Donetsk Republic, Donetsk Republic settlement, Olkhovatka settlement. The new landscape park of the DPR Olkhovatka: the Old Believer three-hundred-year-old community, two temples, a healing spring

The group was headed by the rector of the Pokrovsky Old Believer Church in the city of Rzhev, Archpriest Evgeny Chunin.

The trip was attended by Protodeacon of the Church of the Intercession in the city of Rzhev, John Chunin, and parishioners of the Rzhev Church, parishioners of the Old Believer Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity of the Ligovskaya community in St. Petersburg, Konstantin Lezgin and Artemy Dedov,

a parishioner of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Barnaul Elena Tonkikh, as well as the head of the Information Service of the Eurasian Youth Union (ESM) Natalia Makeeva.

At the moment, the delegation has safely returned to the territory of the Russian Federation, the staff correspondent of Eurasia specified.

We provide a photo report and duplicate the previous article about this amazing place where prayer helped save people's lives.

The story of how KP journalists took mother and son, Old Believers, out of the war zone

In the village, standing on the border of the Debaltsevo cauldron, then terrible battles began. All the residents left long ago, and the mother and son remained right on the front line. And this is not a metaphor. The refugees turned out to be Old Believers, and the community learned about this story:

Dmitry and Alexander, good health! My name is Viktor Monogarov, I have long wanted to write to you. Nikishino is originally a farm, called Olkhovatsky yards and founded by people from the Old Believer village of Olkhovatka, eight kilometers from Nikishino. This is a large Old Believer Cossack district (Olkhovatka, Nikishino, Kruglik, Gorodishche and partly Fashchevka) with four churches and three monasteries…

A large community of Russian Old Believers lives in the center of the former Debaltsevo cauldron.Photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN

Viktor Monogarov wrote to us that during all the months of the occupation, prayer did not stop in the church for a minute. That their father, with his Russian passport, did not run away, but remained with his flock, although he was threatened more than once. And Victor also said that a miracle was revealed to him - hundreds of shells fell on Olkhovatka, but no one died, no one was injured, not a single house was destroyed. And there is an explanation for this miracle ...

During the February events, Olkhovatka was in the very inferno of the Debaltsevo cauldron. Her fate could become as tragic as the torment of the village of Nikishino, which was almost completely demolished by artillery. With a cutting blow, the militia divided the huge grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into two parts. One remained in Debaltsevo, the other - in Olkhovatka.

Explanatory infographics from the articles of Komsomolskaya Pravda

It was assumed and stated more than once that the Ukrainian troops would cling to this bridgehead with a sharp cone crashing into the territory of the DPR. No one thought that the brave "cyborgs" would simply run away, leaving their dogs and their flashlights in the dugouts. The fact that these are not just points on the maps and the names in the reports can only be understood by driving a car. These are vast territories with fertile arable land, a unique natural landscape, coal mines ... The road is broken up so that the terminals from the battery of our car fly off from shaking.

Olkhovatka is really not very similar to the front-line villages, which we have seen enough of. There are no riddled fences, no chimneys amid heaps of garbage, there are entire schools and sown fields, without pockmarks from mortar explosions. We drive up to the church, which stands on the Bulavin River. We are already waiting. It is not customary to watch TV among the Old Believers. But they use the Internet - everyone decides for himself what is sin. And they followed the events on the fronts, among other things, from the reports of Komsomolskaya Pravda journalists. Members of the community from Gorodishche and Chernukhino came to meet the reporters.

Father Alexander immediately explains his political position:

- They gave power to murderers, rapists, seditious... The blood that is shed in Ukraine is the merit of Yanukovych. After the coffin of life will not be washed away. He handed over power to Bandera and all this bastards. He let go and left. Have you seen what the Kamensky state farm has been turned into? And Chernukhino? And we have not yet seen everything, we were in the blockade, in the occupation.

Father Alexander: “The blood that is shed in Ukraine is the merit of Yanukovych.” Photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN

The community did not accept the new-old government, and no one met the Armed Forces of Ukraine with bread and salt in the summer. That's why we ask:

- Did the Ukrainian military offend you here?

- No, you can't say that. We probably got good Bandera. But in Redkodubye five people were killed, in Nikishino 12 people, and nobody was us.

They also remember:

“They planted mines everywhere. They are asked: “Boys, who is going to clear all this? And they say - your children!

“There were Poltava soldiers here,” the women tell us, all in white headscarves. - Undressed, undressed, in rubber slippers went in the winter. They stood here along our streets and from here they beat at Kirovsk, Yenakiyevo, they got to Shakhtersk, to Chernukhino. You look - rockets flew to Nikishino, then to Kamenka.

“They also attacked us from positions between Olkhovatka and Debaltseve,” says parishioner Sergei. - The men went to the Ukrainian artillerymen, they said to them: “What are you doing? There are no terrorists, separatists here.” And they were told: “High they know how to run around in referendums and call Putin.” They have such prevention. In Olkhovatka, I counted, 100 shells exploded. And we have virtually no destruction!

The Old Believer community calls it God's providence. This is exactly what Viktor Monogarov, a former Navy officer, wrote to us about:

In 2010, we put up three worship crosses in memory of fellow countrymen who died in all wars. The village was fenced on three sides, but on the fourth side - in Nikishino (historically we are a single whole) - something interfered with everything. And after all the hostilities in the village, not a single person died! Involuntarily, in addition to unequivocally God's help, you will remember Simonov: “Shielding the living with the cross of your hands ...” Even the Ukrainian military (and there are different people among them, you know) were amazed at this in conversations with the locals ...

Victor's mother Tatyana Alexandrovna, the chairman of the church council, leads us through the churchyard.

– We had a church on this place until the 30s of the last century. But it was destroyed, and the priest continued to fulfill the requirements. Someone reported that the priest was praying. In 1937, on July 8, he was arrested, taken to Artemovsk, and on August 12 he was shot. Since those years, we have not had priests, only visits. And now there is Father Alexander. He is from Nizhny Novgorod, with a Russian passport, he could easily leave for his homeland. But he spent the entire occupation here. There was an opportunity to take him out by partisan paths at night. And he says: “As we prayed here, so we will pray.” I say, and if they start to crush us here ... And he answers: “We are Old Believers, he says, we will go into the church, set fire to it and burn ourselves.” So after all, there was one who wanted to hand over the priest, my former student. I hit him so hard! Saved the priest.

It is generally accepted that the Old Believers are very reluctant and rarely let "Nikonians" into their temples and chapels. This is not so, we have seen it several times. Although the pain and resentment from the schism is alive, just as the ancient Orthodox Church is alive. God has already provided for and allowed it, and you can try to guess - why? It is possible that in the endless comparison of the canonical and the "renewed" we think, penetrating deep into thought, not slipping on the surface of memorized prayers. To look back more often, to our past, trying to understand our ancestors, unconsciously identifying ourselves with them, remembering where we, the current ones, came to the 21st century, from what depths of history we came.

And this Old Believer Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was rebuilt on a foundation that is four hundred years old. And the river Bulavin goes around it, so named in honor of the old uprising of the Cossacks-Old Believers led by atamans Bulavin and Nekrasov. Here, in this place, prayer has not been interrupted for four hundred years. When the church was burned down and Staroverovskaya Street was named Kalinin Street, people prayed in their homes.

The Old Believer Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was rebuilt on a foundation that is four hundred years old. Photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN

The temple is modest and poor in decoration. But the icons are ancient, prayerful. They explain to us that it is not customary to venerate any icon you want. Candles made of pure wax, how much they cost - only God knows how much you can give. It is especially emphasized: "This is a temple, not a supermarket!". Services are long, and the temple itself is clearly divided into two halves - female and male. The altar, the gates and the iconostasis are of an old letter, from an old church. They were broken during the atheist campaign, they were going to take them out along with the rest of the temple utensils, but one of their parishioners got atheist activists drunk and hid the gates. The amazing thing about this story is that the woman did not have hands from birth.

You can believe it, you can not, but the gate is in front of us, in its place, despite all the wars and persecutions. A trace of the last war also remained here - cracks on the ceiling of the temple. The ground shook violently from falling shells, the air pumped, but not a single fragment of the temple touched.

Tatyana Alexandrovna, chairman of the church council, a history teacher at a local school, shows us faded black-and-white photographs of the martyr Father Fyodor. A certificate from the SBU about his conviction and execution, a clipping from a 1910 magazine with a drawing of the church that was later destroyed, and old photographs of parishioners. And we understand that the people standing around us look the same as their ancestors a hundred years ago...

Not a single fragment of this temple touched. Photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN

One of the three installed worship crosses rises on a long rocky ridge passing over Olkhovatka. This is the so-called "Donetsk Ridge". From here, Debaltseve, Yenakiyevo, and Horlivka are in full view... During the fighting, Ukrainian spotters were probably stationed here, a painfully advantageous position. A hurricane wind tears white scarves on the heads of women, Father Alexander reads a prayer. The flock is baptized with two fingers.

“We have never been conquered, but we have been liberated twice,” the priest sighs into his gray beard. - During the Great Patriotic War, the front stood here for three years, 418 of our soldiers died here ...

One of the three installed worship crosses rises on a long rocky ridge passing over Olkhovatka Photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN

“But we still have our grandfather’s passport,” Sergey suddenly tells us. - Issued in 1916. There it is written in such a beautiful script: "The territory of the Don Army." Everything! And these freaks are coming here for a united Ukraine. And she was never here. And we were and are.

Authors of text and photo: Alexander KOTS, Dmitry STESHIN, Komsomolskaya Pravda .
How an island of the old Russian world survived in the Debaltsevo boiler

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Taking this opportunity, we want to recall the important events that took place on Rogozhsky during several months of 2014, when fierce battles took place on the border between Russia and Ukraine, in which Orthodox soldiers died.

Reposting my very first post about Olkhovatka from 2014 with updates.

Well, friends, everyone writes about Ukraine, well, I’ll write it off a little ... or rather, taperich is no longer Ukraine, but about the Old Believers in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Christians pray for all people on Earth, but for their brothers of the same faith, especially ... eheheh, I feel they will be there for a long time.
Olkhovatka is located, 110 km southeast of Slavyansk, on the Bulavinka River (I don’t know if it’s in honor of Ataman Bulavin?) The first written mention of the first inhabitants of Olkhovatka and its founders, the Old Believers, was about 300 years ago (anniversary is coming soon). There is confirmed data that they were originally from Moscow and the Moscow region, MOSCOW however))). In Peter's times, the people fled to the outskirts of the empire both from religious persecution and from financial bondage (the Old Believers paid a double tax - "dualism" and a tax on a beard), all the more - "There is no extradition from the Don."
According to the 1778 census, the population of Olkhovatka was about 180 male souls and three monks, women and children were not counted. The second wave of Old Believer settlers came in the 18th century from Starodubye, the current Chernihiv region. First of all, the settlers built a chapel. In the 19th century, a small convent arose.

A new round of persecution of Old Orthodoxy began under Nicholas I. So, in the presence of a church, it was forbidden to hold services with a priest. Despite this, at the risk of ending up in prison, priests from other places secretly came to the Olkhovatskaya church to perform services and church sacraments. In 1860, a delegation headed by a local resident Yemelyan Bezchastny went to St. Petersburg. The Olkhovatians managed to obtain an audience with Emperor Alexander II, after which, by the royal commandment in the Olkhovatsk Old Orthodox Church, they allowed the service of their priest, who became Emelyan (Emilian) Bezschastny. In the 80s of the 19th century, charitable merchants allocated funds for the construction of a new church. It was built entirely of oak.

Prosperous olkhovattsy.

In 1905, Nicholas II signed a decree on the foundations of religious tolerance, thanks to which the Old Believers received equal rights with the rest of the citizens of Russia, and the short period until 1917 was called the "golden decade of the Old Believers." In Olkhovatka, during these years, the church was rebuilt, a bell tower was erected, and a church school was opened. The church community numbered more than 2,700 people, only the church choir consisted of 60 singers. After Father Emelian passed away in 1910, his grandson Fedor became the rector of the community.

Father Fedor and members of the church council

Church choir.

Ryzhikov

1915

Children's Church Choir

Under Soviet rule, the temple and the monastery were closed in the early 30s. But Father Fyodor was already conducting services at home. In 1937 he was arrested and shot a few days later. At the same time, the bell tower was destroyed, the bells were thrown down, the church building itself was dismantled during the war years.
In 1945, the community was allowed to hold services in the former church house, where they went on for more than forty years. The house was given to the community for a prayer room - grandmother Alena, although she herself had nowhere to live.
Father Pavel with readers. Late 40s.

At the end of the 1980s, on the same spot where the old temple stood, the construction of a new church began. It was built by the whole world - money was contributed not only by the inhabitants of Olkhovatka, but also by Old Believers from many places in the Donetsk region. Under the stone foundation they found a silver censer and a spoon for communion. And grandmother Alena handed over the royal gates, saved from the destroyed church.
Archbishop of Kiev and All Ukraine Savvaty (1993-2016).
Against the background of Olkhovatka, several five-story buildings and the Olkhovatskaya mine are visible.

In 1995, the new temple was consecrated, but until recently it did not have its own priest. In 2013, the Olkhovatskaya church had its own rector - the holy monk Sila.

to Trinity.

Now, for the entire period of the war in the Donbass, Father Alexander Karabanov is serving.

Olkhovatka- an urban-type settlement, located on the banks of the Bulavina and Olkhovatka rivers, 20 km from Enakievo and 10 km from the Nikishino railway station. Settlements Veselaya Dolina, Danilov, Ilyinka, Kamenka, Redkodub are subordinated to the Village Council.
Located: Donetsk region, Enakievo.

emergence Olkhovatki belongs to the first half of the 18th century. Fugitive peasants from Central Russia settled here. The main occupation of the population was agriculture, and only after the construction of the Petrovsky (now Enakievsky) metallurgical plant, most of the inhabitants of the village joined the ranks of the working class.

The emergence of Olkhovatka dates back to 1720. The current territory occupied by the village was a remote outskirts of Russia and a border area with the Turkish Empire, there were no settlements here then.

During the reign of Peter I, the persecution of the Old Believers intensified; those who did not recognize the church reforms carried out in the middle of the 17th century by Patriarch Nikon. Fleeing from persecution, the Old Believers fled to remote, uninhabited places in the country. So a group of Old Believer families ended up in our area and settled here. The village is located on the banks of the Bulavin River, where a lot of alder grew, hence its name - Olkhovatka. The second version of the name is associated with immigrants from the Kursk province, who settled in our area. Their native settlement was called Olkhovatka.

From the first settlers of Olkhovatka until the 30s of the XX century, the main occupation of the inhabitants was agriculture and the development of home crafts.

During Tsarist Russia, all agricultural land of Olkhovatka was located on state, i.e., state lands, therefore, the village did not know either serfdom or landownership. By the beginning of the 20th century, Olkhovatka was a volost village with a thousand households.

In February 1918, Soviet power was established in Olkhovatka, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies was created, headed by the Red Guard M. E. Krapivin.

In 1929-1930, the Kharkiv geological expedition discovered coal deposits in Olkhovatka. During the years of the first five-year plans, several small mines were built, most of the male population of the village began to work for them.

In 1938, Olkhovatka was transformed from a volost village into an urban-type settlement.

From November 11, 1941 to July 10, 1942, the line of the Soviet-German front passed around Olkhovatka, and defensive battles took place on the fields of the village for 9 months, which were an integral part of the Donbass defensive operation. During the occupation of the village by the Nazi invaders, a partisan detachment led by P. M. Kompaniets operated here. The partisans carried out a series of sabotage against the enemy, on the instructions of the command of the 18th Army, they obtained intelligence data. From July 1942 to September 3, 1943 Olkhovatka was under German occupation. After her release, the work of the mines and the collective farm was restored. In the second half of the 20th century, from the first post-war years to the end of the 80s, construction was actively going on in this area: a road, public and individual housing, social and cultural facilities were built. After that, the territory of the village greatly expanded and improved.

1800 residents of the village fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, 1517 of them were awarded military decorations, 418 died a heroic death on the battlefields. In the center of the village stands a monument to the soldiers who died defending Olkhovatka.

The Olkhovatskaya mine is located in the village. For success in the social competition in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, its team was awarded a Certificate of Honor from the Ministry of the Coal Industry of the Ukrainian SSR and the Presidium of the Republican Committee of the Trade Union of Workers of the Coal Industry.

For labor achievements in the development of the national economy, 249 workers of the village were awarded orders and medals - the Order of Lenin:

slaughterer I. I. Osyk,
miner V. A. Volossky,
miner A. F. Sventsitsky,
miner A. D. Sheremet,
director of the mine A. P. Yarovoy;

Order of the October Revolution:

slaughterer P.V. Egelsky.

In 1966, the miner G.E. Savchenko was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

In the 70s, new geological studies were carried out, during which new coal reserves were discovered, allowing it to be mined over the next 180 to 300 years.

In Olkhovatka work:

school,
club,
two libraries
children's plant,
Postal office,
savings bank.

Since 1980, the local history museum of a wide profile has been operating in secondary school No. 40 (the museum of the history of the village of Olkhovatka, the museum-diorama, the museum of military glory, the museum of the school and the art gallery). The school group "Search" is actively working. For several decades, school students have been bit by bit collecting material on the history of their small homeland. Meetings with veterans of the Second World War, with participants in the liberation of Olkhovatka are traditional, and correspondence with them is maintained. Holy places are the monuments in the center of the villages of Olkhovatka and Ilyinka: two monuments to those who died during the Second World War and one monument - the Memorial to the fallen soldiers - fellow villagers. The monuments are kept in good condition. Residents of the villages are sacred to the memory of their ancestors and maintain order at all seven cemeteries.

On the territory of the village of Olkhovatka, two parishes are registered and operate:

St. Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow diocese). The rector of the church is Buryansky Anatoly Pavlovich. Secular name - Father Anatoly. Education - Odessa Theological Seminary. Divine service is carried out in the church, located in the village of Ilyinka and restored in 1996. The church does not have Sunday schools, and is not engaged in publishing activities. The church is constantly visited by 40 - 45 people during worship. Divine services are held every Sunday and on religious holidays.
Russian Orthodox Old Believer Assumption Church (Kiev diocese). The rector of the church is Artemkin Petr Gavrilovich. Secondary technical education (Kazan fire school graduated in 1978). The service is held in the church, located in the village of Olkhovatka, restored in 1992, only on religious holidays. The church is constantly visited by 30-35 people. There are no Sunday schools. At the church there is a dozen of Russian Orthodox Old Believers Intercession Church, headed by the headman - Blinov Ivan Vedeneevich.

Reposting my very first post about Olkhovatka from 2014 with updates.

Well, friends, everyone writes about Ukraine, well, I’ll write it off a little ... or rather, taperich is no longer Ukraine, but about the Old Believers in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Christians pray for all people on Earth, but for their brothers of the same faith, especially ... eheheh, I feel they will be there for a long time.
Olkhovatka is located, 110 km southeast of Slavyansk, on the Bulavinka River (I don’t know if it’s in honor of Ataman Bulavin?) The first written mention of the first inhabitants of Olkhovatka and its founders, the Old Believers, was about 300 years ago (the anniversary is coming soon). There confirmed data that they were originally from Moscow and the Moscow region, MOSCOW however))). In Peter's times, the people fled to the outskirts of the empire both from religious persecution and from financial bondage (the Old Believers paid a double tax - "dualism" and a tax on a beard), all the more so - "There is no extradition from the Don."
According to the 1778 census, the population of Olkhovatka was about 180 male souls and three monks, women and children were not counted. The second wave of Old Believer settlers came in the 18th century from Starodubye, the current Chernihiv region. First of all, the settlers built a chapel. In the 19th century, a small convent arose.

Prosperous olkhovattsy.

Father Fedor and members of the church council

Church choir.

Ryzhikov

Children's Church Choir

In 1995, the new temple was consecrated, but until recently it did not have its own priest. In 2013, the Olkhovatskaya church had its own rector - the holy monk Sila.

to Trinity.

Now, for the entire period of the war in the Donbass, Father Alexander Karabanov is serving.

During the "Debaltsevo cauldron", by God's grace, the temple was not damaged, although two villages adjacent to Olkhovatka were practically wiped off the ground.

The center of the new landscape park, which is planned to be created in the Donetsk People's Republic, will be the village of Olkhovatka. It has a very long history and traditions. In 2 years he will be 300 years old. The first settlement appeared here in 1720. These were the Old Believers who left the reforms of Peter I and settled at the junction of two small rivers. Their descendants still live on this earth. The Old Believer community in Olkhovatka is the only one on the territory of the republic. Now it has about 20 parishioners. The church was built by the community on its own. It was erected in the 90s of the last century on the ruins of a church destroyed before the war. On its territory there is a well with the purest cool water, which the locals consider healing.

The head of the Olkhovatskaya village administration, Sergei Dubrovkin, says that the villagers are helping the community.

Today, of course, there is a process of revival of traditions, of the community itself, young people have appeared precisely among the members of this community, i.e. parishioners of the Old Believer church, says Sergey Dubrovkin, - But, unfortunately, this is still insignificant. It is difficult to restore what was once lost.

A century and a half after the founding of the settlement, an Orthodox church of the St. Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was erected in neighboring Ilyinka. According to the census books of the Elizavetgrad province, it was founded by sisters Martha and Maria Debaltsev in 1874. Part of the money that they received by inheritance, the sisters contributed to the construction of this temple.

Then this temple experienced all the hardships, all the historical ups and downs that took place on this earth with our people. After the revolution, it was closed, used for various needs - technological, technical, was fired upon during the war, - says the rector of the temple, Archpriest Alexander:

According to some sources, there was a hospital here, according to others, it was used as a fortress to protect the village. It was not destroyed to the ground, the walls remained, but the destruction was significant. Restoration began in the 90s. It took a whole decade to build the temple. A community was formed here. The labors and cares of the community and the people living here, as well as ktitors, helpers (sponsors - they are called that, but according to the church - ktitors). By their diligence, labors, the temple was restored.

Amazingly, both temples were virtually undamaged during the fighting in 2014. Shells fell all around - the parishioners counted more than 60 craters and collected a bucket of fragments. But there was no direct hit. The Old Believer Church and the Temple of the St. Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God are of historical, cultural and spiritual value.

Local residents, talking about their village, say that if a landscape park is created in these places, they will have something to show tourists.

The places, of course, are blessed here, from the Lord God. There is something to see, there is something to show, says Sergey Dubrovkin. - Yes, maybe we are a little deprived in water bodies, this is not a sea coast, but at the same time, there is an opportunity here to relax and breathe clean air, to be in nature, to communicate with nature. We have here both hares, and roe deer, and wild boars, and wolves, and foxes. All this is present in large quantities, moreover. I'm not talking about some wild bird there

The head of the village administration believes that the development of the opening of tourist and excursion routes will give impetus to the development of Olkhovatka. After all, after the closure of the mine, local residents live only at the expense of household plots. And the opening of the landscape park will create new jobs.

If the center of this park will be our village Olkhovatka, then the administration will be located here, there will be some auxiliary services, - Sergey Dubrovkin argues. - I.e. up to fifty people will get jobs. This means that fifty families will receive a livelihood. They will stay here and live here. Will need protection, foresters. And, of course, the development of some retail outlets will go further, if these are tourist routes. This is some kind of infrastructure related to tourism. So it's all connected. This is a single chain.

The Olkhovatsky Landscape Park is expected to cover an area of 2,000 hectares. It will include 5 objects: the Skelevoy and Efimya beams, the Ploskoe and Rossokhovatoe tracts and the Kruglik nature reserve. All preparatory work has already been carried out. And in the near future, new protected areas will appear in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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