Saint Athanasius (Afanasiy) of Saratov #

In the mid-nineteenth century, an event occurred that was of great significance for all Old Orthodox Christians: after nearly two centuries of widowhood, the Old Believer Church once again gained a bishop. In 1846, in the village of Belaya Krinitsa, near the city of Chernivtsi (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Western Ukraine), a Greek metropolitan, Ambrose, was received into communion with the Church. He energetically set about ordaining deacons, priests, and bishops. Although he was soon arrested, he left behind two bishops who continued the holy work of multiplying the Old Orthodox clergy. Bishops were ordained even for the Old Believers within our homeland, who then embarked upon a hidden and highly dangerous ministry within the territory of the Russian Empire. Among the many newly ordained was Saint Athanasius of Saratov, who became one of the foremost church figures of his time. His full biography has not yet been published; only fragmentary details are known from rare publications. With this present work, we shall endeavor to fill this unfortunate historical gap.

The Birth and Youth of the Saint #

The future bishop was born in 1803 into a family of priestly Old Believers (“popovtsy”), classified as state peasants, who lived in the village of Kulyabinskaya in the Lumpunskaya Volost of Glazov Uyezd, Vyatka Province. His name was Abram (or Avraamy) Abramovich Kulyabin, or sometimes Telitsyn (after the large Old Believer village of Telitsyno, located about 20 versts from Kulyabinskaya). The family was large; from archival documents we know the names of the saint’s brother and sister: Aksyona and Praskovya.

From his youth, Avraamy was deeply pious and took to reading the holy books early in life. Desiring the salvation of his soul, he sought the monastic path and, at a young age (by various accounts, either at 22 or even at 16), he left his father’s house and came to the “kingdom of monastics”—the famed Irgiz, where at the Upper Monastery of the Transfiguration he first became a novice and later was tonsured into the monastic life with the name Athanasius, meaning “immortal.” Truly, he would live up to that name by his deeds of faith and piety. The monastic rule there was strict: each monk daily completed the full cycle of services either in the church or in his cell, and also prayed his private rule. Monk Athanasius quickly distinguished himself among the other brethren for his deep knowledge of the holy books, his understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the canons of the Holy Church, his personal piety, exceptional intellect, and gift for preaching. He was chosen by the brethren to serve as the ustavshchik (master of the rule), and later as the economos (steward) of the monastery. The abbot of the monastery, Siluyan Naumov, the treasurer Platon Vandyshev, and a young novice named Aphony Kochuyev became his closest friends and companions.

At Irgiz #

The special-assignment official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, P.I. Melnikov, wrote the following in his Sketches of the Popovtsy (Old Believers with priests):

“Both the monastery secretary Kochuyev and the treasurer Platon were sincere friends of Father Siluyan and his constant companions. The fourth member of their monastic circle was the steward of the monastery, Monk Athanasius, a man of an entirely different character. He came from simple peasant stock, but thanks to his natural intelligence and rare talents, he rose far above the other monks of Irgiz and became the confidant of Siluyan. He was still young, just a year older than Kochuyev: in 1830 he was 27 years old.”

Abram Abramovich Kulyabin was the son of a state peasant from the Vyatka Province. Born into the Old Believer faith, he left his homeland at about the age of twenty, settled at Irgiz, and was tonsured a monk, taking the name Athanasius. Like those previously mentioned, he was widely read and, by his learning, earned great respect and considerable influence among the Old Believers. Maintaining friendly relations with the head of the Glazov Old Believers, Ionaya Telitsyn; the Glazov merchant Lysyakov; the Samara merchants Abachins; the Khvalynsk merchants Kuzmichevs or Mikhaylovs; and the Mal’tsevs from the village of Mechetnoe—pillars of the local Old Believer communities—Athanasius, through these people who revered him, wielded tremendous moral authority over the Old Believers of the Volga and Kama regions. In the 1830s and 1840s, his fame resounded throughout all the Old Believer communities of eastern European Russia. The Ural and Line Cossacks revered Athanasius. In later years, he would become an Old Believer bishop.

In the time free from prayer, Igumen Siluyan and his young companions would often gather and converse on spiritual matters. When, during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, new persecutions and repressions were unleashed upon the Old Believer clergy, these conversations frequently turned to the question: what could be done to resist the persecutors, so that the priesthood might not vanish entirely? The problem was acute. If, during the reign of Catherine the Great, there were no fewer than two hundred Old Orthodox priests attached to Irgiz alone, then by the mid-nineteenth century the number of Old Believer pastors could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

One day, Aphony Kochuyev proposed a bold idea: that the Church should receive a bishop from among the New Ritualists in the same manner that they had received transitioning priests—by having him renounce the heresies and be anointed with holy chrism—but that the episcopal see should not be established within the Russian Empire, where any bishop could be tracked down and arrested at any moment, but rather abroad, in a country tolerant of different confessions.

This idea found enthusiastic support first among the circle of Irgiz intellectuals and then among a broader group of influential Old Believers. In 1832, a Pan-Russian Council of the Old Believer Church was held in Moscow, at the Rogozhskoye Cemetery, in an atmosphere of deep secrecy. At the Council, Kochuyev’s proposal was heard. After discussing the idea, the delegates resolved: to establish an episcopal see abroad and begin the search for an Old Orthodox bishop. They did not dare to begin the search immediately, fearing that any leak from the council could spoil the plan. After some delay, a mission of two men was dispatched in utmost secrecy to search for a bishop in the Eastern lands… Only after a long fourteen years was this bold plan successfully brought to fruition: as already mentioned, a Greek metropolitan was received into communion with the Church. But this happened only after the glorious Irgiz had been destroyed and its monks scattered to various places.

After the Destruction of Holy Irgiz #

On March 13, 1837, the Tsar’s troops, with the aid of the New Ritualist clergy, carried out a bloody assault on the Middle St. Nicholas Monastery, seizing it and transferring it to the Edinoverie (unionist) jurisdiction. Then the Lower Monastery was shut down, and on May 28, 1841, the last of them—the Upper Monastery of the Transfiguration, where Monk Athanasius labored—was destroyed. The brethren dispersed in every direction. Igumen Siluyan, Economos Athanasius, and Aphony Kochuyev went to the town of Khvalynsk, under the protection of the Kuzmin-Mikhaylov merchant family. These prominent civic figures of Khvalynsk had frequently visited Irgiz before, and their sisters even had cells of their own in the “kingdom of monks,” where the well-known hieromonk Hilarion—a revered Old Believer confessor later glorified for the incorruption of his relics—would often come to hear their confessions and tonsure them into monastic life.

Before entering the monastery, Aphony Kochuyev had even lived for a time in the home of one of the Mikhaylovs, serving as the manager of his estate. It is no wonder, then, that the Khvalynsk merchants welcomed the exiles with open arms. Siluyan became the ustavshchik (master of liturgical order) at the Khvalynsk Old Believer church, while Kochuyev—who had already been registered as a Khvalynsk townsman—settled in the house of Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova on the Lower Cheremshan, near Khvalynsk. Monk Athanasius, as an official investigation determined in December of 1854, “was registered in the society of the town of Khvalynsk, where he built himself a cell in the yard of Stepan Ivanov Sukhina, and under the pretense of trading flax, traveled throughout the provinces along the Volga.” (State Archive of Kirov Oblast, f. 574, op. 3, d. 56, l. 17 verso). His sister, Praskovya Abramovna, also settled in Khvalynsk, using a passport regularly renewed from Vyatka (ibid., l. 19 verso).

The Khvalynsk Old Believers were in desperate need of clergy, and at their request, Athanasius was ordained a hieromonk by Bishop Sophronius of Simbirsk, and then, in early 1850, was elevated by him to the rank of archimandrite. His secret residence became the Lower Cheremshan Monastery, located not far from Khvalynsk, near the Volga River, in the gardens of Lukia Petrovna Mikhaylova. The following is what the Old Believer historian Samson Ivanovich Bystrov reports about this small monastery in his notebook, which he compiled from documents and the testimonies of elders of Cheremshan (this notebook is preserved in the holdings of the Khvalynsk Museum of Local History; since it has never been published, we present the full entry on Lower Cheremshan):

Lower Cheremshan #

This is the heartbeat of Old Belief in the Volga region. Here the life of the persecuted Old Believer wanderers burst forth like a spring. It is located near the town of Khvalynsk, almost beside the Volga. The gardens of the wealthy Khvalynsk merchants the Kuzmins-Mikhaylovs were located here; they gave refuge to monks who had fled the destroyed Irgiz monasteries. Chief among their benefactors was Anna Kuzminichna, the sister of one of the merchants, who lived in these gardens. They had a house at Irgiz, which, after the destruction of the monasteries, was moved to Lower Cheremshan (it now houses the prayer hall). To avoid the capture of clergy (especially Bishop Athanasius, who lived there), two secret rooms were constructed: in one, the floor lifted up to reveal a spacious chamber below where clergy and vestments were hidden. There were instances where the police raided the monastery during services, yet found nothing. The property, including the buildings and the garden, comprised eight and a half desyatinas of land, owned by the Khvalynsk merchant woman Lukia Petrovna Mikhaylova, who also financed the maintenance of Lower Cheremshan. L.P. Mikhaylova was the wife of Mikhail Lvovich Mikhaylov, the nephew of Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova-Kuzmina, who was the maternal aunt of Felitsata’s mother. After the destruction of the Irgiz monasteries, a nun from Irgiz, Povolga, came to live with Anna Kuzminichna. She later became the first abbess of Lower Cheremshan. (In L.P. Mikhaylova’s album is a photographic portrait of Nun Povolga, taken a year before her death.)

Mother Povolga died around twenty years ago, during the third week of Great Lent, at the age of 104. She was buried at Upper Cheremshan. After Mother Povolga, the abbess was the schemanun Olympiada, who died fifteen years ago. After her, the abbess was the schemanun Izmaragda, the sister of Bishop Theodosius of the Caucasus. Her tenure was brief—she went to join her brother in the Caucasus. Since then, there has been no designated abbess; the community is overseen by the ustavshchitsa (liturgical supervisor) Mother Apolinaria. About twenty sisters now live in the skete. Lower Cheremshan has existed for nearly one hundred years. There used to be many old icons from Irgiz here, but now only a few (four icons) remain. One of them—a small Kazan icon—was brought by Mother Povolga from Irgiz. The monastery also possesses five portraits of the Mikhaylov family.

[On March 24, 1853, on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, Khvalynsk police officers, accompanied by witnesses, conducted a search at the home of the merchant maiden Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova, where there was a prayer room. In addition to icons and other sacred items, they confiscated 54 ancient books. Similar confiscations of ancient books took place in Khvalynsk in 1854–1857 (twice), in 1858–1865 (twice), and again in 1866. The seized items were taken to the Saratov Diocesan Consistory.]

Anna Kuzminichna died on May 7, 1861, bequeathing everything to her niece Feklusha (the daughter of her sister Maria, who had died in 1851. Anna had taken Feklusha in to raise her when she was ten years old). At the skete of Lower Cheremshan, following the death of Anna Kuzminichna, 45 nuns and belitsy (lay sisters) remained.

During the raid described above, on March 24, 1853, the renowned Aphony Kochuyev was also arrested. The authorities had searched for him for a long time, as two anonymous denunciations had been received by the New Ritualist Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov, alleging that Kochuyev had been secretly consecrated a bishop. He was imprisoned under the strictest secrecy in the monastic prison of the Suzdal Monastery, where this confessor of Old Orthodoxy died in 1861, remaining steadfast in his faith despite all efforts by the New Ritualist prison clergy to break him.

Service in the Episcopal Rank #

By the providence of God, Archimandrite Athanasius managed to avoid arrest. No later than November of 1854, at the request of the Old Believers of Saratov, he was consecrated bishop for the Saratov See by Archbishop Anthony of Vladimir. Shortly after his consecration, Bishop Athanasius was forced to flee to Syzran, as the police began to pursue him vigorously. But once the danger had passed, he returned to Khvalynsk and resided almost constantly in the garden of Anna Kuzminichna, where he would at times serve in her house chapel, which was arranged in the mezzanine of a side wing. Within the thick balcony of this mezzanine was a hidden chamber, where the hierarch would take refuge during police raids—and not once was he discovered.

Here is what Mother Felitsata (in the world, the merchant maiden Thekla Tolstikova, niece and heir of Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova) recounted about one such raid:

“There was one time they nearly caught Vladyka Athanasius, but the merciful Lord saved him here with us.

We were praying with him—there was a festal service. Vladyka was praying fervently. I was standing not far from the altar of the traveling church; the church was set up inside the prayer room. Suddenly the guard we had stationed by the city road ran up to me—he was shaking, breathless, soaked in sweat. We’d posted him there in case anyone from the authorities should come. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.

‘Thekla Evdokimovna’ (I was a belitsa then), ‘Thekla Evdokimovna! The authorities are coming! They’ll be here any moment. Everyone’s in plain clothes. They’re coming slowly, bells tied down. I recognized the police chief by his voice. I cut across the path to tell you quick. Looks like they’re coming to arrest the bishop.’

There was no time to lose. We told the bishop. The service was cut short. The hierarch quickly disrobed. The candles and lamps were extinguished. The antimension was hidden. Vladyka, in his humility, was ready to give himself up, but we reminded him of Christ’s flock, and that we had almost no bishops left at all.

We led him to my cell—under the floor I had a secret hiding place. We lifted the floorboards, and he climbed in. We had barely hidden the bishop when a troika stopped outside my cell. They leapt out and went straight into the prayer room, but everything had already been cleared—except we hadn’t yet put away Vladyka’s vestments. They lit a lamp. One of them asked:

— What’s that smell of incense? Were you praying?

— Yes, we were.

— And who was serving?

— Ourselves, without any priests.

— No, your bishop is here somewhere.

They entered the traveling church.

— Whose vestments are these? That’s your bishop’s, isn’t it?

— No, we said, he’s not here.

My aunt, quick with her tongue and smiling, said to them:

— He was, but he’s gone now.

They didn’t believe us and began to search.” “They entered my cell, while the guards (who arrived a little later on horseback) were sent to search the entire forest and all the cells. But they found nothing. The officials stood on the balcony in my cell. One of them said:

— ‘It’s quite nice here!’

But they were standing right on the very floorboards beneath which Vladyka was hiding.

— ‘I told you,’ said another official, clearly the junior of the two, ’that we should’ve stopped that pair of dapple-grey horses that passed us; there was a man all bundled up in a fur coat in that carriage, but you wouldn’t listen. That was surely the schismatic bishop.’

And indeed, we did have dapple-grey horses. As we later learned, it had been a merchant woman we knew, returning from the bathhouse—the bath was in their garden outside the town, on the road leading to us. She was all bundled up, to be fair.

They lingered there for a while, drew up a protocol, took Vladyka’s vestments, and left.

They left, yes—but what were we to do now? The town is small. Rumors would reach those in power that the bishop had been here. They would come again, settle in for a thorough search. There’d be consequences: they’d tear down the skete, and Vladyka would be locked in a fortress, just like Bishops Konon and Arkady were.

We quietly lifted the floorboards. Vladyka came out and asked:

— ‘Are they gone?’

— ‘They’re gone,’ we said.

He didn’t say anything more, only: ‘The Lord forgive them; they know not what they do,’ and fell silent.

We advised Vladyka to leave for a time. He agreed. But it’s one thing to say ’leave’—where would he go, and how? We started thinking: beyond the Volga, we had a little bit of land, a small homestead. There was a mill there. We ground flour for the monastery and sowed a bit of grain. So we decided that Vladyka would go there for a while.

It was August. The apples had ripened. The steward happened to be here—he had come to collect apples. He was a man strong in the Old Faith, well-read, intelligent.

Early the next morning, the steward himself harnessed the horse to a cart, sent the worker off to the orchard for some reason, laid down straw, asked Vladyka to lie down in the cart, covered him entirely with apples, drew the cover over the top, and tied it down. This was done in the livestock yard—no one else was there but me and the steward. Then we called the worker back. The steward told him to drive to the homestead and said he’d follow on horseback.

The worker climbed onto the driver’s bench. He served at the homestead and was a ‘churchman.’ After riding a little way, he lit a cigarette and continued slowly along, singing songs, completely unaware of what—or whom—he was transporting. Meanwhile, the steward saddled a horse and took a completely different road—into town. He left the horse with a friendly blacksmith to be re-shod, but he was worried about Vladyka. What if something happened at the ferry, or the worker started poking through the apples, or something else went wrong? So he hurried to the ferry. When he arrived, everything was already loaded, ready to cast off. He jumped aboard and saw the horse and cart in place, the worker holding the reins. They crossed without trouble.

Once they reached the other bank, the steward said to the worker:

— ‘Head back to town, pick up the horse from the blacksmith—he should have shod it by now—then ride to the monastery. I forgot the keys to the mill at Mother Felitsata’s. We need to grind some flour tomorrow. I’ll head to the homestead myself, and you ride back with the keys.’”

“We had to get the worker out of the way so that Vladyka could be freed. The worker returned to the ferry, and the steward turned off the road, farther into the steppe—no one was around. He untied the rope, pulled off the cover, and said:

— ‘Arise, holy Vladyka. Your bed must have been stifling.’

— ‘It’s nothing,’ said the bishop. ‘We made it, thank God.’

— ‘Not quite yet,’ the steward replied. ‘Just a little farther to go—we’ll get there.’

They sat side by side, the bishop now in lay clothing, and traveled on to the homestead.

Vladyka spent the night there, introducing himself to the steward as an old acquaintance. He stayed on the property for a short while, but soon had to leave that place too. Many people traveled through Khvalynsk; some stopped by the homestead; even the district constable would show up from time to time. Word could easily reach the police chief—then they’d start asking questions: who is this man? So, a new place was arranged for him farther away, about 30 versts from the town, in the village of Beryozovoe. There, in the garden of a devout Christian, he stayed for about half a year. Then, when things quieted down again, he returned to Cheremshan.

In the meantime, ’the authorities’ came once more and conducted a full search.

— ‘Your bishop is hiding in a cellar here,’ they said. ‘You have a church underground—he lives and prays there.’

— ‘No,’ we said, ‘we have no underground church and no hiding place. We do have a cellar,’ I said, ‘where we store old odds and ends, but there’s nothing there now—just cobwebs.’

Now, I should say, the cellar was built in a particular way—there was no door. It was made with a hatch: two slabs lifted up, and under the slabs there was a narrow little staircase, a descent like into a well.

— ‘Where’s the cellar?’ they asked.

— ‘Come along, I’ll show you.’

I showed them. They lifted the slabs. As soon as they had them up, they all rushed headlong into the cellar! All except one prince—I’ve forgotten his name—who had been sent from Petersburg. A little while passed, and they started climbing out one by one, all covered in cobwebs from head to toe. The prince met them and laughed:

— ‘Well, did you gather up all the cobwebs?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t Thekla Evdokimovna tell you the truth—that there’s nothing there?’

— ‘Yes,’ they said, ’nothing at all.’

And so they left, empty-handed.”

(“The Days of Old Cheremshan,” Church, Moscow, 1913, No. 52)

Persecuted by the police, Bishop Athanasius was repeatedly forced to flee beyond the borders of Saratov Province, most often to Syzran, yet each time he returned to Khvalynsk. He was constantly hunted, but the nuns protected and concealed him by every means. Once, the police caught him in the middle of celebrating the Divine Liturgy. The quick-witted nuns, throwing a woman’s apostolnik (veil) and a long women’s mantle over him, led the bishop right out of the hands of the police and hid him in a secret cell.

Lev Tarasovich Mizyakin, a journalist from Saratovsky Listok, who visited Cheremshan to document its history, reports:

“At Lower Cheremshan, in the convent of Mother Povolga, the first Old Believer bishop of Saratov, Athanasius, spent most of his time—and it was there he was buried. He came from the Irgiz monasteries. According to accounts, he was one of the ardent apologists of the Old Patristic Faith. His episcopate coincided with the era of persecution in the 1840s, when not only bishops and priests, but even ordinary monks had to go into hiding if they did not wish to endure ‘voluntary sufferings’—to sit in chains, be flogged in the town square, and the like. To avoid this, an underground chamber was built for Athanasius beneath a gazebo at Cheremshan, where he was hidden during times of danger. That gazebo still stands to this day. The floor is so cleverly crafted that no one would suspect it lifts and lowers easily. Beneath the floor lies a yellow pine frame, like a cellar—this is where Athanasius would hide. Even now, in the undercroft, there remains a wide bench where he slept, a table, a shelf, and an icon before which he would pray and bow in the moments when spurs clattered overhead and the anxious voices of frightened nuns echoed above. On the shelf lie several manuscripts on thick blue paper, written in his own hand.”
(Mizyakin L.T., Cheremshan. Saratov, 1909)

The Founding of the Men’s Skete at Cheremshan #

In 1861, six monks arrived from Turkey to the Khvalynsk area, led by Father Vissarion, the future Bishop of Tulchin and Archbishop of Izmail. The monastic brotherhood settled in the garden of the merchant maiden Thekla Evdokimovna Tolstikova, at the Mamontov Spring on the Cheremshan, nine versts from Khvalynsk. This garden, with its pond and mill, had been willed to her by the aforementioned Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova, who ordered it to be used solely for liturgical and godly purposes. The visiting monks established a secret Old Believer men’s skete in the garden, and Bishop Athanasius deemed it best to take up residence in this skete, where he spent the remainder of his life. The skete’s prayer house was located in an old wooden building by the pond, which, according to tradition, had been built as early as the year 1700.

Soon after Father Athanasius was consecrated to the episcopate, police searches for the new Old Believer bishop began. In Vyatka Province, the investigation was led by the provincial councilor M.E. Saltykov—the writer who would later become famous under the pen name Shchedrin. The bishop’s brother and sister were interrogated, but they gave no information to the authorities. In Khvalynsk, the “guardians of order” raided the home of merchant Mikhaylov and conducted a search, but found no trace of the bishop. Despite all efforts, the police never succeeded in discovering the whereabouts of the secret hierarch.

The saint often had to leave Khvalynsk district on ecclesiastical and hierarchical matters. Under his care was the entire Middle and Lower Volga region—Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan, and Simbirsk provinces—and he also maintained strong ties with his native Vyatka Province, where he collaborated closely with Bishop Paphnutius of Kazan, who had been consecrated in Moscow at Bishop Athanasius’s request.

At Cheremshan, Bishop Athanasius not only led church services and fulfilled the sacramental needs (treby) of the Old Believers, but also performed monastic tonsures and ordinations. Thus, in the summer of 1856, a novice named Grigory Belyaev arrived at Cheremshan from a secret skete hidden in the forests near Kungur. Bishop Athanasius tonsured him into monasticism with the name Gennady, then ordained him a hieromonk and elevated him to the rank of archimandrite.

They then traveled to Moscow, where, on January 9, 1857, Archimandrite Gennady was consecrated as bishop for the newly established Old Believer See of Perm. The consecration was carried out at the request of Bishop Athanasius and in his presence by three hierarchs: Archbishop Anthony of Vladimir, and Bishops Job of the Caucasus and Konon of Novozybkov. The consecration was performed secretly “in the place called Guslitsy,” according to the later police interrogation of Bishop Gennady after his arrest by the authorities. Bishop Gennady suffered for the Orthodox faith, being confined for 18 years in the stone dungeon of the Suzdal Monastery prison, where—despite the harshest conditions—he remained steadfast in faith and piety. He has been glorified among the saints as a hierarch-confessor.

Election as Candidate for Archbishop

In August of 1861, a council of Old Orthodox bishops was held in Moscow. It considered the request of Archbishop Anthony, who wished to relinquish the pastoral oversight of the All-Russian flock and retain only the title of Bishop of Vladimir. This was prompted by attacks against him from Bishop Paphnutius (Ovchinnikov). The council proposed that Bishop Athanasius, the most respected among the hierarchs, assume the role of All-Russian Archbishop. The saint initially refused, but the council proceeded with the election against his will. In response, Bishop Athanasius submitted the following petition to the Council:

To the All-Russian Holy Council of God-loving Archbishops and Bishops, the most humble petition of Athanasius, Bishop of Saratov.

On the 23rd day of August of this present year, you, O God-loving bishops, at this Holy Council, elected me—your humble and unworthy brother—to the episcopal throne of the reigning city of Moscow, in the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, against my will and desire. During this election, you explained to me, and discussed in your decision, that ecclesiastical and hierarchical affairs in Russia are currently in an unsatisfactory state and require better order and correction in certain respects. You also recognized the great upheavals and disorders among Orthodox Christians, both in the capital city of Moscow and throughout Russia.

I have taken your concern into consideration, and upon reflection on this matter, I conclude that both now and before, I find no other source of Christian unrest in the capital city of Moscow except the innovations and changes in certain church rites and customs introduced by the priests of Archbishop Anthony.

It is well known that all the rites, rubrics, and ordinances of the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church, established from the time of the first five Patriarchs of Russia, were kept by our ancestors with sacred care and unchanged. These were originally preserved at the Vetka Monastery by the hieromonk Theodosius, who was ordained by the Most Holy Patriarch Joseph, along with other clergy and founders of the Church of Vetka. From there, they were brought by the Vetka Fathers to the Irgiz monasteries and to Moscow, at Rogozhskoye Cemetery.

At that time, the renowned and highly respected priest, Ioann Matveevich, arrived in Moscow, where he likewise followed the customs of his forebears and, together with other devout priests, faithfully and unwaveringly upheld all the rites at Rogozhskoye Cemetery. Therefore, examining the history of all that has occurred in our Orthodox Church, one may conclude that all the rites, ordinances, and traditions of our Church are Ancient Orthodox and true, which I vow to keep holy and inviolate until my final breath.

Thus I believe and confess before you, God-loving bishops; just as I declared at the time of my election, so I now declare again. Yet I have noticed that some among you did not fully agree with my declaration. Seeing that such disagreement concerning the rites and ordinances of the Church will only lead to further instability, disunity, confusion, and the rending of Christ’s Church, I—your humble servant—recalling former disturbances and fearing future ones, and even before ascending the episcopal throne, have resolved to explain my view regarding the Vetka Church, the Irgiz monasteries, and the Rogozhskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The rites and ordinances practiced in these places were holy, true, and without reproach, being directly and unfailingly inherited, as I have said above, from the first Most Holy Patriarchs of Russia.

The opposing opinions regarding these customs have arisen primarily from the fact that certain hierarchs and clergy among us, having been but little acquainted with the former ordinances and rites of the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Church, were born and raised in other confessions or sects. By the will of God, after accepting the ancient Christian confession and being appointed to positions of ecclesiastical authority in the Church of Christ at a time when the former priesthood had already ceased, they were unable to fully adopt those customs and traditions that had once been held sacred.

The chief cause of this, as noted above, was that these hierarchs, being wholly unfamiliar with the ancient ecclesiastical practices, began to interpret and perform those church rites which are not clearly expressed in the Typikon, Euchologion, or Liturgikon—and which thus admit various interpretations—according to their own understanding, without consultation or conciliar decree. In doing so, they acted contrary to the established and centuries-old ordinances and customs. Moreover, they openly criticized and condemned everything done by the former priests.

Some of these hierarchs and clergy, even if born in piety, were—due to the circumstances of their secular occupations prior to being ordained—unable to thoroughly study the sacred rites of our worthy forefathers. And owing to this ignorance, they were innocently drawn into opposing opinions, thereby unwittingly working against the former order and ecclesiastical ordinance.

To these hierarchs were joined defenders and champions of innovations, some of whom, under the guise of correcting church practices, opposed the former order and attached far too great an importance to new customs. In this way, they stirred up displeasure and murmuring among the Orthodox faithful, forgetting that the Ancient Orthodox Church has always respected moderation in all things and followed the Typikon and customs sanctified by the ages—while driving far away those who stirred up general unrest and disorder.

Of such examples we shall point out but a few. On the eve of the Theophany of the Lord, the Typikon commands that illumination be given by the holy water only once, in the evening—yet the universal custom is to perform the Great Blessing of Water twice, in the evening and the morning. On the radiant night of Christ’s Resurrection and the third-day Pascha, the Typikon commands only a procession to the vestibule, yet the universal custom is a triple procession. Likewise, in the matter of incensing, the epistle of Hieromonk and Schema-monk Theodosius, the founder of the Vetka Church, deems both forms of incensing to be equally honorable: the cruciform incensing according to the Typikon and the thrice-repeated customary incensing.

But the above-mentioned zealots, not following the original church customs and not studying them precisely, dared to introduce of their own accord changes in the customs and ordinances of this Church, and reproached—even accused of heresy—the ancient clerical practices of the former priests. By such reproaches, they sowed distrust toward the clergy among Orthodox Christians, stirring murmuring and confusion.

Taking into account all the above and fearing the recurrence of such lamentable occurrences as have happened in times past, I consider it a sacred duty to present, for the consideration of the Council, before my ascent to the Episcopal Throne of the reigning city of Moscow, the following conditions—on the basis of which I, if it be pleasing to God, to His Most Holy Mother, and to this Holy Council, am willing to accept the difficult and great task of governing the All-Russian hierarchy:

Let a conciliar decree be made, that the Typikon and the ecclesiastical ordinances be carried out according to the rules of the Holy Fathers and local customs, as they were originally practiced in the Ancient Orthodox Vetka Church, the Irgiz monasteries, and at the Rogozhskoye Cemetery in Moscow—faithfully and without change; and as for those rubrics and ordinances that in the last decade have been altered by new priests or hierarchs, let them be corrected according to the ancient handwritten books, and let all former reproaches and accusations among Orthodox Christians cease forever.

Let the monastic rank observe the former custom of uncovering the head only with regard to the veil (the kukol or so-called kaptur) but never removing the kamilavka (monastic cap), except only for the reception of the Holy Mysteries, as commanded by the Holy Fathers (Great Typikon, folio 980).

Let it be required of the citizens of Moscow who confess the Ancient Orthodox Faith not to shave or trim their beards. Let neither men nor women wear German (i.e., Western European) dress without necessity, for Holy Scripture declares: “Let no one introduce new inventions in dress, but let him fear the dreadful judgment of God; for the prophet Zephaniah says: ‘I will punish all the princes and all the sons of Israel who are clothed in foreign apparel.’” All the more is it inappropriate to appear for prayer or blessings in such attire. Let the clergy also come in native Russian dress, and let women come with their heads covered, as Saint Paul the Apostle writes, Saint John Chrysostom commands, and as is instructed for women always to have their heads covered—by day, by night, and at every hour.

Let Orthodox Christians be exhorted not to teach their children to play on organ-like instruments, nor to dance or learn dancing, for this is strictly forbidden by the canons.

Let no Christian dare to indulge in the God-hating passions of smoking or sniffing tobacco, under threat of punishment and excommunication from the Church, as is clearly indicated in the decrees of former Orthodox Tsars.

Let it be a duty for Christians that gatherings held on Tuesday and Thursday—not being fasting days like Wednesday and Friday—not continue past midnight, and that no feasting take place after twelve o’clock, for at that hour Wednesday or Friday begins, during which faithful Christians are to fast. Therefore, no food, neither meat nor fasting food, should be consumed after midnight. Whoever transgresses this commandment openly defies the 69th Apostolic Canon and incurs ecclesiastical deposition and excommunication.

Let Orthodox Christians refrain from unnecessary eating and drinking with those of other faiths or unbelievers, and not go from their own homes to taverns for food or drink, for because of such wine-drinking the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

All the aforementioned rules, set forth in these seven points—if it is not your will, O God-loving bishops, reverent priests, and humble people of Moscow, to accept and precisely observe them—then I, the humble Bishop Athanasius, cannot ascend to so high an episcopal throne in Moscow, nor can I fulfill the conciliar request which compels me, against my desire, to become the shepherd and leader of the capital city of Moscow.

Humble Athanasius, Bishop of Saratov
August 25, 1861

In this petition, the desire of Bishop Athanasius concerning church rites and ordinances we, for our part, find to be right and lawful.

—Humble Anthony, Bishop of Vladimir
—Humble Vitaly, Bishop of the Urals

The opinions expressed in this petition by Bishop Athanasius concerning the rites and ordinances of our Ancient Orthodox Church we likewise find to be right and lawful.

—Humble Gennady, Bishop of Perm
—Humble Varlaam, Bishop of Balta
—Humble Paphnutius, Bishop of Kazan
—Humble Sophronius, Bishop of Simbirsk

The views expressed in this petition by His Grace Bishop Athanasius we, for our part, find to be right and lawful, and we commit to fulfilling them according to the decision of the Council.

—Priest Maksim Semyonov
—Priest Georgy Ioannov
—Priest Vasily Ioannov\

The petition of Bishop Athanasius was grounded in actual liturgical disorder, as confirmed by other historical sources. For example, parishioners of the Rogozhskoye Cemetery, after this petition, complained to the Holy Council about errors made in services by newly appointed and inexperienced priests—particularly in the rite of infant baptism, the order of censing during the liturgy, and the blessing of water—and asked the Council to establish uniformity in the performance of church rites and ceremonies.

The bishops and Moscow clergy, as seen in the above document, recognized the validity of Bishop Athanasius’s demands. However, the conflict within the Moscow Archdiocese was soon resolved, and Archbishop Anthony withdrew his request for resignation and continued to lead the All-Russian episcopacy. Thus, no further conciliar acts for filling the see were necessary.

Return to Cheremshan #

Shortly after the Council, Saint Athanasius returned to Cheremshan. He lived in strict secrecy at the newly established men’s skete at the Mamontov Spring, as previously described. The skete’s community consisted of five monks (the sixth, Father Vissarion, soon returned to the Turkish domains, where he became Bishop of Tulchin, later transferred to the see of Izmail). One of the monks—Father Serapion, distinguished among the brethren for his knowledge of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Holy Fathers—was appointed by the bishop as superior of the skete. In the makeshift tent-church used for divine services, Saint Athanasius first ordained Elder Serapion as deacon and later elevated him to the priesthood (as a hieromonk). Saint Serapion of Cheremshan became the bishop’s chief assistant in his episcopal labors. He would later be glorified for the incorruption of his relics and his miracles, and is now venerated in the Old Believer Church as a holy confessor and venerable one.

The skete at Mamontov Spring remained secret. Officially, its inhabitants were listed as orchard and mill workers. A hidden chapel was arranged in a wooden outbuilding, where a portable tent-church could be set up. This served as an altar, and it was within this “tabernacle” that priestly prayers during the Divine Liturgy were offered. Back when the Irgiz monasteries were being destroyed, Monk Athanasius had succeeded in concealing such a portable church from the authorities—originally brought from the renowned Old Believer community of Vetka at the end of the 18th century. It is likely that it was this very tabernacle from Vetka and Irgiz in which the first Liturgies at Cheremshan were celebrated—thus continuing the unseen spiritual lineage that united those persecuted Old Believers with their forebears…

A Noble Preacher #

Saint Athanasius had a most imposing appearance. His broad Volga-region face, with large features, was framed by long silver hair reaching past his shoulders and a dignified white beard.

As was customary at that time, the bishop served not in a sakkos but in a phelonion—for only the chief hierarchs, such as the Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa or the Archbishop of Moscow, wore the sakkos. Bishop Athanasius’s phelonion was polystaurion—its entire surface covered with four-pointed crosses. In antiquity, such vestments were awarded by patriarchs to the most esteemed bishops.

Whenever a solemn episcopal service was announced, secret messengers would bring word to the prominent Old Believers of Khvalynsk: “The bishop will serve at the Tolstikova estate!”—and dozens of townspeople would hasten to the sacred celebration.

The saint was deeply read in both the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers, and had a thorough knowledge of church canons. All who heard Bishop Athanasius preach regarded his sermons as brilliant in form and spiritually nourishing in substance.

In the Sunset of Life #

Years passed. The bishop’s health gradually declined, yet he continued to serve and oversee church matters.

On December 28, 1864, already gravely ill, the saint composed a “Spiritual Testimony” in which he confirmed that the late Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova, before her death, had bequeathed the garden and mill at Mamontov Spring (that is, in effect, the Old Believer skete where the bishop resided) to her niece, the merchant maiden Thekla Evdokimovna Tolstikova. The text of this document (in copy) is preserved in the archives of the Khvalynsk Regional Museum:

Testimony

It is proper to show care for all that is beneficial and necessary for the edification of the people and that which serves to the glory of the holy churches of God. The personal property of a bishop ought to be known to the presbyters and deacons around him.
Holy Apostles, Canon 40 (folio 24): Clergy are not to plunder it after his death. Fourth Ecumenical Council, Canon 22: Even a Metropolitan is not permitted to do so. Sixth Ecumenical Council, Canon 35: A bishop must have care over all churchly possessions and manage them as one accountable to God. Holy Apostles, Canon 38.

In the year 1861, on May 7, the Khvalynsk merchant maiden of the second guild, Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova, reposed by the will of God. Before her death she, by divine providence, made arrangements for the salvation of her soul in my presence—I, Athanasius, Bishop of Saratov, Simbirsk, Samara, and Astrakhan—and distributed her estate in the following manner:

1. She appointed her own niece, the Khvalynsk maiden Thekla Evdokimovna Tolstikova, as her executrix, entrusting the estate to her directly;

2. That Tolstikova would live in Mikhaylova’s house;

3. That the income generated from her estate would be used by Tolstikova, at her discretion, to care for the poor and elderly orphans, free of charge;

4. That she would invite priests and clergy to celebrate the Divine Liturgy regularly, or at her discretion, until her own old age or death, with the right to pass this authority to another person of her choosing after her death—with the condition that the income from the estate must not be removed or dispersed, and that all items belonging to it—furnishings, church objects, sacred vestments, holy icons, and books—remain intact and the Divine Services continue regularly at Tolstikova’s direction, with no accounting to anyone but God alone, to whom Tolstikova will give her just and faithful account, and so too will those who inherit this holy cause.

The estate of Anna Kuzminichna Mikhaylova on the Cheremshan River by the postal road consists of: two fruitful apple orchards with wooden houses and outbuildings, two flour mills with granaries and nearby cottages at the Mamontov Spring, a beekeeping operation with a fish pond and up to 70 hives and winter shelters. This estate is worth twenty thousand (20,000) silver rubles, which Tolstikova is not permitted to sell or mortgage, but only to transmit according to the terms above to future generations for pious and liturgical purposes, and for the care of the elderly and the orphaned.

In witness of this I sign below.

The humble Bishop Athanasius of Saratov, signed by his own hand.
December 28, 1864

This remarkable document describes the property that constituted the men’s skete at Cheremshan, which continued to exist until September 5, 1865, when all its inhabitants were suddenly arrested by the police during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The bishop was sought—but not found. The monks stated that their bishop had already passed away…

The Repose and Popular Veneration of the Saint #

Before his death, Saint Athanasius suffered long and severely. He had a “dangerous illness—dropsy.” Most likely, he was afflicted with cancer that had metastasized to the liver, which often leads to severe ascites—the buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity. The bishop’s sufferings were grievous. About two months before his repose, Bishop Athanasius ceased receiving visitors or participating in ecclesiastical affairs, devoting himself solely to prayer in his cell.

He peacefully departed unto the Lord on March 8, 1865, and, according to some sources, was buried at Lower Cheremshan, in the skete of Mother Pavolga.

The location of the departed bishop’s grave was kept secret by the Old Believers, fearing that the authorities might exhume and desecrate the body of the saint—as had happened to the relics of the Vetka elders in the 18th century, and as was attempted in 1837 with the relics of Venerable Job of Tagil. The Old Believers of Khvalynsk acted just as those in Tagil had done: they buried the hierarch in a hidden place. Only the most trustworthy individuals knew the location of the grave. Under strict secrecy, only to the most reliable people, were the miracles and healings at the holy grave ever revealed.

Old Believers not only in the Saratov region, but throughout Russia, held the departed bishop in deep reverence. According to the testimony of a New Rite missionary, “Hundreds of portraits of Athanasius circulate throughout Mother Russia, adorning Old Believer offices and bedrooms, where often the ustavshchiki gather and sing ‘Eternal Memory’ and Eis polla eti, despota to the venerable bishop. The portrait of Athanasius is so widespread among Old Believers, especially among his flock, that upon entering the house of an Old Believer, you are certain to see it—if not as a half-length oil painting, then at least as a photographic card, carefully preserved behind a frame, richly adorned, and placed in a prominent location” (Saratov Diocesan News, Saratov, 1876, no. 9, pp. 130–131).

The memory of this saint is kept on March 8 (according to the Church calendar), and also on the day of the Synaxis of All Saints of Cheremshan (on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Six Ecumenical Councils).

Troparion to Saint Athanasius — Tone 1

Putting to death the stirrings of the flesh,
thou didst desire to attain the angelic rank;
as a monk thou becamest a shepherd of monks,
a vicar of the apostolic throne,
and thou didst preserve the faith undefiled,
remaining faithful unto death,
and wast truly shown to be a namesake of immortality.
O holy hierarch Athanasius,
pray unto Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone 8

O adornment of Cheremshan
and fruitfulness of Irgiz,
a wondrous lamp hast thou appeared
in all the land of Rus’,
O holy hierarch Athanasius,
namesake of immortality.
Entreat the Immortal One, the only true God,
that we also may inherit life everlasting.

Ikos

Having ascended the height of the virtues,
and been joined to the most exalted choir of hierarchs,
thou didst appear as a true shepherd, O Athanasius,
laying down thy soul for the sheep,
guiding the faithful unto salvation,
providing for the poor, strengthening the weak.
Establish us, O hierarch, upon the paths of virtue,
and pray unto Christ God, who strengthened thee,
that we also may inherit life everlasting.

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