The publication of memoirs about church life during the Soviet era continues on the portal "Memory of the Church. Conversations with witnesses of the life of the Church in the Soviet era." The unique database of materials "Memory of the Church" is compiled under the auspices of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church by all theological schools in the Russian Federation. The project aims to promote the preservation of historical memory, in-depth scientific study of the church history of this period, as well as the education of young people through the assimilation of the life experience of past generations. The entered site rubricator allows you to refer to the sections of interest listed in the category.
Among the new materials published are the memoirs of Archpriest Alexander Dubanov, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Voronezh, about his childhood years spent in Central Asia, about the way of life of strong peasant families in the absence of a temple. The priest tells about his father, Archpriest Viktor Dubanov, and his journey to the Church, and about the many ascetics of piety whom he met along the way: "And so the priest commanded our grandfathers: "You live and maybe you won't wait for temples, but you need to pray, you need to be saved. You stand by yourself and pray. God has given you so many parishioners! You gather all your people." The books were liturgical. My father told me how to worship without a priest, and taught me everything. And so on Saturday evening, Sunday morning and on holidays, they always served the service themselves, it was the law. Our parents prayed like that, and then we did the same when we were born. No one forbade us there. There, in those mountains, they stood in a hut and prayed. Grandfather was no longer there, grandmother gives an exclamation: "Through the prayers of our holy fathers...", and we all sing, recite everything that can be sung, read without a priest. We got up early in the morning to manage the cattle, read the morning prayers, then the clock, the mass, the Apostle, the Gospel, the memorial. It was all readable. And that's how it was all through the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s."
Archpriest Vladimir Solovyov, rector of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Nizhny Novgorod, a course mentor to students of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, talks about Metropolitan Nikolai (Kutepov), Metropolitan Nicodemus (Rotov), recalls his student years spent at the Leningrad Theological Academy, the rector of which was at that time His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia: "Before- then we really studied. I had a friend, my late father, and we were in the same class together, and the rector told me: "Your friend is learning something badly, let's pull him up and talk to him." And the comrade used to say such simple words: "I'll be a priest anyway, I'll come to the parish, I'll be a priest, I'll tell my grandmothers about the holidays, and that's it." But that was the case at the time. If you come to a parish, as the commissioners said, you can't even go outside the church gate in a cassock and a cassock, so as not to preach. When we went to some neighboring villages, then we were called to the commissioner: "You can not do this, otherwise you will be deprived of registration." Registration is a piece of paper issued by the Commissioner for Religious Affairs. Without this piece of paper, as the late Metropolitan [Nicholas] said: "Without a piece of paper, a priest is like a bug." Without this registration, he couldn't even start [serving]."
Archpriest Gennady Kadnikov, dean of the Uzun-Agashsky church district of Kazakhstan, shares his memories of his path to faith and priesthood: "There was absolutely no literature, but grandma had icons in the red corner in the bedroom and in the upper room. There was not one, but a set of icons on the page. I remember asking my grandmother for an icon. We didn't have icons at home, my father was a Communist. When I lived with my father's parents, they had icons, but they literally had to hide them. They were in the trunk. And my maternal grandmother always had everything open, the icons were always hanging. The grandmothers prayed openly, and other grandmothers came to them. They all prayed together. I've seen it all. They just welcomed it. They held memorial services, took out candles, lit them there. There was no lamp oil, but candles were lit on holidays."
Natalia Petrova, a resident of the Smolensk region, recalls the life of believers in the Smolensk region in the 1960s and 1980s: "It was interesting for me to attend services. During my studies at the institute, I went to the Smolensk Cathedral for the holidays of Easter, Christmas, and Assumption. She tied a handkerchief around her head and covered her forehead. They were waiting for the procession and came in with the crowd. It was forbidden to attend divine services, and they could be expelled for this. On big holidays, people from the Komsomol committee always stood at the entrance, controlling who went from the institute. We studied and passed the exam on the academic subject "scientific atheism". I remember standing in front of the auditorium where the exam was taking place and praying to pass this subject. After my brother's wedding, we went to the city of Sychevka, went to the church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. This temple was built by the parishioners, as the temple in the city was closed. The local people said, 'They were able to close the temple, but they couldn't close the faith.'"
Tatiana Alexandrovna Pertseva, a member of the Union of Artists from Tambov, shares the story of her ancestors and talks about gaining faith through church art.: "We had a teacher in the history of Russian art who took us to all the ancient cities during the practice, we had a winter practice. We went to Suzdal, Vladimir, and looked at Rublev's frescoes. Yes, she was the daughter of a priest. We found out when we were done. Galina Alekseevna Glagoleva. She didn't say anything, she just drove us, showed us the icons, told us. During the holidays. In practice, we were in Novgorod in our first year. We had a good group, we asked for it, and as an art critic, she drove us. Here she is, without saying anything about faith, somehow she was able to invest in us...".
Nosova (Remezova) Nadezhda Fedorovna, a resident of the village of Mikhailovskoye in the Domodedovo district of the Moscow region, talks about the fate of her grandfather's family, priest Vasily Remezov, and about church life in the village during the Soviet years: "They were dekulakized. Aunt Pasha was taken as a witness. She says: "We came, but there's nothing to take. Only icons." But I remember: we had a big iconostasis, and there were icons all around. They started taking the ring off my grandmother. Aunt Pasha says, "Where are you filming? It's an engagement ring!" They left, they didn't take it off. And the children just grabbed hold of my mother's hem, clung to it, grabbed it and held on to my mother's hem."
Raisa Semyonovna Khomyakova, a resident of Krasnokamsk, Perm Region, born in 1933, recalls her childhood in the church, about the difficulties that people who remained faithful to Christ had to overcome: "I remember saying that I believe in God and do not want to be a pioneer. I was punished for it, they yelled at me, the guys weren't friends with me. We were excommunicated from God. They said there was no God. They said, "Who, guys, has icons, throw them all away!" That was it. The cross was torn off me several times. When I was working at the hospital, I took off the cross and hid it."
To date, there are more than 170 materials on the platform. In cooperation with the theological schools, the portal will continue to be regularly updated with new memories.