Alexey Groza

A Fragment of Rus

– Alexey Borisovich, how serious are the plans to create a nature park around Lake Svetloyar? What is your staff like right now?

– So far there are four of us: the director, an accountant, a deputy for security, and a deputy for environmental education. If we win the regional competition that is underway right now and promises state support to the winners, we will be able to expand the staff to 12 people. These will mostly be inspectors who will keep order on the park's territory, plus several tour guides. We are developing excursion routes not only near Svetloyar but also to other historical sites in Voskresensky District.

– Are the inspectors needed because of the influx of tourists?

– Not only that. There are many problems with the locals – not the native old-timers, of whom only about one percent remain, but those who settled here in Soviet times. Imagine: people come to Svetloyar as to a spiritual shrine, and on the shore of the lake there are groups of people drinking, swearing loudly. And yet in the old days people did not even swim in the lake, so greatly was this place revered. They took water, washed off to the side, and crawled around it on their knees in prayer. But unfortunately people change, especially those who went through Soviet "re-education." The things they did there! On the shore of Svetloyar they built a diving tower and set up a beer stall. They poured diesel fuel into the holy spring so people would not draw water from it... That sort of thing does not pass without consequence. A respectful attitude toward the shrines has been preserved only among the local old women. I think it will take some 10 to 15 years to instill piety in the new generations.

– Do you think that will be enough time?

– We'll try. Of course, we could ban swimming and picnicking in the lake right now, but that would provoke a serious conflict. First we need to create alternative places to relax, for example on the Vetluga (disambiguation) River, and only then will we have the moral right to demand anything of people.

– What does Lake Svetloyar mean to you, as the park's director?

– In short, Svetloyar is a place of transfiguration of human souls. One woman who works with us put it this way: "In Rus there are only two good, pure places left – the Russian North and our Svetloyar." Of course there is also Siberia and other places, but the meaning of it is right.

– But isn't Svetloyar itself located in the Russian North? It's in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, but beyond the Volga, where the North already begins, and even the nature there is a little different.

– Geographically, Svetloyar can indeed be counted as part of the North; it is no coincidence that the elders beyond the Volga were said to have practiced asceticism precisely in the "north." Svetloyar is also linked to the Russian North by the fact that zealots of the old rite fled here, into the interfluve of the Kerzhenets and the Vetluga, to escape persecution. Our people are similar – rugged, deep-rooted. One of our staff members, who studied Lake Svetloyar, used to work in the Arkhangelsk Region, in the Pinega Nature Reserve, and he finds many parallels – both in nature and in the people.

Kitezh and the Old Believers

– Is the tradition of crawling around the lake on one's knees still preserved at Svetloyar?

– People say that once a year they regularly see such vow-bound pilgrims. Usually, though, pilgrims simply walk around the lake in prayer.

– And how did you yourself end up at Svetloyar? You're not from around here, are you?

– I'm from Nizhny Novgorod, a city person. For several years I had been meaning to move to live in the countryside, where communal life feels somehow closer. I went on pilgrimages to various places, searching. I had already wanted to settle in Diveyevo, but in 1996 I came to Svetloyar for the first time, and by the will of fate it opened its doors to me. At first I had to set up the "Kitezh" children's creative center, and in 2006 the administration of Voskresensky District put forward proposals to create the nature park. And so last year, when it was created, I was offered to take on this project. I am sincerely glad it turned out this way – interesting work lies ahead.

– Are you from an Orthodox family?

– My roots go back to an Old Believer family, and I now belong to the community of the Novozybkov branch. Our communal prayer vigils have been held since 2004. We consecrated two bathing houses – the St. George one at the Kibilyok spring and one in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" at the source of the lake. Interestingly, in Vladimirskoye itself there are almost no Old Believers, since they never settled here. They built their homes in neighboring villages, since one is supposed to come to a holy place by covering some distance. Over the centuries they developed a special ritual: you leave the house, pray, then walk in silence to Svetloyar, crawl around the lake in prayer, and likewise return home in silence, speaking to no one.

So that the grace of God does not leave you. Large Old Believer communities existed in the villages of Shadrino and Shishenino – five and six kilometers from the lake. Prishvin wrote that it was in Shadrino that the man lived who copied out the "Kitezh Chronicle," and the tale of the city of Kitezh spread across all of Russia.

– Aren't the Kerzhenets places somehow connected with St. Seraphim of Sarov as well? It's known that Old Believers came to him from there.

– Nowadays, as you approach the village of Vladimirskoye, the first thing you see is Seraphim of Sarov on a roadside banner – as if blessing everyone arriving at Svetloyar. In principle, there is some connection. The Sarov monastery was, after all, strengthened by people who came from the Kerzhenets hermitages. When the founder of Sarov the schema-hieromonk John was still practicing asceticism in a cave, a zealot of the old faith named Ivan Korelin settled nearby. Having become the monk Irenei, he brought an entire hermitage – more than 60 people – over to the new-rite church. Some of the converts became monks of the nascent Sarov monastery. Later, for his friendship with the Old Believers, the monk Irenei was sent under convoy to St. Petersburg, where he died after four years of imprisonment. But contact between the Sarov monks and the Kerzhenets Old Believers continued even after him.

– You spoke of Svetloyar as a "place of transfiguration." That immediately brings to mind our northern Solovki, Valaam, and Kizhi, where the main churches were precisely Transfiguration churches.

– Yes, that analogy suggests itself. Except that ours are mostly churches dedicated to the Mother of God. First, there is the church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which was built in 1766 and gave the village its new name at that time. Before that it was named after the Lyunda River, which translates from Mari as "uninhabited." And we also have the Linda River – "populous." Our second church is dedicated to the Kazan Mother of God; it was restored and consecrated in 2002. At the entrance to the village there is also the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built just before the revolution.

And transfiguration is simply the very idea of this place. To this day, the city of Kitezh – a symbol of Holy Rus – reveals itself to people with a pure, transfigured heart. This is land that has been prayed over for ages, holy land, and that is even reflected in the place names. Every hill around the lake is, as it were, linked to an invisible church. There is the Hill of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, there is the Hill of the Annunciation, and so on. Among the people, a sacred view of this holy place has taken shape. A few years ago I was struck by a prayer spoken by one old woman: "Holy water, holy hills, holy cathedrals, people of the underground, pray to God for us." It sounds like something pagan, but in her simplicity the old woman was addressing, on the whole, an Orthodox holy thing – the hills with their unseen churches and those Kitezh prayer-keepers, the "people of the underground," whom the Lord has hidden from the world until the Last Judgment.

I got to talking with that old woman, and it turned out she had a beautiful, old-fashioned name – Sinklinariya. She seems to be one of the local Old Believers. She told me: "When I was still a little girl, my mother used to take me up the hills to pray. And in the old days the city of Kitezh used to reveal itself more often, and people were healed, because in the old days people believed more." And that time she herself had brought a young family so that through prayer they might find help with some troubles of their own. People often ask for help with everyday matters, but beyond that they attain spiritual transfiguration. For "the city of Kitezh will not reveal itself" and the Lord will not answer a request unless there is sincere prayer, and therefore also inner transfiguration.

"This Is Not a Fairy Tale"

– How do you ideally envision the "Voskresenskoye Povetluzhye" nature park?

– Kitezh itself is one of Russia's national ideals. Out of a local legend it grew into a symbol of the resplendent City to which the Russian soul aspires. This is a place of prayer, where healings occur, where people receive something. At present Svetloyar is also used as a place of recreation. And our task, I believe, is to separate the one from the other, so that the nature park and the monument of spiritual culture exist side by side but apart. That is, alternative beaches and recreation spots need to be set up on the Vetluga, while Svetloyar is revived as a place of veneration. A third direction can also be singled out – Svetloyar as a monument of untouched nature. After all, one can come here simply to come into harmony with nature, with one's inner and outer world. The stone jungles of cities disfigure our souls; we forget that we were originally part of God's creation and share in the beauty of the universe.

– Will your tour guides only take people around Svetloyar?

– We have many shrines and sights, not only the lake, the springs, and the "grave of the three heroes," which everyone knows about. For example, in Voskresensky District there is a unique Trinity Church – a monument of wooden architecture of federal significance, about which few people know. The church was built in 1713, a year earlier than the Transfiguration Church at Kizhi. To this day the church has been beautifully preserved, its larch logs are like stone, and services are held there in summer. Nearby stands a winter church, also active – dedicated to the Venerable Zosima and Savvaty of Solovki. Visitors will be able both to pray and to hear about the Orthodox saints who practiced asceticism in the Russian North.

On the whole, of course, we will not fixate only on local sights. After all, the city of Kitezh is a collective image of the whole of Holy Rus. And moreover not a fairy-tale image but a historical one – from the "Kitezh Chronicle" one can actually study the history of Rus. It begins with the genealogy of Prince Georgy. And note that many of his ancestors, rulers of Rus, were saints: "This holy and right-believing Grand Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich was the son of the holy and right-believing Grand Prince Vsevolod, the wonderworker of Pskov, who at holy baptism was named Gabriel. This holy and right-believing Grand Prince Vsevolod was the son of Grand Prince Mstislav, and the grandson of the holy and equal-to-the-apostles Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev, autocrat of the Russian land..." In 1163 Prince Vsevolod meets with Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, who was likewise later canonized by the Church.

From the greeting we again learn something of the lineage of the Russian ruling elite of that time: "Hail, right-believing and Grand Prince Mikhail, for many years, shining with piety and faith in Christ, in everything you have taken after our forefathers and our foremother, the right-believing Grand Princess, Christ-loving Olga, who found the most precious and great treasure – Christ and faith in His holy prophets and apostles and holy fathers, and after the right-believing, Christ-loving Tsar and our equal-to-the-apostles forefather, Tsar Constantine." What do the two princes discuss? Georgy asks the senior prince Mikhail: "Grant me a charter to build God's churches and towns throughout our Rus." It is this Russian spirit that pervades the whole tale of the city of Kitezh. Conveying it to present-day Russians matters a great deal to us.

– If more pilgrims start coming to Svetloyar, will there be somewhere to put them up?

– Previously, everyone who came would spend the night with the locals. The old women still take in lodgers, for 200 rubles a night. That's right in Vladimirskoye, near Lake Svetloyar. But you can also stay outside the village – we have tourist camps on the Vetluga. In addition, a hotel with 24 beds has opened in Vladimirskoye; rooms can be booked in advance.

– Are the rooms expensive?

– 350 rubles. These days it doesn't get any cheaper than that. There's also a café there, breakfasts, lunches. We are planning to build an eco-village that would resolve the "housing" problem altogether.

– Do you have the funds for that?

– We're trying to secure them through the regional tourism development program. So far they've promised to help set up bathing spots on the Vetluga River; that costs around a million rubles.

– Presumably, without waiting for the money, you're already doing something to improve the situation around Svetloyar?

– Of course, we're not sitting idle. The rector of the Vladimirskoye church also does a great deal. He sometimes serves at the Kazan church too, which stands right on the shore of Svetloyar. So the locals now have a choice – swim in the lake or go to church, light a candle there, say a prayer. And after praying it's awkward to misbehave. So little by little people are being drawn into the shrine.

"Vera", Mikhail Sizov

Interesting Facts

• For a long time he worked as a teacher at Vladimirskoye Secondary School.

• A. Groza is preparing to defend a candidate's dissertation devoted to the technology of museumification of natural landscape.

See Also

• Voskresenskoe Povetluzhye Nature Park

• Svetloyar

• Vladimirskoye

• Voskresensky District