Orthodox communities in the village. We are building an Orthodox village from scratch

KPR: When the conversation turns to any Orthodox settlement, for some reason the average person immediately thinks: strange people. But they themselves don’t really understand why suddenly adults, accomplished people make such an important decision in their lives to leave the bustle of the city closer to the ground. Still, it’s interesting, when and under the influence of what did you come up with the idea of ​​​​creating a settlement?

A.R.: In fact, it all started in October 2003, when we managed to relatively inexpensively purchase a huge unfinished cottage on the border of the Moscow and Vladimir regions. However, the very idea of ​​​​creating an Orthodox settlement was born much earlier. We have been looking for a building site in the Kaluga and Tver regions for quite some time, but we chose the Vladimir region. This is probably symbolic to some extent: the liberation of the country from the Mongol-Tatar yoke began with the revival of the Vladimir lands.

KPR: How was the community team formed, what contributed?

A.R.: The team itself was formed from a near-entrepreneurial environment. In our free time, we went on pilgrimage trips together, and in Moscow we helped each other in solving various business problems. Then came the realization that “tough times” lay ahead, and we must be ready to stand shoulder to shoulder to protect not only our business, but also our families. To do this, you must, at a minimum, live close to each other.

KPR: What are these beliefs associated with? Do you think there are any today real threats, which contribute to the awareness of the need for such settlements?

A.R.: Personally, I am deeply convinced that in about 10 years something similar to what happened in Grozny in the early 90s will begin in the developed cities of Russia. Apartments and property will be taken away from Russians, and with the country's accession to the WTO, a stream of cheap labor will come to us, which, instead of actually working, will begin to engage in outright crime. Moreover, no matter how much we hate it, the collapse of Russia and the anarchy that follows - objective reality, a hundred times more likely than the revival of our state. Of course, you can bury your head in the sand or trumpet about doubling GDP and mythical successes, but the demographic gap of one and a half million Russians per year will force us to reckon with it in just ten years. Currently, we no longer have to think about restoring a great country, but about preserving the Russian ethnicity and Orthodoxy as such, because without Russians no one will bear the burden of being the guardians of the true faith.

KPR: A completely appropriate question in this case is: what is, as they say, the social status of your like-minded people. They assess the current situation very sensibly...

A.R.: These are people different professions. Mainly entrepreneurs. There are former military men. There are several people who have sunk to the very bottom, whom we literally picked up on the street. The grace of the Lord, the influence of the collective and the “prohibition law” have led to the fact that today it is quite normal people, looking at whom you would never believe that they were once typical homeless people.

KPR: What is the attitude of local residents towards your settlement? How do outside people generally react to you?

A.R.: There are two extremes in relation to us. The first is what people see in the photograph. big houses, cars, learn that we are elected to state and local government bodies, have business in the nearest populated areas, and when they come to us, they expect to find themselves in some kind of “garden city,” “state within a state.” But when they arrive (especially in winter), they see 5 houses, the same number of inhabitants, and are very disappointed. The fact is that our settlement is quite young, and its entire community (22 people) mainly lives in Moscow. Community members come to the settlement on weekends and on summer period. However, according to our forecasts, in the fall, after the completion of the elections of the heads of the districts in which we plan to take a direct part, there will be a mass resettlement. And the move itself is not the main thing. The main thing is people, and there will always be land in the vast Russian expanses.

The other extreme is that people consider us to be vagabonds, outcasts, sectarians, etc. To dispel this myth, you just need to get to know us. We are ordinary Orthodox people people who go to church, play sports, don’t drink, and try not to swear. And the place for the settlement itself is not a taiga Old Believer wilderness, but an industrially developed center of Russia, which speaks of our pragmatism.

KPR: What are the basic hostel rules in your settlement? For example, what is the attitude in the settlement towards alcohol consumption?

A.R.: Consumption is prohibited on the territory of the PSP alcoholic drinks in any quantities and types, as well as appearing while intoxicated. If someone can’t bear it, he can go to the city, get drunk there and roll around in the mud, that’s his own business. And having finally sobered up, go back. However, if a person wants his voice to have weight when deciding general solutions, he must give up alcohol once and for all.

KPR: Is “prohibition” in the community a necessity?

A.R.: They say about the army regulations that they are “written in blood.” The cost of non-compliance is too high. Practice has shown that the majority of our people can only solve problems radically - either drink or not drink. Either lose or win. There is no third. Not a single person who gave up alcohol in principle regretted his decision. Including me, who drank very little, rarely and “culturedly”, but despite this, I decided to put an end to this destructive vice.

KPR: It’s clear, and indeed this pleasure is very expensive for the whole country. But we need a moral core to resist these harmful ones. Is the cultivation of spirituality welcomed in your team?

A.R.: This is a personal matter for each villager, which he decides himself or together with his confessor. We do not oblige people to visit the temple, fast, pray, etc. We strictly regulate social, but in no case spiritual life. Even the secular administrative code prohibits appearing “under the table”, in indecent clothing, or using foul language in public places, and we consider it our civic duty to ensure its compliance. Well, seriously, a person is responsible for his behavior not only before God (this is the area of ​​church education), but also before people, and for the purpose of self-preservation, responsibility should be quite strict. Our children should not suffer because of the weak will of adults. Sin that destroys the soul will be judged by the Lord. Sin, which not only destroys the soul, but also corrupts the community and interferes with normal community life, must be stopped immediately.

KPR: Communities are characterized by a common economy. How are you doing with this?

A.R.: Whichever is convenient for you. So far only individual. We hope that someday there will be people who want to create a serious peasant farm.

KPR: Surely, after the publication of our material, there will be people who are close to your views and who will want to become part of your team. What do they need to do?

A.R.: Call or send an email. And then come and see everything with your own eyes. If our lifestyle suits us, then nothing prevents us from joining the community. We are firmly convinced that an Orthodox self-governing settlement is not nostalgia for the past, it is a big step into the future. Save me, God!

D For Orthodox Christians, community life is the most natural and in the right way life, although many modern Christians have forgotten about this. The spirit of individualism of the surrounding world, poor knowledge of the history of the Church, and the perception of Christianity at the level of rituals, which only “complement” the materialistic system of life, are misleading. But if you ask how the early Christian communities lived, and then the monastic communities; how the village communities of our ancestors survived the harsh Russian climate; if you read about mill community st. Seraphim of Sarov- then the way of life of a modern “fragmented” society will no longer be perceived as the only correct one.

P The parishioners of the city church, among whom spiritual unity is emerging, feel a desire to communicate more in everyday matters, to spend more time together. But in urban conditions this is difficult to do, because everyone has different work hours, their own routes, and family responsibilities. A completely different matter is joint work and close proximity while living in a village, when two, three or more are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only on a holiday, but every day.

TO Of course, one cannot idealize the life of the Orthodox community in the village. Such a life is not easy, it requires constant work and prayer, curbing selfishness, and patiently bearing each other’s infirmities. But easy way does not lead to the salvation of the soul. And in these troubled times, community life in the village may be one of the few paths to salvation.

NSome Christians began returning from cities to villages back in the 90s of the last century. Some were settled individually. For example, you can get acquainted with the history of life in the village Vladimir Kipriyanov, about 20 years ago, together with his family, moved from Moscow to the village of Kazhirovo, Kostroma Region. RAINBOW OVER KAZHIROVO

Another article by V. Kipriyanov: FIRST ECHELON. EXODUS OF ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES (from euphoria to...reality).

NThe unique personality of German Sterligov and his family farm, and then the whole “settlement”, attract constant media attention. These experiences (both positive and negative) can also be taken into account. Film "Freedom of Freedom".

WITH There are now communities that strive to live as autonomously and remotely as possible. Some of them do not make themselves known in the media, but something is known about the lives of others, such as, for example, about the community of hieromonk Evstratiy Filippov, who lived first in the Kostroma region, and then was forced to move to the Perm region. Watch videos on YouTube: "The experience of exodus to Orthodox settlements" And "Pressure from security forces on an Orthodox settlement."

N Some communities are accused of sectarianism. One should never forget about the danger of falling into a sect, and therefore it is necessary to firmly remember the Orthodox Catechism and the commandments of the Holy Gospel. If there is any doubt about the purity of the teaching brought by any pastor, special caution is necessary. For example, let's give discussion of community life O. Mikhail Ageev (Pskov region), as well as followers of schemamonk Simon Shiryaev, living in the Shuisky district of the Ivanovo region (opposite points of view: ruskline.ru And

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

I address you first of all as Orthodox Christian. Although your position in our conversation is not unimportant - the levers of power are concentrated in your hands colossal, with one stroke of the pen you have the right to resolve the most “insurmountable” issue, including the one that I am going to present to your attention (for its resolution, frankly speaking, I very much hope , otherwise, why write a letter or shake the air for the sake of a letter?). And yet it is paramount for me that you are Orthodox.

True, your enemies on both sides of the border claim that the President’s Orthodoxy is nothing more than a gesture, a “PR” move, designed for an undemanding public, which, in their interpretation, is the Russian people. However, those who understand which temples and When You are visiting what You venerate the holy things, you will not be deceived. In addition, you make statements under which Orthodox person you can't help but subscribe.

So, on February 1 of this year, at the annual extended press conference, a journalist from Sarov addressed you. She recalled that “nuclear” Sarov is known, on the one hand, as a center of science and defense, on the other, as one of the holy Orthodox places, and asked: what place do you assign to Orthodoxy in the future of Russia? You pointed to two components that strengthen Russian statehood and guarantee its security - the nuclear shield and traditional faiths. “Traditional confessions” - you used this term, but in the context of the question and answer it was clear...

And by the way - after all traditional! Some of your circle, say, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation A. Fursenko, persistently impose another term on you and all of Russia - “rooted religions”. This term is not new, the US State Department operates with it when analyzing religious freedom in countries “of interest” to them... Vladimir Vladimirovich, if we only allow the substitution of fundamental concepts, then we can go far! You never know who has taken root among us in the past 15 demonic years!

And therefore... You cannot help but share the pain and sorrow that has entered the hearts of Orthodox believers in connection with the murders of ministers of the Russian Orthodox Church that have occurred recently.

The monstrous arson of the priest’s house in the village is especially shocking and beyond comprehension. Pryamukhino, Tver region in December last year: Priest Andrei Nikolaev, rector of the local Church of the Holy Trinity, his wife Ksenia and their three small children died in a fire. There was another soul, ruined by that arson, unborn - mother was expecting a fourth child... On the eve of this Christmas, at night in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the village of Neivo-Shaitansky, Sverdlovsk region, its rector, Priest Oleg Stupichkin, was killed. The deceased was left with a widow and four children... On March 4, in Voronezh, on the territory of the St. Nicholas Church, an attempt was made on the life of its rector, Archpriest Peter Petrov: the priest was going to a service when an unknown person rushed towards him with a knife in his hands - the 60-year-old priest was seriously wounded, miraculously escaped death... On March 7, Vladimir Kudryavtsev, the guard of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Kotelniki near Moscow, was killed...

Generally speaking, we Orthodox are accustomed to attacks of all kinds.

For example, I recently said His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' (literally the following): “If anyone wants to believe that he descended from a monkey, let him think so, but do not impose these views on others.” Said, we note, at a religious event - the annual International Christmas educational readings. And he said, let’s face it, in a balanced way: indeed, if someone thinks, well, so be it, no one is stopping him from doing so... What, however, has begun! "Enlightened" circles literally howled!

The intensity of passions can be judged at least by a remark thrown in an interview, that is, PUBLICLY, by a famous physicist, academician, laureate Nobel Prize: "... these, to put it mildly, church bastards, want to lure the souls of children". According to the academician: “Modern science shows with complete certainty, like two and two making four, that man did not originate from God.”

The academician is disingenuous! The problem is precisely that it’s nothing at all." modern science with complete certainty", "like twice two", doesn't show! And if " shows", so the fact is that our universe is arranged in the most wonderful way, marvelous thoughtfully, holistically and harmoniously. This was directly pointed out by the great Russian scientists Dmitry Mendeleev and Ivan Pavlov, no less famous than the mentioned laureate: one discovered Periodic table elements, the other studied the physiology of animals and humans, and both were deeply religious people (also, as the academician put it, " church bastard"). Only if a Christian believes that there was something here without the Creator, that is, God's providence, then an atheist believes in the opposite - in the absence of any meaning!

In addition, a believer has clear internal moral and ethical rules and commandments, which he has no right to violate. What does an atheist have except the conviction of his own exclusivity? Hence, probably, the peculiar phraseology that falls under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Or take the situation around the Patriarchal Metochion of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Moscow Sokolniki. In 1998, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Decree of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, the Patriarchal Metochion was created here. With the best possible goal - the revival of the traditions of charity and mercy, social service to society (on the basis of the lands and buildings of the pre-revolutionary Moscow workhouse transferred to the Church). So: through fraud and forgery, relying on corrupt officials, a group of swindlers stole from the Church most her property in Sokolniki, and all these years both the temple and the Compound eke out a semi-beggarly existence.

And also, Vladimir Vladimirovich, our Orthodox churches are blown up (the bombing of a chapel in the Smolensk region on the “Field of Memory” for soldiers who died in battles against fascism, November of the year before), burned (the Church of the Holy Trinity on the Vertyachiy farm near Volgograd, January of this year) ...

But murders, attempts on the lives of Orthodox ministers and members of their families... This is not something extreme or some kind of anomaly. This, Mr. President, is the limit! There is a limit to our Orthodox long-suffering!

The fact that Orthodox Christians do not protest en masse or organize menacing marches under the walls of the Moscow Kremlin does not mean anything. As you yourself understand, just one fiery word from one of the Orthodox pastors, a call from any of the well-known Orthodox-patriotic organizations, is enough, and tens, hundreds of thousands of people will take to the streets of cities! However, they don’t go out and protest. Why? Yes, because our sense of responsibility for the fate of our native Fatherland is also great!

We live in difficult times. And any aggravation or destabilization of the situation in the country will immediately be used by Russia’s external and internal enemies against ourselves.

At the same time, the situation, more than ever, demands: to protect the Russian Orthodox Church and its ministers! How, how? Many of my colleagues - journalists, politicians, human rights activists, public figures - are scratching their heads over this today.

Legislative measures are proposed:

- Adoption Federal Law about shrines and symbols of Russia; According to this law, desecration is not only State flag RF, but, for example, Orthodox cross or the Muslim crescent (as symbols), churches or mosques (as shrines) will become a criminal offense;

The theft of these sacred objects (for example, icons, church utensils), any selfish attempt on them, in terms of severity of punishment, should be equated to theft of state property on an especially large scale;

An attempt on the life or murder of a clergyman of any of the traditional Russian faiths should be considered crimes as serious as similar ones committed against a statesman;

Tighten administrative, legal and criminal legislation for inciting interreligious hatred.

It is also proposed to create local Orthodox folk squads on the model of the DND or Cossack security forces public order, existing in the south of Russia.

I will say right away: I personally support these proposals. Moreover, I believe that the need for these measures is long overdue. I'll give just one example.

These days, when I am writing a letter to you, in the so-called center named after. A. Sakharov, the exhibition “Forbidden Art-2006” has opened and is running in Moscow. Among its exhibits are swear words against the backdrop of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, other Christian symbols, scenes of pornography, including sodomy, etc., etc. The “exhibition” is widely covered in print and electronic media. To the perplexed questions of some journalists, they say, what kind of art is this, is it art at all, the organizers, art critics and gallery owners, smile sweetly: “But it’s forbidden!”... It is clear that the organizers need to be held accountable in court. But it’s a paradox: some of them have already appeared in court quite recently - for the previous blasphemous exhibition “Beware of Religion!”, held here at the Sakharov Center. The court then recognized their activities as provocative, aimed at inciting interreligious hatred. The Satanists got off with a large fine. And here is another anti-Christian prank...

They cynically calculated everything. Even if someone gets a camp sentence this time, it will be a short one (this is the law and arbitrage practice). But there will be noise, there will be noise - about “rights”, about “freedoms”! Especially in the Western media. The prisoner will be released in the aura of a “martyr”, migrate to the West in the status of a political refugee, and write “memoirs” right away... World fame and a comfortable old age are guaranteed!

But let's think sensibly: if we take the above measures, approve laws, toughen punishments - will this stop the looting Orthodox churches, killing their servants?

Archpriest Pyotr Petrov was attacked in Voronezh by an obvious Satanist, and during his arrest he told the police officers: “The devil got me wrong!” Behind the tragedies in Tverskaya and Sverdlovsk regions Someone's greedy and selfish trail is clearly visible.

Priest Andrei Nikolaev repeatedly warned, also through the media, that his life was in danger - once the house of Father Andrei’s family had already been burned down. And although the killers have not yet been found, there is every reason to believe that they were hunting for valuable icons that were given to the temple by donors. The murderers of Priest Oleg Stupichkin in Neivo-Shaitansky were detained in hot pursuit: two local residents, previously repeatedly convicted, Russians, having killed the priest, stole two dozen icons... I will not ooh and ahh, saying how degraded the Russian people have become! We live not only in difficult, but also terrible times, when, indeed, there is nothing sacred left in the souls of many. But - what to do?!

How to protect, save a rural priest, a rural temple? It is they, the rural ones, in contrast to the more materially prosperous urban ones, who are so vulnerable and sometimes so poor that they are not able to hire a watchman for protection. It is also clear that you cannot assign a policeman or vigilante to every church, to every priest.

And, to be honest, I don’t believe in any voluntary, even Orthodox, squads. Who, may I ask, will join them? In some villages there are no more sober men left (dacha residents don’t count), and whoever is sober earns his family’s daily bread by the sweat of his brow from morning to night.

And so, having run into a seemingly impenetrable wall in my reasoning, I, Vladimir Vladimirovich, suddenly remembered... I remembered the stories of my village grandmother about the village, rural community!

I don’t even know why she told me, the city’s grandson, - I was just a kid. Apparently, she thought it would be useful. And it was useful!

And she told amazing things.

That the community was united and friendly, unlike the Soviet collective farms - people worked together, together and of good will, celebrated holidays together, and the holidays were Orthodox. That they lived modestly, but in abundance. All they had to do was call, and they would come from all over the neighborhood to “help”: the house, for example, was erected by the whole world in just a day (“Our five-walled building,” the grandmother said, “that’s how they assembled it”). That no one was left in trouble, neither the crippled, nor the sick, nor widows or orphans. That a drunkard was considered the last person - it was a great sin, drunkenness. And there were almost none of them, drunkards. And two people stood at the head of the community - the priest, that is, the local priest, and the church warden. The first spiritually nourished the community, exercising, so to speak, ideological leadership, and the second was responsible for administrative and economic activities.

It turns out that for a long time men in our family were church elders. And they coped well with their responsibilities. The last of them, my great-uncle Alexander Petrovich, died in the NKVD dungeons in the 1930s at the very peak of repressions as a “clergyman.” And the village meeting elected... my grandmother as the headman. In the absence of the administrative and economic part (everyone was driven to the collective farm), the priest and the temple of God (the fate of the priest is unknown, but predictable, and a warehouse was located in the temple), the grandmother began to perform Orthodox rites, and our five-wall building turned into a house of worship. She baptized me when I was two months old...

Why am I doing all this?

I am convinced: the Orthodox community is the key to understanding what is happening today with the Russian village, the Russian village! I mean the Non-Black Earth Region, the Russian North, the Urals, Siberia, Far East, that is, zones of so-called “risky farming”, where the communal way of life from time immemorial was dictated not by someone’s whim, but by the conditions of survival - harsh climate, poor soil fertility, etc., etc.. And what happens in the village, Vladimir Vladimirovich, - disaster!

Years of “democratic reforms” have taken half of the farmland out of production, and the fields are overgrown with weeds. Large livestock cattle decreased by three times. It’s gotten to the point where we import potatoes, a traditionally profitable product on our loam soils, from Israel (I saw it myself in the store)! But this is for Russia as a whole. And somewhere in Povetluzhie, where my roots are from, the situation is even worse! But the most terrible thing, the thing that simply gives up, is how many tractors, combines, what high-tech equipment you don’t bring here now, what money you don’t pour in, for the most part there is no one to reanimate, bring the Russian village back to life! In connection with this, other hotheads suggest: well, if we have no one, let’s bring in the Chinese, the Koreans, they’ll handle it...

There is some hope for displaced compatriots from the neighboring countries (a corresponding program was recently adopted). The hope is illusory: it is quite possible that the Russian outback, where they will settle after receiving the allowance, will be considered by them as a springboard for sooner or later moving to the city. And then: what awaits them, their compatriots, in this outback? All the same - unemployment, idleness, theft, drunkenness, a mind-blowing decline in morals that Father Andrei Nikolaev, who died in the Tver region, faced, with which he fought tooth and nail, but never overcame...

At the same time, I know city dwellers - workers, engineers, doctors, teachers - who are sick of life in the city, with its pollution, overcrowding, and general “competitive” anger. These are Russian people, many of them are not just believers, but churchgoers. They cherish a dream - to move to the village. But where? The agonizing village will crush them one by one! A Orthodox communities, who would manage in the countryside, today there is no shortage of people in the country. In addition, the financial situation of these communities is not brilliant, since most often they started “from scratch”, but try now “from scratch”, in the absence of the most basic thing - accessible loans...

In short, I propose a project to the state! Its essence is as follows.

At rural churches, where priests and parishioners have a desire, and there are also objective prerequisites and opportunities for this (for example, the presence of unused cultivated areas in a given area), agricultural communities are created. For these purposes, the state:

a) together with the Russian Orthodox Church develops and approves model charter(based, of course, on current Russian legislation);

b) provides these communities with farmland (at first - on long-term lease);

b) redistributes part of the state budget funds in their favor (these are already two current programs: National project, concerning the development of domestic agricultural production, and the already mentioned program for the resettlement of compatriots from neighboring countries);

c) provides communities, at least for the first years, with additional preferential lending.

However, there is no need to rush. At the initial stage, as an experiment, we will create only a few centers of rural community in different regions of Russia. We’ll see in a year or two: we’ll take into account both the negative experience (where would we be without it!) and the positive one, we’ll compare everything, weigh it, and only then...

Who and what benefits from the project?

The state provides the village with sober, conscientious workers who guarantee an increase in agricultural production. Moreover, all this is, as it were, without costs, since they are built into the available budget funding.

At a minimum, a tithe of the community's possible income will go to the needs of the Church - to restore destroyed churches and build new ones. In any case, members of such communities will work selflessly and disinterestedly for the good of the Church.

People, leaving the cities, will live in harmony with themselves and the world around them - not only in unity with nature, but also in a team of like-minded people, spiritual sisters and brothers.

The spiritual and moral situation in the outback will improve. I am sure that many of the “locals” will eventually join the communities.

The community together, as a whole, will be able to resist the thief, the robber, any villain, including the foreigner who, day after day, poisons the village with cheap “scorched” vodka or predatorily cuts down the remaining forests in the area.

Finally, the struggle to save this or that Russian village will cease to be a personal and heroic matter for an individual Orthodox clergyman.

Sincerely,

Sergey SKATOV,
Orthodox journalist,
coordinator of the People's Council Movement

Before entering Poteryayevka there is a sign “Smoking is prohibited on the territory of the village.” I’ll also add that in the village not only do they not smoke, they don’t drink, and they don’t use foul language. And everything bad that doesn’t make a person beautiful seems to have remained there - in the almost virtual distant world of “civilization,” lost to Poteryayevka.

Before Poteryayevka acquired her current features and appearance, she had to disappear. The wealthy village had been disappearing for a long time, since 1930, when the first seven dispossessed families were sent to the prison camp. Their property, livestock, grain barns, good houses became public. Poteryayevka was finished off in 1971 by a decree on the consolidation of villages, which practically turned into a forced eviction. The methods are well-known - they close the school, the store, turn off the electricity... She was among the last to leave the large family Lapkins. We left to return.

Only 20 years after the expulsion of the Poteryaevites, thanks to the Lapkin brothers, the time came for Poteryaevka to be found on this land again.

Since the last residents of Poteryayevka left, an Orthodox camp camp has settled on the site of the village. His existence was difficult Soviet times- constant persecution led to illegal life in the dungeon. We take a kind of excursion, go down to the basement - previously there was a secret hole here, filled with earth, firewood and logs. Every year, KGB officers walked around with a probe, trying to find the camp, but they didn’t want to move the logs. “They are too lazy,” laughs Ignatiy Tikhonovich Lapkin.

Even if they moved the logs, scattered firewood and earth, and found a hole, they would have discovered the most ordinary cellar with potatoes. But as soon as you chose a potato, the wall turned on one side and a vaulted underground tunnel with a wooden floor and lamps on the walls opened up. The tunnel ended in a large room - an underground church where one could pray. All this was done by believers at night. They dug the ground and pulled it up with buckets. Today everything here is ordinary and looks like an ordinary vegetable storehouse.

Another Lapkin, Joakim Tikhonovich, after serving his military service, became a priest in 1978 after graduating from the Moscow Theological Seminary. “The desire to return to my native land never left me,” says Joakim Tikhonovich. “I came here and saw how the ground was overgrown with weeds. That’s when we decided: it’s time to start reviving the village.”

In the spring of 1991, he arrived in his small homeland. The beginning of the new Poteryayevka was two tents and a plot of land dug up for a vegetable garden. The settlers began to prepare the simplest construction material- adobe brick made of clay. We prepared about seven thousand bricks and built the walls in two weeks. This is where service in the construction battalion came in handy for Joakim Tikhonovich (where he was a mason). Before the autumn rains they managed to put up a roof, and in the fall they built a bathhouse, a barnyard, and dug a well. That year, for the first time after two decades, its residents spent the winter in Poteryayevka: brothers Joachim and Pavel Lapkin, their mother Maria Egorovna, nephew Osya, and even animals in the barnyard.

And although only one house stood, the news of the revival of the village had already spread throughout Russia, letters began to arrive with applications for residence from people close in spirit and faith. They heard about the revival of Poteryayevka even in America. A fellow countryman, Nikita Feoktistovich Orlov, came from California to work for the benefit of the village.

Today Poteryayevka is a real village, where electricity and telephones, a first-aid post, Primary School, church, good-quality houses, many of which have cars and tractors. Among those living in the village, there are people of different professions - a doctor, a teacher, a priest, an agronomist, an electrician, a computer engineer, a machine operator... But they all live their own lives. subsidiary farming, the community charter applies to everyone. They work here a lot, until late in the evening. They rest on Sundays and religious holidays.

When discussing the coming of the Antichrist, many are focused on moving from the city to the countryside, seeing salvation in this. This is good as a temporary, preliminary measure. But when the Antichrist really comes, his servants are unlikely to leave anyone alone in the most remote village. Moreover, a period of persecution or significant complications in the life of Orthodox Christians is already beginning.

In the near future, everyone will be assigned an end-to-end identification number, replacing all paper documents. Obviously, based on current trends, he will be in the form electronic card with a chip. In parallel, the authorities are going to introduce the recording of people’s biometric parameters, for now voluntarily. But Law No. 157752-7 does not limit the possibility of introducing mandatory provision of biometric parameters to receive government services and work with banks.

Neither the acceptance of electronic cards with an end-to-end identification number nor biometrics are acceptable to the Orthodox. It may be possible to live in the village for some time without government services and going to banks, but most likely you will need to pay for electricity and taxes. And this, very likely, will be done in such a form that an electronic card with an end-to-end identification number will be required, and then biometric data. And, in general, it is very likely that even before the coming of the Antichrist, the authorities will introduce criminal prosecution of those who refuse to accept identification numbers and biometrics.

Therefore, the question arises about a more complete departure from the servants of the Antichrist, for example, into the forests or mountains. I have been concerned about this since 2015. I am a fairly experienced tourist; I have been to the Caucasus many times. Therefore, I decided to look for the possibility of refuge in the low-mountain forested part of the Caucasus, in an area where I had been several times. I studied topographic maps and tourist reports on the Internet and chose an area where there were more than 40 km of mountain forests between the nearest villages and not many logging roads.

However, when I arrived at the site, I saw that the topographic maps did not fully reflect the situation. There are logging roads in almost every crevice, logging Urals and Kamaz trucks can climb the bed of almost any stream without roads, and skidders can easily climb almost any slope. Timber development is carried out even in the Sochi area national park.

With great difficulty, after 3 months of searching, I managed to find a gorge where logging had long since ended. I made pits and brought food there, packed in several plastic bags. After a preliminary inspection, I decided that I could dig a small dugout myself and cover it with a windbreak. The solution is not very reliable, since beech forests do not have thickets of bushes and can be seen through for tens of meters.

In the fall, I became concerned that mice might have chewed through my bags, so I went to check. Indeed, the mice began to gnaw on some of the bags, but often did not get to the grain. Another thing is worse - five black polyethylene bags do not protect against getting wet. (later I started using 5 liter plastic water bottles wrapped in metal mesh to keep out mice and rats).

But all this is not the worst thing. When I was repacking my supplies, a forester and a huntsman with dogs came out to me. They didn't have any special complaints against me. Another thing that I realized is that in order to effectively organize hunting for the rich, huntsmen regularly inspect their entire territory with dogs, checking for traces of animals. And there is no way for a person to hide from them!

In 2016-2017, I finally tried to organize caches near Rostov-on-Don. As a tourist, I knew the Rostov region quite well, those rare areas among the fields and populated areas where you can try to somehow hide yourself and hide food supplies. I’ll say right away that it was almost unsuccessful. Of the 2 most promising places, one turned out to be almost hopeless under the control of a local huntsman - he found my drops 3 times. They didn’t seem to find my burials anywhere else, but the place is very unreliable, a kilometer from my home.

As for other areas, I will disappoint. There are no wild places in Russia! The entire territory of Russia is divided between hunting farms. And the wilder the place, the more interesting it is for hunting. The wildest place is the fall area Tunguska meteorite. There are 40 km of taiga between the villages. But if you look on the Internet topographic map, it turns out that in the taiga there are hunting huts every 5 km. So, even in such wild places, local hunters and rangers comb the taiga regularly and with dogs. I'm not talking about the problems of survival in the taiga here. If you do not have many years of tourist experience or you are not a special forces soldier or a hunter, then this is also a difficult task to solve.

So what should the Orthodox do? I discuss one of the versions in the topic “Orthodox settlements as refuges for refuseniks.”

Orthodox settlements as refuges for refuseniks

Since 2019, they are clearly, legally advancing" last times"for the Orthodox. Everyone will be assigned an end-to-end identification number, replacing all paper documents. Obviously, based on current trends, it will be in the form of an electronic card with a chip. In parallel, the authorities are going to introduce the collection of biometric parameters of people, for now voluntarily. But Law No. 157752- 7 does not limit the possibility of introducing mandatory provision of biometric parameters for receiving government services and working with banks.

Neither the acceptance of electronic cards with an end-to-end identification number nor biometrics are acceptable to the Orthodox. In modern Russian society there are not enough forces to prevent these events. Even the patriotic opposition (largely atheistic) for the most part does not prioritize active resistance to the creation of an “electronic concentration camp” in Russia. The majority of believers obediently submit to the church hierarchy, which is increasingly ready for complete capitulation.

In this situation, it makes sense to discuss the issue of retreating “to previously prepared defensive positions.” By at least, before the coming to power of a truly Orthodox king, whom, according to prophecies, Seraphim of Sarov would point to. According to the predictions of the elders, he should resurrect and offer Russia a king. (At the same time, one must be very careful about the idea of ​​​​a monarchy in general, since some propose Putin as the tsar, others - George, the son of Maria Hohenzollern, the daughter of a fascist general).

“Orthodox settlements with a special status” could become such defensive positions. All the same, as the power of the Antichrist approaches, the Orthodox would begin to be sent in trains to the North. It is better to get ahead of such developments and manage them in your own interests.

It is proposed to introduce a special status in existing and newly formed Orthodox settlements, implying the right of residence without acceptance electronic documents, without accepting a “end-to-end identification number”, without submitting biometrics. In return, citizens living in such settlements would not have the right to leave them without special permission from the settlement administration.

Free residence would apply not only to the settlement itself, but also to a certain area around it (within a radius of 30-50 km) for the possibility of participating in field work, fishing, picking mushrooms and berries for self-sufficiency. With the permission of the administration, it would be possible to travel to other parts of Russia for a certain period of time (for example, for the funeral of relatives, re-registration of any legal documents and rights, etc.). A certificate of such permission would be given, which would allow one to travel around the country with an old paper passport after the introduction of mandatory electronic documents.

This would be some simplified, lightweight analogue of colony settlements. Now such colony settlements are used to house those convicted of minor crimes. There are no fences around them, some prisoners live in dormitories, some have the right to rent housing in a regular village. The state benefits from keeping prisoners in this way to provide labor for woodworking enterprises in remote areas of the North.

Likewise, willing believers who refuse electronic documents and biometrics could voluntarily leave for permanent residence in “Orthodox settlements with a special status.”

Some of them could work at local enterprises, while others, who retained the right to receive a pension, could live on their pension, using it to pay for rent or a place in a dormitory. Still others would rent or buy a plot of land, which they would use to provide themselves with food. At the same time, they would be allowed to live, for example, in a trailer on their site, having a registration with the administration of the settlement. In such settlements it is necessary to retain either cash or the right to use non-cash money on deposit upon presentation of an old paper passport.

Now there are Orthodox settlements (without special status yet), in which the settlers, having sold expensive city apartments, bought plots and built houses. Unfortunately, this is available to few. And there is no time left. It would be good if in such Orthodox settlements there was some opportunity to accept poor Orthodox Christians into rented apartments or to provide small plots of land for rent with the opportunity to live on them in temporary housing such as trailers.

In many areas of the North, there may be abandoned and semi-abandoned towns and villages. Probably, some Orthodox Christians would agree to live in old houses that can still be renovated. Often these are simple issues that require a little legal effort to transfer abandoned housing into municipal ownership, and from municipal ownership to new residents. Finally, the authorities may sometimes be interested in attracting additional labor and make some organizational and material efforts to create such “Orthodox settlements with a special status.”

There are areas in Russia where large quantities, Orthodox Christians live concentrated. For example, Cossack villages Don and Kuban. Perhaps the principle of “Orthodox settlements with a special status” should be introduced en masse in these areas?

The authorities must understand that the forcible establishment of an “electronic dictatorship” will sooner or later inevitably lead to an increase in social tension and it is in their interests to ease it as much as possible.

Sincerely,