Male Makaryevsky monastery in Mordovia. Makarovka

“Light a candle, do not put it under a vessel, but on a candlestick, and it shines on everyone in the house” (Matthew 5.15)

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In 1946 the Church of St. John the Theological Cathedral was returned to the faithful, and in 1961 the church was closed again. Long-term restoration work began in Makarovka in 1969. In 1987, residents of the village. Makarovka, with the assistance of believers from the villages of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldiersky through His Holiness Patriarch Pimen (1990), managed to demand the St. John the Theological Cathedral and the bell tower for the services. In 1994, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, by the decision of His Eminence Barsanuphius, Archbishop of Saransk and Mordovia, the St. John the Theological Monastery was opened. Currently, the monastery houses the residence of the Metropolitan of Saransk and Mordovia. The monastery is based on the charter of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

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From the entire ensemble of the temple complex to this day, the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian and the bell tower have been preserved in pristine beauty. The churches of Michael the Archangel, the icons of the Sign of the Mother of God, the fence with towers - all this was restored according to drawings, photographs, excavations, archival documents by employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Mordovia.
In the photo - the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian (1704). The cathedral is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Mordovia.

"7"
The fence of the Makarovsky churchyard was built at about the same time as the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian. The total length of the fence is 270 m, the height is 2.5 m, that is, it is not a full-fledged fortress wall and has never performed defensive functions. The fence and towers were dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt according to plans in 1972.

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At the moment, there are twenty people in the brethren of the monastery, and several more novices are on probation.

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The manor-temple ensemble in Makarovka is rightfully recognized as the most interesting architectural feature of Mordovia. The main effect is created by a combination of the simple and the complex, and in the simple one feels like an arc the knot of complex calculations of the architects, and in the complex - their immediacy. The appearance of buildings is dominated by a tower-like appearance, and this is understandable if we remember that the deficit of high-rise dominants turned the area where Makarovka was born into a dull and boring environment.

From the entire ensemble of the temple complex to this day, the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian and the bell tower have been preserved in pristine beauty. The churches of Michael the Archangel, the icons of the Sign of the Mother of God, the fence with towers - all this was restored according to drawings, photographs, excavations, archival documents by employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Mordovia. In 1941, it was planned to place a rifle regiment on Pogost and in the village, then an evacuated garment factory, an industrial complex.

In 1946, the John Theological Cathedral was returned to the faithful, and in 1961 the church was closed again. Since 1969, long-term restoration work began in Makarovka (up to the mid-eighties). In 1987, residents of the village. Makarovka, with the assistance of believers from the villages of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldiersky through His Holiness Patriarch Pimen (1990), managed to demand the St. John the Theological Cathedral and the bell tower for the services. Archpriest Georgy Sakovich was appointed rector in St. John the Theological Church. In 1991, the Znamenskaya church was transferred to the newly formed Saransk diocese, and in 1996 - Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya. The restored house of the landowners Polyansky became the summer residence of the Archbishop. Thus, over ten years, the churchyard gradually passed to the true owner - the Orthodox people.

In 1994, another page was turned in the long history of Makarovsky Pogost. With the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, by the decision of His Eminence Barsanuphius, Archbishop of Saransk and Mordovia, the St. John the Theologian monastery was opened in Makarovka.

Archpriest Maxim Chebotarev (in monasticism Vladimir) became the governor of the newly formed monastery. Several difficult years of formation have passed, and since January 2001, due to a serious illness of Archimandrite Vladimir, the monastery was headed by Abbot Lazar (Gurkin), known in Mordovia for the restoration of the famous Chufarovsky monastery. During the year experienced hieromonks from several monasteries of Mordovia of different ages gathered around him, wishing to work for the Lord.

On August 3, 2000, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, within the framework of a two-day visit to Mordovia, also visited the Makarov Monastery, where he examined the temple complex, and, responding to the welcoming speech of the Viceroy of the Monastery, Archimandrite Vladimir (Chebotarev), he gave a blessing from the ambo of the First Hierarch brotherhood, and then, together with the leadership of the republic, took part in a gala reception at the residence of Archbishop Barsanuphius.

An event of great importance for the monastery was the consecration of the winter church of the Archangel Michael on November 21, 2002. During that year, with the financial support of benefactors (their names may be inscribed by the Lord in the Book of Life), it was possible to restore this temple, which remained after museum workers in the most deplorable state. The brethren and local residents were especially happy that the temple was returned to the Church exactly on its three hundredth anniversary. Now daily Divine Services are conducted in it and the Liturgy is celebrated.

Also in 2002 it became possible to create a project for the construction of a full-fledged monastery complex with a refectory, abbot and administrative buildings. By the fall of 2003, the construction of a comfortable two-storey fraternal building was completed, the territory of the monastery was surrounded by a stone fence, the dome and the entire upper part of St. John the Theological Cathedral were restored.

In the summer of 2004, through the efforts of Vladyka Varsonuphius, with the financial support of the Government of the Republic of Mordovia and its Head Merkushkin N.I., it was possible to completely restore the facades and replace the entire roof on the territory of the temple complex of the monastery. By the fall of 2004, all interior finishing works in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" will be completed, plans for 2006 include the construction of a hotel for pilgrims.

A distinctive feature of our monastery is the strictly statutory church divine service, the monastery priests regularly and according to the Charter perform all the Church Sacraments necessary for the local population, and also help people who come to the monastery to solve pressing issues of spiritual life through pastoral words. On Sunday mornings, a prayer service with akathist and blessing of water is performed in front of the locally revered icon of the Mother of God "The Inexhaustible Chalice" about those suffering from drunkenness and drug addiction.

At the moment, there are twenty people in the brethren of the monastery, and several more novices are on probation. In addition to Abbot Lazar, the most famous inhabitants of the monastery are Schema-Archimandrite Pitirim (Peregudov), a pupil of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, an elder of strict monastic life, and the monastery's confessor, Scheigumen Theophan (Dankov), who carries the feat of spiritual care not only to the brethren, but numerous pilgrims from all over the Russian Federation.

As monastic life is being arranged, the St. John the Theologian Makarovsky Monastery under the heavenly cover of the Apostle John the Theologian will, God willing, take on an ever-increasing importance in the spiritual life of the capital of Mordovia, especially in the field of missionary, educational and anti-sectarian activities.

John - Theological Monastery
430910, Mordovia, Saransk,
With. Makarovka, st. Nagornaya 35,
Tel. (8-8342) 257114

People go to Schema-Archimandrite Theophan (Dankov) in the Makarovsky monastery near Saransk for spiritual advice and healing.

Early morning. Freshness, cleanliness. Silence. Snow crunches under our feet - in the St. John the Theologian Makarovsky Monastery in Saransk we walk in the blue twilight to the cell of Schema-Archimandrite Theophan (Dankov). In my soul before meeting with the elder - excitement, awe, hope. Will we find what we're looking for here? Healing of soul and body, advice, consolation in sorrow.

Father Feofan is the confessor of the Makarov Monastery, for many years he has been serving a prayer service for the sick (an exhortation from evil spirits). Then he listens to the suffering, anoints them with blessed oil and sprinkles them with holy water. For healing, a stream of people has long been drawn to him - first to those places where he served before, and now in the suburban Makarovka in the summer several buses come from different cities every day, and even locals come - sometimes up to five hundred people gather.

They sometimes go to him, like to any doctor. One pilgrim was on her way to the Makarovsky monastery and asked the taxi driver: "Do you visit Father Feofan?" - "Certainly. If he fell down, something with his hand - as soon as possible to go to the priest to undergo medical treatment ”.

We arrived on a wrong day, with a blessing, this gives hope to talk with Father Feofan, because on his days he is surrounded by people. We approach his cell. One of us reads the prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us." The door opens, they let us in. The right corner of the central room, which is also the kitchen, is completely covered with icons. The beautiful portraits of the Holy Passion-bearers Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra attract the eye.

The gray-haired priest blesses each one, and we go with him to the midnight office and the Liturgy to the Archangel Michael Church. Ahead of us the monastery cat is running briskly.

Candles are burning in the semi-dark temple. We write notes. Apart from a few priests, monks and our small group, there is no one. Some of our group did not come here for the first time, and the nun greeted them like family behind the candle box. It is good to pray in the silence of a half-empty monastery church, softly singing along to such a wonderful-sounding male choir.

By the beginning of the Liturgy, several more pilgrims from Moscow appeared. At the reading of the Gospel and the Life of Saint Parthenius before Communion, a choked growl and wheezing were heard in the corner of the church. “Possessed, she lives here,” someone simply explained. And where else could she be, if not at the church. Curiosity made me look behind the column. A woman in a long skirt and headscarf against the wall zealously bowed down.

How the soul is filled and pacified at the Liturgy! Why don't we go to church for services every day?

It is good to pray in the monastery, be at ease. This is a special world, a piece of heaven on earth. Here mental pain subsides, sorrows soften, wounds heal. Monasteries bear a glimpse of divine beauty, and the Makarov Monastery, also called the Makarov Pogost, is no exception. This is one of the most beautiful monasteries of Holy Russia. It stands on the high right bank of the Kamenka. The main church in honor of the holy Apostle John the Theologian is a powerful structure soaring in the sky that dominates the area. Among the tall trees stand wooden churches, somewhat reminiscent of the Monastery of the Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama. Services take turns in the temples. According to the author of the book "Monasteries of Mordovia" S. B. Bakhmustova, “unknown masters in a poor province created a piece of the Mother See. Nothing has been built in Saransk or in the whole of Mordovia for all the past centuries that would be equal in severity, classicism, subtlety and beauty to the Makarov churchyard. "

The monastery territory is surrounded by trees, greenery in summer, paths lined with patterned slabs, graceful gazebos for relaxation, a mirrored monastery pond. The Nikolsky Skete was built on a high bank nearby. From the path around the church in honor of St. Nicholas, through the crown of trees, a magnificent view opens up of the houses on the low left bank of the river, hills, groves, distant forests. The monastery also attracts with its proportionality, the beauty of the manor-temple ensemble and the grace-filled prayer silence. Metropolitan Barsanuphius of Saransk and Mordovia put a lot of work into the restoration of this wondrous monastic monastery, he constantly cares about it.

After the service, Fr. Theophan invited us to pray with him. Delighted, we quickly wrote notes, handed them to the priest and knelt, as he ordered, "in a heap", hugging each other closely. The elder read prayers in a quiet voice for a long time, calling our names several times. Tears flowed from my eyes in an uncontrollable stream, and sobbed nearby. How you want to be cleansed of "all filthiness"!

Then the priest listened to everyone in turn, answered questions, anointed and sprinkled the sore spots. What he said to whom will remain a mystery. But I can say that when asked about the sorrow that has visited, he consoles: "With many sorrows we must enter the Kingdom of God."

The fear that was before the meeting is gone. Father Theophan is simple, friendly, approachable, kindness comes from him. At least that's how he seemed to me. Although it is known that he prescribes penances to some, which are not very common in modern church practice. If a person does not fulfill the rule laid down for him, then the priest fulfills it himself, which quickly puts the lazy one ashamed.

Now Father Feofan almost does not heal with a "copy". Age and pain in the arm affect. But for us he made an exception ... I will not speak with exclamation marks, but after that I felt some kind of relief, lightness in my whole body.

Then Father Feofan, although he was very tired - he had recently undergone an operation - answered questions. Such is his character: he does not refuse a request to any person, even if he falls from fatigue. He goes to church on his own, and after prayers for the sick, they sometimes lead him back under the arms.

- Father Feofan, bless for the interview.

I bless you. But I can't speak.

- Nevertheless, tell us about yourself. Where were you born, who were your parents, were they believers?

I was born in June 1935 in the village of Orlovka, Penza province, in a peasant family, in the world Vladimir Fedorovich Dankov. Father is a communist, he died at the front during the Patriotic War. And my mother was a believer. She raised us children, from childhood in the faith, took me little to church. My brother somehow misunderstood all this, but I was convinced that God exists. And he could no longer live godlessly.

They disliked me for this, they laughed, they said that I was crazy, but I didn’t like it, I grieved, I was discouraged that everyone was against me. And this is bad, do not be discouraged. You have to endure everything. We had a neighbor - Elder Father Gregory, who came from somewhere and settled with a neighbor. Father Gregory fell in love with me. He strengthened my faith, taught me to wear a cross.

“This is your first spiritual mentor. What was he like?

Father Gregory was a very spiritual person, he saw everything, every person. People came to him from everywhere. And then the atheist communists began to persecute him. The collective farm chairman summoned him: "What are you preaching there for?" Father Gregory entered the board, took off his hat. They are surprised: "Grandfather, why are you taking off your hat, have you come to church?" - "And over there you have rulers in portraits without a hat, and you are all in hats." They point him at Lenin: "And who is this?" “I don’t know, maybe it’s Satan himself.” - "You will go to the district!" Several times he was driven like that. They will put on a cart and take the old man thirty kilometers away to the district. There they ask him: "Did he say that?" - "Said". - "Did you say that?" - "Said". There was a man who understood, and said to those who brought him: "If he continues to preach like this, at least you can stab him with a needle, but you will not bring him to me again." And they drove back.

In the village, to the communists, Father Gregory was like a bone in the throat. They decided to evict both him and his mistress. They gathered a meeting, slandered them, talked, talked, and one got up and said: "You are driving her out, but she has two heads in her family - her son and husband died at the front." Everyone fell silent and left them alone.

When I grew up, I went to work: plowed on the collective farm, grazed the herd, worked as a carpenter. He went to the army. It was not easy for a believer there, but the Lord miraculously brought me out of there. When I returned, I went to work at a church in the village of Bashmakovo. He served as an altar boy for twenty years. In 1977, in the village of Zhuravki, I was ordained a priest. It was Brezhnev's time. Then don't go to church, don't even come close - you will lose your job. The headman persecuted me there because I baptized people. I was worried.

I stayed there for four years and left for another parish, to the village of Kamenny Brod. Baptize there, crown as much as you want! The people piled up to me! I baptized and married many, even communists sometimes secretly baptized and got married.

In Kamenny Brod, the church is small, but famous: Tsar Ivan the Terrible built it when he was marching on Kazan. I understand that he is a great King. How he worried, how he cared about his state! I went to the citizens of Kazan and freed all the Russian prisoners there and christened Kazan. And now there are baptized Tatars there. He made Russia a strong kingdom.

When I moved to serve in Kamenny Brod, the priest Father Nikifor, who served there, said to the people: "Hieromonk Theodosius is there, now contact him." Father Nicephorus gave a lecture on the book from evil spirits. But he became old, weakened, went blind and entrusted this matter to me. Then I just accepted monasticism with the name Theodosius. With the blessing of our Bishop, I went to the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, and there the Elder Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) blessed me to become a monk and gave me his cloak, hood, robe, belt for tonsure. For twelve years I served in this church in Kamenny Brod.

When the Sanaksar Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery opened, I went there as a brother. At that time, with the blessing of the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Barnabas, the now deceased Schema-Archimandrite Pitirim (Peregudov) came there. He said: "The Mother of God blessed me to restore this wilderness." Father Pitirim was the confessor of the Sanaksar Monastery, the spiritual father of the deceased schema-abbot Jerome and my confessor. Father Pitirim and I have been friends for a long time. He previously served in the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra. I went to see him in Pochaev, and he took me to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. When, during Khrushchev's persecutions against the Church, the Lavra was closed and all the monks were dispersed, Father Pitirim left to serve in Morshansk, and I went there to see him. Khrushchev was removed, the Lavra was opened, and father Pitirim returned to Pochaev.

I spent two years in Sanaksary. There I was tonsured into the schema with the name Theophanes.

And then Metropolitan Barsanuphius of Saransk and Mordovia sent me to Chufarovo to restore the Holy Trinity Monastery. In Soviet times, a GULAG camp was made in that monastery and believers were exiled there. Especially there was a lot of priesthood. They were tortured there. In winter, a hundred people will be driven into the barn and closed, a week later they will take out the corpses. Then at one time there was a school. We - several priests and a deacon - arrived in Chufarovo during Great Lent in February: it is cold, snow is piled everywhere, there is nowhere to lay our heads - the entire monastery is destroyed, the church was swept off the face of the earth. They began to slowly restore the monastery. I served prayer services in Saransk, gave donations to the governor, he bought bricks and boards for the monastery. They made a church from a former bakery, and began to build buildings. The monastery was restored. What a joy it was! Now the cathedral is still being built there, as it used to be.

After that, I moved to the Makarovsky St. John the Theologian monastery.

- Father Theophan, who is healed at your prayers?

He who comes with faith is given health.

- Are there many cases of healings?

There are. One woman approached: "I am being sent for an operation." We prayed, I anointed her with holy oil, sprinkled her with holy water. She then came: "I went to the doctors, and they told me:" You have nothing. "

- Crowds of people come to you. Does it tire you?

No, I feel good, I am glad that people are looking for healing and help from the Lord, in the Church.

- Father Feofan, how often do you need to receive Holy Communion?

You need to take Communion more often, every week and on the Twelve Great Feasts. I take communion often. Whenever they come to me for medical treatment, I always receive communion before that. After Communion, my high blood pressure returns to normal. And after bowing to the ground, the pressure drops, although it seems like it should be the other way around.

Why are so many people sick now? Now many people suffer, suffer severely from many diseases for many years.

For sins. He gets married - he needs a wife, no children, they have abortions. It is a sin crying out to heaven to avenge him. Almost the entire population of our country is guilty of this sin. He married in tsarist Russia - here's your wife, they live, have children, and everyone grows up capable, healthy, godly. And now the man got married and started drinking, he doesn't need anything, his wife feed him. Maybe ten percent of the total population live decently, or maybe they don't. They enter into lawless cohabitation, children are brought up godlessly, children grow up disobedient. In tsarist Russia, if it disperses in the whole city, then there is only one family. And now there are a lot of divorces. When there is no faith in God, live as you want. We will sin - and nothing else. Let us sin and for this we receive. There must be a strong Orthodox family, without this Russia will perish.

We have turned away from God, have gone the wrong way and are punished for this.

Nowadays there are few rich people who help others. But there are decent businessmen, they work honestly, with God, and they succeed. And whoever works dishonestly, without faith, nothing comes of it. One such person came to me: "Father, I organized an enterprise, but they kicked me out." - "Do you believe in God, go to church?" - "Not". I know one, he has a farm, bought three hundred cows, cultivates ten thousand hectares of land, and he is all right, his cows are clean. He invites me to serve a prayer service, to consecrate me, he goes to church himself. And in other farms, I saw, the cows are tied, up to their ears in dung, it is dark in the yard. It hurts my soul for this.

- Father Feofan, in your cell, portraits of the Royal Martyrs hang in a conspicuous place.

The Lord vouchsafed me to be in the monastery on Ganina Yama, to serve there.

The Lord punishes us for the fact that regicide happened. Why did Hitler rebel against us? God sent him as a scourge to Russia. Who repented at the front, who washed in blood - the Lord had mercy on them. But one repented as a robber on the right, and the other acted as a left one, who cursed the Savior: “if you are the Christ, save yourself and us” (Luke 23: 39). He received nothing for his soul at the front either. We need to pray to all the Royal Passion-Bearers. Then, God willing, Russia will shine.

Saransk - Samara.

This monastery of Saransk can be called both old and young at the same time. The bottom line is that in its embryonic form it existed for 200 years, then disappeared and only today has finally turned into a real abode. This refers to the Makarov Pogost, recognized as a monument of culture, history and architecture of Russian significance. The previous history of the churchyard may not be considered strictly monastic, but a very strange cultural and spiritual hearth flared up in the suburban Makarovka. Officially, the churchyard was recognized as a parish church. The directory "Churches, parishes and parishes of the Penza diocese" said that the village of Makarovka was part of the first deanery of the Saransk district, that there was a cold stone church in the name of John the Theologian (which had a warm Archangel Michael church), and that the parish consisted of from the village itself and the villages of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldatskoe - a total of 1697 males and 1797 females. However, the Makarov churches were not ordinary parish churches. The directory did not take into account another church - Znamenskaya, and did not say anything at all about the fact that there was no service for parishioners in the St. , female and male. In addition, the owners of the entire churchyard almost until the very 20th century were not the parishioners, but the landowners Polyanskiy, who built the entire complex for themselves and only allowed the believers to enter their “home monastery”. The churchyard became a parish when the Polyanskys finally left our area and sold the estate to several owners.

Parity ownership signs have appeared since the middle of the 19th century, when the owners of Makarovka recognized the rights of the diocese to churches. The landowners still paid for the work of the clergyman, took upon themselves the costs of repairing churches and keeping the elderly in almshouses, but part of the rights and expenses fell on the believers.

So, in 1866, Alexander Alexandrovich Polyansky received an official gratitude from Penza for a donation of 570 rubles for the repair of St. John the Theological Church. The last major renovation of churches took place in 1882, when A.A. Polyansky's widow Anthony Fedorovna, a Lutheran by faith, arrived briefly from Vienna to Makarovka, audited the financial and economic situation of the estate and donated a huge amount of 4000 rubles to renovate the iconostasis of the cold church.

In general terms, the history of the churchyard was as follows. The extensive Polyansky family held important government positions in Moscow. Duma clerk Danila Leontyevich Polyansky at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries carried out important orders of Peter the Great, including conducting a search for abuses of Siberian governors; before that he served in the Secret Order, at the hand of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. His brother, Eremey Leontyevich Polyansky, began as a clerk of the order of the Big Palace, was engaged in the search for ores in Siberia, visited the Poniz cities with errands, served in the Reitarsky, Inozemnoye, and Discharge orders. The Polyansky were influential people, so legends formed around them that turned out to be quite persistent. Makar Polyansky, for example, was considered the ruler of the Kazan Territory, although in fact he served in the Order of the Kazan Palace; he was also known as the personal secretary of Peter the Great, although they were E. I. Ukraintsev (who owned, by the way, considerable estates in our region) and A. V. Makarov. Since 1660 Makar Artemyevich Polyansky served in the Investigative Order, traveled a lot around the country, and finished his career as a middle-class clerk in the institution that controlled the territory of the Poniz cities - the Order of the Kazan Palace.

He retired in 1700, finally moved to Saransk, to the estates of his father Artemy Yemelyanovich, who for many years served as a clerk in the Saransk clerk hut.

Construction on the estate began immediately. At the same time, a dwelling house ("castle", as people called it) was created and two churches nearby. A small stone church in the name of Michael the Archangel was erected not at all for the peasants, but for the family of the landowner. It was built according to the rare type "under the bells", when the octagon above the four formed not a head, but a bell tower. Thus, the overhead light was not provided for in the church, but its heating did not cost much. In 1704, the construction of a large church in the name of John the Theologian was completed, which became the Polyansky family sanctuary for two long centuries. In the vacated Archangel Michael Church, Makar Artemyevich placed a men's almshouse, having previously enlarged the structure of the refectory and sleeping quarters. “At this warm church,” A. I. Polyansky wrote in one of his petitions in 1803, “in the existing large meal, divided by a stone wall into two chambers ... in which, about a hundred years ago, my ancestors ... they were quick to one peace - an ordinary church meal, the other one for a hospital almshouse ... for ten people of a male sex ”. Despite the favorable conditions for development, the Makarov almshouse did not develop into a real monastery - this, obviously, did not want the owners, for the approval of the monastery would inevitably entail the alienation of buildings and part of the land required for its maintenance. And so the Polyansky personally kept a pristine house, compensating for their earthly sins before God.

They fostered the Makarov churchyard with love. The Church of St. John the Theological, among other things, was conceived as a family tomb, for which it was put on a powerful basement, which had grown into the ground. M. A Polyansky, who died on February 5 st. Art. in 1710, he found his rest there, in a semi-basement, turned into a crypt. In the second half of the 18th century, the Polyansky basically completed the formation of the churchyard and, according to the monastery custom, surrounded it with a wall, placing two towers in the corners on the eastern side. Experts date the bell tower to the beginning of the same 18th century (the first two tiers) and the post-Petrine era (the third and fourth tiers). The honor of completing the complex belonged to Alexander Ivanovich Polyansky, who lived during the reign of Catherine II, Paul and Alexander I. A wide range of initiatives stemmed from his stormy entrepreneurial activity: he opened several factories and workshops on the estates that brought considerable income. Taking advantage of the decree on the liberties of the nobility, A.I. Polyansky left the army in 1765, came to his father's estate and energetically set about reorganizing the economy. Under him, the number of serfs increased by 450 people, he also increased the plowed area by a third, introduced new varieties of oats, millet, - in a word, he showed himself as an advanced owner.

In 1763, the owner, in a pair of men's almshouse, built a similar women's almshouse, but without a church. In the 1780s, two outbuildings for courtyards, a cattle yard, a steward's house, five stone barns, three bridges over rivers were erected in Makarovka, the manor house was repaired, the iconostasis was re-painted, and a clock was installed on the bell tower. In 1803, he asked permission to add the Temple of the Sign to it, thereby "having performed a mercy not completed by the ancestors." The women's community also numbered about ten people. Having received the appropriate permission from the spiritual authorities, Polyansky supplemented the almshouse with the Znamenskaya Church, copied from the outlines of Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya, and thereby achieved the illusion of the simultaneity and complexity of the design of the entire ensemble as a whole. Polyansky's good taste cannot be denied!

In this form, the Makarovsky churchyard came to the XX century.

After A.F. Polyanskaya left the country, the churchyard was finally taken over by the parish, and after the sale of the estate to Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Petrovich Teplyakov, the entire Ioanno-Theological ensemble was excluded from the boundaries of the estate. But then difficult times came for the almshouses: the peasant community was unable to maintain a shelter for the elderly at the same level, and Teplyakov from the very beginning showed little interest in charity. Closer to the revolution, the charitable institution was barely glowing, and then it completely thinned out and came to naught, because the new government did not reach the point of charity for the offended by fate, the whole country went to the offended. The almshouses also could not exist at the expense of benefactors due to the absence of such: rich people partly fled, partly burned down in the crucible of the class struggle.

In 1927, the crypt of Makar Polyansky was opened; even earlier, serious injuries were inflicted on the "castle" and outbuildings. Then it was the turn of the churchyard. In 1941, it was planned to place a rifle regiment on the churchyard and in the village, then an evacuated garment factory, an industrial complex ... In 1946, the Church of St. John the Theological Church was returned to the faithful, and in 1961 it was taken away again. Since 1969, restoration work began in Makarovka, and in 1987, the inhabitants of the village, with the assistance of the believers of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldatsky, through Patriarch Pimen, managed to demand the St. John the Theological Church and the bell tower under the jurisdiction of the parish. Archpriest Georgy Sakovich was appointed rector of the St. John the Theological Church. In 1991, the opened Saransk diocese was transferred to the Znamenskaya Church, and in 1996 - Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya. The former "castle" of the Polyansky family became a diocesan administration. Thus, over ten years, the churchyard gradually passed to its true owner - the Orthodox people, and in 1994 it finally turned into a real monastery: with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II and by the decision of Archbishop Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia, the St. John the Theologian monastery was opened in Makarovka ... Thus, male monasticism was resurrected in the city. Archpriest Maxim Chebotarev (in monasticism Vladimir) became the abbot of the monastery.

The manor-temple ensemble in Makarovka is rightfully recognized as the most interesting architectural feature of Mordovia. The very registration of the monument and its registration resulted in a difficult story. Until the end of the 1940s, no one paid much attention to the churchyard. In the first registers, for example, in the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of May 22, 1947 "On the protection of architectural monuments", not a word was said about Mordovia, as if wonderful buildings and structures had never been found on our land. Exactly one year later, three of our objects appeared in the "Supplementary List of Architectural Monuments Subject to State Protection" - St. John the Theological Church in Saransk, Sanaksar Monastery and Makarovsky Pogost. This was the result of an initial survey of ancient buildings in the republic; It was also important that two of the three monuments, Makarovka and the church in Saransk, ended up in the hands of believers. Since then, the study of the local architectural heritage has advanced quite far, and Makarovka has always attracted particularly close public attention, because it has practically turned from a suburb of Saransk into a suburb and because the architectural and aesthetic merits of the ensemble are unusually high. The significance of the churchyard as an architectural monument was not disputed even by the most violent atheists, for it is foolish to deny what is obvious to everyone.

The Polyanskys were not completely original, enriching the appearance of the estate with a group of church buildings. The landowners of that time considered the construction of parish churches an honorable duty, but for the most part large landowners confined themselves to typical rural wooden sanctuaries, separated from the estates. Sometimes local nobles acquired house churches, but this tradition was not widespread in the provinces. However, in Makarovka everything was different. The Polyanskiy did not copy the Moscow samples, they created their own, deeply original ensemble. Only one thing was typical - the landowner separated the estate from the village, allotting a place for peasants' streets on the low left bank of the Kamenka, and set up his house and churchyard on the high right bank. The wide view of Saransk Polyansky did not allow blocking, and until the mid-1980s the churchyard retained an excellent view from the western side, until the whole field was built up with mansions. The space behind the house to a large pond on Kamenka near the Polyansky was occupied by a park that was once representative and well-groomed, there were outbuildings to the north, and a churchyard to the south. As a result of two hundred years of work on the landscape, something completely unique arose in Makarovka, which is difficult to find worthy analogues in Mordovia.

The main effect is created by a combination of the simple and the complex, and in the simple one feels the knot of complex calculations of the architects in an arc, and in the complex - their immediacy. The appearance of buildings is dominated by a tower-like appearance, and this is understandable if we remember that the deficit of high-rise dominants turned the area where Makarovka was born into a dull and boring environment. God himself ordered the bell tower to be pulled up, but the church of St. John the Theologian was also built like a tower, and its heights exceeded the parameters of the bell tower. The main church of the churchyard happily avoided the burdening of annexes and adjoining churches, it retained the purity of its design and the coined idea, which markedly differed from other buildings of the early 18th century, which had been rebuilt many times over the past decades. Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk and Znamenskaya churches, designed in horizontals, nevertheless, they also threw into the sky not the heads, but the tower-type belfries. Finally, two corner towers, decorative rather than functional, completed the strict roll call of the high-rise replicas. In the churchyard, everything is provided, down to the smallest detail, and this conquers even people who are not experienced in art. The height of the first tier of the bell tower was not determined by eye - the master's intuition was checked against strict planimetry. The calculation was done in this way: the wall of the first tier of the bell tower stretched to the point where an imaginary line, drawn from the apple of St. John the Theological Church through the apple of the temple of the male almshouse, intersected with the vertical. The height of the second tier of the belfry corresponded to the apses of the central church, and the upper eights were placed with greater freedom, because their idea belonged to other authors. In the proportions of small churches, one can also see a pattern, at least in the fact that by vertical parameters they were compared with the cornice of the attic third tier of St. John the Theological Church. The total height of the corner towers did not exceed the dimensions of the apses of the main church, and here, too, the rationality of the architects is visible, who created not so much a fortress as its imitation.

These are only some observations on the proportionality of the parts of the ensemble, but even in the first approach to the analysis of the architecture of the churchyard, one can see the origins of its beauty: without a precisely verified correlation of the parts of the complex, harmony would not have been achieved, and the aesthetic content of this amazing monument would have been defective. During the years of rampant barbarian atheism, the churchyard lost all secondary elements - the wall, corner towers, the Znamenskaya church of the women's almshouse and the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk church along with the men's almshouse. Left almost alone, the Church of St. John the Theologian rose in the wasteland like an epic giant, but the bell tower looked like an alien body, because its remoteness from the church became completely inexplicable. The restorers not only restored the destroyed objects, they returned the expediency of the arrangement of the churchyard, retelling the plot of this inspired stone poem.

For thirty years, the restorers have managed to do a lot, including rebuilding the "castle" and the lost objects of the churchyard. The recovery process would have been faster if it had not been for the leapfrog with "opportunistic" problems. Of course, at first no one planned to return the churchyard to the believing people; They tried to make an open-air museum from the church-estate ensemble, so they littered the territory with all sorts of village buildings (huts of a kulak, middle peasant, poor peasant, a windmill, and so on), which safely disappeared after a short time. They tried to open a restaurant for tourists in the "castle"; the park was subject to reconstruction and redevelopment in order to create a recreation area there. How much of these initiatives was useful and how much harmful is now difficult to say, but among the shortcomings of the restoration process was that the authorities considered it possible to demolish the remains of the economic complex of the 18th-19th centuries, but conscientiously supervised the reconstruction of the main attraction for tourists - the temple ensemble, the most striking architectural oasis of Saransk and its environs.

The two churches were almost the same age as the time of construction. The Archangel Michael Church was consecrated in 1702, St. John the Theological Church - in 1704. But this did not mean that Makar Polyansky laid the big temple later than the small one; more likely something else - the main object began construction earlier, and then the owner decided to supplement the cold church with a warm one. The scale and complexity of the masonry of these two churches are incomparable, Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya was just fun for the masons, so it was folded very quickly. But the St. John the Theological Church, for which figured bricks of dozens, if not hundreds of varieties were required, demanded a huge painstaking work from the builders. Polyansky, who participated in the construction of a fortress on Samara in 1689 and had some construction experience, hardly immediately imagined the whole churchyard. He found a convenient place for a large temple and placed it so that the village remained of it in the east, across the stream. At the same time, Makar Artemyevich was not going to equalize the temple in rights with the manor palace, so the church was moved away from the axis of the "castle" by a hundred meters. Inspired by his own architectural boldness, Polyansky united both churches with a common isolated area, surrounded by a wall, and, according to the monastery custom, on the western side he marked the place for the holy gates and the bell tower. In Saransk, something similar appeared only at the end of the 18th century, with the completion of the construction of the Peter and Paul Monastery. Makarovka was located in the immediate vicinity of the line, but from the side of the field, where the mansions could not serve as protection in any way. This means that the graveyard conceived by Polyansky was simultaneously supposed to fulfill three roles - a fortress, a sanctuary and a "spoloshny" point. Hence, some of the features of the architecture of buildings. The idea to put up a bell tower appeared relatively late, at first Makar Polyansky wanted to confine himself to the winter church "under the bells", with a belfry instead of a head. Here you have both splendor and the opportunity to raise a bell "flash", an alarm in the event of the arrival of unexpected guests. The pedestal of St. John the Theological Church, impressive enough to accommodate many people, was erected very firmly, with powerful walls cut through with small windows above the ground itself. The iron entrance door to the basement was covered by a porch, which did not allow the besiegers to use the ram-log. On the other hand, the besieged themselves had a good view from the windows, covered with thick bars: the circular shelling meant a lot. After the rebuildings of the second half of the 19th century, the defensive elements of the temple faded a little, but even today, studying the design features of the St. In the old days, people said that the Polyanskiy kept the arsenal in the basement for a long time, and then part of their archive. On the whole, M.A.Polyansky formed an ensemble capable of clearly demonstrating the prestige of the owner. And he achieved his goal, because even the fortress in Saransk, despite its impressive size, paled in comparison with the churchyard and the Makarov estate.

The Church of St. John the Theological, dominating the area, was immediately designed as a dominant structure, and everything in it was subordinated to this task. The main part of the building consisted of a slender quadrangle, devoid of side-chapels and completed with a hipped roof; on the tent, unknown architects placed two octal figures one on top of the other - a light drum and a dome, topped with an onion with a cross. The result is a cross between a tower and a church, while the architects made sure to imperceptibly but effectively brighten up the monotony of the structure. First, the authors of this outstanding building left the square and laid the temple in the form of a somewhat elongated rectangle: three windows fit in a row on the eastern facade, and four windows on the southern and northern ones. However, the asymmetry did not affect the key importance of the front western façade with the entrance door cut above the basement and the porch, which was large and figured. In order to restrain the excessive lightness of the narrow wall that rises upward, the architects on the western facade removed the large windows of the first light, thus emphasizing the fundamental nature and strength of the structure. The second and third lights had the same architectural design as the windows on the other facades.

The general understanding of the entire building was reduced to two tasks - it was necessary to "throw" the temple into the sky and at the same time keep it on the ground. All architects who undertook the construction of churches faced similar problems, but from the numerous and proven methods in each case, the architects chose the most acceptable. The most common techniques were the following: in order to visually increase the height of the building, its facades were divided in height into parts by pilasters or semi-columns, and in order to keep the structure near the ground, it was divided horizontally by cornices. This is exactly what the authors of the St. John the Theological Church used. Using an order system, they divided the western facade into three vertical sectors (intercolumnium), and the north and south into four. Each intercolumn had a corresponding window, and since the horizontal plane of the walls was divided into three parts, each intercolumn had three windows, one above the other. But this is a standard solution. It was unusual that the architects who planned the three tiers of the temple kept the same width of the tiers and varied only their height, and the difference in heights at first glance is not very noticeable. Above the basement (ramp) that had grown into the ground, a fairly massive first tier was erected, the height of which corresponded to the apse; the second tier seemed to shrink in comparison with the first, and the third turned out to be quite small, it served as an attic. The windows of the tiers were also decorated in different ways: on the first they were decorated with arched architraves (sandrids), on the second with triangular pediments, but the windows of the third tier looked like octagons, which once again emphasized the antiquity of the completion of the quadrangle. The decor of the walls included hermetic frames of window openings, complex and deep cornices, curbs and many more elements, the execution of which was only possible for high-class masons. We did not have such masters then, Makar Polyansky most likely found specialists in distant lands, as, incidentally, he imported building material from Kazan.

The amazing temple was built by unknown masters! They strove to create a powerful structure - and they created it; they conceived to spiritualize him by free floating in the sky - and achieved their goal; they decided to use rich decor without violating the integrity of the composition - and they did it. In a poor province, which lived miserably and terribly, on the edge of a sword, they created a piece of the Mother See, not in the least disturbing the spontaneous harmony of the still semi-wild nature and the timidly tactful human habitation in it. Centuries have passed since then, man has accomplished a lot, but neither in Saransk, nor in the whole of Mordovia for all the past times has anything been built that would be equal in severity, classicism, subtlety and beauty to the Makarov churchyard. The ensembles of other monasteries of the diocese were also formed in an original way, each of them is worthy of the most careful consideration and study, but in the case of Makarovka we are faced with a special approach to the planning of spatial and architectural relations. For example, the complex of the Krasnoslobodsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery was created very strictly, but the plan there was not brought to its logical conclusion, and the Polyansky ones nurtured their churchyard for a century and a half, without changing the original idea one iota.

Reverence for the ancestor-founder was visible even in the fact that the second almshouse with the temple was copied from the Archangel Michael Church, although the fashion for such a style had irrevocably passed by that time. Good taste is more expensive than fashion, and the owners of Makarovka understood that by placing a building in the style of St. Petersburg Baroque or Classicism inside the fence, they would irreparably damage the aesthetics of the landscape and the architectural complex. The alterations of the 19th century affected only particulars: the tiled covering was replaced with an iron one, the tent on the bell tower was supplemented with a dome and some frescoes in the Church of St. ).

A great blessing for the Mordovian monasticism was that it received a ready-made monastery, brought to a very decent condition by the efforts of the restorers. It remains to complete what we have begun: to completely restore the iconostasis, the frescoes, the interiors of the almshouse churches, the park.

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This review is not only for those who have already come to the Orthodox faith, but also for those who are still looking for their own way - the St. John the Theologian Makarovsky Monastery is the best place for a trip! No Turkey, Egypt and similar countries will bring your soul so much warmth, love, so much strength for life, as a trip to this monastery!

Where we go

We are going to Mordovia - Saransk, it is very easy to get to the monastery! If you are traveling intercity, then all the main buses stop at the stop "v. Lukhovka" - and there it is literally 2 steps to the monastery !! If not, it is easy to get there from Saransk itself - buses 7, 36, minibus 15! It's very easy to get there, even alone!

How are they greeted

Have you ever come home from a long trip? This is how they are greeted in the monastery - as if you had strayed for a hundred years and finally returned home!

We arrived in Saransk and got very cold during the trip - we warmed and fed and watered and, most importantly, we met so sincerely!

Where to stay

On the territory of the monastery there is a very good hotel - both a monastery for pilgrims and a hotel for a pilgrim center. Very comfortable to travel with children!

Complex

The complex itself is very large - it is better to come for a week, go on an excursion, live the life of a monastery, relax, attend services. Must see:

John the Theological Cathedral

Znamensky Temple

Archangel Michael Church

Near skete

The distant desert

House churches

Source of St. Nicholas

The beauty of the monastery is simply amazing! Not a single photograph can convey the full completeness of this place where you feel - the Lord is very close!