"And the Woman (Church) fled into the wilderness where she hath a place having been prepared by God..." (Revelation 12:6)
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Hieromonk John the Romanian (+1960) told a story related to him by a refugee from Russia, Archimandrite Athanasius. This archimandrite had been in a Bolshevik prison awaiting death with one other prisoner. This prisoner told how he had once been hunting in the woods of the Caucasus and had accidentally come upon a whole group of Christians, including a bishop, priests and deacons, who had not seen another Christian for four years.
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Hieromonk Anthony from Tolshevsky monastery served secretly from one house to another. He
tonsured many into monasticism.
In 1942 he and three monks dug out an underground hut in a shed (in Uglyanka) and there constructed a church with an altar. It was a secret monastery. Three monks lived with him: Fr. Raphael, Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Angelist - old men whom he had tonsured into monasticism. And they were such workers! They never left the dug-out and slept there.
[*A dug-out, also known as a pit-house or earth lodge, is a shelter for humans or domesticated
animals and livestock based on a hole or depression dug into the ground. Dugouts can be fully recessed into the earth, with a flat roof covered by ground, or dug into a hillside. They can also be semi-recessed, with a constructed wood or sod roof standing out. These structures are one of the most ancient types of human housing.]
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| Monk Angelist (left), Monk Gabriel (center), Monk Raphael (right) |
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An Austrian former prisoner of war witnessed that in 1948 the Soviet "authorities" discovered a secret women’s monastery 200 kilometers from the prisoner of war camp in the forests of Siberia, not
far from the Arctic circle.
A sentry found a small settlement of dug-outs where 22 nuns, mainly elderly, were living. The monastery had existed for 30 years without anybody knowing anything about it. The arrested nuns used to pray: "Lord, defend us from the Antichrist!"
They were sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp for non-registration, non-payment
of taxes and non-fulfillment of laws concerning school and work obligations.
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In the early 1980s a small secret community of monastics was discovered in the high mountains
about 60 kilometers from Sukhumi by the KGB. 18 monastics managed to take shelter in a cave.
The pursuers in a helicopter threw a cask full of burning liquid into the entrance and set it on fire.
All those hiding in the cave perished. Their names were: Irina, Maria, Eudocia, Ulyana, John, Gregory, Basil, Andrew, Stephen, and others.
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During the persecution of the Church and its clergy, in 1923 there came to the Caucasus a holy recluse, Elder Macarius. He appeared in the territory of Vladikavkaz, in a deserted place 20 miles from a small railroad station by the name of Podgorny. He was from Central Russia but no one knows exactly where.
The territory where he chose to dwell was in the foothills of the Caucasus. In a deep forest of gorges and cliffs, he dug a cave for himself where he lived and also had a small church. The altar table was hewn out of rock and there were a number of icons. It was all very poor and yet everything necessary for Divine services was there. Elder Macarius conducted services in this church. When the local people found out about him, they began to flock to him. There they would receive confession and
Holy Communion, and the elder would also provide for their other spiritual needs. The number of his visitors constantly increased; with a short time he was receiving pilgrims almost every day.
Elder Macarius was 65 years old, a genuine ascetic whom God glorified in answering his prayers and granting him the gift of clairvoyance: he would tell people their secret thoughts and deeds. The elder would always meet his visitors about two miles away from his cave and would then conduct them to his dwelling. No one forewarned him about their coming - he would discern it in his spirit. True
pilgrimages began to take place, people coming from the vicinity of Kuban and local towns.The believers found there spiritual repose and they felt that they were cared for. After all, there were almost no churches left in the entire area and people were as sheep seeking shepherds.
Father Macarius lived in seclusion until 1928. In this frightful year the Bolsheviks decided to put an end to his church. They had known about it for some time but for some reason had never reached it. At last they came and arrested the holy recluse. They wanted to take him away secretly, but the believers found out about his arrest and rushed to see him for the last time. As Father Macarius was walking away under guard, he blessed the people on all sides and bid them his final farewell. This holy pastor of the persecuted Catacomb Church was finally martyred in the far north.
A sentry found a small settlement of dug-outs where 22 nuns, mainly elderly, were living. The monastery had existed for 30 years without anybody knowing anything about it. The arrested nuns used to pray: "Lord, defend us from the Antichrist!"
They were sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp for non-registration, non-payment
of taxes and non-fulfillment of laws concerning school and work obligations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the early 1980s a small secret community of monastics was discovered in the high mountains
about 60 kilometers from Sukhumi by the KGB. 18 monastics managed to take shelter in a cave.
The pursuers in a helicopter threw a cask full of burning liquid into the entrance and set it on fire.
All those hiding in the cave perished. Their names were: Irina, Maria, Eudocia, Ulyana, John, Gregory, Basil, Andrew, Stephen, and others.
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During the persecution of the Church and its clergy, in 1923 there came to the Caucasus a holy recluse, Elder Macarius. He appeared in the territory of Vladikavkaz, in a deserted place 20 miles from a small railroad station by the name of Podgorny. He was from Central Russia but no one knows exactly where.
The territory where he chose to dwell was in the foothills of the Caucasus. In a deep forest of gorges and cliffs, he dug a cave for himself where he lived and also had a small church. The altar table was hewn out of rock and there were a number of icons. It was all very poor and yet everything necessary for Divine services was there. Elder Macarius conducted services in this church. When the local people found out about him, they began to flock to him. There they would receive confession and
Holy Communion, and the elder would also provide for their other spiritual needs. The number of his visitors constantly increased; with a short time he was receiving pilgrims almost every day.
Elder Macarius was 65 years old, a genuine ascetic whom God glorified in answering his prayers and granting him the gift of clairvoyance: he would tell people their secret thoughts and deeds. The elder would always meet his visitors about two miles away from his cave and would then conduct them to his dwelling. No one forewarned him about their coming - he would discern it in his spirit. True
pilgrimages began to take place, people coming from the vicinity of Kuban and local towns.The believers found there spiritual repose and they felt that they were cared for. After all, there were almost no churches left in the entire area and people were as sheep seeking shepherds.
Father Macarius lived in seclusion until 1928. In this frightful year the Bolsheviks decided to put an end to his church. They had known about it for some time but for some reason had never reached it. At last they came and arrested the holy recluse. They wanted to take him away secretly, but the believers found out about his arrest and rushed to see him for the last time. As Father Macarius was walking away under guard, he blessed the people on all sides and bid them his final farewell. This holy pastor of the persecuted Catacomb Church was finally martyred in the far north.
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Protopriest M. Donetsky relates that in the foothills of the Caucasus, not far from Sochi, there was a state dairy farm. It was exemplary. Much was said and written about the farm in the local newspapers, as about one of the best state farms in the country. But in 1937, at the beginning of the Yezhov terror, the leadership of the farm and all the workers were arrested. Some of them, including the director of the farm, were shot, and others were exiled to the north. It turned out that the director of the farm was a bishop, while all the workers were priests and monks. They were accused of concealing their social position and providing secret religious services for the nearby stanitsas and farmsteads.
It is possible that this farm was formed out of the monks of the Drandy monastery, in which several monks from Novy Afon had taken refuge after the closing of that monastery. If so, then the bishop may have been Bishop Nicon of Sukhumi.
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From the life of Saint Antonina the Abbess:
When her time of sentence was over, a group of twelve nuns formed a monastic community under her direction and went to the town of Tuapse with the aim of founding a secret skete high up in the mountains. In those days many monks from the ruthlessly destroyed monasteries hoped to settle in the mountains as hermits to avoid persecution from the Bolsheviks. But the minds of the GPU were sly; they placed their secret agents disguised as forest rangers all over the mountains, and one
by one they discovered the secret sketes and dwellings of these hermits - almost all of them were shot on the spot.
When Abbess Antonina climbed up to the top of one high mountain, she met a monk from the skete where Fr. Arsenius was living. In that windswept, craggy wasteland, way up high and far removed from the world, she discovered a whole monastic settlement with caves and churches and enough provisions to live and serve God daily for some time. The monks there offered to help and at once set about digging caves beneath the roots of huge trees, which became dwellings for the nuns. The monks lived in similar dwellings. They likewise constructed a church there and with joy helped the nuns in their needs. But this hidden community was not to last long.
Soon both sketes were discovered. Out of fourteen monks, only one, Fr. Arsenius who was the youngest, was spared and not shot as were the others; he was exiled for eight years to a concentration camp far away in outermost Siberia, and upon completion of these eight years, he was sent to a settlement in Alma Ata. At this time Abbess Antonina was also arrested with all her nuns. She was not shot on the spot but exiled to an unknown place.
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After the Second World War, there circulated in Russian émigré circles a brochure entitled, "Why I also believe in God". In it, the author, originally an atheist pilot, describes how he was commissioned to track down a group of monks and priests hiding way up high in the Caucasus mountains. It must have been as late as the outbreak of the war.
One day he spotted a ragged group of them on a high plateau. Upon seeing the plane, they began to run. The pilot clearly saw how they, apparently fleeing in the direction of their hiding place, were actually heading towards a wide chasm which separated them from the rest of that mountainous
plateau. When they reached the abyss, they made the sign of the cross and, to the pilot's utter astonishment, they continued running in the air until, having safely reached the other side, they disappeared from sight into the rocky cliffs. The dumbfounded pilot was instantly converted and came to believe in God Who had hidden His faithful slaves from the eyes of evil men but had allowed him to be a witness of this great miracle of Russia's Catacomb Saints for the salvation of his soul.
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From the life of Vladyka Peter Ladygin:
After many years of suffering for the Faith, the holy bishop along with 25 members of the
confessing Church set off for central Asia. This was in 1944.
They prepared themselves to flee into the mountains: they bought seeds, and collected icons
and service books. At night they set out for the Chinese border, and for eight days traveled through
deserted places. They struck camp on a high plateau in the Tyan-Shan mountains of Kirgizia and built a skete with twelve cells and a church.
They lived according to the strictest rule of the skete of St. Andrew on Mount Athos, and slept only three hours in the twenty-four, praying without ceasing.
Seven years passed, during which nobody disturbed their isolation. But a spiritual son of Vladyka,
Fr. Misael suggested to Vladyka that they should go further into the mountains. Vladyka replied:
“No, I have to finish my life, but you must pass through the school of suffering.” The monks were
expecting arrest every day.
On November 22, 1951, the feast of the Mother of God “The Quick-Hearer”, the liturgy was served and all the monks received Holy Communion. Then they all saw an airplane in the sky. It spotted them.
Vladyka Peter was the first to be taken away. He was sent under house arrest to Vyatka province.
During his life, Bishop Peter united various groups of Catacomb Christians on the territory of Soviet
Russia. In his time he ordained many secret priests.
Vladyka Peter was blind for five years before his death. He reposed in complete isolation on February
6/19 (or June 2), 1957, at 3 o'clock in the morning, in the town of Glazov. He died sitting in a chair with his arms raised and his fingers in a blessing position.
He decreed in his will that he should be buried without a coffin, according to Athonite custom.
He was buried in the city cemetery. On the grave is a short inscription: “Here lies the servant of God
Peter”. Catacomb believers who look after his grave witness that there have been cases of healing from illness after prayers at his grave.
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In 1951 V.K. wrote: "In the inaccessible parts of the Caucasus ridge, in a huge basin protected on all
sides by a wall of mountains, the tops of which were covered with snow for ten months of the year, there was a settlement of hermits. They had a cave-church where oil-lamps and candles burned and services were celebrated continuously. The council made up of several hieromonks and priests was led by Bishop M., who ruled the colony and maintained links with other underground groups scattered throughout the USSR. The colony was so secret that not even many of the underground groups in Sochi, Sukhumi and other cities of the coast knew about it..."
Protopriest M. Donetsky relates that in the foothills of the Caucasus, not far from Sochi, there was a state dairy farm. It was exemplary. Much was said and written about the farm in the local newspapers, as about one of the best state farms in the country. But in 1937, at the beginning of the Yezhov terror, the leadership of the farm and all the workers were arrested. Some of them, including the director of the farm, were shot, and others were exiled to the north. It turned out that the director of the farm was a bishop, while all the workers were priests and monks. They were accused of concealing their social position and providing secret religious services for the nearby stanitsas and farmsteads.
It is possible that this farm was formed out of the monks of the Drandy monastery, in which several monks from Novy Afon had taken refuge after the closing of that monastery. If so, then the bishop may have been Bishop Nicon of Sukhumi.
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From the life of Saint Antonina the Abbess:
When her time of sentence was over, a group of twelve nuns formed a monastic community under her direction and went to the town of Tuapse with the aim of founding a secret skete high up in the mountains. In those days many monks from the ruthlessly destroyed monasteries hoped to settle in the mountains as hermits to avoid persecution from the Bolsheviks. But the minds of the GPU were sly; they placed their secret agents disguised as forest rangers all over the mountains, and one
by one they discovered the secret sketes and dwellings of these hermits - almost all of them were shot on the spot.
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| Saint Antonina |
When Abbess Antonina climbed up to the top of one high mountain, she met a monk from the skete where Fr. Arsenius was living. In that windswept, craggy wasteland, way up high and far removed from the world, she discovered a whole monastic settlement with caves and churches and enough provisions to live and serve God daily for some time. The monks there offered to help and at once set about digging caves beneath the roots of huge trees, which became dwellings for the nuns. The monks lived in similar dwellings. They likewise constructed a church there and with joy helped the nuns in their needs. But this hidden community was not to last long.
Soon both sketes were discovered. Out of fourteen monks, only one, Fr. Arsenius who was the youngest, was spared and not shot as were the others; he was exiled for eight years to a concentration camp far away in outermost Siberia, and upon completion of these eight years, he was sent to a settlement in Alma Ata. At this time Abbess Antonina was also arrested with all her nuns. She was not shot on the spot but exiled to an unknown place.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the Second World War, there circulated in Russian émigré circles a brochure entitled, "Why I also believe in God". In it, the author, originally an atheist pilot, describes how he was commissioned to track down a group of monks and priests hiding way up high in the Caucasus mountains. It must have been as late as the outbreak of the war.
One day he spotted a ragged group of them on a high plateau. Upon seeing the plane, they began to run. The pilot clearly saw how they, apparently fleeing in the direction of their hiding place, were actually heading towards a wide chasm which separated them from the rest of that mountainous
plateau. When they reached the abyss, they made the sign of the cross and, to the pilot's utter astonishment, they continued running in the air until, having safely reached the other side, they disappeared from sight into the rocky cliffs. The dumbfounded pilot was instantly converted and came to believe in God Who had hidden His faithful slaves from the eyes of evil men but had allowed him to be a witness of this great miracle of Russia's Catacomb Saints for the salvation of his soul.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the life of Vladyka Peter Ladygin:
After many years of suffering for the Faith, the holy bishop along with 25 members of the
confessing Church set off for central Asia. This was in 1944.
They prepared themselves to flee into the mountains: they bought seeds, and collected icons
and service books. At night they set out for the Chinese border, and for eight days traveled through
deserted places. They struck camp on a high plateau in the Tyan-Shan mountains of Kirgizia and built a skete with twelve cells and a church.
They lived according to the strictest rule of the skete of St. Andrew on Mount Athos, and slept only three hours in the twenty-four, praying without ceasing.
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| Vladyka Peter Ladygin |
Seven years passed, during which nobody disturbed their isolation. But a spiritual son of Vladyka,
Fr. Misael suggested to Vladyka that they should go further into the mountains. Vladyka replied:
“No, I have to finish my life, but you must pass through the school of suffering.” The monks were
expecting arrest every day.
On November 22, 1951, the feast of the Mother of God “The Quick-Hearer”, the liturgy was served and all the monks received Holy Communion. Then they all saw an airplane in the sky. It spotted them.
Vladyka Peter was the first to be taken away. He was sent under house arrest to Vyatka province.
During his life, Bishop Peter united various groups of Catacomb Christians on the territory of Soviet
Russia. In his time he ordained many secret priests.
Vladyka Peter was blind for five years before his death. He reposed in complete isolation on February
6/19 (or June 2), 1957, at 3 o'clock in the morning, in the town of Glazov. He died sitting in a chair with his arms raised and his fingers in a blessing position.
He decreed in his will that he should be buried without a coffin, according to Athonite custom.
He was buried in the city cemetery. On the grave is a short inscription: “Here lies the servant of God
Peter”. Catacomb believers who look after his grave witness that there have been cases of healing from illness after prayers at his grave.
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| The Tyan-Shan mountains of Kirgizia |
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In 1951 V.K. wrote: "In the inaccessible parts of the Caucasus ridge, in a huge basin protected on all
sides by a wall of mountains, the tops of which were covered with snow for ten months of the year, there was a settlement of hermits. They had a cave-church where oil-lamps and candles burned and services were celebrated continuously. The council made up of several hieromonks and priests was led by Bishop M., who ruled the colony and maintained links with other underground groups scattered throughout the USSR. The colony was so secret that not even many of the underground groups in Sochi, Sukhumi and other cities of the coast knew about it..."