CHAPTER 30. Orthodox Palestinian Society “Palestine” - a Russian oasis. - People's canteen. – A cheap way of pilgrimage. – Russian women in Jerusalem. – Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. – Common areas. – Bathhouse for pilgrims. - Flaw

Orthodox Palestine Society and the Russian Spiritual Mission in Palestine Information on archeology came to Russia not only from private individuals, pilgrims and travelers, but also through government channels, as well as from religious organizations. The government has already

Example 7. The Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society held a round table in Nizhny Novgorod On June 15 in Nizhny Novgorod, in the Ascension Pechersky Monastery, a round table was held on the topic “I will not be silent for the sake of Zion and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not calm down. Russia on

(“Project V. N. Khitrovo”)

The second most important figure to whom we are most indebted for the strengthening and establishment of the Russian presence in the Holy Land and the Middle East must be recognized as the founder and de facto leader of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society V. N. Khitrovo.

V. N. Khitrovo was born on July 5, 1834. Having received an excellent education at the Alexander Lyceum, he entered the service of the State Control, then - the Commissariat Department of the Naval Ministry. Later he served in the Ministry of Finance, was involved in the organization of the first savings and loan partnerships in Russia and led them for 20 years.

But he found his true calling in Palestinian society - in the work of studying the Holy Land and educating the Orthodox Arabs of Palestine. At the same time, V.N. Khitrovo preferred to remain a modest worker, not making his responsible patriotic work a source of income or awards and honors.

A deep interest in the Holy Land manifested itself in the activities of V.N. Khitrovo long before the founding of the society. In the summer of 1871, he made his first - still half-tourist, half-pilgrimage - trip to Palestine. What he saw during this trip: both the difficult, helpless situation of Russian pilgrims, and the bleak state of the Orthodox Arab population of the Jerusalem Patriarchate - made such a strong impression on the quite prosperous St. Petersburg official that his entire spiritual world changed, his entire subsequent life was devoted to the matter of “strengthening his position Orthodoxy in the Middle East." After that first trip, he visited the Holy Land six more times, became close to Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin, in whom he found - in many, although not in all matters - a like-minded person and comrade-in-arms. Antonin's concrete experience and tireless work in creating Russian Palestine became a model and example for V.N. Khitrovo for all subsequent years 36.

The success of his project at the turn of the 80-90s was facilitated by many circumstances, both objective and subjective. Here, first of all, we should mention the rise of Orthodox patriotic consciousness in Russian society, associated with the Russian-Turkish liberation war of 1877–1878, when Russian troops almost reached Constantinople. The Eastern question and the Russian cause in the East acquired a completely new, victorious and offensive perspective.

Among the subjective, but no less important factors, it should be noted the appointment of the state-minded and Orthodox-minded K. P. Pobedonostsev as chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod in 1880 and the pilgrimage on May 21–31, 1881 to the Holy Land of the brothers of Alexander III, who ascended the throne of Grand Duke Sergei and Pavel Alexandrovich.

The latter fact was of fundamental dynastic significance. At one time, Emperor Alexander II told the first chairman of the Palestine Committee, Secretary of State Obolensky: “This is a matter of the heart for me.” The emperor remained faithful to this cordial attitude towards the Holy Land and the Russian presence in it all his life and bequeathed it to his successors Alexander III and Nicholas II. Empress Maria Alexandrovna also attached great importance to caring for Russian pilgrims, whose memory was worthily perpetuated by her sons in the Church of Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (1885-1888).

The Charter of the Orthodox Palestine Society was supremely approved on May 8, 1882, and on May 21, in the palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, in the presence of members of the imperial family, Russian and Greek clergy, scientists and diplomats, after a prayer service in the house church, its grand opening took place . The day was not chosen by chance. On this day the Church celebrates the memory of Saints Constantine and Helena. Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, did a lot for the Christian revival of Jerusalem and Palestine. She holds the honor of the first archaeological excavations in Jerusalem, the discovery of Golgotha ​​and the Cross of the Lord. In Rus', the summer construction season traditionally began with “Venin Day” (May 21).

The first pilgrimage of Sergei Alexandrovich with his brother and nephew, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (later a famous poet who published under the initials “K.R.”) to the Holy Land in 1881, was timed to the same date, as noted above. It was Grand Duke Sergei who in 1882, at the instigation of V.N. Khitrovo, became the founder and first chairman of the Orthodox Palestinian Society (it was awarded the imperial title a little later, in 1889).

The society was called upon, according to the charter, to carry out three main functions:

Organization and arrangement of Russian pilgrims in Palestine (by 1914, up to 10 thousand people passed through the farmsteads and hotels of the IOPS annually);

Help and support for Orthodoxy in the Middle East through charitable and educational work among the local Arab population. By 1914, the society maintained 113 schools, colleges, and teachers' seminaries in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. In its approach to this task, the society acted as the heir and continuer of the religious and educational initiatives of the RDM: let us remember the first schools and printing houses founded in Jerusalem by Archimandrite Porfiry; Let us also remember the Beit Jal school for girls, founded by Archimandrite Antonin in 1866 and transferred by him 20 years later to the management of the IOPS (in 1888 the school was transformed into a women's teachers' seminary);

Research and publishing work on the study of the historical destinies and current situation of Palestine and the entire Middle Eastern region, biblical philology and archaeology, the organization of scientific expeditions and excavations, and the promotion of knowledge about the Holy Land in Russian society. On the eve of the October Revolution, in order to expand the scope of scientific research and give it a targeted, systematic character, it was planned to create a Russian Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem after the end of the First World War, similar to the one that successfully functioned at the beginning of the century in Constantinople 37 .

Throughout its history, the society has enjoyed the august, and therefore direct, State attention and support. It was led successively by the above-mentioned Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (from the founding of the society until 1905), and after his death by the widow of the deceased, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, now canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

This ensured a high status and active both public and private funding for the IOPS. Suffice it to say that if on the day of the grand opening of the society on May 21, 1882, according to the recollections of V.N. Khitrovo, “its cash register was not only empty, but there was even a deficit of 50 rubles in it,” then in 1907 Emperor Nicholas II, in his highest rescript addressed to the Chairman of the Society, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, summed up the impressive results of the first 25 years of his work. “Now, having possessions in Palestine worth almost 2 million rubles, the IOPS has 8 farmsteads, where up to 10 thousand pilgrims find shelter, a hospital, 6 hospitals for incoming patients and 101 educational institutions with 10,400 students; Over the course of 25 years, he published 347 publications on Palestinian studies 38 .

Since 1893, departments of the Palestine Society began to open in many dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A large place in the life of diocesan departments was occupied by the preparation and conduct of palm collections - the main source of financing for the Palestinian Society. According to the calculations of the secretary of the IOPS, already mentioned above, V.N. Khitrovo, the company’s income had the following structure. “In every ruble of the parish: membership fees - 13 kopecks, donations - 70 kopecks. (including the willow tax), interest on securities - 4 kopecks, from the sale of publications - 1 kopeck, from pilgrims - 12 kopecks.” 39. It is obvious that the truly Russian cause in Palestine was carried out primarily with the selfless help of ordinary believers. Accordingly, the structure of the expenses of the IOPS (in percentage, or, as V.N. Khitrovo said, “in every ruble of expenditure”) was as follows: “for the maintenance of Orthodoxy (i.e., for the maintenance of Russian schools and hospitals in Syria and Palestine. - N.L.) - 32 kopecks, for benefits to pilgrims (for the maintenance of Russian farmsteads in Jerusalem, Jericho, etc. - N.L.) - 35 kopecks, for scientific publications and research - 8 kopecks, for collecting donations - 9 kopecks, for general expenses - 16 kopecks.” 40. In other words, the main expenses of the society were reduced, according to calculations by V.N. Khitrovo, “to 1 pilgrim and 1 student: each pilgrim cost 16 rubles in 1899/1900.” 18 kopecks, with the exception of those received from every 3 rubles. 80 kop. - 12 rub. 38 kopecks Each student of Russian Arab schools - 23 rubles. 21 kopecks.”

The estimate for the first year of the 20th century (1901/1902) was approved at 400 thousand rubles. (not counting one-time construction costs 41.

The educational work of the IOPS is still remembered among the Arab intelligentsia not only in Palestine, but also in Syria and Lebanon. Five public schools were established in Beirut with the assistance of the remarkable Russian teacher M.A. Cherkasova. In 1895, Patriarch Spyridon of Antioch turned to the IOPS with a request to take over a girls’ school in Damascus and several men’s schools, and then the society gradually spread its educational activities throughout almost all of Syria. The total number of Arab children studying in IOPS schools reached 11 thousand people. Unlike French or English schools, in which teaching was (and is now) conducted exclusively in European languages, in the schools and teachers' seminaries of the IOPS, teaching was carried out in Arabic. Of course, they also taught Russian language and literature. As British researcher Derek Hopwood writes, “the fact that the school was Russian and the Russian language was taught in it created a certain reputation and atmosphere for it. Knowledge of the Russian language was a source of pride." 42 But at the same time, familiarization with the Russian classics, with its recognized “all-humanity” and “all-responsiveness”, brought up on Pushkin and Dostoevsky, did not narrow, but expanded the mentality and spiritual horizons of students, making it easier for them to enter the space of world culture 43 .

The fate of Russian heritage in the Middle East in the 20th century
(“J.V. Stalin’s Project”)

The First World War and then 1917 radically changed the situation. Russia's ties with Palestine were severed for a long time. The Russian spiritual mission with its numerous sites, churches and monasteries, as well as schools, hospitals and farmsteads in the Holy Land, which belonged to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, were left without any support. Canonically, the mission, cut off from the Moscow Patriarchal Center, found itself subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which did a lot in subsequent decades to preserve the Russian Orthodox heritage in Jerusalem. Lands, buildings and property that belonged to both the IOPS and the RDM fell into the possession of the British colonial authorities in 1918, implementing the so-called League of Nations mandate for Palestine, legalized in 1922. It was the English authorities who introduced the practice of forced “rental” use of Russian property, the traditional religious “waqf”, - often without the sanction of the legal owners - for secular and commercial purposes.

However, it would be unfair to say that the new, Soviet Russia abandoned its Middle Eastern heritage. Despite the complexity of the situation, in the conditions of a tough ideological struggle and the Civil War, Palestinian society survived in Petrograd, although it gradually lost the former epithets “imperial” and even “Orthodox”. Now it was the Russian Palestinian Society as part of the Academy of Sciences. As soon as the Soviet State was recognized by European countries, attempts to protect Russian interests and property rights in Palestine were renewed. On May 18, 1923, the representative of the RSFSR in London L. B. Krasin sent a note to the British Foreign Secretary Marquis Curzon, which said: “The Russian government declares that all lands, hotels, hospitals, schools and other buildings, as well as everything else in general movable or immovable property of the Palestinian Society in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Kayfa, Beirut and other places in Palestine and Syria, or wherever it is located (meaning the St. Nicholas Metochion of the IOPS in Bari, in Italy. - N.L.) , is the property of the Russian State. The Russian government simultaneously confirms its similar rights to the property of the former Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, which was under the jurisdiction of the former Holy Synod and which, by virtue of this and in accordance with the decree of January 23, 1918 on the separation of Church and State, became the property of the Russian State. Finally, the Russian government states the same with regard to the movable and immovable property of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Palestine and Syria (consulate buildings, etc.).”

L. B. Krasin’s note, as well as the subsequent (in 1925) negotiations of Plenipotentiary Representative Rakovsky in London, had no effect. In the 1940s, when the USSR and Great Britain were allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, the situation, it would seem, was about to change. Even before the end of the war, on March 5, 1945, the USSR Ambassador in London handed a note to the British government with a reminder of the significant number of properties that belonged to the Russian Empire in Palestine (including both consular property and church property, and belonging to the IOPS), and a requirement to give instructions to the British To the High Commissioner of Palestine “on the transfer, as soon as possible, of all property, as well as the income received from its exploitation, to the jurisdiction of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Egypt.” Attached to the note was a “List of Russian property in Palestine,” which included 35 pieces of property. At the same time, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs discussed the need to open a Soviet consulate in Palestine.

Despite repeated reminders and a note dated September 17, 1945, the British, on the eve of the approaching Cold War, delayed the issue until the very end of the Mandate.

Then the proven channels of church diplomacy were again used. On April 10, 1945, the new Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I met with the Head of State I.V. Stalin. In May 1945, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The battle for Berlin continues with the ecclesiastical and diplomatic “battle for Jerusalem.”

Moreover. In 1946, a report by the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke of “new events of fundamental political significance.” Colonel G. G. Karpov, who heads the Council, as a real theologian (of course, under the dictation of Stalin) formulates: “As you know, the Russian Orthodox Church, which received independence (autocephaly) in 1448, occupies only fifth place among all the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of the world. Meanwhile, its relative importance in the Orthodox world and its recently increased authority (during the war years - N.L.) give grounds for its taking first place. The Pre-Conciliar Conference in Moscow of the heads or their representatives of all Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, authorized earlier by the government and scheduled by Patriarch Alexy for September 1947, has as its main goal the preparation of a convocation in 1948 (the 500th anniversary of the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church), which has not been convened for several years centuries of the Ecumenical Council to resolve the issue of conferring the title Ecumenical on the Moscow Patriarchate.”

From a historical and church-canonical point of view, the “Stalin project” seems to be a pure utopia, devoid of a future. But, oddly enough, it is rooted in an almost Byzantine past. The idea of ​​moving the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Moscow belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchs themselves. The Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II was the first to express it, offering himself (in 1588) to the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Rus'. In 1915, the issue was again on the agenda: the annexation of Constantinople seemed a done deal. The most radical model of the post-war system was proposed by the then well-known Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky): Constantinople should be left to the Greeks, fulfilling the dream of Catherine II to recreate the Greek Byzantine Empire, and Palestine and Syria should be annexed to Russia.

But neither Jerusalem, nor Constantinople, nor even more so Russia’s temporary coalition allies, either in 1915 or 1945, wanted such an outcome. And when the Pan-Orthodox Conference took place in Moscow in July 1948, Western diplomacy took its own measures so that neither the Patriarchs of Constantinople, nor Alexandria, nor Jerusalem would come to Moscow.

The creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 made its own adjustments. On May 20, 1948, I. L. Rabinovich was appointed “commissioner for Russian property in Israel,” who, according to him, from the very beginning “did everything possible to transfer it to the Soviet Union.” Immediately after the exchange of envoys, the Russian side took measures to revive the activities of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem. In a letter from the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.A. Zorin addressed to the Chairman of the Committee on Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR G.G. Karpov dated September 10, 1948, it was stated: “Taking into account the current situation in Jerusalem, the envoy Comrade Ershov introduced the following proposal: 1. Appoint and promptly send the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission from the Moscow Patriarchate, as well as a representative of the Russian Palestinian Society, giving them the appropriate legal powers and powers of attorney to accept and manage property.<…>2. In order to preserve the remaining archives of the Spiritual Mission and the Palestinian Society from possible destruction or theft, transfer all documents for safekeeping to the Anglo-Palestine Bank or take them under the protection of Jewish authorities to Tel Aviv for storage in our mission. The USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs agrees with Comrade Ershov’s proposals. I ask you to take the necessary measures...”

On October 14, 1948, J.V. Stalin signed an order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “to give consent to the Moscow Patriarchate to leave the USSR for the State of Israel for the permanent work of Archimandrite Leonid (Ilya Khristoforovich Lobachev) as the head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem and Vladimir Evgenievich Elkhovsky in as mission priest." On November 30, the appointed members of the mission were already in Jerusalem. In one of the first messages, Archimandrite Leonid said that “the church and buildings in Jerusalem, not to mention other places, are in disrepair and need repairs, which also need to be done to raise the authority of the Spiritual mission and the prestige of the Russian Church in Palestine. The income received from the tenants is insignificant, since the main part of the property in Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinian Society, and therefore it will not cover the expenses of the mission. With the receipt of the property of the Palestinian Society, the situation will change, not only will the expenses of both organizations be covered, but also significant amounts will flow into the revenues of the State.”

After the first Israeli-Arab war ended, the demarcation line between the territories of Israel and Jordan (under the terms of the truce) designated a different “space of destiny” for Russian churches and monasteries in the west and east of the country. Temples and sites that ended up on the territory of the State of Israel were returned to the ownership of the Soviet government.

As for the churches, monasteries and sites that remained in 1948 in the territories ceded to Jordan, they retained the subordination of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad - the Status quo, which did not change after the “six-day” war of 1967.

The modern activities of the RDM in Jerusalem, intense and fruitful, could become the topic of a separate study. For the anniversary of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity, the mission, now headed by Archimandrite Theodosius (Vasnev), took on enormous work to restore the churches and farmsteads that were part of it, and to build new hotels for the steadily increasing flow of pilgrims.

New opportunities have also emerged for Russia to return its original heritage. Several years ago, a large plot of land belonging to the IOPS in Jericho and registered in the name of the chairman of the society, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was returned to the Government of the Russian Federation. In 1997, by decision of the administration of the Palestinian Authority, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, during a visit to the Holy Land on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, was donated the Al-Atn site in Bethlehem as a gesture of goodwill. And a month later, in July 1997, news arrived that the Hebron site with the famous Mamvrian Oak, once acquired by Archimandrite Antonin and until recently under the jurisdiction of the Church Abroad, was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Finally, in January 2000, it was reported that another “Antoninsky” site in the already mentioned Jericho was transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Palestinian society also experienced periods of decline and revival in the 20th century. Resumption of its work in the early 1950s. was associated with changes in the situation in the Middle East. Then a new charter of the society was adopted, and the publication of the “Palestine Collection”, one of the most authoritative orientalist publications, was restored.

At the turn of the 1980-1990s, when its current chairman O. G. Peresypkin and scientific secretary V. A. Savushkin came to the society, a comprehensive renewal of the country’s public life made it possible to achieve the restoration of the main directions of the statutory activities of the society. In January 1990, a large international scientific symposium “Russia and Palestine: cultural and religious ties and contacts in the past, present and future” was organized, in which scientists from Arab countries, Israel, England, the USA, Germany and Canada took part. In the fall of the same year, members of the society were able to make a pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land for the first time to participate in the “Jerusalem Forum: Representatives of Three Religions for Peace in the Middle East.”

On May 22, 1992, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution to restore the historical name of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and recommended that the government take the necessary measures for the practical restoration and return of its property and rights to the IOPS. In accordance with the new charter adopted in 1992, which was as close as possible to the original one of 1882, the institution of honorary membership was restored in the IOPS. The Committee of Honorary Members is headed by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.

Over the past years, the society has been able to organize several dozen pilgrimage trips to the Holy Land, hold, together with the Department for External Church Relations, a number of scientific conferences, including those dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of Antonin Kapustin (1994), the 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem ( 1997) - in Moscow, Balamand (Lebanon), Nazareth (Israel). The 100th anniversary edition of the “Orthodox Palestinian Collection” is being prepared for release. IOPS branches are actively working in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, as well as in the CIS republics - in Odessa and Chisinau.

Some results

The main result of Russia's one and a half century work in the Holy Land is the creation and preservation of Russian Palestine. The scope of the article does not allow us to cover, at least in basic terms, the history of the temple-building activities of the RDM in the Holy Land.

But perhaps the most important thing, not taken into account by any numbers, is the spiritual contribution that is associated with tens of thousands of Russian Orthodox pilgrims going to the Holy Land. Their flow steadily increased throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. If under Archimandrite Porfiry, in the first years of the mission, there were three or four hundred Russians a year in Palestine, then in 1914, the last peaceful year before the First World War and the revolution, there were about 6 thousand of them in Jerusalem on Easter alone Human.

Historians to this day marvel at this experience of “dialogue of cultures” and “people’s diplomacy”, unprecedented in history in terms of mass and intensity. The envoys of the great Northern Empire, “Hadji-Moscow-Qods,” as they were called in the East, humbly learned to overcome ethnic, confessional and “autocephalous” exclusivity, cultivated in themselves, as Archimandrite Antonin liked to say, “tolerance, so necessary for those who decide to bring tribute and his grateful soul to the Holy Sepulcher, along with thousands of other aliens similar to him, often not similar to him in anything except one human image and a Christian name.”

Let us not forget that the heritage of Russian Palestine is a whole “library” of works and studies of a church-historical, biblical-philological, archaeological and Byzantological nature, carried out in different years by the heads and employees of the RDM, and scientists of the IOPS. It is enough to mention the multifaceted scientific heritage of Bishop Porfiry and the remarkable archaeological discoveries of Archimandrite Antonin.

We must also name here the historical and literary works associated with the publication of such outstanding series as “Palestinian Patericon” (issues 1–22; edited by Professor I.V. Pomyalovsky and Ac. V.V. Latyshev), “ Orthodox holidays in the Holy Land” by A. A. Dmitrievsky, as well as almost all ancient Russian “walkings” to the Holy Land, published in different years in “Orthodox Palestinian collections”.

It is difficult and responsible to try to formulate any “final” conclusions about the contemporary significance and prospects for the development of Russian Palestine on the threshold of the third millennium of Christianity. Let us note only two aspects.

Preservation and continuity of traditions and main directions of activity of the Russian Spiritual Mission and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society - despite the change of governments and regimes, under the Tsar, under Soviet power, under democratic Russia, on the one hand, and equally under the Turks, under the British, under the State Israel, on the other hand, involuntarily makes you wonder what the power of such succession is. It may seem strange to some, but the restoration of the Russian spiritual mission in the Holy Land as an institution of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1948, like its founding in 1847 by the sovereign will of Nicholas I, was again a matter of State policy. In a broader context, part of the same State policy was the first visit of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy (Simansky) to the Holy Land in the victorious May 1945, and Moscow’s attempt at the Meeting of Heads and Representatives of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in July 1948, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Russian autocephaly, to reassemble the Orthodox East, “like a bird gathers its chicks under its wing.”

Does this mean a revival - in new historical conditions, in a new social reality - of the former “Constantinople-Jerusalem” vector of Russian spiritual geopolitics? Precisely spiritual - not “imperial”, and not imperialistic. In any case, even if the leaders of Soviet foreign policy were not aware of this, it was still about the presence in the “center of the world”, in Jerusalem, of the Russian Church, and through it Orthodox Russia (even if it does not remember, in the statistical majority of its sinful children that she is Orthodox).

In other words, the “Constantinople-Jerusalem” component of Russian foreign policy in both 1948 and 1998 is almost exclusively spiritual, idealistic, selfless, and sacrificial in nature. The Holy Land still invisibly but powerfully “orients” - and stabilizes - Russia’s position in the “mad world” of economic, political, nationalist interests, global restructuring and local wars.

The “canonical experiment” also found new facets. Russian Palestine, not of its own free will, found itself divided throughout almost the 20th century between the so-called White (foreign) and Red (Moscow) jurisdictions within the Russian Orthodox Church itself. We believe that “heavy steel, crushing glass, forges damask steel”, that historical trials will culminate at the turn of the new millennium with the reunification of the “white”, “red” and other islands of a united Russian Palestine.

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Notes

1. Life and walking of Danil, Abbot of the Russian Land. 1106–1108 Ed. M. A. Venevitinova//Orthodox Palestinian collection. -T. I. - Vol. 3. - Book. 3. - St. Petersburg, 1883; T. III. - Vol. 3. - Book. 9. - St. Petersburg, 1885. The newest edition with a parallel modern Russian translation and comments by G. M. Prokhorov: Library of literature of Ancient Rus'. -T. 4. - XII century. - St. Petersburg, “Science”, 1997. - P. 26-117.
2. Kapterev N.F. The nature of Russia’s relations with the Orthodox East in the 16th and 17th centuries. - M., 1885. - 2nd ed. - M., 1914; Patriarch of Jerusalem Dosifei in his relations with the Russian government. - M., 1891; Relations between the Jerusalem patriarchs and the Russian government from the half of the 16th to the end of the 18th century. - St. Petersburg, 1895.
3. Ponomarev SI. Jerusalem and Palestine in Russian literature, science, painting and translations. Materials for bibliography. - St. Petersburg, 1877 (SORYAS, T. 17). - P. XVI.
4. Under the banner of Russia. Collection of archival documents. - M., 1992.
5. Kostomarov N.I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. - M„ 1992. - T. III. - Vol. 7. - P. 100.
6. Arsh G. L. Background of the Greek project//Century of Catherine I. Balkan affairs. - M., 2000. - P. 211.
7. Grigorovich N. Chancellor Prince Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko in connection with the events of his time. - St. Petersburg, 1879. - T. I. - P. 385. Quoted. from: The Age of Catherine II. Balkan affairs. - P. 212.
8. Vinogradov V.N. The most famous personal letter in history // The Age of Catherine II. Balkan affairs. - pp. 213–214.
9. Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society. - T. 13. - St. Petersburg. 1874. - P. 69. Compare: p. 132.
10. Bezobrazov P.V. On relations between Russia and Palestine in the 19th century. Historical sketch. 1. Emperor Alexander I and Patriarch Polycarp//Messages of the IOPS. - 1911. - T. XHP. - Vol. 1. - pp. 20–52.
11. Materials for the biography of Porfiry Uspensky. Ed. P. V. Bezobrazova. - T. 1. Official documents. - St. Petersburg, 1910. - P. 3.
12. This refers to the monastery of the Holy Life-Giving Cross near Jerusalem (now within the city), located on the place where, according to legend, the cypress tree from which the Calvary Cross of the Savior was made was cut down.
13. Muravyov A. N. Travel to Holy Places in 1830 - Part 1–2. - St. Petersburg, 1832; 2nd ed. - 1833; 3rd ed. - 1835; 4th ed. - 1840; 5th ed. - 1848. See also his: Letters from the East. - St. Petersburg, 1851. -S. 88–296.
14. Dmitrievsky A. A. Bishop Porfiry Uspensky as the initiator and organizer of the first Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem and his services for the benefit of Orthodoxy and in the study of the Christian East. - St. Petersburg, 1906; Materials for the biography of Bishop Porfiry Uspensky. - T. 1–2. - St. Petersburg, 1910.
15. Lisova N.N. Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem: history and spiritual heritage // Theological works - Collection. 35. To the 150th anniversary of the RDM in Jerusalem (1847-1997). - M., 1999. - P. 36–51.
16. In the letters of Archimandrite Porfiry Uspensky, the combination “Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem” is found already at the beginning of 1844 (Materials for the biography of Bishop Porfiry Uspensky. - T. 2. Correspondence. - St. Petersburg, 1910. - P. 129).
17. Materials for biography. - T. 1, - P. 18.
18. Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). History of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem. - Serpukhov, 1997.
19. For a detailed critical analysis of the preparation and results of the first stage of the RDM’s activities, see: V. N. Khitrovo, Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem (vol. 2 of this edition).
20. Khitrovo V.N. Orthodoxy in the Holy Land//PPS. - T. I. - Issue. 1. - St. Petersburg, 1881. - P. 55.
21. 1857–1861. Correspondence of Emperor Alexander II with Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. Diary of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. - M., 1994. - P. 97, etc.
22. Priest Theodore Titov. His Eminence Kirill Naumov, Bishop of Melitopol, former rector of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. Essay on the history of relations between Russia and the Orthodox East. - Kyiv, 1902.
23. Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin). Old Jerusalem and its surroundings. From the notes of a monk-pilgrim. - M., 1873. For other works, see: Priest Anatoly Prosvirnin. Works of Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin. (Bibliography) // Theological works - Sat. 9. - M., 1972.
24. A modern researcher rightly notes: “the conductors of Orthodox politics in the east were pilgrims, mostly “gray men and women,” very few publicists and ideologists (they can be counted on one hand), members of the royal family and... in general, Russian diplomacy . As K. N. Leontyev wrote, “our diplomacy was much more restrained and cautious in this matter, which is why it was more Orthodox than our journalism. Some of our diplomats, with a foreign name and even of the Protestant confession...were, rightly, much more Orthodox than they (Russian publicists) in reality” (Lurie St. Ideology and Geopolitical Action.
Vector of Russian cultural expansion: Balkans-Constantinople-Palestine-Ethiopia/Scientific almanac “Civilizations and Cultures”. -Vol. 3. Russia and the East: geopolitics and civilizational relations. - M., 1996. - P. 170). The author quotes K. N. Leontiev’s article “My Historical Fatalism” (from “Notes of a Hermit”): Leontiev K. N. East, Russia and the Slavs. - M., 1996. - P. 448.
25. Dmitrievsky A. A. Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (1882-1907). - St. Petersburg, 1907. - pp. 15–16.
26. Dmitrievsky A. A. Essay on the activities of Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin, the third head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem. See vol. 2 present. ed.
27. Dmitrievsky A. A. Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (1882-1907). - St. Petersburg, 1907. - P. 18.
28. Ibid. - P. 19.
29. Ibid. - pp. 19–20. Wed: Dmitrievsky A.A. In memory of B.P. Mansurov//Messages of the IOPS. - 1910. - T. XXI. - Vol. 3. - pp. 448–450.
30. Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Father Antonin Kapustin, archimandrite and head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem. - Belgrade, 1934. Reprint edition: M, 1997.
31. Dmitrievsky A. A. Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) as a figure for the benefit of Orthodoxy in the East, and in particular in Palestine. - IOPS messages. - 1904. -T. XV - Issue. 2. - P. 106.
32. Ponomarev S. D. In memory of the father of Archimandrite Antonin. 1. Chronological list of his works and translations. 2. Articles about him // Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. - 1894. - T. III. - pp. 636–652.
33. Dmitrievsky A. A. Russian Gornenskaya women’s community in the “city of Judah” near Jerusalem // IOPS. - 1916. - T. XXVII. - Vol. 1. - pp. 3–33. See also a very small but capacious, well-written and beautifully published book: Hegumen Seraphim (Melkonyan). Gornensky Convent in the Holy Land. - Ed. RDM in Jerusalem. - 1997.
34. Archimandrite Mark (Golovkov). Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem//Theological works. - Sat. 35. - M, 1999. - P. 32.
35. Lisova N. N. Cit. Op. P. 46.
36. Back in 1876, his book “A Week in Palestine” was published, dedicated to his impressions of his first trip to the Holy Land. (Second edition: St. Petersburg, 1879; 3rd, posthumous - St. Petersburg, 1912). It was followed by: “Palestine and Sinai. Part 1." (St. Petersburg, 1876), “Orthodoxy in the Holy Land,” which made up the 1st issue of the 1st volume of the “Orthodox Palestine Collection” (St. Petersburg, 1881), which he founded, “Excavations at the Russian site in Jerusalem” (St. Petersburg, 1884 ), “The scientific significance of excavations at the Russian site” (St. Petersburg.. 1885). The experiments in popular science presentation, intended for the widest, most unprepared reader, were also successful. We mean a very small, pocket-sized, but capacious, informative book “To the Life-Giving Holy Sepulcher. The Story of an Old Pilgrim" (St. Petersburg, 1884; in 1895 the 7th edition of this book was published), as well as several issues (or "readings") in the popular science series "Russian Pilgrims of the Holy Land" published by the IOPS (Reading 39 and 40. Jerusalem and its environs. - St. Petersburg, 1896, 1897; Reading 41. Bethlehem, Hebron. Mountain. - 1898; Reading 42. Jordan. - 1900. Reading 44. Laurels of Sava, Feodosia. - 1898).
37. Ryazhsky P.I. Issues related to the restoration of the activities of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society in the Holy Land after the end of the war with Turkey. (Petrograd, 1915. Stamped: Confidential).
38. Anniversary celebrations of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in Peterhof and St. Petersburg//Messages of the IOPS. - 1907. - T. XVIII. - Vol. 3–4. - pp. 398–399, 432–433.
39. General meeting of the IOPS April 8, 1901 // Communications of the IOPS. -1901. - T. XII. - Vol. 1. - P. 11.
40. Ibid. - P. 12.
41. Ibid. - P. 13.
42. Hopwood D. Russian educational activities in Palestine before 1914 // Orthodox Palestinian collection. - M., 1992. - Issue. 31 (94). - pp. 11–17.
43. Mahamed Omar. Literary and Cultural Relations between Palestine and Russia.- St. Petersburg, 1997.-P.34-69.

The annual general meeting of full members of the historical Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society took place in Munich. But before telling what it was dedicated to, a little about the society itself.

The goal is good, not personal gain

In 1859, by decree of Emperor Alexander II, “for the establishment of charitable and hospitable institutions in the Holy Land,” the Palestine Committee was established. Five years later, it was renamed the Palestine Commission, which, after some time, was closed, and all the lands and buildings belonging to it were transferred to the Orthodox Palestine Society, established on the basis of the Decree of Emperor Alexander III of May 8, 1882.

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was elected Chairman of the Society. Among the founders and members of the Board were seven representatives of the House of Romanov, the Governor General of Moscow, Prince V.A. Dolgorukov, Director of the Asian Department Count N.P. Ignatiev, orientalists, professors of theological academies, writers, historians.

On May 24, 1889, Tsar Nicholas II approved the assignment of the name “Imperial” to the Orthodox Palestinian Society.

By 1916, the Society consisted of 2,956 people. Its honorary members were the chairmen of the Council of Ministers S. Yu. Witte, P. A. Stolypin, V. N. Kokovtsev, chief prosecutors of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev, P. P. Izvolsky, V.K. Sabler, other politicians, as well as famous businessmen, writers, lawyers, scientists. Every year, the Society spent more than half a million gold rubles on charitable purposes alone. Subsidies for pilgrims (up to 12 thousand people per year), of whom 72 percent were peasants, for trips to holy places - Palestine and Mount Athos in Greece amounted to 35 percent of the cost of travel by rail to Odessa and further by steamship.

For pilgrims, special pilgrim caravans were formed, which were assigned Society guides and guards. These caravans took them to the shrines of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, the Judean Desert, Galilee, and the holy Jordan River. In the evenings, Palestinian readings were held for pilgrims, telling about the history of the Old Testament and the shrines they visited.

To receive pilgrims, the Society in Jerusalem is building special courtyards - Elizavetinskoye, Mariinsky, Sergievsky, Nikolaevsky, Alexandrovsky, Veniaminovsky, as well as the Russian Hospital. In addition, as part of a program to improve the life of pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem, a water sewer is being laid, which, by the way, is the first in Jerusalem.

The next important aspect of the Society’s activities is educational. By 1914, he had opened 102 rural and urban four-year schools in the Middle East, as well as female and male teachers' seminaries for the local population. Several generations of the Arab intelligentsia of the Middle East passed through Russian schools, which were financed by the Russian government in 1912 (150 thousand gold rubles were allocated annually).

At the same time, members of the Society were actively engaged in scientific and publishing activities, conducted archaeological excavations, organized and financed scientific expeditions.

An important detail. All real estate acquired by the Society in the Holy Land for religious and public needs, including temples, farmsteads and hospitals, could not, in accordance with the laws of the Ottoman Empire, be registered in the name of institutions, so it was registered as the property of private individuals. In particular, in the name of Prince Sergei Alexandrovich, who was the chairman of the board of the Company. And this subsequently helped save Orthodox real estate, which almost fell under the jurisdiction of the English and Turkish owners. Unfortunately, not for long, and not all of it, but more on that later.

“The Turks came and robbed, the British...”

The First World War, revolution, and civil war in Russia dealt a terrible blow to Orthodoxy in general and Orthodox missions in the Holy Land in particular.

Cleaning the walls of the courtyard

In December 1914, Turkish authorities requisitioned the property of the IOPS, closed the churches and ordered the Society's members and clergy to leave Jerusalem. Turkish soldiers were housed in farmsteads, shelters and monasteries. Storerooms and warehouses were looted, church utensils were partly stolen, partly desecrated. Monks, sisters of mercy and employees of the Orthodox mission were insulted, humiliated, and some were killed. Communication with Russia was interrupted. After the end of the war and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine came under the control of the British Empire. The Turks are being removed from the buildings belonging to the IOPS, but the majority are now housing the British.

Installation of unique stained glass windows

At the same time, on the ruins of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in Moscow, the Russian Palestine Society (RPO) arose at the Academy of Sciences, which took an openly godless position, while the other part of its members, by the will of fate, found themselves abroad, including in Palestine, retained their former name and loyalty old goals and ideals. It is important to note that the Soviet government, having categorically renounced the unacceptable definitions “imperial” and “Orthodox”, did not want to give up the property that belonged to the IOPS, repeatedly trying to give it the official status of “state”.

Installing new shutters on windows

On April 28, 1948, it seemed that these Kremlin claims to “imperial-Orthodox” property were finally put to rest. It was on this day that the Decree of the British High Commissioner, who governed Palestine under the mandate of the League of Nations from 1922 to May 15, 1948, was promulgated on the administration of the property of the Palestine Society and the establishment of the Bureau of Administrators. Thus, after decades of red tape and ordeals, the right of the Society, at that moment headed by Prince Kirill Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, to all possessions in the Holy Land was officially recognized and confirmed. However, the first Arab-Israeli war of 1947-49 between the Jewish population of Palestine, and subsequently the newly created state of Israel and the armies of neighboring Arab states and irregular Arab military formations redrawn not only the geographical map, but also the property one.

On May 14, 1948, the USSR was one of the first to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and six days later a “commissioner for Russian property” in Israel, I.L., was appointed. Rabinovich.

On September 10 of the same year, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.A. Zorin in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Committee on Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR G.G. Karpov (by the way, who had the rank of major general of the NKGB) wrote: “Taking into account the current situation in Jerusalem, envoy Comrade Ershov made the following proposal: Appoint and soon send the head of the Russian spiritual mission from the Moscow Patriarchate, as well as a representative of the Russian Palestinian society, by issuing them with the appropriate legal powers and powers of attorney...” And soon the socialist government of Israel, among its first decrees, decided to “recognize all the buildings and lands of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and the Russian Spiritual Mission in the Holy Land” located on its territory as the property of the USSR.

This is what the house church of St. Alexander Nevsky looks like now

This “transfer of property” to representatives personally appointed by Comrade. Stalin, according to the recollections of clergy, sisters and laity who were in Jerusalem at that moment, “was sometimes of an unnecessarily cruel nature.” But not all the property of the IOPS and RDM was then transferred to the USSR, in particular the buildings located in the Old City and East Jerusalem, which went to Jordan after the Arab-Israeli war. Among them is the Alexander Metochion, located 80 meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and including the Threshold of the Gate of Judgment, the house church of St. Alexander Nevsky, a small museum and other attractions. Looking at it today, it is difficult to imagine that ten years ago some of the buildings in the courtyard more closely resembled ruins. But thanks to donations, primarily from Orthodox Christians living outside Russia, and the perseverance and hard work of the members of the IOPS, it has been revived, welcomes pilgrims, church services are held here, and archaeological excavations are conducted.

Stained glass windows of the Alexander Metochion after restoration

Well, as for the “property returned by Israel to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1948,” the actual owners of which, and this should be especially noted, were private individuals, public and church organizations, in 1964 it was sold ... to Israel for 4.5 million . US dollars under the so-called “Orange deal”. Officially, this act, inspired by N. S. Khrushchev (First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers) was called Agreement No. 593 “On the sale by the government of the Soviet Union of property belonging to the USSR to the government of the State of Israel.” During this atheistic action, the buildings of the Russian Consulate General, the Russian Hospital, the Mariinsky, Elizavetinsky, Nikolaevsky, Venyaminovsky metochions in Jerusalem, as well as a number of buildings and land plots in Haifa, Nazareth, Afula, Ein Karem and Kafr Kanna (a total of 22 objects with a total area about 167 thousand square meters) were actually exchanged for oranges and textiles.

Entrance to the Alexander Compound

“Both you and they, let me remind you, are Orthodox”

After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian government began to challenge the legality of this deal, claiming that the Soviet Union was not the legal owner of the farmsteads. On May 22, 1992, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation renamed the Russian Palestine Society, which existed under the USSR Academy of Sciences, into the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, despite the fact that the Society with that name had existed for a long time. This “remake” was headed by the former head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Nikolai Stepashin. This is what, according to the official Kremlin, is the “legal owner of all Russian real estate in the Holy Land,” which was illegally sold to Israel by “the God-fighter Nikita.” However, Nikita Sergeevich, as we know, not only exchanged Jerusalem real estate for citrus fruits, but also transferred Crimea to Ukraine, so what? Should we hold another “referendum”, now in Jerusalem? Or maybe try to establish relations with people who have preserved and continue to preserve the pearl of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land, especially since both you and they, let me remind you, are Orthodox?

However, this is the topic of another article and more than one, especially since the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, which has recently had the prefix “historical”, is not to be confused with Stepashin’s, despite wars and global cataclysms, as it was, so it is. And it didn’t sell anything to anyone, including the Alexander Compound.

I, taking this opportunity, will name those who headed the Society during, perhaps, the most difficult period of its existence (starting from 1917), when Orthodox Russia and the Sovereign Emperor passed away, when it, like all Russian monasteries, the churches lost help and support, both sovereign and financial, when it seemed there was no longer any strength to resist the onslaught of atheists and provocateurs. I will name not only their names, but also their places of residence, which, in light of the events unfolding around the Alexander Metochion, is important. So, this is Prince Alexei Shirinsky-Shikhmatov (Sèvres/Paris), Anatoly Neratov (Villejuif/France), Sergei Botkin (Saint-Briac/France), Sergei Voeikov (Paris), Prince Kirill Shirinsky-Shikhmatov (Chelles, France), Nikolai Pashenny (Paris), Mikhail Khripunov (Jerusalem), Bishop Anthony (Grabe) (New York), Olga Wahbe (Bethlehem). Since May 2004, the historical IOPS has been headed by Nikolai Vorontsov (Munich).

Well, before announcing the new composition of the board of the historical Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, elected at the last general meeting of its members, I will note that there is enough slander and fables about its activities in the yellow press. Don't believe it. Not a single word. It’s better to cross the threshold of the Alexander Metochion in Jerusalem once, and you will see everything with your own eyes and feel it with your heart.

So, the new composition of the board of the historical IOPS: Nikolai Vorontsov, (Munich), Sergei Wilhelm (Bonn), Elena Khalatyan (Kiev), Ekaterina Sharai (Kiev), Vladimir Alekseev (Moscow), Evgeniy Uglyay (Nikolaev), Sergei Grinchuk (Munich) . Reserve members of the board (in case one of the main members of the board is unable to fulfill their duties) Ksenia Rahr-Zabelich (Munich), Vladimir Artyukh (Kyiv) and Galina Roketskaya (Moscow).

There is an amazing connection between house number 3 on Zabelina Street, the Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent in Moscow and the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, on the slope of the Mount of Olives in Gethsemane, a small Orthodox church attracts attention, its domes shine brightly in the Middle Eastern sun among the greenery of the Gardens of Gethsemane.

This is the Church of Mary Magdalene, consecrated in 1888 in honor of the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, née Princess of Hesse, who died in 1880.

The temple was built by the Russian Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), created in 1882, for which a plot of land was purchased. The first chairman of the society was Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the son of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Nowadays, the IOPS has been recreated and registered in Moscow in house No. 3 on Zabelina Street.

The society was created to popularize Orthodoxy in the countries of the Middle East and organize Orthodox pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

In Palestine, Syria, and Libya, schools were created in which Russian was taught along with general education subjects.

Compounds were opened to receive pilgrims, where you could get one free lunch and leave your belongings in a storage room. At the farmsteads there were hospitals and shops with products and souvenirs cheaper than in the city.

Pilgrims traveled to the Holy Land by sea from Odessa to Jaffa, and a ticket on the ship cost forty percent less than for ordinary passengers.

The consecration of the Church of Mary Magdalene was attended by the grand dukes, members of the imperial family, including Sergei Alexandrovich’s wife, Elizaveta Feodorovna, as well as his mother, the Hessian princess. At the solemn ceremony, she bequeathed to be buried in this temple.

After the death of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Governor General of Moscow, at the hands of the terrorist Kalyaev in 1905, his wife Elizaveta Fedorovna became the chairman of the Imperial Society.

In 1909, using her own funds, having sold valuables and jewelry, Elizaveta Fedorovna founded a monastery in Moscow on Bolshaya Ordynka, and she became its abbess. Elizaveta Fedorovna dedicated her life to mercy and helping the disadvantaged. The church at the hospital opened in the monastery was consecrated in honor of the myrrh-bearing wives Martha and Mary.

In addition to the hospital, the monastery operated a school and a free canteen for low-income people.

During the First World War, a hospital was organized in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.

In 1912, the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in the monastery according to the design of A.V. Shchusev.

In 1917, the threat of reprisals hung over the abbess of the monastery because of her German origin; her good deeds were not taken into account. She repeatedly received offers from the British government to leave the country. Elizabeth Feodorovna was the granddaughter of the British queen, but she rejected all offers, deciding to share the fate of her new homeland.

In 1918, Elizaveta Feodorovna was arrested and taken with other members of the imperial family to Alapaevsk. There those arrested were executed by being thrown alive into an abandoned mine.

The bodies of the dead White Guards were lifted from the mine and taken to China. In 1921, following the will of the Grand Duchess, her remains were transported to Jerusalem and buried in the Church of Mary Magdalene.

Currently, there is a female Orthodox monastery in Gethsemane, founded in 1934.

The Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent was closed during the Soviet period, a club and a cinema were opened in the Intercession Church, and a sculpture of Stalin was installed in the altar.

Currently, the monastery has been revived, services have been resumed in the temple.

In 1992, Elizaveta Fedorovna was canonized as a holy martyr.

The modern IOPS, with the help of the Russian and Israeli governments, is trying to return the farmsteads in Jerusalem and this activity is bringing encouraging results.

The propaganda of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land continues.

Yuri Trifonov