Nikola Zaraisky iconography. An ancient miraculous icon was returned to Zaraysk
Nikola Zaraisky, with life
In the 13th century. arose “The Tale of Nikola Zaraisky,” telling about the origin of the icon (A. S. Orlov, Heroic themes of ancient Russian literature, M.-L., 1945, pp. 107–112, as well as V. L. Komarovich, On literary history stories about Nikola Zaraisky. - In the book: “Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature of the Institute of Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences,” V, M., 1947, pp. 57–72). According to this story, the Korsun icon of St. Nicholas in 1228 was transferred from Korsun to the Ryazan land, where an event took place near the cathedral founded in honor of the icon, which gave the name to the city of Zaraysk and the icon itself. The icon reaches the Ryazan land from Korsun through the mouth of the Dnieper, through Kes (Wenden) in the “German Land” and Veliky Novgorod. In 1513, due to the raid of the “Crimean people”, the image of Nikola was temporarily in Kolomna. There was a copy of the Zaraisk icon from the early 16th century. (now the Tretyakov Gallery, No. 557, [inv. 20861]). Even before 1471, the Church of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky (or St. Nicholas in Boots) was known on the Trinity site, opposite the Kutafya tower (dismantled in 1838). The cult of Nikola Zaraisk spread widely in 1531–1533, when Vasily III went on pilgrimage to Zaraysk (“Russian Vremennik”, M., 1820, part 2, p. 360).
Beginning of the 14th century. Kyiv school 2.
2 This monument of the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. may be associated with the late Kyiv school both in style and in the legend telling about its origin.
The design, proportions of figures and architecture, as well as the monochrome coloring of this icon bring it closer to ancient examples of painting of Kyiv origin, for example, with miniatures of the psalter of the late 13th century, No. 3 from the collection. Khludov (State Historical Museum) written for Simon, the elder of the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod.
According to the family legend of the ancient Moscow family of the Kvashnins-Samarins, the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky with its life was taken from Kyiv by their ancestor, the Kiev boyar Protasius, who moved to Moscow with 3 thousand Kiev residents. According to legend, he founded the Church of St. Nicholas in Kievets in the ancient tract of Kievets (now the area of Metrostroevskaya Street), on the banks of the Moscow River, where this icon brought by Protasius was placed.
Nikola is represented on the centerpiece, surrounded by fourteen hallmarks of his life. His broad figure is monumental, thanks to the majestic movement and design of the folds of white, slightly greenish phelonion falling almost to his feet. The cassock is pinkish ocher, the omophorion is white with brown crosses. The club and stole are ocher, as is the lid of the Gospel: they are decorated with colored stones. On the face there are records from the 16th and 17th centuries. The background of the middle was probably white. The manure is dark green. Order of stamps: 1. Christmas. 2. Bringing into teaching. 3. Ordination to the deaconate. 4. Ordination to the priesthood. 5. Ordination to bishop. 6. Appearance to Eparch Evlavius. 7. Rescue of Dmitry from the bottom of the sea. 8. Deliverance from execution. 9. The miracle of the carpet. 10. Deliverance of Agrikov's son. 11. Resignation. 12. Transfer of relics from Mir to Bar. 13. The miracle of the Kiev youth. 14. Deliverance of the patriarch from drowning. The order of the marks is unusual: starting from the top field, they continue on the right field, then below and end on the left field. The marks are separated from each other by wide pinkish stripes. The swirl is dark, like olive sankir. The coloring is muted, formed by transparent, soft shades of brown and green, with a few spots of cinnabar and blue vat paint. The gaps on the slides and clothes, as well as the original background on the margins, judging by the surviving fragments of it among the 16th-century gesso, were white. The inscriptions are red.
Linden board with ark, mortise dowels, one-sided. In the upper part, wooden nails from the dowel have been preserved. The fields are sawed off. Pavoloka, gesso, egg tempera. 115x78. On the ground, at Nikola’s feet, there are inscriptions on both sides. On the right is a red inscription from the 16th century: “By the grace of God and the Most Pure Mother of God and the haste of the holy and great miracle worker Nicholas, this icon was made in the summer ¤ z 7lв(7032 - 1524) June on day No. 1 (11) by the desire and intention of Ivan Jacob, son of Kozhukhov, and there were no memorials to her previous writing.” On the left is a hard-to-read white inscription in 17th-century script in ten lines with dates: ¤ z 7R…d(1656) and ¤ z 7R§f(1691) - see page 79 [the said figure is shown below - approx. ed. site].
It was located in the Church of the Assumption on Ostozhenka in Moscow, where it ended up in 1772 during the abolition of the neighboring Church of St. Nicholas in Kievets, where it was a temple icon. With. 78
With. 79¦
Date of publication or update 11/01/2017
Nicholas the Wonderworker Saint Myra of Lycia Zaraisk Icon
The book is dedicated to the main shrine of the city of Zaraysk - the Zaraisk Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the history of its appearance on the Zaraisk land, chronicle sources telling about this and other events that show examples of holiness, courage, and morality to our contemporaries.
Using materials from the book “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Myra of Lycia, Zaraisk Icon”, publishing house “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”, A.V. Borodin, Moscow, 2007
There are several versions explaining the origin of the modern name of the city. The word “infections” was used in relation to a sheer cliff, a cliff (the steep slope along the right bank of the Osetra is called Infections), an impenetrable forest and even a burial place for those who died from diseases are also called. There is an opinion that the word has the meaning “at once perfect,” that is, in one step, once.
But local residents explain the origin of the name of the city, referring to the event described in the outstanding monument of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”: Princess Eupraxia, having learned about the death of her husband Prince Feodor Yuryevich at Batu’s headquarters, jumped out of the window of a high tower with her young son John and fell to death - they died immediately, at once (together, simultaneously and immediately, without delay). The beginning of local spiritual life, the exploits that glorified the city, the most ancient Zaraisk legends, chronicles, and the most important historical events of the city are associated with these names. Under Prince Theodore, the icon of St. Nicholas arrived from Korsun, Prince Theodore met her at the White Well, Prince Theodore, the young princess and their young son suffered martyrdom, showing the strength of the Christian spirit.
Prince Theodore was the son of the Ryazan prince Yuri Ingvarevich, presumably born in 1205. His wife, according to legend, was born into the family of a Greek king. Around 1223, Prince Theodore Yuryevich received the Zaraisk principality as an inheritance.
In 1224, the missionary activity of the high priest of Korsun Eustathius began. This was the time of the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In 1223, the Battle of Kalka had already taken place, when Russian regiments responded to the call of the Polovtsian Khan and came out in his defense, but the battle was lost.
As it is narrated in the “Tale of the Bringing of the Icon of St. Nicholas from Korsun,” the great wonderworker Nicholas, whose image was in the temple, appeared in a dream to the old presbyter of the ancient Korsun Church of the Holy Apostle James. The saint said: “Eustathie! Take the miraculous image and take with you your wife Theodosius and your son Eustathius and come to the land of Ryazan. Because there I want to create miracles in the image of my being and glorify the place...” The presbyter did not hasten to fulfill the will of St. Nicholas, so he had to repeat the instructions to the great wonderworker twice more in a dream and even strike Eustathius with an eye disease.
Presbyter Korsunsky set off with his family on the road. The missionaries had to move in a roundabout way, through Europe, and not the traditional road along Polovtsian soil, since after the unsuccessful battle on Kalka it was extremely risky. But the European path chosen by the travelers was also full of obstacles and dangers. And every time the miraculous image of St. Nicholas saved the missionaries from imminent death.
On July 29 (old style), the appanage prince of Krasny (Zaraisk) Feodor Yuryevich received the shrine delivered from Korsun at the White Well.
“In the summer of July 6733 (1225), on the 29th day, in memory of the Holy Martyr Callinicus, under the Grand Duke George Vsevolodovich of Vladimir and under the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Novgorod and his son Alexander Nevsky and under the Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, the miraculous Nikolin was brought image from the famous city of Korsun to the borders of Ryazan, to the region of the blessed prince Theodore Yuryevich of Ryazan.”
The meeting was miraculously prepared, and, as the chronicle tells, feat and glory to the princely family of martyrs was promised to Prince Theodore. “The great wonderworker Nikola appeared to the blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan, and announced to him the arrival of his miraculous image of Korsun, and said: “Prince, go meet my miraculous image of Korsun. Because I want to stay here and create miracles. And I will pray for you to the All-Merciful and Humane-loving Lord Christ, the Son of God, to grant you the crown of the kingdom of heaven, and to your wife and to your son.” The noble Prince Fyodor Yuryevich arose from sleep, and was frightened by such a vision, and began to think in the secret temple of his heart, being overwhelmed with fear. And he did not tell anyone the terrible vision, and began to think: “Oh, great miracle worker Nikola! How can you pray to the Merciful God for me, to grant me the crown of the kingdom of heaven and my wife and my son: after all, I am not married, and I do not have the fruit of the womb.” And he immediately went to meet the miraculous image, as the miracle worker commanded him. And he came to the place they were talking about, and from afar he saw, as it were, an indescribable light, shining from the miraculous image.
And he fell lovingly to the miraculous image of Nikola with a contrite heart, emitting tears from his eyes like a stream. And he took the miraculous image and brought it to his region. And he immediately sent a message to his father, Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, ordering him to tell him about the arrival of the miraculous image of St. Nicholas from Korsun-grad. Grand Duke Georgy Ingvarevich heard about the arrival of the miraculous image of Nikola and thanked God and the saint of his miracle worker Nikola for the fact that God visited his people and did not forget the creation of his hands.”
Soon Bishop Euphrosynus Svyatogorets and Grand Duke of Ryazan Yuri Ingvarevich arrived to venerate the icon. “The Great Prince took Bishop Euphrosiny of Svyatogorets with him and immediately went to the region to see his son, Prince Fyodor Yuryevich. And he saw great and glorious miracles from the miraculous image, and was filled with joy about his most glorious miracles. And he created a temple in the name of the great holy wonderworker Nikolas of Korsun. And Bishop Euphrosynus consecrated it, and celebrated brightly, and returned to his city.”
Missionaries from Korsun settled in the Chernaya Sloboda of the city of Krasny, on a mountain that was named Korsatskaya.
Together with the icon of St. Nicholas, Eustathius delivered a small library of Slavic and Greek books. In August 1225, in Ostrog in the city of Krasny, a wooden church was founded in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to house the shrine brought from Korsun. Over time, a scriptorium was created here, where old books were copied and new ones were produced.
From Presbyter Eustathius began the line of ministers of the St. Nicholas Church in Zaraysk. The tradition of preserving the shrine and reverently serving it in glorifying the name of the Lord was passed on from father to son and was not interrupted for 335 years:
"1. The priest, who served with St. Nicholas the wonderworker Ostafey, came from Korsun with the miraculous image of St. Nicholas.
2. His son Ostafey served after his father.
3. His son Prokofey served as priest for Ostafa.
4. Prokofiev’s son Nikita served.
5. Nikitin’s son Basilisk served.
6. The son of the Basilisks, Zachary Pokid, served.
7. Zakharyev’s son Theodosei served.
8. Feodosev’s son Matvey served.
9. Matveev’s son Ivan Visloukh served.
10. Ivanov’s son Peter served.”
Presumably, in 1231, the marriage of Prince Theodore Yuryevich with the Greek (?) Princess Eupraxia took place, and soon a son, John, was born into the princely family.
“A few years later, Prince Feodor Yuryevich got married, taking a wife from the royal family named Eupraxia. And soon she gave birth to a son named Ivan Postnik.
In the twelfth year after the transfer of the Miraculous Icon from Korsun, in 1237, Batu’s hordes invaded the southern lands of the Ryazan principality and settled on the Voronezh River. Ryazan Prince Yuri Ingvarevich sent an embassy of Ryazan princes, led by his son Feodor Yuryevich, to Batu’s headquarters “with gifts and great prayers so that the khan would not go to war on Ryazan land.” Batu accepted the gifts and began to demand the prince’s daughters and sisters to come to his bed. Prince Theodore was destined to become a victim of envy and betrayal of one of the Ryazan nobles, who informed the khan that Prince Theodore had a wife of extraordinary beauty, Eupraxia. The khan demanded from the prince: “Let me, prince, taste the beauty of your wife.” The offended prince resolutely replied: “It is not right for us Christians to bring our wives to you, the wicked king, for fornication. When you defeat us, then you will own our wives.”
The godless Tsar Batu became enraged and immediately ordered that the faithful Theodore Yuryevich be killed, and his body thrown to be torn to pieces by animals and birds. Other princes and the best warriors were killed.
And one of Theodore Yuryevich’s close associates, named Aponitsa, took refuge and wept bitterly over the body of his honest master. And seeing that no one was guarding him, he took the body of the glorious prince and buried it secretly. And he hurried to the faithful princess Eupraxia and told her how the dishonest Tsar Batu killed PRINCE Feodor Yuryevich.
“Per year 6745 (1237). The noble prince Theodore Yurievich of Ryazan was killed by the godless Tsar Batu on the Voronezh River. And the noble princess Eupraxia the princess heard about the murder of her master, blessed Theodore Yuryevich, and immediately rushed from her high palace and with her son Prince Ivan Feodorovich, and killed herself to death. And they brought the body of blessed KNolol Theodore Yuryevich to his region to the great miracle worker Nikola Korsunsky, and laid him, and his faithful princess Eupraxia the princess, and their son Ivan Feodorovich in one place, and placed stone crosses over them. And since then the great wonderworker has been called Nikolai Zarazsky for the reason that the blessed princess Eupraxia and her son Prince Ivan “infected” themselves (crushed to death).”
Having learned “about the murder of his beloved son, Prince Theodore, and many princes by the godless king, the best people", Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich, began to gather his army and arrange regiments. “And the great prince Yuri Ingvarevich saw his brethren, and his boyars, and the governor galloping bravely and fearlessly, raised his hands to the sky and said with tears: “Deliver us, O God, from our enemies, and free us from those who rise against us, and hide us from the congregation of the wicked and from the multitude of those who do iniquity. May their path be dark and slippery.” And he said to his brethren: “O my lords and brethren! If we have accepted good from the hands of the Lord, will we not also tolerate evil? It is better for us to gain eternal glory by death than to be in the power of the filthy. May I, your brother, drink the cup of death for the saints before you God's Church, and for the Christian faith, and for the fatherland of our father, Grand Duke Ingvar Svyatoslavich.”
And he went to the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos, and cried a lot before the image of the Most Pure One, and prayed to the great wonderworker Nikola and his relatives Boris and Gleb. And he gave his last kiss to Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna and accepted the blessing from the bishop and all the clergy. And he went against the dishonest Tsar Batu, and they met him near the borders of Ryazan, and attacked him, and began to fight him firmly and courageously, and the slaughter was evil and terrible. Many strong Batyevsky regiments fell. And Tsar Batu saw that the Ryazan force was fighting hard and courageously, and he was afraid. But who can stand against the wrath of God! Batu’s forces were great and insurmountable; one Ryazan man fought with a thousand, and two – with ten thousand.”
When Batu saw Prince Oleg Ingvarevich, handsome and brave, exhausted from serious wounds, he wanted to heal him from his wounds and win him over to his faith. But Prince Oleg Ingvarevich began to reproach Tsar Batu, calling him godless and an enemy of Christianity. Batu immediately ordered Prince Oleg to be cut into pieces with knives. And the prince accepted the crown of suffering from the all-merciful God and drank the cup of death together with all his brothers.
And Tsar Batu began to fight the Ryazan land and went to the city of Ryazan. He besieged the city, and there was a battle for five days.
“And many townspeople were killed, and others were wounded, and others were exhausted from great labors and wounds. And on the sixth day, early in the morning, the wicked went to the city - some with lights, others with battering guns, and others with countless ladders - and took the city of Ryazan in the month of December on 21 days. And they came to the cathedral church Holy Mother of God, and the Grand Duchess Agrippina, the mother of the Grand Duke, with her daughters-in-law and other princesses, was flogged with swords, and the bishop and priests were put on fire - they were burned in the holy church, and many others fell from weapons. And in the city they flogged many people, wives, and children with swords, and drowned others in the river, and flogged the priests and monks without a trace, and burned the whole city, and all the famous beauty, and the wealth of Ryazan, and the relatives of the Ryazan princes - the princes of Kyiv and Chernigov - captured.
But they destroyed the temples of God and shed a lot of blood in the holy altars. And not a single living person remained in the city: they all died and drank the cup of death. There was no one moaning or crying here - no father, no mother about their children, no children about their father and mother, no brother about their brother, no relatives about their relatives, but they all lay dead together. And all this was for our sins.
And the godless Tsar Batu saw the terrible shedding of Christian blood, and became even more enraged and embittered, and went to Suzdal and Vladimir, intending to captivate the Russian land, and to eradicate the Christian faith, and to destroy the churches of God to the ground.
Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich was at that time in Chernigov with his brother, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, saved by God from that evil apostate and Christian enemy. And he came from Chernigov to the land of Ryazan, to his homeland, and saw it empty, and heard that all his brothers were killed by the wicked, apostate Tsar Batu, and he came to the city of Ryazan, and saw the city devastated, and his mother and daughter-in-law, and their relatives, and many many people lying dead, and the churches were burned, and all the ornaments were taken from the treasury of Chernigov and Ryazan.
Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich saw the great final destruction for our sins and cried out pitifully, like a trumpet calling to the army, like a sounding organ. And from that great scream and terrible cry he fell to the ground as if dead. And they barely cast it and left in the wind. And with difficulty his soul revived within him.
Who would not weep over such a destruction? Who does not weep for so many people of the Orthodox people? Who wouldn’t feel sorry for so many murdered sovereigns? Who wouldn't groan from such captivity?
And Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich sorted out the corpses, and found the body of his mother, Grand Duchess Agrippina Rostislavovna, and recognized his daughters-in-law, and called priests from the villages whom God had preserved, and buried his mother and daughters-in-law with great lamentation instead of psalms and church hymns.<...>
And Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich began to dismantle the bodies of the dead, and took the bodies of his brothers - Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich, and Prince Davyd Ingvarevich of Murom, and Prince Gleb Ingvarevich Kolomensky, and other local princes - his relatives, and many boyars, and governors, and neighbors, known to him, and brought them to the city of Ryazan, and buried them with honor, and immediately collected the bodies of others on empty land and performed a funeral service. And, having buried in this way, Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich went to the city of Pronsk, and collected the dissected parts of the body of his brother, the faithful and Christ-loving prince Oleg Ingvarevich, and ordered them to be carried to the city of Ryazan. And the great prince Ingvar Ingvarevich himself carried his honorable head to the city, kissed it kindly, and laid it with the great prince Yuri Ingvarevich in the same coffin.
And he laid his brothers, Prince Davyd Ingvarevich and Prince Gleb Ingvarevich, in one coffin near their grave. Then Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich went to the river in Voronezh, where Prince Feodor Yuryevich Ryazansky was killed, and took his honorable body, and cried over it for a long time. And he brought it to the region to the icon of the great Wonderworker St. Nicholas of Korsun. And he buried him together with the blessed princess Eupraxia and their son Prince Ivan Fedorovich Postnik in one place. And he placed stone crosses over them. And for the reason that the icon of Zarazskaya is called the great miracle worker St. Nicholas, that the blessed princess Eupraxia with her son Prince Ivan “infected” (broke) themselves in that place.
The blessed Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich, named Kozma in holy baptism, sat on the table of his father, Grand Duke Ingvar Svyatoslavich. And he renovated the land of Ryazan, and erected churches, and built monasteries, and comforted the strangers, and gathered people. And there was joy for the Christians, whom God delivered with His strong hand from the godless and evil Tsar Batu. And he put Mr. Mikhail Vsevolodovich Pronsky in charge of his father.”
Batu's hordes, on the way from Ryazan to Kolomna and Moscow, plundered and burned the city of Krasny.
On December 28, 1237, the legendary Russian hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, having returned from Chernigov and having visited the plundered Ryazan, according to legend, arrived in Krasny (Zaraisk) and formed a squad of 1,700 warriors on the Great Field. The Russian squad overtook Batu's regiments on Suzdal land and attacked their camps.
The decisive battle between Russian soldiers led by Evpatiy Kolovrat and the Mongol-Tatar army took place on March 4 on the City River.
“And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments were mixed up. And the Tatars looked like they were drunk or crazy. And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen. Evpatiy, driving right through the strong Tatar regiments, beat them mercilessly. And he rode among the Tatar regiments so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was afraid.<...>And he sent his Shurich Khostovrul to Evpatiy, and with him strong Tatar regiments. Khostovrul boasted to the king and promised to bring Evpatiy alive to the king. And strong Tatar regiments surrounded Evpatiy, trying to take him alive. And Khostovrul moved in with Evpatiy. Evpatiy was a giant of force and cut Khostovrul halfway down to the saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs, cut some in half, and chopped others to the saddle.
And the Tatars became afraid, seeing what a strong giant Evpatiy was. And they pointed at him many weapons for throwing stones, and began to hit him with countless stone throwers, and barely killed him. And they brought his body to King Batu. Tsar Batu sent for the Murzas, and the princes, and the San-Chakbeys, and everyone began to marvel at the courage, and the strength, and the courage of the Ryazan army. And those close to the king said: “We have been with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have never seen such daredevils and spirited men, and our fathers did not tell us. These are winged people, they do not know death, and they fight so hard and courageously on horses - one with a thousand, and two with ten thousand.
Not one of them will leave the massacre alive.” And Batu said, looking at Evpatievo’s body: “Oh Kolovrat Evpatie! You treated me well with your small retinue, and you beat many heroes of my strong horde, and defeated many regiments. If such a one served with me, I would keep him close to my heart.” And he gave Evpatiy’s body to the remaining people from the squad who were captured at the massacre. And King Batu ordered to let them go and not harm them in any way.”
A major victory, often called a rehearsal for the Battle of Kulikovo, took place on August 11, 1378 on the Vozha River. Temnik Mamai then equipped a 50,000-strong army under the command of Begich. The Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich, having learned about the approach of the Mongol-Tatar army, set out to meet the enemy. The Great Field of the Zaraisk Principality was a rallying point for the Russian army before reaching the Vozha River. Here, near Zaraysk, Prince Dmitry was joined by the horse squads of Daniil Pronsky and Oleg Ryazansky.
In 1386, the great ascetic of the Russian land, St. Sergius of Radonezh, on his way to Ryazan and upon returning from there, visited Zaraisk twice, stopping for prayers at St. Nicholas of Zaraisk.
In 1401, in the scriptorium (probably at the St. Nicholas Church), the Gospel known as “Zaraisk” was created. This handwritten book with magnificent initial letters, ornaments and miniatures is kept in the Russian State Library (RSL).
A number of victorious battles between Russian soldiers and Crimean invaders took place on the Zaraisk land. In June 1511, the Crimean Khan Akhmat-Girey made several attempts to break into the Ryazan lands, but each time in the vicinity of Zaraysk he met a decisive rebuff from Russian troops led by Prince Alexander Vladimirovich of Rostov.
St. Nicholas.
In the first half of the 16th century, troops of the Crimean Tatars periodically invaded the Ryazan principality, burned out settlements, robbed the local population and took them captive. People's memory and chronicles have preserved the glorious name of Mitya Kalinin, the leader of the guard service of the Vozhskaya zaseki (near Zaraysk).
In July of the same year, the governor had to suppress a rebellion organized by adherents of False Dmitry II. Many southern cities, including Kolomna and Kashira, then supported the power of the impostor and sent a letter to Zaraysk demanding that they swear allegiance to False Dmitry II. The inhabitants called the governor to the square in front of the Kremlin and demanded that he recognize the “legitimate Tsar Dmitry.” Prince Pozharsky did not flinch, declared his allegiance to Moscow and shamed those who doubted. “Stand for the truth, and only for the truth! Beware of treason and foreign bondage. If you try to force me to betray you by force, you will face shame and defeat,” the prince warned. The rebels wanted to deal with the governor, but Prince Pozharsky was ready not only to stand up for the truth in words.
Thanks to the priest Dimitri Leontyevich Protopopov, the prince received support from patriotic townspeople and took refuge in the Kremlin with his loyal warriors. The rebels, faced with the will and firmness of the faithful and fearless commander, repented and vowed to faithfully serve Moscow.
After this, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky managed to withstand the siege of the Kremlin undertaken by the Circassians, Cossacks and “thieves’ men” who arrived led by Isaac Sumbulov from Mikhailov, and expelled them from Zaraysk. During his voivodeship, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky repelled enemies from Zaraysk 16 times.
At the call of governor P. P. Lyapunov, in January 1611, Prince Pozharsky, governor of Zaraisky, joined the First (Ryazan) militia, which included warriors from more than 50 cities and counties of Russia, these were nobles, townspeople, archers, black-mown peasants, Cossacks .
On October 1, 1611, at the suggestion of the Novgorod elder Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky was elected governor of the Second People's Militia and began its formation in Nizhny Novgorod. On August 20, D. Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin entered Moscow at the head of the Second People's Militia. On October 26, the Polish interventionists, holed up in the Moscow Kremlin, capitulated, and Moscow was liberated from foreign invaders.
Many glorious victories were won in the vicinity of Zaraysk, the most important of which were victories over doubts, cowardice, cowardice, in a word, over sins, during periods of trials and temptations. What does the presence of the great Myra wonderworker in his Zaraisk image give? Of course, his help is palpable in achievements, important, responsible matters, but most importantly - in spiritual strengthening, in showing the right path, in giving the strength to act morally, not as profitable, but as noble, in a Christian way. Many wonderful names were associated with the history of Zaraisk. These were not only priests and warriors. The Zaraisk land has nurtured wonderful writers, artists, and sculptors. One of the names cannot be left out in particular. This great philosopher and the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, singer of the eternal struggle between good and evil in the human heart.
The upbringing of Dostoevsky’s genius, the revelation of his prophetic gift and artistic skill, may have been facilitated by the atmosphere in which the future writer lived during his childhood. Perhaps the children’s prayers said here, of course, to St. Nicholas, predetermined the writer’s loyalty to the truth and Orthodoxy, led him through all the trials, vicissitudes of fate and did not allow mischief, protected him from philistinism, falsehood, from everything superficial, kept the writer’s eye pure, an indispensable condition for true creativity, strengthened the spirit, increased love and the ability to sympathize with one’s people and give oneself, one’s life, one’s gifts to the last drop, without a trace to a world that is perishing, but so in need of salvation.
In the summer of 1831, the doctor of the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky, bought the village of Darovoye from the landowner Khotyaintsev, and two years later he acquired the neighboring village of Cheremoshnya from him. The family estate of the Dostoevskys, Darovoe, still attracts the attention of admirers of the talent of F. M. Dostoevsky. Here from 1832 to 1838. The future great writer and thinker Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was spending his summer holidays. He visited here shortly before his death, in 1877.
The fate of one of the oldest Russian cities - Zaraysk, the first mention of which dates back to 1146, is closely connected with the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk. The story of the bringing of the holy image and the miracles from it are set out in a cycle of chronicles called “The Tale of St. Nicholas of Zarazsky.” This is a famous literary monument Ancient Rus', which, according to Academician D.S. Likhachev, “belongs to the outstanding phenomena of ancient Russian literature.” “The Tale of Nikola Zarazsky” spread throughout Russia in the form of handwritten copies for centuries. Several varieties of lists of “Tales”, conventionally called “Editors” by D. S. Likhachev, have been studied.
The “Tales” begin with a story about the bringing in 1225 “of the image of the great Wonderworker Nikolas of Korsun from the glorious city of Chersonese to the borders of Ryazan, to the region of the blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan.” For a long time, the icon of Nicholas of Korsun (later called “Zarazskaya” and “Zaraiskaya”) was located in the city of Korsun (Chersonese Tauride) - where at the end of the 10th century it took Holy Baptism Grand Duke Vladimir: “And there stood the miraculous image of Nikolin in Korsun, in the middle of the city near the market, near the church of the Apostle James, brother of the Theologian. And with this Apostle James the autocratic prince Vladimer Svyatoslavich of Kiev and all Russia was baptized” (“Tales of Nikola Zarazsky”, edition “Basic” B). Numerous miracles and healings came from the miraculous image of St. Nicholas.
One day Saint Nicholas himself appeared in a vision to the priest Eustathius and ordered him to transfer his miraculous icon: “In the summer of 6732. The great holy miracle worker Nicholas of Korsun appeared in the famous city of Kharsunia to his servant Astafiy... and the great miracle worker Nicholas spoke to him: “Astafiy, take my miraculous image of Korsun, your wife Theodosius and your son Ostafiy and go to the land of Ryazan. I want to be there, and create miracles, and glorify the place.” Eustathius was horrified by such a vision, but the phenomenon was repeated the next night. The priest was at a loss, because he did not know where the Ryazan land was. In fear and trembling, the priest mentally addressed Nicholas the Pleasant: “Oh, great miracle worker Nicholas! Kamo volisi iti? Your servant has neither known the land of Ryazan nor entered my heart. For that land does not know how to go east, or to the west, or to the south, or to the north...” However, on the third night, “the miracle worker appeared to Ostafia and poked him in the ribs and ordered him to immediately go, as if to the east,” promising to show the way to Ryazan land.
But even after three apparitions of Saint Nicholas, Eustathius hesitated, fearing to leave his native Chersonesos. And for his disobedience he was seriously punished - he suddenly developed a disease of the head, and he became blind: “he became blind, and like scales attacked his eyes.” In grief, tears and repentance, Eustathius fell to the holy image, asking for forgiveness and promising to fulfill the order: “Forgive me, your sinful servant. Be it your will, as you please.” At that same hour, the priest was healed of blindness and a headache and immediately began to think about the route of travel.
Eustathius intended to go “beyond the Dnieper into the Polovtsian land to the east to the Ryazan land.” He knew that although this path through the Polovtsian steppes was dangerous, he placed all his hope in “the All-Merciful God, His Most Pure Mother and the great miracle worker Nikola, as she could save him from the filthy Polovtsians.” However, Saint Nicholas, who appeared to him, commanded him to take a different road. The Wonderworker said: “It is not good for you to walk through the land of the filthy Polovtsians. Go to the mouth of the Dnieper into the Ponten Sea and board a ship, and go to the Varangian Sea in the German region. And from there it’s free to go by land to the great Novagrad and back to the Ryazan land.”
Leaving all his property in Chersonesus, the priest Eustathius, together with his wife Theodosia, son Eustathius and one of the clergy, set off to a distant and unknown land. Following the will of Nicholas the Pleasant, pilgrims from Chersonesus reached the mouth of the Dnieper. They boarded a ship there and sailed across the Black and Mediterranean seas. Then the sea voyage with the miraculous icon continued along the coast of Western Europe, along the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Then, having passed the North and Baltic seas, they landed on the shore in Riga. The travelers made the rest of the journey by land: through the cities of Izborsk, Pskov, and Novgorod. Along the way, many miracles occurred from the holy image. It is known that in Veliky Novgorod the icon stood in the St. Sophia Cathedral, where the Grand Duke of Novgorod Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his young son, the future invincible Alexander Nevsky, prayed before it.
A miracle of healing of Feodosia took place in Novgorod. Eustathia's wife, tired of the grueling and long journey, decided to stay in Novgorod forever and hid from her husband. For her self-will, she was immediately punished with an illness: immediately “all her limbs and body were weakened, and as if she were dead, there was only one breath in her breasts” (she was paralyzed, and she became completely motionless, as if dead, only her breath remained) . Eustathius, hearing that his wife was dying, fell with tears to the miraculous image, begging him to forgive Theodosius. And by the grace of God, “in that hour” the priest’s wife was healed.
After this, the pilgrims continued on their way. Arriving on the Ryazan land, Eustathius, prayerfully turning to Saint Nicholas, asked him to indicate the place where he needed to go and “find peace.” At the same time, Nikolai Ugodnik, appearing in a dream to the appanage prince Feodor Yuryevich, who reigned in the city of Krasny (now Zaraysk), announced the arrival of his miraculous image: “Prince, come to meet my miraculous image of Korsun. I want to be here and create miracles. And I will ask the All-Merciful and Humane-loving Lord Christ the Son of God for you - may He grant you the crown of the Kingdom of Heaven, both to your wife and to your son.” Prince Theodore Yuryevich was surprised at the words of the saint, for he was not yet married and did not have a son: “I was considered neither married nor had the fruit of my womb.” But he went to meet the holy image, as Nikolai the Pleasant commanded him.
Arriving at the indicated place, Prince Fyodor saw a glow from afar: “I saw from afar from the miraculous image shining like an indescribable light.” He “took on a miraculous image and brought it to his region.” And he immediately sent the message to his father, Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan. The Grand Duke of Ryazan, together with Bishop Euphrosynus of Svyatogorets, came “to the region of his son, Prince Theodore Yuryevich.” As the chronicles describe, the icon appeared in the city of Krasny on July 29 (Old Art.), 1225, and since then St. Nicholas took the city and its inhabitants under his heavenly protection. And having seen the “glorious miracles,” Prince Yuri Ingvarevich “created a temple in the name of the holy great miracle worker Nikola of Korsun, and consecrated it by Bishop Efrosin, and triumphed lightly,” and returned to his city.
A few years later, Prince Theodore married Eupraxia, and they had a son, John: “the wife of the royal family is given the name Eupraxia. And little by little, gave birth to a son named John Posnik.”
Twelve years after the bringing of the icon, Rus' experienced a terrible invasion of the Tatar-Mongols: “the godless Tsar Batu came to the Russian land and many Tatar warriors.” The main headquarters of the conquerors was located on the Voronezh River. Khan demanded from the Grand Duke of Ryazan a tenth of “princes and people and horses.” In order to protect his principality and ward off danger, Yuri Ingvarevich decided to present rich gifts to the khan. He sent a large embassy led by his son Prince Theodore to Batu’s headquarters “with great gifts and prayers so that the Ryazan lands would not fight.”
The wicked conqueror, having accepted the gifts, feignedly promised not to fight against the Ryazan people, but began to ask the prince’s daughters and sisters to be his concubines. Some Ryazan nobleman, out of envy of Prince Theodore, told Batu that Princess Eupraxia came from a royal family and was very beautiful. Overwhelmed by lust, the khan turned to Theodore: “Give me, prince, to see your beautiful wife.” The prince answered the wicked man: “It is not good for us Christians to give you your wives for fornication to the wicked king. If you overcome us, then you will begin to own our wives.” These words cost the life of the faithful prince: “Tsar Batu became very angry and soon ordered the murder of the blessed Prince Theodore Yurievich of Ryazan, and ordered his body to be damaged by animals and birds to be torn to pieces, and he beat many princes and deliberate people.” The chronicler considers the murdered princes and “deliberate people” to be sufferers for Christ: “And so they all died, suffered for Christ, and received incorruptible crowns.” Prince Theodore is called “the first martyr in Rus' from the princes.”
Aponitsa, the faithful mentor of Prince Theodore, bitterly mourning the death of his master, hid the remains of the prince and hurried to the city of Krasny, to Princess Eupraxia. She stood, holding her son in her arms, in her “exalted temple.” The servant told her how “the wicked Khan Batu killed the blessed Prince Theodore Yuryevich,” the princess listened to him with deep sorrow. Addressing the child, he said what awaits them soon - she will become the khan’s concubine, and the son will be forcibly renounced the Christian faith: “Oh, my dear and precious child, Prince Ivanna, come upon us from God the punishment of sin for our sakes, sent these filthy Ishmaelites against us. And they want to completely ruin and captivate us, and kill my husband, the sovereign, and kill your father. “The godless king also wants to desecrate me, and enslave you and teach you in the Bezsermen faith.” Eupraxia decided to die with her son, so as not to fall into shameful captivity and not betray the Orthodox faith: “And it is better for us to accept death with you than for us to be desecrated in the hands of the filthy.” And at that same moment she threw herself down and fell to her death: “And at that hour she fell from her lofty temple and with her son Ivan into the middle of the earth, and infected herself to death” (“Tales of Nikola Zarazsky”, edition “Streletskaya” ").
Then the chronicles describe the terrible devastation of Ryazan by Tatar hordes, the feat of the Russian hero Evpatiy Kolovrat and the grief of the great Ryazan prince Ingvar Ingvarevich over the death of the townspeople. After all those who died in Ryazan were mourned and buried, the Grand Duke went to the Voronezh River, where his son tragically died. Having found the place where the remains of his son were hidden, the father “took his honest body and cried over it for a long hour.” Theodore’s body was taken to his native estate, and the princely family was buried together: “bring him to his region to the great miracle worker Nikola of Korsun, and lay him with the great miracle worker Nikola, - and his faithful princess Princess Eupraxia, and their son Prince Ivan Feodorovich Posnik in one place. And I will put stone crosses over them.”
Subsequently, the Church of St. John the Baptist was erected over the grave of the princes, and the tombstone was in the altar. During subsequent reconstructions of the cathedral, the monument was placed in the open air; A canopy was installed above it on four pillars. In 1665, the tombstone was restored by Prince N. Gagarin (Polyancheva O. Tales of Nikola Zarazsky and Zaraisk toponyms / Materials of the scientific and practical conference “Zaraisk martyrs Prince Theodore, Princess Eupraxia and their son John,” 1998)
The tragic death of the princely family led to a change in the name of the icon of St. Nicholas; The icon of Nikolai Korsunsky began to be called the icon of Nikolai Zarazsky: “And because of this guilt, let the great miracle worker be called Nikolai Zarazsky, as the blessed princess Eupraxia and with her son Prince John infected herself.”
The name of the city also changed. For example, in the “Brief Chronological Edition” of “Tales” it is said: “And for the sake of guilt, the place is called Zarazsk; now the city is stone.” Over time, the city began to be called Zarazesk, Zaraesk, Nikola Zarazskaya on Osetra, the city of Nikola Zarazsky Posad and, finally, from the 17th century - Zaraisk. For centuries, it was part of the territory of the Ryazan principality, the Ryazan governorship, and then the Ryazan province (since 1929, Zaraisk has been part of the Moscow region).
The priest Eustathius, who brought the miraculous icon from Chersonesus, was the ancestor of a large priestly family. He and his descendants served in the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral for more than three hundred years. Some editions of the “Tales” list representatives of the “Clan of Servants” (“Clan of Priests of the Wonderworker Zarazsk”): “1. Priest Eustafy, who brought the image of Nikolai from Korsun to the Rezan region. 2. Priest, son - Eustafy, served on his father’s side. 3. Priest, son of Eustathia - Procopius, 4. Priest, son of Procopius - Nikita. 5. Priest, son of Procopius - Basilisk. 6. Priest, the son of the Basilisks, Zacharias, served. 7. A priest, the son of Zechariah, his son John, served. 10. Priest, Ivanov’s son, Peter Visloukhov, served.” All of them continuously (“without changing”) served at the throne of St. Nicholas Cathedral; Some editors say the “total experience” of ministry is 335 years, others - 389 years. According to many researchers, Eustathius and his descendants were the authors of the chronicles of “The Tale of Nikola Zarazsky”, over the centuries adding to the legends with descriptions of new miracles from the icon.
The cycle of “Tales of Nikola Zarazsky” ends with the so-called “Kolomna episode”. He talks about the events associated with the stay of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky in the city of Kolomna and the miracles that occurred there. The image of Nikola Zaraisky was transferred from Zaraysk to neighboring Kolomna due to the raids of the Crimean Tatars: “In the summer of 7021 (the interval between September 1, 1513 and August 31, 1514). The Crimean people came to the Ryazan Ukraine, and the priestess of the miracle worker St. Nicholas of Zaraz, took the miraculous image of St. Nicholas, and came to Kolomna...” Bishop Mitrofan of Kolomna met the shrine “with all the hail.” Seeing “glorious miracles from the miraculous image,” Vladyka ordered the icon to be placed in the church of Metropolitan Peter and described the events to Vasily Ivanovich III. In response, the Emperor ordered to build stone temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the square. The temple later received the name of St. Nicholas Gostiny. An icon brought from Zaraysk was placed here, and Zaraysk priests and a deacon served here. By order of the bishop, a copy was made of the miraculous icon, which was sent “to the old throne” - to Zaraysk. And the “former” miraculous icon remained in Kolomna (“Tales of Nikola Zarazsky”, main edition B, 2nd view).
Among the many Kolomna miracles, chroniclers highlight several special ones. So, a certain Kozlok, a silversmith, stole a silver frame from a miraculous icon from the St. Nicholas Church and hid it in his yard. For 5 weeks the Kolomna residents could not find the loss. And then Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared to “a God-loving man named Sozon Kiselev,” who had been bedridden for eight years, and ordered him to go to Bishop Mitrofan and tell him where the stolen salary was kept. “Sozon began to renounce” because he was motionless. And then Saint Nicholas performs a miracle: he raises the sick man from his bed, who walks with his feet to the Lord. He, seeing the healed Sozon, ordered the bells to be rung to gather the people and glorify God and the great Pleasant of God. “The entire church gathering,” together with the miraculous image, headed to Kozlok’s house. He, without even being asked, himself told where he hid the silver robe from the icon. Returning to the temple, procession with the icon and frame he approached the Ivanovo Gate. At this time, the beggar Clement, deaf and dumb from birth, at the sight of the miraculous icon, unexpectedly exclaimed: “he cried out, heard and spoke.” The bishop, seeing the “great miracle,” sent news to Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, where he told about the miracles in Kolomna: “how you healed a weak woman, and how you showed your butt, and how you healed a deaf and dumb woman.” In response, the Emperor sent “Bishop Mitrofan and the entire holy cathedral enough alms” (“Tales of Nikola Zarazsky”, main edition “B”, 2nd type).
The so-called “Second Kolomna Episode” tells about another miracle, which served as the basis for the construction of a stone fortress - the Zaraisk Kremlin. As mentioned above, after the construction of the Kolomna St. Nicholas Church for the Zaraisk shrine, a list was made for the St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Zaraysk. After some time, the clergy “began to pray” to the sovereign so that he would “release Nikolin’s miraculous image of Zarazsky to the old throne in Ryazan.” However, the tsar did not allow the icon to be returned, but only released the priests. The Zaraisk clergy was very sad that they were left without the “great miracle worker Nikola of Korsun and the Zaraisk icon.” And one day, on the Cross-Worshipping Week of Lent, a miracle happened in Zaraisk: a sexton, who came to prepare the cathedral for worship, saw an ancient miraculous image from which radiated: “as greatness shone.” But the list from the icon was not there. The priests hurried to Kolomna and told Bishop Mitrofan about the miraculous “arrival” of the image and about the inexplicable movement of the copy from Zaraysk to Kolomna. In other words, the list and the miraculous icon itself in an invisible and unknown way changed places (main edition B, 2nd view). Research by Kolomna professor A. B. Mazurov made it possible to establish the exact date of the miracle that occurred: it took place on March 9, 1518 (“Kolomna miracles of the cycle of stories about the transfer of the Miraculous image of Nikola Zarazsky as a historical source” / Materials of the conference “Zaraisk martyrs Prince Theodore, Princess Eupraxia and their son John").
But let's return to the chronicles. They further report that Bishop Mitrofan immediately reported to Tsar Vasily that the miraculous icon itself had returned to Zaraysk: “the miracle worker Nicholas went to the old throne in Rezan invisibly.” This event had a strong impact on the sovereign. He began to pray, asking for forgiveness that he did not allow the miraculous image to be returned, and made a vow to Saint Nicholas: “may I build you a church and a stone fence, so that your miraculous image will stand motionless forever.” A few years later, the Grand Duke of Moscow arrived in the Ryazan city of Zaraysk, “and having triumphed brightly, laid a church and a stone fence for the miracle worker” (“Tales of Nikola Zarazsky.” Main edition B, 2nd view). The Zaraisk Kremlin became a stone fence, capable of reliably protecting the city from enemy raids, and a miraculous image from Muslims (N. Nogovitsina. Zaraisk Kremlin. Analysis of the ensemble in its historical development / Materials of the conference “Zaraisk martyrs Prince Theodore, Princess Euparxia and their son John ", 1998). The stone fortress in Zaraysk was built by order of the Great Moscow Prince Vasily of the 3rd century. 1528-1531 (N. Godlevsky. The appearance of old Zaraysk). In some historical documents, the Zaraisk Kremlin is called “Nikolskaya Fortress”.
A special page in the history of Zaraysk is the era of the Time of Troubles. And at this time, Saint Nicholas more than once showed his help to the city that he had chosen. Zaraisky merchant and local historian Kozma Averin in 1837 compiled “Historical news about the life and deeds of Dmitry, archpriest of the Zaraisky St. Nicholas Cathedral, contemporary and collaborator of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky.” According to the author, “Dimitri, the archpriest of the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Zaraysk, who lived at the beginning of the 17th century, is worthy of taking a place in the history of the Fatherland with the names of Pozharsky, Minin, Hermogenes and Palitsyn, who provided unforgettable services to the Fatherland.” The book tells about the attack on the city by a detachment of the Polish colonel Alexander Lisovsky and the disasters he caused: “The Lithuanian lord, Colonel Alexander Lisovsky, having gathered up to thirty thousand of all kinds of bastards under the banner of the second False Dmitry, nicknamed Tushinsky, in his name conquered and plundered defenseless Russian cities. In 1608, the month of March, Lisovsky took the city of Zaraisk, beat the local inhabitants and three hundred Arzamas people who came to their aid from Ryazan, and ordered their corpses to be buried in one place, and to make a great mound over them, which can be seen near the Church of the Annunciation. from the south side. Lisovsky caused such devastation in Zaraisk that he considered it necessary to take the Zaraisk Archpriest with him. The reason for this was, of course, that this worthy servant of the altar kept the inhabitants of the city of Zaraysk in due obedience to the legitimate authority, so that in case of not sparing life itself, he would die with glory: which came true with the inhabitants of Zaraysk, unshakable in firmness, who remained loyal to legitimate authority." Further, K. Averin writes: “Lisovsky from Zaraysk with an army went to Kolomna, which he also took and destroyed two churches there, captivated Kolomna Bishop Joseph, known for his jealousy and who dared to challenge the illegal commands of False Dmitry and utter unblessings to his face. Then Lisovsky went to Moscow. But, before reaching the capital, he was defeated by the Tsar’s troops. His captives were recaptured and presented to Tsar Vasily Ioannovich.” Archpriest Dimitri spoke “about the fate that befell the city of Zaraysk, whose inhabitants sealed with their blood their devotion to the legitimate Sovereign.” Then Vasily Shuisky became aware of the miraculous image of Nikola Zaraisky, which he ordered to be decorated with an expensive silver-gold frame. Two years later, in 1610, the same Vasily Shuisky attached a golden plate (plate) to the icon of Nikola Zaraisky: “On the 27th day of the summer of January 7118 (1610), the Sovereign and Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich of all Russia attached to the miraculous image of the Great Wonderworker Nikola Zarazsky, how God liberated the city from thieving people with his miracle-working prayer and finished off the Emperor with his forehead.”
Subsequently, Archpriest Dimitri participated in the meetings of the Zemsky Councils of 1613, at which the king was elected. K. Averin writes: “It is true that Archpriest Dimitri deserved to be entrusted with acting in this case on behalf of the entire city. Such a power of attorney shows him as an experienced and reliable person who has actually proven his loyalty to the legitimate Sovereign and concern for the good of the Fatherland.”
The “Council of the Whole Earth” at its meetings named Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov sovereign. Among the 238 delegates who signed the electoral certificate, Father Dimitri also had a hand. The Zaraisk archpriest was also part of the embassy that went to Kostroma, to the elected Tsar Mikhail Romanov. After receiving the consent of the nun Martha for the accession of her son, the Zaraisk archpriest Dimitry and the nobleman Ivan Usov went to Moscow with the long-awaited letter. This was not just a letter to the Council, it was news of the end of the Time of Troubles!
The book by K. Averin about the actions of the archpriest of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Zaraysk tells the story of Prince Dimitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who served as the city governor in 1610-1611. The author calls the future savior of the Fatherland a faithful associate of the rector of the temple and the actual head of the city. After all, Zaraisk at that time was a privately owned city, that is, its masters and owners were the “Nikolsk archpriests and brethren.” D. M. Pozharsky did a lot to strengthen the defense capability of the fortress, which successfully repelled enemy attacks. And always, especially in difficult moments, the prince resorted to the prayerful help of St. Nicholas. The book describes an episode of the attack on Zaraysk by Isaac Sumbulov’s gang. A large and daring detachment of “Cherkasy, Cossacks and Tatars” managed to “deceive” them into the wooden fort surrounding the Zaraisk Kremlin. Through the skillful actions of the governor and a small group of defenders, the invaders were expelled, and Zaraysk was saved: “The governor, Prince Dimitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, with a small number of people against them, got out of the city and, with the help of the Great Wonderworker, beat the thieves and caught their tongues and knocked them out of the prison, and the city and the prison Nikola The Wonderworker invisibly preserved.”
In the altar of the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral, the altar cross, silver and gilded, was kept for a long time, in front of which Prince D. M. Pozharsky vowed not to spare himself for the benefit of the Fatherland, and a battle sword, donated by him to the city (V. Polyanchev. “Strong Standing of the Zaraisk City”).
On the territory of the Zaraisk Kremlin there were and are now two cathedrals: St. Nicholas (cold) and St. John the Baptist (warm). For many centuries the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky was main shrine Zaraisk region, and annually on July 29 (old style) citywide celebrations were held in Zaraisk. In the Kremlin churches, the entire clergy of the cathedral served the Divine Liturgy and held a religious procession to the holy spring of the White Well. It is located 1.5 km north of the Zaraisk Kremlin, on the banks of the Osetr River. According to legend, it was at this place that the “meeting” of the icon of St. Nicholas of Korsun by Prince Theodore took place in 1225. The existence of the source is evidenced by documents of the Archaeographic Commission of 1901 (O. Polyancheva. “Tales of Nikola Zarazsky and Zaraisk toponyms.” / Materials of the conference “Zaraisk Martyrs: Prince Theodore, Princess Eupraxia and their son John,” 1998). In the old days, there was a wooden chapel over the source; The healing waters of the spring provided believers with healing from various ailments.
People from all over Russia came to the Zaraisk shrine: peasants and artisans, traders and military men, cultural and artistic figures. They prayed before the miraculous image of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky Venerable Sergius Radonezh, the great Moscow princes Ivan III, Vasily III, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Vasily Shuisky, the heir to the Russian throne, the future Tsar Alexander II with his teacher V.A. Zhukovsky, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and many others (V.I. Polyanchev. " Tsar's roads to Zaraysk").
In 1892, a book entitled “The Miraculous Image of Nikolai Zaraisky” was published in Ryazan. Its author is a native of Zaraysk, writer Vasily Selivanov. This is how he begins the story about the shrine: “In the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral there is a miraculous image of St. Nicholas, brought to Zaraisk in 1225 from the Greek city of Korsun by Presbyter Eustathius. In the middle of this image, a full image of the Saint is written in paints, in priestly cross-shaped vestments with an omophorion on the ramens (shoulders), on the head is a miter with an image of the Holy Trinity in black, his right hand is stretched out for a blessing, and with his left he holds the Gospel on a shroud. On its right side the Savior is depicted in the clouds, right hand blessing the Saint, and giving him the Gospel with his left hand; on the left side is the Mother of God holding an outstretched omophorion in her arms.
This image, with seventeen images of the life and miracles of the Saint, is twenty-five and a half inches long and twenty and a quarter inches wide. The painting on the image is ancient, Byzantine, of high style, which is especially evident from the expression of spirituality imparted to the features of the Saint’s face, which almost only Byzantine artists were able to impart to images of saints.”
Next comes a description of the valuable frame in which the miraculous image was placed: “The robe on the image is made of pure gold, with semi-precious stones, built by Tsar Vasily Shuisky in 1608, as can be seen from the inventory of Zarai-
Cathedral and the following inscription inscribed in script on a special panel at the bottom of the frame: “By order of the Righteous Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich of All Rus', this frame was made on the image of the great Wonderworker Nikola Zarazsky in the second summer
His state, summer 7116 (1608) “The setting, arranged through the zeal of Tsar Shuisky, consists of a chasuble covering the clothes of the Saint and everything else up to the side images of his miracles, also from a miter, crown, Gospel and tsata. The border in the form of a frame around the entire image is silver gilded, made by him, Shuisky, as well as the gold aureoles above the faces and the gold plates with patterns drawn in niello, depicting miracles. The miracles themselves were covered with silver gilded vestments in later times.”
In 1904, in the Zaraisk Kremlin, on the site of the previous one, the now existing warm St. John the Baptist Cathedral was built. It was erected at the expense of great Russian philanthropists and patrons of the arts - the Bakhrushin brothers, according to the design of the famous Moscow architect K. M. Bykovsky. The patrons of the temple, starting to build a larger building compared to its predecessors, had the idea of giving “greater grandeur and solidity” to the temple, which has such a shrine - the ancient miraculous icon of St. Nicholas, “deeply revered by the surrounding population.”
In the same 1904, Priest John Smirnov was ordained to the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Church, who served there until its closure in 1929.
In Soviet times, the temples of the Zaraisk Kremlin and the miraculous icon itself shared the bitter fate of thousands Orthodox shrines our country. The last rector, Archpriest Ioann Smirnov, was arrested. In the indictment, the actions of Father John at that time were presented as follows: “For better agitation among the population in the summer months of 1928, on the initiative of priest Smirnov and members of the church council, the cathedral icon of the wonderworker Nicholas was carried around all the villages of the former Zaraisky district with the performance of divine services, where priest Smirnov said: “The miraculous icon of Nicholas is holy, it must be honored. She works wonders." He repeatedly spoke about this in the cathedral during his sermon. Such agitation among the population was carried out until 1929" (Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Moscow Diocese. July-August).
The churches of the Zaraisk Kremlin were closed and desecrated. The St. Nicholas Cathedral housed an archive and a warehouse, but then the building was empty. The city cinema is located in the premises of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral. Icons, utensils, and books disappeared from the churches. The gifts of Prince D. M. Pozharsky also disappeared. By blowing up the bell tower of the Kremlin churches, in 1930 they also destroyed the monument to the Zaraisk princes Theodore, Eupraxia and John. The image of Nikola Zaraisky became an exhibit of the local history museum.
Having served his sentence, Father John continued his ministry, but in another Zaraisk church - the Transfiguration of the Lord. But even there he tirelessly called to pray to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and not to forget about the miraculous image of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky. In 1937, Archpriest John was arrested again, and on September 9, he was executed at the Butovo training ground. In 2000, he was glorified at the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
For more than three decades, the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk was in the Zaraisk Museum of Local Lore. In 1966, Moscow art historians, having visited the museum, announced that the ancient icon needed urgent restoration and took it to Moscow, to the Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art named after. Andrey Rublev. At the same time, museum staff carried out an examination and established the date of painting of the icon. In their opinion, one of the earliest copies of the ancient icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk, approximately from the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, was kept in Zaraysk. After a lengthy restoration, the icon became an exhibit of the Museum. Andrey Rublev.
With the revival of church life, believers, with the blessing of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, began to seek the return of the shrine to Zaraysk. We repeatedly drafted appeals, collected signatures, and sent petitions to various authorities. The idea of returning the icon has always been supported by the city and district authorities. The leaders of the Moscow region, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State and Moscow Regional Dumas, activists of many Russian parties and movements, and prominent cultural and artistic figures spoke in favor of returning the icon.
Only once, over many decades, was the icon brought to Zaraysk. This happened in 1996, during the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the city, thanks to the joint efforts of the city administration, the Zaraisk deanery and widespread public support. Within 2 days, the icon was exhibited in the St. John the Baptist Cathedral of the Zaraisk Kremlin, and thousands of believers were able to pray in front of the holy image. However, then the icon was taken back to Moscow, and new appeals from the Zarayans for the return of the icon met only a negative response. The leaders of the Museum named after them refuse their refusals. Andrei Rublev and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation were motivated by the lack of necessary conditions in Zaraysk for the storage and preservation of the ancient image.
However, the Zarayans did not lose hope and made every effort to return the shrine. The problem of the location of the miraculous image was constantly discussed in the media. Local history articles and brochures about the Zaraisk shrine were published, and the issue of returning the miraculous icon was raised at regional scientific, practical and theological conferences. The news about the shrine was spread by Zaraisk priests, visiting different parts of Russia and donating copies of the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk to local churches.
In Zaraisk, the ancient tradition of venerating the holy image of St. Nicholas, citywide festivities on August 11 and processions of the cross to the holy spring White Well have been revived. In 1997, a list (an exact copy) of the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk was made. It is installed at the central altar of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and services are performed in front of it. In 2002, the monument to the Zaraisk princes Theodore, Eupraxia and John was restored, and the holy spring White Well was built, where the St. Nicholas Chapel was erected. Both the monument and the source were consecrated during the festive celebrations on August 11, 2002 by Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna.
Nowadays, the Zaraisk people also venerate another copy from the miraculous Zaraisk shrine - the image of St. Nicholas of Korsun-Zaraisk. With this icon, clergy and laity make pilgrimages to the holy places of our Motherland and abroad. The new image was consecrated at the shrines of Ukraine, Belarus, Greece, Holy Mount Athos, and the relics of St. Nicholas in Bari. In recent years, it is with the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky-Korsun that citywide annual religious processions are held throughout the city
For a decade and a half, the restoration of the Cathedral of John the Baptist in the Zaraisk Kremlin took place. Now all the conditions have been created in it to once again accept the ancient shrine under its vaults.
Olga Polyancheva
Bibliography:
1. Likhachev D.S. Stories about Nikola Zarazsky // TODRL. M.-L., 1949. T. VII. pp. 257-406.
2. The story of the ruin of Ryazan by Batu. “Izbornik” (Collection of works of Ancient Rus'), M. 1969. P. 344-361.
3. Gusev F. Life and miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra. St. Petersburg, 1899. Part 1. pp. 254-269.
4. Life and miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra and his glory in Russia. Minsk, 2001. pp. 204-205.
5. Karamzin V. History of the Russian State.
6. Averin K. Historical news about the life and deeds of Demetrius, archpriest of the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral, contemporary and collaborator of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, M., 1837.
7. Dobrolyubov I.V. Historical and statistical description of churches and monasteries of the Ryazan diocese. Zaraysk, 1884, pp. 159-167.
8. Selivanov V. The miraculous image of Nikolai Zaraisky. Ryazan, 1892.
9. N. I. Yartsev. About the construction of the Zaraysk St. John the Baptist Cathedral. M., 1905
10. Perlov I. Zaraisk fortifications XVI-
XVII century Zaraysk, 1927.
11. Debolsky G. S. Days of worship Orthodox Church, M., 1996. T. 1. P. 463-464.
12. Izyumsky V. Ancient shrine of Zaraysk. 1980.
13. Materials of the scientific and theological conference “Zaraisk martyrs - Prince Fyodor, Princess Eupraxia and their son John”, Zaraysk, December 12-13, 1998.
14. Materials of the scientific-practical conference “Prospects for cultural and spiritual development Zaraysk" May 22-24, 2002 Zaraysk - M., 2002.
15. Lives of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian twentieth century of the Moscow diocese. July August. Tver, 2003. pp. 254-261.
16. Polyanchev V. When and how Zaraysk became Zaraysk. // Almanac “Efstafiy”, No. 1, Zaraysk, 2001. P. 113-138.
17. Polyanchev V. Acts of the Zaraisk noble prince-martyrs Fyodor, Eupraxia and Ivan in chronicles, legends, literary works and documents. //Almanac “Eustathius”, No. 2. Zaraysk, 2003. P. 15-20.
18. Polyanchev V. Zaraisk encyclopedia. M., 2003.
19. Polyancheva O. Protected and revered by all // Almanac “Eustathius”, No. 2, Zaraysk, 2003. P. 25-34.
20. Polyanchev V. “Strong standing of the Zaraisk city” / Zaraiskaya Rus. M., 2004. pp. 144-155.
21. Polyancheva O. Nikola Zaraisky. The history of the miraculous icon. Zaraysk, 2013
22. Archpriest Peter Spiridonov, Nase-
Kin V.V., Polyanchev V.I. Certificate of miraculous
icon "Nicholas of Zaraisky". 2005
The first part of the Tale contains the story of the bringing of the image of St. Nicholas from Korsun (Chersonese) to the Ryazan land. The main character, the minister Eustathius, received a command from the saint to carry his icon “to the east”: “I want to be there and work miracles, and glorify the place.” Eustathius sails with the icon along the Dnieper to the “Varangian Sea”, passes through the “German region”, brings the icon to Novgorod, where it performs “great miracles”. After this, their path lies towards Ryazan, where Saint Nicholas appears in a dream to Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan, promising him and his future family “the crown of the kingdom of heaven.” Having met a servant with an icon, the prince transfers the miraculous image to a certain “area of his own.” Soon after this, he married a girl from the noble family of Eupraxia, and they had a son, who was named Ivan.
Icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk.XVI century From the collection of the Zaraisky Kremlin Museum-Reserve.
In 1237, 12 years after the miraculous image was brought from Korsun, the prophecy of St. Nicholas came true. Prince Fyodor dies at the hands of Khan Batu. Eupraxia and her son, in order not to be scolded by the godless Tatar-Mongols, decide to prefer death to dishonor. Together with her son, she threw herself to the ground from the “high temple” and, in the words of the chronicler, “became infected to death.” The bodies of the noble princes were buried near the temple where the icon of St. Nicholas of Korsun was located, and “stone crosses” were placed over the graves.
In memory of this tragic event, in 1665, Prince Nikita Grigorievich Gagarin installed three crosses in the Zaraisk Kremlin, located behind the altar of the cathedral of the Beheading of John the Baptist. In 1928, the symbolic tomb was destroyed, in the early 2000s. New crosses were installed and consecrated in the same place. However, archaeological excavations have not been carried out at the supposed burial site of the Ryazan princes, so we cannot say with certainty that someone is actually buried under these crosses.
The story about the noble princes is repeated in the second part of the Tale and St. Nicholas of Zarazsky. It contains a detailed narrative about the destruction of Ryazan by Batu Khan in 1237. Another character of the folk epic appears there - governor Evpatiy Kolovrat. Seeing how his native Ryazan suffered, he cried out “in the grief of his soul,” gathered “a small squad” and set off to destroy the “Batu camps.” Kolovrat suddenly attacks the Tatar-Mongols, “beating them mercilessly.” Only with the help of “numerous vices” did they manage to kill Evpatiy, whose courage and bravery the Murzas and Sanchakbeys marveled at: “We are with many kings, in many lands, in many battles, but we have never seen such daredevils and spirited men.”
At the end of the story, the author describes the burial of Ryazan soldiers killed in the battle for their native land. The story is also repeated about the transfer of the remains of Prince Fyodor Yuryevich to the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in a certain “area of his,” where he was buried “in one place” with his wife Eupraxia and son Ivan Postnok. “And from this guilt,” the chronicler never tires of repeating, “let the great miracle worker be called Nikolai Zarazsky, like the blessed princess Eupraxea and with her son Prince Ivan, she infected herself.” In most lists, the story is accompanied by a genealogy of the descendants of the Korsun priest Eustathius - the servants of the wonderworker Nikolas on the Zaraisk land.
Skok V. A. Princess Eupraxia. 1959. From the collection of the Zaraisky Kremlin Museum-Reserve.
The development of historical science inevitably affected the Tale of Nikola Zarazsky. The first attempts to explore this magnificent literary work date back to 19th century, however, they are now very outdated. Of the relatively modern researchers, the first to study the Tale was V. L. Komarovich, who published 12 copies of this monument. He assumed that the first part of the Tale was older than the second, and full version The work was formed in the 16th century in two stages.
Crosses installed in the Zaraisk Kremlin in memory of Prince Fyodor, Princess Eupraxia and their son Ivan.
The main popularizer of the legend about the Ryazan princes in the 20th century was academician D. S. Likhachev. “Ancient Rus' did not know monuments, but it still had one monument: this is the monument at the site of the death of Eupraxia and her baby (1237, 1665, 2002),” he writes about the already mentioned crosses in the Zaraisk Kremlin . His opinion about the history of consciousness of the Tale of Nikola Zarazsky, supported by undoubted public authority, has a significant influence to this day. Academician Likhachev believed that different parts of the Tale were created at different times. The most ancient, from his point of view, is the story of the bringing of the icon of St. Nicholas from Korsun (mid-13th century). Likhachev dates “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” to the beginning of the 14th century. The formation of the monument was completed at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century. However, none of the supposed originals has reached us; Academician Likhachev makes his assumptions solely on the basis of an analysis of later texts known to us. He divided these lists into two groups, independently of each other going back to a common ancient source.
The analysis of the lists of the Tale of Nikola Zarazsky was continued by Doctor of Historical Sciences B. M. Kloss. He clarified Likhachev's classification and made two logical, but rather bold conclusions. A detailed comparison of the texts gave grounds to assert that all parts of the Tale were written by one author at the same time. They are united by the common idea of glorifying local shrines, the peculiarities of the language, and the literary sources used. Since all parts belong to the pen of one author, then the dating of the original should be deduced from the genealogical list of Eustathius’ descendants, which completes the story. Adding to the date of transfer of the icon of St. Nicholas (1225) another 335 years of service of the family of Eustathius on the Ryazan land, we get 1560. It is this year that the researcher quite reasonably proposes to consider as the earliest date for the compilation of the Tale of St. Nicholas of Zarazsky in the form in which we we know her.
Nikolay Alexandrov
The history of one of the oldest Russian cities - Zaraysk, the first mention of which dates back to 1146, is closely connected with the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk. For a long time, the icon of Nicholas of Korsun (later called “Zarazskaya” and “Zaraiskaya”) was located in the city of Korsun (Chersonese Tauride), in the temple of the Apostle James. In this temple at the end of the 10th century, Grand Duke Vladimir received Holy Baptism. Numerous miracles and healings came from the miraculous image of St. Nicholas.
The famous literary monument of Ancient Rus' “The Tale of Nikola Zarazsky” (which, according to academician D.S. Likhachev, “ belongs to the outstanding phenomena of ancient Russian literature") talks about the bringing in 1225 " image of the great Wonderworker Nikolas of Korsun from the glorious city of Chersonesus to the borders of Ryazan, to the region of the blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich of Ryazan".
According to legend, Saint Nicholas himself appeared in a vision to the priest Eustathius and commanded: “Eustathius, take my miraculous image of Korsun, your wife Theodosius and your son Eustathius and go to the land of Ryazan. I want to stay there and create miracles and glorify that place" Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared to this priest three times, and only when he was punished with blindness for disobedience and, having repented and received healing, set off on his journey.
It took Eustathius and his companions about a year to reach the Ryazan land. At the same time, Nikolai Ugodnik appeared in a dream to the appanage prince Fyodor Yuryevich, who reigned in the city of Krasny (now Zaraysk) and announced the arrival of his miraculous image. Fedor Yurievich “he took on the miraculous image and brought it to his region.” And he immediately sent the news to his father, Grand Duke Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan... The Grand Duke took Bishop Euphrosynus of the Svyatogorets with him and immediately went to the region to his son... And he saw great and glorious miracles from the miraculous image and was filled with joy. And he created a temple in the name of the great holy wonderworker Nikolas of Korsun. And Bishop Efrosin consecrated it, and celebrated brightly, and returned to his city" At the site of the meeting (meeting) of the icon, a source of spring water emerged from the ground, called the White Well, which has survived to this day.
As the chronicles describe, the icon appeared in the city of Krasny on July 29 (old style) 1225 and since then St. Nicholas took the city and its inhabitants under his heavenly protection.
The chronicle associates the change in the name of the icon with the death of Prince Fyodor’s wife, Eupraxia, and her young son, Ivan. Princess Eupraxia in 1237, during the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus', after the death of her husband at Batu’s headquarters, preferred death to Tatar captivity. Not wanting to become the khan’s concubine and forcefully renounce her son’s Christian faith, she threw herself and her child from the high prince’s mansion and fell to her death. “And for the reason that the icon of Zarazskaya, the great wonderworker St. Nicholas, is called, that the blessed princess Eupraxia with her son Prince Ivan infected (broke) themselves in that place.”
And the city eventually began to be called Zarazesk, Zaraesk, Nikola Zarazskaya on Osetra, the city of Nikola Zarazsky Posad and, finally, from the 17th century - Zaraisk.
The events related to the stay of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk in the city of Kolomna and the miracles that occurred there are narrated by “The Legend of the Bringing of the Image of St. Nicholas of Korsun from Zarazsk to Kolomna” (which is part of the “Tales of St. Nicholas of Zarazsk”). The stay of the miraculous image in neighboring Kolomna and its miraculous return to Zaraysk is also associated with the construction of a stone fortress - the Zaraisk Kremlin in 1528-1531. On its territory there was the ancient St. Nicholas Cathedral. The current building of St. Nicholas Cathedral was built in 1681 on the site of the previous one.
For centuries, the holy miraculous image was in the cathedrals of the Zaraisk Kremlin: St. Nicholas (specially built for her) and St. John the Baptist. For many centuries, the icon was the main shrine of the Zaraisk region, and every year on July 29 (old style) citywide celebrations were held in Zaraisk. In the Kremlin churches, the entire clergy served the Divine Liturgy together and held a religious procession to the holy spring of the White Well.
In 1892, a small book entitled “The Miraculous Image of Nicholas Zaraisk” was published in Ryazan. Its author is a native of Zaraysk, writer Vasily Selivanov. This is how he begins the story about the shrine: “In the Zaraisk St. Nicholas Cathedral there is a miraculous image of St. Nicholas, brought to Zaraisk in 1225 from the Greek city of Korsun by Presbyter Eustathius. In the middle of this image, a full image of the Saint is written in paints, in priestly cross-shaped vestments with an omophorion on the ramens (shoulders), on the head is a miter with an image of the Holy Trinity in black, his right hand is stretched out for a blessing, and with his left he holds the Gospel on a shroud. On its right side, the Savior is depicted on the clouds, blessing the Saint with his right hand, and giving him the Gospel with his left; on the left side is the Mother of God holding an outstretched omophorion in her arms.
This image, with seventeen images of the life and miracles of the Saint, is twenty-five and a half inches long and twenty and a quarter inches wide. The painting on the image is ancient, Byzantine in high style, which is especially evident from the expression of spirituality imparted to the features of the Saint’s face, which almost only Byzantine artists were able to impart to images of saints.”
The following is a description of the valuable frame in which the miraculous image was placed: “The robe on the image is made of pure gold, with semi-precious stones, built by Tsar Vasily Shuisky in 1608, as can be seen from the inventory of the Zaraisk Cathedral and the following inscription inscribed in script on a special tablet (plate) at the bottom of the frame: “By the command of the Blessed Great Sovereign of the Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich of All Rus', this setting was made for the image of the great Wonderworker Nikola Zarazsky in the second summer of his State, summer 7116 (1608). miter, crown, gospel and tsata. The frame around the brim in the form of a frame around the entire image is silver gilded, made by Shuisky, as well as the gold aureoles above the faces and the gold plates with patterns drawn in niello, depicting miracles. The miracles themselves were covered with silver gilded vestments in later times.”
People from all over Russia came to the Zaraisk shrine: peasants and artisans, traders and military men, cultural and artistic figures. The Monk Sergius of Radonezh, the Great Moscow Princes Ivan III, Vasily III, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Vasily Shuisky, the heir to the Russian throne, the future Tsar Alexander II with his teacher V.A. Zhukovsky, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and many others prayed before the miraculous image of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky .
A special page in the history of Zaraysk is the era of the Time of Troubles. At that time, the future savior of the Fatherland, Prince D.M. Pozharsky, served as the governor of Zaraysk. Through the prayers of the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Dimitry and Prince D.M. Pozharsky, before the miraculous image, the city of Zaraisk remained faithful to the legitimate authority and did not swear allegiance to the impostor False Dmitry. In gratitude to the Wonderworker, Tsar Vasily Shuisky decorated Zaraisk icon valuable salary. Archpriest Dimitri participated in the meetings of the Zemsky Sobors in 1613 and was part of the embassy to Kostroma, to the elected Tsar Mikhail Romanov.
After the closure of the churches of the Zaraisk Kremlin in the 1920s, the icon was taken to the local history museum. In 1966, Moscow art historians, having visited the museum, announced that the ancient icon needed urgent restoration and took it to Moscow, to the Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art named after. Andrey Rublev. At the same time, museum staff carried out an examination and established the date of painting of the icon. In their opinion, one of the earliest copies of the ancient icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk, which has not reached us, was kept in Zaraysk, approximately from the late 15th to early 16th centuries. After a lengthy restoration, the icon became an exhibit of the Museum. Andrey Rublev.
With the revival of church life, believers, with the blessing of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, began to seek the return of the shrine to Zaraysk. We repeatedly drafted appeals, collected signatures, and sent petitions to various authorities. The idea of returning the icon has always been supported by the city and district authorities. The leaders of the Moscow region, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State and Moscow Regional Dumas, activists of many Russian parties and movements, and prominent cultural and artistic figures spoke in favor of returning the icon.
Only once, over many decades of being away from Zaraysk, was the icon brought to our region. This happened in 1996, during the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the city, thanks to the joint efforts of the city Administration, the Zaraisk deanery and widespread public support. Within 2 days, the icon was exhibited in the St. John the Baptist Cathedral of the Zaraisk Kremlin, and thousands of believers were able to pray in front of the holy image.
However, then the icon was taken back to Moscow, and new appeals from the Zarayans for the return of the icon met only a negative response. The leaders of the Museum named after them refuse their refusals. Andrei Rublev and the Ministry of Culture were motivated by the lack of necessary conditions in Zaraysk for the storage and preservation of the ancient image.
But the Zarayans do not lose hope, and are doing everything possible to return the shrine. The problem of returning the miraculous image is constantly discussed in the print media, radio and television. Brochures about the Zaraisk shrine are being published, and the issue of returning the miraculous icon is being raised at regional scientific, practical and theological conferences.
The ancient tradition of the regional festival on August 11 and processions of the cross to the holy spring White Well has been revived. In 1997, a list (an exact copy) of the icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisk was made. It stands in a place of honor - at the central altar of St. John the Baptist Cathedral and services are performed in front of it. For a decade and a half, the restoration of the Cathedral of John the Baptist, which was desecrated during Soviet times and served as a cinema, took place. Now all conditions have been created in it to accept the ancient miraculous image under its arches.
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