27.12.2017

The recording of this conversation with a descendant of Metropolitan Innocent (Veniaminov), glorified as a saint 40 years ago, in 1977, was made about two decades ago. She recently discovered it by chance when she put on a tape cassette that caught her eye to listen to. The media format in which I worked at that time did not allow publishing interviews. So this is the first publication of an interview with a descendant of St. Innocent, who visited the Elias Church in Cherkizovo in the late 90s. The transcript is given in full, preserving the style of speech of Father Innocent.

Saint Innocent (Veniaminov) - a wonderful missionary who enlightened many peoples with the Christian faith in the east of the Russian Empire, for which he is called the Apostle of Siberia and America - served in the Moscow Church of Elijah the Prophet in Cherkizovo for the last five years of his life, in the 70s of the 19th century, in the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. And it so happened that his great-great-grandson also came to this temple, who in adulthood accepted holy orders and received the same name in monasticism. Archimandrite Innocent (his secular name is Rostislav Sergeevich Veniaminov) was born in Astrakhan in 1924, as a child he spent about two years in the reception center of the NKVD as the son of an “enemy of the people”, served as a surgeon in the navy, took monastic vows, and rested in the Yaroslavl lands in 2002 year.

Grandson of Saint Innocent -
confessor of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Father Innocent, your ancestor is the famous Saint Innocent. Please tell us about yourself, because you also serve in the priesthood.

“I’d rather tell you about his wonderful descendants.” What am I, I'm a sinful person. Retired, almost 80 years old. My ancestors lived a holy life, not to mention St. Innocent. He enlightened dozens of peoples, studied all local languages, just as a carpenter built churches himself.

The son of Saint Innocent is Archpriest Gabriel, my great-grandfather. He was his personal secretary all his adult life, helping until his death. The great-grandfather was buried in the Novodevichy Convent. But, to the greatest regret, the cross and monument to him were demolished.

The remarkable grandson of the saint, Archpriest Ioann Gavriilovich Veniaminov. My grandpa. And he was a wonderful person in the sense that he was the personal confessor of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich. Leaving Russia in 1918 (the Dowager Empress was Danish by birth - Princess Dagmara), she said: “Father John, come with me to Copenhagen.” Grandfather said that for the first time in his life he dared not to listen to the empress. He fell to his knees and told her: “Your Imperial Majesty, I cannot leave my homeland. I will stay and endure everything that the Lord grants.” “Well, look, look,” she said. “The Bolsheviks will soon finish their robberies, and we will return.” The mess will end and we will return." And the mess still doesn’t end... yes...

He then served until his death - he died at the age of 92 - in the city of Kashin. They sent him there. And you know what’s surprising: I saw him for the last time in 1944 (I was a nurse and received a business trip to Gatchina from the Southern Front, where I took part in the liberation of Krasnodar), and he told me then that throughout the war he had been like this with his He communicated wonderfully with his parishioners; under his leadership, they collected gifts for the army for tanks and planes.

In Kashin?

- Yes, in the city of Kashin. And he said that they also knitted countless knitted things - scarves, socks, mittens, sweaters. It was he who did such a great job. He died in 1947. He was buried there. I still want to go to Kashin and visit his grave. But I just can’t do it, because I feel very weak: my legs can’t walk, and I’m becoming disabled.

Accused of espionage for knowledge of languages

– My grandfather had two sons - two great-grandsons of St. Innocent. The eldest son was my daddy Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov, he was born in April 1884 in St. Petersburg, he was a long-distance navigator. Graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps. It would, of course, be more interesting to talk about than about me.

You know, he was accused as an enemy of the people because he served under the command of Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak. And this is already a death sentence. Then, as it happened, he served with Vasily Blucher. He was charged with espionage - he spoke five European languages, fluently. My father was declared a spy for French intelligence, English, German, American... Well, in general, that’s what they said...

After Stalin’s death, I wrote a request and was given rehabilitation documents.

When was he arrested?

– He was arrested in 1938 and died soon after. Our entire family was arrested.

Mommy and I were arrested right after daddy, two months later. Mommy spent a little longer than me - two years, and I spent a little less than two years in the children's reception center of the NKVD. Came out a while ago film "I'm Going to My Father", where I talk about this in detail.

And they also released the film “I Believe!” in Belarus. The fact is that I was blessed by Metropolitan John of St. Petersburg to become the confessor of the Golden Knight film festival and for several years I traveled with them everywhere, including to Belarus. This, of course, was a great honor for me.

Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)
blessed to be a surgeon

Everything was difficult. I was a non-church person. I graduated from medical school. And then, with the blessing of Archbishop Luke of Simferopol and Crimea, I began to practice surgery in the Far East. Sailed on fishing boats. And he retired from there. And with Vladyka Luka, that was also a very interesting story. My uncle was Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich)…

Is he also a relative of St. Innocent?

- No. Here's the thing. He was Boris Dorofeevich Yarushevich in the world. And his brother was Dorofei Dorofeevich. And so he was married to my daddy's cousin. And Vladyka Nikolai helped my grandmother a lot throughout his adult life until his death, including financially, after the death of my grandfather.

Anna Aleksandrovna Popovitskaya, married to Veniaminova, is my grandmother. And what was she famous for - maybe you heard that we had a magazine in Russia called “Russian Pilgrim”...

I saw such a magazine - it was founded in the Russian Church Abroad in New York.

- Nothing like this. Initially, the magazine “Russian Pilgrim” was organized and edited throughout his life until his death by my great-grandfather, the father of my grandmother Anna Alexandrovna. He is buried in St. Petersburg at the Smolensk cemetery.

It was forbidden to learn languages
so as not to be called a spy

– And then it so happened that I was invited to America by Metropolitan Theodosius of the American Autocephalous Church (The Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Theodosius, was retired on April 2, 2002 - approx.). I went there in 1989, and then I started flying there every year, and my children moved there.

Once I was on Kodiak Island, and suddenly there was a telephone - but I don’t know languages, my grandmother did not allow me to teach languages. She said: “God forbid, if you meet foreigners, talk to them, they will immediately declare you a spy.” This was the spy mania. And you know, there was one priest there, he can only speak English, and I can only speak Russian. "Phase Innocent, phase Innocent, background, background." I think what it is and say: “What, a telephone?” - “Yes, yes, yes!” I run up, listen, and suddenly they speak to me on the phone in Russian. I ask: “Who is this?” – German Podmoshensky (Father German revived the pre-revolutionary Russian-language Orthodox magazine “Russian Pilgrim” abroad - approx.). “I am,” he says, “the editor of the Russian Pilgrim.” And he, it turns out, called that priest on business, and he said that he had a guest - the great-great-grandson of St. Innocent. And Father Herman invited me.

But I replied that I couldn’t travel around so freely - on a meager pension. Why do I go - when someone invites, they pay for the trip, so I can ride like that. And I hear: “That’s it, I’m issuing a ticket. Tomorrow you are flying to me in San Francisco. I'll meet you." And he actually sent me a ticket, and I flew to San Francisco.

But for me it was a little regrettable - it was my great-grandfather’s magazine! And it is published in America!

“Since the Lord appointed to live in Borisov
– so fight with yourself!”

During a memorable conversation, Father Innocent spoke about the difficulties observed at that time in the relationship between the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad, to which, as it happened, he belonged. Let me remind you that our conversation took place six or seven years before the signing of the Act on Canonical Communion, which marked the restoration of unity within the Local Russian Orthodox Church.

“You see, our people here are big zealots. And that’s why they treat me with little respect here. They say: “Oh, he’s from abroad. He is not ours." What should I do. And I love them. You know, Lenochka, I’ll tell you what. Of course, in this respect I imitate and listen to my great-great-grandfather. “There were no such people, no,” as Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov said about him, “and there will never be such bishops.” After all, just think - he knew several languages ​​of the small nationalities of Russia, created writing in their languages. He was a carpenter! And Saint Innocent spoke about this like this. He had a daughter, the nun Polyxenia - she entered a monastery at eighteen, she was a beauty. And somehow I find letters. I have fourteen letters from him. And she writes to him: “Daddy, what should I do? It’s so hard for me in the monastery.” She was in the Borisov desert, not far from Tikhvin. “This one doesn’t love me. That one doesn't love me. I suffer so much,” she complains. And he writes to her: “My dear daughter, you write that they don’t love you. My dear daughter, it doesn’t matter. The Holy Fathers of the Church said: it doesn’t matter that they don’t love you, it’s important that you love everyone. And the fact that they don’t love you... And take a closer look - maybe there’s something not to love you for? So you correct yourself and love those who don’t love you. The Lord sent you there specifically. For what? For patience. So that you can fight with yourself. Where are you? In Borisov. It’s not in vain that you are there - fight with yourself!”

In general, you know, he is a man of amazing wit! His letters are amazing! When he was in the Hawaiian Islands and Singapore, he was amazed by nature: an orange tree - the fruits are falling, and there are flowers on the branches. He notes that pigs go there and choose the best, ripest fruits, and writes: “Our Russian proverb, “You understand this matter like a pig in an orange,” is completely unfair, because pigs understand oranges very well.” Like this! Listen, he has a lot of such things.

Well, that means I should act this way towards those who scold me. This means that a person loves God. Well, what can I say here - I am a church illiterate person. I graduated from medical school, carried the wounded from the battlefield, and performed operations on ships. There were incredible moments in my surgical life! Storm, wind! They tied the patient to the table. They tied me next to me. I didn’t leave a single one on the table, because I always prayed.

Recorded by Elena DOROFEEVA

Father Innokenty (Rostislav Sergeevich) Veniaminov among his spiritual children in St. Petersburg (I thank Daniil Petrov for sending me this photograph of him).

Memories of Father Sergei Veniaminov are contained in various interviews with Father Innocent (Rostislav Sergeevich Veniaminov) (1924-2002), my grandmother’s cousin and great-great-grandson of St. Innocent, for example, published in the newspaper “1 September” in 2001 under the title “From the Lord” the ways of man are corrected" (but this information was repeated by him in other publications.)

Let's go through that part of the text that concerns his father, who was repressed in 1938, checking with known documents and facts.

I give the text of Father Innocent in regular font, my commentary in italics.

“My daddy,” said Father Innocent, “Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov was the first-born of Father John, the grandson of St. Innocent. He was born in the spring, in April 1884, in St. Petersburg."

It's right. Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov was born in St. Petersburg on April 10 (22), 1884.

“Sergey received an excellent education, spoke foreign languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese”

Of course, he was an educated man and knew some foreign languages. But is there any reason to consider him such a polyglot as the memoirist imagines? He did not complete courses at the university (like his younger brother Innokenty Ivanovich), but only the naval school in Kronstadt. Knowledge of the Japanese (!) language was nowhere to be found.

“After graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps, he took part in the First World War and was seriously wounded near Penang. When I came to my senses, I saw people in white coats above me and heard French speech. Sergei Ivanovich realized that he was in a French hospital. He was later sent to Russia. Sergei Ivanovich was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of the first, second and third degrees for his participation in battles with the Germans; in addition, he had medals: the 200th anniversary of the victory in Gangut and the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov.”

According to the documents, S.I. Veniaminov graduated from the naval corps in Kronstadt in 1906 in the electromine class, became a midshipman in 1907, and a lieutenant on December 6, 1910http://www.pershpektiva.ru/%D0%BB%D1%8E%D0%B4%D0%B8%20%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%82-% D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0/%D0%92%D0%B5%D0 %BD%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0 %B5%D0%B9%20%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%201884.htm

The October Revolution found him a senior lieutenant in the Far East, he took part in the First World War, but the data on his injury and participation directly in hostilities need to be verified, and the fact of his stay in a French hospital is doubtful; how he could have ended up there is unclear . Knight of the Order of St. Stanislav of all (!) degrees he clearly was not. The question of his awards will be clearer by familiarizing himself with his service record, which can be stored in the Russian State Academy of Military Fleet in St. Petersburg.

“From 1918 to 1920, Sergei Ivanovich served under the command of General Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (this was enough for later, in Soviet times, the authorities to declare him an enemy of the people)”

This is true. In the biographical part of the testimony of S.I. Veniaminov, during interrogation, it is quite possible to believe his confession: “The October Revolution found me in Vladivostok, where I served in the navy, being the commander of the destroyer Bodry.

From the first days of the revolution, I was extremely hostile to the existing system and therefore, during Kolchak’s attack on Vladivostok after the Czech uprising, I, without hesitation, joined its units and served in the Klochak army until 1920.” You can also name the rank in which S.I. Veniaminov served with Kolchak for all two years of Kolchak’s “epic” - Senior Lieutenant of the Navy of the Siberian Flotilla.

“Since 1920, he fought in the Far East on the side of the Soviet regime, passed Khalkin-Gol, Volochaevsk. The Volochaev operation was led by Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (later Marshal of the Soviet Union). Since Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov was fluent in Japanese, he was appointed V.K. Blucher as a military translator. After the war he came to St. Petersburg, but the authorities treated him with distrust.”

But the transition of S.I. Veniaminov on the side of Blucher and his service in the Red Army in the Far East, his service as a military translator under Blucher (as he knew the Japanese language) are already fictions. In various personal data S.I. Veniaminova - there is no information about this, such things were not hidden. Probably, in the families of repressed former whites, such legends (about transitions to the Reds) inevitably arose, as relatives sought to more strongly indicate the LOYALTY to the authorities of their affected loved ones. And what kind of Khalkin-Gol is this under...Blyukher Veniaminov took place in 1920?))) The Volochaev operation took place in February 1922. At this time, Sergei Ivanovich tried in vain to find work in the capitals. As a former white man, he was subject to various restrictions that would have been impossible for a Blucher commander (in the early 1920s).

About the fate of S.I. Veniaminov, after the defeat of Kolchak, in the reference book on white officers there is a brief mention of “went to the hills.”

“Sergei Ivanovich was not allowed to live either in St. Petersburg, or in Moscow, or in Kyiv. As a “dispossessed” he was assigned to Astrakhan, a city for exiles.”

Stated incorrectly. S.I. Veniaminov was not subjected to any repression in the early 1920s. For exile and deportation, an appropriate decision of the OGPU was needed, which was not available in his case. Accordingly, he could live in Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev, but could not find work there and was forced to move with his family to Astrakhan in 1923, in including out of fear of reprisals - as a former white officer, he fell under the restrictions that exist when recruiting for service in government agencies for “former people.” Let us quote a little more from the biographical part of his testimony during interrogation: “In the end, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a job in Leningrad and Moscow, I was forced to go to Astrakhan, where I lived from 1923 to the day of my arrest.”

“In 1923, Sergei Ivanovich married Princess Elizabeth Alexandrovna Oranovskaya. The wedding took place in the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in secret, since the five-year plan was declared atheistic."

Wife S.I. Veniaminova - also repressed in 1938. Elizaveta Aleksandrovna Oranovskaya did not belong to a princely family, but rather came from a spiritual environment. And the “princes of Oranovsie” are unknown to genealogical reference books. The surname “Oranovsky” may also have church origins. In the histories of surnames we read: “The basis of the surname Oranovsky was the church name Aaron. The surname Oranovsky is presumably a variant of the surname Aronovsky, which is derived from the name Aron, a variant of the name Aaron. This name goes back to the Hebrew word aharon, which is translated into Russian as “ark of the covenant.” According to another version, this name means “mountain, high.” The history of Orthodoxy knows the righteous Aaron, the high priest, brother of the prophet Moses. His memorial day falls on August 2. In this case, the surname Aronovsky is a middle name of the second order: Aronovsky is the son of the man Aronov and the grandson of Aron. According to another version, the surname Oranovsky comes from the name of the village of Oranki, located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The founder of the Oranovsky family could have come from this village. Aron, or nicknamed Oranovsky, eventually received the surname Oranovsky.”http://www.ufolog.ru/names/order/%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8 %D0%B9 But Father Innokenty (R.S. Veniaminov) always liked to repeat that his mother came from a “princely family” and wrote to me about this in a letter at the dawn of our acquaintance with him, my grandmothers (Marina and Anna) always denied this fact, - it turned out that they were right.

As for the “secret wedding” in 1923 (!), this is some kind of fantasy. The “Godless Five-Year Plan” was announced by the Union of Godless in 1932, and 1923 was the year of the beginning of the short-term “religious NEP”; usually weddings were open in the 1920s; they could only be secret for party members and Komsomol members, persons in responsible positions posts in Soviet institutions, but S.I. and his wife have always been non-partisan.

“A year later, the young couple had a son, who was named Rostislav.”

That's right. Rostislav Sergeevich (future father Innokenty) was born in Astrakhan into the family of S.I. and E.A. Veniaminovs in 1924.

“The Veniaminov family began to live in Astrakhan. Sergei Ivanovich got a job as head of the meteorological bureau.”

And here we need to clarify. Head S.I.'s bureau was not there. From his testimony at the investigation: “When I arrived in Astrakhan, I worked for some time in the Glavryba system, and then, from 1925, I worked in the management system of the Hydrometeorological Service. My last position was deputy head of the Astrakhan branch of the Hydrometeorological Service.”

“In Astrakhan, Sergei Ivanovich became friends with Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov and really loved listening to him play the piano. When S.V. Rachmaninov went into exile, Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov decided to stay in his homeland and said to his friend: - No, dear Sergei Vasilyevich, I cannot leave my homeland; as a military man I can still serve my country.
Meanwhile, Rostislav grew up and began attending one of the Astrakhan schools.”

This is a family legend. S.I. Veniaminov and S.V. The Rachmaninovs were not only not friends, but they never were and could not have known each other, since their paths did not intersect. Rachmaninov emigrated immediately after the October Revolution in 1917 http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0 %B2,_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1 %8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 and certainly was not (and could not be) in Astrakhan in the 1920s. Probably S.I. loved to play Rachmaninov’s music on the piano - this became the legend of their acquaintance.

“And so the difficult years of hardships came again for the Veniaminov family.
The newspapers were covered with calls to fight the enemies of the people; Marshal V.K. was also ranked among the enemies of the people. Blucher. Having read about this in the newspaper, Sergei Ivanovich held it in his hands for a long time, looking between the lines and deep in thought. Then he rolled up a sheet of newspaper and, trying to remain as calm as possible, said to his wife and son:
“Now it’s my turn to get hurt.” I'll be arrested soon. But, no matter what happens, know that I am not guilty before my Motherland. I have always loved her, I love her and will love her until the last minutes of my life. Sergei Ivanovich was arrested when his wife, Elizaveta Aleksandrovna, went to visit her relatives in Yaroslavl.
Sergei Ivanovich watched the film “Volochaev Days” with his son and put him to bed in the children’s room. And at night the NKVD agents burst into the house.”

Complete fantasy. Starting with the memoirist’s touching conviction that newspapers during the years of the “Great Terror” immediately reported on the arrests of major leaders, including Blucher... And S.I. I read about this (Blücher’s arrest) in... the newspaper! But in fact, Sergei Ivanovich was arrested on April 6, 1938, shot on July 28, 1938, and Blucher was then still at the zenith of his glory, and he was arrested... October 22, 1938 (November 6, Blucher was beaten to death during interrogation). That is, the whole story is about the tragic experiences of S.I. in connection with the arrest of Blucher’s “comrade in arms” - fiction. It is psychologically understandable why such stories were sometimes invented in the families of the repressed - the former Kolchak officer turned in family legends into a Red Army soldier unconditionally loyal to the Soviet regime, and facts were invented in line with the legend. Even watching “Volochaev Days” (1937) between father and son is an important detail. Yes, they could see it in 1938 in Astrakhan in a cinema. The son’s memories of viewing a painting with his father one day shortly before his arrest; this coincidence could later be transformed in the minds of the orphanage boy into a legend about his father’s connection with Blucher himself. In this case, it is important to understand that the relatives themselves later believed in these legends.

“Mom has arrived. Elizaveta Alexandrovna went to prison. She went to prison every day - she carried packages. But they were not accepted. One day they passed a note from Sergei Ivanovich:
- Don’t worry about me, don’t bring anything, except a wooden spoon.
These were the last words of Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov that reached his relatives. That was the end of it.
Sergei Ivanovich Veniaminov was transferred to Sakhalin, and there the great-grandson of St. Innocent was martyred.”

An incomprehensible legend regarding the mythical note of S.I. about giving him a “wooden spoon” - why would he really need this? Most likely, there were no last words of his that reached his family at all. As for the legend about the end of Sergei Ivanovich, Rostislav Sergeevich, who after his rehabilitation in 1957 received a fake certificate from the prosecutor’s office about his “death in the camp in August 1939 from a cerebral hemorrhage,” never until his death in 2002 learned that in reality his father - the great-grandson of the saint - was never sent to Sakhalin, and in July 1938 he was transported from Astrakhan to Stalingrad, where immediately after a 10-minute farcical “trial” the visiting session of the Military Collegium of the USSR was held on July 28 killed (shot) - most likely in the basement of the Stalingrad NKVD prison. Father Innokenty (Rostislav Sergeevich), in the last years of his life, in a conversation with me, even once suddenly spoke respectfully of Stalin as a “statesman” - also without knowing that it was Stalin who gave the sanction for the execution of his father, signing on June 10 1938 “hit list” with his name. The “execution lists” were published by Memorial already in the year of his death (in 2002), and he no longer had time to find out about them.

FATES

"HIS NAME IS FOR GENESIS AND KIND"

- Talk, talk to me.

- Why, grandpa? I'm tired and can't speak anymore.

(From a conversation in Ashino in the war year of 1944 between the Veniaminovs’ grandfather and grandson)

Great-great-grandfather

I look at two portraits and I am struck by the similarity of these people, contemporaries of such distant eras: St. Innocent (Veniaminov) - Metropolitan of Moscow, Apostle of America and Siberia - and his great-great-grandson - Archimandrite Innocent (Veniaminov), whom fate gave me a meeting in St. Petersburg. Father Innocent talks about his great-great-grandfather, who lived more than a century ago (1797-1879):

– When the saint was still a simple priest, Father John, he, of his own free will, became a missionary in Siberia, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, and the Aleutian Islands. He baptized Kodiaks, American Indians, Aleuts, and Koloshes. He translated the Catechism into Aleutian and compiled the alphabet of the Yakut and Tungusic languages. Translated the Holy Scriptures into them. Of course, his activities grew into a matter of great national importance. In St. Petersburg he created the Missionary Commission. It is noteworthy that under him, the education of residents in his diocese became higher than in the rest of Russia. He traveled around the Amur, wrote a detailed note about the Amur region and the prospects for its settlement. He also took care of a solution to the Amur issue that was favorable for Russia; according to his proposals, the Russian-Chinese border was demarcated. The Tsar highly appreciated his work and awarded him the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. And here’s what’s interesting: the saint received that order with a chain. And the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with a chain was supposed to be worn only by members of the August Family of the Romanov clan - everyone else wore it on a blue ribbon. It happened this way. When Saint Innocent arrived in St. Petersburg from Yakutia, the Emperor immediately invited him and said: “Well, Vladyka, I issued a decree to reward you for your work for the benefit of our Fatherland, for your faith, for your love for God and people with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called . The decree is ready, but by the time Faberge makes the order, time will pass.” And he, taking the order and the chain from his shoulders, hung it around the bishop’s neck. The right to wear a chain was established - he was also depicted with it in portraits. But who is Saint Innocent? A simple Russian man, a peasant. And now, imagine, the kings approached this man with his blessing...

Archimandrite Innocent continues the story, and the image of a simple Russian man, strong in body and faith in God, appears before his eyes. Saint Innocent, then simply Vanechka, was born into the family of a sexton in the taiga village of Anga. “Golden head, golden hands,” local residents said about him. He knew how to carpenter and mechanic since childhood. Vanechka was especially diligent in church affairs and in reading and writing. Already at the age of 6, the Apostle read the liturgy and brilliantly graduated from the Irkutsk Seminary. After graduating from the seminary, he married a girl, Katerina, from his native village. The Veniaminovs' first-born was born in Irkutsk, where Father John had a large parish and where he created the first parochial school in history. His other children were already born in Russian America, where Father John volunteered to serve himself - by “the inspiration of truth,” as he said. In 1823, with his wife, son, mother and brother, he set off along the Lena to Irkutsk, then by horse to Okhotsk, and then by ship to the Aleutian Islands. Father John built a church on the island of Unalaska. He learned the Aleut language, taught the natives to make bricks from local material, taught them carpentry and carpentry skills, opened the first school for children on the island, compiled a grammar of the Aleut language, recorded local songs and legends. Father John had many friends in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The locals loved their priest. Animals also loved him. There was a whale nicknamed Druzhok, who saved Father John when he went fishing in a fragile boat. Right from under the tsunami wave the whale carried the priest's kayak to the shore.

Father John took tender care of his family, his dear Katenka and children, passing on to them deep faith and love for the Fatherland. The eldest son Gabriel became a priest in the Amur region in the Church of the Annunciation. It was in memory of Saint Innocent and his son Gabriel that the city of Blagoveshchensk received its name. In 1867, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow died, and Archbishop Innokenty became his successor. He remained the head of the Russian Orthodox Church until March 31, 1879, when he rested in Bose and was buried in the Spiritual Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The saint's grandson Ivan (son of Father Gabriel) also accepted the priesthood. As a child, Archimandrite Innocent knew him well, his grandfather, Father John. He had a chance to meet him in the 44th war year.

Grandfather

“From the southern front,” Archimandrite Innocent continues his story, “they sent me on a business trip to Gatchina. My path lay through the city of Kashin, where my grandfather Father John served at that time. I got off the train and went to look for him. I don’t know who to ask. I’m walking along the railway track and meet an old woman. I run up to her and say:

- Tell me, is there a church here somewhere?

- Church?! Look! He needs the church!

I looked back. There's no one around. If she never tells me anything, then I won’t see my grandfather.

- Why do you need it?

From the question I realized that there is still a church somewhere.

– You don’t know who serves there?

- Look, who also serves there!

Doesn't want to talk. I ask again:

– Excuse me, please, but by any chance does Father John serve there?

She looked at me like that and was silent. Over time:

- So what, Father John, so what?

- Not Veniaminov?

- What do you need it for?

- I am his grandson.

Here my grandmother perked up:

- Oh, my God! Granddaughter of Father John! Let's go, my dear. I will lead you to him myself. Let's go!

And she led me to the house where my grandfather lived. He knocks on the gate and calls: “Father John, Father John!” I hear his voice: “What, honey?” - “What a guest did I bring to you!” And he came from there: “What kind of guest did you bring me?” - “Yes, your grandson is Rostislav!” Grandfather comes out, arms outstretched: “My grandson has come to see me!” And there, in Kashin, at night (I couldn’t stay longer than the morning) he told me the following story. He served in the Semenovsky regiment - the favorite regiment of the Sovereign Emperor. A brilliant career awaited him. One day he came home very tired, lay down on the ottoman in his room and suddenly saw: the door opens, and his grandfather, Metropolitan Innocent, enters in all his robes. Grandfather John wanted to jump up and take the blessing, but he preceded him with his hand: “Lie down, Vanya.” He walked up to the ottoman and said:

- Well, that’s it, John, leave your secular lifestyle and go serve God!

He blessed and disappeared. Grandfather immediately decided to leave the service and told his wife about it. And his wife, my grandmother Anna, answered him: “Well, you are my husband, whatever you say is fine.” He left the service, brilliantly graduated from the seminary, then the academy, and, with the blessing of the Synod, went to Paris for three years to serve in a Russian Orthodox metochion. Such an incident happened to him there. He noticed that an old woman kept coming to his temple. For three years she has never crossed herself - she stands silently, prays, then venerates the icons and leaves. I never asked him anything. About three months before his departure, Father John announced to all parishioners that he was leaving them and leaving for his homeland, Russia. And then she approached him, asked for a blessing and said:

– Father John, I really like the way you serve. I'm Catholic. Accept me into Orthodoxy.

And he accepted her into the Orthodox Church. Saying goodbye, she told him with tears in her eyes:

- Well, father, I don’t know what to give you. I have a parental cross... (and she was already over 80, this old lady). Take it as a prayer memory. This cross is made of pure ivory.

He took. My grandmother then put it on cherry velvet. And this cross now hangs above my bed. Some of our zealous priests (Archimandrite Innocent smiled), when they come to me and, seeing a Catholic cross, say: “Can’t you hang an Orthodox cross?” And some say: “Oh! The Catholic cross is interesting...” And this cross with the crucified Christ is dear to me. Every time I look at him and remember my grandfather with tenderness...

At the end of his service in the Russian courtyard in Paris, grandfather returned to Russia and was sent to Kharkov to serve as a second priest in the Holy Spirit Church. At that time, the Empress Maria Feodorovna greatly revered Saint Innocent. And then one day, while traveling from Livadia to St. Petersburg, she stopped in Kharkov and went to a service at the Holy Spirit Church. Truly, there is nothing accidental in the world! It was necessary for my grandfather to serve on this very day. The Empress was in the royal box with the bishop. All her attention was focused on the service. When the service ended, the Empress said: “Vladika, who is this new priest? The way he serves, I have never heard or seen anything like it in my life.” The bishop replies: “This is Father John Veniaminov.” - “Excuse me, is he a namesake of St. Veniaminov?” “No,” the archimandrite answers, “he is his grandson.” After this, at the request of the Empress, Grandfather John was transferred to St. Petersburg to serve as a priest in the Empress’s home church.

This is the adventure that happened with my grandfather. He, of course, immediately got ready and moved with his family to the capital, where he lived in the Anichkov Palace under the patronage of the Sheremetyev counts. It so happened that the Sheremetyevs patronized our family since the time when my great-great-grandfather, Father John, lost his wife Catherine and was tonsured at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra with the name Innocent, and was consecrated to the rank of Bishop of Irkutsk. Then the beneficent Counts Sheremetyevs took care of his children. But do not think that, living under the patronage of the Empress herself and the rich counts, my grandfather himself lived in luxury. Yes, he had eleven rooms for his large family, there was a servant, but he never aspired to wealth. When his father, Archpriest Gabriel, died, who had inherited 600 thousand in gold coins from St. Innocent, he donated all this wealth, every single penny, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Why exactly there? Grandfather knew that Saint Innocent, when visiting St. Petersburg, loved to serve in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. And his son Gabriel, whenever he was in St. Petersburg, always served there.

My mother told me that when my grandfather served during the war in Kashin, at his call, the church parishioners raised funds to build a tank, and many donations were sent to the front. Grandfather Father John died in 1947, at the age of 93. “Before his death, he turned to me,” said grandmother Anya, “read the Gospel to me.” She began to read. Then, stopping reading, she asked: “Can you hear me?” - “I hear.” And so on several times. And then he didn't answer. She comes to him, and her hand is already cold. He went to the Lord without torment and suffering. The Lord rewards the righteous with such a good death.”

Father

And He rewards some with an even better death - martyrdom. Continuing the story of Archimandrite Innocent, we can mention that his father and uncle died this way. They disappeared without a trace on Solovki. The Veniaminov family was arrested when Rostislav (Slavik, future Archimandrite Innocent) was 14 years old. His mother - beautiful, smart, of princely blood - could not forget that terrible time until her death. She didn’t say a word about what they did to her there, in the dungeons, which is why the joy disappeared from her face forever. In a former church on the outskirts of Astrakhan, a children's reception center was set up, where the “enemy seed” was stuffed up to the dome, like sardines into a barrel. Girls on the left, boys on the right. Beds in five tiers. Slava was insolent to the guards. He was sent to a punishment cell. They gave herring. They didn't give me anything to drink. So for 15 hours in a row. Neither sit down nor stand up - my knees rest against the wall. Well.

Great-great-grandson

Rostislav Veniaminov spent two years in the distributors. In his “Case” there were two entries: a member of the family of an enemy of the people and “was in temporarily occupied territory.” He was there when Kuban, where fate had thrown him and his mother, was groaning under the heel of the Nazis. As soon as Soviet troops liberated the village of Tamirgoevskaya, Rostislav volunteered for the front. He was a medical orderly and carried more than a hundred wounded soldiers from the battlefield. The soldiers loved him, but the relationship with the political officer did not work out. The vigilant commissar found out and reported to his superiors that the guy came from the occupied territory and that his father and uncle were shot, and his mother was a social stranger.

“I had a vile heart then, a sinner,” Archimandrite Innocent’s voice begins to tremble a little. Father is worried. It’s not easy to remember the past: – I wanted to become a doctor, a surgeon, to kill all the commissars, the damned communists and all the NKVD officers. For myself, for everyone who suffered, for daddy, for mommy. How can you live with such a heart?! One day I carry out a wounded man from the battlefield. The guy is so healthy, a Siberian. And I was thin. I drag him past the shell crater and suddenly I hear: someone is moaning, there, in this crater. I tell my Siberian:

- Do you know that? Lie down for now, and I’ll climb down there. If he is heavier than you, forgive me, I will first take him to the BMP (battalion medical station - ed. ). And if anything happens, then I’ll take you.

- Yes, yes, of course, come on, come on.

I go down into the funnel. As expected, I’m looking at my machine gun... my commissar. I was so happy, I thought: now I’ll fire the entire machine gun at you. And I will be happy that I took revenge, at least on one, for all! He is lying there, and his chest is pierced from behind by a shell fragment. The breathing is hoarse and through the wound you can see how the pink lung moves and steam comes out. He turned his head towards me and said:

- Veniaminov, come to me, please.

And I stand over him so arrogantly and answer him:

- Well, what else do you want from me?

And he (may God forgive me):

– You... don’t stand me... Don’t... I’m... dying. Only, you know... I have documents here. You... send it after... to your mother.

Well, I climbed, of course. He has the cover there, with his party card and something else on it. I opened it, and there was an icon, Kazan, and a prayer “Alive in Help”! I look at him and say:

– What kind of communist are you?

- This is my mother... Forgive me... I know that you are a believer... Forgive me...

Here the Lord gave me His heart. And I fell to my knees, I asked him for forgiveness for my injustice and for my such a disgusting, dirty heart. And he forgave me. I prayed all the prayers I knew, and he walked away in my arms, and I kissed his wounds and thanked God that through the great mercy of the Lord my hardened heart was opened. And he left... His name was Ivan.

→ Is it easy to be a descendant of a saint?

Is it easy to be a descendant of a saint?

According to UNESCO's decision, this year marks the 200th anniversary of

since the birth of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow

and Kolomensky, spiritual educator of America and Siberia.

EX-prisoner, former front-line soldier, former sailor. This is what Archimandrite Innokenty says about himself, in the world Rostislav Sergeevich Veniaminov. He could also say “former doctor.” But it’s unlikely that a doctor is a former one. He always heals. Father Innocent heals the souls of people.

“Well, they say, young people have gone the wrong way. Same as always. There are such and such. Different. I see, I travel around the country, even though my legs are no longer the same. Yes, times are difficult. And when were things easy? I say, I instruct. Although it is not I myself, but the Lord. I am only His instrument. From the Lord, man’s feet are straightened. Everyone, including me, is prone to sin. In the evening I think: what have you done today for the Lord? Just sins..."

The Veniaminov family was arrested when Rostislav, Slavik, was 14 years old. My father, a teacher of mathematics and foreign languages ​​at the Astrakhan Fishing College, disappeared without a trace on Solovki. Mommy, a beauty, a smart girl, of princely blood, will remain silent and tremble until her death, will not say a word about what they did to her there, in the dungeons, why the joy disappeared forever from her face, why she avoided bright colors in her paintings. Even on the handkerchief that I embroidered with a fish bone for my son in prison, the roses were black.

In a former church on the outskirts of Astrakhan, a children's reception center was set up, where the "enemy's seed" was stuffed up to the dome, like sardines into a barrel. Girls on the left, boys on the right. Beds in five tiers.

Slavka was insolent to the guards. He was sent to a punishment cell. They gave herring. They didn't give me anything to drink. So 15 hours straight. My knees rested against the wall - I couldn’t sit down or stand up. Well.

It was a class society. Consisted of three classes: those who sat, those who are sitting, and those who will sit.

Veniaminov spent two years in prison. Then they began to send the guys to Siberia in groups of a hundred. The professor's son, 12-year-old Vaska, made it into the top hundred. He returned from the head of the orphanage, laughing: “There was Vaska and became Kolka. There was Kiselevich and became Petrov.” Before the stage, their names were changed, erasing family marks, so that a new life would begin with a blank slate.

This would have happened with Slavka Veniaminov, who was appointed to the hundred in Kustanai, if not for Baba Anya. She cajoled, gave gifts to the jailers, and begged on her knees for her only grandson. Or St. Innocent, who for a century and a half on both sides of the Pacific Ocean has been called the Apostle of Alaska and Siberia, interceded before the Lord on behalf of his descendant, his own blood.

The sovereign himself announced to him about Andrew the First-Called. He thanked for his services to the Fatherland, for his feat of pastoral service. The Emperor took off his order on a chain: “When will Faberge make it again?” њ and put it around Bishop Innocent’s neck. The First-Called was carried on a chain only by members of the imperial family. All others are on the tape. Saint Innocent, a peasant's son, was the only one who wore the order on a chain.

Peasant origin will play its role a century and a half later, when the submission for canonization will actually be sanctioned by the secular authorities of the Land of the Soviets. The candidacies of Xenia of St. Petersburg and John of Kronstadt “failed” based on class: blue blood. Saint Innocent "passed": "the state is a workers' and peasants' state." And in 1977, Saint Innocent was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Three years ago, he was glorified by the Orthodox Church of America, and in 1994 by the Russian Church Abroad.

The ship's doctor Veniaminov was called to the captain's bridge. A map of the “world gendarme” was spread out on the table, with the stamp “Top Secret” on top. The captain ran his pointer along the yellow-brown stripe: “Veniaminov, look, Alaska... Aleuts... Veniaminov Volcano. By any chance, this isn’t your relative?” My heart felt cold. There were six months left before the “northern” pension. Another "wolf ticket"? The rooster had not yet crowed three more times before Veniaminov renounced his ancestor: “No, namesake...”.

He will come to Alaska 15 years later, already as a monk, Father Innocent. This name will be given to him at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in 1987 by Archimandrite Alexy, the viceroy of the Lavra, with the blessing of the Patriarch. We traveled to the Aleutians by plane. He was brought to a handsome silvery car, on which the inscription “St. Innocent” was written across the entire side. So, on a donated plane, Father Innocent flew over all of Alaska, the Aleutian ridge and over the volcano named after his great ancestor.

The whole taiga village of Anga and Vanechka, the eldest sexton in the family of the local church, could not get enough of it. Golden head, golden arms. Both carpentry and mechanics are great. You can even make a watch with your own hands. But he was especially diligent in literacy and church affairs. Already at the age of six he read the Apostle at the liturgy. He brilliantly graduated from the Irkutsk Seminary and was going to the Moscow Theological Academy. Yes, the Ob flooded, and it didn’t reach Moscow. Apparently, it was God's providence. Because he got married in Irkutsk to Katenka, whose family he was neighbors with in Anga. After all, from the academy there is a direct path to monasticism. Then there would be no six little ones - two boys and four girls.

The Veniaminovs' FIRST-BORN was born in Irkutsk, where Father John had a large parish, where he created the first parochial school in history. Other children were born in Russian America, where Father John himself volunteered to serve under the “inspiration of truth,” as he said. In 1823, with his wife, son, mother and brother, he set off along the Lena to Yakutsk, then on horses to Okhotsk, and then on a ship of the Russian-American Company, which, by the way, appeared in the very year of his birth, to the Aleutian Islands.

On the island of Unalaska, Father John first built a church. He learned the Aleut language, taught the natives to make bricks from local material, taught them carpentry and carpentry, opened the first school for children on the island, compiled a grammar of the Aleut language, wrote down local songs and legends, studied the nature of the region, the habits of fur seals for the needs of fishermen, created a weather station. The main thing is that he translated the Catechism and the Gospel into Aleutian.

Father John baptized the Aleuts and American Indians, the Koloshes and Kodiaks, not with fire and sword, and did not conquer them with gifts and trinkets. He conquered their souls with love. Father John had many friends in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. There was a whale nicknamed Druzhok, who saved Father John when he went fishing in a fragile boat. The whale carried the kayak to the shore right from under the tsunami wave.

There were two wonderful commas in Rostislav Veniaminov’s bibliography: ChSVR was a member of the family of an enemy of the people and “was in temporarily occupied territory.” He was there when Kuban, where fate had thrown him and his mother, was groaning under the heel of the Nazis. As soon as Soviet troops liberated the village of Temirgoevskaya, Rostislav volunteered for the front. He was a medical orderly and carried more than a hundred wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

The soldiers loved him. But things didn’t work out with the political officer. The vigilant commissar remembered that a guy had come from the occupied territory, knew that both his father and uncle had been shot, that his mother was a social stranger, and he himself, inexplicably, escaped the camps. Every time there was talk about awards, the political officer whispered something to the commander. And awards bypassed Private Veniaminov.

In the summer of 1944, near Krasnodar, Veniaminov was dragging a wounded soldier. Under fire, I managed to bandage him and stop the bleeding. Near the crater from an artillery shell, we heard wheezing from the depths. “Slavka, crawl there. I’m alive, and there’s one of our people, crawl...” The man was lying at the bottom of the crater in an uncomfortable position, into which the blast wave had thrown him. On the back, just under the shoulder blade, there was a hole in which the pink, trembling foam of a torn lung was smoking. Rostislav shook off clods of earth from the head of the lying man. It was him, the commissar, his embodied humiliation and misfortune. A destroyed house, dead relatives, a mother scared half to death is a symbol of power without mercy and mercy. The hand involuntarily reached for the machine gun, a second and that’s it: punishment, retribution, liberation from anger and reproach. The political officer's eyelids trembled, he opened his eyes: “Veniaminov, you... take it here, in your pocket... Listen, you can’t help me... take it...”.

Rostislav pulled out folded triangles and a piece of cardboard from the pocket of the political officer’s tunic. The crust fell like a house on the ground - a party card. From it fell an icon of the Mother of God and a piece of paper from a school notebook, frayed at the seams, and blurry scribbles of the Living Help prayer. “Commissar, you’re a party member...” њ “That’s my mother, she saw me off and gave... Veniaminov, you’re a believer... Veniaminov... forgive me... say a word for me... Pray..." Rana stopped smoking, the pink flesh withered and fell off.

Repentance is the core of Orthodoxy, our thousand-year-old faith. As Saint Innocent loved to repeat: “It is from the Lord that a man’s feet are made straight.” This is why there cannot be a negotiated, collective repentance. For it, repentance, is an individual act, a deeply intimate dialogue between a person and God, after which catharsis is purification. And transformation.

Father John learned about the death of his wife Catherine, who shared with him the burdens of pastoral service, at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He took monastic vows with the name of Saint Innocent of Irkutsk and, entrusting his children to the care of the beneficent Counts Sheremetev and the guardianship of the Empress, continued his missionary work in America and Siberia, becoming the Bishop of Kamchatka, Kuril and Aleutian.

Either the scale of his personality was so enormous, or the era was great, but it so happened that his activities were of great national importance. Saint Innocent created the Missionary Commission in St. Petersburg, compiled the alphabet of the Yakut and Tungusic languages, and translated the Holy Scriptures into them. Thanks to his efforts, the education of the residents in his diocese was higher than in the rest of Russia. He traveled around the Amur, wrote a detailed note about the Amur region and the prospects for its settlement, took charge of a solution to the Amur issue that was favorable for Russia, and according to his proposals, the Russian-Chinese border was demarcated. In his honor and in honor of his son Gabriel, appointed to serve in the local Church of the Annunciation, the city of Blagoveshchensk was founded and given the name.

In 1867, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow died, and his successor was Archbishop Innocent, who served in this capacity until March 31, 1879, when he rested in God and was buried in the Spiritual Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

IT WAS an amazing time, the apogee of the glory and greatness of Russia, when she extended her protection to the peoples and languages ​​of half the world and when the sun did not set on her possessions. Then the church hierarch, which was St. Innocent, was equal in his deeds to its famous chancellor Gorchakov, and the great Pushkin recognized victory over himself in the poetic competition of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, who answered him to “A gift in vain, a gift fortuitous” with his inspired “Not in vain, not by chance Life has been given to us from God."

It was a great era, great sons of Russia. This is from a historical point of view, the history of people and the state. From a Christian point of view, all eras are equal to each other. And Christian deeds have a place at all times. There is a feat of gathering and enlightenment. There is a feat of martyrdom, a feat of preservation. Carry the tradition, save the candle, save the holy seed. Who gets what?

Father Innokenty carefully took out and unwrapped the boots from the shrouds. Huge boots, rubber bottoms, suede tops, a little worn out by time. On the sole is the stamp "Russian-American Company". In these galoshes, his great-great-grandfather Saint Innocent walked the roads of Russian America, Siberia and Moscow - the Third Rome. Father Innocent allowed me to warm my feet with the warmth of the shrine. Not for the sake of curiosity, not for boasting. For involvement and commitment. After all, from the Lord and All Saints, who shone in the Russian Land, the feet of man, the souls of his contemporaries and compatriots, are corrected. Father Innocent is thinking of creating a museum of his ancestor, where there will be a chair and a watch made by his hands, letters, and order ribbons. Although the museum of his memory is the whole of Great Russia, Siberia, and Alaska - two shores...

In the century that has passed since St. Innocent took his rightful place at the Throne of the Most High, all that remained of Russian America was an amusing cannon in Fort Ross.

Tatiana SHUTOVA.