creation of the monument is a visible evidence that we are the heirs of the heroism that our ancestors showed. The planned monument will be the first memorial erected in honor of the regimental priest, and the fact that it will be located on the site of the great battle that changed the course of the Patriotic War of 1812 is especially valuable, ”the press service of the Kaluga Metropolis said in a statement.
“We don’t know where the grave of the first priest, the Knight of the Order of St. George, was lost, but his name has not been lost and his feat lives in the memory of generations,” the Metropolitan noted. – To perpetuate the feat of the clergyman of the Russian Church, a patriot of his country, who shed his blood on the Kaluga land, the idea arose to create a monument to Father Vasily in the City of Military Glory – Maloyaroslavets. The initiative of the Military Historical Society to create a monument was supported by Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk. From March of this year, a fundraising marathon for the implementation of this idea will start.
Before the 1917 revolution in Russian army More than 5,000 priests served in the service, and only one of them was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious for courage and bravery shown in battles. The priest received the greatest fame for the battle near Maloyaroslavets in 1813. After the battle near Maloyaroslavets, in his memorandum to Kutuzov, General Dokhturov petitioned for the award of Father Vasily: “Priest Vasilkovsky in this battle was all the time with a cross in his hand in front of the regiment and with his instructions and example of courage encouraged the soldiers to stand firmly for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland and courageously defeat enemies, and he himself was wounded in the head.
It is known that about Vasily Vasilkovsky was born in 1778, graduated from the Sevsk Seminary and in 1804, at the age of 26, was ordained a priest and appointed to serve in the Elias Church in Sumy. Soon the widowed priest moved with his son to the Old Kharkov Monastery to live, but the Lord showed him a different path of difficult, dangerous and responsible service. In 1810 he was appointed priest of the 19th Jaeger Regiment. Six months later, the chief of the regiment, Colonel T. D. Zagorsky, noted the decency, prudence and excellent command of the art of eloquence of Fr. Vasily, as well as his education - knowledge of mathematics, physics, geography and history, possession foreign languages- Latin, Greek, German and French. O. Vasily enjoyed well-deserved respect in the regiment, with which he met Patriotic War 1812
Reporting on the actions of the regiment in the battles near Vitebsk, Colonel Vuich noted the fearlessness of the regimental priest, who inspired the rangers and supported their morale in the battle, despite the fact that he was wounded and then shell-shocked from a bullet hit his pectoral cross. This cypress cross in a silver and gilded riza was kept for many years in the church of the 19th Jaeger Regiment. For the courage shown in the battle near Vitebsk, where Fr. Vasily "sincerely<>diligence was<>in front with a cross, blessed the regiment, then in the hottest fire, encouraging everyone to defeat the enemy, ”was presented for awarding a kamilavka, as a distinction of the white clergy.
But the shepherd especially distinguished himself in the battle near Maloyaroslavets. At the request of M. I. Kutuzov, Emperor Alexander I ordered to award the courageous priest for fearlessness and zealous service with the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George 4 tbsp. This was the first time in the history of the order and the Orthodox clergy that a military priest was awarded the Order of St. George. On March 17, 1813, the order was presented to Fr. Vasily.
On the anniversary of this commemorative award, the Russky Invalid newspaper reminded its readers: “The heroic courage of the priest Vasilkovsky, who was with the 19th Jaeger regiment,<>deserves the gratitude of his compatriots. This worthy and zealous servant of the altar during the battles at Maly Yaroslavets and Vitebsk, carrying the holy cross before the army, by his personal example instilled prophetic courage in the soldiers, encouraged them to righteous battle with full confidence that under the shade of an honest and life-giving cross they will be glorified by victory over the enemies. In the first of these battles, priest Vasilkovsky was wounded by a bullet in the head, and in the second - in the leg.
Father Vasily died on November 24, 1813.

http://vk.com/elenasem2013?z=photo119669589_346532019%2Fwall1081591_4443

) - Russian military regimental priest.

The first military priest in the history of the Orthodox clergy, who was awarded the Order of St. George.

Biography

The commander of the 24th Infantry Division, Major General Likhachev, in his address to the member of the Holy Synod, Chief Priest of the Army and Navy, Archpriest I. S. Derzhavin, wrote about Vasilkovsky:

“In the division entrusted to me of the 19th Chasseur Regiment, priest Vasily Vasilkovsky during the battle on July 15, 1812 near the city of Vitebsk, due to his sincere zeal, was at the beginning of it ahead with a cross, blessed the regiment, then in the hottest fire, encouraging everyone to win of the enemy, and confessed the seriously wounded, where he received a wound from the recochet of the cannonball with the earth in his left cheek, but he was still in battle with it, until he received a second bullet in the cross that was on his chest, and from it a strong concussion in the chest; For a long time, I put on such an excellent priest Vasilkovsky to inform Your Reverence and humbly ask for his zeal for the faith and the benefit of the Monarchs to apply for a decent reward, which he deserves in all fairness.

Soon Vasilkovsky was awarded a purple kamilavka.

It is known about the further fate of Father Vasily that he, together with his regiment, participated in a foreign campaign and died there from his wounds, presumably on November 24, 1813.

02/11/2012 - 20:44

Introduction

St. George in Russia has long been considered the patron saint of warriors. The idea of ​​creating a military order named after St. George belonged to Peter the Great, but it was established only in the reign of Catherine II on November 27, 1769.

This order could only be awarded to military ranks, while it was emphasized that “neither high class, neither previous merits nor wounds received in battles are accepted in respect when awarded the Order of St. George for military exploits; it is awarded to the one who not only fulfilled his duty in everything according to the oath, honor and duty, but, in addition, marked himself for the benefit and glory of Russian weapons with a special distinction. Therefore, to earn this order has become the highest honor for officers and generals.

It is worth noting that in Russia all those awarded with orders were called cavaliers, this rule did not apply only to clergy. The law established that "persons of the clergy ... by the decency of their rank, without being called gentlemen, are ranked among the orders." Since 1796, the clergy, bestowed with orders, were called holders of the Imperial Order. Since 1821, the clergy, bestowed with orders, were called by law not cavaliers, but "associated" with the order. In reality, this absolutely did not change their class, social, financial or other position. In practice, the “cavalier” of the order did not differ from the “assigned” to the order.

In official, but not intended for publication, correspondence in the Military Department, clergymen awarded orders were called "cavaliers" right up to the revolution. On the monument to the hero Crimean War priest John Pyatibokov, established in 1897 in the city of VILNO, was: “Chevalier of the Order of St. George".

Orders were issued to clergymen from the Imperial Chapter.

At the same time, the priests received all the benefits due to the awardees in full, including promotion to hereditary nobles.

Priests who committed feats in wartime with a danger to life were awarded a gold pectoral cross on the St. George ribbon. The St. George's pectoral cross became the second (by the time of its establishment) St. George's award in Russia. It was not only a very honorable, but also a relatively rare military award; before the Russo-Japanese War, only 111 people were awarded it.

These were real heroes who showed the Russian army an example of selfless service to the Fatherland on the battlefields. They meekly endured the hardships of camp life, with a cross in their hand, they went in the forefront of soldiers to storm fortresses and attack, fearlessly admonished the sick and dying under enemy shots, suffered wounds, imprisonment and death itself. About some heroic shepherds, holders of the Order of St. George the Victorious, we have a story.

The Path to the Priesthood

Vasily Vasilkovsky was born in 1778. His early years were spent in the small provincial town of Sevsk. In those years, Sevsk, although it was only a district town of the Belgorod province, was already the center of the diocese with its own bishop. In the year of Vasily's birth in 1778, under His Grace Ambrose (Podobedov) in Sevsk, the Theological Seminary was opened, where our hero was to receive an education.

There were 7 classes in the Seminary in Sevsk. The students of the lower classes were called "elementorians", the middle ones - "rhetors and piites", the older ones were called "theologians and philosophers". Simultaneously with Vasilkovsky, the future Metropolitan of Kyiv Filaret (Amfiteatrov) (1779-1857) studied at the seminary, who graduated from the seminary in 1797. O high level studying at the Sevskaya Seminary is evidenced by the fact that A. I. Galich (1783 - 1848), the future teacher of literature of the young Pushkin, graduated from this seminary. Lyceum students were very fond of Galich for fun and lively lessons. In his poem "Feasting Students" Pushkin writes:

"Apostle of bliss
and coolness
My good Galich,
wale!"

The poet and writer S. E. Raich (1795 - 1855), the future mentor of F. I. Tyutchev and from 1827 to 1831 a teacher of Russian literature in a noble boarding school, where M. Yu. Lermontov studied with him, graduated from the Sev Seminary. Therefore, it is not surprising that Colonel T.D. Zagorsky in the "List of the behavior of the regimental priest", dated January 5, 1811, notes in Vasilkovsky not only such qualities as decency, prudence, but also mastery of the art of eloquence, knowledge of mathematics, physics, geography and history, knowledge of foreign languages ​​\u200b\u200b- Latin , Greek, German and French.

After graduating from the seminary, Vasilkovsky marries, choosing for himself the path of a modest parish priest. In 1804, at the age of 26, he was ordained a priest and appointed to serve in the Elias Church in the city of Sumy. There was a school at the church, and this allows us to assume that the reason for the appointment of Vasilkovsky to the clergy of the Ilyinsky church was the need for a competent priest to teach children.

Vasilkovsky did not live long in Sumy. His wife dies and the young widowed priest leaves the parish ministry. He, along with his young son Simeon, who was barely four years old, leaves to live in the Starokharkovskiy monastery, apparently in order to heal his spiritual wounds.

The Transfiguration Starokharkovskiy Monastery was located in a picturesque area not far from Kharkov on the way to Kyiv. This place was considered holy and healing, because near the monastery, surrounded by gardens and oak forests, three springs gushed from under the ground. One source was called "eye water", the second was from internal ailments, and the third was "female".

The well-known Little Russian writer and playwright Grigory Fedorovich Kvitka (1778-1843), a contemporary of Father Vasily, lived in obedience in the Starokharkovskii Monastery. Kvitka was blind from infancy, but at the age of six he was healed from an "eye" source. This made him a very religious person, and at the age of 23 he entered the Old Kharkov Monastery as a novice. Here he stayed from 1801-1805, but even after leaving the monastery he led a semi-monastic life, visiting the monastery by chat. Here in the monastery Kvitka, no doubt, met with Father Vasily.

On July 15, 1810, the quiet life of Father Vasily at the monastery ended and another began, filled with anxieties and unrest in campaigns and military labors. Father Vasily was appointed priest of the 19th Jaeger Regiment. In the campaign of 1812, the 19th Jaeger Regiment took part in almost all major battles with the enemy, which were fought by the 1st Western, and then the United armies. And in all these major battles, priest Vasily Vasilkovsky showed extraordinary courage and amazing courage, for which he was awarded the honor of becoming the first priest in history to be awarded the Order of St. George.

Battle of Vitebsk

The Patriotic War was the first war in which the 19th Jaeger Regiment had a chance to participate since its formation in 1797. Starting from June 14, 1812, the regiment was in the rearguard of the 1st Russian Army and only on June 20 joined its main forces. On June 29, the regiment crossed the Dvina River over the bridge near Drissa and stood near the village of Prudniki, to the left of the fortified camp. Throughout the retreat, the enemy pursued rather weakly. Yu.M. spoke well about the feelings of the soldiers during the constant retreat of the army. Lermontov:

We retreated silently for a long time,
It was annoying, they were waiting for the battle,
The old people grumbled:
“What are we? for winter quarters?
Do not dare, or something, commanders
Aliens tear up their uniforms
About Russian bayonets?

Similar sentiments reigned in the 19th Chasseur Regiment, and therefore the regimental priest, Father Vasily, had many spiritual concerns. The spirit of despondency in the army can cause damage to the army no less than a lost battle. And here the work of the priest is more important than ever. A participant in this march, artillery officer N.E. Mitarevsky wrote about him in his memoirs: “It went almost day and night, despite neither rain nor mud, without a regular distribution of rest, they cooked food when it happened, they spent a rare night on the spot. In general, the campaign of our corps from Lida to the Dvina was the most irregular ... It happened that the soldiers, walking, forgot and fell, which was especially noticeable in the infantry. One falls - hits the other, he again - two, three, etc. fell in dozens with rifles with bayonets, but there were never any accidents. Father Vasily not only endured all the hardships of the military campaign himself, but also supported the faint-hearted and humbled the impatient with his prayer, blessing and kind pastoral word.

The 1st Russian Army, led by Barclay de Tolly, which included the 19th Jaeger Regiment, retreated with battles to Vitebsk to join the 2nd Western Army under the command of Bagration. Napoleon, who had long been looking for a general battle with the Russian army, also rushed to Vitebsk. The French managed to cut off the road to Vitebsk of the 2nd Army and Bagration decided to move to Smolensk. Not knowing about this and retreating from Polotsk, Barclay de Tolly reached Vitebsk on July 23 (13 according to the old style) and began to expect Bagration. Napoleon was already approaching Vitebsk with his main forces. Barclay was faced with a choice: either retreat further to Smolensk, or remain in place and, to the best of his ability, delay the advance of the French until Bagration approaches. Barclay decided, if possible, without entering into a general battle, to drag out time with private battles, taking advantage of the wooded and rugged terrain. This decision was facilitated by the fragmentation of Napoleon's forces, whose corps marched along a scattered front and experienced great difficulties in supplying.

The largest and bloodiest battle took place on July 15 near the village of Ostrovno, twenty kilometers from Vitebsk. The 19th Jaeger Regiment also participated in this battle.

Before the start of the battle, the priest of the 19th Jaeger Regiment, Vasily Vasilkovsky, sprinkled the battle flags, then the soldiers standing in the battalion columns, and when the call of the battle trumpet rang out, he moved with them to the enemy.

The French were surprised to see how, among the white pantopons of the huntsmen attacking them, the black cassock of a priest who raised a silver cross high above him flickered. Father Vasily had long since lost his coat, his cassock was tattered in several places, and his face had turned black from gunpowder smoke. With his face blackened from powder smoke and his cassock tattered in several places, Father Vasily paid almost no attention to the whistle of bullets and the rumble of cannonballs. When the next huntsman of his regiment fell to the ground, knocked down by a bullet or a fragment of a cannonball, the priest hurried to him. If he succeeded, he managed to give communion to the dying man by reading a short prayer over him, if not, he closed the eyes of the dead man and, crossing himself, whispered: “The Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest,” and then again hurried into the thick of battle.

When, next to Father Vasily, a cannonball crashed into the ground with a screech, his faces burned like fire. A ricochet of small sharp stones wounded the priest's left cheek. He wiped the dust from his eyes with his hand, smearing the blood on his face and raising the cross, again rushed to the front line, dragging the chasseurs of the 19th regiment behind him. sharp pain in his hand and a blow to the chest father Vasily felt at the same time. The bullet, intended for the priest, hit the cross and split its lower part stuck in a cypress tree. At the same time, Father Vasily's little finger was torn off. There was nothing to breathe, his eyes darkened and the priest fell to the ground. The rangers carried their shell-shocked shepherd unconscious from the battlefield.

The battle continued from early morning until almost 5 pm. The losses of the regiment in battle amounted to 250 people, almost a fifth of the entire composition. But the 19th Jaeger Regiment, as part of the rearguard of the 1st Army, fulfilled its main task - it detained Napoleon's army and let the 1st and 2nd armies unite near Smolensk.

On July 27, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Barclay's 1st Army silently moved in three columns to Smolensk, which the French had no idea about. The wooded area hid the withdrawal of the Russian army, which Napoleon learned about only in the morning of the next day. The French could not understand where the Russian army had gone. They couldn't follow her either.

The head of the 24th Infantry Division, Major General Likhachev, in his address to the member of the Holy Synod, His Reverend Chief Priest of the Army and Navy, Archpriest I.S. Derzhavin wrote about Vasilkovsky: “In the division of the 19th Jaeger regiment entrusted to me, during the battle on July 15, 1812, near the city of Vitebsk, due to his sincere zeal, he was at the beginning of it in front with a cross, blessed the regiment, then in the very hot fire, encouraging everyone to defeat the enemy, and confessed the seriously wounded, where he received a wound from the recochet of the cannonball with earth on his left cheek, but he was still in battle with it, until he received a second hit on the cross that was on his chest, a bullet and from a strong concussion in the chest; For a long time, I put on such an excellent priest Vasilkovsky to inform Your Reverence and humbly ask for his zeal for the faith and the benefit of the Monarchs to apply for a decent reward, which he deserves in all fairness.

Thanks to the petition of Major General Likhachev, Father Vasily was awarded a kamilavka. The cypress cross in a silver and gilded riza, which saved the priest Vasilkovsky from imminent death, was then kept for many years in the church of the 19th Jaeger Regiment. He had a height of about 30 centimeters. On its front side was engraved the year of formation of the regiment - "1797". There was a crack on the back of its handle, tightened with a screw. An enemy bullet that split it in battle was attached to the lower front part of the cross, and the inscription was made on the reverse side: "Wounded in the battle on July 15, 1812 near the city of Vitebsk, - continued on the sides of the cross, - with the repulsion of the little finger to the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky."

Borodino

After the battle near Vitebsk, the 19th Jaeger Regiment repeatedly participated in bloody skirmishes with the French near Smolensk and, finally, on August 24, arrived at the position occupied by our troops near the village of Borodino. The regiment was located in the ravines near the Raevsky battery.

All day on August 25, preparations for battle went on. The miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk was carried along the front of the Russian troops. Prince Kutuzov, meeting the icon, bowed to her to the ground. The night of August 26 was damp and cold. Silence and silence reigned in the Russian camp, and campfires were reluctantly lit. The French, on the contrary, could hear the jubilation, and huge bonfires blazed.

At the end of the 6th hour of the morning the battle began with artillery fire. The French attacked the village of Borodino, which lies beyond the Kolocha River and was occupied by the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment.

The French threw great forces into the capture of Raevsky's battery, it was one of the hottest parts of the battle of Borodino. The 19th Jaeger Regiment had a particularly hard time at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when in the attack of the French cavalry Pear, supported by fresh infantry, the main blow fell on it. The ranks of the regiment were broken through by the attack of the French carabinieri of the Defrance division. The regiment was rescued by the 2nd division of the 2nd guards cavalry battery, which littered the field with the corpses of the enemy who had broken through the ranks of the rangers, and the Cavalier Guard and Life Guards Horse Regiments, which helped the entire 3rd brigade of the division finally recover with their attacks.

The battle of Borodino lasted 12 hours, all this time the regimental priest Vasily Vasilkovsky was on the front line of the battle. He confessed and communed the wounded, and also encouraged the soldiers of the regiment, urging them to serve the Tsar, the Fatherland and the faith without sparing their lives.

At 6 p.m. the battle stopped. The losses on both sides were enormous. Prince Kutuzov, not wanting to lose our last troops, ordered a retreat towards Moscow at night.

Near Maloyaroslavets

The battle of Borodino and the rearguard battles, the fire of Moscow were left behind. On October 7, Napoleon set out from Moscow to Kaluga, but Kutuzov decided to block his path through Maloyaroslavets, in order to prevent Napoleon's army from capturing Kaluga, but to send him along his ruined path to Smolensk. On October 12, the 6th Infantry Corps of Infantry General D.S. Dokhturov was the first to arrive at the city and started the battle. Realizing the importance of holding Maloyaroslavets until the main forces of Kutuzov's army approached, General Dokhturov sent the 19th Jaeger Regiment to the city. The battle at Maloyaroslavets lasted 18 hours, and the losses in killed and wounded stretched to 6,000 people on each side.

The city of Maloyarslavets passed from the French to the Russians eight times. The 19th Jaeger Regiment was in the battle from 6 o'clock in the morning, until about 5 o'clock in the evening, that is, about 11 o'clock. Again, as near Vitebsk, the regimental priest Vasily Vasilkovsky showed unprecedented heroism in this battle. He fearlessly walked with a cross in the front ranks of the rangers of his regiment and was seriously wounded by a bullet in the head.

In his memorandum to Kutuzov, General Dokhturov, petitioning for the award of Father Vasily with the following words: “Priest Vasilkovsky in this battle was all the time with a cross in his hand in front of the regiment and with his instructions and example of courage encouraged the soldiers to stand firmly for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland and courageously hit enemies, while he himself was wounded in the head. Kutuzov, who highly appreciated the feat of the regimental priest, turned to the Emperor with a report in which he wrote about the feat of Father Vasily. And on March 12, 1813, the commander-in-chief of the Russian armies Kutuzov in Kalisz, where the Main Apartment was located, signed order for the army No. 53, one of the points of which read: , with prudent instructions and personal courage, he encouraged the lower ranks to fight without horror for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, and he was severely wounded in the head by a bullet. In the battle of Vitebsk, he showed the same courage, where he received a bullet wound in the leg. I presented the Sovereign Emperor with the chief certificate of such excellent deeds undaunted in battles and zealous service of Vasilkovsky, and His Majesty deigned to award him the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George 4th class. This was the first time in the history of the order and the Orthodox clergy that a military priest was awarded the Order of St. George. The order was presented to Father Vasily on March 17, 1813.

Epilogue

The only thing known about the further fate of Father Vasily is that he, together with his regiment, participated in a foreign campaign and died there from his wounds on November 24, 1813 at the age of 35.

The feat of Father Vasily will become an example for the regimental priests for all subsequent years. But for the sake of justice, it must be said that the feat shown by Vasilkovsky in the Patriotic War of 1812 was not the only one. Many regimental priests behaved in a similar way, for example, the priest of the Moscow Grenadier Regiment, Archpriest Miron Orleans, in the battle of Borodino, walked under heavy cannon fire in front of the grenadier column and was wounded.

Archpriest of the Life Guards of the Cavalry Regiment Feodor Raevsky took an active part with the regiment in 1807, 1809, 1812 and 1813; in 1814, in France, he was everywhere with the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment incessantly in all battles, pitched battles and even attacks. On horseback, with a cross in his hands and a monstrance on his chest, Fr. Raevsky "encouraged the regiment with the help of the Almighty and the blessed weapons of God, helping our MONARCH, reminded the military ranks of the importance of the oath given by them to the Holy Church, the Throne and the Fatherland." For the selfless fulfillment of his pastoral duty under enemy fire, Priest Raevsky was elevated to the rank of archpriest and awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree with swords, as well as a golden cross on the St. George ribbon and a kamilavka.

The priest of the 34th Jaeger Regiment, Father Firs Nikiforovsky, a participant in the war with the French in 1812, on August 24 and 16, behaved fearlessly in the battle of Borodino. During the Battle of Borodino, the horse under him was killed, he himself was wounded in the left leg and carried away from the battlefield to the hospital. On June 15 of the same year, in the battle of Vitebsk, during parting words for the wounded on the field of action, Father Firs was captured, but made a bold escape and joined his regiment near the city of Smolensk.

The absence of the name of the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky on the memorial plaques of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and in the lists of the St. George Knights of 1812-1814 causes mournful bewilderment. on the marble boards of the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. We know that “the memory of the righteous with praises” is with God, but we should not forget the heroes who gave their lives for the Faith and the Fatherland.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the sexton Smiryagin, who at the head of a detachment of peasants, beat off the battle flag from the French in one of the battles, was awarded the insignia of the Military Order (Georgievsky Cross) during the Patriotic War of 1812.

After the expulsion of the Napoleonic troops from Russia, the priest of the Cavalry Guards Regiment Mikhail Gratinsky was awarded a golden cross on the St. George ribbon. A participant in the Battle of Borodino, he did not have time to leave Moscow during the retreat of the Russian army. In the capital captured by the enemy, he began to fight the invaders with the means available to him. Almost every day in the surviving Moscow churches, Father Mikhail held divine services, called for war against the invaders. The rumor about the priest quickly spread among the inhabitants who remained in the capital, and people always gathered for his sermons, despite the mortal danger. Even surrounded by enemies, the regimental priest continued to fulfill his pastoral duty.

_________

1. The Sevsk Diocese was founded in 1764 as a vicar of the Moscow Diocese.
2. Rearguard (French arriere-garde - rear guard), a marching guard designed to guard troops retreating or marching from the front to the rear.

On October 5, 2014, in Maloyaroslavets, the small homeland of the author of these lines, a monument was unveiled to the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky, the first in Russia and the only one of the five thousand regimental clergymen who was awarded the Order of George the Victorious for the courage shown in battles with the army of Napoleonic France. The event was timed to coincide with the 202nd anniversary of the battle near Maloyaroslavets in October 1812, in which the priest took part. The outcome of this battle was the beginning of the defeat of the Great Army, the loss of its strategic initiative and the retreat of Napoleon, the first in the history of his wars and battles. For the survivors of the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the soldiers of the Great Army, as they recalled, “disappeared all hope of a speedy arrival in the rich and not yet affected by the war provinces” (1)

The Maloyaroslavets Museum of 1812 opens with a large painting by the battle painter A. Averyanov “The Battle for Maloyaroslavets on October 12 (24), 1812”. Artist Alexander Yuryevich Averyanov, getting acquainted with the materials of the museum, studying the places of the battle, making sketches of the landscape, conducted a painstaking study of the details of the battle, identifying specific participants in the battle on both sides. Knowledge of historical details allowed the artist to solve a large-scale task, conscientiously, responsibly, inspiring the viewer's trust, to show the most bloody hand-to-hand clash on the square in front of the gates of the Nikolaev Monastery. Interest in the canvas of both today's and future generations, and inexperienced viewers, and military historians will be aroused by the artist's excellent command of equipping armies, uniforms, banners, weapons, and awards.

The picture shows the key moment of the battle. At the smoking ruins of buildings, soldiers of the 19th Jaeger Regiment attack the enemy. Among them, Father Vasily with a bandaged head and a cross raised in his right hand. They are bravely resisted by the soldiers of the only regiment in the French army, on the flagstaff of which there is a plate with the inscription: "one against ten." The regiment earned this motto in 1809 for the defeat of the Austrians ten times superior to it in battle. We see how a French soldier is trying to save a wounded officer, and seventeen officers of this regiment remained on the battlefield. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the regiment showed its high military qualities in this battle as well. There are quite a few real historical figures in the picture, famous military commanders and junior officers and soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle. In the distance, on the road rising from the river, fresh enemy forces are moving to storm the city. The extraordinary stubbornness shown by the Russian soldiers ultimately forced Napoleon to decide to retreat.

The idea of ​​perpetuating the feat of the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky was discussed by the public at the museum and the city administration even before A. Averyanov painted the picture in 1998. However, it was not possible to implement it. Firstly, the hard work of the public continued to recreate the main Monument to the victory of Russian weapons in the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, destroyed in the thirties. The greatness of the significance of this victory was noted by M.I. Kutuzov: “This day is one of the most famous in this bloody war"(2), as well as the words on the demolished monument: "The limit of attack, the beginning of the flight of the death of enemies" (3) Secondly, there was a study, understanding of one's past through the heritage of Orthodoxy. After many years of hushing up the historical truth about the significance of the Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812, they began to talk and write about it. A departure from cliches in assessing the role of the church can be noted in the work of the administration and the Military History Museum of the Maloyaroslavets War of 1812. Research, publications, thematic publications, discussions at ongoing scientific and historical conferences began with the involvement of a wide range of scientists, specialists, local historians of materials on the activities of the clergy during the war. All this contributed to the discovery of an entertaining and instructive layer of the history of the Maloyaroslavets land, including information about Vasily's father was replenished. However, with the difficulties experienced in recreating the Monument to the Heroes of the Battle of 1812, it was hard to believe that it would also be possible to raise a monument to an Orthodox priest.

The fact that today in the city of the great battle of 1812 there is a monument to the hero of this war - Father Vasily is the main merit of the Russian Military Historical Society. The support of the initiative of the Military Historical Society by Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, who gave his blessing to start raising funds in all the churches of the Kaluga region for the installation of a monument to the priest, is of great importance. Temples, memorials and monuments in Russia have always been a common, popular affair.

On the participation of the clergy of the Maloyaroslavets land in the hot events of the war of 1812, and later on the clergy who collected information about the war and the names of its participants and eyewitnesses worthy of memory, the author of this story spoke more than once in the press and at historical conferences. (4)

Since ancient times, the squads went into battle with the blessing of the Church and with the intercession of miraculous icons, crosses, banners. And with the advent of a regular army in Russia, under Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich, an institution of military clergy arose “to meet the religious needs of military officials, as well as for spiritual and patriotic education” (5) This inspired the soldiers for selfless service to the fatherland, strengthened faith in luck, hope on the God's help, and in their own strength, of course.

A priest with a cross for the enemy did not pose a direct, direct threat, unlike those who marched on him with weapons. The armed men fought, struck and received blows, and the priest was also touched. Father Vasily raised a cross over his head, as God's protection and help. It must be said that the French, who had the opportunity to observe the religious behavior, prayers of Russians, for example, on the Borodino field, did not understand what was happening, considered it a manifestation of ignorance, feeling themselves as carriers of reason and civilization in the country of barbarians.

The idea of ​​a monument to a priest-hero is superbly inspired in the sculpture of Salavat Shcherbakov, People's Artist of Russia. Father Vasily is in an inspired impulse, in a fearless striving forward to overcome the invisible to us, but we know a well-armed and courageous enemy. In the guise of a priest, raising and leading the soldiers, an unshakable conviction in the rightness and holiness of the cause of serving the Faith and the Fatherland, the readiness to “lay down one’s life“ for one’s friends.

Twice wounded in the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, Father Vasily remained in the thick of the battle to the end. He was especially distinguished by the fact that, having taken the place of the killed officer, he stopped the confused soldiers, turned and led him into a successful attack.

Vasily Vasilkovsky was born in 1778 in the city of Sevsk, Belgorod province. After graduating from the seminary, he chose the path of a parish priest, and in 1804, at the age of 26, he was appointed a priest at the Elias Church in Sumy. A competent priest was needed for the school at the church. His wife dies and the widow's father with a 4-year-old son moves to the Old Kharkov Monastery to heal a spiritual wound. With the appointment in 1810 as a priest of the 19th Jaeger Regiment, life begins for him with anxieties and hardships in campaigns and military labors. He meekly endured the difficulties of military life, being an example of selfless service to the Fatherland. Regiment commander Colonel T.D. Zagorsky, in a special “list of the behavior of a priest” dated January 5, 1811, noted in the priest Vasilkovsky decency, prudence, possession of the art of eloquence, knowledge of mathematics, physics, geography and history, knowledge of several foreign languages. (6)

From the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, the 19th Jaeger Regiment took part in almost all major battles. And everywhere Father Vasily showed extraordinary courage and amazing courage.

In July 1812, near Vitebsk, the regiment held back the attacks of superior enemy forces in the most difficult battles near Vitebsk. The regiment chief Ivan Vuich, reporting on the results of the battle, especially noted the fearlessness of the army priest Father Vasily, who in the thick of the battle inspired the rangers and supported their morale, despite the fact that he was wounded in the face and leg, and then shell-shocked from a bullet in his pectoral cross on the chest. (7) At the request of the division commander, General P. G. Likhachev, to the chief priest of the army and navy, I.S. Derzhavin for his courage in battle, Father Vasily was awarded a church badge with a purple kamilavka (a high headdress of a priest).

Having recovered from his wounds and shell shock, Father Vasily returned to duty, participated in the Battle of Borodino. His feat is especially noted on October 12 in the fierce battle for Maloyaroslavets, General S.D. Dokhturov, petitioning for the award of Father Vasily, reported to the commander-in-chief M.I. Kutuzov that the priest. Vasilkovsky in this battle was always with a cross in his hand in front of the regiment and with his instructions and example of courage encouraged the soldiers to stand firmly for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland and courageously defeat the enemies, and he himself was wounded in the head. (8) Kutuzov supported the petition and turned to the emperor. "G sir Emperor on the recommendation of Mr. General-Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, most graciously deigned to grant the Order of St. Great Martyr George 4th class to the priest of the 19th Jaeger regiment Vasilkovsky because he, being in the battle of Maloyaroslavets, walked ahead of the regiment with the Godfather with the banner and example of his courage, he encouraged the soldiers to quickly defeat the enemy, and he received a wound ... in the head ... ”(9) Official reports and representations do not mention Vasilkovsky’s act, which was of great importance in battle, when he replaced officer.

It is known that Father Vasily reached France with his regiment. Died of wounds November 24, 1813. His grave has been lost. The short and bright life of Father Vasily, and he was 34 years old, will remain an eternal example of honest service, fulfillment of duty, and not only for the clergy. And today, when we remember him, he, like the host of his comrades who shed blood for the Fatherland, who are now close to the Lord, pray for the protection of Russia and us.

Reflections on the patriotic, civic service of the Orthodox Priesthood lead to the thought of an existing peculiar, not always visible, or not visible to all, symphony of the church and society. We still need the protection of the church today. Our President V. Putin condemned the Western world, which sold Christian values. Feeling the pressure of liberal tolerance on traditional moral values, we, by erecting a monument to a clergyman, hope for intercession and prayer help Orthodox Church.

The monument to the clergyman discovered in Maloyaroslavets embodies a collective image, testifying to the selfless Christian service to the Fatherland of many and at different times. Its symbolic meaning is wider than the memory of the hero - father Vasily, and extends far beyond the borders of the war of 1812. A monument to a priest - and a reason to remember that Orthodoxy was the ideological foundation of the Russian Empire and one of the most important factors determining the worldview of the Russian people. The church was a serious force in the cause of victory and national security. The image of the hero - the clergyman - strengthening the memory of the deeds of our ancestors, overcoming the difficult time of neglect, perversion, hostility to their own history. This is a sign to all those who defend the truth that their feat will not be forgotten, and for someone it will serve as a support at the moment of making a responsible decision. And the words on the pedestal are a reminder to us of the memory of many, many known and unknown: "To the regimental priest."

Thanks to a deep, serious education, regimental priests (most of them of modest origin) could freely communicate with representatives of the aristocracy - their fellow soldiers. At the same time, their social origin, and most importantly, everyday service, brought them closer to the soldiers. In the award reports, the regimental commanders repeatedly mentioned that the priests were universally respected by the officers and lower ranks. (ten)

Since the time of the fiercest battle in October 1812, a unique visual witness of it has been preserved - the Holy Blue Gates of the Nikolaevsky Monastery. (eleven). The city changed hands eight times during the 18 hour battle. The territory of the monastery was occupied either by the French or by the Russians, as well as the square in front of the Holy Gates and the descent to the river. In memory of the battle, it was decided to leave the traces of bullets, cannonballs and buckshot remaining on the Holy Blue Gate intact during repairs. This is reminiscent of the now restored memorial plaque: "Sores in memory of the French war."

The holy gates of the monastery during the childhood of the author of these lines, who lived in Maloyaroslavets, unkempt, not painted, but more vividly, both visually and through touch, conveyed the saturation of weapon, cannon, fragmentation marks on them. It was possible to feel the density of fire not only by the points-holes, as today, but also by the tangential "scratches" from the nuclei and their fragments. And then everyone turned our attention, children, to the Image of Christ not made by hands, crowning the gate: “Look, the wall is all in the traces of a terrible battle, but there is nothing on the face of the Savior!” Presumably, the indication about the preservation of traces-wounds on the gates and the Image of the Savior untouched by them belongs to Sovereign Alexander I.

The sovereign, as well as members of the royal family, were private contributors to the construction in the monastery on the site of the destroyed and burnt buildings of the huge, in terms of the scale of the monastery, yes, and the city, the Cathedral Church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. (12) The cathedral became a wonderful monument to all those who died "at the walls of this monastery for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland."

After a long depressing desolation, today the monastery is in ruins, like a blooming paradise. In it, in love and the fragrance of flowers, a shelter for six dozen girls abandoned by their parents, or deprived of parental rights. The results of the prayerful, God-pleasing, economic affairs of the nuns and residents are evident. It is admirable how the abbess and mother superior of the monastery, Mother Nicholas, manages to carry out charitable and social work highly appreciated by the state with the maintenance of a large monastery economy: the construction of new buildings, a hostel, a refectory, monastery gardens, the education and upbringing of children, the arrangement in life of those who have reached adulthood. (13) By the way, in the forefront of those present at the opening of the monument to Father Vasily, I think many were pleased with the smiles and flowers of the pupils of the monastery shelter.

The area in front of the Blue Gates, the hottest and saturated with the fire of the battle of 1812, is a natural place for a monument to Father Vasily. Today it stands in the square on Cathedral Square near the southern wall of the ancient part of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built by the landowner of the Maloyaroslavets district, Radishchev. Many of the school curriculum is known for his revolutionary-minded grandson Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev. Behind Father Vasily there are outlines of the church, walls, windows, domes... But the idea of ​​the monument, the figure of the priest predetermine something else for its background, but not the buildings, even the Holy Cathedral. Thuja, slender as soldiers, would come up - a rather hackneyed and common technique ... But, best of all, the sky. The sky that accepted everyone who was raised and carried away by Father Vasily. No less important is the direction of the aspiration of the figure of the monument, as the architects say, and the “backward movement”, towards whom, what is the bold impulse inherent in the sculpture for? To the main Monument of the same topic, to the heroes of the Maloyaroslavets battle. It's unfortunate, but the location of the monument was due to the ready improvement of the square and the desire to avoid this frightening work where, in terms of historical content, urban significance and greater visual effect, it should have stood. It is fresh in my memory that the opening of the main Monument was delayed by almost two years because of such a trifle as the improvement of the square. Place of the monument opposite the Blue Gate, on the opposite side of the monastery square. Approaching the monastery, to the main place of the battle, they would see a sculpture in profile, artistically more meaningful in its movement. From the square, he would be against the sky, in aspiration, in a rush exactly to the direction from where the enemy was moving towards him. The Napoleonic troops marched, just from the side of the gate, climbed along the monastery walls, from the river, from the valley below to the monastery square. And this is the epicenter of the battle, as we know from the paintings and drawings of domestic and foreign artists. The perspective of the river valley from the square, from the city, from the monastery is a great landscape monument to the glorious year 1812. Naturally, the eye would also turn to the valley after examining the monument, if it were in its place.

Here, Father Vasily, as it were, closed the road to the south for the enemy, to the warm and not devastated by the war provinces. But its semantic content would become even more significant and significant, but more on that below.

I think someday, in place of the ravines, along the road descending to the river, memorial signs or crosses will be erected, if Europe will still remain a Christian mainland. (14) Surprisingly, today it seems as if they have forgotten that these deep ravines became the graves of thousands of fallen soldiers of the Great Army, among them there are a lot of Italians, “children of the best families of Italy” - the Italian guard. And 65-70 years ago, one could hear about these burials, passed down from generation to generation, that the onset of the winter of 1812 did not make it possible to respectfully give all the fallen to the land. The bodies of Russian soldiers were buried in four graves, unfortunately, only three of them have survived to this day. And the ravines along the road leading up to the monastery square became the graves of the fallen of the Great Army. Moreover, the French themselves began filling them with the bodies of the fallen, each time once again making their way into the city, making way for the cannons and the carts accompanying them, moving to the sides, into the ravines of their dead soldiers and horses and carts. This can be understood from the memoirs of the participants in the battle, noting "that the entire battle was concentrated at one point of boundless space ...". (15) Because of this, everywhere, not just, the mass of the dead, but "a heap of corpses." (16) Not everyone believed in these burials, despite the fact that in the gardens laid out in the sagging, fertile lowlands of the ravines, the earth constantly pushed out some kind of metal objects, various signs, buckles, buttons of Napoleonic soldiers. No studies of the ravines were carried out, although I remember the conversations of the elders about this with Alexander Efimovich Dmitriev, the creator of the Maloyaroslavets Museum in 1812. To him, and he is also a teacher of the first city school, we guys carried the objects of the war of 1812 that we found. And in the sixties, one of the ravines along which the path from the river to the city was led, was covered with a 4-5-meter layer of clay and construction debris.

The ravines, with their sad reminder, are an integral part of the complex of memory of the participants in the fiercest battle. Which includes the wounded monastic Blue Gates, as well as the entire monastic square. The descendants of the French General Delzon have already placed a memorial stone on it, marking the place of the heroic death of their ancestor. “... General Delzon, seeing that they (the French soldiers - A. Lunyakov) began to retreat,” recalled the French captain E. Labom, “rushed into the thick of the battle to inspire them. While he stubbornly defended the outpost of the city .... one bullet, hitting him in the face, laid him down on the spot. (17)

The figure of a man with a cross, on the highest point of the square, would become the dominant, central theme over the entire complex of memory and monuments. And the image of a priest would no longer only obscure the road of the Great Army to the south, but would close Russia from constant threats and invasions of "many tongues." The proclamation of the Holy Synod of 1812 reminds us today “of the important mission entrusted by God to Russia” wider than “to stop the conquests of the French Emperor,” which our ancestors did. Russia is "destined to liberate Europe." (eighteen)

The monument also contains the theme of love for all who are under the Cross and with Christ. His hero becomes higher than earthly enmity, everything earthly. He is immortal and infinite.

In the battle near Vitebsk, as eyewitnesses noted, the pectoral cross of Father Vasily, in fact, saved him. The bullet shattered the cypress tree and the silver lining and only shell-shocked the priest, who was carried out of the battlefield. (19) And how to relate to the mass of cases, it would seem, inexplicable, such as the refusal of Russia's enemies to attack. If prayers and the display of icons are random coincidences with the enemy's decision to cancel the battle, then the very number of such coincidences speaks of some kind of system of what is happening.

On hearing: "Russia is alive while the Trinity-Sergius Lavra stands." It is known that the Trinity survived the troubled times of 1611-13, and Russia emerged victorious from them. What does our understanding of the military events associated with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra lead us to? Newcomers from civilized Europe in 1812, knowing about the riches of the Holy Trinity, considered them to be theirs. Napoleon twice sent a special detachment to Trinity. (20) Colonel Montemar, who received the order from the chief of staff, Marshal Berthier, to go to Trinity: he recalled how, accepting for execution, he heard the order, “... that there are no troops at the monastery, the people are frightened by the successes of French weapons and therefore it is not difficult to take possession of the monastery” . But the French did not reach the Lavra, neither caresses nor threats to the peasants - guides helped, as, by agreement, they repeated that the troops at the Lavra "dark darkness, and all the Cossacks" The French were frightened or, indeed, lost their way, but with the onset of darkness they decided to return . “Napoleon was angry ... A week later, Bertier again sent me to the Trinity,” recalled Montemar, “he strengthened the detachment, ordered to take two guns ...” and set out from Moscow early in the morning. They passed the outpost of the city under the descending fog, and the farther, the more it thickened, so that “they couldn’t see two steps away ... The soldiers of the detachment were people hardened in battles, and then such panic fear attacked them ...” The detachment returned to Moscow. Napoleon attacked his subordinates, and the Russian climate got away from him, but he did not make new attempts to “take the Lavra”. And the monks of the unarmed Lavra these days went around the monastery in procession. Let's add to the list of similar "accidental coincidences" associated with the "standing" of the Trinity-Sergius monastery in the Patriotic War of 1941-45. Stalin, having a religious education, believed in this tradition, but could not help but know it. In the turning point, the military year of 1943, he returned the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to believers for prayers for victory... The victory parade in Moscow, on Red Square, took place on May 23, 1945, on the feast of the Holy Trinity.

In difficult moments in our own lives and history, we often turn to God. Monument to a clergyman - a patriot in Maloyaroslavets - a timeless appeal to the Most High protection. Of the huge number of examples of patriotic service to the Fatherland by priests during the Great Patriotic War of 1041-45, let's take just one: the speech of Locum Tenens Sergius Stargorodsky on June 22, 1941. In the morning, after the liturgy he had served, Vladyka received a message about the beginning of the war, and he immediately delivered a sermon. On the same day it was reproduced and sent to the parishes of the country for reading. It should be noted that at that time the church was not allowed to interfere in political and state affairs. The courage of the Metropolitan and the understanding of the significance of what was said in a timely manner to both the flock and the priesthood with clarification, support, and uplifting of the spirit. The famous Christian appeal “brothers and sisters” by I.V. Stalin sounded only on July 3. The Metropolitan's Message also anticipated Stalin's address to the holy Russian princes in his speech at the November parade. (21)

The Russian Orthodox Church, considering wars, in general, a disaster, an undoubted evil, fully justifies wars in defense of the Fatherland, declaring them sacred, and the soldiers who died in them performing the feat of sacrificial love. (22)

The vandalism of the Napoleonic conquerors caused an explosion of general indignation, the expansion of resistance, which was largely religious in nature. (23) Adjutant General A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy F.N. Glinka spoke about Maloyaroslavets after his release: “All the churches have been robbed and desecrated. On one of them they read the inscription: "The stable of General Guillemino!" (24) “At that time, I fully experienced a thirst for revenge. However, this sad spectacle was then resumed at each church that the enemy passed by ”Poruchik I.T. Radozhitsky recalled: “The soldiers shuddered at the sight of traces of the enemy’s wickedness towards the shrines” (25)

The attitude of the enemy to the shrines often prompted the priests to engage in armed struggle. At the same time, the priests’ adherence to the Synod’s Appeal is amazing: “Do not infringe, do not insult someone else’s faith, the faith of the enemy” (26) Similar in the instruction to the Russian army: “Show respect for the churches of other faiths of the enemy ... defeat the enemy “as much with generosity as with weapons” (27) And there is plenty of evidence for this in the memoirs of the presence of the Russian army in Europe. And a completely modern form of “peace enforcement” sounds like the Christian teaching of 1810 to the Russian warrior: going “to all dangers in order to bestow peace on the Fatherland by overcoming the enemy. (28)

Among those who joined the militia, a significant place is occupied by students of theological academies, seminaries and county schools. It is interesting to note that 50 people left the Kaluga seminary for the militia, more only from the Kazan Theological Academy. (29) Among the partisans there were quite a few church ministers who were often organizers and leaders of peasant detachments. Speaking of the stamina of Russians in relation to the Faith, traditions, moral principles of their ancestors, it is not without interest to recall the Catholic abbot A. Syugyug, who arrived in Moscow long before their compatriots - the conquerors. No one touched or damaged the church of St. Louis of France, where the abbot served. However, "during the entire stay of the French in Moscow, four or five officers from the old surnames of France appeared in the church."

The preaching activity of parish priests had a strong impact on the peasants, the main part of the country's population. After the war, "civil chiefs and landowners of a number of county towns ... turned to diocesan bishops with requests to reward priests, whose merit was that they confirmed their parishioners in loyalty to the Sovereign Emperor and the Fatherland", which resulted in "resistance to the enemy " (thirty)

Notes and sources used

1 - Melnikova L.V. "Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812, ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.371.

2 - Bespalov V., Dmitriev A. "Maloyaroslavets", Kaluga, 1962, p.113.

4 - “Moscow magazine. History of the Russian state”, 2008, N2; 2014, N2.

5 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, S.20-21.

6 - International Club of Orthodox Literary Priests "Omilia", an article dated 02.11.2012 by Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov "Priest Vasily Vasilkovsky".

7 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.107.

8 - Ibid., C109.

9 - "Maloyaroslavets battle 12/24 October 1812", Kaluga, ed. "Golden Alley" 2012, p.86. The Order of St. George the Victorious - the highest military award of those years, provided quite a few benefits, including promotion to hereditary nobles. The fate of the father's son Vasily Simeon is unknown, but could be of interest to local historians of Sevsk. The last known place of his stay is the Old Kharkov Monastery.

10 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.104.

11 - Holy Blue Gates of the Nikolaevsky Chernoostrovsky Monastery. The monastery was founded in the 16th century on a high cape jutting out into the valley of the Luzha River and Yaroslavka flowing into it, and surrounded on both sides by deep ravines with a spring and a stream in one of them. A place similar to an island, connected to the "mainland" by an isthmus, where the gates have always been. And “Black ...” comes from the dense black forest that was once around, or from “black” - red - beautiful in the ancient dialect.

12 - There are mentions of priests and hierarchs of the Kaluga diocese that the author of the project was A.L. Vitberg, who designed and began to build, the first, or Alexander, version of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Sparrow Hills. Engineering, material, organizational difficulties, and most importantly, the death of Alexander I, and completely different architectural preferences of Nicholas I, did not allow this project to be realized. And in Moscow we see a different architecture of the Temple and not where Alexander I intended. The author of this article continues to search for documentary evidence of Witberg's authorship.

August 13 - 20, 2012 huge contribution In charitable and social activities, the Order of St. Catherine the Great Martyr was awarded to Abbess Nicholas (Ilyina), abbess of the St. Nicholas Chernoostrovsky Convent in the city of Maloyaroslavets. (From the official website of the President of Russia).

14 - The administration of Maloyaroslavets was invited by the Embassy of the French Republic (at the request of the Intergovernmental Russian-French Commission) to a meeting with representatives of French business circles and public organizations wishing to establish contacts with Russian cities and organizations. Unfortunately, due to the absence at this meeting from the city of a specialist who knows the issues of the war of 1812 - the director of the museum of the same name, the city did not use the opportunity to involve the French side in the improvement of memorial sites and works to perpetuate the fallen soldiers of both sides.

15 - "Maloyaroslavets battle 12/24 October 1812", Kaluga, ed. "Golden Alley" 2012, p.235.

16 - Ibid., p. 352.

17 - Ibid., p.344.

18 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.55.

19 - Ibid., p.109.

20 - “Moscow magazine. History of the Russian State”, 2011, Supplement. !811, “It is not for nothing that all Russia remembers ...”, P.21.

21 - "Appeal of Russian writers to the participants of the Russian People's Council and to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia", gas. The Day, November 2914, N11

22 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.19.

23 - Ibid., p.62.

24 - "Maloyaroslavets battle 12/24 October 1812", Kaluga, ed. "Golden Alley" 2012, p. 234.

25 - ibid., p.260.

26 - Melnikova L.V. "The Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriotic War of 1812" ed. Sretensky Monastery, 2002, p.87.

27 - Ibid., p. 110. 28 - Ibid., p. 37.

29 - Ibid., p. 83.

He was born in 1778, graduated from the Sevsk Seminary, and in 1804, at the age of 26, he was ordained to the priesthood, served in the Elias Church in the city of Sumy. However, his wife soon died and Father Vasily was left with his young son Simeon in his arms. The boy was about four years old. At first, Father Vasily and his son moved to the Old Kharkov Monastery to live. But soon the Lord showed him the path of difficult, dangerous and responsible service. On June 15, 1810, Father Vasily was appointed priest of the 19th Jaeger Regiment. Six months later, the regimental chief Colonel T.D. Zagorsky in the "List of the behavior of the regimental priest", dated January 5, 1811, noted the decency, prudence and excellent command of the art of eloquence of Father Vasily, as well as his education - knowledge of mathematics, physics, geography and history, knowledge of foreign languages ​​\u200b\u200b- Latin, Greek , German and French. Father Vasily enjoyed well-deserved respect in the regiment, with which he met the Patriotic War of 1812. Both active battalions of the 19th Jaeger Regiment were in the Jaeger Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division of the 6th Corps of the 1st Western Army.

After the 1st Western Army retreated to the Drissa camp, Napoleon decided, bypassing it, to cut off her path to Moscow, for which he sent troops to Polotsk and Vitebsk. Realizing the danger of the situation, Emperor Alexander I ordered the commander-in-chief of the 1st Western Army, General of Infantry M.B. Barclay de Tolly leave the Drissa camp and go to Vitebsk to approach the troops of the 2nd Western Army of General of Infantry Prince P.I. Bagration. On July 11, 1812, the 1st Army approached Vitebsk. In order to delay the enemy advance until news of the condition of the 2nd Army was received, Barclay advanced a cover detachment to the town of Ostrovno, in front of Vitebsk, which on July 12 engaged in battle with the advanced units of the Great Army. The next day a fierce battle broke out.

On July 14, the battle was continued by the rearguard of the 1st Army near the village of Kakuvechina near Vitebsk, but was forced to retreat to the village of Dobreika, located 8 versts from Vitebsk. On July 15, the composition of the rearguard was changed. Along with other units, the 19th Chasseur Regiment under the command of Colonel N.V. Vuicha. At this time, Barclay received news from Bagration about his desire to connect with the troops of the 1st Army near Smolensk. Having ordered the rearguard to detain the enemy, Barclay moved with the main forces to Smolensk. From the early morning of July 15 until almost 5 p.m., the rearguard held back the superior enemy. The battalions of the 19th Jaeger Regiment distinguished themselves in battle on the banks of the Luchesa, and with them Father Vasily.

Reporting on the actions of the regiment on July 18, Colonel Vuich noted the fearlessness of the regimental priest, who inspired the rangers and supported their morale in battle, despite the fact that he was wounded and then shell-shocked from a bullet hit his pectoral cross. This cypress cross in a silver and gilded riza was kept for many years in the church of the 19th Jaeger Regiment, and then in the church of the Volga Infantry Regiment formed on its basis. He had a height of about 30 centimeters. On its front side was engraved the year of formation of the regiment - "1797". There was a crack on the back of its handle, tightened with a screw. An enemy bullet that split it in battle was attached to the lower front part of the cross, and the inscription was made on the reverse side: “Wounded in the battle on July 15, 1812 near the city of Vitebsk, continued along the sides of the cross, with the repulsion of the little finger to the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky.” “Father Vasily Vasilkovsky was also wounded in the leg in July 1812 (in the battle of Vitebsk), but continued to perform his duties as a priest,” says A.A. Vasiliev. Having recovered shortly after the shell shock and injury, Father Vasily returned to the regiment.

On August 18, 1812, the head of the 24th Infantry Division, Major General P.G. Likhachev addressed a member of the Holy Synod, His Reverend Chief Priest of the Army and Navy, Archpriest and Knight of the Order of St. Anne, 1st Class, I.S. Derzhavin with a request for a worthy reward for Father Vasily for his courage in the battle near Vitebsk: “In the division of the 19th Jaeger regiment entrusted to me, the priest Vasily Vasilkovsky during the battle on July 15, 1812 near the city of Vitebsk, due to his sincere zeal, was at the beginning of this in front with a cross, blessed the regiment, then in the hottest fire, encouraging everyone to defeat the enemy, and confessed the seriously wounded, where from the recochet of the cannonball with earth on the left cheek he received a wound, but he was still in battle with it, until he received it again in the cross, which was on his chest, hit by a bullet and from it a strong concussion in the chest; For a long time, I put on such an excellent priest Vasilkovsky to inform Your Reverence and humbly ask for his zeal for the faith and the benefit of the Monarchs to apply for a decent reward, which he deserves in all fairness. At the request of Likhachev, the regimental priest Vasilkovsky was presented for the award of the "kamilavka" as a distinction of the white clergy.

The battle of Borodino and rearguard battles, the fire of Moscow and the Tarutinsky camp were left behind, on October 7 Napoleon set out from Moscow to Kaluga, Kutuzov decided to block his path through Maloyaroslavets. On October 12, the 6th Infantry Corps of Infantry General D.S. Dokhturov was the first to arrive at the city and started the battle. “Realizing the importance of holding Maloyaroslavets until the main forces of Kutuzov’s army approached, General Dokhturov sent the 19th Jaeger Regiment to the city,” writes A.A. Vasiliev ... - Together with the officers and soldiers of the 19th Jaeger Regiment, in the battle for Maloyaroslavets, he took Active participation his regimental priest, father Vasily Vasilkovsky, who, with a cross in his hand, inspired the rangers going on the attack. On October 31, 1812, Dokhturov, petitioning for the award of Vasilkovsky, reported to the Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal, His Serene Highness Prince M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov that “priest Vasilkovsky in this battle was all the time with a cross in his hand in front of the regiment and with his instructions and example of courage encouraged the soldiers to stand firmly for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland and courageously defeat the enemies, and he himself was wounded in the head.”

Kutuzov supported Dokhturov’s petition, turning to Emperor Alexander I with a report in which he wrote that Father Vasily “went ahead of the regiment with a holy cross and, with an example of his courage, encouraged the soldiers to defeat the enemy, during which he received a bullet wound in the head; moreover, he distinguished himself by a similar act in the battle near the city of Vitebsk, where he was also wounded in the leg.

On March 12, 1813, Kutuzov in the city of Kalisz, where the Headquarters of the Russian troops that had begun the foreign campaign was then located, signed order No. 53 for the armies, one of the points of which read: being ahead of the shooters with a cross, prudent instructions and personal courage, he encouraged the lower ranks to fight without horror for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland; and was severely wounded in the head by a bullet. In the battle of Vitebsk, he showed the same courage, where he received a bullet wound in the leg. I presented the Sovereign Emperor with the chief certificate of such excellent deeds undaunted in battles and zealous service of Vasilkovsky, and His Majesty deigned to award him the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George 4th class. This was the first time in the history of the order and the Orthodox clergy that a military priest was awarded the Order of St. George. On March 17, 1813, the order was presented to Father Vasily. About such an extraordinary event, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Governing Synod, Prince A.N. Golitsyn on March 27, 1818 notified I.S. Derzhavin in a special letter: “Adjutant General Prince Volkonsky (Peter Mikhailovich. - A.S.) informed me that the Sovereign Emperor, on the proposal of Mr. Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Larionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, graciously deigned to welcome the Order of St. Great Martyr George 4th class to the priest of the 19th Chasseur Regiment Vasily Vasilkovsky for the fact that, being in the battle of Maloyaroslavets, he went ahead of the regiment and, as an example of his courage, encouraged the soldiers to quickly defeat the enemy, and he received a bullet wound in the head. Moreover, he distinguished himself by a similar act in the battle near the city of Vitebsk, where he was also wounded in the leg.

The Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper could not pass over this historical event in silence, which reported: “St. Petersburg, April 2 (1813 - A.S.). His Imperial Majesty, on the proposal of Field Marshal Prince Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, graciously welcomed the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George 4th class to Priest Vasilkovsky, who is with the 19th Jaeger Regiment in the corps of General Dokhturov.

On the anniversary of this commemorative award on March 11, 1836, the newspaper Russky Invalid or Voennyye Vedomosti reminded its readers: “The heroic courage of the priest Vasilkovsky, who was with the 19th Jaeger Regiment, ... deserves the gratitude of his compatriots. This worthy and zealous servant of the altar during the battles at Maly Yaroslavets and Vitebsk, carrying the holy cross before the army, by his personal example instilled prophetic courage in the soldiers, encouraged them to righteous battle with full confidence that under the shade of an honest and life-giving cross they will be glorified by victory over the enemies. In the first of these battles, priest Vasilkovsky was wounded by a bullet in the head, and in the second - in the leg.

In 1842, a book by V.S. Glinka, the son of a participant, contemporary and witness of the events of 1812 S.N. Glinka, brother of F.N. Glinka, "Maloyaroslavets in 1812, where the fate of Napoleon's large army was decided." I deliberately focus on the author's family ties only to emphasize under whose influence the heroic events on the pages of this book are told. Here is how the feat of Father Vasily is described in it:

“The enemy rushed, crushed our regiments and recaptured the city. But here comes a column of our recovered troops and in front of its ranks, in front of the banner of the 19th Chasseurs Regiment (a mistake, in 1812 the Chasseurs regiments were not supposed to have banners and they didn’t have them - A.S.) comes Priest Vasilkovsky .., goes along with to die as their spiritual children for the faith and the fatherland. The golden Cross raised high shines in his hands, and behind this holy sign the whole regiment rushes together, climbing over the corpses of the enemy, chasing him and for a long time challenging the square in front of the monastery ... ". It was this moment that the artist A.Yu. captured on his canvas. Averyanov.

How did the further fate of Father Vasily develop? On the cross described above, it is indicated that the priest died on December 24, 1812, but when he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class, Vasilkovsky was alive. April 3, 1813 I.S. Derzhavin asked him to send a copy of the imperial rescript on the award. A.A. Vasiliev wrote that Father Vasily "died of his wounds in 1814." Perhaps this happened before April 25, 1814, because the request is dated to this date. about. commander of the 19th Jaeger Regiment on the appointment of a new priest to replace the deceased father Vasily Vasilkovsky. E.V. Sergeeva supports the opinion of Protopresbyter A.A. Zhelobovsky, who headed the military clergy in 1888-1910, and Protopresbyter G.I. Shavelsky, last chapter military clergy of the armed forces Russian Empire in 1911-1917, that Father Vasily died on November 24, 1813. L.A. Bublik and I.A. Kalashnikov also wrote about the death of Vasilkovsky at the end of 1813. However, the author of the encyclopedic article "Military Clergy" wrote that Archpriest Vasilkovsky "died of his wounds during a campaign in France." In other words, there is no consensus among researchers, because documents have not yet been found that allow us to give an unambiguous answer about the time of the death of Father Vasily.

We do not know where the tomb of the first priest, holder of the Order of St. George, was lost, but his name has not been lost and his feat lives in the memory of generations.

The question remains a mystery - why was the name of Vasily Vasilkovsky not and is not on the memorial plaques of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow? There is no his name in the lists of the Knights of St. George in 1812-1814. on the marble boards of the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. And again the question arises - why? But it is unlikely that anyone will doubt that in the awards of the 19th Jaeger Regiment, signs on the shako “For Distinction” and silver trumpets with the inscription “For bravery against the French at Craon and Laon”, shown in 1812-1814. , a considerable merit of the selfless shepherd Vasily Vasilkovsky. For it is said by Christ the Savior:

“There is no greater love than if a man lays down his life for his friends.”