The fifteenth anniversary of our Temple (excerpt from the book). Good shepherd archpriest leonid beresnev village red telephone

The choir of theological courses "The Secret World of Orthodoxy" under the direction of the regent Elizaveta Lazareva took part in the Divine Liturgy and a prayer service in the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village. Krasnoe of the Kalyazinsky district. The Divine Liturgy was performed by Archpriest Leonid (Beresnev), co-served by Archpriest Oleg (Ryabyshev). After the moleben, a meal was prepared for the choir through the efforts of the head of the church, Vera Viktorovna, and the parishioners of the church.

The next stop on the pilgrimage trip was the city of Kalyazin. The choir team visited the Church of the Ascension of Christ, bowed to the relics of St. Makariy Kalyazinsky. During a short excursion, the participants of the trip heard about the restoration of the Ascension Church, about the remarkable victory won by the Russian militia under the leadership of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky over the Polish-Lithuanian troops in 1609. The story of the guide Irina Kuzmina about the tragic page of history - the flooding of 2/3 the city of Kalyazin during the construction of the Uglich hydroelectric power station.

After visiting Kalyazin, the choir visited the Transfiguration Church in the village. Spasskoe, Kalyazinsky district, where a graduate of the Nikolo-Ugreshskaya seminary, priest Georgy (Ivanov) serves. Father George gave a tour of the temple, told about its history, answered a large number of questions from the participants of the trip.

The folk choir of theological courses "The Secret World of Orthodoxy" thanks the rector of the Nikolo-Ugreshskaya Seminary, Hegumen John, with whose blessing this trip was made, as well as Priest George and Vladimir Vladimirovich Alyoshkov for their help in organizing the trip. The participants of the trip expressed their hope that this pilgrimage will become the beginning of a series of trips of the folk choir to rural parishes, in which the graduates of the Nikolo-Ugreshskaya Theological Seminary serve.

29.06.2017

Good shepherd

Archpriest Leonid Beresnev, Honorary Citizen of the Kalyazinsky District, was congratulated on his double anniversary.

On June 18, the spiritual mentor of many believers, respected priest by all Kalyazin residents, the rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God in the village of Krasnoe in the Kalyazinsky region, Archpriest Leonid Beresnev had a great jubilee - 80 years and 45 years of priestly ministry. In honor of these two important events, on the Day of the Angel of Father Leonidas, a solemn celebration of the priest took place in the Ascension Church, in which the Dean of the Kimr Deanery Archpriest Yevgeny Morkovin, Head of the Kalyazinsky District K.G. Ilyin, priests of the Kimr Deanery District of the Tver Diocese and many grateful believers who love and respect their spiritual mentor. Everyone wished dear father a long and good summer!

Father Leonid is a military pilot by civilian profession. But faith in God brought him to the Church. He graduated from the Odessa Theological Seminary and the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1971, Fr. Leonidas was ordained a deacon, and a year later - a priest. He has been the rector of the Krasnoselsky temple since 1981, and was blessed by the hierarchy in 2005 as the rector of the Vvedensky and Ascension temples. For many years, Archpriest Leonid Beresnev was the confessor of the entire Tver diocese, confessing both the laity and the priesthood.

Father put a lot of effort and prayer to restore the main large church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kalyazin. It was this temple that became the place where the relics of the patron saint of Kalyazin, Reverend Macarius, now rest.

For his zealous service to the Russian Orthodox Church, the priest has church awards, he is also an Honorary Citizen of the Kalyazin region.

I. Frolova

Today I read Tatyana Grigorieva's review of the story about the Monk Makarii Kalyazinsky. I have many memories of the ancient city connected with this. I looked at the site of the Tver diocese with the hope of finding out the schedule of the Volga Religious Procession - 2011
and, lo and behold, Vladyko Victor, Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky, blessed the transfer of the relics of the Monk Makarii to Kalyazin.

Http://tver.eparhia.ru/sobyt/news_ep/?ID=3271

On the day of memory of the Monk Makarii of Kalyazin, Archbishop Victor of Tver and Kashin celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the city of Kalyazin
30.03.2011

On March 30, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates (the day of repose) the Monk Macarius, Abbot of Kalyazinsky, miracle worker.

Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky Viktor served Great Compline and Matins with Polyeleos in the White Trinity Cathedral in Tver, co-served by the cleric of the Resurrection Cathedral in Tver, Archimandrite Sergius (Shvyrkov), rector of the John the Baptist Church in Tver, priest Vyacheslav Drozovnikov ... His Eminence led the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kalyazin. Vladyka was co-served by the Dean of the Kimry District, Archpriest Yevgeny Morkovin, the confessor of the diocese, Archpriest Leonid Beresnev, and the clergy of the Kimry Deanery. During the divine service, Archbishop Victor awarded the cleric of the church in honor of the Entry of the Mother of God into the temple of Kalyazin, priest Roman Reshetilov, with the right to wear a pectoral cross.

The Monk Macarius, Abbot of the Trinity Kalyazin Monastery, was born in 1402, in the village of Gridtsin (Gribkovo, now Kozhino), near Kashin, in a God-loving family that strictly honors the commandments of the Lord. Parents, the boyar Vasily Ananievich Kozha, who became famous for his military exploits under the Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich II the Dark, and his wife Irina (their memory is honored locally) from childhood raised Matthew (name in the world) in faith and worship. The boy loved to spend time reading spiritual books, and everything he read deeply sank into his heart. He was not fond of games and in his soul he incessantly lifted up prayers, psalms and spiritual chants dear to his heart, thinking at the same time how to serve God.

When he began to come to a perfect age, Matthew began to think about getting away from the vain worldly life; his parents, however, did not want him to take monasticism, and gave biblical examples of the lives of the New Testament saints who were saved in the world. The obedient son, not wanting to upset his relatives and obeying, agreed to the marriage and soon married the girl Elena Yakhontova. The young couple promised each other that if one of them dies, the widowed will take monasticism. A year after the wedding, Matthew lost his father and mother, and two more, Elena died; and the twenty-five-year-old Matthew left the temporary, in search of the eternal, and entered the nearby Nicholas Klobukov monastery, where he tonsured his tonsure with the name Macarius and devoted his whole life to serving God. Miraculous was the prayer of the monk, who during his lifetime received from God the gift of healing the sick and suffering; The Lord also rewarded the spirit-bearing elder with the gift of clairvoyance. Hegumen Kalyazinsky died in 1483 at the age of 82. Many healings of people suffering from diseases of the joints, legs, blindness came from the relics of the saint.

In 1521, the imperishable relics of the Kalyazin miracle worker were found. Until 1547, the Monk Macarius was venerated locally. But miracles and the love of the people contributed to the fact that at the Moscow Council in 1547 he was canonized among the saints of God, and it was decided to celebrate his memory throughout Russia.

__________________

Honoring now the memory of the Monk Makarii, Archbishop Viktor of Tver and Kashinsky celebrated a divine service in the White Trinity Cathedral in Tver, since the relics of the Kalyazin saint have been buried here since the beginning of the 90s of the last century.

By the decision of the Diocesan Council (of February 22, 2011), on the petition of the BLESSING KIMR DISTRICT, Archpriest Yevgeny Morkovin and the PRESIDENT of the Vvedensky Temple of the city of Kalyazin PROTOIERE LEONID KADUESNEVA BERESNEVA MOSHCHIARIKA PREPODOBODO CROSSWAY - 2011.

OUR FRIENDLY OUR FATHER, GOD'S PRAYERS FOR US!

GLORY TO YOU GOD, GLORY TO YOU!

The tower on a desert island is the only restored building of the flooded Kalyazinsky monastery. It was not a saint, a rich man, or even a native of Kalyazin who practically undertook to revive the monastery. Is this madness or real faith? The Lonely Tower gives everyone their answer.

Kalyazin. Trinity Monastery. Photo from the Museum of Local Lore

Death
The main attraction of Kalyazin is the bell tower, towering in the middle of the Volga. In winter, a blizzard and the wind of the Volga snowy expanse breaks on it. This is all that can be seen today in that part of Kalyazin, which remained forever under water after the "flooding of the Moskva River by connecting with the upper reaches of the Volga River" in 1931. Kalyazin streets, half amputated by the new bank of the reservoir, will never be able to fill the city with full life. Churches, shopping arcades and a large monastery are buried under water and ice, as if under the lid of a crystal coffin. In 2002, very close to the bell tower, on a small uninhabited island, another strange structure appeared. High lonely tower. It was built by a man who believed in the resurrection of a dead city.

Alexander Kapitonov, the organizer of the tower and many Kalyazin churches, died tragically in the same 2002. He was driving in a UAZ car across the Volga in winter, carrying two acquaintances who asked for help with a lift, the car went under the water, he managed to push a woman onto the ice, but he could not find the second passenger, and he didn’t come out himself. This happened on December 19, the day of commemoration of St. Nicholas.

Island
"After all, worship crosses are put up, and we have a worship tower," says Sergei Kruglov, a local historian, a resident of Kalyazin and a parishioner of the Ascension Church of the city, by the way, also restored with the help of Alexander. Sergei and I cross the Volga on skis, or rather a few hundred meters from the coast to the island. Under a gray-lilac blanket, one cannot make out in a snowy plain where is the river, where is the field, and where is the forest. Sasha went this way many times, skiing in winter, boat in summer to pray and work. “Sasha had such a character as a match, you strike it, and it already shines,” continues Sergey. - I remember the first time he found out that there was a monastery on this place. We were sailing in a boat just past the island, and he told me how he recently went to Diveevo. And I told him that we also had a large monastery in Kalyazin. He says: "How!" “Why,” I say, “look, all these islands are monastery temples. And this island is called Monastyrsky. " His quick nature immediately worked: "We turn there." I waited for a long time in the boat while he wandered around the island. Later I invited him to watch our film "Time to Collect Stones", about the history of the flooded Holy Trinity Kalyazinsky Monastery. There was applause after the film. We leave, and I ask: "How did you like it?" And he sharply replies: "They show destroyed churches, tombstones from the water, and people applaud." I explain to him that these are all secular people. And he told me: “What to watch? Need to do something". I say: "Let's put up a bowing cross." “Why is there a cross! - Sasha answers. "The chapel must be built."

Macarius
Five centuries before the birth of Sasha Kapitonov in Chuvashia, a monk Macarius from the family of boyars Kozhins appeared in the Tver region. He came to the place where Kalyazin is now along the bank of the Kashenka River from Kashin. Then this land was owned by the boyar Ivan Kolyaga. Kolyaga did not really like the fact that a monk built a cell for himself on his lands. But a monastery gradually grew out of the cell, and Koljaga surrendered. He even became a monk of this monastery. Macarius, becoming the abbot of the monastery, stubbornly called the monastery Kalyaginsky. Around the monastery, a city grew, which also began to be named after the owner of the land, the Kalyagin city, Kalyazin. When the elder was dying, he told the brethren that the monastery would only grow. But there were still five centuries ahead. How could he know that not only the monastery, but the whole city was waiting for a terrible and irreversible fate.

Flood
Sergei, holding his hood from the wind, shows the former streets and churches, directing my tourist gaze to the dark bunches of trees, here and there scattered across the snowy width: "All these islands, the high points of the former Kalyazin."

Before Sasha appeared in Kalyazin, there was only one church of the Introduction of the Mother of God in the city. Another, not flooded church of the Ascension of Christ, was abandoned, and in another, preserved church of the Epiphany, there is still a local history museum. The cannons at its entrance in the middle of the street, which goes further under the waters of the reservoir, point exactly to the Monastyrsky Island and the tower. Once on this street, along a flat road from the Epiphany Church, Orthodox Christians went to the Makaryevsky Monastery to pray.

Sergei recalls: “Since childhood, I felt that this island has some kind of mystery, an understatement. When they began to publish archival materials, I myself worked with some of them, I felt a desire to change everything, to see what was before, to see the city that my grandmother saw, and my parents also remembered. That it was not just an island to which people come to swim and sunbathe, but that there was a holy land, a monastery here. "

In modern Kalyazin, there is one hotel and one tourist attraction - the bell tower, which has become a kind of tombstone. In the evening in this only hotel I drink coffee and read a small guidebook, or rather a prospectus about the sale of plots near Kalyazin with beaches “on the picturesque banks of the reservoir”.

“The six-century history of Kalyazin is so full of great events that it can be compared with the history of Moscow or Kiev,” I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s absolutely certain that the greatest event in the city of Kalyazin took place in 1931. An event the scale of which Kalyazin could not bear. I remember that scientists managed to unearth ancient Babylon in the desert sands. Will it ever be possible to raise out of the water that which "has sunk" into it, as the people say, forever?

Temples
First, Sasha began to build a chapel on the island. She stood for the summer. And then it had to be disassembled. It turned out that the land was not formalized, there was no blessing from the hierarchy. The Dean was skeptical of Sasha's idea. At that time, not many people went to the only church of Kalyazin, but here the monastery was restored. Sasha was upset, but resigned.

At the same time, he was engaged in the restoration of the city Ascension Church. Once there was a city cemetery around it. By 1936, services here ceased, and the temple was given to the sports club Spartak. They began to play football at the cemetery, and in 1940, during the last stage of the flooding of the city, the church was handed over to the bakery. Soon the bakery moved, and the church building was abandoned. The roof of the temple gradually collapsed, the vaults collapsed. When in 1993 members of the church community, to which the temple was handed over, came to look at their "possessions", they saw a real jungle inside the temple walls: trees grew from bricks, beams of floors and piles of silicate bricks were entwined with roots.

Sasha was an athlete, a physically strong person, and he also very quickly moved from words to deeds. The temple must be a temple. To begin with, he and the parishioners closed the windows so that they would not climb, not defile. Then they began to dismantle the rubble. The temple was restored. Last year, the relics of the Monk Makarii, which had previously been in Tver, were transferred to the Ascension Church in Kalyazin.

In the village of Kozhino, where the parents of the Monk Makarii lived, Sasha came after he heard a voice that said to him: "Take a shovel, go to Kozhino." He did not even know then what kind of Kozhino was. And there the temple is destroyed, and the graves of Macarius' parents are mocked. He himself collected their bones and carried them in his hands to a new grave. A dome was placed over the temple.

Prayer
Alexander appeared in Kalyazin in the 80s. Although his mother was a believing woman and passed on her faith to her son, Sasha really came to church in the 90s and became the spiritual child of Archpriest Leonid Beresnev. Father Leonid, confessor of the Tver diocese, has been serving as a priest for thirty years in the village of Krasnoe, 15 kilometers from Kalyazin. Sergei and I, frozen after a ski trip to the island, are going to him. The road is difficult. From the field, from the lowlands, onto a narrow dirt road, the wind sweeps snowdrifts, the car now and then dives into the snow pools. Finally, the temple. Inside, the warm gloom of diffused lamp light snatches out a faded curtain from the mysterious depths of the altar. Father Leonid comes out of the gate with a censer: “Well, let's go to the grave. Let's pray. " After the litiya, we go to drink tea in the house of Father Leonid, across the street from the temple.

“How did I meet him? It's just ... He himself came to the temple. His life was like this: faith and prayer. Intellectuals also have a prayer, but often from the mind. And he had it from the heart. Sometimes he will come from an island or other business. Tired. Will lie down. But he asks to wake him up in an hour. In an hour, she will force herself to get up by willpower. He reads the evening rule and then goes to bed until morning. And so he often forced himself, forced himself to pray, ”recalls Father Leonid. The last two years before his death, Sasha equipped three churches at once, built houses and a tower. He worked very hard. Father Leonid says that Sasha tried to be ahead of his time.

Phenomenon
During these two years, both in winter and summer after work, Sasha walked on the ice or sailed on a boat every day to his prayer place on the island. There he read the Akathist to the Monk Makarii. In a hole under a tree, at the site of the foundation of the monastery bell tower, he had a prayer corner. The Monk Macarius was dear to him. Sasha said that once Macarius himself appeared before him. No one who knew Sasha doubts that this is not a mystical illusion, but a very real phenomenon. After Sasha's death, Moscow benefactors, those whom Sasha helped all the time in Kalyazin, made a film in memory of Sasha. There are shots in the film where Sasha himself speaks with bewilderment about this case: "I still regret that I did not take his blessing out of surprise."

Muscovites
Grigory Vladimirovich, a Muscovite, the father of a large family, bought a crumbling house in the village of Selishchi, not far from Kalyazin 12 years ago: “Sasha immediately said that he wouldn’t take anything extra from us, and in general, he would give what he earned to the church. He said so sincerely that I had to believe that it was so. This was in March 2000. But the first time I heard about Sasha was from my wife. She told how in Selishchi, not far from our village, she saw a peasant, alone dragging the logs of an unfinished wooden church. This was Sasha. Then, when I got to know him better, I realized that he had such a character: when he needed to do something, he began to do, regardless of whether he was alone or not alone. So it is with this wooden temple. Muscovites started to build, but could not. The logs were left to lie in the grass. Sasha saw and could not calmly fall asleep until he raised this temple. Now it is the temple of Metropolitan Philip. The only temple near our house in Kalyazin. Finding workers who would agree to help him for free in Kalyazin was unrealistic. Kalyazin's heart was flooded, and this affected all its inhabitants. So he often worked alone. "

“The last five kilometers of the driveway to our house are almost impassable, that's why we bought the house,” smiles Grigory Vladimirovich. - Sasha always met us where the black spots began, rode in front and showed us the way. In the winter, he would come to our house on foot to heat him for our arrival. With a person who treats you this way, you will not communicate as with a hired worker. He became a close person to us. "

Sinner
“Dad! You Sinner to the phone! " So my daughter called me to the phone when Sasha called from Kalyazin. This is how he introduced himself on the phone: “Good afternoon. This is Sasha the sinner. " At first we laughed, but, you know, he really thought so to himself. Gradually, among ourselves, we began to call him “Sasha the sinner”. He was an amazing man ...

Tower
“The tower idea was crazy. But it was a dream. Sasha was devoted with all his heart to the Monk Makarii, - Grigory Vladimirovich is surprised at the scale of this man. - After the failed epic with the chapel, he decided to build this tower. Yes, so that later you could attach walls to it, and so on. I decided that he would start building first, and that the documents would be drawn up gradually. Sasha delivered materials for the construction on a small boat. He transported tons of bricks, cement, sand in small batches to the island. He envisioned the future as follows. There will be a temple in the tower. Then the ascetic will come and be saved there. It is clear that this will be real selfless devotion. After all, no one will lead him there electricity. Just imagine, in my childhood I also dreamed that I would launch a rocket into space myself. But Sasha never measured his dreams with reality. There was a man of this magnitude. "

Of course, the dean reacted negatively to Sasha's request to restore the monastery. What other monastery, if only a few go to church. Yes, and in the city of Kalyazin there was no other church besides the Vvedenskaya church. But through his Moscow acquaintances, he managed to get the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II. The environmental service of Kalyazin could not help but see how the tower was being built, because its windows overlook exactly the island, but they turned a blind eye to it. “The tower grew before our eyes. We with Moscow priests and with Father Leonid often sailed there on a steamer, served there prayer services. At some point, people from the Environmental Service told Sasha that “it’s impossible to hide it, it’s time to get it done,” Serezha says that the documents were completed miraculously. Sometimes Sasha was helped by brigades of workers, but it was not easy for them to deal with him. Father Leonid says: “He was not a man without weaknesses. He was irritable too. When he was building the tower, he used to be helped by workers, but he did not allow any mat or smoke in this place. He said: "I warn you for the first time, then I kick you out." And he kicked it out. "

Outpost
The tower was built to last. The foundation contains huge boulders from the river. But from time to time they try to hack it. For the winter it is locked, and in the summer a watchman lives there. Water, prayer, fishing. He opens the tower to visitors. Serezha and I discovered that the lock was broken. They tried to break it with a crowbar, but failed. "Why, after all, this lonely tower, a monument of faith in the miracle of one person, will remain on this island, what do you think?" - I ask Sergei. “If it’s just an island, then they will show it and say: there was a monastery here. Well, that's all. And now, with the tower, this island has become an outpost. Indeed, for the sake of this monastery, there was a special attitude towards the city, not like a town on the shore. The tower marks the site of the monastery and brings back the memory of it. The Lord allowed Alexander to do this, ”Sergei replies.

Memory
Grigory Vladimirovich recalls that when he learned that Sasha had died, at first there was a shock, and then felt a sense of defenselessness: “It would seem that we are sitting in Moscow. Technically, we didn't spend much time in the village. But this place of our rest would not have taken place if it were not for Sasha. There, on the Volga, fishermen drown, well, every winter. But Sasha always knew where to drive safely. Why did he go under the bridge? Mystery".

Once a year, the Tver bishop with pilgrims comes to the island and performs a requiem for all the deceased ascetics of the monastery, including Sasha, prays at the tower. This is an obligatory point in the large traditional procession.

Hope
Father Leonid says that "you cannot lose hope." Everything is possible, maybe the ascetic will come and there will be a monastery, I think. As if in response to my thoughts Sergei says that now there are people, they never knew Sasha, but they have an idea to completely restore the monastery. They even dumped several barges of sand in the shallow waters near Monastyrsky Island. Maybe this is the beginning?

On the ice of the Volga, not far from this bridge, Alexander's car fell into the wormwood and he died.

Alexander Kapitonov with his daughter.

The famous bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral and the cathedral itself before flooding. All high buildings of the city on the territory of the future reservoir were previously demolished. How did this bell tower stay? The flooding itself, after the decision of the plenum of the Central Committee in 1931, took place in three stages. The water came slowly. It was last admitted in 1940. And that was the end.

The fishermen made a place of rest and entertainment out of the bell tower. Alexander boarded up the entrance to it with boards to prevent the constant desecration of this place. (photo from the Internet resource www.anatol.ru)

New shores.

The Epiphany Church, now the local history museum of the city. The cannons at its entrance in the middle of the street, which goes further under the waters of the reservoir, point exactly to the Monastyrsky Island and the tower.

View from the local history museum.

Sergey Kruglov, ethnographer, resident of Kalyazin and parishioner of the Ascension Church of the city, also restored with the help of Alexander.

This way, both in winter and summer, after work, Sasha walked on the ice every day or sailed on a boat to his prayer place on the island.

Sergei shows the former streets and churches, directing my tourist gaze to the dark bunches of trees, here and there scattered across the snowy width: "All these islands, the high points of the former Kalyazin."

The tower was built so that walls could be attached to it.

The lock was broken. The myth of the wealth of forest hermits is indestructible. It seems that if a monk really came here to be ascetic, then sooner or later a textbook hagiographic "story with robbers" happened to him.

The lamp was covered with frost, but there was oil in it.

We prayed. Prayer services are held in the tower every year. Once a year, the Tver bishop with pilgrims comes to the island and performs a requiem for all the deceased ascetics of the monastery, including Sasha, prays at the tower. This is an obligatory point in the large traditional procession.

A sign that takes you to the place where Sasha was constantly praying.

The corner where Sasha prayed. And now it is especially peaceful and quiet here. Even the frosty wind dies down and you can only hear how tenderly the birches are humming without it.

Near the very shore of the island, the gravestones of an old cemetery were visible under water. They decided to take them out and put them next to the tower.

Among them were the tombstones of the Kozhin family, the family of the Monk Makarii Kalyazinsky himself.

We go back to the Epiphany Church.

Finally, the temple. Inside there is a warm gloom of diffused lamp light. The temple of the village of Krasnoe, 15 kilometers from Kalyazin, where Sasha's spiritual father, Archpriest Leonid Beresenev, serves.

Lithium on the grave of Alexander Kapitonov

Father Leonid and Sasha

From the new bank of the Kalyazin, the tower of the Monastery Island is clearly visible in summer. Now there are people, they never knew Sasha, but they have an idea to completely restore the monastery. They even dumped several barges of sand in the shallow waters near Monastyrsky Island.