Islam represented for the Siberian Tatars not only a religion, but also a cultural and moral code, according to the rules of which one should live. Islam teaches people to stop all bad things, not to mock people, not to offend anyone, to fight evil.

In the old days, it was simply impossible to imagine the life of the Tatar population without performing Muslim rituals, such as reading the Koran, prayer, and giving alms. They were the basis of weddings, naming, funerals.

Siberian Tatars celebrated religious holidays — Eid al-Adha, in honor of the end of the Muslim fast and 70 days after it Eid al-Adha (the end of the Hajj for pilgrims). According to the custom of the Muslim Tatars, only after the mullah had read the Nikah prayer and the corresponding entry in the metric book, the marriage was considered perfect — the groom received the right to visit the bride as a husband.

In 1862, there were 139 mosques in Tobolsk province, of which 132 (2 stone and 130 wooden) were located in rural areas. Mektebe schools operated at mosques. The literacy rate among the Tatars was much higher than among the Russian population. In the second half of the XIX — early XX century, the Tatar population regularly read books of spiritual and secular content, journalism in the Tatar language coming from Kazan, Orenburg and the capital.

The persecution of religion that began under Soviet rule also affected the Tatar population: mosques were closed, turned into clubs or warehouses, and ideology was introduced instead of the traditions of Islam.

Abalak Holy Sign Monastery

The first settlers in Abalak were people from the Russian North, Veliky Novgorod and Pskov. Initially, there were two Abalaks — Russian Abalak and Tatar Abalak (Abalak settlement). In 1623, Russian settlers cut down the first church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. According to this church, the village was called the Transfiguration (Abalaksky) churchyard.

The first church in Abalak stood for about 30 years. By the command of the Mother of God — the appearance of the Mother of God to the poor widow Mary — in Abalak in 1636, a Tobolsk posadsky man named Kokoy built a new, Znamenskaya church. In 1637, Protodeacon of St. Sophia Cathedral Matvey Martynov painted the icon of the Mother of God of Abalak "The Sign".

In August 1680, the wooden Church of the Sign in Abalak burned down. By royal command, in 1683, the stone cathedral church of the "Sign" of the Mother of God was started and completed in 1691. In 1761, the church was rebuilt — the pillars inside were removed, five domes were reduced to one. The work was supervised by Tobolsk official Alexey Sokolov.

In 1750, the stone church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built. In 1759, the Church of St. Mary of Egypt was built, with a height of about 18 fathoms (more than 26 m). In the upper tiers of the bell tower, the church was decorated with images of the Savior, the Mother of God, John the Baptist, four evangelists and a cherub. In 1783, a monastery was established in Abalak. Monks were transferred here from the village of Nevyansky in the Perm province. The parish in Abalak was closed and moved to the village of Preobrazhenskoye. In honor of this, a wooden church was built in the name of the Epiphany of the Lord. The church existed until 1832, after which it was dismantled due to dilapidation.

Since its foundation, the monastery began to receive a plentiful flow of worshippers to the miraculous icon. The monastery owes its landscaping to many abbots, among them Abbot Margarit (1783−1800), Abbot Ioannikiy (Agishev) (1818−1829) and Archimandrite Anthony (Bekreev) (1863−1871). The area of the monastery reached 548 meters by 1825.

In 1809, with the blessing of Archbishop Ambrose, stone one-story cells were erected. In 1822 a wooden hotel for pilgrims was built, in 1844 it was built in stone. In addition, in the 19th century, the Holy Gate and the abbot’s building were built.

During the administration of the monastery of Abbot Ioanniky, the temples of the monastery were decorated with the best iconostases, silver and gold chasubles were prepared for local icons. In 1820, Tobolsk philistine Ivan Plenin rewrote all the icons in the Znamenskaya Church for 1400 rubles. banknotes. In the same year, a gilded silver chasuble weighing 32 pounds 78 spools (about 13.5 kg) was made in Moscow for the local image of the Savior in the Znamenskaya Church.

In 1885 a foreign school was opened in the Abalak monastery. In 1888, 32 boys (20 Russians, 10 Ostyaks and 2 Nenets) studied there. In 1889, 28 students were enrolled (14 Russians, 9 Ostyaks, 2 Tatars and 1 Nenets).

The students studied the Law of God, the Russian language, arithmetic, and penmanship. In addition, they were taught various crafts: carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring, locksmith, etc.

In 1892, the foreign school was transferred to the Tobolsk Znamensky Monastery. A 4-grade Russian-Tatar school has been left in Abalak. In 1893, 33 students (23 Russians and 10 Tatars) studied there.

At the end of the 19th century, the monastery owned: a watermill on the Aremzyanka river near the village of Belaya, hayfields on the left bank of the Irtysh, opposite the monastery, forests and meadows near the village of Kashtak and Lake Uryashny in the Ashlyk parish of Tobolsk county.

In 1913, there were 12 monks in the Abalak monastery. The monastery owned 314 acres of land and 87 acres of forest. The monastery received maintenance from the treasury of 697 rubles. 53 kopecks.

Ioanno-Vvedensky Monastery

Monasteries in Russia were built either in a beautiful open place, according to this principle, the Abalak monastery was built. Or in a place that would be inaccessible to the attacks of enemies and robber gangs — this is how the St. John’s Monastery was built.

In 1653, Archbishop Simeon founded a monastery in the village of Ivanovskoye, 7 versts from Tobolsk along a straight path, on the east side, in the valley of the high bank, on the small Ivanovskaya river, which flows into the Irtysh half a verst from the monastery on the east side. For many years the monastery was poor. The situation began to change only in the XVIII century, when large amounts of capital began to be released to the monastery.

The ancient temple in the name of the Beheading of John the Baptist stood for about 100 years. In the middle of the XVIII century it burned down. Not far from it, in 1753, a stone church was built in the monastery in the name of the Nativity of St. Nicholas.

In 1811, the Vvedenskaya Church was built, where the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Pochaevskaya was located. The icon had a length of 1 yard and 1 vertex (73.5 cm) and a width of 13 vertices (32.5 cm).

By the middle of the 19th century, several elderly monks remained in the monastery, who could not manage the household and conduct services. The number of women who wanted to become nuns increased from year to year, but in the entire Tobolsk province there was only one convent in the city of Turinsk.

It was decided to transfer the elderly monks to the Abalak monastery, and send women from Turinsk here. On December 27, 1864, the monastery became a women’s monastery.

Serafima, a nun sent from Turinsk, became the first abbess of the monastery. She was replaced by several abbesses — Dorothea, Augusta, Eusebia.

The number of women who wanted to devote their lives to the monastery was constantly growing. If in 1864 11 people lived in the monastery, then in 1865 — 29, in 1866 — 45, in 1867 — 62.

The monastery achieved its greatest prosperity during the administration of Mother Miropia (1885−1904). The monastery turned into a small town, fortified with a brick wall and turrets.

On the territory of the monastery there was a small monastery cemetery with a wooden chapel, which was located on the site of the ancient church of the Beheading of John the Baptist. The chapel was moved to Zhukova village. In its place, in September 1892, a new church of the Beheading of John the Baptist was laid, which was completed in August of the following year. Most of the works were performed by Tobolsk philistine Dmitry Pavlovich Kozlov. In 1904, the church was consecrated in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a tomb. A part of St. Seraphim’s mantle was kept in the temple.

In 1893, a misfortune befell the monastery. On January 16, a fire started, which ended only on January 23. It destroyed 4 buildings, 1 person died in the fire (Sister Anna). During the fire, local peasants dragged everything of value home. But despite the heavy losses, everything was soon put in order.

In 1900, the six-headed Trinity Cathedral Church was completed, which could accommodate about 4 thousand parishioners. The temple has been under construction since 1891. There was a large iconostasis in the temple, 7 meters high and 12 meters long. There were 61 icons in the iconostasis.

In 1907, 262 people lived in the monastery, 60 of them nuns, 67 novices. In 1913, there were 263 people, including 62 nuns and 69 novices. The monastery’s farm has 568 acres of land, 1577 acres of timber. The maintenance from the treasury is 532 rubles and 60 kopecks.

In July 1914, new settlers appeared in the monastery — soldiers' wives with young children. In March 1915, the sisters took care of ten soldiers sent to the monastery for rehabilitation after injury.

Kondinsky Holy Trinity Monastery

The Kondinsky Holy Trinity Monastery is located in the village of Oktyabrskoye, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (formerly the village of Kondinsky, Berezovsky District, Tobolsk Province). The monastery was founded in 1656 by the charter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The Holy Trinity Church became the main temple. Until 1891, the monastery was exclusively male and served as a missionary center. In 1844, the first school for Ostyak and Russian children was opened at the monastery. In 1891, the monastery was transformed into a women’s monastery. In 1913, the monastery had 616 dessiatines of land and 1547 dessiatines of forest, the maintenance from the treasury was determined at 1000 rubles 47 kopecks.

In the twentieth century, the monastery was looted and partially dismantled. Later, the monastery building was used as an administrative building: the district communications center was located here.

Since 2010, restoration work has begun in the monastery. The buildings of the Holy Trinity Church have been completely restored. On July 4, 2017, in honor of the anniversary of the Oktyabrsky district, the solemn consecration of the bells took place. Now there is a bishop’s compound on the territory of the monastery. The abbot is Abbot Alipius. The Holy Trinity Church of the monastery is an object of cultural heritage of regional significance.

Rafail Monastery

"Troitsky — Rafailovsky — Vysotsky, male, now the village of Rafailovskoye Monastery, Tobolsk province, Yalutorovsky district, 81 versts (in summer) southwest of Yalutorovsk, at the confluence of the Yalynka river into the Iset. It was founded in 1651, at the request of Elder Raphael; when the states were published in 1764, it was placed in the third grade, and in 1804, it was abolished by a small number of brothers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the monastery housed a theological school where icon painting was taught" (Zverinsky, V.V. The transformation of old and the establishment of new monasteries from 1764−95 to July 1, 1890 — St. Petersburg, 1890. — p. 269)

The church in honor of St. Andrew, Abbot of Rafailovsky, was built on the foundation of the only building that survived from the monastery complex. In 1645, a monastery was founded here in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. According to legend, its founder, Elder Raphael, in early November 1645, returned with two novices to Tobolsk after, as it seemed to him, an unsuccessful expedition to find a place to build an outpost of the Orthodox faith on the southern borders of the vast Siberian diocese. Their path lay along the Iset River. At the confluence of a small river with the Iset (later it will be called Yalinka), the elder’s boat stopped and, despite the efforts of the rowers, did not move from its place. The elder, looking at the sky, began to offer a prayer and on the high shore he saw the Queen of Heaven, who ordered to stop here and establish a monastery in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity.

The monastery founded by Elder Raphael became known as the Rafailovsky Trinity Monastery. He was well known not only within the Siberian diocese, but throughout Russia and beyond. The monastery existed until 1840, when, for lack of the necessary number of brethren, it was abolished, and the monastery complex became a rural parish.

In God-fighting times, by order of the Central Executive Committee and signed by Dzerzhinsky, the monastery was ordered to be destroyed so that "no stone was left unturned." For 29 years, the monastery and its shrines were systematically destroyed by the Soviet government, and finally, in 1950, the complete disappearance of the monastery was announced.

In 2007, at the place where the Mother of God appeared to Elder Raphael, a cross of worship was erected in memory of the desecrated and destroyed monastery. On May 22, 2010, an Orthodox religious group was established, which undertook the restoration of the monastery’s only miraculously surviving building. A prayer house was first organized here, and then major repairs were carried out with the installation of domes and the construction of a bell tower.

This building was built in 1744 by the merchant Vasily Pozdnyakov and placed it at the disposal of the monastery to teach children to read and write. He also built a stone four-altar monastery church and a bell tower, which have not survived to the present time.

Historically and spiritually, the temple building is also valuable because, according to archival documents, St. Andrew, Abbot of Rafailovsky, taught literacy in it, a saint who labored here in the late XVIII — early XIX centuries, who ended his earthly journey in 1820 at the Simonov Monastery in Moscow.

Metropolitan Philotheus (Leshchinsky) worked especially hard in the field of affirming the Christian faith.

The first campaigns of 1712-1713 were undertaken by the baptist Philotheus in the southern regions of the Berezovsky lands, in the Code.

Historian and theologian Alexander Ivanovich Sulotsky wrote that "on his first trip to the Ostyaks, Metropolitan Philotheus was mainly engaged in the extermination of objects of idolatry: idols were crushed everywhere from Tobolsk to Berezov, idols burned, and their utensils were destroyed."

It should be mentioned that the utensils were diverse, for example, at the shrine of Mir-susne-huma ("The World of a traveling man") there could be a sacrificial veil, a god's hat and silver plates.

The old man of Ob, the Copper Goose, Ortik were destroyed and three thousand five hundred Ostyaks were baptized.

From Novitsky's diary, it is known that later the baptists equipped a special expedition to Konda, not only to convert the aborigines to Christianity, but also to look for the famous idol, which could not be destroyed for the first time.

In February 1714, Philotheus baptized the Voguls in Pelym. In the same year he was back in Berezovo. In 1715, Philotheus visited the Conde, the Voguls. In 1716, he baptized the Surgut Ostyaks. A year before his death, Metropolitan Filofey made a trip to Obdorsk. There, the locals almost sent the baptist to the God he had told them about.

According to Sulotsky, Metropolitan Philotheus and his associates baptized up to 40 thousand Siberian foreigners from 1712 to 1727. However, the locals "turned to paganism again, or, without openly seducing, they paganized in secret... they did not even know the name of Christ, even their Christian names given to them at baptism."

Baptisms continued after Philotheus' death in the 1750s and 60s, but not by such drastic methods. More decisively, Siberian Gentiles began to be attracted to the bosom of the Church under Archbishop Eugene, in the XIX century.

In the spring of 1826, the mission of Archimandrite Benjamin began its activities in the Timan tundra, which carried out the mass, sometimes violent baptism of European Samoyeds, the destruction of their sanctuaries and the burning of idols. Benjamin's "campaign" ended in 1830 with the baptism of 3303 (out of 3983) European Nenets. The rest moved their nomads to the mountain tundra of the Polar Urals and Obdorskaya volost.

On May 17, 1832, the mission of Hieromonk Makariy left Tobolsk for Obdorsk. Luke of Vologda, a student of theology, a novice and an interpreter left with Makarii on a long journey. The aborigines simply fled from baptism, and on March 13, 1833, after baptizing only 17 people in 8 months, the mission returned to Tobolsk. After this incident, the Holy Synod decided to act by other methods – to educate the aborigines, teach the Russian language and the law of God.

In 1853, the Northern Obdorskaya mission was established, headed at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries by Hieromonk Irinarch. The mission abandoned the cool methods of Philotheus Leszczynski. Preachers traveled around the camps, gave small things, soap, combs, tea, white bread, and treated children to gingerbread and sweets.

Every year, the missionaries went further to the north, noting that the number of baptized aborigines was steadily growing. In 1898, the mission was reorganized into Berezovskaya-Obdorskaya and existed in this form until the October Revolution.

Among the peasants, there was an idea of saints as intermediaries between people and God. For headaches, it was recommended to pray to St. John the Baptist, for eye diseases – to the martyrs Mina the Egyptian or Longinus the Centurion, for toothache – to the martyr Antipius; for hernia – St. Artemy; for blindness – to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; for getting rid of the plague and epidemic – to the icon of the Bogolyubsky Mother of God. Prayers to St. Roman the Wonderworker or Hypatius the Wonderworker were cured of infertility. They hoped to receive help in difficult childbirth from the "holy wives" of the Great Martyr Catherine or the Most Holy Theotokos of Fedorovskaya.

They turned to the saints for help in difficult life situations. The old people advised the thief and the offender to pray to John the Warrior; for the taming of anger in man – to the holy prophet and King David. The saints were helpers in every good deed, for example, for success in science or at the beginning of the study of literacy, it was necessary to pray to St. Naum.

It was necessary to pray for horses to St. Frol and Laurus, Nicholas the Wonderworker; for cows – St. Vlasius; for sheep – St. Anastasia; for pigs – St. Basil; for bees – St. Zosima and Savvatius; for chickens – St. Sergius, as well as the silverless Kosma and Damian; for geese – St. Nikita the martyr.

Nenets mythology

In the field of mythology, the Nenets have ideas about the vertical division of the Universe: the Upper World, where the gods live, the Middle World (people, animals) and the Lower World (spirits). The upper world consists of seven heavens, the Lower one consists of seven layers of permafrost.

According to the beliefs of the Nenets, the land was originally a sea. The god Num called a loon, which dived and took out a piece of birch bark in its beak. From this piece, Num created the earth. Above the Earth, Num set the sun so that both people and animals would be warm and bright.Num had a headstrong and proud son, Nga. Nga stole the sun from his father, for which he was cursed and became the spirit of disease and death. Since then, there has been an eternal struggle for the sun, so in the north the day lasts for six months, and the night lasts for six months. The mistress of the Middle World is the earth goddess Ya'neba. She patronizes women during childbirth.

Besides, the whole world is inhabited by tadebtsa spirits. The Nenets especially revere the spirit of the Ob River. The "wild deer host" is very significant. In each house there were figurines of ancestral deities. There were also tribal places of worship, such as Vaigach Island. Sedai idols were installed in the fishing grounds.

The deities of the Ob Ugrians

The main creator of the Universe according to the mythology of the Ob Ugrians is the god Thorum. Thorum created life and did not interfere with it, he lives in the Upper seventh heaven in a golden house (choom) with a silver chimney. Only the upper spirits can ascend to the Thorum. Thorum created humans. According to one legend, God made a man out of sticks of tallow smeared with clay, according to another — from his saliva.

The antipode of Thorum is his son Kul or Kyn, the Master of the Lower World. Thorum sent his son to earth to help people, however, Kul resisted and began to send diseases and death to people. Kul escaped his father’s punishment in time, as he took refuge underground.

The mistress of the Middle World is the goddess Kaltash-Imi (Khanty) or Pugos-Anki (mansi). Kaltash is the goddess of the Earth, the giver of life. According to legend, Kaltash was the wife of Thorum. In heaven, she bore her husband six sons. Thorum suspected Kaltash of adultery and threw her out of the sky. During the fall, Kaltash gave birth to her seventh son Mir-Susne-Huma. Kaltash can take the form of a frog, a hare, or a swan.

Mir-Susne-Hum ("a man watching the world") was considered an intermediary between people and the gods. He rode around the world on a white six-winged horse. While a piece of birch bark is burning, Mir-Susne-Hum manages to travel around the world seven times. White horses were sacrificed to Mir-Susne-Huma. A "man watching the world" can turn into birds — a goose or a swan.

It is said that the bear was also the son of Thorum, a man-hero. But the gods punished him for offending the weak and not honoring the elderly. One day, the hero climbed naked over a "mossy forest", grew fur and went into the forest. Bear hunting was not prohibited, and if the animal was killed, then a bear festival was held in the village.

In addition to the ideas of the gods, there was a belief in many spirits: water, forest, swamp. Forest spirits are good and evil. They can entangle a person, lead them into a thicket, into a swamp. They can make you a successful hunter. Among the forest spirits there are Misne ("forest woman") and Mis-hum ("forest man"). It was believed that its owner, the old man As-Ike, lived in the lower reaches of the Ob. When the river was freed from the ice, sacrifices were made to the owner of the Ob. Deep pools are inhabited by a creepy monster Ves — a water cow that can turn a boat over with its horns. If a person fell out of a boat, they did not save him, I believe that the death of the unfortunate is pleasing to the water spirits.

Abalak icon of the Mother of God "The Sign"

In the XVII century, not far from Tobolsk, "in vesey called Abalak," the Mother of God appeared to the poor widow Mary, and ordered the construction of a church of the Sign in the village. The command of the Mother of God was fulfilled, and soon Protodeacon Matvey Martynov painted the Abalak icon of the Mother of God "The Sign", which became the guardian of Tobolsk and its surroundings for many years.

The icon painter Martynov was not born in Siberia, but arrived in Tobolsk with the first Archbishop Cyprian. The age at the time of arrival in Siberia was 55 years old. In 1628 he was already a protodeacon. He was appreciated as a skilled icon painter. It is known that Martynov received per year: 15 rubles, 18 quarters of rye, 18 quarters of oats and 12 pounds of salt.

Archbishop Cyprian ordered the protodeacon to paint two altarpieces of the Most Pure Theotokos and update the old ones, sent to Tobolsk during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich to the Trinity Church, icons of the Mother of God Hodegetria and the image of the Life-Giving Trinity.

In 1636, Matvey Martynov painted the image of the Abalak Mother of God "The Sign". He was about 70 years old.

In 1640, Archbishop Gerasim (1640−1650) was appointed to manage the diocese. He was an enlightened, literate man, but very strict in his treatment, almost harsh. In 1645, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ascended the throne. During prayer, Matvey, instead of Alexei, remembered his deceased father, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, for which he was chained up to grind flour. He sat on a chain until the tsar’s name day.

The year of death of Protodeacon Matvey Martynov is unknown. However, it is known that this happened no later than 1650.

The Abalak icon was painted following the example of the ancient Novgorod icon "The Sign". In the center of the icon is the Virgin Mary with the Christ child incarnated in Her body. The ancient icon of Novgorod performed many miracles. One of her most famous miracles was the rescue in 1170 of Veliky Novgorod from the troops of the Suzdalians, led by the son of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky Mstislav. When Novgorod was besieged, a cloud of arrows flew towards the city. There were icons on the walls. One arrow hit the icon. The icon began to cry and turned its face to the Novgorodians, and its back side to those who besieged Novgorod. A deep darkness descended on the Suzdalians, and they, like blind people, began to kill each other. Seeing such a thing, the Novgorodians opened the gates and drove the invaders away. The Suzdalians had to retreat across the devastated lands. Famine began in the troops of Prince Mstislav Andreevich, and his soldiers, to the horror of the chronicler, ate the meat of their own horses during Lent.

The Siberian icon differs from the Novgorod prototype by two upcoming saints: on the right of the icon is Nicholas the Wonderworker, on the left is St. Mary of Egypt.

Already during the painting of the icon, miracles of healing began to occur. The most famous miracle was the rescue of the inhabitants of Tobolsk from floods and famine in the summer of 1665. In honor of this event by the Archbishop (then Metropolitan) Cornelius established the annual bringing of the icon in a procession to Tobolsk for two weeks.

Many copies were made from the Abalak icon, which were revered as miraculous. One of the most revered copies was located in Semipalatinsk.

In the XVII century on the icon there was a golden chasuble weighing about 4.5 kilograms. In 1856, a new silver chasuble with gold was made for the icon, weighing about 5 kilograms.

Vasily Mangazeysky

Vasily Mangazeysky was the son of a merchant from Yaroslavl. He came to the trading city of Mangazeya. He joined one of the local merchants as a clerk. Once, when Vasily happened to be in church (an indication that he was a virtuous and God-abiding man), the owner’s shop was robbed. Vasily was accused of conspiring with robbers, tortured, killed and secretly buried. The grave stood forgotten for a long time, but again, after half a century, various signs began to appear over it. The graves were opened and found that the remains remained incorruptible. Basil was declared a saint, and his relics were placed in the Turukhansk monastery.

Kazan Tobolsk Icon of the Mother of God

In the second half of the XVII century, the veneration of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan (Tobolsk) was established.

On May 26, 1661, in the Tobolsk Znamensky Monastery, after the morning service, deacon John had a vision that all the people needed to build a church in three days and bring into it the image of the Mother of God of Kazan, located in the church of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, placed in a closet, with its face to the wall. If this is done, the city will be spared many troubles.

After the first vision, three more followed. John told Hieromonk Macarius everything. Then he repeated the story to Archimandrite Joseph and put it in writing. The abbot of the monastery immediately informed the governor of Tobolsk, Ivan Andreevich Khilkov. However, the Bishop’s permission was needed to build the church, but His Grace Simeon was not in Tobolsk.

At a general meeting of the clergy and secular authorities, it was decided to hold a procession from the cathedral to the monastery the next day. The icon was taken out of the closet. All the people were on their knees and fervently praying.

Immediately, the townspeople decided to build a temple together. The church was built in three days. On the fourth day, the icon was triumphantly placed in the iconostasis of the new church. The chronicler noted that the rains stopped pouring, as if as a sign of God’s mercy to the inhabitants of the city.

The chronicler counted 44 miracles performed at this icon. A special manuscript was compiled about them, which was kept in the archive of the Tobolsk Znamensky Monastery.

The icon was kept in the Kazan Church of the Znamensky Monastery between the royal and northern gates. The Virgin was depicted as on the Kazan original. The image was decorated with a silver gilded chasuble. Both crowns contained precious stones. A small crown of precious stones and pearls was attached to the crown of the Mother of God.

Icon of the Mother of God of Pochaev in St. John’s Monastery

The icon of the Mother of God of Pochaev was located in the Assumption Monastery in Volhynia. It received the name Pochaevskaya from the village of Pochaevo. There was a cave near the village, in which two monks settled. One of the monks ascended the mountain at night to pray and suddenly saw the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on a stone in a pillar of fire. The imprint of her right foot remained at the place of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin. Under the foot of the Virgin, the solid stone melted like wax and filled with clear, transparent water. The appearance of the Mother of God on Mount Pochaevskaya occurred around 1340.

In 1595, Metropolitan Neophyte of Constantinople presented the local landowner Anna Goyskaya with an image of the Mother of God, brought from Constantinople. During prayer at the icon, her brother Philip Kozinski, blind from birth, regained his sight. In 1597, Anna Goyskaya presented the icon to the Pochaev monastery to the monks living in the cave. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built on the mountain.

After the death of Anna Goyskaya, all her lands and even Pochaevskaya Mountain were inherited by Andrei Firlei. He was a Protestant and hated the Pochaev Monastery and all its monks. In 1623, he attacked the monastery, stole church treasures and the icon itself. Blasphemously, he ordered his wife to put on church vestments and appear at the feast with a cup in her hand, spewing blasphemy against Orthodoxy. For such blasphemy, Firlei’s wife became possessed. An evil spirit tormented her until the icon was returned to the monastery.

In 1675, the Pochaev Monastery was besieged by the Turks. The monks prayed all night and sang the akathist. Suddenly the Blessed Virgin appeared in light clothes, surrounded by angels with drawn swords. The enemies were attacked by fear, and they fled.

In 1770, the Pochaev monastery was captured by the Uniates. In 1831, the monastery was returned to the Orthodox and became known as the Dormition Pochaev Lavra.

The list of the famous image was brought to Tobolsk from the Pochaev Lavra by Deacon Vasily Simonov in 1836. The icon had a length of 1 yard and 1 vertex (73.5 cm) and a width of 13 vertices (32.5 cm).

In 1848, a terrible cholera epidemic occurred in Tobolsk. 621 people died in a month. In the midst of the epidemic, Ivan Permyakov, a parishioner of St. Andrew’s Church, heard a voice in a dream that said: "Here is the Abalak miraculous icon of the Mother of God from the Abalak monastery brought to Tobolsk. Why don’t they bring here the icon of the Pochaev Mother of God from the Ivanovo monastery?" Permyakov told his dream to his neighbors, and on July 13, a crowd of residents of the Podchuvash suburb came to Bishop George and asked for the icon.

On July 14, the icon was brought to Tobolsk. After the procession, the epidemic subsided and stopped completely three days later.

Residents of the Podchuvashsky suburb and other districts of Tobolsk asked Vladyka for the annual bringing of the icon to St. Andrew’s Church from July 1 to July 16.

In 1856 they petitioned His Grace Evlampy to bring the icon to Tobolsk not on July 14, but on Peter’s Day, not for two days, but for a whole week. The church authorities allowed the icon to be brought, but only for one year.

In March 1859, the Holy Synod received a new request to bring the icon for two weeks. On October 12, 1859, the Synod authorized the bringing of the icon from June 29 to July 4.

In 1860, merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Nevolin ordered for the icon a silver robe under gold weighing 7 pounds, 26 spools (about 3 kg), worth 350 rubles.

Simeon Verkhotursky

Simeon Verkhotursky, according to legend, was a nobleman, but he hid his high origin, led a simple and humble life, went to villages, sewed warm clothes for the poor for free. Moreover, they said that he gave the peasants unfinished fur coats so as not to charge them. He spent a lot of time traveling, but he had a shelter at the churchyard of the village of Merkushinskoye, near the city of Verkhoturye, Perm province. Simeon loved solitude and nature. He died in 1642 at the age of 35. He was buried in the Merkushinsky churchyard at the church of Archangel Michael. Half a century later, Simeon’s coffin came to the surface by itself, and miracles began to happen. With the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus (Leshchinsky) of Tobolsk, the relics of the saint were transferred to the Verkhotursky monastery.

On the icons, Simeon was depicted against the background of Siberian nature or monastic buildings with the indispensable attributes of a fisherman: fishing rods and a bucket. This reminded believers of the first disciples of Christ, the apostles Andrew and Peter. And about the Savior himself, because the fish is one of His symbols. Thus, Simeon appears to be a direct follower of Jesus Christ, a follower of His works.

Chimeevskaya miraculous icon

The miraculous icon of the Mother of God appeared in the first half of the XVIII century in the Chimeevskaya settlement, located 90 versts from the Kurgan. According to iconography, the Chimeevsky image is a reproduction of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. It is written on three boards, fastened together with through dowels. The icon size is 108×89 cm.

According to eyewitnesses, the icon of the Mother of God sailed along the Niyap River, a tributary of the Tobol. One day, the children were playing on the shore and suddenly saw a large black "board" floating vertically against the current. After some moments, the "board" got into a whirlpool. At its next turn, it tilted slightly and those standing on the shore saw the unusually large expressive eyes of the Mother of God. This look burned the audience with an insubstantial light. They got scared, the children ran after the priest and the adults. Soon the whole village gathered. The icon was carefully taken out of the water and solemnly transferred to the village church in the name of Saints Constantine and Elena. The news of the miraculous appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God quickly spread throughout the district and far beyond its borders. More and more pilgrims came to worship the Miraculous. This is how the Chimeevskaya-Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was found for the first time.

The second miraculous finding of the image occurred after November 5, 1770, the first wooden church in which the icon resided burned to the ground from a furnace. The fire completely destroyed the iconostasis and church utensils, but the Miraculous One again showed its grace-giving power. A child who wandered into the ashes stumbled over something hard. While raking the ashes, he saw the face of the Miraculous shining. The icon turned out to be intact, only the upper corner was singed, and the board was slightly darkened. Burn marks are still visible on the right cheek of the Mother of God.

On October 9, 1774, the abbot of the Dalmatian monastery, Margarit, consecrated a new church, which was named, like the previous one, in honor of equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Elena.

By 1887, the church had fallen into disrepair, and in 1888, a blessing was received to build a church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on the former site. On May 7, 1889, the church was laid, and on May 21, 1890, its solemn consecration took place. This wooden temple has miraculously been preserved in its original beauty to the present day. The iconostasis, made at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, is decorated with original fine wooden carvings covered with gold leaf.

On July 3, 2019, as a result of a fire, the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was completely destroyed.

The icon itself burned down and cannot be restored, only fragments of the metal salary remained of it, a new list of the image of the Kazan-Chimeevskaya Icon of the Mother of God was transferred to the monastery.

The roots of the Old Believers of Siberia

In 1653, the leader of the schism, Protopop Avvakum (Petrov), was exiled to Tobolsk, and he traveled here under guard for 13 weeks. Archbishop Simeon of Tobolsk, who secretly sympathized with the Old Believers, gave him a place as a priest at the Church of the Most Merciful Savior. In Tobolsk, the exiled protopop continued to denounce the "Nikon heresy". A year and a half later, Avvakum was sent to the east, with a detachment of Afanasy Pashkov’s Cossacks to Dauria.

Avvakum had many students in Tobolsk who brought the ideas of schism to Verkhoturye, Turinsk and Tyumen. Following the disgraced protopop, many Old Believers rushed to Siberia from church persecution, who created their hermitages and deserts here. In 1660, the sermons of the monk Joseph Istomin, who had been traveling in Siberia for 24 years, enjoyed great success.

On January 6, 1679, the first fire occurred — in the Tobolsk district on the Berezovka River, a tributary of the Tobol, 2,700 Old Believers voluntarily burned themselves. The center of the split was the Utyatskaya Sloboda (near the Kurgan). In 1682, 400 people burned themselves in the settlement.

Pomeranians

In the 19th century, the Pomeranian Accord was the most numerous in Western Siberia. The Pomeranian community was divided into "lay" and "cathedral" communities. The cathedrals are full-fledged members of the community, Old Believers by birth. A member of the community became conciliar in old age, after he had "cleansed himself", that is, he could no longer perform marital duties. The cathedrals were strict "cup holders", everyone used only his cup and spoon.

The community was led by a "confessor" (spiritual father) or "charterer" (leading the service). The main role of the confessor was to accept confession and absolution of sins.

Pomeranian services were held either at the home of one of the members of the community or in a prayer house (if there was one). The prayer house consisted of two rooms, in the first there were icons, in the second services were conducted. At the service, men stood on the right side, women on the left. The service was based on old books. Bows were made at the same time. During the service, it was not allowed to "create whispers", to talk about an outsider.

A distinctive feature of the Pomeranians was the recognition of marriage. However, they considered marriage in the Orthodox Church to be "heresy and fornication." If the Pomeranians were married in the Orthodox church, then in the house of the groom’s parents, after returning from the wedding, the newlyweds had to go around all the guests and ask forgiveness from everyone, bowing to the ground. After that, penance was imposed on them: 800 bows a day, three times a week dry food (bread and water) and excommunication from prayer for a whole year. Another form of marriage was a "runaway" marriage, when a girl was abducted with the consent of her parents. After some time, the young people came to the head of the community, who imposed penance on them, but less severe than in the first case.

Another feature of the Pomeranians was the custom of crossing all those entering the community. It was believed that after a new baptism, a person renounced all the past and was reborn to a new life, he was given a new name.

The Pomeranians attached special importance to burial. They prepared for death in advance, sewed funeral clothes by hand. Before death, it was necessary to repent to the spiritual father, otherwise relatives were forbidden to commemorate such a deceased. A "lestovka" (Old Believer rosary beads, sometimes just a homespun thread with forty knots) was necessarily placed in the coffin. It was not customary to wail at funerals. The ceremony itself was very restrained and strict.

Old Believers of Siberia in the second half of the XIX — early XX centuries

According to the Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee, in the second half of the 19th century, schismatics (Old Believers) and sectarians made up 3.12% of the population of the Tobolsk province. The largest number of Old Believers lived in Yalutorovsky and Kurgan districts. There were schismatic prayer houses in the villages of Bralgina, Savina, Raskovalova, Peschanaya of the Kurgan district and D. Lipikhina of Yalutorovsky.

At the end of the 19th century, the total number of Old Believers in the province not only did not decrease, but even increased. According to the census of 1897, 72 600 Old Believers lived in the Tobolsk province. The largest number of them lived in Yalutorovsky county 35 550 people, and this is almost half of the entire population of the county!

In Tyumen county, the village of Shchelkonogova in Fominsk parish became the center of Old Believers. Most of the Old Believers of the Tyumen district professed "chapel harmony". Their communities were located in Fominsky, Kulakovsky, Lipchinsky and Kamensky parishes. The parishes of Karmaksky, Kamensky and Lipchinsky were also inhabited by "Pomeranian bracobors". In 1908 they formed the Nikolsky community of the "Pomeranian accord" with a chapel in the village of Kosmakova, Kamenskaya volost, headed by mentor Egor (Savin).

According to statistics, on January 1, 1900, 2,534 Old Believers of the "chapel of consent" lived in Tyumen County, and 27,718 people lived in Yalutorovsky County.

In Yalutorovsky district, "Pomeranians-titlovschina" were also noted, who rejected the writing on the cross "I.N.C.I.". Their community was located in the village of Kokushki in Shorokhovskaya volost and stood out of 20 peasant households. Among other dissenters, there were "Anisimovism", who rejected candles and "Zenovism" ("self-crosses").

In the villages of Pastukhovaya and Barkhatova Isetskaya volost of Yalutorovsky district, with the support of wealthy peasants brothers Efim and Grigory Sidorov, a community of "Pomeranian brats", consisting of 22 people, settled.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of Old Believers and sectarians grew intensively: in 1904 alone, there were 11 277 schismatics in Tarsky and Tyukalinsky. In 1903, communities of Bespopovites were discovered in Tyumen and Yalutorovsky counties.

The decree of Emperor Nicholas II of October 17, 1905, which granted freedom of religion, allowed the Old Believers to freely settle spiritual requirements not only in prayer houses, but also "in other necessary cases." According to articles 1 and 32 of this decree, the Old Believers were given the opportunity to use church vestments, as well as monastic attire, in their rituals. These measures led to a more active spread of the Old Believers.

The staff of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory calculated that in 1908 1,260 people left Orthodoxy for schism (617 to "Pomeranians", 421 to "bespopovtsy", 202 to "starikovtsy" and 20 to "popovtsy"), in 1909 — 257 people (to Pomeranian consent — 108, Bespopovtsy — 86, Austrian consent — 43, chapel concord — 19, to the sect of evangelists — 1). A total of 1,791 people left Orthodoxy from 1908 to 1911.

According to statistics, in 1913, 100,269 Old Believers lived in Tobolsk province (48,970 m., 51 299 w.). The largest number of Old Believers lived in Yalutorovsky (47,236 people), Kurgan (19 888) and Ishim (14 593) counties.

In Ishim county, the "Austrian accord" became the most widespread. So, in 1913, 313 "Austrians" were registered in Gagaryevsky village of Gagaryevsky parish; 278 in Peshneva village of Tsibinsky parish; 185 in the villages of Katayskaya, Ostropyatova, Byakova Sladkovsky parish; 159 in the villages of Voronina and Shagalova, the village of Larikhinsky of Larikhinsky parish.

Old Believer icons

The Old Believers, guardians of ancient piety, resisted any changes and were very picky about painted icons, preferring casting, which they made themselves. Since they were under strict supervision, the craftsmen resorted to all sorts of tricks, the foundries were mobile so that they could be quickly deployed and started casting or rolled up and hidden. Horizontal icons served as a kind of frame for casting, for example, for cast folds with two-hundredth holidays. Such cast icons were called "kiots", "kiots", "kivotki".

The Old Believers had their favorite subjects. The "Fiery Ascent of Elijah the Prophet" is often found. This plot is connected with the idea of connecting with God through fiery purification, fiery ascension. It is no coincidence that the Old Believers believed that a cast icon was more holy because it passed through fire than one painted on wood with unclean hands.

Fedoseevtsy

There were fewer Fedoseevites than Pomeranians. Their large communities existed only in Kurgan and Tyumen counties of Tobolsk province. The Fedosians believed that there was no true priesthood and church left on earth, and the Antichrist reigned in the world. They did not recognize marriage, and everyone who came to the community was baptized. Only a childless single person could be a mentor in the community, since only such a person could perform baptism. The Fedoseevites called for leaving the world, abandoning their family and children. Unlike the Pomeranians, the Fedosians did not hold worship in full, but gathered to read spiritual books.