Historical monuments of Ukraine are universal achievements of European civilization and can become a real source of spiritual renewal in Ukrainian society. But unfortunately, the modern generation, through the development of the public goods of civilization: television, the global Internet, pays less and less attention to its history and religious life.
A large number of religious sites in Ukraine were destroyed after the Bolsheviks came to power. Confident in the victory of a socialist society in which there is no place for religion, during the years 1917-1918, the Soviet government actually began a “war on religion.”
The VIII Congress of the RCP (b), which took place in March 1919, launched a systematic offensive against religion and the church. The congress included in the program of the party the thesis about the need to fight religion, which in practice was interpreted as the basis for reviewing and revising the freedom of conscience fixed in the constitution. Soon, under the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, an anti-religious commission was formed, which planned and organized the fight against religion and believers throughout the country. Similar commissions were also created locally. The commission, as a rule, included people who did not understand the specifics of religion.
The Church of the Intercession in Stone Streams is one of the few typical churches of the Kremenchuk region that managed to survive the terrible times of the destruction of the shrines of the Church of Christ. The temple is dedicated to the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Feast of the Intercession was especially revered by the Ukrainian Cossacks, as well as Ukrainian peasants since the village was Cossack.
The Holy Intercession Church in Kamenny Potoky has been known since 1692. Then it was made of wood and later burned down during a thunderstorm [1, p. fourteen]. Since then, the church has been rebuilt several times and was eventually dismantled only at the beginning of the 20th century. The construction of the brick church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was completed in 1913. In those days, the temple was the largest in the area [2, p. 183]
The construction of the church began in 1910 in the so-called “new Russian” style. The temple in the plan is cross-domed, with one dome, above the narthex, there is a bell tower. The foundation consists of hewn stone blocks, which were taken from local developments, and red brick walls [4, p. 52]. The temple was not painted. They did not have time, because the First World War began.
It can be reliably said that the church on Sundays was filled with parishioners. The inhabitants of the village were distinguished by piety and a sincere faith. They did not just usually visit the temples of God. Parents who were not at the service, about the illness, asked the children what they had read from the Apostle, from the Gospel, what Cherubim they sang, etc. That is, the Ukrainian peasants were sincere in their faith. Therefore, probably, the parish was active until the mid-30s.
Problems with the authorities began after the Russian Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin, subjugated Ukraine and began to fight the religious life of the population. In 1922, Lenin ordered the collection of valuables from churches and synagogues. Spiritual values were confiscated under the cover of hunger. But Lenin really needed these values to strengthen the power of the Bolsheviks.
The progress of the confiscation of valuables was regularly reported by the Moscow Bolshevik newspapers Izvestia and Pravda. These newspapers often published events from Kremenchuk, which reported that the local clergy resisted and prevented the seizure of valuables.
So, for example, in one of the news, it was reported that when the clergy were invited to one of the meetings of the commission for the seizure of valuables, they said that they had nothing against and we’re ready to help the starving, but they could not do this, because they had to ask permission from Vladyka for the transfer of value. But the Bolsheviks were not satisfied with this answer. And they, instead of convening a meeting of parishioners of churches to resolve the issue, turned to the workers of Kremenchuk, inciting them against the holy churches.
So, for example, a meeting of the workers of the power plant decided: “We give a strict order to our representatives in the city administration so that the decisions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the seizure of church valuables are urgently implemented.” Similar resolutions were adopted by the workers of the tobacco factory, the metallurgical plant, and other enterprises. After that, the forced seizure of spiritual values from churches began.
The Pravda newspaper of May 8, 1922, reported that about 54 pounds of silver and other valuables were transferred to the Poltava provincial financial department. Subsequent editions of the Bolshevik Pravda published: “It is reported from Kremenchuk that over 25 poods of various valuables were seized from local churches within three days.” In those days, the church in Stone Streams was also robbed.
As a result of the devastation caused by the civil war, the robbery of the Ukrainian land by the invaders, and crop failure, Ukraine entered the difficult year of 1922. In 1922, international charitable organizations provided great assistance to the suffering people.
With military force, repression, Holodomor, and hypocritical ideology, the Bolsheviks consolidated their power in Ukraine and then declared war on various religions. So, at the “requests of the working people”, Orthodox churches were closed by the Soviet authorities.
The Intercession Church in Kamenny Potoky was closed in 1935 because the “great ruler” Joseph Stalin declared a godless five-year plan. By order of the local socialist authorities, the dome was dismantled and the bell tower was destroyed.
The years 1937-1938 swept like a “black hurricane” across Ukraine. Among the many victims of the Stalinist Bolshevik regime, there are a large number of clergy. Most of those who ended up in Bolshevik prisons were members of the former clergy. A large number of religious ministers were repressed in 1937, and those who remained at large worked in various sectors of the national economy or were unemployed. However, this did not save them from the “punishing sword” of Stalin’s executioners. Almost all of them ended up within the walls of the punitive body of the Bolshevik Party. The only reason for their arrest was there belonged to church ministers. Bolshevik punishers subjected hundreds of people to humiliation and destruction just for their involvement in religion.
The priest of the village of Kamenny Potoky, Kremenchuk region, Kiliyanchuk Stepan Vasilyevich was arrested on October 24, 1937. On December 1, 1937, he was shot [5, p. 92-108].
Church life revived during the Nazi occupation. During the Great Patriotic War, when the invaders occupied the city of Kremenchuk, at the request of local residents, it was allowed in 1942 to rule the service in the Church of the Intercession. The temple, devastated, devoid of a dome and a bell tower, was again filled with parishioners. In a short time, people brought what survived: icons, books, and vessels.
From then until 1957, believers prayed in the church. In 1957, the Soviet authorities again “hung a lock” on the church doors.
Since the late 50s, another anti-religious campaign has been unfolding in the Soviet Union, aimed at closing most of the existing churches.
After the church was closed in 1961, all the property of the church was confiscated, part of it was in the museum of atheism, which was located in the church, but subsequently disappeared, only the altar Gospel of the 18th century was preserved. In 1975, a village club was organized in this building. Since the old clay club collapsed, Soviet films were shown inside the church [6, p. 73-74].
On October 23, 1983, the Kamenopototsky Public Museum of Scientific Atheism was opened in the church. History teacher Vegan Ivan Pavlovich was appointed the first director of the museum.
The time of Gorbachev’s perestroika has come. The Communist Party was losing its power. Democracy was gaining ground more and more in society. And in 1989, the believers of the village formed a church community, and at a meeting of peasants, they decided to open the service of God in the church. In early 1990, by decision of the rural community, the museum of atheism was closed, and the building was transferred to a religious organization [5, p. 57].
Despite the obstacles, refusal, and delay on the part of the local authorities, the community of the Intercession Church was registered by the state authorities on December 25, 1992, as the community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate under number 462. After the state registration of the Holy Intercession Church, the premises of the temple were transferred. The community was made up of parishioners of the 1940s and 1950s, stable, hardworking people. They immediately began the restoration of the temple. They collected funds and tirelessly worked on the external and internal appearance of the church. The choir immediately appeared. And with the appointment of the first rector, Priest Ivan Korostyl, the prayerful-Eucharistic life of the parish improved. During the first year, repairs were made, the iconostasis was built, and new bells purchased in Moscow rang.
After the Ascension of the Lord, in 1992, priest Sergei Panchuk was appointed rector of the church. The church has changed dramatically in recent years. A carved iconostasis, carved icon cases, blue and kliros were created. In 1994, the dome was rebuilt, and in 1995, the bell tower. In 1998, the construction of a church house began, which, together with the temple, created a harmonious ensemble [3, p. 145-148]. From 2011-to 2012, the external facade of the church was restored, old wooden doors and windows were replaced, and work was carried out on the decorative design of the courtyard.
Of course, the restoration and construction works listed above would not have been possible without the help of benefactors. Over the years, various enterprises and individuals have helped the parish.
The church has a Sunday school for children and adults, where parishioners can improve their spiritual level, and there is a nursery group for kids. Priests of the parish take care of children serving sentences in the Kremenchuk educational colony, give them moral support and carry out educational work.
On October 11, 2013, the Holy Intercession Church in the village of Kamenny Potoky celebrated its 100th anniversary. The celebration lasted three days – October 11, 13 and 14
rya, to the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, in whose honour the temple is named. The holiday program included the following events:
• an exhibition of works by Sunday school pupils was organized in the city’s Petrovsky Palace of Culture in Kremenchuk;
• a concert was held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Holy Intercession Church;
• On October 14, the parish celebrated a temple feast;
• on the Day of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the church itself in Stone Streams, a prayer service was served, a liturgy, a procession and a meal were held.
Parishioners always greet guests with sincere joy and hospitality.
Author: Guziy Tatyana Nikolaevna
Source: “Kremenchuk region in the context of the history of Ukraine” 2013
LITERATURE
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