Hospice house of Count Sheremetev. Priest Vasily Sekachev, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the Institute, has died.

Father Vasily died on February 4, the day of the Apostle Timothy. He was the rector of the temple Life-Giving Trinity at the Institute named after Sklifosovsky. Father Vasily served where death is four steps or less - in the church at the Research Institute named after. Sklifosovsky. Comforted the burnt, the broken, the crippled
Everyone who knew Fr. Vasily, they knew that he was an incredibly kind person, and a priest who always came to the rescue. He came to give communion to the sick across the whole city, and he consoled the one who was dying with love.

Everyone who knew Fr. Vasily, they knew that he was an incredibly kind person, and a priest who always came to the rescue. He came to give communion to the sick across the whole city, and he consoled the one who was dying with love. Quiet, delicate, he never got into the soul and did not preach where he was not wanted. How many people did he help!

Father Vasily was seriously ill (pancreatic cancer), and knew about his diagnosis from the very beginning. They fought for his life the best specialists. When the website Miloserdie.ru announced a fundraiser for the treatment of Fr. Vasily in Germany, this request for help was closed in record time.

Father Vasily Sekachev graduated from Moscow State University, served in the army, studied modern history, defended his PhD thesis, worked at the Institute of Europe Russian Academy Sci. In 1998 he was ordained a priest. First he served in the Church of St. Tsarevich Demetrius, then in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the Research Institute named after. N. Sklifosovsky. Father served there for many years. Institute named after N.V. Sklifosovsky is an unusual hospital; the very specifics of the work here make you think about the “eternal.” Father Vasily taught history at the St. Dimitrievsky School of Sisters of Mercy and at the Dimitrievsky School, taught students at the St. Tikhon Orthodox Humanitarian University the history of the Russian Church.

For us o. Vasily wrote articles in Neskuchny Sad and for the website Miloserdie.ru. He was a very responsible correspondent and if, due to his workload, he did not meet deadlines, he always asked him to forgive him ten times. I thought about the text thoroughly, and if I thought I didn’t know the question, I honestly refused. And I was ready for reconciliations even at one in the morning. When in Neskuchny Sad we wrote about what people are afraid of and don’t want to know about modern man, we asked about this. Vasily - as a priest who saw people at their most extreme situations, when there is no longer any strength for masks and pathos, when death is four steps or less. This is what he answered us:
“The main fear, it seems to me, is the fear of humility. Yes, a person’s greatest fear is that he will not be noticed, will not be appreciated, will not be given something, and will be among the deprived, the humble. Our common problem is that we cannot trust God. We cannot believe that there is One who loves us most. In general, we don’t really believe in love, but more in ourselves, in some people, some circumstances, the possibilities of this world, but not in God’s love for us. That’s why it’s very difficult for us.”

Farewell to Fr. Vasily will be held on Sunday, February 7, throughout the day in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (small church) at the Research Institute. Sklifosovsky.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ
On February 8, Monday, a funeral liturgy and funeral service will be served in the church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity (large). Liturgy begins at 8 o'clock.

On February 8, Monday, a funeral liturgy and funeral service will be served in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity (large). Liturgy begins at 8 o'clock.
Address: Sukharevskaya square, 3, bldg. 1
The entrance to both churches is located on the territory of the Sklifosovsky Research Institute and is open to all believers.

Temple at Cherkassy vegetable gardens

The road to Yaroslavl appeared here already in the 12th century, but its heyday began later, when the Holy Road to the Trinity Monastery ran along its section. That is why many surrounding churches were consecrated in honor of the Life-Giving Trinity. At the end of the 16th century, another line of defensive fortifications was laid here - the wooden wall of Zemlyanoy Gorod. In 1613, here, at the Sretensky Gate, Moscow met the young Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, who arrived in the capital along this road from Kostroma. He granted local ownership to the princes of Cherkassy, ​​the same ones who left the name of Cherkassky lanes in Kitai-Gorod.

They descended from the Egyptian Sultan Inal, who was overthrown from the throne and fled to the North Caucasus in the middle of the 15th century. The sons of his great-grandson Idar - the Circassian princes Temryuk and Kambulat - and their descendants went into the service of Ivan the Terrible, laying the foundation for the princely family of Cherkassky. In 1561, the newly widowed Tsar remarried Princess Maria Temryukovna. The name of her brother is Mamstruk, according to historian V.B. Muravyov, remained distorted in the name of Merzlyakovsky (Mamstryukov) lane near the Nikitsky Gate. And Prince Boris Kambulatovich, who defended Moscow from the invasion of Kazy-Girey in 1591, married Marfa Nikitichna Romanova, the sister of Patriarch Filaret, so that his son Ivan Borisovich was the cousin of the first Romanov. Ivan Borisovich received large estates from the tsar, including Ostankino, Maryina Grove and lands at the Sretensky Gate. He was generally known as the richest man in Moscow, but remained childless.

After his death in 1642, his estates passed to his nephew Yakov Kudenetovich. He became the owner of the “Cherkasy vegetable gardens” at the Sretensky Gate - this was the name of the country courtyards located outside the Zemlyanoy Val, but adjacent to it. Yakov Cherkassky built a wooden tent church here in the name of St. Xenia; the reason for the dedication is unknown, but the church was built as a house church at the residence of the prince, where he loved to spend the summer. In addition to the prince and his household, the church’s parishioners included the Cherkasy household servants and some local residents who, due to poverty, did not have their own church. However, the church did not have its own clergy; only priests invited by the prince during his time served in it. summer holiday, his serfs were the singers, and the prince himself loved to sing in the choir. The rest of the time, the church was locked, and its parishioners dispersed for the winter to other nearby churches. In 1654, a pestilence epidemic decimated the local population, the “Cherkassy vegetable gardens” were abandoned, the church was empty and soon became so dilapidated that it threatened to fall.

The property was inherited by Prince Mikhail Yakovlevich, a Siberian governor and favorite of Peter I. In 1684, he asked Patriarch Joachim to allow him to build a new wooden church for himself and his servants. However, he received consent only on the condition that the top of the temple was built “in the manner of other churches,” that is, it would not have a hipped top - in accordance with the rules of temple construction introduced by Patriarch Nikon, who banned hipped churches. The dedication remained the same - in the name of the Venerable Xenia, but in 1722 a new altar of the Ascension of the Lord was mentioned in the temple, built by the heir, Prince Alexei Mikhailovich - he turned out to be the last owner of these places from the Cherkasy family.

Having married the cousin of Peter the Great in his first marriage, he managed to remain in royal favor from Peter I to Elizabeth Petrovna (who drew up a manifesto on her accession to the throne). The prince served as chief commissar of St. Petersburg and was in charge of the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Peterhof Palace. He recruited the first volunteers to study abroad and, like his father, also governed in Siberia. He supported Empress Anna Ioannovna and persuaded her to abandon the conditions proposed by the Supreme Privy Council, which limited her autocratic power. Anna Ioannovna deigned to tear up his condition, and brought Cherkassky closer. This is how he rose to the rank of chancellor. At the same time, the secret of his political longevity turned out to be simple: nicknamed the “turtle” for his slowness, he never sought political adventures or supreme power, went with the flow, was careful and, according to the historian M.M. Shcherbatov, “very mediocre in mind, lazy... dragging around, not bearing his name and proud of his sole wealth.”

It is believed that he built the Ascension chapel in memory of some important event in his life, which is why the church was at one time called Ascension. However, it also fell into complete disrepair. Having buried his wife, the prince married for a second time to Princess Maria Yuryevna Trubetskoy. Their only daughter, Varvara, was born, heiress to a million-dollar fortune. After the death of the prince, which followed in 1742, the widow asked permission to build a new, again wooden, church, but with a different dedication - to the Life-Giving Trinity with the side chapels of the Archangel Michael and St. Xenia, in memory of the old temple. Trinity Church was still under construction when it acquired new owners.

Princess Varvara Alekseevna Cherkasskaya was the richest bride in Russia, but had “a past not without storms and trials.” The high-ranking father could not marry her off. At first, Anna Ioannovna herself blessed her for marriage with her favorite Chief Chamberlain Count Levenwolde, but it did not take place. Then the old prince dreamed of marrying her off to the satirist Antiochus Cantemir, but he was not seduced by nobility and wealth. Finally, the matchmaking was successful: in 1743, Varvara Alekseevna became the wife of Count Peter Borisovich Sheremetev, a representative of another rich family, the son of the first Russian count and hero of the Battle of Poltava, who received extensive possessions from Peter I. Now, as a dowry, the Sheremetevs transferred the vast possessions of the Cherkasskys, including the lands at the Sretensky Gate and Ostankino with Maryina Grove. So the Sheremetevs became the richest family in Russia, rivaling the Yusupovs. And also the serf peasants of the Cherkasy princes, including the parents of Praskovya Zhemchugova, went into Sheremetev’s dowry.

Monument to Love

The Sheremetevs were also distantly related to the Romanovs. Together with them, they were direct descendants of Andrei Kobyla (Kambila) and his son, the famous boyar Fyodor Koshka, who served Dmitry Donskoy. The branch of the descendants of Fyodor Koshka, the Bezzubtsevs, began to be called the Sheremetevs: the founder of their family, Andrei Konstantinovich, according to legend, loved to live in grand style, for which he received the nickname Sheremetya - “having breadth.” The great-granddaughter of Andrei Sheremet, Elena Ivanovna, became the wife of Ivan the Terrible’s eldest son, Tsarevich Ivan: it is sometimes believed that it was because of her that the tsar killed his son when he saw his pregnant daughter-in-law in a house dress. And then the Sheremetevs participated in the election of the first Romanov to the kingdom.

Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev built an almshouse for his elderly servants in the Cherkasy vegetable gardens at the Trinity Church, although there is another, more reasonable opinion that this was done by his son, Count Nikolai Petrovich in 1793, at the request of Praskovya Zhemchugova. It is certain that under Peter Borisovich a permanent clergy appeared in the church: the priest Yakov Ivanov from the Church of the Nativity now served in it Holy Mother of God in Stoleshniki. Then he became a monk and left the Trinity Church to his nephew Joseph, deacon of the Church of St. Nicholas in Kotelniki. He became the last rector of this temple before the establishment of the Hospice House. In general, the priests of this church received generous support from the Cherkasy and Sheremetevs and led a fairly comfortable existence. Many local residents, courtyard servants of the Cherkasskys, Sheremetevs and even Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev, the father of the famous commander, remained parishioners.

Pyotr Borisovich himself lived in his beloved Kuskovo and decided to create a serf theater there - many nobles then indulged in this fashion. Unfortunately, the theater building in Kuskova Park, where Praskovya Zhemchugova first stepped on the stage, has not survived.

Praskovya was born on July 20, 1768 in the village of Berezino, Yaroslavl province. Her father was a blacksmith, a “farrier,” and from spinal tuberculosis he developed a hump. So Praskovya inherited from her father both the surname Kovalev, and her first stage nickname Gorbunova, and tuberculosis, which took her to an early grave. They say that the hunchback was drunk, rowdy, and tyrannical to his family. However, Praskovya loved her father and kept his portrait on her table until her death.

The most common fate awaited her for girls of the serf rank, but the girl discovered a rare, amazing voice, and she was taken to the master’s house to teach stagecraft, dancing, music, foreign languages, freed from serfdom. In Kuskovo in 1774, she was seen by the young Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, who had just returned from Europe, where he studied at Leiden University. The childhood friend of the future Emperor Paul I also dreamed of theater and music, and was familiar with Handel and Mozart, so what about the arrangement? home theater took it myself.

According to legend, they met in a field when the young count was returning from a hunt, and Praskovya was driving cows. And as if later Sheremetev on that expensive place erected a chapel. Of course, in reality there could be no talk of love at first sight: his future wife was then in her sixth year. The Count was fascinated by her extraordinary, pearly voice, for which, according to legend, he gave her the stage name Zhemchugova. Sheremetev Jr. dreamed of bringing her to the stage as quickly as possible in order to outshine her rivals. On June 22, 1779, 11-year-old Praskovya made her debut in the small role of a maid. The very next year, Sheremetev instructed her main role Belinda in A. Sacchini’s opera “Colony, or New Settlement”, where she first appeared on the Zhemchugova stage. The Count then came up with the idea of ​​changing the dissonant peasant surnames of all his actresses to stage names derived from the names of noble stones - Biryuzova, Yakhontov, Izumrudov. In 1787, the triumph of the serf actress came - in the role of Eliana in the opera “Samnite Marriages”, for which the admiring Catherine II, who visited Kuskovo, awarded her a ring. Soon the beautiful Praskovya became the count's favorite, and then his only love, although class inequality prevented them from tying themselves with legal ties for a long time. The Count surrendered more and more to the influence of his beloved. Fragile, sickly, shy, with a deep gaze of large and clear eyes, she was distinguished by refined manners, not inherent in her class, personality, “firmness of will and strength of nature” came through in her. Sheremetev once admitted that in the chosen one of his heart he was captivated more than beauty, “intelligence adorned with virtue, sincerity, love of humanity... attachment to the holy faith and zealous reverence for God.” And she felt more and more keenly the adversities of her origin and did not forget those to whom fate was not so favorable.

After the death of the old count in 1787, they lived openly in Kuskovo: Praskovya alone managed to pull Sheremetev out of the relentless drunkenness to which he indulged due to the death of his father.

One day the count noticed that Praskovya began to suspiciously often disappear from the house in the morning, and he decided to track her down. It turned out that she secretly visited Sukharevka, where beggars crowded, to give them alms. And then the count, yielding to the request of his girlfriend, decided to build a Hospice House on Sukharevka to “relieve the suffering” and gave his Cherkasy vegetable gardens for it.

"Palace of Two Architects"

Hospice houses appeared in the first centuries of Christianity as institutions for wandering pilgrims and pilgrims, where they were given shelter and medical assistance. Later, hospice houses were called charitable institutions that combined an almshouse and a hospital. Count Sheremetev and Praskovya Zhemchugova planned to create such a house for wanderers, the elderly, the crippled and simply the poor who do not have money for treatment - she asked her lover about this at the very beginning of their romance.

On N.P.’s birthday Sheremetev On June 28, 1792, the foundation stone of the Hospice House took place: silver coins and a copper plaque with an inscription were buried in the foundation “for good luck.” At first, Sheremetev did not intend to build a palace. His first project was compiled by a student and relative of Vasily Bazhenov, talented architect Elizvoy Nazarov. (He had already built the Znamenskaya Church for Sheremetev in the Novospassky Monastery, where their family tomb was located). As a basis, he took a traditional city estate, set back from the red line of the street and with a front yard convenient for bringing in sick people. The center of the building was the house Trinity Church, consecrated in memory of the church of the Cherkasy princes of the same name, which was dismantled. Two wings diverged from it in a semicircle so that the building had the shape of a horseshoe: in one part there was a hospital, in the other there was an almshouse, separated by a church. The civil purpose of the building was emphasized by a strict portico with double columns, marking the main entrance.

The count himself was involved in the organization of the establishment. He entrusted the supervision of him to the manager of the house office A.F. Malinovsky, a famous historian, the son of the confessor of Count Fr. Theodore Malinovsky, who served in the neighboring Trinity Church in the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He seriously studied the essence of the matter, got acquainted with the outstanding Moscow hospitals and wrote a memo to the count with the main conclusion: “Every good deed loses its value as soon as even a small payment is taken for its implementation.” Sheremetev entrusted Malinovsky with all the affairs of the Hospice House when he was supposed to leave for St. Petersburg, for the new Emperor Paul I appointed him chief marshal. In the capital, due to the damp climate, Praskovya’s consumption worsened so much that she began to lose her voice and could no longer perform. For the sake of his beloved, the count closed his theater, disbanded the troupe, at the request of the prima, assigning a dowry to the actresses, and hurried with the wedding. He gave freedom to Praskovya and her parents, and then corrected documents about her supposedly noble origin: that she was a descendant of the Polish nobleman Yakub Kovalevsky, who was captured by the Russians at the end of the 17th century. It is believed that Sheremetev, who never received permission for an unequal marriage from the two sovereigns, received the blessing of Metropolitan Platon, who treated him with great respect for the organization of the Hospice House.

On November 6, 1801, the count secretly married his beloved in the modest church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya - away from high society eyes and ears. The groom's witness was A.F. Malinovsky, the bride's witness is Zhemchugova's friend, another Sheremetev actress Tatyana Shlykova-Biryuzova. Then the young people left for St. Petersburg, where the count had his own house on the Fontanka, but they lived there for just over two years. Even Praskovya's death was shrouded in theatrical legend. Allegedly, shortly before her death, she decided to go on stage again and began rehearsing the roles of Ophelia and Cleopatra - in the story, both heroines die. And as if in the evening she met a mysterious old woman on the street who whispered to her: “Today you received two plays, in both you play dead women. And where there are two dead women on stage, there will be a third in reality.” There were also rumors that Praskovya was poisoned by the count's servants out of envy. Evil tongues spread gossip that her premature death was “punishment” for a secret marriage and for disobeying the will of the sovereign.

On February 23, 1803, the Countess died of consumption 20 days after the birth of her son, named Dimitri in honor of Praskovya's beloved saint, St. Demetrius of Rostov. Even during his wife’s illness, the count decided to notify the emperor about his wedding and the birth of his son. He asked for the highest forgiveness for marrying without permission and secretly. He assured that his wife had received an excellent upbringing and was worthy of her current status. Appealing to the mercy of the monarch, he asked to recognize his son as the legal heir to the title and family fortune. The emperor replied through a courtier that “Count Sheremetev has the power to marry whenever and whomever he wants.” True, there is an opinion that Sheremetev did all this the day after the death of his wife. No one from high society came to Praskovya’s funeral: the aristocrats could not forgive Sheremetev for his disappointed hopes for a profitable match for their daughters. Only the actress's devoted friend, architect Giacomo Quarenghi, accompanied her on her last journey. It was to him that the inconsolable count instructed him to build a hospice house as a monument to his late wife.

The task was not an easy one - to rebuild an almost finished building, but Quarenghi managed to give the city estate the solemn and monumental appearance of a palace. Instead of a modest portico, he built an open colonnade-semi-rotunda. The facades of both ends were decorated with majestic porticoes with a balustrade. The left wing was occupied by an almshouse (on the ground floor there was a men's department, on the second - a women's department), the right wing was occupied by a hospital, and they were separated by the magnificent Trinity Church, redecorated according to Quarenghi's drawings. It was located in the center of the memorial. According to Sheremetev, “all those who have benefited are placed around the church - the crippled, the old and the sick, receiving moral consolation and unification through the Divine service.” Inside, the church had six entrance doors, and in the choir there were doors to the corridors of the almshouse and hospital. By the way, the creators of the Hospice House managed to observe a very valuable principle: interior decoration did not resemble a hospital with its dull corridors and wards. The dining room of the almshouse hall, where those in need dined, rather resembled a palace, and was decorated with stucco and gilding. The corridors were gracefully curved, neat, bright, with waxed floors, and the spacious chambers, bathed in sunshine, were painted a soft blue.

Quarenghi worked on the Moscow palace without leaving St. Petersburg, and his designs, sent by mail, were embodied by Sheremetev serf architects A.F. Mironov, G.E. Dikushin and P. Argunov, who built Ostankino and Kuskovo.

Temple of the Hospice House

The new Trinity Church also turned out to have three altars, only its two chapels were consecrated in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker on the name day of the count and St. Demetrius of Rostov in honor of his son’s name day. (And in memory of the throne of Saint Xenia, a small chapel was built in the garden). The interiors of the house temple, made by Quarenghi, also resembled the decoration of the memorial palace. It was decorated with marble and green Ural stone in the Italian style and painted by the famous Italian master Domenico Scotti. The main fresco of the dome is “The Triumph of the Cross in Heaven” (according to another version - “Trinitarian Deity in Glory”). In the center is the image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a soaring dove in radiance. Below, the angels, forming a circle, “carry in the clouds to heavenly heights, representing the angelic heavenly triumph.” Each angel holds some symbol in his hands: he supports a huge Cross or carries the instruments of the Passion of the Lord, a trumpet, tongs. In the floating angel with a palm branch and ears of corn (a symbol of virtue) they saw the image of the little Count Dmitry Nikolaevich, and in the angel with a tambourine - his mother Praskovya Zhemchugova. Poems by A.F. were also written out here. Malinovsky, dedicated to the baby:

In heavenly glory here soaring through the ether
Your appearance is depicted among the faces of angels;
Living among people, you will show yourself to the world,
That to eternal truths and your spirit soars.

The iconostasis, instead of the Crucifixion, is crowned by the “group of the New Testament” - a golden Chalice on the clouds, surrounded by radiance and with two angels standing on either side. On the High Place there is a beautiful image of the “Coronation of the Mother of God”. The temple was also decorated with wonderful, disturbingly beautiful high reliefs “The Massacre of the Innocents” and “The Raising of Lazarus”, performed by G.T. Zamaraev, who created the decoration of the main building of Moscow University on Mokhovaya. Outside, the majestic dome was decorated with plaster figures of the apostles Peter and Paul and the Old Testament kings David and Solomon, installed on the parapets, and in the niches at the southern doors - the apostle-evangelists. But rain, snow and wind damaged the sculptures, and they only stood until 1828. In size and splendor, this church had no equal among other house churches in Moscow: “the pilgrim sees grace, symmetry and art in everything,” noted the deacon of this church, Alexander Pokrovsky.

Sheremetev dedicated the rest of his life - and the count outlived his wife by six years - to the memory of his beloved wife. The death of Praskovya struck him so much that he hoped to find peace only in godly deeds. Having renounced the world, Sheremetev appeared only at celebrations in the Winter Palace on duty and devoted himself entirely to the Hospice House. It consisted of an almshouse for 100 people of both sexes and every rank of “poor and crippled”, except for serfs (whom their master was obliged to take care of), and with the provision of food and clothing, and a hospital for 50 people for treatment without money. The count invested an astronomical sum of 3 million rubles in the creation of the Hospice House, plus Praskovya’s personal capital, left by her in her will. The count contributed another 500 thousand to the Treasury and provided income from his estates in the Tver province. In addition, capital was allocated for dowries to poor Moscow brides, the hungry, the poor for burial, etc. The count bequeathed to sell his houses in St. Petersburg and Moscow on Vozdvizhenka and Nikolskaya if the said capital was not enough for annual maintenance. And there was more special condition: the priest of a house temple is elected only by the will of the founder or trustee.

Contemporaries wrote in admiration that the founder’s thought was ahead of its time. The church called Sheremetev’s brainchild the Vertograd (garden) of God. Sheremetev was nicknamed “Count Miloserdov”: in addition to the Hospice House, he built churches and hospitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Rostov. He left home with a large sum of money to give out alms and returned without a penny. And he reminded his son in his will that it is not nobility or glory, but only good deeds that can be taken with you beyond the doors of the tomb.

The opening of the Hospice House and the consecration of the Trinity Church was to take place on February 23, 1809 - on the day of remembrance of the Countess and in the year of the centenary of the Battle of Poltava, in which the founder’s grandfather fought. However, on January 2 of that year, Sheremetev died of a cold. According to the count's last will, he was buried next to his wife in St. Petersburg, in a simple coffin, having distributed all the money allocated for a decent burial to the poor. The Moscow celebration was timed to coincide with his birthday and took place the following year, on June 28 (July 11), 1810, with a huge gathering of people of all ranks and classes. The entire temple was filled - that day all the worshipers came here. The Trinity Church was consecrated by His Eminence Augustine, Bishop of Dmitrov. The celebration began with a memorial service for the founders - Count and Countess Sheremetev. After the liturgy, the rector of the temple delivered an excited sermon about charity in praise of Count Sheremetev and about the gracious Providence of God, which leaves no one without help, emphasizing that here poor people will be provided with eternal help, and not one-time help, for which many will pray in this temple for the deceased graph. The first paragraph of the statute of the Hospice House read: “To provide assistance to the poor and wretched, without asking family and tribe” (and even in our time, both wealthy people and those picked up from the street are brought to the Sklifosovsky Institute). Soon the Hospice House was renamed the Sheremetev Hospital, which became a monument to both spouses.

The first rector of the Trinity Church was Father Alexei Otradinsky, who had previously served as a deacon in the Church of Old Pimen and was ordained to the priesthood personally by Augustine, vicar of Moscow, in June 1810. The first deacon was Konstantin Milyaev, a graduate of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. According to the statutes of the Hospice House, the priest of the house church was charged with the duty of “encouraging his flock to love humanity and reinforcing his teaching with a good example.” Thus, following the will of the founder, very worthy priests were selected here and passed a special “competition”.

The hospital had barely opened when 1812 struck. They managed to wall up church utensils in the basement of the house, and take out the most valuable things for evacuation. Services stopped in August and the church was closed. Those who were healthy were sent home to their relatives, and the rest were given pikes in case of defense. The French, having entered Moscow, mistook the Hospice House for a mansion and began to rob it, but upon learning that it was a hospital, they themselves put out the fire. She was immediately taken to the hospital, where both Russian soldiers from the Borodino field were treated (here the medical history of Prince P.I. Bagration was kept as a relic) and French soldiers. The famous French surgeon Lorrey, Napoleon's personal physician, operated here, but this did not stop the enemy from placing horses in the corridors, desecrating and plundering the house church, where they set up apartments for themselves, and turned thrones and altars into dining tables.

Leaving Moscow, the French almost blew up the hospital. And yet the interiors of the temple were not badly damaged because there was no fire. The Nikolsky chapel was consecrated on January 2, 1813, on the day of memory of Count Sheremetev. The Trinity Church was consecrated on the feast of the Resurrection of Lazarus before Easter, and the Dimitrovsky chapel was consecrated on February 3, 1817, on the birthday of Count Dmitry Nikolaevich. The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Paul I, took personal care of the orphaned child in memory of the friendship of her crowned husband with Count N.P. Sheremetev. Having visited the Hospice House in 1818, she demanded to paint a ceremonial portrait of its founder, which was performed by V.L. Borovikovsky: he depicted the count against the background of his brainchild.

In the same 1818, the Prussian King Frederick William III, the father of the future Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I, visited the Hospice House - the same one who bowed to the burned Moscow from the belvedere of the Pashkov House in gratitude for saving Europe from Napoleon. Since then, the Hospice House turned to the hospital whenever Russia was shaken by war: warriors of the Crimean, Russian-Japanese, and First World Wars, heroes of Shipka and Plevna, and victims of all three Russian revolutions were treated here.

During the history of the Church of the Hospice House, all the imperial persons visited it - from Alexander I to the passion-bearer sovereign Nicholas II. They all entered the temple before visiting the hospital, and here they were met by priests with a cross and holy water. Alexander I came here in 1816 and was very pleased. His review was preserved: “Everything is very good and does great credit to the founder.” Even the most demanding Nicholas I, who visited the Hospice House and its temple in 1831, was so happy with what he saw that he hugged the chief caretaker S.V. Sheremetev and ordered the disgraced Count Dmitry Nikolaevich to be notified of his pleasure - he was in disgrace for refusing to shoot at the Decembrists in 1825, saying he was ill.

The Sheremetevs remained trustees of the Hospital until 1917, and even in their own embarrassing circumstances considered it a matter of family honor to maintain the hospital. The first trustee was Count Dmitry Nikolaevich. Until he came of age, the duties were performed by a distant relative, and A.F. remained the main caretaker until 1826. Malinovsky. The funeral service for this wonderful scientist was held in the house Trinity Church, and the entire Hospice House accompanied him on his last journey. Count D.N. Sheremetev, having assumed the position of trustee, presented the temple with the ancient image of Vladimir, revered by the Old Believers, and wished to “increase the charity of the institution for the common benefit.” He donated a very large sum to support additional patients and increase the salaries of employees - hence the expression “living on Sheremetev’s account.” Many were taken here to allow them to die in peace and be buried at the expense of the establishment. The Sheremetev serfs immediately looked up to them. Actress Tatyana Shlykova, a friend of Praskovya who lived to see her, also visited this house. old age- she was over 90 years old.

And in 1830 a miracle happened, which was considered to be the obvious patronage of the Most Holy Theotokos: in terrible epidemic There were only two cases of cholera here, and even then the doctors doubted that it was cholera. Since then, Count Dmitry Nikolaevich ordered that the miraculous Iveron Icon be invited annually to the Hospice House and perform a prayer service with the blessing of water in front of it in the Trinity Church “in remembrance of the miraculous patronage of the Hospital of Hospice of the Queen of Heaven.” He chose December 7 as the date of the celebration - in memory of the day when the cordons of Moscow were lifted after the epidemic. In October of the same 1830, the temple saw St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, within its walls: he consecrated it after overhaul and preached a sermon about the rich man and Lazar, speaking of Count Sheremetev as a rich man, “who did not lose his name in insignificant matters.”

And in August 1856, Alexander II came to Moscow for the coronation and chose the Ostankino Palace as his place of residence. According to legend, it was there, while visiting Count Dmitry Nikolaevich, that the emperor signed a draft decree on the abolition of serfdom in Russia - an original inkwell with dried ink was kept in Ostankino for a long time in memory of that event. Alexander the Liberator also visited the Trinity Church and the Hospice House, highly praising the cooks for Russian cabbage soup: “This cabbage soup is so good that it’s no worse than my own!”

In 1860, the Hospice House celebrated its 50th anniversary. By order of D.N. Sheremetev, the church was restored and the paintings were thoroughly washed; Fortunately, he did not allow Scotty to re-paint the dome fresco. The celebrations began with a funeral liturgy for the founders, and Saint Philaret was again asked to perform the festive service, but he was ill and sent Leonid, Bishop of Dmitrov, in his place. Trustee Dmitry Nikolaevich also did not come due to illness. They said goodbye to him in Trinity Church in September 1871: he died of a sudden stroke. His son, Count Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev, a member of the State Council, the only one of the courtiers who had the right to address Emperor Nicholas II as “you,” became the trustee. He decided to build a separate chapel for the funeral of the dead, which was previously located in the basement of the building. The rest of the Sheremetevs were caretakers and members of the board of the Hospice House, including B.S. Sheremetev, author of the music for the famous romance “I Loved You.”

The temple clergy had very extensive responsibilities. In addition to caring for the sick, those in need and staff, the church held annual commemorations for the founders (and their relatives, starting with Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, the grandfather of the creator of the Hospice Home) and deceased trustees, and prayers for the health of the living. Here they commemorated everyone who was related to the Hospice House: doctors, priests, philanthropists - the sick, the deceased and the living. The days of memory of Countess Praskovya and Count Nikolai Petrovich were honored almost like patronal holidays: on these days, cathedral bishops' services were held. And in the Trinity Church, according to tradition, poor Moscow brides were married to Praskovya’s bequeathed dowry: she knew too well the hardships of an unequal marriage in any class, even the serf. The dowry was also paid annually on February 23. If the bride could not come to the Hospice House that day, the rector of the house church drew lots for the dowry for her.

The church was connected with many famous people. In 1841, historian T.N. got married here. Granovsky with Elizaveta Milgauzen, daughter of the hospital's chief physician. The groom was 28 years old, the bride - 17. He was just starting to give his first university lectures, had a weak voice and “very bad” diction, for which he received the nickname “lisping professor,” but then everyone gathered for his delightful public lectures on the history of the Middle Ages. Moscow. Elizaveta Bogdanovna survived her husband by only two years and in 1857 she rested next to him in the Pyatnitskoye cemetery. And in 1858, A.T. became the chief doctor of the Sheremetev Hospital. Tarasenkov, Gogol's attending physician and witness to his tragic last days, who tried to save the writer from the hands of soulless doctors. He wrote a “Historical Note about the Hospice House” for its 50th anniversary, and with the proceeds from the sale of the book, a silver chalice was bought for the temple for giving communion to the sick. True, in 1879 it was stolen. Tarasenkov suggested that Count Sergei Dmitrievich open an Incoming Department - a free outpatient clinic, as well as a medical fund for issuing benefits to patients upon discharge for the first time. He invested capital in these innovations, and since then a memorial service for Doctor Tarasenkov was also served in the church.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Sheremetyev Hospital, we held latest update church interiors. And then history presented a pleasant surprise. In 1896, the artist V.D. Fartusov, who painted the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, was invited to remove old stains in the dome. And what a surprise it was when, under a layer of soot and dust, a surprisingly preserved Scotti fresco was revealed.

On June 28 (July 11), 1910, the Hospice House celebrated its centenary. Trustee S.D. Sheremetev received welcoming telegrams from Emperor Nicholas II and Chairman of the Council of Ministers P.A. Stolypin, and the solemn service in the house church was attended by Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna.

Twentieth century

The revolution abolished the name “Hospital House” and consigned the name of Count Sheremetev to oblivion, however unique story hospitals continued: in 1919, the Moscow City Ambulance Station opened here. The Trinity Church did not escape the confiscation of valuables. On April 20, 1922, more than seven pounds of silver, a gold cross, diamonds, and a pearl robe were taken away from here and that same year it was closed, since according to the law, all house churches were subject to abolition.

And in 1923, by order of the People's Commissar of Health N.A. Semashko, the Institute of Traumatology and emergency care, which later became known as the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky. The founder of emergency surgery never worked in this building, the name was given according to his family scientific activity, although, according to another version, his student worked here and decided to perpetuate the memory of the teacher. Here, for the first time, they began to provide qualified assistance to the victim on the way to the hospital. In February 1924, Sergei Yesenin was brought here in an ambulance with laceration hands, and it was here that he wrote the “Letter to his Mother.” The premises of the former temple were now used as a hospital lobby. The iconostases in it were dismantled, the most valuable images were sent to the Tretyakov Gallery, and the interior took on the appearance of a “classical Stalinist Empire style.” The Zamaraevsky high reliefs received cracks and chips, Quarenghi’s decor was destroyed, only part of the painting was preserved, but even that was covered with whitewash.

The “Thaw” began with the arrival of the brilliant Russian surgeon S.S. Yudin, who was compared to S.V. for his extraordinary, virtuoso hands. Rachmaninov. He was a legendary doctor, immortalized in the works of M.V. Nesterov, Vera Mukhina and even Kukryniksov, under whom the institute became a “surgical Mecca.” He was the first in the world to transfuse cadaveric blood to a man dying of hemorrhage and believed that Pushkin could have been saved if the duel had taken place a century later. A.I. passed through his hands. Mikoyan, marshals I.S. Konev and G.K. Zhukov. And one day during the war, a car was sent for Yudin and on the road they announced that they were taking him to consult the German Field Marshal Paulus. Hearing this, the surgeon ordered to turn around, because Russian wounded were waiting for him, and threatened to jump out as he walked.

In 1945, Yudin proposed the idea of ​​restoring the historical building and the former temple in order to “reveal the brilliant architectural creations of Quarenghi,” and he himself participated in the work. He was especially delighted by the same legendary Scotti fresco in the dome, this time miraculously preserved under the plaster. The surgeon was soon arrested. They say that in his office there hung a painting depicting the coronation Alexandra III and as if for this he paid with freedom for several years, but he was accused of “espionage for England.” After his release, he donated his Stalin Prize for the restoration of the paintings of the house Trinity Church, in which a museum of medicine was created, and donated his archives to it.

On a March morning in 1966, at the Sklifosovsky Research Institute of Emergency Medicine, Moscow said goodbye to Anna Akhmatova. She lived for many years in the St. Petersburg Fountain House, in which Praskovya Sheremeteva died. The poetess died in a cardiological sanatorium near Moscow, but farewell to her took place in the building of the Hospice House.

Return

In 2001, by decree of the Moscow government, the Hospice House decided to restore and restore the original appearance of the building from the time of Count N.P. Sheremetev. In the house temple, which was returned Orthodox Church, the iconostasis, bas-reliefs, white marble colonnade and dome fresco were restored, and a golden cross shone above the majestic dome. They managed to restore the historical interior to its “original beauty,” right down to the color of the painting, for which the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed special gratitude.

On January 17, 2008, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II performed the minor consecration of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity. Addressing those present, His Holiness thanked everyone who worked on restoring the church, noting that the existence of a house church within these walls is especially important for the sick, many of whom come here suddenly. And he handed over to the rector “as a blessing to the temple and the parish” the icon of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon. After all, this temple is also necessary for doctors who hold human lives in their hands every day.

2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Sheremetevsky Hospital for Strangers (now the N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute of Emergency Medicine) and the consecration of the house church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity.

The manor church in the possession of the princes of Cherkassy (“Cherkasy vegetable gardens”) at the Sretensky Gate of Moscow has been known since 1649. The wooden tent church in honor of St. Ksenia, built as a brownie at the summer residence of Prince Yakov of Cherkassy, ​​was empty after the plague epidemic of 1654.

In 1684, Patriarch Joachim allowed Prince Mikhail Yakovlevich Cherkassky to build a new wooden church for St. Ksenia. After the death in 1742 of his son, Chancellor Russian Empire Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky, the wife of the deceased, Princess Maria Yuryevna, received permission to build a new wooden church in honor of the Life-Giving Trinity with chapels of the Archangel Michael and St. Ksenia, in memory of the old temple.

In 1743, Princess Varvara Alekseevna Cherkasskaya married Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev. The Sheremetevs' dowry included the vast possessions of the princes of Cherkasy, including the lands at the Sretensky Gate. According to some reports, Count P.B. Sheremetev built an almshouse at the Trinity Church for his elderly servants.

In 1792, his son, Count Nikolai Petrovich, at the request of the actress of the Sheremetev serf theater Praskovya Zhemchugova (in 1801 they secretly got married in one of the churches in Moscow), founded a hospice house for wanderers, the elderly, the crippled, and the poor in the “Cherkasy Gardens” . The initial project was drawn up by architect E.S., a student and relative of Vasily Bazhenov. Nazarov. The center of the building was the house Trinity Church, consecrated in memory of the dismantled church of the same name of the Cherkasy princes. Two wings diverged from it in a semicircle so that the building had the shape of a horseshoe: in one part there was a hospital, in the other there was an almshouse, separated by a church.

In 1803, Countess Sheremeteva died of consumption, and in memory of her wife N.P. Sheremetev commissioned the architect Giacomo Quarenghi to rebuild the hospice house, giving it the appearance of a palace. The left wing was occupied by a two-story almshouse, the right wing by a hospital, and they were separated by the Trinity Church, redecorated according to Quarenghi’s drawings. According to Count Sheremetev, “all those who have benefited are placed around the church - the crippled, the old and the sick, receiving moral consolation and unification through the service.” The temple was decorated with marble and green Ural stone in the Italian style and painted by the famous Italian master Domenico Scotti; the interior was decorated with high reliefs “The Massacre of the Innocents” and “The Raising of Lazarus”, performed by G.T. Zamaraev.

The rest of N.P.’s life Sheremetev dedicated to the memory of his beloved wife and caring for the suffering. In addition to the hospice house, he built churches and hospitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Rostov. The opening of the hospice house and the consecration of the Trinity Church was supposed to take place on February 23, 1809 - on the day of remembrance of the countess and in the year of the centenary of the Battle of Poltava, in which the founder’s grandfather fought. However, shortly before the appointed date, January 2, N.P. Sheremetev died of a cold. According to the count's last will, he was buried next to his wife in St. Petersburg, in a simple coffin, having distributed all the money allocated for a decent burial to the poor.

The opening of the hospice house was timed to coincide with N.P.’s birthday. Sheremetev and took place the next year, on June 28, 1810, with a huge gathering of people of all ranks and classes. The Trinity Church was consecrated by Bishop Augustine of Dmitrov. The celebration began with a memorial service for Count and Countess Sheremetev.

The new Trinity Church remained three-altar, but its side chapels were consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Demetrius of Rostov - heavenly patrons of N.P. Sheremetev and his son; and in memory of the throne of St. Xenia had a small chapel built in the garden.

The first paragraph of the statute of the hospice house read: “Provide assistance to the poor and wretched, without asking family and tribe.” It consisted of an almshouse for 100 people and a hospital for 50 people for free treatment. During the wars: Crimean, Russian-Turkish, Russian-Japanese, World War I - the hospice house turned into a hospital; the wounded in the Battle of Borodino were received here (the hospital museum contains the medical history of Prince P.I. Bagration), and those injured in all three Russian revolutions.

The Sheremetevs remained trustees of the hospice until 1917, and even in their own cramped circumstances considered it a matter of family honor to maintain the hospital. All the imperial persons visited the hospice house and the Trinity Church - from Alexander I to the passion-bearer sovereign Nicholas II.

In 1919, the Moscow City Ambulance Station was opened on the basis of the hospice house.

On April 20, 1922, during the confiscation of church valuables, more than seven pounds of silver, a gold cross, diamonds, and a pearl robe were taken from the Trinity Church. That same year the temple was closed, since according to the law all house churches were subject to abolition.

In 1923, by order of the People's Commissar of Health N.A. Semashko, the Institute of Traumatology and Emergency Care was established at the Sheremetev Hospital, which later became known as the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky. The temple was converted into a vestibule, the iconostases were dismantled, and the most valuable images were sent to the Tretyakov Gallery. The Zamaraevsky high reliefs received cracks and chips, Quarenghi’s decor was destroyed, only part of the painting was preserved, but even that was covered with whitewash.

In 1945, the outstanding surgeon S.S. Yudin proposed to restore the historical building and the former temple in order to “reveal the brilliant architectural creations of Quarenghi,” and he himself participated in the work. In 1953, the surgeon donated the Stalin Prize he received to restore the paintings of the house Trinity Church, within the walls of which a museum of medicine was being created, and donated his archives to it.

In January 1992, the church community in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity was registered at the Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky, the famous Moscow priest Alexy Grachev, a pediatrician by training (1959-1998), was appointed rector of the parish.

In 2001, by decree of the Moscow government, it was decided to restore the hospice house and restore the original appearance of the building from the time of Count N.P. Sheremetev. In the house church, which was returned to the Orthodox Church, the iconostasis, bas-reliefs, white marble colonnade and dome fresco were restored.

On January 17, 2008, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II performed in honor of the Life-Giving Trinity at B. Sheremetevsky hospice house.

In connection with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the hospice home, employees of the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky established the exact location of the original Trinity Church of the Princes of Cherkassy using archival documents and plans of the territory. When laying the foundation for a memorial cross on the site of the old church, the builders discovered its foundation. One of the base stones of this foundation is now in the museum of the Research Institute of SP named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky. Installed by blessing His Holiness Patriarch Kirill memorial cross is the original work of the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, People's Artist of Russia Z.K. Tsereteli, who donated it to the Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky.

Patriarchy.ru

Liturgy in the church at the Sklifosovsky Research Institute of Emergency Care, confession of Sklif patients, reconstruction with students Orthodox school The Poltava battle and the baptism of citizens of Cote d'Ivoire, performed in French - this is how the service of the Moscow priest Vasily SEKACHEV, a historian by training, takes place. PHOTO GALLERY

Research Institute named after N.V. Sklifosovsky or, in common parlance, simply “Sklif” (former Hospice House of Count N.P. Sheremetyev). Here in 2002, Priest Vasily Sekachev was appointed assistant rector of the still unopened hospital church. The photo shows the hospital Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. It was consecrated by two patriarchs: in 2008, with a small rank - Patriarch Alexy II, and in 2011 with the rite of Great Consecration - Patriarch Kirill.

It turned out that in the hospital complex there was also a Church of the Resurrection of Christ - more precisely, a pre-revolutionary chapel, converted into a laboratory in Soviet times. By order of the Moscow Government, it was returned to its former appearance and a temple was built in it. Here at the Divine Liturgy today’s day of Father Vasily Sekachev began

There are many religious doctors at the N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute, this is an unusual station, the intensity of the work makes you think more about the spiritual, more often turn to help from above

Many children of priests, representatives of the old Moscow Orthodox families, have carried out medical service within the walls of this hospital all their lives.

One of them was the recently deceased headman of the Holy Trinity Church, professor of medicine Nikolai Sergeevich Uteshev, nephew of Archpriest Tikhon Pelekh. On the second anniversary of the professor’s death, Father Vasily, going to give communion to the sick, looked into his office to sing “Eternal Memory.” Nikolai Sergeevich is written about in the life of the Venerable Confessor Georgy (Lavrov), Archimandrite of the Danilov Monastery. Professor Uteshev's parents, doctors, were the spiritual children of Father George and followed him into exile in Turkmenistan. There, Sergei Sergeevich Uteshev (Nikolai Sergeevich’s father) became the head of the hospital. A N.S. was born there, in the life of Father George it is mentioned that the priest asked to pray for his mother, Galina Borisovna, the sister of Mother Tatyana, the wife of Father Tikhon, who was preparing to be delivered from the burden.

He was baptized by his father George. The Uteshev family kept the personal belongings of Father George (Lavrov), his prayer book, and icons. Nikolai Sergeevich received Father Vasily’s appearance very cordially, helped a lot, and attended services. Professor Uteshev was the chief scientific specialist of the 1st surgical department of the Sklifosovsky Institute. Constantly at work, constantly operating, consulting. He was always invited somewhere. “For the last twenty years, if not more,” says Father Vasily, “N.S. never went on vacation - he worked. He was an excellent surgeon, from God. He did not live a week before his 80th birthday. On Sunday evening he walked in the yard ", preparing for the coming work week, he went to bed and did not wake up, the Lord took his soul. It was the day of Alexander Nevsky. He was like that - a spiritual warrior, a hard worker, a kind man of very strong will." In the photo: the new owner of the office, leading researcher A.G. Lebedev, cherishes the memory of Nikolai Sergeevich and he does not yet want to change anything in the situation here.

The temple at Sklif was prepared for opening by priest Alexy Grachev, a neonatologist by training, the author of the famous book “When Children Are Sick.” Father Alexy dreamed of creating a society of Orthodox doctors and Nikolai Sergeevich became a real find for him. The professor created an initiative group for the opening of the temple, and, of course, he himself was a member of it. That’s why Father Alexy was sent to Sklif. Later, priest Alexy Grachev served in the Nativity Church in Mitino. He fell to his death in May 1998.
Pictured: prayer before communion in the ward.

Protodeacon Nikolai Makarov is the first junior cleric of the Church of Tsarevich Dimitri at the 1st City Hospital. Father Superior Arkady Shatov (now Bishop of Smolensk and Vyazemsk Panteleimon) invited him back in 1991, and he served as a deacon in 1st City until 1994. Recently the deacon's father had a stroke. While he cannot speak, he can only put the request on paper.
In the photo: a hospital priest administers communion from a special small cup.

On the right in the photo is the required sister Olga. She sings in the hospital church on the choir, at the same time she studies at the Merzlyakovsky School, plays the cello. In his free time, he helps the priest give communion to the sick.

By the way, Father Vasily, until recently, was also a cleric of the Church of St. Blessed Tsarevich Dimitri at the 1st City Hospital. In an archival photograph: the confession of a driver who was beaten and thrown out of his car by fellow travelers. The man miraculously survived, saw God’s providence in this and decided to confess.

Sklif's next patient is 82 years old. In her youth she graduated drama school, worked briefly in the theater, but devoted most of her work experience to teaching performing arts at one of the medical universities.
Pictured: confession.

“...And I am an unworthy priest, by His power given to me, I forgive and absolve you, child, from all the sins of which you repent...”

Next is the journey by car. Father Vasily does not have his own car; a volunteer, an altar boy at the hospital church of the Sklifosovsky Institute, volunteered to give him a ride.

Father Vasily and Deacon Dmitry came to congratulate their ward grandmother Tatyana Fedorovna on her birthday. Today she turned 100 (!) years old.

Father Vasily met Tatyana Fedorovna at the 1st City Hospital. He was then a cleric at the hospital church of Tsarevich Dimitri, and Tatyana Feodorovna was in the surgical department. She wanted to confess and receive communion, and notified the necessary sister about this. She included it in the route that Father Vasily was supposed to take the next day. So he came to her. Having received Holy Communion, Tatyana Fedorovna said that she did not leave the house, her legs were sick, and if the priest came to her, she would be very grateful. Father Arkady Shatov was just telling the young priest Vasily to recruit people who needed to be cared for at home. Therefore, Father Vasily readily responded to Tatiana Fedorovna’s proposal and began to visit her at home, receiving the Holy Mysteries. Tatyana Fedorovna was then 85 years old.

Tatyana Fedorovna loves to talk, but not about herself, but, for example, about her parents - Fyodor Petrovich and Anastasia Mikhailovna, who were wonderful Orthodox Russian people who lived in the Oryol province. They took care of everyone, helped the poor, and on Bright Week, according to the old village tradition, settled tramps right in their homes. On foot T.F.'s parents went to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to bow to the Pechersk saints. The village priest, Father John, always loved to visit them, saying that he felt good with them, as if he were at home. At the height of collectivization, her father sent Tatyana Fedorovna to Moscow and thereby saved her. In Moscow she got married and gave birth to a daughter.

In the summer of 1941, when the horrors of collectivization were behind us, Tatyana Fedorovna, who was also about to give birth, came to rest in her native village. But the war began. Soon the Germans came to the Oryol region. It was worst in winter. Some large unit stopped in the village, the officers put Tatyana Fedorovna with one daughter in her arms and the other in her womb, out into the street, into 30-degree frost. It is interesting that the German military commandant stopped the presumptuous supermen and returned her home. Of course, Tatyana Feodorovna prayed, and it was the Lord who helped her. Now Tatyana Feodorovna’s daughters have long grown up and are babysitting their own grandchildren.

Following the word of the Apostle, Tatyana Fedorovna rejoices in everything, loves everyone and thanks everyone for everything. Today especially - Father Vasily.

Thanks to him, on such a significant day of her life, she again partook of the Holy Mysteries.

Next, the hospital presbyter comes to the 1st City Hospital. At the St. Demetrius School, which is located at the hospital church, he teaches history. Father Vasily is a candidate of historical sciences, defended his dissertation in the early nineties at the graduate school of the Institute of Europe. Double lesson. Topic: "First World War".

“The main contradiction that gave rise to the First World War was between England and Germany.
Added to this is the hostility between France and Germany..."

"There were contradictions between Russia and Astro-Hungary over the Balkans..."

Russia considered itself the patron of Balkan Christians, especially the Slavs...

"..and Austria sought to include the Slavs in its empire."

"There were tensions within the Slavic camp between Bulgaria and Serbia. Traditional contradiction between Russia and Turkey."

Italy remained at odds with Austria.

“Although Italy was in an alliance with Germany, but wanting to punish France and take away its lands captured by the French, Italy still chose to be with France against Austria...”

"Opposing factions have emerged. The Entente: England, France and Russia and the Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary..."

"...and Italy came out of it..."

"...and moved to the Entente..."

Question from the audience:

- What was Switzerland doing at that time?

- Switzerland, as always, saved money in banks, cooked cheese, collected watches and made (produced) chocolates..."

Love for a subject often depends on the teacher. In response to the question: “what does he want to become?” Nikita admits to being a priest and historian, like Father Vasily.

Next on the schedule is a military history club for schoolchildren. Today the plan is to reconstruct the Battle of Poltava.

Ukrainian Cossacks of Hetman Skoropadsky, loyal to Peter, stand in ambush.

Everything is taken into account, right down to the names of unit commanders.

But still, this is a game, and with the help of dice the course of history can be creatively changed.

10 points: and the cavalry moved forward ten centimeters.
Pictured: Swedish dragoons.

A powerful artillery salvo leaves no chance for the enemy: the probability of a hit is 18 out of 20 possible on a special 20-sided die.

The victories of Arseny's team (in the picture standing, from right to left: Arseny, Georgy, Styopa) include the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Borodino, the Seven Years' War. Everything else, as Arseny admits, was “virtually lost.” The battle is new every time, the two teams are the same - traditional.

On the list of defeats: Brusilovsky breakthrough, Ice battle, the battle of Monte Cassino...

Lecture at the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy. Topic: "XIV century, Tatar-Mongol yoke. St. Sergius."
“What qualities should a monk have?” - Father Vasily asks his young listeners with an unusual question for a representative of the white clergy. And together with them he develops the answer: “self-sacrifice, obedience, self-pity, low opinion of oneself, humility.”

“Once a peasant,” Father Vasily illustrates the idea, “came to the monastery to the Monk Sergius and did not want to recognize him as the great abbot of the Russian land: he was working in the garden in a patched cassock. The reverend not only kissed his guest, but took him by the hand , sat him to his right, treated him to food and drinks, and prepared a meal for him with honors and love. The peasant told the blessed one about his sadness: “I came here from afar for the sake of Sergius to see him, but my desire was not fulfilled.” “Don’t grieve, God is so merciful to this place that no one leaves here unconsoled...”

"...And He will soon resolve your sadness and show you the one you are looking for and want to see. And so, while they were still continuing the conversation, a certain prince arrived at the monastery with glory and honor, surrounded by soldiers, boyars, confidants and servants. in front, the prince's bodyguards and servants, grabbing the peasant by the shoulders, forcefully pushed him away from both the prince and Sergius. From afar, the prince bowed to Sergius to the ground, and Sergius blessed him; the two of them sat down, while everyone else stood nearby. in order to see through the people the one whom he neglected and whom he despised; he unsuccessfully wanted to push through the crowd and look or touch the Reverend. Finally he turned to one of those standing there: “Tell me who is the old man who sits to the right of the prince. ?" His interlocutor looked at him and said: "Are you not from here? Don't you know the Reverend Father Sergius? It is he who speaks to the prince." Hearing this, the peasant trembled with shame and fear."

After the prince left the monastery, the villager, taking with him several monks whom he begged to ask for him, ahead of them and together with them bowed to the ground to the abbot, saying: “Father! Forgive me for all my wickedness and sins and help my unbelief “Now I truly recognized you, father, and saw with my own eyes what I heard about.” The Monk Sergius forgave him, blessed him, consoled him with an edifying, soul-helping conversation, and sent him on his way. From that time until his death, this peasant had great faith to the Holy Trinity and to St. Sergius. A few years later, he came from his village to the monastery to the Reverend and took monastic vows; he lived in the monastery for several more years, confessing his sins with repentance and asceticizing, and then departed to the Lord.

Everything in the monastery of Sergius was, in the words of the peasant, “bad, orphaned, miserable,” but in fact, it was a great light for the world. There is nothing in the monastery, often there is nothing to eat, but everyone is friendly with each other, friendly to those who come, and full of love. According to V.O. Klyuchevsky, “the world saw all this and left encouraged and refreshed, just as a muddy wave, washing against a coastal rock, puts aside the impurity captured in an untidy place, and runs further in a light and transparent stream.”
The revival of the Russian land began. It was then that the surprising word “peasant” appeared, which does not exist in any language. This is the name of a villager, which comes from “Christian” and indicates that ordinary people then, under the influence of St. Sergius, they became truly Christians. Also, by the way, in the Russian language there is a unique word “Sunday” - not a single nation has a day off associated with the resurrection of the Savior. Even among our Ukrainian brothers, the seventh day off is called “nedilya”.

Here is the Volga River in its flow from west to east, the Upper Volga. Behind it to the north is Trans-Volga region. The Russian people, then squeezed on both sides by Lithuania and the Horde, were looking for territory for colonization, for life. Going there in groups, the settlers discovered that there were already holy people and ascetics and disciples there. St. Sergius. And from them they learned prayer, hope in God, love for Christ, Christian life. The princes and the metropolitan asked Sergius to send his students to head new monasteries. And so the work of St. Sergius also spread - the work of fighting sin and Christian love. This is how the internal revival of the Russian people took place, which made possible the victory over the Horde on the Kulikovo Field. The Battle of Kulikovo took place after the death of St. Alexy (1378). September 8, 1380 - according to the new style September 21 - On the twelfth feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the great twelfth feast.

During Dmitry Ivanovich’s childhood, the Principality of Moscow was ruled by Metropolitan Alexy. He pursued a wise policy, continuing to unite the Russian lands around Moscow. He went to the Horde, defended the interests of the Church and the interests of Moscow there. Then turmoil began in the Horde - the “great turmoil.” In 1357, Khan Janibek (who summoned St. Alexy to the Horde to heal his mother Taidula - despite the fact that Janibek spread Islam everywhere, but Islam did not help him, and sent to the Orthodox metropolitan for healing) was killed by his son Berdibek, who then He also killed 12 of his brothers. Berdibek was a devout Muslim and bore an Islamic name in honor of the Prophet Muhammad. A year later, Berdibek was also killed, and after that a long period of unrest began. As a result, after a difficult struggle, Temnik - the chief of darkness, 10,000 warriors - Mamai came to power. We, of course, did not pay tribute to the Tatars during the Time of Troubles. Mamai got angry and in 1380 he went on a campaign against us.

Dmitry Donskoy decided to go out with his troops to meet him in the steppe. This was an army of people who realized that they were strong, that they were all brothers in Christ. Under the influence of victory, this consciousness became even stronger. As Lev Gumilyov said: “Muscovites, Belozersk, Yaroslavl, Rostov and others went to the Kulikovo Field - and the Russian people returned.” It is interesting that Russian people from Lithuania also joined us: governor Bobrok, the princes - the Russian children of the pagan Olgerd - princes Andrei and Dimitri Olgerdovich, who brought with them many Russians - the “forged army”, which took the first, most terrible blow of the Tatars. Mamai, however, enlisted the support of their other brother, Jagiello, who returned from Orthodoxy to paganism. But Jagiello, apparently, in the end did not provide assistance to Mamai, not rushing to the scene of events on the Don. Historians now say that it was the Orthodox Metropolitan of Lithuania, St. Cyprian, who kept him.

The Horde has a favorite tactic: rushing light cavalry, attacking the enemy from the front, splits left and right. At full gallop they shoot, releasing myriads of arrows. At the same time, the arrows ring and buzz - because of the holes in the tips. People are dying, and the survivors are panicking. Having brought the enemy into a frenzy, the Horde send heavy cavalry into battle. So, on the Kulikovo field, the Mongols were unable to use this tactic, because Dmitry Donskoy did not allow them to turn around. Taking advantage of the rugged terrain, he lined up his troops on the only level space, the path to which went through a narrow neck where the Lithuanian Russians Andrei and Dmitry were stationed. Having difficulty passing through the neck, the Tatars lost the ability to maneuver.

Dmitry Donskoy fought as a simple warrior, in battle he was stunned, and he was buried in a pile of dead bodies, the corpses of Russians and Tatars. And then, when they took him out from under the dead and also considered him dead, they rejoiced to find the prince alive.
In the same year, Mamai was killed and power in the Horde was seized by the real descendant of Genghis Khan, Takhtamysh (Mamai was a temnik).

With the blessing of Bishop Panteleimon, the Dimitrievskaya school is governed by a school council of 4 priests - NIVA: Nikolai Petrov (pictured on the right), Ioann Zakharov (to the left of Father Vasily), Vasily Sekachev, Alexander Lavrukhin (school director, he remained behind the scenes). Instead of the teachers' council, the leaders themselves jokingly call it the "pop council". Today the shaky discipline of several students is being discussed.

In the church of St. Father Vasily baptizes the faithful Tsarevich Dimitri citizens of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

They were running from civil war, which began in 2010.

Orthodox Peruvian Alexandra (pictured) sheltered them, told them about Orthodoxy and turned to Father Vasily as someone who knew French

Father Vasily studied the language at school, from the second grade, and is grateful to his teachers Olga Ivanovna, Ksenia Isakovna, Elena Pavlovna. They, in his opinion, gave him a lot, so at the university he was not assigned to a continuing French group, but was sent to teach new language- Italian

Father Vasily performs the Sacrament of baptism over the inhabitants of the African continent.

The service is in French.

Hair cutting.


Men, when going to church, are supposed to be brought into the altar.

Parting words. One of the Africans soon got a job in the Moscow region, the other returned to his homeland, but wants to enter a seminary in the future and become a priest.

Before this, there were almost no Orthodox Christians on the Ivory Coast.

There is little time left to prepare for the upcoming lectures. Dinner with family (unfortunately, they were left behind the scenes). Father Vasily’s wife also graduated from the history department of Moscow State University (they met at the faculty), the department of art history. By the way, the coloring of some of the soldiers is the work of her skillful hands. Mom is an economist by training, now in the St. Demetrius Sisterhood of Sisters of Mercy, her son is a student at the Faculty of History of Moscow State University.

The last thing left: the evening prayer rule.

Father Vasily died on February 4, the day of the Apostle Timothy. He was the rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the Institute. Sklifosovsky. At PSTGU, Father Vasily taught the history of the Russian Church for many years.

Father Vasily graduated from Moscow State University, served in the army, studied modern history, defended his Ph.D. thesis, and worked at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1998 he was ordained a priest. First he served in the church of St. Tsarevich Demetrius, then in the church at the Research Institute named after. Sklifosovsky. Here in 2002, Priest Vasily Sekachev was appointed assistant rector of the still unopened hospital church.

In addition to PSTGU, Father Vasily taught history at the St. Demetrievsky School of Sisters of Mercy and at the Dimitrievsky School, and once upon a time he taught at the St. Peter's School at PSTGU, then still called the Traditional Gymnasium.
I knew Father Vasily little, but we were connected with him in a special way - our deacon ordinations were performed on the same day, November 4, 1994, and we celebrated this day together. Both of our confessors celebrated this most important day in our lives with us. It so happened that even then our service always took place side by side until the very end. The last time we served together in Kuznetsy was on January 8, the day of memory of Father Vsevolod Shpiller, less than a month before the death of Father Vasily. The service was headed by Rev. Vladimir Vorobyov, and Bishop Panteleimon took communion at this Liturgy.

Father Vasily possessed the most important quality of a priest - humility. In one of his interviews there are wonderful words about this:

“The main fear, it seems to me, is the fear of humility. Yes, a person’s greatest fear is that he will not be noticed, will not be appreciated, will not be given something, and will be among the deprived, the humble.

Our common problem is that we cannot trust God. We cannot believe that there is One who loves us most. In general, we don’t really believe in love, but more in ourselves, in some people, some circumstances, the possibilities of this world, but not in God’s love for us. That’s why it’s very difficult for us.”

Everyone loved him, he was always quiet and joyful. When he fell ill and it turned out that the disease was already long-standing and advanced, everyone who knew him tried to help somehow, worried about him and prayed. The website Miloserdie.ru published an obituary, which reported that even funds for his treatment in Germany were collected in record time.

On the website "Neskuchny Sad" there is a wonderful report about Father Vasily - "One day of a priest in Sklif." There is everything there - liturgy, hospital rounds, teaching at the school, baptism of blacks from Cote D'Ivoire, who were brought to Father Vasily by an Orthodox Peruvian woman because he knows French. But there is also a game of toy soldiers. Father Vasily led a historical reconstruction group at school, reconstructed the history of famous battles, was fond of toy soldiers. I was even somehow perplexed about this and asked him why he played with toy soldiers, and he simply smiled in response.

Eternal memory to dear Father Vasily!

Archpriest Nikolai Emelyanov.

Farewell to Fr. Vasily will take place at the Research Institute named after. Sklifosovsky on Sunday, February 7, throughout the day in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ(small).

February 8, Monday V Church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity(large) the funeral liturgy and funeral service will be served. Liturgy begins at 8 o'clock.

Address: Sukharevskaya square, 3, bldg. 1.
Both temples are located on the territory of the Sklifosovsky Research Institute, admission is free.