History of Old Believer communities in Kremenchug

Author: Kovalenko Elena Vladimirovna

Ancient Orthodox Christianity, better known as the Old Believers, originated in Russia in the middle of the 17th century. The reason for its appearance was the split that arose in the Russian Orthodox Church as a result of the reform of Patriarch Nikon. Opponents of this reform, as a result of persecution, were forced to move to remote areas of the state or beyond its borders, including Ukraine. At first they settled in the northeastern region, and in the 18th century. began to move to the Right Bank and the South [13].

However, unfortunately, today we do not have a more or less comprehensive study on the problems of the existence of this concession on the territory of our region. Its presence, perhaps, would help to solve modern problems of interfaith relations in the region.

True, certain aspects of this topic were studied by historians of the past. We have received two such works. The most detailed of them is the work of the famous Poltava local historian of the late XIX – early. XX century I.F. Pavlovsky [1]. It consists of three sections, in which the author reveals the circumstances of the settlement of the Old Believers in the city of Kremenchug, indicates their number, talks about the arrangement of prayer houses, etc. The author focuses on the measures of state power during the reign of Nicholas I to convert the Kremenchug Old Believers to common faith. The main value of this study lies in the fact that the archival documents of the Poltava provincial government were irretrievably lost to us as sources for writing it.

The second work is “the schismatic patriarch in Poltava” [11], written by the Orthodox Bishop Theodosius. It is dedicated to the life and work of one of the famous leaders of the Old Believers, Semyon Kovylin, who in the last years of his life (1854-1859) was a prisoner of the Poltava Holy Cross Monastery.

The lack of archival documents on this issue, lost during the Second World War, unfortunately, greatly complicates its research.

The appearance of the Old Believers in the Poltava region is largely associated with the construction in 1731-1733. the so-called “Ukrainian line”, designed to protect the southern borders of the Russian Empire from the Turkish-Tatar danger. According to E. Barsov, in the archives of the famous Ukrainian historian M. Markevich, there is a representation of the chairman of the “Hetman’s Government Board” Prince O. Shakhovsky, dated June 20, 1735. In it, the tsarist official reported on the withdrawal of lands from this fortification for the resettlement of the Old Believers. It was at that time, according to L. Padalka, that such settlements as Berestovenka, Zalineinoe, Peschanka, Russian Orchik and Staroverovka arose in the Constantinograd district. A significant part of their inhabitants were the so-called “schismatics” [14].

The second, much larger center of settlement of the Old Believers in the territory of the province in the last quarter of the 18th century. became the city of Kremenchug. According to I. Pavlovsky, their appearance was closely connected with the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. It was then, after the capture of Ochakov, that the small merchant Biryukov settled in the city, who opened a prayer house. He was joined by other Old Believers, attracted by the tsarist government for the construction of the Kherson fortress and the Nikolaev pier [1]. In particular, in a report sent from the above-mentioned office, from the volost office of the Little Russian schismatic settlements at the end of 1771, we read: who are enrolled in the local Kremenchug merchants – Stepan Bondarev with his brother, the younger Akim, Alexei Ivanov, the son of Romanov, with his brothers, his native Ivan and cousin Grigory Romanov, to be excluded from the above-mentioned settlement of Dobryanka society “[5]. At the same time, the desire to move to Kremenchug was also revealed by other inhabitants of the Starodub settlements: Zlynka – Kuzma Zhukov and Yuri Fedorov, Dobryanka – Fedot Bondarev, Daniil Vorontsov and Timofey Tsaplin. In this regard, it can be argued that the resettlement of the Old Believers began 20 years earlier than the date named by Pavlovsky. [13] This assumption was also confirmed by O. Nikolaichik, who in his work “The City of Kremenchug” indicated that in 1773 364 people lived there. merchants and artisans of the Old Believers [15].

There are several reasons that prompted the ancient Orthodox Christians to settle in Kremenchug. Economic interests played a significant role in this. According to I. Funduklei, Old Believer merchants from Starodub and Vetkov settlements in the 60s. 18th century played a leading role in the Crimean salt trade.

One of the main transshipment points for this product was then Kremenchug. Salt was transported along the Dnieper by boats, half of which belonged to the Old Believers of the four Starodub settlements. It was they who carried out the main shipping trade of that time. Among these merchants we meet and live spruce settlement Dobryanka Fedot Bondarev. In 1765, he received permission to trade in Crimean salt and various goods beyond the Polish border. With the advancement of the borders of the Russian Empire to the South, the importance of Kremenchug as a trading center also increased. This stimulated the quite natural desire of the Old Believers to expand their business and prompted them to move [13].

Another, no less important circumstance that contributed to this process was the policy of Catherine II. The empress revealed a rather pragmatic attitude towards the Old Believers, who were actively involved in the colonization of Novorossia. Evidence of this is the letters of Prince G. Potemkin and other tsarist officials to the Old Believers with a proposal to move to the newly annexed lands. It is quite possible that the result of such appeals was the resettlement of the inhabitants of the Starodub settlements to Novorossia, which has been observed since the 1960s. 18th century In particular, in 1767, 25 people were released from the Klimova settlement to the Novorossiysk province, and 22 from the Klintsov settlement. Some of these settlers, obviously, settled in Kremenchug. O. Nikolaichik wrote about this: “… often attributed to the city are “Polish immigrants of the Russian family”, mostly Old Believers, who emigrated to Polish Ukraine and Belarus during the time of Peter I.” So, the bulk of the Old Believers who moved to Kremenchug were immigrants from Starodubye and Vetka [11].

Due to new settlers, the number of followers of ancient Orthodox Christianity in the city grew steadily. The data collected by the Poltava provincial officials in 1837 testify that 2850 people lived in Kremenchug and the nearby village of Kryukov. dissenters [1].

According to their religious beliefs, the Old Believers are divided into two main currents – priests, who recognize the need for priesthood to communicate with God, and non-priests, who believe that every Christian is a priest. In turn, these currents also consist of a number of different directions (“accords”) [9].

The overwhelming majority of the schismatics of the Kremenchuch region belonged to one of these directions – the “chapel”, which was part of the Bezpopovskaya current. It was finally formed during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, when, as a result of government repressions, the so-called “impoverishment of the priesthood” began – a significant part of the priestly communities remained without the clergy. A characteristic feature of their cult was that worship was performed in chapels (chapel) without altars. However, unlike other bespopovtsev, they did not rebaptize representatives of other currents that passed to them, and the rite of baptism was performed in a wooden font, and not in open water.

From other non-priest directions, there were also representatives of the wrinkle. This direction was formed eg. 17th century in the north. Russia – Pomorie. The first community was founded by clerk Daniil Vikulin in 1695. At an early stage of their existence, the Pomortsy denied royal power, did not recognize marriages and promoted self-immolation as one of the forms of salvation, but in the first half. 18th century they have somewhat departed from eschatological views. Only about 100 people lived in Kremenchug who followed the Pomor current [1].

It is difficult to say that the provision of their communities with religious buildings met the needs of the Old Believers so much. The very first chapel, opened in Kremenchug by Biryukov, was, according to I. Pavlovsky, destroyed by order of the authorities in 1787. The reason for this was a visit to the city by Empress Catherine II.

But after some time, Biryukov was able to build a whole schismatic complex on his land: he raised a new chapel, later a bell tower, an altar. Old Believers began to settle around, a whole skete appeared. At the beginning of the 19th century the entire area that the Biryukovs allotted for worship was surrounded by a fence, and in 1802 another schismatic chapel was erected in Kryukov. In 1817, an altar, a throne and an altar were built in it. In the future, sources record the existence of three churches: Intercession and Nativity of the Mother of God in Kremenchug and Holy Cross in Kryukov. Intercession Church was built in 1845. The church was wooden, only in 1889 a warm stone church of the Nativity of the Theotokos was added to it. The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, built in 1794, was also wooden. A small stone church, bearing the name of George the Victorious, was added to it in 1867. The Kryukovskaya Holy Cross Church was built in 1825 at the expense of local merchants Kuleshovs [7].

The Kremenchug Old Believers played an important role in the life of their concession. Their names are quite common among the donors of the monasteries of the Right Bank. In particular, the Kremenchug merchant Rybalov donated 5,000 rubles to the Cherkasy convent. And the merchant Anastasia Volodina was one of the founders of this monastery. In 1808, she purchased from Count Gulak for 500 rubles. land on which she built a monastery. Volodina herself, in monasticism Anastasia, became his first abbess [10].

In social rel

The Old Believers of the Poltava region were divided into merchants, petty bourgeois, state and landlord peasants. In 1841, the smallest group of them were landlord peasants – 37 people. Most of the Old Believers were assigned to the bourgeois class [1].

Richer, of course, were the Kremenchug merchants. Beginning 19th century they traded in Moscow, Kharkov, Sumy, Kherson, Nikolaev, Odessa, Taganrog and the Crimea. The range of goods was very extensive: silk and woolen fabrics, paper products, sugar, coffee, groceries, leather, salt, fish, tar, timber, hemp, dishes, bread, etc. They also owned most of the factories existing in the city of Kremenchug . Among them: candle – 2, tile – 3, soap – 1, rope – 1, brick – 4, breweries – 6 [13].

Part of the products produced at these enterprises was sold to the port cities of Kherson, Taganrog, Nikolaev and Odessa, but the vast majority was distributed within the province.

Among the richest merchants we also meet Samuil Volodin, possibly a relative of the abbess of the Cherkassy Convent mentioned above. He owned: 1 candle factory, 1 rope, 1 mile and 6 breweries.

The already mentioned Bondarevs also belonged to the wealthiest. They were natives of Vetka. After its final defeat by the tsarist troops in 1764, the Bondarevs moved to the Starodub settlement of Dobryanka, and later to Kremenchug. One of them, Fedot, while still living on Polish territory, owned a glass Guta and a mill on the estates of Prince Czartorysky, and immediately after moving to Dobryanki, as already noted, he began trading in Crimean salt. Since the middle of the 19th century, we have met the name Bondarev among the creditors of other merchants and townspeople. So, in 1863, the Kremenchug court considered the case of recovering 988 rubles from the tradesman Methodius Prokhorov in favor of Alexander Bondarev. debt, and in 1864 the case of the recovery of 12,000 rubles from the merchant Pyotr Seleznev. debt in favor of Dmitry Bondarev.

Wealthy Old Believer merchants played a significant role in the public life of the city. For example, in the middle of the XIX century. the rich merchant Slinkov was even the mayor. This event is already outstanding in itself, because at that time there was a law according to which Old Believers were allowed to be elected to city government bodies only in the absence of Orthodox Christians.

Among the occupations of the Old Believers, the sources record trade and seasonal work. To this end, they went to the southern cities – Kherson, Nikolaev, Odessa, as well as to the Crimea and the Don. It is known that the Old Believers were famous as good carpenters and masons. They were engaged, obviously, like their co-religionists from Chernihiv and Podolia, melons and gourds. For this purpose, in the southern provinces, lands were leased, mostly virgin, on which watermelons, melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers were grown [10].

In general, the occupations and beliefs of the Old Believers contributed to the fact that their economic condition was somewhat higher than that of the indigenous population of the region. Above, according to the first all-Russian census, was the level of literacy of the Old Believers.

In particular, in 1897, 1,265 people and 1,142 women supported this concession in the province. Literate among men was 596, or 47%, and among women – 209, or 18%. This exceeded the average for the Russian Empire [5].

Characteristically, this level of literacy was acquired, with few exceptions, through self-education. For religious reasons, the Old Believers did not want to send their children to official educational institutions controlled by the Orthodox Church.

The Old Believers of the Poltava region were educated in the same way as their co-religionists in other regions of Ukraine, they sent their children to be trained by the so-called “masters”, and more often to “craftswomen”. This was mainly done by widows or unmarried girls, who recruited 5-10 students for themselves. The training lasted no more than 3 years. Children were taught mostly only to read, and sometimes also to write. The training was carried out according to the church books of the old press – Slavic grammar, the Psalter and the Book of Hours [11].

Political conditions of life of the Old Believers of Poltava region throughout the XIX century. remained quite complex and unstable. The period of the reign of Nicholas I was difficult in this regard. According to modern Russian historians, starting in 1827, “the authorities tried to eradicate the Old Believers through persecution, oppression and restrictions.” In practice, this was manifested in the desire to force the “ancient Orthodox Christians” to convert to the same faith, which suited both the authorities and the official church, therefore it was under their control. [9] The results of the activities of the authorities were not long in coming. In the same 1827, according to the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the altar in Kremenchug was sealed, and worship was prohibited. However, the schismatics made their way to their chapel through the side entrance and continued worship, at the same time periodically filing complaints with local and metropolitan authorities about the illegal sealing of the altar.

In the 1830s, fugitive priests Iosi appeared in Kremenchug and Kryukov with a schismatic community.

Yakunin from the Kaluga province and Trifon Khlamov from Novocherkassk, who actively campaigned against Orthodoxy. Their activities began to disturb the leadership of the diocese and the local administration, and the authorities did everything possible to get rid of these priests and return them to their former places of residence. In the end, this was done, but the schismatic ideas had already taken deep roots in the city: the number of Old Believers increased, and the geography of their residence expanded. As of 1837, there were 1095 and 1216 male and female souls at the Kremenchug chapel, 61 and 59 bespopovtsy, 180 and 216 bespopovtsy at the Kryukov chapel, 7 and 16 bespopovtsy.

The Old Believers were not going to put up with the closure of the chapel. In 1837, the authoritative Kremenchug schismatics Bantsekin, Smirnov, Stolyarov, Yakovlev met in Kremenchug with the heir to the Russian throne, Alexander Mikhailovich, who was given a request to perform divine services in churches. The Little Russian governor-general Stroganov was ready to make a decision to open the chapel, but on the condition that a certain part of the Old Believers join Orthodoxy.

As a result of lengthy negotiations with the Holy Synod and the relevant authorities, a compromise solution was found: a special commission compiled a list of 100 families of Old Believers who allegedly expressed a desire to join Orthodoxy. In place of the priest of the Old Believer Church of Kremenchug, the Poltava diocese offered Alexei Protopopov. In June 1841 Bishop of Poltava and Pereyaslavl – Gideon received a decree from the Holy Synod on the opening of worship in the chapel of the Old Believers. But no decision was made at the local level. The Poltava governor Averkiev, having familiarized himself with the situation on the spot, sent a memorandum in which he proposed to demolish all the houses of the skete (after joining part of the Old Believers to Orthodoxy), lay streets in the town of Old Believers and allow the schismatics to build an almshouse.

In September 1841, Bishop Gideon, during a visit to Kremenchug, instructed Archpriest Petrov and Priest Andrei Protopopov to check the state of affairs in the schismatic sketes and inspect the seals of the altar of the chapel. However, it was not possible to carry out the plan, since the keys to the church were in the foremen, and they categorically refused to open the chapel.

A crowd of schismatics came to the defense of the foremen. After an investigation by the authorities, the perpetrators of the disorder Maxim Rybalov, Mikhail Yakovlev, Khariton Khrustalev, Ivan Bantsekin were brought to court for disobedience. The main culprits were exiled for 6 months to the Bobruisk fortress, others were sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and subjected to further strict police supervision.

The culprits in this situation, according to the authorities, were exclusively schismatics, who agreed to accept the “correct priesthood” only on condition of independence from spiritual authority. It is clear that the Holy Synod could not agree to such conditions. In St. Petersburg, they began to look for other options, mostly of a forceful nature. The police, trying to speed up the process of joining schismatics to Orthodoxy, in 1845 sent a real state councilor Alyabyev to Poltava with special powers.

The result of his arrival was an order to destroy the schismatic chapel in Kryukov, arguing that the foundations under the bell tower were rotten after another flood. On 07/07/1845, a secret meeting of Alyabyev, Poltava governor Oznobishin and Bishop Gedeon of Poltava and Pereyaslavl took place. The conclusions of this meeting were set out in the document “Secret deliberative act”.

The commission came to the conclusion that the resistance of the dissenters was practically broken. A few days later, 20 people. schismatics (with families – up to 80 people) filed applications from Alyabyev about their desire to join Orthodoxy (subsequently their number increased to 200 people). Nikitin suggested moving the schismatic buildings in Kremenchug, Yelisavetgrad and Novogeorgievsk to uninhabited lands. The main motive for the petition is the inability of the police to control the actions of the schismatics. All schismatics were planned to be sent to their places of former residence, the nuns to be sent to various schismatic monasteries. In 1845, the Old Believer Prayer House was renamed into the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. On 10/03/1845, the priest Sokolov was appointed by the diocese and served the first liturgy in the church, which was attended by approx. 500 people, 10/07/1845 their number was already 2 thousand people. In October 1845, a significant part of the Kremenchug schismatics joined Orthodoxy. Since then, they have ceased to be a monolithic force, although their influence on the spiritual and religious life of Kremenchug was felt over the next decades [7].

However, the 1897 census records a new significant growth of Old Believers. According to him, 2407 Old Believers lived in the Poltava province. Unfortunately, co-religionists are represented in this census along with Orthodox, so it is impossible to determine their exact number. However, there was a significant decrease in this category of believers. The main reason for this phenomenon should be considered the departure of a significant number of neophytes from common faith during the reign of Alexander III, when the persecution of the Old Believers was significantly weakened [11].

Author: Kovalenko Elena Vladimirovna

Based on the materials of the III regional scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 440th anniversary of the founding of the city of Kremenchug “Kremenchug is 440 years old”

LITERATURE

1. Pavlovsky I.F. To the history of the Poltava diocese (History and everyday essays, notes and correspondence): Poltava: Press of the Printing Business (typ. former Dokhman), 1916. ? pp. 1-34.
2. Bodyansky P. Memorable book of the Poltava province in 1865 – Poltava: [B. i. ], 1865. – Department I. – P. 470.
3. Ivanenko D. A. Address-calendar. Reference book of the Poltava province for 1900. – Poltava: [B. i.], 1900. – S.283.
4. Yushko V.M. Who are the Old Believers (dissenters), like, if and why they drank to Kremenchuk // Autograph. – 2003. – No. 31. – P.34.
5. History of religion in Ukraine: in 10 vols. – v. 3. – Orthodoxy in Ukraine / Ed. A. Kolodny, V. Klimov /. – K .: Ukrainian Center for Spiritual Culture, 1999. – P. 560.
6. Shchapov Ya.N., Vasil’eva O.Yu., Zyryanov P.N. and others. Christian Confessions and State Power in Russia in the 18th – First Half of the 20th Centuries. // National history. – 1998. – No. 3. – P.157.
7. Poltavika. Poltava encyclopedia: in 12 volumes. – Volume 12: Religion and Church (Head editor O.A. Bilousko). – Poltava: Poltava writer, 2009. – P.320-322.
8. Orlova E. Keepers of ancient Orthodox traditions // Kremenchug panorama. – No. 46. – P.21.
9. Voloshin Yu.V. Ancient Orthodox Christians in Ukraine // People and the world. – 2000. ? No. 4. – S. 24-27.
10. Voloshin Yu.V. Groups of Old Believers in the Poltava region near the XIX century. // Historical memory. – 2000. – No. 1. – S. 146-152.
11. Voloshin Yu.V. Activity of religious communities in the Poltava region in the 19th century // Ridny region. – 2000. – No. 2 (3). – P.108-111.
12. Voloshin Yu.V. Ordinary policy of Russian Old Believers in Starodubshchina in the 18th century. // Ukrainian historical journal. – 2006. – No. 1.
13. Voloshin Yu.V. Old Believers of Kremenchuk: social and economic and political camp (another half of the 18th – the first half of the 19th century) Materials of dopovidey and remembrance (3-4 December 2003). – Poltava, 2003. – S.102-109.
14. Voloshin Yu.V. To the nutrition about the activity of the Old Believer communities in the Kiev region in the first half of the 19th century. // Historical memory. – 1999. ? No. 1-2.
15. Nikolaychik F.D. City of Kremenchuk. Historical essay. – St. Petersburg: Printing house of M. Stasyulevich, 1891.
16. Milovidov V.F. Modern Old Believers. – M.: Thought, 1979.