John theological monastery Makarovka. St. John the Theologian Makarovsky Monastery, Saransk

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

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

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

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

On August 3, 2000, His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, as part of a two-day visit to Mordovia, visited the Makarov Monastery, where he examined the temple complex, and, responding to the welcoming speech of the Viceroy of the monastery, Archimandrite Vladimir (Chebotarev), gave the Primate's blessing from the pulpit brethren, and then, together with the leadership of the republic, took part in a solemn reception at the residence of Archbishop Barsanuphius.

An event of great importance for the monastery was the consecration of the winter church of the Archangel Michael on November 21, 2002. During that year, with the financial support of benefactors (may their names be inscribed by the Lord in the Book of Life), it was possible to restore this temple, which was left by museum workers in the most deplorable condition. It brought particular joy to the brethren and local residents that the temple was returned to the Church exactly on its three hundredth anniversary. Now daily services are held there and the Liturgy is celebrated.

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

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

A distinctive feature of our monastery is the strictly Statutory church service; the monastery priests regularly and in accordance with the Charter perform all the Church Sacraments necessary for the local population, and also with their pastoral words they help people who come to the monastery to resolve pressing issues of spiritual life. On Sunday mornings, a prayer service with an akathist and blessing of water is performed in front of the locally revered icon of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice” for those suffering from drunkenness and drug addiction.

Currently, the brethren of the monastery consists of twenty people, several more novices are on probation. In addition to Abbot Lazar, the most famous inhabitants of the monastery are Schema-Archimandrite Pitirim (Peregudov), a student of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, an elder of strict monastic life, and the Spiritual Father of the monastery, Schema-Abbot Feofan (Dankov), who carries out the feat of spiritual care not only for the brethren, but also for those who come to the monastery numerous pilgrims from all corners of the Russian Federation.

As monastic life develops, the St. John the Theologian Makarov Monastery under the heavenly protection of the Apostle John the Theologian will, God willing, occupy an increasingly increasing role in the spiritual life of the capital of Mordovia, especially in the field of missionary, educational and anti-sectarian activities.

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

“When they light a candle, they do not put it under a basket, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:15)

We stopped at this monastery on the way back home, on the day when we were making a long voyage along the route Lipetsk - Belinsky - Tarkhany - - - Makarovka - Lipetsk. How did we manage, having gone to congratulate the people of Penzyak on City Day, to end up in Mordovia and all this in one day? You have to know how to do it :-)) We ourselves don’t always understand how it takes us to places that were not originally planned. But the result always exceeds the wildest expectations: the main thing is to plot a route into the alluring distance, find the right road and hold the steering wheel firmly. I wish the same for you: open the world, people, yourself - and let your guiding star shine for you, and it is only in your hands to make sure that it does not go out.

St. John the Theologian Monastery, located 5 kilometers from the city of Saransk in the village of Makarovka, is an outstanding architectural monument of the 17th-18th centuries. This monastery of Mordovia can be called both old and young. And here's why: the point is that in its embryonic form it existed for 200 years, then disappeared, and only today has it finally turned into a real monastery.
The lands on which the monastery is located belonged to the Polyansky boyars since the 17th century. A representative of the family Makar Artemyevich Polyansky, from whose name the name of the churchyard and the village of Makarovka comes, served in Moscow, took possession of the lands in 1686, and in 1700 moved to Saransk from Moscow. After this, a churchyard was founded on his lands. I note that the Polyansky landowners built the entire complex for themselves and allowed believers only into their “home monastery.” The churchyard became a parish when the Polyanskys finally left this area and sold the estate to several owners. After the revolution, services at the churchyard were stopped, and all its buildings, except for the St. John the Theological Cathedral and the bell tower, were demolished. In 1941, it was planned to place a rifle regiment in the churchyard and in the village, then an evacuated garment factory, and an industrial plant.

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In 1946, the St. John the Theological Cathedral was returned to the believers, and in 1961 the temple was closed again. Since 1969, long-term restoration work began in Makarovka. In 1987, residents of the village. Makarovka, with the assistance of believers from the villages of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldatskoye through His Holiness Patriarch Pimen (1990), managed to request the St. John the Theological Cathedral and the bell tower for holding divine services. In 1994, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', by the decision of His Eminence Barsanuphius, Archbishop of Saransk and Mordovia, the St. John the Theological Monastery was opened. Currently, the monastery is the residence of the Metropolitan of Saransk and Mordovia. The monastery's activities are based on the statute of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

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

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

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Currently, the brethren of the monastery consists of twenty people, several more novices are on probation.

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

The following sources were used in preparing this post:

This Saransk monastery can be called both old and young. The point is that in its rudimentary form it existed for 200 years, then disappeared and only today has it finally turned into a real monastery. This refers to the Makarovsky Pogost, recognized as a cultural, historical and architectural monument of Russian significance. The previous history of the churchyard may not be considered strictly monastic, but a very strange cultural and spiritual center kindled in the suburban Makarovka. Officially, the churchyard was recognized as a parish church. The directory “Churches, clergy and parishes of the Penza diocese” said that the village of Makarovka was part of the first deanery district of the Saransk district, that there was a cold stone church in the name of John the Evangelist (which had a warm St. Michael the Archangel Church), and that the parish consisted from the village itself and the villages of Lukhovka, Kulikovka and Soldatskoye - a total of 1697 male souls and 1797 female souls. However, Makarov churches were not ordinary parish churches. The directory did not take into account another church - Znamenskaya, and did not say anything at all about the fact that in the Archangel Michael Church there were no services for parishioners, as well as in Znamensky: both of these churches were house churches, because they were combined with two almshouses , female and male. In addition, almost until the 20th century, the owners of the entire churchyard were considered not the parishioners, but the Polyansky landowners, who built the entire complex for themselves and only allowed believers into their “home monastery.” The churchyard became a parish when the Polyanskys finally left our region and sold the estate to several owners.

Parity characteristics of ownership appeared in the mid-19th century, when the owners of Makarovka recognized the rights of the diocese to churches. The landowners still paid for the work of the clergy, took on the costs of repairing churches and maintaining the elderly in almshouses, but part of the rights and expenses fell on the believers.

Thus, in 1866, Alexander Alexandrovich Polyansky received official gratitude from Penza for donating 570 rubles for the renovation of the St. John the Theologian Church. The last major renovation of churches took place in 1882, when the widow of A. A. Polyansky Antonia Fedorovna, a Lutheran by faith, arrived briefly from Vienna to Makarovka, reviewed the financial and economic situation of the estate and donated a huge sum of 4,000 rubles to update the iconostasis of the cold church.

In general terms, the history of the churchyard developed as follows. The extensive Polyansky family occupied important government positions in Moscow. Duma clerk Danila Leontyevich Polyansky at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century carried out important assignments of Peter the Great, including conducting a search for abuses of the Siberian governors; Before that, he served in the Secret Order, under the hand of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. His brother Eremey Leontievich Polyansky began as a clerk in the order of the Big Palace, was engaged in the search for ores in Siberia, went on assignments to the Ponizov cities, served in the Reitarsky, Inozemny, and Razryadny orders. The Polyanskys were influential people, so legends arose around them, which turned out to be quite persistent. Makar Polyansky, for example, was considered the governor of the Kazan region, although in fact he served in the Order of the Kazan Palace; he was also known as the personal secretary of Peter the Great, although they were E.I. Ukraintsev (who, by the way, owned considerable estates in our region) and A.V. Makarov. Makar Artemyevich Polyansky served in the Detective Prikaz from 1660, traveled a lot around the country, and ended his career as a mediocre clerk in the institution that managed the territory of the Ponizov cities - the Prikaz of the Kazan Palace.

He retired in 1700 and finally moved to Saransk, to the estate of his father Artemy Emelyanovich, who for many years served as a clerk in the Saransk clerk's hut.

Construction on the estate began immediately. At the same time, a residential building was created (“castle”, as people called it) and two churches nearby. The small stone church in the name of Michael the Archangel was not built for the peasants at all, but for the landowner’s family. It was built according to a rare type “under the bells”, when the octagon above the quadrangle formed not a chapter, but a bell tower. Thus, there was no overhead light in the church, but heating it did not cost much. In 1704, the construction of a large temple in the name of John the Evangelist was completed, which became the Polyansky family sanctuary for two long centuries. In the vacant Michael the Archangel Church, Makar Artemyevich placed a men's almshouse, having previously enlarged the structure with a refectory and sleeping quarters. “At this warm church,” wrote A. I. Polyansky in one of his petitions in 1803, “in the existing large meal, divided by a stone wall into two chambers... into which about a hundred years ago my ancestors... built they would serve as one place of rest - an ordinary church meal, and another place as a place of rest for a hospital almshouse... for ten males.” Despite favorable conditions for development, the Makarov almshouse did not develop into a real monastery - this, obviously, was not what the owners wanted, because the establishment of the monastery would inevitably entail the alienation of buildings and part of the land required for its maintenance. And so the Polyanskys personally kept the charity house, compensating for their earthly sins before God.

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

In 1763, the owner of a couple of men's almshouses built the same women's almshouse, but without a church. In the 1780s, two outbuildings for servants, a cattle yard, a manager's house, five stone barns, three bridges over rivers were erected in Makarovka, the manor house was renovated, the iconostasis was re-painted, and a clock was installed on the bell tower. In 1803, he asked permission to add the Temple of the Sign to it, thereby “performing mercy that was not completed by our ancestors.” The women's community also consisted of ten people. Having received the appropriate permission from the spiritual authorities, Polyansky supplemented the almshouse with the Znamenskaya Church, copied from the outlines of St. Michael the Archangel, and thereby achieved the illusion of simultaneity and complexity of the design of the entire ensemble as a whole. The Polyanskys cannot be denied good taste!

In this form, the Makarovsky churchyard came to the 20th century.

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

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

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

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

The main effect is created by a combination of simple and complex, and in the simple one one feels the arc of the complex calculations of the architects, and in the complex one their spontaneity is felt. The appearance of buildings is dominated by a tower-like appearance, and this is understandable if we remember that the shortage of high-rise dominants turned the area where Makarovka was born into a dull and boring environment. God himself ordered the bell tower to be pulled up, but the Church of St. John the Evangelist was built as a tower, and its elevations exceeded the parameters of the bell tower. The main church of the churchyard happily avoided being burdened with extensions and side churches; it retained the purity of the plan and the precision of the idea, which made it noticeably different from other buildings of the early 18th century, which were rebuilt many times over the past decades. The Archangel Michael and Znamenskaya churches, designed in horizontal lines, nevertheless also threw into the sky not their heads, but tower-type belfries. Finally, two corner towers, more decorative than functional, completed the strict roll call of high-rise replicas. In the churchyard, everything is provided for, down to the smallest detail, and this captivates even people who are not experienced in art. The height of the first tier of the bell tower was not determined by eye; the craftsman’s intuition was checked against strict planimetry. The calculation was made in this way: the wall of the first tier of the bell tower stretched to the point where an imaginary line drawn from the apple of the Church of St. John the Theologian through the apple of the temple of the men's almshouse intersected with the vertical. The second tier of the belfry corresponded in height to the apses of the central church, and the upper octagons were placed with greater freedom, because their idea belonged to other authors. One can also discern a pattern in the proportions of small churches, at least in the fact that their vertical parameters were compared with the cornice of the attic third tier of the Church of St. John the Theologian. The total height of the corner towers did not exceed the dimensions of the apses of the main church, and here, too, the intelligence of the architects is visible, creating not so much a fortress as its imitation.

These are just some observations on the proportionality of the parts of the ensemble, but even in the first approach to analyzing the architecture of the churchyard, the origins of its beauty are visible: without a precisely verified correlation of the parts of the complex, harmony would not have been achieved, and the aesthetic fullness of this amazing monument would have been flawed. During the years of rampant barbaric atheism, the churchyard lost all its secondary elements - the wall, corner towers, the Znamenskaya Church of the women's almshouse and the Church of St. Michael the Archangel along with the men's almshouse. Left almost alone, the Church of St. John the Theologian stood on a vacant lot like an epic giant, but the bell tower looked like an alien body, because its distance from the church became completely inexplicable. The restorers not only restored the destroyed objects, they restored the purposefulness of the construction of the graveyard and retold the plot of this inspired poem made of stone.

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

The two temples turned out to be almost the same age in terms of construction time. Michael the Archangel Church was consecrated in 1702, St. John the Theologian Church in 1704. But this did not mean that Makar Polyansky founded the large temple later than the small one; more likely, another thing is that the main building began construction earlier, and then the owner decided to complement the cold church with a warm one. The scale and complexity of the masonry of these two churches are incomparable; Mikhailo-Arkhangelskaya was just fun for the masons, so it was built very quickly. But the Church of St. John the Theologian, which required figured bricks of dozens, if not hundreds of varieties, required enormous painstaking work from the builders. Polyansky, who participated in the construction of a fortress in Samara in 1689 and had some construction experience, is unlikely to have immediately imagined the entire churchyard. He found a convenient place for a large temple and placed it so that the village remained to the east, beyond the stream. At the same time, Makar Artemyevich did not intend to equalize the rights of the temple with the estate palace, so the church turned out to be moved away from the axis of the “castle” by a hundred meters. Inspired by his own architectural courage, Polyansky united both churches with a common isolated area, surrounded by a wall, and, according to monastic custom, on the western side he outlined a place for the holy gates and bell tower. In Saransk, something similar appeared only at the end of the 18th century, with the completion of the construction of the Peter and Paul Monastery. Makarovka was located in close proximity to the line, but on the side of the field, where the mansions could not serve as protection in any way. This means that the churchyard conceived by Polyansky was supposed to simultaneously fulfill three roles - a fortress, a sanctuary and a “warning” point. Hence some of the architectural features of the buildings. The idea to erect a bell tower appeared relatively late; at first Makar Polyansky wanted to limit himself to a winter church “with bells”, with a belfry instead of a dome. Here you have splendor and the opportunity to raise the alarm bells in case of unexpected guests. The basement of the Church of St. John the Theologian, impressive enough to accommodate many people, was built very firmly, with powerful walls cut through with small windows just above the ground. The iron entrance door to the basement was covered with a porch, which did not allow the besiegers to use a log-ram. But the besieged themselves had a good view from the windows covered with thick bars: the all-round shelling meant a lot. After the reconstruction of the second half of the 19th century, the defensive elements of the temple somewhat faded, but even today, studying the design features of the Church of St. John the Theologian, one cannot help but assume the existence of certain tactical plans that prompted the first owner to design the temple-tower. In the old days, people said that the Polyanskys kept an arsenal in the basement for a long time, and then - part of their archive. In general, M. A. Polyansky formed an ensemble that could clearly demonstrate the prestige of the owner. And he achieved his goal, because even the fortress in Saransk, despite its impressive size, paled in comparison with the churchyard and the Makarov estate.

The Church of St. John the Theologian, dominating the area, was immediately designed as a dominant structure, and everything in it was subordinated to this task. The main part of the building was a slender quadrangle, devoid of aisles and completed with a hipped roof; On the tent, unknown architects placed two octagons one on top of the other - a light drum and a dome crowned with an onion with a cross. The result was something between a tower and a church, while the architects took care to subtly but effectively brighten up the monotony of the structure. Firstly, the authors of this outstanding building abandoned the square and laid out the temple in the form of a somewhat elongated rectangle: three windows fit in a row on the eastern façade, and four on the southern and northern facades. However, the asymmetry did not affect the key significance of the front western facade with the entrance door cut through the basement and the porch, which was large in size and shaped. To contain the excessive lightness of the narrow wall soaring upward, the architects on the western facade removed large first-light windows, thus emphasizing the fundamentality and strength of the structure. The second and third lights had the same architectural design as the windows on the other facades.

The overall understanding of the entire building came down to two tasks - it was necessary to “throw” the temple into the sky and at the same time keep it on the ground. All architects who undertook the construction of churches faced similar problems, but from numerous practice-tested methods, in each specific case the architects chose the most acceptable ones. The most common techniques were the following: in order to visually increase the height of the building, its facades were divided in height into parts by pilasters or semi-columns, and in order to keep the building close to the ground, it was divided horizontally by cornices. This is exactly what the authors of the St. John the Theologian Church applied. Using an order system, they divided the western façade into three vertical sectors (intercolumnium), and the northern and southern ones into four. Each intercolumnium corresponded to a window, and since the horizontal plane of the walls was divided into three parts, each intercolumnium had three windows located one above the other. But this is a standard solution. What was non-standard was that the architects who planned the three tiers of the temple kept the same width of the tiers and varied only their heights, and the difference in heights is not very noticeable at first glance. A rather massive first tier was placed above the basement (ramp), which had grown into the ground, the height of which corresponded to the apses; the second tier seemed to have shrunk in comparison with the first, and the third turned out to be very small; it served as an attic. The windows of the tiers were also decorated differently: on the first they were decorated with arched frames (sandriks), on the second with triangular pediments, but the windows of the third tier had the appearance of octagons, which once again emphasized the antiquity of the completion of the quadrangle. The decor of the walls included hermetic frames of window openings, complex and deep cornices, curbs and many other elements, the execution of which could only be done by high-class masons. We didn’t have such masters then; Makar Polyansky most likely found specialists in distant lands, just as he imported building materials from Kazan.

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

Respect for the founding ancestor was visible even in the fact that the second almshouse with the temple was copied from the Archangel Michael Church, although the fashion for such a style had irrevocably passed by that time. Good taste is more valuable than fashion, and the owners of Makarovka understood that by placing a building in the style of St. Petersburg Baroque or Classicism inside the fence, they would cause irreparable damage to the aesthetics of the landscape and architectural complex. The alterations of the 19th century affected only the details: the tiled covering was replaced with iron, the tent on the bell tower was supplemented with a dome, and some frescoes in the Church of St. John the Theologian were rewritten (in 1882, when the entire iconostasis was changed, re-carved from wood by the Insar master Smolin and filled with icons by Moscow isographers ).

A great benefit for Mordovian monasticism was that it received a ready-made monastery, brought to a very decent condition by the efforts of restorers. All that remains is to complete what has been started: to completely restore the iconostasis, frescoes, interiors of almshouses, and the park.

St. John the Theologian Makarov Monastery is a functioning Orthodox monastery located in Mordovia, in the village of Makarovka, located just five kilometers from the city of Saransk. The unique architectural complex of the St. John the Theologian Monastery is located on the territory of the Makarovsky Pogost. The cult ensemble includes the Church of the Archangel Michael, the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian, the Church of the Sign of the Mother of God, the gate bell tower, and a fence with two towers. In the St. John the Theological Cathedral there is an exact copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice”, which cures patients with drug addiction and alcoholism. In the territory Makarovsky Pogost There are two miraculous springs.

The emergence of a cult complex of the St. John the Theologian Monastery Historians date it back to the 18th century. The creators are landowners of the Polyansky family. Makarovsky Pogost is named after its founder Makar Artemyevich Polyansky, who ruled the Kazan region under Tsar Peter I until 1700. Having retired from government affairs, he moved to Saransk, expanded the lands inherited from his father, and began construction John the Theological Cathedral, which later became his temple-tomb. Makar Artemyevich Polyansky was a powerful, persistent, stubborn and tough man. He himself worked tirelessly and did not let others down, for example, he did not let passers-by pass through his territory until they had worked for a certain time on the construction of the temple.

The first in the cult ensemble of the St. John the Theologian Makarov Monastery was built Temple of Michael the Archangel in 1702. Two years later, the domes of St. John the Theologian Cathedral sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. In 1730, a gate bell tower and a fence with two towers were completed, the construction of which lasted ten years. At the beginning of the 19th century it was built Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God. The establishment of the St. John the Theologian Monastery took place in 1994. Makarovsky Pogost is currently not only a religious complex, but also a magnificent monument of Russian construction, on the territory of which, in addition to churches, there are almshouses, outbuildings, barns, bridges, ponds and a park.

Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice”, was revealed to a drunken peasant in a dream in 1878. This peasant drank everything he had, reached a state of poverty and lost the ability to walk. An old man appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to go to the monastery of the Lady Theotokos. After the elder’s first appearance, the peasant did not listen to him. Then the elder appeared to him in two more dreams and was already more formidable. The peasant began his journey on all fours, and approached the monastery, already leaning on a stick. The monastery did not understand what kind of icon they were talking about, but, in the end, they found it in one passage. After the prayer service, the peasant returned home an absolutely healthy man. Later, the miraculous icon was transferred to the Intercession Church of the Vysotsky Monastery, and its exact list is kept in the St. John the Theologian Cathedral.

Photos of St. John the Theologian Makarov Monastery

Thousands of believers in the most remote corners of Russia and even abroad say with gratitude: “Father Theophan helped!” These words are spoken when the Lord gives the long-awaited firstborn. When the husband returns to the family or stops abusing alcohol. When an incurable disease recedes. When the soul becomes light... Hundreds of pilgrims every day go to Schema-Archimandrite Theophan at the Makarovsky St. John the Theological Monastery: some for consolation, others for healing or good advice. For many, the priest became the most dear person on Earth. For the first time, the elder agreed to talk with journalists and let them into his cell. Mikhail Nikishin listened to Feofan’s life story and spiritual instructions.

...Father was slightly worried, shuddering from the clicks of the camera. “It’s not all mine - flashes, beautiful words and poses, popularity,” says the confessor. - Monastic obedience, prayer and fasting - that’s the main thing. In my cell I pray to our Lord for all those who grieve, who are sick, who have stumbled and who have fallen into the captivity of Satan...” And the best proof of these words is the unearthly light pouring from pure and wise eyes...

Feat

Eldership is a special monastic feat that has been revered in Rus' at all times. They say that much more is revealed to true spirit-bearing elders than to ordinary priests. After many years of seclusion, ascetics matured in spirit came out to people and, by the grace of God, healed ailments, consoled sorrows, and gave advice. Nowadays, eldership has become an extremely rare phenomenon. Only out of great mercy does God send true shepherds in whose souls grace lives. People themselves are drawn to such righteous people, despite the fact that communication with them gives them a feeling of their own imperfection and sinfulness. Eldership is a special service that the Lord gives only to the SELECTED. Among them is Father Feofan, the confessor of the Makarov monastery and the entire Saransk diocese. At a young age he dedicated himself to serving God. For many years now he has continued to pray for everyone...

Childhood

Father Feofan (in the world Vladimir Fedorovich Dankov) was born on June 15, 1935 in the Penza village of Orlovka. An ordinary peasant family. His father Fyodor Vasilyevich was an ardent communist, a builder of a new life, and his mother Maria Petrovna was deeply religious. The woman tried to instill the Orthodox faith in her four children. My father went to the front in January 1942, and in March a funeral was sent to him. The war became a difficult test for the widow, who was left with small children. Vladimir grew up meek, quiet and... very religious. In a Soviet village, it is not easy for a boy to confess Christ. He had no friends. As soon as they saw the “renegade”, the children shouted with laughter: “The priest is coming!” The boy tried to quickly slip past and avoid conflicts. He endured everything: cold, hunger, ridicule... He graduated from elementary school, but did not attend a seven-year school in a neighboring village, because there was nothing to wear or put on shoes. “I was sitting on the stove in only a shirt,” recalls Father Feofan. “We lived in great poverty, only faith in the Lord helped.” Frozen potatoes, secretly dug up from a collective farm field, were considered a great delicacy. But even in such difficult times, Maria Petrovna taught the children to fast. She was repeatedly summoned to the village council and punished for starving children. The mother was silent, but did not deviate from church canons. The boy's first spiritual mentor was a pious old man named Gregory, who came from nowhere and settled with a neighbor. “He was a man of great spiritual strength and faith,” recalls Feofan. “He taught my mother and me to pray correctly. On Sundays and holidays people flocked to him. For this, the authorities hated Father Gregory and dreamed of getting rid of him... So I grew up under his supervision.” The hostess was forced to kick the guest out of the house, but she resisted. The elder was repeatedly taken to the area for investigation and intimidation. Entering the boss’s office, he took off his headdress. They say to him: “Have you taken off your hat, grandfather? Did you come to church or something?” And he points to the portraits: “Your leaders are also sitting without hats.” “Do you even know who this is?” - the communists got excited. "Don't know. Maybe Satan himself,” answered Grigory... Father Feofan laughed like a child, remembering the fearlessness of his mentor... When Volodya grew up a little, he went to the collective farm to plow with oxen. Later, after professional mobilization, he went to the Urals, studied at a technical school to become a carpenter, and worked on factory construction sites for several years. Returning home, he was drafted to serve in the Pacific Fleet. Enlisted in the Coast Guard. There he also received punishment for his faith. In class, the political officers desperately tried to straighten the brains of the skinny peasant guy, but he turned out to be hard as a stone. At midnight he quietly left the barracks to pray. One day, Vladimir Dankov was admitted to the hospital, where an emergency occurred - a fighter hanged himself. A commission came from Moscow to check and went to the wards. The general looked at the blue soldier and said: “Commit this one, otherwise he’ll hang himself too.” “That’s how the Lord helped me get out of there,” concludes Father Feofan.

Priest

Returned home for Christmas 1957. In the spring he began to tend the village flock. In Khrushchev's times, persecution of the church flared up with renewed vigor, but it was then that the guy made the main decision in his life - to devote himself to serving God. One day I went 30 kilometers to the temple in the village of Bashmakova and... stayed there forever. “The guys have one thing on their mind: wine, cinema and dancing, but I didn’t understand this at all,” says Feofan. - I thought: how can you live without God? Once he came to Bashmakovo, he never left the church again. He was a watchman, then he learned to read Church Slavonic and sing. Only poor grandmothers went to the temple, whom the authorities did not touch, but they could not give anything to the priests. Then I myself will go for alms, asking for firewood or coal to heat the stove in the temple. They asked me - for whom, they say? I said it was for myself, and they willingly gave it to me.” The young man was noticed by the Bishop of Penza and Saransk Melchizedek (Lebedev) and offered to become a priest. Vladimir agreed.

The bishop took him to the village of Zhuravki, Zubovo-Polyansky district, where on March 17, 1977 he was elevated to the rank. Our interlocutor served there for 5 years. Everything would be fine, but the parish elder loved to set her own rules: she personally decided who could be baptized and married...

The priest did not like this very much, but, as always, he tried to do without conflict. Meanwhile, in the Elnikovsky village of Kamenny Brod, Father Nikifor grew old, and his son invited Father Vladimir to move there as a second priest. “In those same years, I decided to become a monk,” says the elder. - The new Penza Bishop Seraphim (Tikhonov) gave his blessing to go to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There I found Elder Kirill (Pavlov), who also blessed me and gave me everything he had for tonsure: a mantle, a hood, a cassock, a belt.” In 1982, the priest became a monk with the name Theodosius, and upon his return from the Lavra, a decision awaited him to transfer to Kamenny Brod...

In Zhuravki they came to their senses, went to the bishop, and asked to return their beloved priest. “They grieved for me, so I was not glad that I left,” Feofan recalls with a smile. - But in the new place I’m lucky: I can baptize and get married without problems, and that’s what I need. Once, in one Sunday, he performed 75 christenings and 18 weddings. And usually there were more than ten sacraments a day. When there is pressure from above, people, on the contrary, strive more for God. A communist will come to me and ask me to secretly baptize him. Everyone in the area knew about it, but no one gave me away. The bosses verbally forbade me to baptize, but they themselves secretly came and performed the ceremony. One day a party organizer came... At the end of the conversation, I accepted his confession, and soon he got married to his wife.”

Jerome

With the opening of the Sanaksar Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery, Father Theodosius became one of the brethren, and in 1992 he was tonsured into the schema with the name Theophanes. There was a stream of pilgrims from all over Russia. In Sanaksar they could come into contact with the spirit-bearing elders Jerome and Pitirim and ask them for advice and prayer.

“We were very friendly with Father Jerome, may he rest in heaven,” says Feofan. - When we served in the parish, we went to visit each other on holidays. And when the Sanaksar monastery opened, we went there together. Now many ungodly people hide behind the name of Father Jerome. They say that he left some kind of spiritual testament predicting the fate of Russia. It's all a lie! Yes, Father Jerome was perspicacious, he served honestly, he prayed and worked tirelessly. In the summer we mowed the grass. I remember that at 5 o’clock in the morning we’ll take about five people with us and go into the weeds, and by noon we’ll have mowed down the haystack. Firewood was collected together, the garden was cultivated, and snow was removed in winter. We worked every day, all with prayer, and slept 4-5 hours a day. Father Jerome is a true ascetic. Farsightedness is not given to everyone.”

Makarovka

In 1995, with the blessing of Bishop Barsanuphius of Saransk and Mordovia, Father Theophan became a confessor at the newly opened Chufarovsky Holy Trinity Monastery, where a stream of people wishing to attend a lecture moved. Later, schema-abbot Feofan was transferred to the Makarovsky Monastery. Now this monastery is known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. People even come to see the priest from America and Germany, not to mention the neighboring countries. One of the women, who had visited all the holy places, said briefly: “You don’t have to go to Jerusalem anymore. Here is the Holy Land for us, the Lord generously pours out His grace on the monastery and all those who come.” Pilgrims say only good things about the confessor of the monastery. Thank you letters are often sent. “Today I came from Father Feofan, I can’t count the number of times I came... There are no words to convey the grace that I received. Let me just say that I fell in love with him very much... He is good and kind. It is on such priests that the Orthodox faith rests. Having communicated with Feofan, you receive only joy and grace, and all the troubles of life seem such a trifle ... "

Father Theophan today has the rank of Schema-Archimandrite. He is the confessor not only of the monastery, but of the entire diocese. Monastics and clergy even from other regions come to him for confession. “Why are we given suffering and illness? - the old man asks. - It is written in the Gospel: “Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.” If people live piously and pleasing to God, keep the commandments, they will always be healthy. Man is a precious vessel, but he is all stained with sins, vices and passions. The Lord cleanses him in the crucible of sorrows and illnesses, reproaches and misfortunes. He gets sick, prays, repents, and then the Almighty delivers him from eternal torment...”

He is always surrounded by many people. Not once did he make it clear that someone had arrived at the wrong time, that he himself was unwell, tired and had no time. In his hands is a large pile of memorial notes. They are also stuffed into his pockets, lying in his bag, and in his heart are thousands of names of people for whom he prays. “Sometimes I get three busloads of visitors a day. Today people need spiritual cleansing. We must live according to the Gospel,” explains Father Feofan. - You should think about your future fate. Everything physical will end, and the soul will go to God! Think about how you live and what things you do! If you sow good things, then the Lord will glorify you in the Kingdom of God. If you sinned, did harm, measured everything by money and wealth, then you will go to Satan.”

Most of the priest’s time is spent in prayers with prostrations to the ground. A variety of people come to the monastery. The elder instructs them on the true path, confesses, chastises, and gives penance to blot out grave sins. And if a person does not fulfill it, then the priest has to do it himself. When visitors find out about this, they are overcome with shame. The thought that the elder bows down for you or reads the canon of repentance becomes unbearable...

People sometimes don’t understand why they stopped getting sick, why they feel happy and at ease. And like an epiphany: “Father Theophan prayed and helped!” People unconditionally believe in the prayers of the elder. And they often go overboard. They ask for everything! “They don’t want to work spiritually themselves, they’ll give me the notes and wait for everything in their life to improve for the better,” Feofan shakes his head reproachfully. - Of course, times are difficult now. Production and agriculture are collapsing, many are without work. For many years the state prohibited faith, but now it allows it, but the people themselves have already become corrupted. For many years our ancestors taught us to live without the Lord, but what good can we learn in such conditions? Young people are becoming more and more interested in drunkenness, hooliganism, and drug addiction. A drug addict is a person who is no longer capable of life. And here it’s all in fashion, as if it’s the way it should be. A lot of people like that come to me. You have to fight for yourself! Who will help you if you don’t want to improve yourself? It’s terrifying to see how many such patients there are now. And all because they live without God and are carried away by pleasure. Wine, cinema, dancing, debauchery... People today do not care about salvation.”

He greets everyone who comes to Father Feofan with love and affection. Receiving a blessing from an elder is a great joy for any pilgrim. His eyes glow with unearthly tenderness when very little children run up. “A believer lives according to his conscience,” says the elder. - People began to remember this word less and less. Although all that is required of us is love for our neighbor and honest work. The Lord tells us: be merciful, like your Heavenly Father. With these words, Jesus points to the highest role model. There are worthy role models on earth, but the greatest is our Heavenly Father.”

End of the world

The elder is sincerely confident that the Lord hears those who live pleasing to God. And one must pray with great contrition and warmth of heart. A huge number of people gather to lecture him. Long before the prayer service, they surround the elder’s log cell and line up all the way to the temple to receive a blessing and ask a question.

Suddenly a whisper spreads throughout the monastery: “The elder has left.” And people rush to him - as to their last hope...

“I go into the church, and there are all the sick people,” the priest sighs. - Today there is a demon in many people. And there are more and more of them... And there are so many magicians and sorcerers around! They release unclean literature and transport it in trains to Saransk. They say: come to me, I will bewitch you a good wife, and I will bewitch you a rich groom. And if you don’t like it, I’ll open it right away. And people believe. Then they come to me: here, father, they have spoken to me, they have damaged me, help me! Various sectarians scare people with chatter about the end of the world. Yes, the Gospel says that the time will come and there will be earthquakes, disasters, wars in some places, but this is not the end of the world... When faith dries up in people, then expect trouble. If we don’t change anything in our current life, then we will get close to a terrible event. The end of the world is near, but only the Lord knows the exact date... So my demoniacs are screaming, barking, and growling. It’s scary - at least run from the church!”

Dream

Father Feofan knew many famous elders. I visited Nikolai (Guryanov) on Zalita Island. Received confession from Elijah of Optina. Elder Kirill (Pavlov) gave him his monastic vestments. I talked with John (Krestyankin) from the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery... No one is given to know what the spirit-bearing men were talking about. One thing is certain - the thread of continuity of eldership in Rus' has not been broken. During the years of hard times, they illuminated troubled times and gave hope for spiritual salvation. Father Feofan considers himself unworthy in everything. He spoke very harshly about himself: I have no true humility, only sins... “What are you dreaming about?” - asked the correspondent “S”. The old man’s eyes instantly filled with youth and light, and his face lit up with a smile. “I am a sinner. So I dream of how I could inherit the Kingdom of God and get rid of eternal torment. Our vain world is only a temporary home, but eternity is life in the Lord...”