Schema-nun Fotinia was an elder (staritsa), venerated by the Old Believers as one of the most eminent saints of the Kerzhenets. A contemporary of the renowned Mother Golendukha, Fotinia was known as one of the "founding elders" in the early 18th century.
She is buried in the forest between the Komarovsky and Ulangersky hermitages, on the site of a hermitage destroyed by Pitirim. Beside her lie the graves of the nun Kapitolina and Mother Matryona. Old Believer synodicons commemorate the "schema-nun Fotinya and her sisters".
The elder Fotinia should not be confused with the so-called Mother Fotini" — the abbess of a syncretic temple in Bolshaya Elnya), where an icon of Putin is venerated.
Significance
The relics of Fotinya were recognized by the Old Believers as holy and capable of effecting healings. Over her grave a tomb was erected within a chapel, an example of a traditional Old Believer burial. At the tomb there were icons, and candles, incense, and prayer mats always ready for pilgrims.
The Old Believers' main pilgrimages took place on 29 June and at Easter.
Many pilgrims flocked to Fotinya's tomb from various villages; they rubbed earth from the grave on ailing eyes and drew water from the holy spring.
The Relics of Fotinia
The chapel with Fotinya's tomb stands in the northwestern part of the cemetery of the village of Trefilikha. It is a dilapidated log structure with an entrance on the western side and a small window on the southern side.
In the 1970s the chapel had lost only its roof — the log frame and the timber-hewn tomb were intact. Now only the lower courses of the tomb remain, the floor decking has been dismantled, and the chapel's log frame is rapidly deteriorating. Several weathered carved golbtsy (traditional grave markers) from the cemetery have been placed inside the chapel.
Bibliography
- Е.Л-в. Несколько слов… // Православный собеседник. 1866, № 12
- Велецкая Н.Н. Языческая символика славянских архаических ритуалов. М., 1978. С. 184
- Мельников П.И. Отчет о современном состоянии раскола…// Действия НГУАК, 1909. Т. 9
Interesting Facts
- Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky recorded a legend according to which the elder Fotinia was none other than Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, who had fled to the The Kerzhenets River.
- About a hundred meters from the cemetery, along the road to the village of Elfimovo, there is said to be a holy well without a timber lining, about 0.5 m deep. Local residents draw water here on holidays, considering it holy. It is believed the water has special properties — it does not spoil over the course of a year. An example of the traditional Old Believer gravestone in the form of a chapel with a tomb.