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| The entrance to a cave monastery of the Catacomb Church |
Yury Belov writes: "In prison I met some Orthodox priests... Most of them were True Orthodox
priests, two of whom were unforgettable: Fr. John (Krivushchev) and Fr. Michael (Kalinin). They did not recognize the satanic authorities and did not want to hide that fact. On the contrary, they went
along the Volga from village to village preaching that salvation would come to the world only from struggle with 'the Bolshevik devil'.
They called on people not to work for the Bolsheviks, to go into the woods, not to serve in the Soviet army, and not to read satanic newspapers and books, since through them, and through the cinema and radio, 'a great deception comes'. Krivushchev is now [in 1980] serving his last 10-year sentence at the age of 80. Kalinin also is not yet free, he is now about 63. If a chekist or just a warder appeared, he would make the sign of the cross all around him and proclaim: 'Get out, satan! Out of my sight, Bolshevik filth!' He absolutely refused to talk with them and said that if everyone rejected 'these commissars' they would not remain in power even for a year..."
They called on people not to work for the Bolsheviks, to go into the woods, not to serve in the Soviet army, and not to read satanic newspapers and books, since through them, and through the cinema and radio, 'a great deception comes'. Krivushchev is now [in 1980] serving his last 10-year sentence at the age of 80. Kalinin also is not yet free, he is now about 63. If a chekist or just a warder appeared, he would make the sign of the cross all around him and proclaim: 'Get out, satan! Out of my sight, Bolshevik filth!' He absolutely refused to talk with them and said that if everyone rejected 'these commissars' they would not remain in power even for a year..."
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Sophia Mikhailovna Kazakova, an active member of the Catacomb Church until her death in the early 1960s recounts: "It was in the 1930s. They were closing the village churches at that time, making them into warehouses, lavatories and sometimes clubs where they held dances. Our village priest, Fr. John, was forbidden to serve. He refused to sign the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. First he was expecting to be arrested, but then our villagers (from the village of Novy Buyan, Samara region) began to hide him. There were still a lot of believers at that time. The people got together and
decided: we would have a secret church in Novy Buyan. The services took place at night, and there were quite a few people. Admittedly, this didn't last long. Someone denounced us. Judases will always be found. Our batyushka was arrested. And not only him. They arrested several chanters, including me. The chekists asked: who thought up this idea of building an underground church? That's how they put it: "underground". One of our older villagers, on being interrogated by the investigator, replied:
decided: we would have a secret church in Novy Buyan. The services took place at night, and there were quite a few people. Admittedly, this didn't last long. Someone denounced us. Judases will always be found. Our batyushka was arrested. And not only him. They arrested several chanters, including me. The chekists asked: who thought up this idea of building an underground church? That's how they put it: "underground". One of our older villagers, on being interrogated by the investigator, replied:
"Methodius the blessed said: 'When the enemy comes, the Church will be saved in the mountains, in the dens of the earth, and in the deserts.' And so we went under the earth."
Nobody ever saw Fr. John again. But the parishioners were released after about three months
in detention.
There were many wanderers in the Volga region at that time. At one time we had two living in our house - Fr. Theodore and Fr. Alexis, that's what we called them. They had nothing, neither passports nor personal effects. And as a rule they lived with us one at a time, in turn. One would come and the other would immediately get up and leave. It was evidently impossible for them to live together. The chekists were searching for them, they hounded them. And once they arrested Fr. Alexis. And it happened that I, who was a young woman at that time, was entrusted with taking him on a cart into town. I agreed. When we had left the village, I stopped the horses on the edge of a wood and said:
'Run, Fr. Alexis, go away!'
We never saw him or Fr. Theodore again. I was locked up for a few days under guard and then released. What more will you get from me? I remember that Fr. Alexis was very learned in the Scriptures. He read us the Apocalypse and explained to us what he had read, especially chapters
12, 13 and 17.
He said: 'Our Mother Russia will have to suffer much. The disorders of the commune will not end soon. It will end in the time of the seventh [general secretary - Gorbachev?], but don't expect anything good in the eighth.'"
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Protopriest Vladimir Ivanovich Kassenyev served in the village of Bolshie Berezinki, Simbirsk province. He was related through his wife to the poet F.I. Tyutchev and the over-procurator of the Holy Synod, K.N. Pobedonostsev. The family of Fr. Vladimir was large and friendly – there were nine children. Fr. Vladimir served in the largest church of the village, which had four altars. On great feasts the service encompassed all four altars. Fr. Vladimir read the canons for Christmas and Pascha in twelve languages, which astonished everyone. At his house there assembled congresses of priests. They came with their families and lived there for weeks. For Christmas and Pascha three tables
were laid with places for twelve people on each, and for three days the doors were open for everyone. The intelligentsia also came, and the richer and poorer peasants. The family had two cows, two horses and poultry. Batyushka was friendly with Michurin and had a beautiful garden. Matushka was good at sewing and cooking, and was an excellent housewife. They were dekulakized three times: first they took their livestock, then their furniture, then their house. But each time they recovered.
The people used to say: “Batyushka is helped by God! Everything with him is not as it is with us!” He was arrested several times on various excuses. In 1932 he was cast into prison in Saransk for refusing to renounce his priesthood. In prison they forcibly cut his hair in Holy Week, and he died on the night of Pascha. His fellow inmates brought matushka his watch and boots and said: “Batyushka looked at his watch, said: ‘Christ is risen!’ and died.”
were laid with places for twelve people on each, and for three days the doors were open for everyone. The intelligentsia also came, and the richer and poorer peasants. The family had two cows, two horses and poultry. Batyushka was friendly with Michurin and had a beautiful garden. Matushka was good at sewing and cooking, and was an excellent housewife. They were dekulakized three times: first they took their livestock, then their furniture, then their house. But each time they recovered.
The people used to say: “Batyushka is helped by God! Everything with him is not as it is with us!” He was arrested several times on various excuses. In 1932 he was cast into prison in Saransk for refusing to renounce his priesthood. In prison they forcibly cut his hair in Holy Week, and he died on the night of Pascha. His fellow inmates brought matushka his watch and boots and said: “Batyushka looked at his watch, said: ‘Christ is risen!’ and died.”
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Hieromonk Basil was born in about 1860 in Syzran, Samara province. After ten years of happy married life he decided to leave the world. He revealed his desire to his wife. She was silent for three days and prayed – after all, they had ten children. On the third day, she got together a knapsack and firmly said to her husband: “Go, if God needs you. Save us by your prayers.” And Basil set off for Mount Athos, to St. Panteleimon’s monastery, where he remained for three years. After the revolution he was sent back to his homeland to arouse repentance in the deceived people. He began to live in an abandoned basement on the outskirts of the village of Troitskoye, Syzran region. After a time he was revealed to the villagers, and from that moment his service as an elder began. He lived for six years in the cold basement, until the villagers built him a little izba and asked him to move there. He had the gift of healing and foreknowledge. He was arrested at the end of the 1920s, and returned from prison in 1930 on crutches – his leg had been paralyzed in prison, which is why they let him out early.
He died in 1934 or 1935.
He died in 1934 or 1935.
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During the Khruschev years, Fr. Innocent used to serve some catacomb nuns in Suzdal. He himself was from Astrakhan, and had neither passport nor documents, but only a certificate from a psychiatric hospital. But he was completely normal, although he was able to imitate a mentally ill person
very well.
He used to describe the terrible things that Kirov had done in Astrakhan. He himself survived because they buried him in the kitchen-garden. In Simbirsk province they would put priests in barrels, put nails into them and throw them down the cliffs into the Volga. In the Alatyr monastery of the
Archangel Michael the whole brotherhood was driven into the Alatyrka stream and drowned there. Their bodies dammed the river for a while.
Fr. Innocent was old, he could no longer see well and for that reason was detained in Suzdal. But he wanted to go to the other side of the Volga, to a skete, to die. There they knew him well and invited him to join them.
The services with the nuns were monastic, sometimes they served the whole night, reading in turn. During the day they cultivated vegetables guerkins and very tasty tomatoes. The nuns were from the Protection and Deposition of the Sash convents and other monasteries. They commemorated the Tsar and Patriarch Tikhon and called the Soviet patriarchs Sergius and Alexis I “betrayers of Christ and servants of the Antichrist”.