On Valaam, the long-term process of resettlement of local residents to the mainland developed into an acute conflict between the monastery and the secular population. Those who do not want to leave the island are evicted by the monastery through the courts. We went to Valaam to understand why people want to stay on the island and why there is no place for them there.

Monastic pier in Priozersk, on the shore of Lake Ladoga. The motor ship "Valaam", which has been running since 1965, carries a few pilgrims who have gathered on the island in late autumn.

“I come to Valaam almost every year to pray... There is such silence there... I don’t know how to explain,” says a young Macedonian pilgrim from Germany.

Svetlana Strelnikova, who has lived on Valaam for 20 years, is traveling in the other direction - from the island. She doesn’t want to go to the monastery church.

“From here I go to pray at another church or monastery. I went to Konevets, to a church in St. Petersburg. There is a crisis here... a terrible crisis,” explains Svetlana. Svetlana is unable to concentrate and pray on the monastic island, which for several centuries has remained a center of pilgrimage for Orthodox believers. The “worldly passions” raging two steps from the monastery interfere.

Image caption The historical building - the "Winter Hotel" - became the property of the monastery in 2006. The monastery immediately took care of recognizing Zimka as a non-residential building

Svetlana is facing trial. They want to evict her from her apartment in an old four-story building, which is called here the “Winter Hotel”, or simply “Zimka”. Like almost all real estate on the archipelago, “Winter” belongs to the monastery. Like many of those evicted, Svetlana settled here long before the monastery became the owner of Zimka.

The company established by the monastery claims in the lawsuit that the apartments of Svetlana and other defendants are uninhabitable. The plaintiff insists on relocation from her dilapidated apartment on the island to a “comfortable house” on the mainland in the city of Sortavala, of which Valaam has recently become a district.

Svetlana, for reasons unknown to the monastery leadership, resists such an improvement in living conditions.

Living, but "non-living"

The confrontation between the monastery leadership and those who do not want to leave Valaam has lasted for several years, but in recent months the struggle has become more fierce.

In September, the entire family of historian Oleg Yarovoy and tour guide Irina Smirnova, authors of books and scientific works on the history and culture of the island of Valaam and the region, was evicted. They were deprived of registration as non-residents on the island. “I am a candidate of sciences, I worked for two and a half years on presidential grants, the work involved traveling to other regions, participating in conferences. But the court decision says that I had to sit on Valaam and do science in my apartment,” says Oleg Yarovoy.

Irina Smirnova came to Valaam in the mid-1980s. At first she was a museum guide, then she collaborated with the “Pilgrimage Service” of the monastery, and now she works as a private guide without the right to lead tourists around the territory of the monastery. Together with her ex-husband Oleg Yarov, they write books and studies about Valaam. Next up is another book about the landscape of the island and the Karelian-Finnish epic. But Irina fears that she will not be able to finish it, and if she has to leave the island, she will be left without work.

Irina and other dissenters consider this to be revenge for active protests.

“(This) lawsuit arose after Oleg appealed to various authorities with a demand to resolve the situation with our family, who were evicted in 2008,” says Philip Muskevich, former head of the nature department of the liquidated Valaam Museum-Reserve.

Image caption The monastery evicted the family of Philip Muskevich for five years. All this time the court was on the side of the residents.

The process of eviction of residents through the courts began with the Muskevichs. For almost 20 years, Philip lived in the Resurrection Skete - by local standards, on the other side of the island, but in fact, a five-minute drive from the Winter Hotel. When he came to Valaam from Tallinn, there was no monastery on the island yet. In 1989, Muskevich was settled there by local authorities as a visiting specialist. Other families of employees of the then existing museum-reserve were resettled in a similar way.

But then a monastery came to the island and, having grown stronger, from 2003 for five years tried to evict the family through the courts. But to no avail - the monastery's claims, appealing to the Housing Code, were consistently rejected. However, in 2008, the monastery filed a lawsuit on new grounds, demanding that the Muskevichs be evicted from the Refectory Building of the Resurrection Skete as from a non-residential building. And the monastery suddenly won the case.

The Muskevichs were taken out with bailiffs, who escorted Philip and his wife Lyudmila to the pier. However, they continue to cling to this land and live in the room of a family that sympathizes with them, in that same Winter Hotel. It's cramped and cold there in winter, but they don't leave. Moreover, they continue to be active - Philip helps the residents of Valaam who have not yet been evicted to fight for the right to stay on the island.

“I considered any options for alternative resettlement within Valaam... This is my native place. The aesthetic argument is very important. A wonderful, delightful place that I am used to, which I know and which I love,” says Philip Muskevich.

Almost none of the residents hold on to these apartments. For most of them, the most important thing is to stay on Valaam, if not in this, then in some other housing. But this option is unrealistic, they say at the monastery. Of the thousand residents registered on the island in the early 80s, now only about a hundred remain with permanent registration. And they all face resettlement to the mainland.

Among them are the descendants of workers of the Home for the Invalids, opened on the island after World War II, former employees of the liquidated museum-reserve, who received housing for social rent in the 1980-90s, as well as employees of the existing Natural Park.

Disappeared village

At the dawn of the revival of the monastery, it was assumed that those who wished would be able to stay on the island. This was the only possible legal option at that time - since resettlement, according to the law, must be carried out within one locality.

Image caption “They (representatives of the monastery) are very hostile towards the residents also because the residents are trying to sue and defend their rights, and in the canons of the monastery such behavior is at least unacceptable,” says MHG expert Sergei Shimovolos.

However, now eviction from the island is not against the law. Because in the mid-2000s, Valaam ceased to be an independent territorial unit. Self-government was abolished there and the island became... the urban area of ​​Sortavala, which is 40 km away, on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga.

Experts from the Moscow Helsinki Group who examined this conflict believe that the liquidation of self-government was carried out illegally and left local residents virtually powerless.

For this, according to the MHG, an “appeal” from the residents of the village of Valaam was used, and a protocol was prepared for the general meeting of the village residents dated February 13, 2005, “at which 47 people were present.” However, no one found out the opinion of the majority of the village residents, as the local residents themselves confirm.

The most important violation is the violation of the right to local self-government. The village was liquidated illegally, by falsifying documents of supposedly some kind of general gathering. So this gathering did not happen Sergei Shimovolos, MHG expert

“The most important violation is a violation of the right to local self-government. The village was liquidated illegally, by falsifying documents of supposedly some kind of general meeting. So this meeting did not happen,” says MHG expert Sergei Shimovolos.

Christian Eviction

Not all of those who lived here for the last half century objected to leaving. Many agreed to the apartments originally offered by the monastery in Petrozavodsk. The family of one of the residents of Zimnyaya, Lyudmila, received as many as three small apartments - for her mother, her adult daughter, and for her with her husband and minor child. Most of the family has already moved, although Lyudmila constantly postpones her departure from Valaam. He says that it is very difficult to find work in Petrozavodsk.

But few were offered apartments in the regional capital. Initially, the monastery carefully resettled residents, but after the liquidation of local self-government, the patient search for a compromise gave way to a tough approach.

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Although the monastery still talks about the voluntary nature of the resettlement and the “Christian” attitude towards the secular population of the island, from the statements of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church it becomes clear that the residents have no choice. Representatives of the monastery firmly appeal to local residents about housing legislation.

Residents wrote letters to the President of Russia, the Patriarch, and the Commissioner for Human Rights in Karelia with a request to protect their right to stay on the island, but most of these letters remained unanswered. In September, after the last letter to the Patriarch, the company SENT LLC (Service for the Operation of Real Estate and Territories), established by the monastery and managing the property of the monastery on the island, filed claims against nine more residents of Zimnyaya.

Many Valaam residents, including those who had not yet been affected by the resettlement, perceived this turn of events as a challenge and filed a counterclaim challenging the recognition of their apartments in the Winter Hotel as uninhabitable. The first hearing on the claim was postponed, a new one will take place in mid-November.

Sergei Shimovolos from the MHG says that in the whole story of the eviction of local residents, there is a juggling of legal norms. "Both the old and new Housing Codes did not allow the recognition or transfer of residential premises into non-residential premises without resettling the residents. In particular, Article 22 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2004 No. 188-FZ does not allow the transfer of residential premises if citizens use it "in as a place of permanent residence,” he says.

Lawyer at the Yukov and Partners Bar Association Ekaterina Baglaeva admits that formally at this stage the monastery’s actions seem legal. However, it also points to a certain conflict that calls into question the legality of the monastery’s actions. Yes, on the one hand, residents cannot appeal to the housing code while in a premises that is recognized as non-residential. “However, on the same basis, it is worth doubting the indication of SENT LLC that this building is non-residential. After all, people live there and, moreover, they have long been registered in this building at their permanent place of residence,” says Ekaterina Baglaeva.

Athos, but not the same

Image caption “Northern Athos”, but with thousands of tourists of both sexes - this is how the monastery authorities see Valaam

“We, of course, consider the coexistence of a monastery and a secular settlement as a temporary phenomenon and strive to ensure that Valaam again becomes northern Athos,” said the abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratiy, four years ago in an interview with the Direct Investments publication.

The residents do not understand how they can interfere with the monks and why they cannot be left on the island.

“Nothing prevents a small community of the secular population here from coexisting with a monastery. Let’s say, a settlement at the monastery. Here it would be very simple to resolve the situation - create a program taking into account the balance of interests, dialogue, mutual understanding,” reflects Philip Muskevich.

Previously there was a village, but there was no monastery. Now it is a monastery with an ever-increasing brethren. That is, there are more and more monks, thank God. Today there are more than 200 of them. This number will increase. Vera Skobeleva, director of SENT LLC

There is no way, Vera Skobeleva, head of SENT LLC, is sure. Skobeleva claims that over the past thirty years the demographic situation on the island has changed significantly.

"Previously there was a village and there was no monastery. Now it is a monastery with an ever-increasing brethren. That is, there are more and more monks, thank God. Today there are more than 200 of them. This figure will increase. So what? How? We send monks to the mainland “Are we making a village on Valaam?” says Vera Skableva.

Local residents disagree and say that the number of monks is not only not growing, but has in fact remained unchanged over the past years.

The premises vacated by local residents, as Valaam residents note, are occupied by builders and employees of the monastery’s commercial structures. And there are many of them: Pilgrimage Service LLC works with pilgrims and tourists, Valaam Service LLC manages a fleet of passenger and cargo ships. To conduct trade on the island, Valaam Service LLC was created, and the already mentioned SENT was created to service the village's public utilities.

Image caption The monastery relies on “shift workers.” During the season, their number exceeds the number of monks and local residents combined

The number of “shift workers” per season, according to local residents, significantly exceeds the number of local residents and monks combined. Most temporary workers come from neighboring countries - Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, as well as from Romania. And even at the beginning of November, the surroundings of the monastery are filled with the roar of jackhammers and the rumbling of bulldozers, which is not at all conducive to peace.

Bishop Pankraty also said that the monastery intends to hire “shift workers.”

“We hope that in a few years Valaam will be mainly populated by monks. The people who work here at the power plant, fire department, forestry, hospital will work on a rotational basis, having homes and families on the mainland,” the bishop said about the monastery’s plans Pankratiy.

The hierarch did not explain why the shift workers set up the monastery more than the indigenous residents.

“I have already spoken with the Bishop (Bishop Pankratiy) about this and with the economist: listen, why do you hire workers on a rotational basis when we have a working population? Why don’t you give them work? After all, this is a local resident who will work and will be responsible for their work! No, they say, it’s more convenient for us to work here on a rotational basis,” says Sortavala City Council member Sergei Grigoriev, also a resident of Valaam, also registered at the Winter Hotel.

According to the deputy, some of the locals manage to get work in the monastery’s commercial structures, but the monastery fundamentally does not hire the majority of residents with permanent registration. As Sergei Grigoriev is sure, it is precisely because of their permanent registration in Valaam.

Who is stubborn - go to Valaam

In modern consciousness, the word "Valaam" is associated with a monastery. But the idea that the island “from time immemorial” was exclusively monastic is a myth, notes Irina Smirnova.

“The monastery was formed at the end of the 14th century, when there was already a settlement here. This was the time of the development of the Northern Ladoga region by the Karelians. In the 17th century, when it was the territory of Sweden, there were also Karelian settlements and estates here, and in the 18th century the monastery returned,” says she.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption According to historical sources, the monastery existed on Valaam for a little over 300 years...

As an instructive example of the successful coexistence of the monastery and the secular population, almost all residents of Valaam who know the history of the island recall the “Finnish period”.

“It was the 1920-30s, when the Grand Duchy of Finland gained independence. There was a Finnish military garrison here, because it was border territory and Finnish military families lived here, with children. By the way, they lived in the Winter Hotel. The premises were here converted into apartments. The other part of the building housed tourists: in the 20s and 30s it was a very large tourist center,” says Irina Smirnova.

According to local residents, there is no hostility between them and the monks even now, despite the conflict with the leadership of the monastery. They even have something in common. Monks like to recall the pre-revolutionary saying: “Whoever is experienced, go to Optina, and whoever is stubborn, go to Valaam.” Local residents could fully apply the second part of the saying to themselves.

“No one, not a single local resident, no matter what conditions they were put under, spoke out aggressively against the Russian Orthodox Church, not one. Moreover, more than half of the local residents are Orthodox, baptized and go to church,” says Sergei Grigoriev. Although some, having witnessed “worldly passions” within the monastery, are disappointed.

Museum expert Varvara Sergeeva, great-granddaughter of someone repressed in the 1930s. deacon, says that he can no longer pray in churches on Valaam - he leaves for St. Petersburg to confess and receive communion. She has lived on Valaam since 1988, and after the museum closed, she took up handicrafts - she sews bags that are very popular among pilgrims. The monastery refuses to take products from Varvara for sale, preferring to work with local products from their wholesale suppliers from the mainland.

"Just a ghetto"

Image caption Stelana Strelnikova says that the beauty and spirit of the island saves you from everyday problems

Svetlana Strelnikova, although she also cannot pray in the churches on Valaam, does not want to leave the island.

“You just have to go for a walk in the forest, and you understand what you’re fighting for here. By the way, the forest has also been so defaced, so many forests have been cut down... Because I didn’t come here for some kind of money or apartments. I just liked it place. There are such living conditions here - that’s how long I lived here, I thought: “Lord, if I lived in the city, I would probably have hanged myself from such living conditions,” says Svetlana Strelnikova.

The conditions cannot be called normal. In the dark corridors of the Winter Hotel, lined with chests and cabinets, cats are in charge. Against the backdrop of walls with peeling paint here and there, semi-domestic animals exacerbate the feeling of dilapidation.

The building itself is in terrible condition. The way people maintain corridors and staircases is simply a ghetto. Vera Skobeleva, director of SENT LLC

The apartments have small windows and stove heating is complemented by electric heaters. There are homemade partitions, makeshift kitchens and self-installed bathrooms.

The apartments were just as poorly equipped by city standards two decades ago, when museum workers were housed in the Winter Hotel. Then the apartments were considered suitable for living. Two decades have passed without major repairs; the ancient building and communications laid in Soviet times have fallen into disrepair. And so the monastery authorities received a technical conclusion about the unsuitability of the building for habitation.

“The building itself is in a terrible state. The way people maintain the corridors and staircases is simply a ghetto,” Vera Skobeleva, the head of SENT LLC, is indignant.

Residents claim that they have repeatedly offered the monastery to carry out repairs in the building and were ready to help do this. The monastery has already begun restoration of the outer contour of the Winter Palace, but with other needs in mind.

“This is a monument of federal significance, it is being restored and adapted for its original use. And it is impossible to comply with sanitary and construction standards for residential premises. This is a hotel complex,” explains Vera Skobeleva.

Very serious business

In the same four-story building, directly above the apartments that were declared uninhabitable, there are two monastery hotels. There, a very modest room in terms of amenities costs an average of 3.5-4 thousand rubles per night. The same stove heating and electric heater, shower, tiny window.

The monastery needs hotels. During the season - from May to October - 100-140 thousand pilgrims come to the island - almost a thousand people a day. The three monastery hotels on the island can accommodate just over 100 tourists. The Pilgrimage Service Avenue contains about two dozen tourist programs designed for different budgets.

Despite the repeated repetition by the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church of the formula “Valaam is northern Athos,” no one is going to limit the flow of tourist pilgrims to the monastic island in the near future.

Image caption The head of the monastery LLC "SENT" Vera Skobeleva is categorical: Valaam residents cannot stay on the island

“We must be aware that Valaam feeds the entire Sortavala region. This is the tourism business, hotels, travel, Finns come here, they come here from all over Russia, from abroad, from America, from England, all of Europe comes here. Then It is clear that this is a very serious business, it brings serious income to Karelia,” explains Vera Skobeleva.

After the completion of the renovation of the Winter Hotel building, it is planned to create a spiritual and educational center there, which will include a museum of modern icons with exhibition halls and a school of Orthodox chanting, icon painting, lecture halls, and a pilgrimage center.

According to the official version, the current relocation of residents is connected exclusively with the restoration of the federal monument - that is, the "Winter Hotel" - for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Karelia.

“Now, for example, federal money has been sent for restoration, and people live there... The money needs to be used. They (residents) are slowing down our use of federal money for at least six months with all the courts. But the monastery is forced to wait until all this is decided,” - complains the press secretary of Bishop Pankratiy, Mikhail Shishkov.

Our program includes the revival of the Valaam Monastery. In fact, it is not a revival or renovation that is taking place, but new construction—they are building something new. Sergey Grigoriev, resident of Valaam

To speed up the process, according to local residents, different methods are used. In August, for example, after a meeting to draw lots for housing on the mainland, electricity and water supplies were cut off for several days in local residents' apartments. The shutdowns affected only those who were threatened with resettlement.

Impossible construction

“It is impossible to stay on Valaam, because there is no possibility to build new premises there, because within the central estate and the entire archipelago is closed for new construction. New construction only provides for monasteries, temples, chapels. These are not the premises in which citizens are supposed to live.” , explains Vera Skobeleva.

In the morning, guests in the hotel cell are awakened by the sound of a drill. In the absence of crowds of tourists, visitors to the island are haunted by construction noise.

Image caption This picturesque place was chosen for the construction of another “remake” - the Kazan monastery

“Our program is the revival of the Valaam Monastery. In fact, there is no revival, not renovation, but new construction - they are building new ones. There are residences on the islands. We built a residence for Alexy II - the St. Vladimir Skete - he rested there Kirill stepped in - he didn’t like this residence - they built him a residence on Bayonne Island (Valaam archipelago), on which nothing can be built at all, because it is a protected area, a specially protected area,” says Sergei Grigoriev.

Indeed, it is now especially protected. Previously, this was a favorite fishing spot for locals and tourists, but now, according to tourists, everyone approaching the island is greeted by heavily armed guards.

On the island of Valaam itself, in an unusually picturesque place, the Kazan monastery is being built. “It’s a remake,” says local resident Victor, a native of Valaam, with contempt. Victor, who “knows every corner of Valaam,” does not like the new buildings - it’s a pity that the forest was cut down at the construction site. “Why are they here? These buildings have never been here,” says Victor.

Next to the remodeled temple, overlooking the granite shore, there is an unfinished remodeled crypt sticking out. It was intended for a large donor from Ukraine - Anton Klimenko, brother of the Minister of Revenue and Duties in the government of Viktor Yanukovych, who died in Egypt on vacation. A brick parallelepiped that looks like the entrance to an underground tunnel. But it stands empty - for some reason the benefactor was buried not even here, but in the historical Igumensky cemetery, where something much more massive, similar to a chapel, is being built.

Image caption Builders are working to perpetuate the memory of the brother of a Ukrainian official and major donor

Nearby are the graves of the four abbots of the monastery. None of them can compete in terms of monumentality with the burial of the donor. Even the grave of Abbot Damascene, who is called the main builder of Valaam, is under a standard, human-sized tombstone.

In 1992, with the liquidation of the state museum-reserve, Valaam, as noted in the MHG, lost its status as a specially protected area. In 1999, a Natural Park was created on Valaam, whose employees often find themselves helpless if the monastery turns out to be a rule-breaker.

“New buildings” are being built at an accelerated pace on the islands of the Valaam archipelago, in fact with the blessing of the patriarch, who last summer called for the construction of a monastery on each still “uninhabited” Valaam island.

Shortly after this statement by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, large-scale construction was launched on Oborony Island (Valaam archipelago), where the Mannerheim Line buildings remained until recently, which began without the necessary environmental assessment. Environmentalists have raised the alarm: large-scale construction is taking place in a particularly valuable natural area of ​​the park, in close proximity to the places where the Ladoga seal, listed in the Red Book, accumulates on haul-out sites. The authorities responded to Greenpeace's request regarding the legality of the construction with great delay: an administrative case was opened, construction continues.

Valaam for VIP

Image caption According to the Russian Orthodox Church, buildings for VIPs do not violate the historical appearance of the island

“It’s impossible to make a village somewhere. It’s surrounded by a forest of the first category. And any infrastructure that will be created as a village separately will violate the actual historical appearance that is recorded here. That is, almost all the buildings on the territory of the Valaam archipelago are historical or religious,” - Vera Skobeleva tells us.

Even if we leave aside the tomb for the brother of a former official, there are also frankly secular buildings on the island.

Next to the St. Vladimir monastery (also a remake from the 2000s with a name characteristic of the era) there are two large wooden cottages. Locals call one of them Putin’s residence, the other – a VIP bathhouse.

According to the official version, the mysterious houses near the remodeled monastery are hotels for VIP guests. Nearby, behind the trees, there are brand new residential buildings, near which an excavator is dashingly working. “They’re probably building it for the servants,” says a local resident accompanying us.

You can build, but not for living. Modern hermitages and modern structures are being built there - we must leave something in our century. Mikhail Shishkov, press secretary of Bishop Pankratius

The construction of either residences or VIP hotels does not bother the monastery representatives. After all, formally, a VIP hotel and service houses are not residential premises. “You see, everyone wants permanent registration on Valaam. It was carried out illegally, and in violation of the Constitution and the Housing Code. It is possible to build, but not for living. Modern hermitages, modern buildings are being built there - we must leave something in our century.” , - representative of the abbot Mikhail Shishkov patiently explains the reasons for the construction boom.

In the 19th century, when the modern ensemble of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery was being built, Russian emperors Alexander I and Alexander II loved to visit the island. You will not find their “residences” or dachas - the reigning persons lived in two cells near the gate church of the Apostles Peter and Paul at the monastery gates.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Russian President Vladimir Putin fell in love with the island

The current head of state also likes to come to Valaam - according to the official version, to “focus on the main thing.” Local residents recall how he once came to the island to “concentrate” with Silvio Berlusconi.

Among the main donors for the restoration of monuments and the construction of new buildings is the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.

This year, the monastery received 358 million rubles to “strengthen the unity of the nation” and create a spiritual and educational center.

Dead end. Plywood

Now all residents of Zimnyaya are offered virtually no alternative - a house in Sortavala. For those who cannot imagine life without Vallam nature, wind, waves and pine trees, his very address is like a mockery. Plywood dead end, 7A.

Only two people came to the draw for 18 apartments in the new building, and even those later refused. Residents of Valaam are selling apartments in a dead end in every possible way - mainly from the stories of others: few have seen the new house. Sergei Grigoriev is one of these.

Image caption The monastery believes that they are offering the people of Valaam an excellent alternative - a house in Plywood Dead End

“In fact, this is what they did: they took an industrial building from an ordinary production site - there were workshops there, then there was an office - they renovated it, made 18 apartments there - no balconies, no loggias, ceilings - 3.20, heating - electric. Everyone, of course, understands that It’s unbearable to live in such conditions. Because when the heating is electric and the ceilings are 3.20, then no amount of money is enough to heat this room,” says Grigoriev.

The house is located on the territory of a meat processing plant that once operated in Sortavala. Valaam residents, who are threatened with resettlement, claim that there was once a cattle burial ground in the immediate vicinity. They say that behind the new cladding of the building there are rotten walls made of sand-lime brick. They speak confidently, and yet - “behind the eyes”, we could not see with the naked eye all the listed shortcomings. But this does not mean that they cannot exist.

What is there to fight for? Behind the cell?! house security guard in Sortavala

Covered with yellow and burgundy siding, the three-story house with a bright children's playground looks alien - on the one hand, the shacks of the “private sector”, blackened with age, on the other, the remains and fragments of the industrial zone. Before our arrival, the “heating” was turned on in the apartments on the first floor - those same electric heaters. In several rooms the wallpaper had peeled off the walls due to dampness. But these are minor things.

“Yes, these are mansions! Come in and live! If they offered me such housing... But I have two children and I rent a room, I pay 8 thousand every month - and I don’t complain,” indignantly a native of Sortavala, a young security guard who was assigned to guard the house before residents move in.

Image caption Is the sense of beauty accessible to monastery officials, asks this question Philip Muskevich

In Sortavala there is unemployment and 800 people are on the waiting list for housing on social rent. People have been waiting for their turn for housing for many years. Therefore, the young man believes that the residents of Valaam are “showing off.” He himself works “watches” on Valaam during the season. We are wondering if there is something there, on Valaam, that would be worth fighting for?

“What are we fighting for? For the cell?!” the Sortava resident looks at us in bewilderment.

This man and Philip Muskevich, who defends his right to Valaam, seem to speak different languages.

“Why, when they talk about the movement of residents, do they compare only meters, the characteristics of Sanitary Regulations and Regulations, without taking into account the fact that on Valaam people do not just live in their apartments? They first of all live on this beautiful island. For monks who should be at least in romantics to some extent, it should be clear that it is this phenomenality of Valaam that attracts people,” says Muskevich.

Valaam is a protected corner of Russia.Here you can feel the harmonious combination of pristine nature, man and temples in their unity and serving spiritual goals. Numerous tourists and pilgrims strive to get to this blessed land and visit its holy places. Many creative people in Russia drew inspiration here. What amazes writers on Valaam, what stories could become a source of inspiration and creativity? Places covered in holy power, Bell ringing, motionless rocks, dark waters of Lake Ladoga at one time inspired Russian writers Tyutchev and Leskov, Shmelev and Zaitsev.

On the monastery pier

“I was looking for righteous people in Rus'”

In the summer of 1872, the writer Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov traveled around Ladoga, visiting monastic hermitages on the islands of Konevits and Valaam. The writer published his impressions of the trip in a series of essays “Monastic Islands on Lake Ladoga.” The basis of the essays about the monastery were the author’s personal observations and impressions, supplemented by the stories of those monks who accompanied him on walks around Valaam. It was not possible to talk with other monks or novices, since this was prohibited by the monastery charter. N.S. Leskov, before traveling from St. Petersburg to the monastery in June 1872, complained: “in the city, none of the people who had been to Valaam could tell me almost anything about it”; “I attended mass and went to the Nikolaevsky monastery”; those who lived for a week added that they carried out “obedience” and were not at one mass, but at seven masses,” they visited one of the monasteries every day, but where “the strictest elders live, they don’t lead there at all and they don’t let one in there.” Leskov’s essay “Monastic Islands on Lake Ladoga” ended with these words: “Valaam began to emerge before us, about which I will write some other time. It’s a serious place, and people live there, about whom we need to speak slowly and after thinking.”

Leskov N.S. Collected works in 11 volumes. T. 5th. M.: Goslitizdat, 1957. - 633 p.

Leskov called Valaam an unshakable “stronghold of Russian monasticism, residing here in all the purity of the ancient Christian community. This is the strictest Christian commune that you can hardly find anywhere.” He returned to the theme of the Valaam Monastery in the story “Peacock”: “On Valaam, as a custom, every pilgrim submits to obedience: he must go to church, pray, eat, then work and, finally, rest. There is no place for walking or sightseeing here; but, however, I, in the company of three men and two ladies, managed to go around the entire island in one night and imprint forever in my memory the wondrous picture presented in the pale half-light of a northern summer night by the wild rocks, dark tracts and quiet hermitages of Russian Athos. These monasteries are especially beautiful, with their unshakable silence, and of them the monastery of the Forerunner on the island of Sernichane is especially striking. Hermits live here, for whom the harshness of the common Valaam life seems insufficient: they retire to the Forerunner Skete, where the authorities of the monastery protect their peace from any invasion of worldly people. Here people who died to the world, but tirelessly pray for the world, keep their lamps warm: here there is eternal fasting, silence and prayer.”

Wonderful Valaam

What the “bright island, the wonderful island” looked like and how they lived, the Russian writer also told Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev. A native of Zamoskvorechye, he visited Valaam twice. The first time he came with his young wife on a honeymoon as a twenty-year-old student. Shmelev would come to the island for the second time almost forty years later, while in exile - in the mid-1930s, when “police supervision” on the island was carried out by the Finns, but the monastery continued to live its former independent life. As a result of these trips, the writer published a remarkable essay in Paris in 1937 under the title “Old Valaam.” The story is based on the writer’s impressions when he first visited the island in August 1893.

“In the memorial essay “At the Elder Barnabas” it is told how, forty years ago, I, a young, twenty-year-old student, “shaken from the Church,” chose for my wedding trip - by chance or not by chance - an ancient monastery, the Valaam Monastery. This trip did not pass without a trace: I had a lot of impressions and feelings - and a book was published. This first book of mine, which brought me both joy and anxiety, has long been distributed throughout Russian cities and towns. I don’t know if it exists abroad; hardly. Before the war, I was offered to republish it, but I refused: it was too young and light. Nowadays I wouldn’t write like that; but the essence has remained to this day: bright Valaam. During this time, a lot has changed: both inside me and outside. Russia, Orthodox Russia - where? which?! And the whole world has changed. Do you remember... - and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra? and Optina Pustyn? a - Sarov? and Solovki?! Balaam stayed and survived. All the same? They say it's still the same. God bless…" - wrote Ivan Shmelev.

Quiet Valaam

The pristine nature and seclusion of the monasteries attracted not only pilgrims. The beauty of Valaam inspired the creativity of many writers. Ivan Ivanovich Savin- writer, journalist, emigrant of the first wave. He was born in 1899 in Odessa. His last name was spelled either Savolain or Savolainen. The writer was Finnish on his father's side. Subsequently, this saved his life when, after all the horrors of the Crimean captivity, he escaped to his father, Ivan Savolainen, in icy Petrograd, and then with him finally ended up in Finland.

“He was not yet twenty years old when he experienced the beginning of the revolution, then the Civil War, battles with the Bolsheviks, captivity after the fall of Crimea... He experienced the death of almost his entire family, the horrors of retreat, the tragedy of Novorossiysk... After the fall In the Crimea, he remained sick with typhus on the sidings of the Dzhankoy junction, was captured... He experienced mockery, bullying, beatings, hunger, crossing the snowy steppe in torn clothes, wandering from CheKa to CheKa... There his brothers Mikhail and Paul" – Ivan Bunin wrote about the poet...

In 1922, Ivan Savin and his father, having confirmed their origin at the Finnish representative office, moved to Helsinki. “Look - a gray soul at twenty-three...” - he wrote this that year.

Fate gave the poet another five years of creative life. In 1926, his only lifetime collection of poems, “Ladonka,” was published, where on any page you can feel piercing pain and aching longing for your homeland. In the summer of 1927, during a minor operation in the hospital, Savin developed blood poisoning and died. Ivan Savin was called the most expressive poet of the White Dream. Subsequently, the poet believed that God left him on earth so that he could tell about everything:

“I am Ivan, who does not remember kinship

Put on guard by the Lord

In my windy expanse

The head went out in prayer..."

“It’s good at the monasteries! The majestic wildness of nature, the distant roar of Ladoga, the imperturbable calm of huge pine trees, rocks, rocks, rocks... The monastery is far away. The sky is close. It’s easy to breathe here, and it’s easy to pray... There are many, many deserts and hermitages on Valaam, near and far, ancient and newly built...

…The first inhabitant of the “Holy Island” was Saint Alexander of Svirsky. He came to the monastery in 1474 as a young man. For many years he labored on the wild island of Valaam. At God’s call, he went to the Svir River, founded a monastery on its banks, where he reposed in 1533. The old man led me into his cave, carefully preserved by the brethren. St. Alexander lived in a cleft in the rock, deepening it a little.

In front of this granite cell is a three-story wooden cross. There is no door. There is a long, narrow and low corridor, hollowed out in granite. With difficulty I crawl into the cell, holding a monastery candle of yellow-brown wax in my hand. An unearthly light burned in the soul of St. Alexander, since he lived in a stone bag, thrown into complete darkness. Neither the sun nor the moon comes here. Icons of ancient writing flicker dimly, one of them was brought by the saint from home, from the borders of Olonets, from the banks of the Oyat River. A bed made of rough stones. Stone chair...

I crawl out of the cave and deeply inhale the sharp, slightly intoxicating pine aroma. What beauty is on Your land, Lord!.. Millions of needles barely sway on the pine branches. The ruddy evening sun drips through the swaying net of these fragrant arrows, pink drops bloom like paradise flowers on the sand. Golden, completely silky shavings tremble on the trunks of pine trees, straight as roads to God. The sky in the east is still daytime, blue, in the west there is a huge and fiery fan of sunset..."

Wanderings in the Holy Land

In a rich creative heritage Boris Konstantinovich Zaitsev“Spiritual prose” occupies a large and important place. In the twentieth century there are not many such beautiful, deeply lyrical Orthodox prose writers. B.K. Zaitsev’s trip to Valaam dates back to August 1935. The trip to Valaam, which belonged to Finland in those years, was perceived very emotionally by Zaitsev, since the island reminded the writer of abandoned Russia. The quiet and deep life of monks, constant prayer, the desire for purity of heart - everything that was lost by the new Russia endlessly attracted the writer. Boris Zaitsev called his walks around Valaam “a journey through the holy land,” which was “unknown, but dear.” He wrote about Valaam: “After all, this is all mine, in my blood, I grew up in these very forests, I know everything from childhood... In general, all this is joy, God’s grace.” The result of the writer’s pilgrimage was the book of essays “Valaam” - one of the best descriptions of these holy places.

Zaitsev B.K. Works: In 3 volumes. T.2/Comp. and preparation text by E. Voropaeva and A. Tarkhov; Comment. E. Voropaeva. – M.: Artist. lit.; TERRA, 1993.-588 p.

"In the evening we set off on a walking journey - one of the most wonderful activities on the island. The hermitage of Father Nazarius is not far from the monastery. Almost behind the hotel itself, the road led by Father Damascene begins. It is now lined with overgrown fir and larch trees. There is first a small field, and then enters the forest - straight, level, striking in its smoothness.

...Having walked about a mile through a centuries-old forest, all accompanied by bluish-green pine alleys, you come to a strange, mysterious place: more than a hundred years ago, Abbot Nazarius, the spiritual renewer and restorer of Valaam, retired here “for a prayerful conversation with God.” Nobody! The very ray of the sun will barely break through the power of oak, spruce, cedar - it still will not disperse the transparent and fragrant twilight. The ground is dark brown, dotted with needles, acorns and cones here and there.

...We looked at Ladoga, stretching out right in front of us, soft blue, with light streams, with a foggy distant shore. Silence, emptiness. That silence and that emptiness that give a special world unknown in other places. This world of the beautiful and holy world spread around, a reflection of the mirroriness of Ladoga, the twilight fragrance of the desert and all the endless clarity of the sky."

Harsh Valaam

The unique beauty of the island inspired not only writers, but also more than one generation of artists. I. I. Shishkin, F. A. Vasiliev, M. K. Klodt, A. I. Kuindzhi, V. D. Polenov, N. K. Roerich and many, many others, under the impression of a trip to Valaam, endlessly reflected in their work various landscapes of Valaam. Many famous artists loved to come to Valaam.

The most famous of them was Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. The first time he came to Valaam was in 1859. Shishkin complained to friends about an “anxious state of mind” and “troubles in thoughts and feelings.” Valaam conquered him with his wild, pristine nature.

Shishkin I.I. Correspondence. Diary. Contemporaries about the artist. Comp., intro. Art. and note. I.N.Shuvalova. - 2nd ed., add. – L.: Art, 1984. - 478 p. - (The Artist's World)

On Valaam, the artist worked with extraordinary creative enthusiasm, despite frequent bad weather. In one of his letters to his parents he writes:

“The weather here is terrible, the winds and rains are terrible. “Yesterday,” he reports in a letter to his parents, “several trees fell before our eyes.” It’s especially unfortunate that two huge maples, probably about a hundred and fifty years old, were also broken... because they stood on a huge rock above the garden. And now we wander around in the rain and the wind, go to watch the waves - yes, indeed, I have never seen anything like this before, I couldn’t even imagine it. What is fear? They whip 8 fathoms into the rocks... There is room to roam... Despite all the horror of their actions, we look at them with the greatest pleasure. I don’t know how the steamship will sail from St. Petersburg tomorrow, now there are two of them, the new steamship “Valaam” Serdobolsky recently began sailing as part of the monastery company. It’s a nice ship, but it’s afraid of the seas and will probably be a coward too, but the monks are great, they don’t care about anything. Today Father Superior arrived from Serdobol, and nothing happened, only, he says, it shook quite a bit.” It is noteworthy how this letter is dated: “July, I don’t know the date; I know the last numbers. Quarter 11 o'clock at night 1859."

Shishkin I.I. Pine on Vadaam

Returning to St. Petersburg, the artist presented his paintings - three pen drawings and eight pictorial sketches with views of Valaam, among which were true masterpieces - “Pine on Valaam”, “View of the Island of Valaam”.

Other Russian artists also fell under the spell of the northern region.Valaam became a kind of open-air workshop.Petr Ivanovich Balashov first came to Valaam in 1859. And a year later, for the Valaam landscapes, which can be called the architectural encyclopedia of the island, he was awarded the title of free artist and awarded a silver medal. The main theme of the drawings is views of the Central Estate of the monastery, hermitages, and monastery buildings. In 1863, Abbot Damaskin published the most interesting album “Collection of views of the areas of the island of Valaam, drawn from life by the artist Balashov...”. The painting historian and art critic P. Sobko said most eloquently about the album - in just one word - “Luxurious!!!”.

The beauty of Valaam places won the heart of another Russian artist - Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi. He came to Valaam twice (in 1870 and 1872). The artist’s works “Lake Ladoga”, “On Valaam”, “On the Island of Valaam” were exhibited at all exhibitions, enthusiastic stories about them were passed on from mouth to mouth. “I still haven’t seen anything like this and couldn’t even imagine!” - exclaimed I.I. Shishkin. “Excellent things” - that’s what I.E. Repin said about them. The great fame of A.I. Kuindzhi began with such reviews. Our library has a book about this wonderful artist.

Manin V.S. Kuindzhi. M.: Fine Arts, 1976.- 208 p. – illus.

Balaam. The land of centuries-old monastic feats. Hundreds of people flock here, as has been the case from century to century. Over the blessed island with its forests, hermitages, secluded chapels on the rocks, worship crosses along the roads, the ringing of bells can be heard far, far away. The monastic prayer for the sins of the world rushes silently Privacy

In this part I will talk about why Patriarch Kirill did not star in the film “Balaam”

“Halva of Russia” or why Patriarch Kirill did not star in the film “Valaam”

Many people noticed that the head of the Valaam stauropegic monastery, Patriarch Kirill, did not appear in the film (!). Only once did he appear from behind the president for a couple of seconds. They wonder: why is Kirill not in the film?

I answer: everything is simple, no politics. Kirill, of course, likes to talk about his services to the Valaam monastery: he will ask Putin for money for restoration, then he will order the pier to be cleared of old buildings, and the monument will be opened, and monasteries, so he ordered to be built everywhere on the islands, and with the residents of the village he indicated Pankratiya carry out “spot work”. But he didn't want to take part in this film, just sent Kondrashov a few “questions to the president” from his traditional rhetorical compendium, incl. about Lenin, about faith and about Finland.

I think that Kirill did not want to participate in the film, so that no one would think that he was involved in the activities of Pankratiy, in arson and destruction, persecution of people and mockery of veterans and the people's memory of the Great Patriotic War. Kirill is the “western” bishop: St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Kaliningrad-Konigsberg. The clergy there, descendants of Soviet veterans, were brought up on the holiness of defenders of the homeland, and Kirill too.

And for Pankraty, the Great Patriotic War is someone else’s war. And, judging by his interview, he strongly dislikes the “Soviet clergy.” He is an oriental man, from Dushanbe, where he received an architectural education, in the oriental way. Despotism of the Central Asian type, this cultural environment, left its mark on the personality of Pankratiy. For the European northern Valaam, he is a random person.

But there is already a rumor circulating in the media that he Putin's confessor! And his praise of the president in this film breaks all records of sycophancy. Halva!"Halva of Russia"! It could become a new brand of Valaam monastery import substitution, not like the unprofitable monastery cheese, and not the free red fish with caviar. They say they have already eaten enough of them in the monastery.

We will also pay attention to the fact that according to Kondrashov, “ Soviet authorities decided to close the Valaam Monastery" Why and who came up with this latest nonsense? Isn't it Pankratius? Apparently, the authors of the film no longer know who, how and where else to bite.

The Soviet government, of course, did not close the monastery. It was an organization of the Finnish Orthodox Church, the property of the monastery was the property of this church. The monks, who after 1918 mostly accepted Finnish citizenship, after the Soviet-Finnish Winter War in 1940, under the terms of the peace treaty, along with all the displaced Finns, moved deep into Finland beyond the new border.

“In February 1919, the monastery announced the start of a campaign to grant Finnish citizenship. In the spring, the first group of monks, led by the abbot and members of the monastery board, submitted a petition. Those who did not want to become Finnish subjects were given a residence permit by the authorities. According to data on the expression of will, the number of inhabitants in June 1920 was total: 426 people, incl. 112 applied for Finnish citizenship, 206 wished to remain Russian citizens, 106 refused to make a choice.

In the 1930s, the brethren included:

(From the book: I.A. Smirnova, O.A. Yarovoy Valaam: under the flag of Finland. Petrozavodsk, 2001. P. 45)

The building of the multi-apartment residential building "Winter Hotel", where the Boatswain's School was located, and then the Home for the Disabled, an apartment building and a village school set on fire in three places May 1, 2016 during the Easter service. In that " the descent of the blessed Easter fire», holiday attribute, the monument building was destroyed, the school burned to the ground, people were deported.

Instead of a residential building and a village school, Pankratiy is building a monastic “Spiritual and Educational Center” of the Valaam Monastery. The monks are nervous. They are very nervous.

But the authors of the film do not talk about this manifestation of spirituality in Valaam.

“Faces of Zimka”, a collective portrait of residents of the burned-out apartment building “Winter Hotel”,
village group VKontakte “Valaam: people, events, stories”

In the magazine "Profile" on November 41/6, 2006, I found an article "Raskolniki" about the attitude of the highest hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church towards ordinary people. I am sending it to you.
Best regards, Boris Fedorovich.

Soviet citizens came to live on the northern island of Valaam when the monks left there. When they returned, it turned out that there was no more place for laymen here. Either to a monastery, regardless of faith, or away from the island.

The local population is about 300 people. Half of them live on the territory of the monastery complex - in apartments converted from former cells and utility rooms. Residents received warrants for them from the state in the late 1940s, immediately after the monks left Valaam for Finland, forming the now active New Valaam Monastery there. At the same time, a home for disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War, a kindergarten, a school and a hotel were opened on the territory of the former monastery. When in 1989, still in the Union, the question of restoring the church arose, the residents of Valaam allowed five monks to come to the island and begin the revival of the monastery they had once abandoned. At the pier they were greeted with bread and salt...

Two years later, Boris Yeltsin came to the island for a one-day visit, and the president was so inspired by monastic life that he decided to “restore historical justice” and handed over the monastery buildings to the believers... along with the laity living in them. Since then, according to some documents, the islanders have been living in municipal apartments, while according to others, they are illegally occupying monastery premises.

Change came immediately. The inhabitants of the monastery took Yeltsin’s decree literally and began to force the islanders, regardless of religion, to live according to the Law of God. And the monastery charter is strict: it prohibits not only smoking, drinking alcohol and using contraceptives, but also fishing, picking mushrooms and berries, making fires in the forest and much more.

Gradually, the brethren began to explore areas not related to religion. For example, hunting. At one time, a special team was engaged in shooting elk, which are abundant on Valaam, and the elk meat went to school, kindergarten and local store. Recently, clergymen have taken on the responsibility for preparing the hunt, and handed over the shooting... to the VIP guests of the monastery.

Such people arrive to Valaam constantly. Vladimir Putin has also been going there for the last three years. A peculiar sign even appeared on the island: haymaking has begun, which means the president will arrive. A few days before his arrival, all the greenery near the monastery is mowed down so that no one can hide in it. True, the president himself, as he has admitted many times, does not hunt. But there are others. Moreover, sometimes these “pilgrims” go out to see the elk while pretty drunk...

For eviction

Indigenous people have repeatedly tried to seek help. But immediately after a letter was sent from the island to the presidential administration with a request to sort it out, persecution of the laity began. The Valaam residents are sure: the letter fell into the hands of Father Superior Pankratiy, who immediately began a policy of eviction of complainants. The aborigines were offered to either go to work in the monastery as cooks, laborers, or builders - and in this case, remain in the occupied area, or get off the island. At the same time, the monks colorfully described the advantages of life in the monastery and recalled wealthy sponsors who make rich donations, including boats and cars.

The prospect of being left on the street frightened many. The Valaamites, distraught with fear, went to the abbot and asked to work. But some residents chose to defend their rights in court. Soon they were labeled as second-class citizens. Pilgrims point fingers at them, allegedly they are drunkards, parasites and atheists who did not want to live and work under the wing of the abbot. For outcasts, the monastery, with the participation of the local administration, built a residential building on the mainland, in the small Karelian town of Sortavala.

Those who left the island soon repented, says former deputy director of the Valaam Natural Park Sergei Nedoshivin. - People who spent their entire lives on the island are not adapted to life on the mainland. They simply have nothing to do there. In addition, Sortavala has the highest unemployment rate in the region, so many decided to return to the island.

For the returnees and those who never left Valaam, life turned into hell. In court, one after another, statements of claim signed by Abbot Pankratius are considered. The abbot demands that the natives be obliged to vacate the premises transferred to the monastery by Yeltsin’s decree. Lay people are encouraged to move out. It doesn't matter where.

If you don't leave, there won't be a hospital

In July 2004, Vladimir Putin visited Valaam for a one-day visit. The then head of the administration, Sergei Grigoriev, told the president about the litigation on the island. The President promised to look into it.

Two months later, my superiors called me - the head of the Sortavala administration, Sergei Ryzhkov, demanding that I resign,” says Grigoriev. - As it turned out, Putin dispersed the head of Karelia Katanandov, and he, in turn, decided to get rid of me. If I persist, Katanandov will not give money for the construction of a hospital in Sortavala. I resigned. Since then, all legal issues on Valaam, including registration, are decided by the abbot of the monastery. Recently, Valaam resident Lyudmila Pilipchuk gave birth to a daughter, but the girl is not registered in her mother’s square, forcing her to leave the island.

Not long ago, the Valaam residents made a new attempt to petition the president. “At the moment, all 300 residents of the island, having state registration in houses unrelated to religious buildings, ended up, by agreement of the monastic authorities with the Karelian government, in the fund of the religious organization of the monastery,” the islanders write in their appeal to Putin. - We have become disenfranchised residents... Before their arrival, we lived in modern, developing and large Russia with hope for justice, work and common sense, with faith in the future of our children on this land, and now we found ourselves in the atmosphere of tsarism, with princes, seizing power, business and property with money begged from our state, oligarchs and big business.”

The letter contained the signatures of almost half of the residents of Valaam. But this time too the paper disappeared on the way to the Kremlin...

Now, next to the dacha of Patriarch Alexy II, the VIP hotel “Vladimirsky Skete” is being built. Construction is taking place behind a fence and under guard. But everyone can see the other object. Last year, the yacht “Pallada”, purchased from the presidential administration and donated to the monastery by sponsors, moored at the Nikolsky monastery. The media has written about the 31-meter-long vessel, which costs $4 million, more than once. With the blessing of the patriarch, “Pallada” was renamed “Vsetsaritsa”, although the old letters had not yet been painted over. The yacht practically never goes to Ladoga; according to the novices on duty at the pier, VIP guests are taken for rides on it.

The last time residents of Valaam turned to Putin was during a summer Internet conference, asking: “Why, in a country where the church is separated from the state, does the monastery oppress local residents in every possible way?” Alas, this question did not reach us either...

War of the Worlds

At the end of last year, the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratiy of Trinity, was awarded the “Person of the Year 2005” award in the nomination “For the restoration of spiritual shrines of Russia.” The last object of the laity was recently transferred to the ownership of the monastery. Here are the Winter Hotel, a school where 50 children study, a grocery store and apartments where approximately 60 families live. A new round of resettlement of islanders to the mainland is inevitable. Eliminating the school will drive families with children off the island. They will most likely try to evict the rest using other methods.

Residents see a way out of the situation in recognizing Valaam as an independent rural settlement and electing a secular head of the island. After the resignation of Sergei Grigoriev, the President of Karelia, at the request of the Patriarch, annexed Valaam to Sortavala, a city on the mainland, 43 km away along Lake Ladoga. Now, in order to obtain a certificate, islanders have to spend a day on the road, about a thousand rubles for traveling by water and five hundred for an overnight stay in a hotel on the mainland.

To Alexander Shcherbakov, a resident of Valaam, the order of the head of Karelia seemed unlawful. He appealed to the Supreme Court of the Republic and won. That is, the issue of local self-government in Valaam, in general, has already been resolved, but its decision at the legislative level is continually postponed. On October 8, when the whole of Karelia was electing local authorities, the residents of Valaam had the opportunity to only partially fulfill their civic duty by electing the head and council of Sortavala and deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia. Without waiting for the election of the head of the island, the Valaam residents themselves formed an administration headed by Shcherbakov.

The head of the village administration on Valaam must be a layman; only such a person can protect the local population, Shcherbakov is sure. - As the head of the self-appointed administration, I can say that until the elections, all the power provided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the law on local self-government belongs to the residents of Valaam and the newly formed administration. I consider our actions justified, confirmation of this is the decision of the Supreme Court, which recognized the status of a rural settlement for Valaam.

The official authorities of Karelia, naturally, did not recognize the powers of the new administration and turned to law enforcement agencies with a statement to hold the participants accountable for the illegal seizure of power. An FSB investigator spent 10 days on the island and refused to initiate criminal proceedings against local residents. A new date will be set for elections in December, but residents fear another attempt to disrupt them.

According to the law on electoral rights, in Karelia people who have obtained temporary registration can take part in elections, says Larisa Sudarikova, secretary of the Valaam election commission. - Only 300 people live on the island. It is enough to bring one ship with pilgrims, temporarily register them on the territory of the monastery and send them to vote for the desired candidate...

Tatyana Romashenkova

There are numerous islands, and the largest of them is Valaam.
The bright waters of a stormy lake wash the archipelago; jutting into the shores of the Valaam Islands, they form the most picturesque bays and straits, many of which serve as a refuge for ships seeking refuge from the fury of the waves. Wonderful pictures of high cliffs reflected in the clear, calm waters are replaced by views of dense forest standing along the shores of large and small islands.
There are places on earth that seem especially designed to glorify the greatness of the Creator, reminiscent of the primordial harmony of existence. Quite often they are separated from the outside world by a natural boundary. In Rus', one of such places was and remains Valaam - an archipelago in Lake Ladoga with the Transfiguration Monastery located on it.

Valaam Island, Ladoga

The area of ​​the 50 islands is 36 square kilometers. Astonishing nature like Valaam, according to the hydrographer A.P. Andreev, “cannot be found anywhere in Europe: many completely vertical cliffs, going both in height and depth - islands, capes, coves... Straits, lakes between dense vegetation and gloomy granite rocks reflect all objects on the azure, and a slender coniferous forest complements the overall picture, giving everything a wonderful, delightful look."

The name "Valaam" is translated from Finnish as "high land", a less likely translation is "land of oath" or "land of light". Some believe that the name comes from the name of the pagan god Baal (sometimes identified with the Slavic Veles) or the biblical soothsayer Balaam.

According to the Valaam legend, in ancient times, when the Finno-Ugrians and Slavs living in the Ladoga region were just preparing to accept the Christian faith, the islands were a giant pagan altar. The first of Christ's disciples, St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, enlightening the Scythian and Slavic lands, went from Novgorod to Valaam, where he destroyed pagan temples and erected a stone cross. The Holy Apostle predicted a great future for Valaam, which came with the founding and flourishing of the monastic monastery. Valaam is unthinkable without a monastery.
The protected islands of the Valaam archipelago are located in the northern part of the largest lake in Europe - Lake Ladoga. Around the main island of Valaam, which gives its name to the entire archipelago, there are over 500 islands; the total area of ​​the Valaam archipelago is 36 square kilometers, the area of ​​the island. Valaam - 27.8 sq. km. The origin of the island's name is not known for certain. According to some versions, it goes back to the name of the pagan god Baal. The Finnish etymological dictionary lists the word valatka, which means “Ladoga whitefish”.

Although Valaam is considered the largest island of the archipelago, its dimensions are small: length - 9.5 kilometers, width - 6 kilometers. It rises 60 meters, which gives the island such a majestic appearance. Its western and southern shores rise above the surface of the lake with huge inaccessible granite rocks that go tens of meters under the water.

The northern and eastern parts, on the contrary, are gentle, intricately cut by natural straits, forming many small islands, and in some places you can even cross from one island to another along shallow fords.
Valaam nature is unique. There are about 450 species of plants on the island, the forests are mostly coniferous, but there are oak groves, fir and deciduous alleys, as well as apple orchards planted by monks in the 19th century. The fauna of Valaam is rich and diverse; a large number of birds nest on its rocky shores.
The location of the archipelago in the area of ​​the greatest depths of Lake Ladoga (233 m) affects the climate of the islands. The average temperature in July is +17 degrees, in February -9.

During his long life, the mysterious Valaam attracted the attention of many. The male Orthodox Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, founded here in the 14th century, has undergone many changes over its long history, from short years of prosperity to complete desolation, and reached its greatest prosperity by the middle of the 19th century. It was at this time that many pilgrims and tourists, artists and writers went to Valaam. The unique harsh beauty of these places was reflected in their work by artists N.I. Shishkin, A.I. Kuindzhi, N.K. Roerich, M.K. Klodt, F.A. Nemirovich-Danchenko, A.N. Apukhtin.
At that time, it was possible to get from St. Petersburg to Valaam in two days, now on modern ships it takes ten hours. Since 1979, Valaam, turned into a historical, architectural and natural museum-reserve, welcomes tourists and pilgrims from Russia and many other countries of the world.

Ioanno-Predtechensky Island, Valaam

HOLY ISLAND VALAAM, HISTORY
The island of Valaam, located on, is one of the most famous holy places in Russia. The history of this island is primarily the history of the monastery. According to legend, the monastery was founded in the 10th century by Saints Sergius and Herman. However, for the first time in sources the monastery is mentioned in connection with the Swedish campaign in 1163, because of which the monks transported all the valuables to Novgorod the Great. Later, the monastery is surrounded by stone walls, but this does not save its inhabitants from numerous wars. Almost every Swedish invasion of Russian lands began with the capture of Valaam. The brethren who fought to the death, as a rule, completely perished during the defense of the monastery. Since 1617, the island comes into the possession of Sweden, and the monastery temporarily ceases to operate.

In 1715, by order of Peter I, a wooden church, bell tower, and outbuildings were built on the island, again reconquered by Russia. However, two fires that occurred in the 18th century, as well as the harshness of the local nature, consisting of stones, did not allow the monastery to develop, and it became deserted. Only in 1785 it was decided to revive it, and the buildings were planned to be made of stone. The Valaam Monastery was a place of exile for clergy; it was forbidden to leave the island. The monastery flourished; thanks to the efforts of the monks, fruits and grapes were even grown on it.

After the revolution, the monastery, like all of Karelia, became part of independent Finland. The monks endured certain restrictions, because Finnish troops were stationed on the island and services were conducted in Finnish. In 1940, the island became part of the USSR, the monks fled to Finland, where they founded a new monastery. On the island, first a boatswain school was located, and then a German garrison that captured Valaam. Only in 1944 the island was liberated and again became part of the USSR. Since then, the population of Valaam has been growing; this region has become a real paradise for tourists seeking to see the famous northern nature. But this also led to negative consequences - visitors leave numerous traces of their stay and seriously harm the unique nature of this amazing island.

St. Vladimir's Skete

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT VALAAM
Valaam (Karelian Valamoi, Finnish Valamo “high, mountainous land”) is an island in, the largest in the Valaam archipelago. On the island there is the village of Valaam, which is part of the Sortavala urban settlement and the Valaam stauropegic monastery, which is a monument of Russian architecture.
It is also a popular tourist destination.
The island's territory accounts for more than 2/3 of the area of ​​the entire Valaam archipelago. The island is 9.6 km long and 7.8 km wide. The distance to the coast is 22 km.
Natural features are determined by the position of the archipelago in the waters of the largest lake in Europe - Lake Ladoga.
The territory of the Valaam archipelago belongs to the middle taiga subzone of the taiga zone.
2 inland lakes with a heavily indented coastline with a total area of ​​about 100 hectares, connected to each other and Lake Ladoga by canals;
9 small forest lakes - “lamb”;
an extensive network of reclamation ditches (19th century).

Relief
Tectonic. Heavily dissected type. Elevation marks above sea level are in the range from 5.1 to 58.3 m.
Spring comes at the end of March. In summer, there are 30-35 more sunny days on Valaam than on the mainland. The average July temperature is +17°. Winter with snow begins in early December. In mid-February, road communication with the nearest city of Sortavala (42 km) was established. Average February temperature: −8°.

Flora
There are more than 480 plant species on the island, many of which were cultivated by the monks. Gardens with more than 150-year-old fruit trees have been preserved. The island is covered mainly by coniferous forests (about 65% pine).

FAMOUS PEOPLE ON VALAAM
The island was repeatedly visited by Emperors Alexander I and Alexander II and other members of the imperial family. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) also came to Valaam. The nature of Valaam inspired the most famous geniuses of creativity and science: artists I. I. Shishkin, F. A. Vasiliev, A. I. Kuindzhi, writers and poets N. S. Leskov, F. I. Tyutchev, A. N. Apukhtin, I. S. Shmelev, B. K. Zaitsev, composers P. I. Tchaikovsky, A. K. Glazunov, scientists M. N. Miklukho-Maclay, D. I. Mendeleev and many others visited here. In the 19th century, during his trip to Russia, Alexander Dumas the father visited the island.
The Valaam landscapes painted by I. I. Shishkin (“View of Valaam”, 1860), A. I. Kuindzhi (“On the Island of Valaam”, 1873) and Nicholas Roerich (“Holy Island”, 1917) are well known. In the 1970s, the famous Karelian graphic artist A.I. Avdyshev created a series of black and white linocuts, and the master of three-dimensional wood carving, Sortavala artist Kronid Gogolev dedicated a number of his works to Valaam.
In 1950, by decree of the Supreme Council of the Karelo-Finnish SSR on Valaam, the House of War and Labor Invalids was located in the building of the Winter Hotel of the former monastery.

Skete of the Valaam Mother of God

Administration
In 2003, when the federal law on local self-government was adopted, the question arose about the status of the village of Valaam. According to this law, local government bodies in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation must be delineated - urban and rural settlements must be defined, and their boundaries established. A corresponding law was adopted in the Republic of Karelia. And the village of Valaam, among others, was included in the list of municipalities and given the independent status of a municipality - the Valaam rural settlement. But at the beginning of 2005, the head of the administration of the Sortavala district, S.V. Ryzhkov, initiated a decision to abolish the self-government of the village of Valaam and incorporate it into the city of Sortavala. But some residents of the Valaam rural settlement did not agree with this decision. The conflict that arose escalated into litigation in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia, and then in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

In July 2006, Patriarch Alexy II intervened in the matter.
The Mir settlement on Valaam currently has no official administrative status. The lay people of Valaam want their village to receive the official status of a rural settlement, which will give them the opportunity to participate in municipal elections.
The legality of their demands was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia, but the leadership of the monastery opposes this, delaying the process of assigning official status to the secular settlement.
In the village, the social infrastructure on the island includes: a kindergarten, a community center with a universal auditorium, a nine-year secondary school, a hospital (since 2007 - a medical outpatient clinic), a library, a communications office, and a grocery store.

Konevsky Skete Valaam Island

HISTORY OF VALAAM MONASTERY
History of the monastery:: The beginning of the monastery on Valaam
Since ancient times, the Valaam Monastery has been a stronghold of Orthodoxy in the North of Rus', famous for its high spiritual life, and served to spread Christianity and monasticism in the surrounding lands.
Historians do not have a common view on the date of foundation of the Valaam monastery. Some associate it with the time of the Baptism of Rus', others attribute it to a later period. Church and monastic tradition claims that the antiquity of the monastery dates back to the time of the spread of Christianity in Rus'. Even then, the monastery founded by Saints Sergius and German became the spiritual center of the Ladoga lands.
It is believed that in ancient times the main temple of Veles (or Volos) and Perun was located on Valaam, to which the pagans living in the surrounding area worshiped and made sacrifices. This is how the apostolic century found this island. An etymological analysis of the Finnish name “Valamo” confirms the likelihood of the legend: Val, Baal, Volos or Veles are words with the same root, and “mo” in Izhorian means land. Thus, Valamo is the land of Veles, i.e. place dedicated to Veles1.
Monastic tradition says that the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, enlightener of the Scythians and Slavs, arrived from Kyiv to Novgorod, along the Volkhov River, and then Valaam, where he blessed the mountains of the island with a cross.
The life of Saint Abraham of Rostov2 testifies that already in the 10th century there was a monastic brotherhood on the island, ruled by an abbot. The founders of monasticism on Valaam are the Venerables Sergius and Herman, who came “from the eastern countries,” Greek holy monks. The service says that their “love for God was inseparable, the union of brotherly love was true, prayer was unceasing, their disposition was meek, streams of tears were ever-flowing, fasting, vigil and labor surpassed the limits of nature.” Written monuments also say that Saints Sergius and Herman established by law a cenobitic life in the monastery they founded.
It is unknown who continued the monastic life on Valaam immediately after the Monks Sergius and Herman. Undoubtedly, there were an abbot and brethren in the monastery. In the society of monks, there were obediences or degrees for the temptation of those who wanted an angelic image. To perform divine services, a temple was erected in the name of the Holy Trinity. The brethren of the monastery led a godly life and were a good example for others, especially the newly baptized. They already knew about the Valaam Monastery in Novgorod, Pskov and other places. Among the remarkable persons of this time is the tonsure of the Valaam monastery, the Monk Abraham, the founder of the Rostov Epiphany Monastery. Sources mention abbots Joachim and Theognost, who headed the monastery during the Baptism of Rus', but no reliable information about them has been preserved.

In church historical science there was not and does not exist an unambiguous answer to the question of the time of the establishment of the Valaam Monastery. The most important dating source is missing - the ancient lives of St. Sergius and Herman. Archival research of the 19th-20th centuries. relied on indirect data, mentions of certain events from the life of the monastery in various monuments of Russian literature.
A number of modern publications (guidebooks, encyclopedias, etc.) often contain contradictory information about the time of the founding of the Valaam Monastery. The emergence of the monastery dates back to either the 14th century or the first centuries of the spread of Christianity in Rus' - the 10th-11th centuries. More than once during enemy invasions (XII, XVII centuries) the monastery experienced devastation, and monastic service was interrupted here for many decades. During enemy raids, church monuments and monastic shrines were destroyed, the richest monastery library and manuscript repository were burned and plundered - this is how the lives of St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam were lost.

Let us consider the two main versions of the origin of the monastery that exist today.
The first of them dates the foundation of the monastery to the XII-XIV centuries. This dating was supported in their studies by church historians of the 19th century: Bishop. Ambrose (Ornatsky), bishop. Filaret (Gumilevsky), E.E. Golubinsky. Currently, a number of modern scientists adhere to this version: N.A. Okhotina-Lind, J. Lind, A. Nakazawa. These researchers base their concept on the 16th century manuscript “The Tale of the Valaam Monastery” (edited by N.A. Okhotina-Lind). Other modern scientists (H. Kirkinen, S.N. Azbelev), noting this manuscript as “new research material among other primary sources concerning the early history of the Valaam Monastery,” believe that “the publishers of the newly found text, along with the people who presented this source ", treated him too confidentially from the point of view of critical research. In the fit of their passion... they did not carry out a thorough source analysis of the original source." It should be noted that so far no other sources have been found that would confirm the data of the "Tales of the Valaam Monastery", in particular, the statement that the founder of the monastery is not St. Sergius of Valaam, as is commonly believed, based on centuries-old church tradition, which is reflected in liturgical texts, and St. Ephraim of Perekom.

The second concept dates the founding of the monastery to the 10th-11th centuries. It is based on one of the editions of the life of St. Abraham of Rostov, which contains a mention of the saint’s stay on Valaam in the 10th century, as well as a number of chronicle references to the transfer of the relics of St. Sergius and Herman from Valaam to Novgorod in 1163. It should be noted that historians of the 19th century (N.P. Payalin, I.Ya. Chistovich) knew only one entry from the Uvarov Chronicle about the transfer of relics. Archival research in recent years has made it possible to discover other similar references: in the collection of the Russian National Library and in the Institute of the History of Material Cultures. There are a total of eight such records. Of greatest interest, as the most informative, is the entry from the Likhachev collection (f. 238, op. 1, no. 243): “On the holy Velikinovgorod bishops and archbishops, and reverend miracle workers” of the 18th century. The manuscript commemorates St. Sergius and Herman, the modern (17th century) destruction of the monastery is indicated, a reference is given to the ancient cathedral Chronicler, which indicates the dates of the discovery (1163) and return (1182) of the relics to Valaam.

Church and monastic traditions adhere to the latter concept, which claims that the foundation of the monastery took place during the era of the Baptism of Rus'.
It seems possible to combine two views on the time of the establishment of the monastery: ancient monastic life on Valaam could have stopped after the 11th century, and then resumed at the turn of the 14th - 15th centuries. Perhaps in the future, scientists will discover new historical sources that more fully illuminate the ancient history of the Valaam monastery.

Mount Eleon, Ascension Chapel

The inner life of the monastery and its holy ascetics
The internal monastic life, like the monastery itself, experienced periods of prosperity and decline. When all of Karelia, after the conclusion of peace in Dorpat in 1348, was returned to the Russian lands, Valaam took a break from the persecution of the Swedes. At this time, in the monastery of Saints Sergius and Herman, both community life, and a special unanimous stay “in twos and threes” (that is, skete life), and retreat solitary silence (hermitage) flourished.
In the days of its prosperity, the Valaam Monastery was the focus and model of monastic life throughout the northern region, like the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the southwest of Russia and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in its central part.
In the 12th century, the monk Cornelius arrived in Valaam. After some time, he left the monastery and founded his monastery on Lake Onega in honor of the Mother of God. It was named Paleoostrovsky after the island. In the 13th century, the Belozersk prince Gleb Vasilyevich built the Ust-Shekhonsky monastery at the mouth of the Sheksna River. To establish monastic order, he asked the abbot of Valaam to send abbot Martyrius to the new monastery. It is known that the elders of Valaam sent their tonsure Gennady there in 1251.

Around 1393, the future Reverend Arseny Konevsky arrived on Valaam from Novgorod. As a young man, in 1379 he took monastic vows in a monastery that was on Lisichya Mountain in the Novgorod lands. After eleven years of life in the Novgorod monastery, Arseny went to Mount Athos and, after three years of asceticism, with the blessing of the Athos abbot, returned to Russian borders. From the hands of the Svyatogorsk abbot, he received as parting words an icon of the Mother of God and the charter of a hostel for the founding of a monastery in the northern regions. Arriving in Novgorod, the Monk Arseny, having received the holy blessing from Archbishop John II of Novgorod, went to the Valaam monastery and labored here for some time. Seeing a crowded brotherhood on Valaam, he decided to leave and “by the will of God, and by the will of the Most Pure Mother of God,” he reached Konevsky Island and built the Konevsky Monastery there. On Valaam, the Monk Arseny Konevsky left an indelible memory: the brethren fell in love with him. In 1397, the Valaam abbot Silas sent the monk Lavrenty to him on the island of Konevets with an invitation to return to Valaam, but the monk refused: for three years he had been asceticizing on the island in silence.

In the 15th century, the future Reverend Alexander of Svirsky labored in the monastery. Here he passed all obediences and took monastic vows. In silence, he accomplished his feat on one of the monastery islands, today called the Holy Island, where the ascetic’s cave is still preserved in a cleft in the rock and there is a monastery consecrated in the name of the monk. From here, at the direction of God, he went to the Svir River, where he founded his famous monastery.
Until 1429, the Monk Savvatiy of Solovetsky, a monk of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, lived in the Valaam Monastery. Here he was accepted by the abbot as one of the brethren, and went through all the monastic obediences “with all humility and much patience and meekness,” imitating the difficult feats of the Valaam monks. Having intensified his labors, he surpassed everyone with his ascetic life. This circumstance inspired him with the idea of ​​leaving Valaam and settling on Solovetsky Island, where no one would witness his exploits. “And pray to the abbot of Valaam, let him go.” The abbot and the brethren, not wanting to part with him, begged the elder not to leave them. The monk remained with them for some time, but one night, “having prayed to God and put all help on Him,” he left the monastery, heading to Solovetsky Island. Here, with the assistance of the Valaam elder Herman, he laid the foundation for monastic life.

At the same time as the Monk Savvaty, the Monk Euphrosynus of Sinoezersk was in the Valaam monastery. He lived for sixty years in the Savvina hermitage near Tver. Tired of the visits of monks and laymen who disturbed his silence, the monk retired to Valaam. The glory of his virtues attracted entire families from the surrounding villages. This prompted him to return to Savvina Hermitage a few years later.
Under the leadership of the Monk Savvaty of Solovetsky, the monk Gennady also labored on Valaam. Savvaty was an elder, and Gennady a student. Subsequently, Gennady, in the rank of archimandrite, ruled the Chudovsky Monastery. And in 1485 he was elevated to the archbishop's see of Veliky Novgorod. For his high spiritual life and holy zeal, he was canonized by the Orthodox Church.

At this time, the Monk Athanasius, the founder of the Syandem monastery, a disciple of St. Alexander of Svir, lived a hermit’s life on Valaam.

During the stay of the Monks Alexander and Athanasius on Valaam, Saint Adrian of Ondrusovsky (in the world Andrei, who came from a family of nobles, the Zavalishins) labored here for several years. Having retired from Valaam, Elder Adrian settled in a secluded place and founded the Ondrusovo monastery on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga. This man was of such high life and filled with such wisdom that the Monk Athanasius of Syandem, already a mentor of his brotherhood, had frequent spiritual conversations with him for his own teaching.
Such is the wondrous host of lights of monasticism that shone on the Valaam mountains, whose actions testify to the flourishing state of ascetic life in the period described.
The inhabitants of the Ladoga shores were converted by the monks of the Valaam Monastery from paganism to the Orthodox faith. Along the shore all the way to Kexholm (now the city of Priozersk) there were Orthodox churches.
Monastic life on the island in the 16th century was so strong that it spread to the shores of Lake Ladoga. Here the Valaam monks founded 12 monasteries, which were under the control and spiritual guidance of their abbot. The prosperity of the Valaam Monastery in the 15th-16th centuries gave reason to call it an honest and great Lavra.

Temple of Alexander Nevsky

Revival of the monastery
The end of the 80s was the first stage in the restoration of the monastery, which was once a pillar of the Orthodox faith in northern Russia. On the initiative of Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod, on September 18, 1989, the Council of Ministers of Karelia decided to “transfer for use” to the Leningrad diocese the Transfiguration Cathedral with an internal square and the nearby monasteries, except for the Resurrection and Gethsemane. Archimandrite Victor (Pyankov), later Bishop of Podolsk, was appointed vicar of the monastery.
The first six inhabitants - hieromonks Barsanuphius, Gerontius, Photius, hierodeacon Seraphim, novices Leonid and Vadim (now hieroschemamonk Varachiel) - arrived on the island on the night of December 14, 1989 and were accommodated in the former isolation ward of the nursing home ("Sea House").
With the arrival of the monks, spiritual life on the island gradually warmed up. Services resumed in the lower church in the name of St. Sergius and Herman. At the same time, monastery restoration work began. On May 25, 1990, on the Ascension of the Lord, Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod consecrated the main altar of the lower cathedral. A new important decision for the monastery to return all temple and administrative buildings to the monastery was made by the Supreme Council of Karelia in 1990-1991.
Since 1990, the Valaam Monastery received stauropegial status, that is, it came under the direct jurisdiction of the holy abbot, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II. Despite his busy schedule, His Holiness the Patriarch celebrated the day of remembrance of Saints Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers, almost every year with a solemn service in the Transfiguration Cathedral. During his visit to the monastery, His Holiness became acquainted in detail with the life of the brethren both in the monastery and in the monasteries, and talked with the brethren.

Since January 1993, the monastery has been headed by the abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery, Archimandrite Pankraty (Zherdev), who was previously a member of the brethren of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra as an obedient steward. During this time, the brethren have grown significantly, now there are about 150 people. The traditions of Valaam labor monasticism are being revived: construction and restoration, navy, agriculture, motor vehicles, stone cutting, blacksmithing and candle making, publishing spiritual and church historical literature.
In May 1991, the brethren of the monastery found a great spiritual treasure - the incorruptible, fragrant relics of the Valaam ascetic of piety, Hieroschemamonk Antipas. Father Antipas was born in Moldova in the village of Kalopodeshta, asceticised on Holy Mount Athos, and was one of the founders of the Romanian monastery of Prodromos. In 1992, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized St. Antipas of Calapodesti as a saint of the Romanian Orthodox Church. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', in 2000 the name of St. Antipas of Valaam was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church (January 10/23). From now on, the Valaam monastery received another prayer book at the Throne of God. The relics of St. Antipas of Valaam are placed in a shrine, which is installed in the lower church in the name of St. Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers. Brothers and pilgrims turn to the reverend elder with a request for prayerful intercession and, according to their faith, receive help and healing from illnesses.

In 1996, the patronal feast of the monastery - the day of remembrance of Saints Sergius and Herman - was marked with special celebrations. The monastery was visited by Patriarch Alexy II and, for the first time in the history of Valaam, the head of the Local Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of All America and Canada Theodosius, who gave the monastery an invaluable gift - a particle of the relics of St. Herman of Alaska, and His Holiness the Patriarch - a large icon of the saint. July 17, 2002 in the Valaam Monastery A spiritual celebration took place - a meeting of the abbot of the Athos monastery of Vatopedi, Archimandrite Ephraim, with the brethren and pilgrims. Archimandrite Ephraim brought as a gift to the monastery a temple image, a copy of the miraculous icon "Pantanassa" ("All-Tsarina"), which was specially painted for the monastery and consecrated on Holy Mount Athos. Archimandrite Ephraim also donated to the Valaam monastery the relics of the revered Athonite ascetic of piety, Elder Joseph the Hesychast.

Due to the prevailing historical circumstances, almost all the shrines and relics that survived the repeated devastation of the Valaam monastery ended up outside Valaam or were irretrievably lost in the post-war period. Therefore, the discovery of an ancient shrine was of great importance for the reviving monastery - a reliquary cross with a particle of the relics of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon, which was purchased from a private collection and donated to the Valaam monastery by a benefactor. On April 22, 2004, a ceremonial handover of the unique reliquary cross took place at the Moscow courtyard. An ancient cross with a large particle of the relics of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon embedded in it is the ancestral shrine of the Nashchokin boyars.
With the blessing of His Holiness (July 4, 1999), the Celebration of the Council of Valaam Saints was established, on the second day after the Transfiguration, the patronal feast of the monastery. One of the significant events for the monastery occurred in the summer of 2000, when at the anniversary Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church 34 venerable martyrs of the 16th century, new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century were glorified: St. Theophan of Solikamsk (Ilmensky), venerable martyrs Arefa (Mitrenin) and Jeremiah (Leonov) . On December 27, 2000, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was decided to include in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century from the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery the names of Hieromonks Patricius (Petrov) and Sergius (Galkovsky), Hierodeacon Andronik (Barsukov), and monk Tavrion ( Tolokontsev). On May 11, at a meeting of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, it was decided to include the name of St. Nazarius (Kondratiev), a locally revered saint of the Tambov diocese, in the Cathedral of Valaam Saints. In October 2004, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the names of the New Martyr and Confessor Athanasius (Egorov), the Venerable Martyr Juvenalius (Govorukhin), canonized by the American Orthodox Church, and the Venerable Elder Elijah (Chebotarev), canonized on December 29, 2003 in the Ekaterinburg Diocese, were included in the Council of Valaam Saints.

In 2002, the first church in Russia dedicated to the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God was consecrated by His Holiness the Patriarch, built after the fervent prayers of the entire brotherhood in the premises of the once abolished St. Nicholas Church in the inner square of the monastery, where in 1897 the miraculous icon was found. In 1997, a hundred years later, in connection with the constant veneration of this image by believers, His Holiness established the celebration of the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God on July 14. Now the Valaam Image of the Mother of God is one of the main shrines of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. Prayers are served in front of the icon, and healings occur.
A new stage in the history of the revived monastery was the creation of the Board of Trustees for the restoration of the Transfiguration Valaam Monastery, which was headed by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. In 2005, restoration work was completed to restore the paintings of the cathedral on an area of ​​over 5 thousand m². The consecration of the main shrine of the monastery was performed by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II on August 19, 2005, on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord - the patronal feast of the monastery.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 13 monasteries at the Valaam Monastery. Eleven have now been restored.
According to tradition, the Valaam monastery has metochions in St. Petersburg: one with a church in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and chapels in the name of saints. Nicholas and Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, the chapel of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia (before the revolution - the courtyard of the Old Ladoga Dormition Convent, 1904-09, architect Vas. A. Kosyakov), another - historical, near the former pier on the Sinop embankment. In Moscow, a historical courtyard on the street. Tverskaya-Yamskaya. There are also new farmsteads - in Priozersk with a church in the name of All Saints (1890-94, architect I.Ya. Arenberg), in Sortavala with a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, in the Caucasus.

Skete of All Saints, Valaam

The centuries-old monastic traditions of Valaam, like other Russian monasteries, were interrupted during the years of atheistic persecution. Now all the brethren, including workers, live in the overhauled fraternal building of the outer square (in the fenced-off territory of the monastery) and occupy the premises of the inner square. The brethren are called not only to external work, i.e. unforgiving presence at divine services, labors of obedience, cell rule, but also to the internal, spiritual, which constitutes the essence of monastic achievement, constant exercise in the Jesus Prayer, struggle with passions, revelation of thoughts, frequent confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
As the wonderful Russian writer I.S. prophetically said about Valaam in 1936. Shmelev, “the time will come, and the grown spiritual flowers will bloom: “The Lord’s sowing will not be destroyed.” Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote: “Valaam, on which you see granite ledges and high mountains, will become for you that spiritual height from which it is convenient to cross to the abode of paradise." Nowadays, thousands of people come to Valaam every year; in recent years, more and more pilgrims are seeking to touch the life-giving source of the Orthodox faith.

Resurrection Skete

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO
Team Nomads
Azbelev S.N. Versions of the foundation of the monastery on the island of Valaam // Ancient Rus'. Questions of medieval studies. 2010. No. 1(39). pp. 5-15.
Valaam: bibliographic index of literature. - Petrozavodsk, 2007.
Mikhailova L.V. Valaam and other identical sacred spaces of Russian culture // Information humanitarian portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". - 2011. - No. 3 (May - June).
Mikhailova L.V. Valaam as the spiritual center of the cultural space of the Russian North // Electronic journal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". - 2009. - No. 4 - Culturology.
Mikhailova L. V. The physical and spiritual birth of a person in the context of the social and natural environment using the example of Valaam // Electronic journal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". - 2008. - No. 1 - Philosophy. Political science.
Kalesnik S.V. Lake Ladoga
Darinsky A.V. Leningrad region. L.: Lenizdat, 1975. P. 40.
Wikipedia website
http://www.worlds.ru/europe/russia/history-ostrov_valaam.shtml
http://valaam.ru/
http://www.photosight.ru/