There used to be a Valinionikitskaya church. Orthodox children's shelter "Nikita Church of the Great Martyr Nikita"
Date of publication or update 02/05/2017
Temples of the Moscow region
Church of the Great Martyr Nikita
The village of Byvalino.In the estate of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, in the Nikitsky churchyard near the river. Drozny, in 1577 there was a wooden church of the Prophet Elijah, built by “kletski”. In the book of the Kholmogorov brothers “Historical materials about churches and villages of the 16th-18th centuries. Vokhonskaya tithe" is listed as the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita in the Nikitsky churchyard, on the Drozna river, in 1577 it was located in the Moscow district, in the Vokhonsky volost, in the patrimony of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, "and in the church there are images, and books, and vestments, and bells all worldly building."
The chronicle of the Nikita Church records: “Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, according to legend, in this parish there was a temple in the name of the Prophet Elijah, on the site of whose throne there is a stone pillar. That the church was Elijah’s is confirmed by the preserved pious custom of performing prayers for this saint on the day of his memory in one village, Byvalneya, and was also confirmed by the general desire of the parishioners to build a throne in a new stone church in honor of Elijah the Prophet, in order to forever preserve in posterity the memory of the existing Elijah Church.” .
In scribe books 131-132 (1623-1624) about the Nikitsky churchyard, on the Drozna river, it is written: “... near the church on the church land in the courtyard is priest Ignatius, in the courtyard is the church deacon Parfenka Vasilyevich, in the courtyard is the prosphora maker Maryitsa, 4 quarters of arable land in the middle of the land, 12 quarters of the field overgrown with forest, and in two because, hay along the Drozna river and on Byvalnya 30 kopecks.”
In 1881, in recognition of his successful work in creating and beautifying a new stone church, priest Tikhon Matfeev Alexandrov was awarded a purple skufiya. This year, following the example of previous years, the icon of the Jerusalem Mother of God was encircled. On November 7, there was a fire in the village of Loginovo, two farmsteads of peasants burned down: Grigory Alekseev and Alexander Fedotov.
In the month of October, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and St. Stephen of Makhrishchi from the Makhrishchi Hermitage, Alexandrovsky District, Vladimir Province were carried into the parish.
Priest Tikhon Alexandrov. Deacon Mikhail Lebedev. Psalmist Alexander Sokolov. Viewed on December 7, 1893 by Dean Archpriest Pavel Dobrokponsky.
In 1895, the peasant of the Tereninsky volost, the village of Efimova, Joakim Ivanov Chuvarzin, and the peasant woman of the village of Belkova of the same volost, Irina Evsevieva Rodina, again made and gilded the chasuble for the icon of the Three Saints of Moscow: Peter, Alexy and Jonah, and made a silver one from one corner of this icon , a gilded robe for the icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist, as well as a silver-plated copper candlestick and a silver, gilded lamp. They also built an iconostasis for this icon.
This year the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem was carried around the villages of the parish.
1896 In this year, on the occasion of the opening of the relics of St. Theodosius Archbishop of Chernigov, with the zeal of the parishioners, his icon was painted and it was established to celebrate September 9 in memory of the saint. This year, the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem was carried around the villages of the parish.
1897 In this year, through the diligence of the parishioners, iconostases were built on the icon of St. Great Martyr Nikita and St. Theodosius. In the same year, due to a serious illness, the local priest Tikhon Matveevich Alexandrov left the staff on the 12th day of November, and in his place, according to the resolution in God of the late Metropolitan Sergius, Alexy Mikhailov Vinogradov, a student of the Vyazninsky Seminary, was appointed a priest to this church.
In October 1900, the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God from the city of Bronnitsy was brought to the Nikitsky parish. Priest Alexey Vinogradov. Deacon John Trinity. Psalmist Alexander Sokolov.
The literacy school that still exists in the village of Loginova was transformed into a parochial school on October 26 of this year. Anna Nikolaevna Garazdina was appointed teacher, and Deacon John Alekseevich Troitsky was appointed teacher of the law. Priest Alexey Vinogradov. Deacon John Trinity.
1902 On October 13, at 9 and a half o'clock in the evening, psalm-reader Alexander Mikhailovich Sokolov, 39 years old, who served at this church for 19 years, died, and on November 17, Deacon Lebedev died. On October 20, the peasant Semyon Nikitin Mironov was elected to the church elder for the second three-year anniversary.
1903 At the end of this year, Deacon John Trinity was ordained a priest in the village. Novlenskoye, Bronnitsky district.
1904 This year, construction began on a two-story stone building for a school and a guardhouse. In November, the former rector of the local church, priest Tikhon Matfeevich Alexandrov, died: he was buried at the stone church, on the field side of the main altar.
1905 Continued construction of the stone temple.
1906 The gatehouse school was completed this year.
The local priest Alexey Mikhailovich Vinogradov was transferred by the Metropolitan to another place in November.
On December 1, the priest of the Church of the Nativity of Christ, Moscow district, Mikhail Vladimirovich Sadikov, was appointed rector of the local church. In place of deacon Nikolai Lavrov, who was dismissed from staff, Vasily Andreevich Voznesensky, a psalm-reader from the Podolsk district, was appointed deacon in the parish of the Nikitsky Church. The main disadvantages of the parishioners are wine and clothes; both, and especially the first, ruin the peasants financially and corrupt them morally. Priest Mikhail Sadikov.
1908 This year everything was as before in parish life and in the church. The spring was very rainy, and the autumn was dry.
1909 In this year, in the month of July, the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem - from the city of Bronnitsy - was carried around the villages of the parish.
There were no transformations in the temple, since all the debts for the construction of the gatehouse and school were being paid. Since June of this year, the state winery in our parish near the village of Terenino, at the request of the peasants, has been closed. Now in the parish, thank God, there is not a single establishment selling alcoholic beverages. In October, the former head of the church and the builder of the stone temple, a peasant from the village of Efimova, Ivan Evseevich Chuvarzin, died.
In May 1910, its own building for the parish school in the village of Loginovo was built. In the same month, a new church elder took office - a peasant from the village of Kozlovo, Maxim Fedotovich Colony. There have been no acquisitions for the temple, since the payment of debts for the construction of the school gatehouse is still ongoing. In October, a house was built for the psalm-reader at church expense, for which 700 rubles were spent. and taken from the church dacha 100 roots to the forest.
In 1913 there were no changes in parish life. The morality of the people is rapidly going downhill. Factories and taverns corrupt the people more than could be expected. An ordinary priest is not able to keep the parish from falling; they listen to him little, they question him more. In the parish activities, every step of the priest, even well-intentioned and leaning towards the benefit of the parish, they tried to interpret in the other direction, explaining it as self-interest or ambition. It would be unfair to blame parishioners alone for such an attitude towards their priest: to a greater or lesser extent, but still the clergy are also to blame for this, with their unforgivable indifference to purely pastoral activities.
1914 This year there were no improvements to the temple. All church income was contributed to pay off the debt. The entire debt was paid off in half a day. At the end of July, the Great Patriotic War began. The mobilization was unprecedented - almost all the reserves were collected. About 150 people from our parish were collected as reserves.
1915 Throughout the year the war continued, there were several more sets of spares. An unprecedented number of people were chosen from us. It is hard, very hard for the people to endure such a war, but they do not lose heart, although the whole year during the war was unsuccessful for us. This year, another enemy of the people made himself especially felt: his family of all positions and ranks, taking advantage of the difficult times, raised the prices of all necessary products to unprecedented levels. A bag of rye flour cost 6-7 rubles before the war, now it costs 11-12 rubles. A pound of cereal cost 2.80-3 rubles, now 4 rubles. - 4.20, before the war, buckwheat was sold for 5 kopecks. pound, and now 9-10 kopecks. and so on in everything. If you take into account that we have an abundance of flour and cereals and sugar and other basic food items in Rus', and that almost nothing of them now goes abroad, then you will inevitably be surprised where such high prices could have come from, how could they people create it. The cunning and selenious enemy of mankind and many more among us are his sinners, his faithful and obedient minions. But, despite such high prices, people live as before, if not better.
In the middle of the year, a lack of specie began to be noticed, and in order to come to the aid of the people, the Government issued replacement silver coins of the 10, 15 and 20 kopeck mark. At the end of the year, for the same need and for the same purpose, small paper coins of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks were issued.
1916 This year the war continued with the same intensity. The cost of all products also increased. Parish life continued as before.
1917 On May 21, the parish council was elected, which began its work on August 21. On September 15, the 200th anniversary of the ancient wooden temple was solemnly celebrated. Present at the celebration were: S. Troitsky Alexey Ioannovich Nikolsky, Pyatnitsky churchyard Vasily Arkhangelsky, p. Sevostyanovo - priest Alexander Pomirantsev and s. Yurkino priest Alexander Filippov.”
But then the time came, about which in 1917, in the annals of the temple, then-serving Archpriest Mikhail Sadikov made the following entry: “In the month of October, a coup d’état took place, power passed to the Socialist-Bolshevik (Communist) Party. The breakdown of not only state orders, but also the social system began, what happened from this - these are the days of History. I only consider it necessary to conclude that the entire people were divided into two camps - bourgeois and proletarians, the latter being more than full citizens, and the former less than slaves.”
1918-1921 “In 1918 there was a decree on the separation of church and state. This decree did not affect the church life of the parishioners at all; there has never been a single case where parishioners did without church blessings at important moments in their lives.
In 1920, the Bogorodsk vicariate was opened and His Grace Nikanor from the Archimandrites of the St. Nicholas Edinoverie Moscow Monastery was appointed Bishop of Bogorodsk.
In 1919, church warden P.M. Colony refused his position, and on May 11 a new one was elected - peasant from the village of Stremyannikov, Ivan Yakovlevich Pavlov.
Over these years, the economic life of the people was quickly destroyed, and at the same time the cost of everything increased. By the end of 1921, prices were as follows: a pound of flour - 140,000 thousand rubles, potatoes - 20,000, a pound of cabbage - 18,000 rubles, 1 pound of vegetable oil - 20,000 rubles, 1 pound of sugar - 35,000 rubles. A cow costs 3,000,000 rubles. and more, a horse is the same at these prices, 1 pound of salt is 2500 rubles, 1 box of matches is 1800 rubles, a simple knife is 10,000 rubles. and so on. Priest Mikhail Sadikov.
1922 A terrible year of hunger. My parishioners were starving along with everyone else. In winter, typhus was very rampant, especially in the village of Loginovo, and in the spring, dysentery. Famine and a terrible epidemic put many people into the grave. They traveled all over Russia to buy bread: the trips were accompanied by inhuman torment, which, of course, will be described on the pages of history.
1923 The people began to recover from hunger, government life was gradually improving. Anti-religious propaganda is carried out with particular persistence. The Church is depressed and silent and looks with sorrow at human madness. This year, to the great regret of believers, the ruling church was divided into two warring camps - the Renovationists and the “Tikhonovites.”
1924 Divisions in the parish continue, but hostility between believers is significantly reduced. Sobering comes, voices are heard about the need for unification. In our church, a peasant from the village of Kozlova, Semyon Prokopievich Goryachev, was elected church elder, and he serves with special zeal. The mad onslaught of godlessness continues: much is sown, but very little is reaped. The Church is forced to remain silent: the clergy are the most powerless ordinary people, although various taxes are collected more than accurately and, moreover, the taxes are very impressive. Bishops are often in prison, or stay in Solovki, Komi and other resorts in the beautiful north. Currently, our Bogorodsk Bishop, His Eminence Platon, who was appointed in 1923 after the death of Bishop Nikanor, is in Solovki.
1925. In the wooden church, the porch between the church and the bell tower was built in 1817: in the same year, the entire church was covered with iron, and the latter was purchased for 2,214 rubles. Carpenters were given 475 rubles, roofers 110 rubles. (1817). The iconostasis was renewed and gilded in 1818, at a cost of 2,775 rubles. The church was painted inside in 1819. 512 rubles were spent in the first year. 55 kopecks and in the second 537 rubles. The church was covered with planks in 1825 and painted in the same year: a total of approximately 3,500 rubles were spent. There is no mention of the fence and foundation in the income and expenditure books for these years. Consequently, they were built before 1808. In 1925, the roof of the temple and walls were painted with oil paints, for which 1,200 rubles were spent.
1926 At the beginning of September of this year, Semyon Polyakov, a citizen of the village of Loginov, was elected church warden.
1927 For the 210 years of the church’s existence, this year was the first time there was a bishop’s service in it: His Grace Nikita served on January 10 and September 15. In September, the Most Reverend Nikita was moved to Nizhny Tagil, Ural region. For the patronal feast, three icons were restored: the Savior, the Mother of God, etc. Sergius. It was restored by restoration artist Pyotr Ivanovich Orlov for 500 rubles. In the last months of the year, the entire temple inside was painted, and the floor - all the work cost 750 rubles.
1928 Hieromonk John - in the world Archpriest of Moscow St. George, on Malaya Dmitrovka, Church John Alexandrovich Sokolov September 28 / October 11, 1928 in Moscow Kharitonievskaya, in Ogorodniki, church for the Divine Liturgy by the Right Reverends: Metropolitan Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, Archbishop Dionysius of Orenburg , Khutynsky Alexy, Ryazansky Juvenaly, Vyatsky Pavel, Zvenigorodsky Philip, and bishop. Ambrose of Dmitrov, assisted by the Holy Spirit, was ordained Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese.
On the night of October 3, the attackers sawed through the front door, entered the temple and stole the following: the tabernacle, the altar cross and vestments from the icons - St. Nicholas, the Resurrection of Christ and the Icon of the Mother of God of Akhtyrskaya - all silver items
In the village of Byvalino, on January 17, 1917, Vasily Pavlovich Mishin (1917-2001), academician, deputy S.P., was born into a peasant family. Korolev (who later replaced him as General Designer of missile systems for combat and scientific purposes), a scientist in the field of mechanical engineering, organizer of rocket and space engineering education.
On the occasion of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, through the efforts of the community of the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita in the village. Loginovo was built on the site of a chapel destroyed during the years of persecution, a new stone chapel in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. The chapel was built according to the design of the architect Andrei Kaznacheev.
The village of Loginovo is known from documents from the end of the 16th century, when the scribes of the Trinity of Sergius Monastery compiled an inventory of all the villages and hamlets of the Pavlovsk volost, granted by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to the monastery: “The village of Loginovo on the Drozna River is arable land with gray land of 50 cheti and overgrown with forest 24 cheti with inspection in the field, and in two because, hay 40 kopecks... 10 peasant households, and 8 Bobyl households, including 2 widows and 2 parishes.”
The very large village of Danilovo, neighboring Loginov, was inhabited by both Orthodox Christians and schismatics. In Danilovo there was a stone Orthodox chapel, broken in Soviet times, and a wooden St. Nicholas and Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Old Believer church, destroyed in the 1930s. Danilovo was part of the land ownership of the landowners Nikolsky, Zagarye and also. Already in 1794, the village of Danilovo was more populated than all the surrounding villages and villages; then it had 44 households with a population of 381 people. In 1876, in Danilovo there were 21 metal processing establishments (mainly bronze - casting and subsequent processing) with 160 employees producing goods worth 81,050 rubles. in year.
In 2003, a wooden chapel of St. Philip the Metropolitan was built in the village of Mekhleskhoz.
In the parish of the Nikitskaya Church. There was also the village of Kozlovo.
In the parish of the temple with. Byvalino is also located in the village of Terenino. The villages of Loginovo and Terenino are separated by the Drezna River, and Terenino and Efimovo have now almost merged with each other.
In the parish of the temple with. There was also the village of Efimovo. There was a stone chapel here, destroyed during Soviet times.
Stremyannikovo also belonged to the parish of the Nikitsky Church in Byvalino. A stone chapel built in the late 19th - early 20th centuries has been preserved in Stremyannikovo. This village is known from scribe books of the late 16th century.
In Nazaryevo, the chapel was built in 1912, at the expense of peasants, factory owners in the village of Filimonovo, Ivan and Alexander Sokolnikov. We find the first mention of Nazar'ev in the scribe books of the late 16th century.
In 1885, a zemstvo school was opened in Nazaryevo. The trustee of the school was the peasant Artemy Urin, the teacher of the law was the priest Alexander Lvov, and the teacher was Sidorov.
In 1903, Zinaida Pavlovna Rozanova entered the school in the village of Nazaryevo as a teacher. The priest's daughter Ryazan residents (now in the Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region). She was born in 1887, in 1896 she entered the Moscow Diocesan Philaret School, from which she graduated in 1903 with the title of home teacher. In 1918, the school moved to the house of the merchant Urin.
Part of the population of Nazar'ev belonged to the Old Believers - neo-okruzhniki. In 1883, they built a prayer house in Nazaryevo.
On the old map of the Moscow province (survey of 1861), in the area of the village of Byvalino, two objects are marked nearby - the Old Believer cemetery and the churchyard of Nikita the Martyr (the Old Believer cemetery is highlighted in red). In the area of the village. Rakhmanovo marked another Old Believer cemetery (blue). Google Maps clearly shows the location of these two churches.
In 1960, our 8th grade class worked in the summer in the village of Byvalino, Moscow region. We were housed in an old wooden church (built in 1717), converted into a school. There I first saw a working harmonium (like a piano, but with foot bellows for blowing air). There was an old cemetery around the school-church, which had no effect on the young psyche. Across the road was an abandoned stone church with a bell tower (built in 1861) with its own cemetery around it. Once we climbed into it through the window bars, and also onto the roof. Then I was very surprised by the presence of two churches opposite each other and each with its own cemetery.
This year I decided to visit the places of my youth. It turned out that the wooden church burned down back in the 80s. The photo clearly shows the remains of the foundation of this wooden church. In addition to the new burials, several old tombstones of the Old Believers have been preserved, on which the symbolism in the form of a cross is not visible. There is an ornament in the form of a daisy. The simultaneous existence of two churches (Old Believer and New) opposite each other with their cemeteries suggests that in the mid-19th century, during the construction of the temple of the new faith, the old one had not yet been destroyed. In this regard, the issue of cruel persecution of Old Believers requires additional study.
The new church is now being intensively restored. There is a large shield with a historical description of the village. Happened. I quote the inscription on the banner “In the Vokhon lands at the beginning of the 17th century, the icon of the Great Martyr Nikita appeared several times along the Dresdna River. In the places where she appeared, healing miraculous springs miraculously began to flow. The Orthodox, seeing such divine mercy and heavenly help for the suffering, built chapels in these places.
The history of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita in the village of Byvalino is also connected with the appearance of the icon of this wonderful saint. Tradition says about the foundation of the temple in the name of the Great Martyr Nikita that the temple icon of this saint appeared on the site of the existing temple and this will of God served as an indication for the construction of the temple in the name of the Great Martyr Nikita. The wooden church was consecrated on the saint's memorial day 290 years ago - September 15, 1717.
The modern stone building of the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita was founded in 1861 on the day of his memory. The revealed icon of the Great Martyr Nikita was placed in a new church, three-altared with chapels of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, Elijah the Prophet and Nikita the Martyr. It was assumed that here, at the request of Emperor Alexander II, a nunnery would be founded.
Archpriest Mikhail Sadikov, who was then serving, wrote about the difficult times that had come in 1917: “The entire people were divided into two camps - bourgeois and proletarians, the latter being more than full citizens, and the former less than slaves.”
The ensuing tragic era left a bloody trail on Byvalinskaya land. On April 11, 1941, the Executive Committee of the Moscow Regional Council decided to close the church in the village. Byvalino in the Pavlovo-Posad district and the conversion of its building into a school. The miraculous icon of St. Nikita from the Nikitsky churchyard church in the village of Byvalino was kept for a long time in the side aisle of the church on Upolzy. In 1996, the ancient shrine was transferred in a solemn religious procession to its native Nikitsky Church, which was transferred to the Church in 1991.
The wooden temple of Nikita the martyr did not survive - it was burned in the late 1980s, only his photographs remained. Restoration work in the stone church was started by Archpriest Mikhail Syrchin, and since October 1992, Hieromonk Ambrose (Shevchuk) became the rector of the Nikita Church.
In November 2005, with the blessing of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsa and Kolomna and Bishop Artemy of Rashko of Prizren, a piece of the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita was transferred from Kosovo (Serbia) to Byvalino. And the Byvalino blacksmiths, under the leadership of Igor Chizhov, created a canopy over the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita and a shrine for the relics. As we see, there is no mention of the Old Believers on the memorial shield, and only the memory of the old-timers and ancient maps indicate the existence of an island of Old Belief here in the recent past.
Nikitsky, on Drozna, the churchyard is located on the southern outskirts of the village of Byvalino, on the left bank of the Drezna River. The churchyard is located 10 km southeast of the regional center and 72 km east of Moscow. During the Soviet period, the territory of the churchyard was crossed by the road to Kozlovo. A wooden temple stood east of this road. The Nikitsky wooden church was built in 1717 on the site of the abolished Nikitsky convent. The monastery was first mentioned in 1623 when listing the villages that belonged to the Intercession Suzdal Convent. The temple on the basement consisted of a single-domed log quadrangle, cut “into the oblo”, a faceted apse, cut into the “paw” of the refectory and the vestibule. Initially, the temple was adjacent to a hanging gallery - a walkway, the remains of which were preserved under later plank cladding. The outside of the building had an Empire style, acquired in the 1830s. The temple was closed in 1941 and later converted into a school. Burned down in the late 1970s.
800 m northeast of the temple, on the right bank of the Drezna River there is a source, where in the beginning. XVII century the image of the great martyr was revealed. Nikita Gotfsky (Constantinople). We still honor the source today.
Based on materials: V.V. Zverinsky. Material for historical and topographical research on Orthodox monasteries in the Russian Empire. Issue 1, 2 and 3. St. Petersburg, 1890-1897. Architectural monuments of the Moscow region. Volume 2. Moscow, 1975; own local history surveys on the ground.
In the village of Byvalino, in the Pavlovo-Posad district of the Moscow region, the Nikita Orthodox orphanage has been operating for 12 years. Dozens of children who scrounged around train stations and lived in basements find here a home where their hearts are warmed, and the love that their lives have deprived them of, and their destiny. The shelter is run by a wonderful person - Abbot Ambrose (Shevchuk). He leads with God's help, overcoming all bureaucratic and other barriers and obstacles.
Byvalinsky miracle
I was driving to Byvalino along the Nosovikhinskoe highway with one of Father Ambrosy’s assistants and spiritual children. I expected to see some kind of patched up village house where the “children of the street” were gathered. But the Nikita shelter struck me at the very first moment. Near the main temple in the name of the Great Martyr Nikita - hence the name of the shelter! – there is a whole complex resembling not a rural parish church, but a real monastery. Several churches, two-story residential buildings, chapels with domes and crosses, outbuildings surrounded by a solid fence with beautiful gates... This complex, as I was told, was created on the site where there used to be a swamp.
Construction, in which the Chizhov brothers - Ilya, who brought me here, and Igor, a noble blacksmith, are participating - continues. But there is order and cleanliness everywhere.
In the center of the complex there is a large flower garden. He appeared after a pilgrimage to Diveevo.
“We want us to have the same beautiful flowers - this is part of heaven on earth,” the local mothers told me.
Father Ambrose, as I am convinced, has many ideas and great ability to implement them. By the way, the priest comes from a large priestly family: almost all close and distant relatives served or are serving at the altar. Father Ambrose has already implemented many plans. But even more is being hatched.
Restoration of the soul
In October 1992, having received the blessing of Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, the young hieromonk Ambrose was sent to restore a rural church in the village of Byvalino.
“We immediately decided for ourselves,” says the priest, “that it is necessary to restore not only the walls, but also the souls of people.” Especially children's ones.
A man who loved children very much, he immediately decided that there should be a Sunday school at the church.
Summer has come and the thought of summer camp has arisen. The Minister of Defense responded to the request and provided battalion tents and field kitchens.
“I soon saw that Sunday school,” recalls Father Ambrose, “was ceasing to be a means of churching and was beginning to be perceived as just another entertainment for children - like a tennis section or a drawing club. Parents remain completely aloof. I began to think about how to live further, and then we began to receive requests to take care of “difficult” children. We retrained, and gradually the shelter was born. But the camp continues to operate. As his fame grew, little tramps and street children began to flock here. The squads grew from 6–7 people to 25–30 each.
Every year at the end of the August shift, “little ones” began to remain in the good hands of Father Ambrose - children who had nowhere to go. No one was waiting for them from the camp. Parents' addresses - cemetery, correctional facility, psychiatric hospital, train stations...
It was necessary to place these children in the cells of the novices who were working to restore the temple.
In the end, one of the buildings at the temple was converted into a children’s building and all “God’s little ones” were gathered under its roof. The educators deliberately avoid calling it an orphanage: each of the Nikitas has their own sad story behind them.
16-year-old Katya has not had a single grade of education; her mother is homeless.
Ira is 9 years old, her mother is gone, her father is an alcoholic. But the old grandmother is alive, a war veteran who loves the girl and does not want to part with her. Now both are at Nikita.
Seryozha Berezin is also 9 years old. Parents are on a spree, the house burned down. The boy lived for a couple of seasons in the boiler room manifold, spending the night on hot pipes. The fireman brought him. Now Seryozha is unrecognizable: he has grown stronger and is studying diligently.
Lenochka Lebedeva is six years old. I learned to speak only here. Mom is walking, dad is not. I got into Nikita from the street, literally frozen. Since then, due to hypothermia, she has had kidney problems. Now Lenochka is studying at a music school, singing at church concerts and holidays.
Sasha Bekhteev from South Ossetia, his boarding school was destroyed. The woman who came with him also lives with us. Arranges guardianship over the boy.
The younger “Nikityats”, aged from 7 months to 14 years, live in two large bedrooms in the children’s building – for boys and for girls. And the older ones, who are already 15–17 years old, are in separate cells.
“Nikityata” have different legal statuses. Some are adopted or taken into care by the shelter staff, others simply live here as in an educational institution.
“We are in no hurry to deprive us of parental rights,” says Father Ambrose, “for we believe that this must be the will of God.” It doesn’t matter to us what the child’s status is, the most important thing for us is to accept him, and that’s all. We are making every effort to find their relatives, find some documents, and provide medical and other assistance. When all children come to us, they immediately begin studying.
There are six teachers at Nikita. All are women: some are monastic tonsures, some are just laymen.
How do mothers cope with these street children?
Father Ambrose’s assistant, nun Vasily, who is responsible for the children’s corps, says:
– Our method is simple: communication, communication and communication. On the very first day we warn the new arrival: dear, we have a regime here - no vodka, no cigarettes! And what do you think? Gradually the children get used to it. All of them, by their very nature, are drawn to goodness. Children understand perfectly well where they feel good and where they feel bad.
Schoolchildren go to several local schools, regular and correctional, that is, intended for those children who are lagging behind in mental development. First-graders study directly at Nikita - this makes it more convenient to prepare them for secondary school.
On June 19, 2006, Russian Birch donated six computers to the shelter, provided by one of the Moscow computer companies with fully installed software. Now children will be able to master modern information technologies.
Teachers of computer science and English come to Nikita every week.
Many children go to Pavlovsky Posad to attend a music school. Pupils of "Nikita" play violins, cellos, domra and accordion. In a word, there is no time to breathe. But this is the educational concept of Abbot Ambrose:
“If we don’t keep these kids busy not even for 24, but for all 25 hours a day,” he says, “if we say: go for walks, do whatever you want, kids, they will find something to do, I assure you!”
And “Nikita” loads up her pets. In addition to studying, pilgrimage trips, excursions to museums, the children perform many obediences. For example, on the temple's subsidiary farm, where there are cows, pigs, geese, chickens, two horses and its own apiary. For each honey Savior, the “Nikitas”, led by Mother Vasily, pump several buckets of honey.
“Nikita” has its own traditions, which Father Ambrose considers very important.
“Every evening,” he says, “before going to bed we have a religious procession around the temple. The most obedient children are in front with icons and banners. Those who behaved worse during the day are dragged behind. After the religious procession, everyone comes up to me for a blessing, and then there is a debriefing: who was guilty, who distinguished himself. It’s more convenient to have such conversations in the evening: I’m always there, and in the morning there’s a lot of stuff to do.
Monogram for the patriarch
In the village of Byvalino they are already accustomed to the fact that Father Ambrosy is constantly coming up with something new, trying to attract residents of the area to interesting and good deeds.
At the temple, he founded a forge, which, in addition to educational and practical significance. Graduates of the blacksmith school - village teenagers and orphanage students - make candlesticks and other utensils for their temple.
The head of the forge, Igor Alekseevich Chizhov, like his associates, is a churchgoer: he carries out altar obedience, improves his skills in church reading and singing.
Father Ambrose organized a festival of blacksmiths under the motto: “We forge for the glory of Holy Rus'! Have mercy, Lord, and save!”
“The main goal of the festival,” says Father Ambrose, “is to introduce children and adults to the traditional ancient Russian craft, which was part of Orthodox culture.
And here is a story related to blacksmithing in Byvalino.
This year, literally a few days before February 25, when the birthday of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' is celebrated, representatives of the Neophyte television company, referring to the Bylina forge, turned to the rector and active members of the community with an unexpected request - to make a gift to the patriarch.
The blacksmiths spent the night thinking and, after praying, got down to business. “Nikitas” also took part in the work at the forge and on the anvil. Among them, ten-year-old Vanyusha Istomin especially stood out, who heated the iron, forged it, and helped hold it. Then, late in the evening, “Nikita” congratulated His Holiness the Patriarch in front of a television camera, and again Vanechka was in front. The “neophytes” left for Moscow. The patriarchal monogram forged in the forge – “richly decorated” – also left behind them.
The story could have ended there. But a week later, the “Neophytes” returned to Byvalino to film a report about Maslenitsa for the Rossiya channel.
“According to them,” says Father Ambrose, “Alexy II favorably accepted the souvenir from the Moscow region, and the congratulations of the Nikitas were especially warmly received by them.” The “neophytes” brought Vanya Istomin and his comrades a large box of patriarchal chocolate, decorated on top with the same monogram of the Primate of the Church, but only in miniature, and a letter from His Holiness the Patriarch himself.
“To the pupil of the children's corps at the Church of St. Vmch. Nikita s. Visited Moscow region Vanya Istomin.
Dear Vanya!
I sincerely thank you for your attention to my birthday and the memorable gift - the patriarch’s monogram forged by your hands. It is clear that you worked a lot on its production together with your mentor Igor Alekseevich Chizhov, putting your soul and talent into it.
...All of us, adults, it seems, just recently, like you, were children. Each of us remembers this unique time, maintaining in our souls a feeling of gratitude to those who were next to us, who warmed us with love and care, who gave us the joy of knowing the world, full of amazing discoveries.
…The Lord gives you time and strength to grow not only physically, but also, no less important, spiritually. The Church looks at you with faith, hope and love. Throughout your life, try to carry and preserve the best human feelings: kindness, honesty, responsiveness, love, mercy. Today, not many of us can admit that childhood gullibility and simplicity have been preserved in our adult lives. But we, adults, will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that your development is harmonious and successful. Try to live up to our expectations.
May God's blessing be with you, dear Vanya, and all your peers!
Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'."
"Nikita" against officials
Many pupils of Nikita, growing up, stay here - to carry out the orders of the abbot, educate the younger ones, and help with the housework.
One of the former pupils, Lyudochka, having completed her regency courses in Vladimir, returned to the orphanage to organize a children's choir. True, according to her assignment, she was supposed to go as a regent to one of the parishes in the Pavlovo-Posad region, but Father Ambrose arranged it so that the girl began to help “Nikita”: it would be calmer for the rector, and it would be more useful for the orphanage.
Some of the Nikitas went to Moscow to study, others entered the seminary in Vladimir. Father Ambrose and the orphanage teachers have a connection with everyone.
“The most important thing,” emphasizes Father Ambrose, “is how we think and what we hope for - for the most part, our students received the makings of an Orthodox lifestyle, learned the basics of Christian morality, saw the way to the temple, to God. And no matter how the circumstances of life twist and turn them now, they will never lose the beacon that shines for them in the stormy sea of life. They gained many brothers and sisters. They found the Church of Christ. They found faith. They were convinced from their life experience that they were needed by the people of God, the Church and their country. And instead of despondency and disappointment at the time of life’s most severe conflicts and disasters, they have support.
What is Nikita's resource? How many more children can Father Ambrose accept?
“Our shelter has existed at the church without government assistance, but only on the shoulders of the parish, for 12 years now, but we have not yet turned anyone away,” the priest confidently answers (although the search for funds is his constant headache). – We will accept as many children as necessary, just bring them.
Why does Father Ambrose, who so loves and cares for children rejected by our society, have such difficulty communicating with some officials of the Pavlovo-Posad region?
Well, representatives of our current government don’t like it when Russian priests somewhere do good deeds.
District officials want to strangle the Nikita shelter legally, presenting the case as if the priest is engaged in activities that are illegal from the point of view of existing laws. They require official registration of the shelter, although the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation directly states and encourages the creation and existence of such social institutions at churches and monasteries. Therefore, no additional registration is required.
Number in the list of sponsored organizations: 1
Status: Shelter
Supervisor: Director Ryumina Tatyana Sergeevna, confessor priest Andrey (Filippenko)
Address: 142515 Pavlovo-Posadsky district, Byvalino village
Phone: 8-496-43-71-180
Email: [email protected]
In the village of Byvalino, in the Pavlovo-Posad district of the Moscow region, the Nikita Orthodox orphanage has been operating for 12 years. Dozens of children who scrounged around train stations and lived in basements find here a home where their hearts are warmed, and the love that their lives have deprived them of, and their destiny. The shelter is run by a wonderful person - Abbot Ambrose (Shevchuk).
He leads with God's help, overcoming all bureaucratic and other barriers and obstacles. Well, representatives of our current government don’t like it when Russian priests somewhere do good deeds. District officials want to strangle the Nikita shelter legally, presenting the case as if the priest is engaged in activities that are illegal from the point of view of existing laws. They require official registration of the shelter, although in the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the creation and existence of such social institutions at churches and monasteries is directly stated and encouraged. Therefore, no additional registration is required. But if, at the request of officials, the existence of the shelter is formalized in the same way as state children's institutions, it can be immediately... closed: after all, according to the law, it has a huge staff of employees, which you simply cannot find in the village. And there is no corresponding wage fund for them either. In general, it’s a difficult situation, from which, of course, there is a way out. Those government officials and State Duma deputies who care about the fate of street children and orphans should learn about the Bylin miracle and resolve the matter in favor of goodness and sanity: after all, in his message, President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin directly pointed out the problems associated with orphans, which need to be resolved as a human being, and not in a callous bureaucratic way.
Loss after loss... I was just informed that Hegumen Ambrose (Shevchuk), confessor and director of the Nikita Orthodox shelter, has passed away to the Lord. This is a huge loss for all his spiritual children, for the children to whom he devoted his whole life, for the country, for me personally. Because Father Ambrose was like the sun to everyone. He treated everyone like children. He pitied, instructed, loved, cared. It was impossible to leave him without a hearty lunch in the refectory and a heap of gifts. You arrive with problems, and leave Nikita with your wings spread. Because Father Ambrose could console, calm, and kindly guide people on the path of Truth. A man who was like a father to many, including me, has passed away. Grief. You try to think that he has now joined the host of Angels and will pray for us, and yet I cannot be consoled.
In the photo: Father Ambrose and I a year ago. And I with gifts and Duska..
The Kingdom of Heaven to the newly deceased abbot Ambrose! Eternal Memory to him! We will certainly never forget him...
Requisites:
Payment receiver: Local religious organization Orthodox parish of the Nikitsky Church in the village of ByvalinoPayment Description: Donation to pay for utilities
Bank: Bank "Vozrozhdenie" PJSC Moscow
Checking account: 40703810003620140618
Correspondent account: 30101810900000000181
BIC: 044525181
Taxpayer Identification Number: 5035006940
Checkpoint: 503501001
- Print a receipt for donation via bank
Helped:
Letters:
February 27, 2019
ORTHODOX CHILDREN'S SHELTER "NIKITA" URGENTLY NEEDS HELP!!! We ask you to help the shelter as much as you can! A large gas debt has accumulated - 120,000 rubles! The debt needs to be paid off urgently! Any help from you is extremely important!
Dear brothers and sisters!
We thank you and, through you, all the employees of the Russian Birch Foundation, for your constant support of our activities to help children. who find themselves in a difficult life situation, as well as for the financial and material assistance that we have been receiving from your foundation for many years. And today, in the current difficult financial situation, we are looking for funds to pay bills for gas, electricity, garbage collection, etc., namely, for utilities. Therefore, we turn again to the Mercy of your Benefactors: maybe someone has the opportunity to take part in our labors, at least partially paying our utility bills.
Sincerely, the rector of the Nikitsky Church, priest Andrey Filippenko
Dear brothers and sisters, benefactors and simply caring people!
August 22 this year in the 52nd year of his life, the rector of our Nikitsky church in the village of Byvalino, hegumen Ambrose (Shevchuk), passed away to the Lord.
Our dear Father Ambrose brought to life a lot of good deeds: Children's building "Nikita", children's equestrian club "Gotfy", International blacksmith festivals, handicraft club "Bumblebee", holidays for the entire parish in honor of the memory of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita, caring for shelters and hospitals , prisoners and warriors and many, many other socially and spiritually useful things.
His most significant undertaking was the organization of the Orthodox charity camp "Nikita" and a shelter for orphans and children from disadvantaged families - the Children's Corps "Nikita", whose pupils are now called Nikitas. In the Children's Corps, children of all ages have found and are finding shelter: from several months to adults.
Over the years, the Nikita Children's Corps has released more than a dozen children who received education and subsequent care for their future in the corps.
This year, the construction of a new building for the children's building, begun with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, was completed. Today 18 children of different ages have found shelter there.
The parishioners of the church provide all possible assistance to the Children's Corps, but we still need help.
We need school and writing supplies for schoolchildren, stationery, hygiene products, equipment and supplies for the care of premises, as well as food or money to purchase nutritious food for the children of the building.
We will be immensely grateful for any help you provide and will tirelessly pray for you.
With the blessing of His Eminence the Most Reverend Juvenaly, Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna, priest Andrei Filippenko was appointed rector of the church.
The director of the NUSO "Children's building "NIKITA" since 2010 is Ryumina Tatyana Sergeevna
We thank you, and in your person all the employees of the Russian Birch Foundation, for your constant support of our activities, as well as for the financial assistance (15 thousand rubles) that we received in connection with the need to treat a serious oncological disease of the rector of the Nikitsky Church in the village of Byvalino and the Founder of our Non-State Social Service Institution (NUSO) “Children's Corps “NIKITA”” Abbot Ambrose (Mikhail Anatolyevich Shevchuk) and his experience of severe surgery, illness and death.
Hegumen Ambrose was the rector of the church in the village of Byvalino from 1991 to 2016, the founder and trustee of the Nikita Children's Corps.
February 1, 2016
Since 1992, at the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita in the village of Byvalino, Pavlovo-Posad district, Moscow region, there has been an Orthodox charitable children's camp "Nikita" for orphans and children from large and low-income families. On its basis, since 2004, a children's shelter "Non-state social service institution" Children's building "Nikita" has been opened. At different times, it saved from 25 to 35 children aged from birth to 19 years, who for some reason remained “outside family life” - these are orphans, wards, refugees, homeless people; those whose parents are in prison, treated in psychiatric hospitals, etc. These children find a second family at the church: we treat them, teach them, provide legal assistance, and try. Over more than 20 years of work, the Children's Corps and the temple have formed many friends, wards, and problem-solving associates. One way or another, we celebrate everyday life and holidays with them. At Christmas, about 1000 children attend our charity Christmas trees. We take children south to Gelendzhik, organize holidays in the Ryazan region, hold Cossack rallies and war games, blacksmith festivals and days of Slavic culture. In the spiritual center, created on the basis of a children's building, puppet theaters, opera artists, poets, and historians perform. Bikers, cadets, riot police, special forces, and the theater troupe "Crown of Russian Ballet" often drop by to visit the children. For more than ten years, the “Gotfy” equestrian club has been operating at the children's center, in which not only students of the corps, but also children from neighboring towns and villages ride 10 horses and 2 ponies (on a charitable basis). The doors of the children's center are always open for children - disabled people, boarding school students, students of special schools, that is, everyone who is in dire need of increased attention, affection, tenderness and care. Our activities were and are supported by musicians, singers, composers, artists: Yuri Loza, Nikolai Trubach and many other famous people. At the moment, the construction of a new children's building for 40 children has been completed. This undertaking was blessed and supported by our ruling bishop, Metropolitan Yuvenaly. But a lot of things still need to be done inside the building itself so that children can move there. For their activities, the temple, the children's corps, the rector, hegumen Ambrose, and the staff were awarded certificates of gratitude and medals from the state and the Church. Our students graduate from school, start families, serve in the army, enter college, work for the good of society and the Motherland, and continue to maintain contact with Nikita. Currently we are in dire need of the following: Food Household chemicals Shoes (from 22 to 41 sizes) Medicines (analgesics, antivirals, antispasmodics, vitamins) Fabric for bed linen, for creativity Electrical equipment (kettles, irons, microwaves) Payment for electricity Sincerely, rector of the Nikitsky Church, Hegumen Ambrose (Shevchuk)
After 13 years of successful work. The Moscow region prosecutor's office believes that sanitary standards have been seriously violated here. After a visit to Byvalino by SES specialists, the court decided to close the shelter. Correspondents from the Orthodox television studio Neophyte went to the orphanage in Byvalino several times. This is how they saw the shelter:
“Children’s gift to the Patriarch” download video clip
“Maslenitsa in Byvalino” download video clip
“Worship in the field” download video clip
War on the shelter
The Nikita Orthodox children's shelter near Moscow, which has existed for the 13th year, is one of the most famous in Russia. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II awarded its founder and leader, Abbot Ambrose, with an order, and the Governor of the Moscow Region, Boris Gromov, with an honorary badge. And this abbot rings the alarm bell - the prosecutor’s office of the Pavlovo-Posad district is seeking the actual liquidation of the orphanage where 30 children live.
On February 2, 2007, sanitary doctors visited the famous shelter in the village of Byvalino. It was they who discovered that the number of urinals, toilets and footwashes was somewhat lower than normal. In the catering department there are not enough cutting tables and washing baths for kitchen and tableware, and the premises are not arranged correctly. Not all products have “quality certificates”. In short, a lot of violations. On the same day, the district court considered the case of violation of Article 6.3 (violation of sanitary rules) of the Code of Administrative Offenses and issued a warning to Father Ambrose. But the district prosecutor’s office thought such a punishment was insufficient, and it lodged a protest with the regional court, pointing out that the “warning” is only for individuals, and if a legal entity is brought to justice, then its activities should be suspended for up to 90 days.
Translated from legal into Russian, this means that the shelter must be closed. Hegumen Ambrose says that the prosecutor’s office was already preparing to “seize the children,” but the position of the district court came as a surprise. But the regional court overturned the decision of the first instance, and now the shelter can be liquidated at any moment.
Father Ambrose is a humble man:
– Firefighters ordered the bedrooms to be moved from the wooden attic to a brick room. Translated. They made a fire alarm. We conduct training exercises - we learned to evacuate in just 2 minutes. We are also ready to comply with the requirements of the SES, but rebuilding the building requires time and money.
The nuns who live and work in the orphanage are often the official guardians of the inmates. When registering guardianship, the education department draws up reports on the inspection of living conditions in the shelter. Here is one of them: “The house for children meets modern requirements, spacious bedrooms, there is a large dining room, 2 showers and a bathroom, toilets, 5,000 books, a choreographer comes to the children, children study at a school not far from the temple, provided with food, clothing, shoes , as well as “necessary conditions for comprehensive development.” The house also has heated floors.
I could write about graduates of the orphanage becoming soldiers and musicians... But, in my opinion, it is already obvious that this story is very similar to the case of teacher Ponosov, about whom the president said “bullshit.”
Especially for Pavlovsky Posad, where communal catastrophe has become the norm of life, and the SES and prosecutors in the shelter are counting the urinals.
In the village of Byvalino, Pavlovo-Posad district, Moscow region, the Nikita Orthodox orphanage has been operating for 12 years. For 12 years, dozens of children who could have been begging in basements and train stations find home, love, and destiny here. The correspondent of the Neskuchny Sad magazine, Deacon Fyodor KOTRELEV, met the inhabitants of Nikita.
"Nikitin's" children
Once upon a time there lived in Moscow a girl who was Orthodox. She had a confessor, she consulted with him. And she worked in one of the Moscow orphanages. And then one day she saw a little boy, Sasha, autistic, whose parents abandoned him in the maternity hospital. The girl liked the boy so much that she was eager to adopt him. I even started filling out documents. She comes to her confessor, and he unexpectedly tells her: don’t, you won’t succeed. Where should such a girl go? She knew where. She came to Byvalino to visit Abbot Ambrose at the Nikita shelter: “Father, the confessor didn’t bless him, but I feel so sorry for the boy! Let me back you up, you’ll be my back.” In Byvalin no one is driven away, this is a principle, and Father Ambrose agreed to be the rear. The girl registered her mother as Sasha’s guardian, and everything would have been fine if that Moscow priest had not turned out to be - in this case - perspicacious. After some time, the girl fell into a sect and has since disappeared. Neither mother, nor father, nor grandmother know where she is. And the boy Sasha was brought to Byvalino, and so there was one more student at Nikita.
In appearance, “Nikita” resembles not a rural parish church, but a real monastery. Several churches, two-story residential buildings, chapels with domes and crosses and outbuildings surround the main church in the name of the Great Martyr Nikita - hence the name of the shelter. All this is still framed by a solid fence with a beautiful gate. Inside the fence, the eye notices two features: order and cleanliness and ongoing construction. It is clear from everything that many plans have already been implemented here, but even more are being hatched.
Children live in a separate building - a children's building. Nikita's teachers deliberately avoid calling it an orphanage, so as not to remind the children of sad things. And rightly so: most of Nikita’s students have something to remember. But they don’t like to remember.
Here is 14-year-old Volodya. He lived in the same village with his parents, and they drank terribly. My 11-month-old sister caught a cold and died of pneumonia. Volodya and his brother were sent to an orphanage by the guardianship authorities. Volodya was very homesick, ran away several times, wandered through the streets and train stations, somehow made it to his native village, but each time he was returned to the orphanage. Until Orthodox people met him and sent him to Nikita. The boy is not going to run away from here just yet: “When I grow up, I’ll be a priest, like our father. I also want to become a special forces soldier. Do you know if it’s possible to combine this?” I told Volodya about the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces, and he was pleased.
And Serezhin’s previous place of residence was the basement of one of the houses in Pavlovsky Posad. Seryozha lived between the pipes: on one side - hot heating, and on the other - cold. The house where Seryozha previously lived with his mother and younger brother and sister burned down. The boy ran into the basement, where teachers from Nikita found him, and the younger ones still live with their mother. But most likely, sooner or later, they will also move in with Father Ambrose, since Mom drinks constantly.
Every pupil at the orphanage has a story behind them that is very similar to Volodina and Serezhina. There are no children with happy backgrounds here at all. But they have a rather happy, or at least quite prosperous, present. And this is what it looks like.
There are 26 younger children and six older children in Nikita. Juniors are girls and boys aged seven months to 14 years. They all live in the children's building, sharing two large bedrooms - one for boys and one for girls. The decor in the bedrooms is a bit like a barracks: rows of double-decker iron beds along the walls. But the ease of the interior, pictures on the walls, embroidery frames with unfinished creations of young craftswomen, carpets on the floor, icons in the red corner - all this makes the decor of the bedrooms warm. The older pupils are already 15-16 years old, and they live not in the children's building, but in separate cells, like big and independent people. There are six teachers at Nikita: all women, some in monastic vows, some just laymen.
Schoolchildren go to several local schools, regular and correctional, that is, intended for those children who are lagging behind in mental development. First-graders study right at Nikita - it’s more convenient to prepare them for going out into the world, for school. Teachers of computer science and English come to Nikita every week. Many children go to Pavlovsky Posad to attend a music school. Pupils of "Nikita" play violins, cellos, domra and accordion.
In a word, there is no time to breathe.
But this is the educational concept of the director of Nikita, Abbot Ambrosy: “If we don’t keep these kids busy not even for 24, but for all 25 hours a day, if we say: go for a walk safely, do whatever you want, children, they will find something to do.” , I assure you! We already have “comrades” who know very well in which house in the village they make moonshine, and in which they sell burnt cheap vodka.” And “Nikita” loads up her children. In addition to studying, excursions to the museum and entertainment, the children perform many chores around the house. This is a barnyard, where there are two horses, donated by the famous Pavlovo-Posad shawl factory as unnecessary, two cows, a calf, two goats, as well as quite large flocks of chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks. This is also a kitchen where children often prepare their own food. One of Nikita's students, 13-year-old Sasha, who came from South Ossetia, near Beslan, even knows how to bake flatbread.
This boy's story is amazing.
Until last year, he lived in a boarding school near Beslan, no parents. The Beslan tragedy played an unexpected role in his life: after it, a spontaneous struggle began in Ossetia not only with terrorists, but also with the “cause of terror,” that is, with the Russians. One day, people with machine guns came to the boarding school and told the teachers and children to get out quickly. 400 children found themselves without a roof, fortunately, later the authorities figured out what was wrong and allocated a small kindergarten building to the boarding school. Now educators are trying to keep children from escaping from the boarding school. Sasha was not restrained, and after many adventures he ended up in Nikita.
No glue!
How do Nikita's teachers cope with these children who have tasted adventure and train stations? Father Ambrose’s assistant, nun Vasily, says: “Our method is simple: communication, communication and communication. On the first day when the child arrives, we warn: dear, we have a regime here. No vodka, no cigarettes, no glue here! And what do you think? Gradually the children get used to it. Children have a great sense of where they feel good and where they feel bad. All children, by their very nature, are drawn to goodness.”
“Nikita” has its own traditions, which Father Ambrose considers very important. “Every evening,” he says, “before going to bed we have a religious procession around the temple. The most obedient children are in front with icons and banners. Those who behaved worse during the day are dragged behind. After the religious procession, everyone comes up to me for a blessing, and then there is a debriefing: who was guilty, who distinguished himself. It’s more convenient to have such conversations in the evening: I’m always there, and in the morning there’s a lot of stuff to do.”
Nikita employees take care of their children even when they grow up. One of the former pupils, Lyudochka, having completed her regency courses in Vladimir, returned to the orphanage to organize a children's choir. True, according to her assignment, she was supposed to go as a regent to one of the parishes in the Pavlovo-Posad region, but Father Ambrose arranged it so that the girl began to help “Nikita”: it would be calmer for the rector, and it would be more useful for the orphanage.
Some of the graduates went to Moscow to study, others entered the seminary in Vladimir. The teachers from Nikita have a connection with everyone. True, there are sad stories. “We had,” says Father Ambrosy, “a problematic family in Pavlovsky Posad. And she was a troubled girl. We took her in, she lived with us for three years, and even became an assistant counselor at our summer camp. But, unfortunately, as an adult, she followed the same path as her mother: drinking, partying, and the like. And so she became a mother herself. It happened once, twice, a third time. Every year she becomes a mother! Also, thank God she is giving birth and not having an abortion. Still, we probably gave her some kind of education. So, these kids all come to us. One of them is Polina, she is seven months old - our youngest pupil.”
The Nikita shelter is already 13 years old. And it all started with an ordinary Sunday school. In 1992, the young hieromonk Ambrose (by the way, the priest comes from a large priestly family: almost all close and distant relatives served or are serving at the altar) was sent to restore a rural church in the village of Byvalino. A super-energetic man and very fond of children, Father Ambrose immediately decided that there should be a large Sunday school at the church. Summer has come and the thought of summer camp has arisen. We obtained army battalion tents and a couple of field kitchens from the military and began organizing Orthodox children's holidays. But at some point a crisis came. “I saw that Sunday school ceased to be a means of churching and began to be perceived as just another entertainment for children - like a tennis section or a drawing group. Parents remain completely aloof. I began to think about how to live further, and then we began to receive requests to take care of “difficult” children.
