Holy Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye: “little” saint of “little” people. Holy Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye (Merkushinsky)

Most people love to travel, go to interesting places, see something unusual, and meet new people. For the sake of fresh impressions, some travel great distances and climb to corners of the planet where humans rarely set foot.

But no matter how much a person chases impressions, sooner or later everything becomes boring, joy becomes less and less each time and, in the end, a moment comes when this amazing and diverse world seems boring, gray and uninteresting.

However, those who, having fallen in love with the road, have chosen the purpose of their trips to places where they can rest their souls - holy places, have a completely different view of the surrounding reality. These wise travelers never become satiated, because it is impossible to be satiated with grace.

I decided to follow their reasonable example and give my soul the only food it needed, to drink from the pure source of my father’s faith: to go to a wondrous, holy place. After praying, I went to visit the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.

“His name was Senka”

This was a very long time ago - in the 16th century. A strange man settled in the Siberian village of Merkushino in Verkhoturye district. His manners betrayed his noble origin, but he lived like a peasant: he ate simple food, slept, like all villagers, on the floor, and earned his own food by his labor. He didn’t have his own corner, but he knew the craft - he sewed fur coats. According to the tradition of that time, whoever he sheathed lived in his hut and ate what they gave him. For the Siberian side, tailoring is a profitable business, but this eccentric often, without finishing the work for some owners, moved on to stay with others.

Then it was wild, semi-pagan, people’s morals were simple. Oh, and Simeon got a lot of trouble from his angry owners! And they beat him and scolded him, and didn’t give him any money for his work. After all, most people thought that he was motivated by greed: in another house they promised more - so he left. Who could have imagined that the tailor does this precisely in order to avoid earthly reward for his work and to become even more humble? Simeon silently endured insults and beatings, without grumbling, without offense.

He didn’t look at the local girls: even though he was young for years, he didn’t start a family. However, he often talked with children, told them about Christ, instructed them in the true faith, and pure souls with childish simplicity absorbed the words of the righteous man.

When the wooden Archangel Michael Church was built in the village, Simeon began to spend many hours there, in the house of God. Simeon was often seen on the banks of the Tura River, where he sat for a long time with a fishing rod. And no one could even imagine, looking at the lonely figure of Simeon, that his heart was constantly talking with his beloved Lord...

He died young, having lived just over thirty years. Local residents buried him and forgot that he was like that. And fifty years later, the earth itself suddenly brought a coffin from its depths to the surface. Through the cracks of the plank lid, the villagers saw the incorruptible relics of the righteous man...

They rushed to remember who he was, what his name was - no one knows. This man led too secret a life. The whole world began to pray that the Lord, who had revealed the new saint to His people, would also reveal his name. After some time, Metropolitan Ignatius of Tobolsk, who was examining the newly revealed relics, heard a voice in a dream: “His name was Senka.” Glorified in Heaven, Simeon was finally glorified on earth.

Countless miracles and healings from the relics of the holy righteous Simeon occurred, both in those distant times and in our days. The remote Siberian village was flooded with pilgrims, and from that time to the present day, pilgrimage to these places has not stopped: believers go and go to the saint - some for help in everyday needs, some for healing, some for consolation in sorrows, and some, like me, wanting to touch the shrine with my soul and find peace.

Blessed Merkushino

The road along the Tura River is majestically beautiful: green meadows, hills, vast valleys and the dark greenery of impenetrable forests... But then, after the next bend of the blue ribbon, a sight appears that will take your breath away: gilded crosses burn brighter than the sun against the azure autumn sky domes of Merkushin churches. On the spot where the incorruptible relics were found, the St. Simeon Church rises, and next to it, connected to it by a bright gallery, is the temple in honor of the Archangel Michael. In the middle of the last century, this historical temple complex was destroyed, but in the 90s it was restored in all its former grandeur.

The largest temple - in honor of the Archangel Michael - is so spacious, and its vaults are so high that it seems as if it is woven from light. The dome goes far up, so that when you look up, you even feel dizzy. But the most amazing impression is made by the divine services that take place within these walls: the extraordinary acoustics of the church gives the voices of the singers a special sound. It is difficult to understand where the sound is born, because it fills the entire space, reaches the very dome and pours from somewhere in the sky.

In the ground floor of the Church of the Archangel Michael there is a temple-baptistery - of extraordinary beauty! Daylight does not penetrate there, so there is always twilight. The gilded iconostasis flickers mysteriously in the glow of the lamps. The baptismal font is of impressive size and is lined with mosaic patterns in the Byzantine style.

The throne of this temple is consecrated in honor of the holy martyr Constantine, who was shot in Merkushino during the times of the atheistic regime. It is surprising that the relics of this new martyr lay in the same marshy Siberian soil even longer than the relics of the righteous Simeon - eighty years - but when they were found, they also turned out to be incorruptible. Even the clothes of the murdered priest were untouched by time; his body did not become numb and bent. Truly blessed is the land of Merkushino, which at all times shows the world the holy saints of God!

No matter how many times I’ve been here, I can never stop admiring these places; my eyes desire, but can never hold, the grandeur of the temple complex in its pristine beauty; my heart aches when I look at the touchingly beautiful nature of these places.

First of all, I go to bow to the tomb of the holy righteous Simeon, to drink water from the healing spring that flows in the place where his coffin appeared on the surface of the earth. The Simeon Temple was built directly above the source. There are places from which you don’t want to leave, one of them is the tomb of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye: under the gentle gaze of the saint looking at you from the icon, you feel good and cozy, like at home. Now the tomb of the righteous Simeon is a small room lined with marble slabs with a spring in the middle, it is located directly under the altar of the Simeon Temple. Time moves here completely imperceptibly, and sometimes it seems as if it stops altogether, freezes and turns into eternity.

The relics themselves are not in the tomb. They are in the St. Nicholas Monastery, where they were solemnly transferred almost immediately after their discovery - in 1704. Having admired the places dear to my heart, I said goodbye to Merkushino and set off on a further journey to venerate the relics of the righteous. After all, if you didn’t see the owner, then how can you consider that you were visiting.

I had to make several stops along the way. The first is in the place of solitary prayers of the righteous Simeon, it is very close, ten kilometers from Merkushino. A stone has been preserved here, sitting on which the saint prayed and fished. In the 19th century, on this deserted shore there was a chapel in honor of the saint, which was dismantled during the Soviet years, now in its place is a worship cross, and next to it is a wooden church in honor of All Siberian Saints, in which Divine services are regularly held. When I visit this place, for some reason it always seems as if the saint is still here invisibly. I want, like him, to sit on a stone near the river and sit motionless for a long, long time, thinking about and thanking the Creator for His incomprehensible mercy towards us, people. A living faith arises in your soul that through the prayers of His saint, God hears you and forgives you everything.

My next stop is connected with the name of another saint - Blessed Cosmas of Verkhoturye.

The Path of Blessed Cosmas

Soon after the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye were discovered, they decided to move them to Verkhoturye, to a monastery, in order to facilitate access to them for numerous pilgrims. In a carved coffin lined with swan's down, the relics of the righteous man were carried from Merkushino to the St. Nicholas Verkhoturye Monastery with solemn chants and prayers.

Following the procession of the Cross, the holy fool Kosma crawled on his knees; he was crippled and could not move otherwise. When Kosma was exhausted, he turned to Saint Simeon as if he were alive, with simple words: “Brother, Simeon, let’s rest!” After this, no one could move the coffin with the relics, the procession stopped, and blessed Cosmas (also now glorified among the saints) rested, glorifying God and thanking his brother in Christ - Simeon. Later, at the sites of these stops, believers erected temples and chapels.

The road winds left and right, leaving forests and hills behind. But then, around the next turn, two suns shone in the sky again - the Cross of Christ on the bulbous head of the white stone church sparkles so brightly, reflecting the sunlight. This was the Svyato-Kosminsk men's hermitage in all its glory. In the 19th century, in memory of the next stop of the procession carrying the relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, a church was built here.

Now there is a whole monastery on this place. The brethren live there according to the strict Athos charter, according to which passage into the desert territory is prohibited for worldly persons. Sometimes the brothers take into the archondarik (guest room) a reliquary with a particle of the relics of the blessed Cosmas himself. As soon as you cross the threshold of the archondarik, you feel an extraordinary spiritual joy, which intensifies when you come into contact with the shrine itself - the relics of Saint Cosmas. Who knows, maybe the blessed one consoles in this way those who follow his path and blesses them on their further journey? I would like to believe that this is so. Moreover, this joy does not leave the inspired soul for a long time.

Unfortunately, other shrines on the path of blessed Cosmas have not survived: they were destroyed in the last century, their restoration is slow.

Guardian of the Ural land

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do will he do also, and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12).

These gospel words are the first to come to mind when you think about the numerous miracles and healings that occurred and continue to occur at the shrine containing the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. How many blind, lame, and crippled people the Lord helped during His earthly life! Miracles continue to this day. Now they are created in the name of Jesus Christ and His holy saints.

Simeon's days. Photo: Sisters.ru

Believers come to Verkhoturye from everywhere: some to ask for healing, some with gratitude for the help received. There are many known cases where healing occurred at a distance: a person with faith anointed the sore spot with oil from the relics of St. Simeon and received a complete recovery. Some then go to Verkhoturye to thank the Siberian miracle worker for his mercy.

But there are also many who go to their beloved saint simply to see him again, to pray, to stand in reverent silence under the huge arches of the majestic Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, in which the relics rest. Usually believers stand for a long time - no one wants to leave...

The holy righteous Simeon reposed in the Lord more than three hundred years ago, but he did not leave the Ural land, it was entrusted to him for safekeeping, as a faithful servant of Christ, until the Lord of the house comes.

Instead of a conclusion

People can wander around the world for a long time, do various important things, strive for something, look for something... But as soon as they get to a holy place, the soul is visited by the feeling that everything around is “vanity of vanities.” The soul freezes and, clinging to the shrine, meekly but firmly proclaims: “I found what I was looking for, I don’t need anything else.” And she will not let you go from here for a long time and then she will always ask you to go back to the place where she touched her. My soul fell in love with Verkhoturye and all those places that are associated with the name of the great saint of the Siberian land - the righteous Simeon. Come here too, and who knows, maybe this is where Heaven will become closer to you...

Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye was born at the beginning of the 17th century in the European part of Russia into a family of pious nobles. Obeying Divine guidance, he left honors and earthly wealth and retired beyond the Urals. In Siberia, righteous Simeon lived as a simple wanderer, hiding his origin. Most often he visited the village of Merkushinskoye, located near the town of Verkhoturye, where he prayed in a wooden church.

With the gospel of the Triune God, of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, righteous Simeon walked through the surrounding villages. He did not shy away from the Voguls of other faiths, the indigenous inhabitants of this region, who loved the saint for his pure life. With the help of God's grace, righteous Simeon awakened in the hearts of the Voguls the desire for a virtuous life. In the virgin Siberian taiga, he indulged in the thought of God, seeing in every living creature the ineffable Wisdom of “He who created all things.”

The ascetic never remained idle. He knew how to sew fur coats well and, going around the villages, worked in the houses of peasants, without accepting any remuneration for his work. To avoid praise for his work, righteous Simeon left it unfinished and left his customers. For this he had to endure insults and even beatings, but he accepted them with humility and prayed for his offenders. Thus he achieved perfect humility and non-covetousness.

Saint Simeon prayed a lot for the newly enlightened inhabitants of Siberia to be strengthened in their faith. The ascetic combined his prayer with the feat of kneeling on a stone in the dense taiga. Ten miles from Merkushin, on the banks of the Tura River, the ascetic had a secluded place where he fished. But even here he showed abstinence: he caught exactly as much fish as he needed for daily food.

The blessed death of the holy man followed amid great feats of fasting and prayer. He died in 1642 and was buried in the Merkushinsky churchyard, near the Church of the Archangel Michael.

The Lord glorified His saint, who left everything earthly for the sake of serving Him alone. In 1692, 50 years after the death of the saint, residents of the village of Merkushinskoye miraculously found the revealed incorruptible body of a righteous man, whose name they had forgotten. Soon, numerous healings began to take place from the relics that appeared. A paralyzed man was healed, and other healings followed. Metropolitan Ignatius of Siberia (Rimsky-Korsakov, 1692-1700) sent people to examine the facts. One of them, Hierodeacon Nikifor Amvrosiev, prayed to God on the way and imperceptibly fell into a light slumber. Suddenly he saw in front of him a man in white clothes, middle-aged, his hair was light brown. He looked with a kind glance at Nikifor and at the latter’s question: “Who are you?” - the one who appeared answered: “I am Simeon Merkushinsky,” and became invisible.

In the “Iconographic Original” under April 16 it is written: “Holy and righteous Simeon of Merkushinsky and Verkhoturye, who is also a new miracle worker in Siberia; the likeness of Rus, brad and hair on the head like Kozma the Unmercenary; the vestments on him are simple, Russian.”

Metropolitan Ignatius, having become convinced of the incorruption of the relics of Saint Simeon, exclaimed: “I also testify that truly these are the relics of a righteous and virtuous person: in everything they are similar to the relics of the ancient saints. This righteous man is like Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, or Sergius of Radonezh, for he was honored by God with incorruptibility, like these lamps of the Orthodox faith.”

And now, through the prayers of Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye, the Lord shows gracious help, consolation, strengthening, admonition, healing of souls and bodies and deliverance from evil and unclean spirits. Through the prayers of the saint, distressed travelers receive deliverance from death. Siberians especially often turn to the Verkhoturye miracle worker with prayers for eye diseases and all kinds of paralysis.

On September 12, 1704, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk, the holy relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye were transferred from the church in honor of the Archangel Michael to the Verkhoturye Monastery in the name of St. Nicholas. On this day, the Church celebrates the second memory of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye (the first - December 18).

By the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. St. becomes one of the most revered Russian saints. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye the wonderworker. Tens of thousands of pilgrims flock to Verkhoturye from all over the vast Russian Empire - the Urals and Siberia, Vyatka, the Russian North, the Volga region, central and even western provinces - to venerate his relics.
Veneration of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye dates back to 1692, when in the village of Merkushino, located just over 50 versts from the district center of Verkhoturye, “at the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael of God,” a coffin “with the honest remains of a Christian body” began to emerge from the ground. Having learned about this, the minister of the Tobolsk bishop’s house, “a clergyman named Matthew,” who, by order of Tobolsk, was inspecting churches and parishes in the Verkhoturye district, instructed the Merkushin priest Ioann Andreev to erect “a small log or golpchik over the ascending coffin” (According to V.I. Dahl, one of the meanings of the word “golbets” (“golbchik”) is a grave monument with a hut. Neither the Early nor the Long edition of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye states on the instructions of which bishop the “cleric named Matthew” acted. The year is also not indicated. when Matthew gave the order to build a “small log or golpchik” over the Merkushin coffin (it is only clear that this could have happened between 1692 and 1694).The first chapters of the Life were compiled by Metropolitan Ignatius (Rimsky-Korsakov) and the bishop writes about his participation in events are most often in the first person. Matthew is reported as if in a detached manner - “a cleric named Matthew... had a command from the bishop (NB. - not “from me” or not “from my humility”) to inspect the city of Verkhoturye and that city within the limits of all church dogmas.” Perhaps Matthew was the so-called. “Head of the priest” (the position preceding the modern dean) and was constantly in Verkhoturye, being the official representative of the Tobolsk bishop’s house in the Verkhoturye district, exercising on behalf of the Siberian Bishop general supervision of piety and “church dogmas” in this territory. Another thing is also possible - Matthew arrived from Tobolsk to Verkhoturye “to inspect... church dogmas” with a special mission, for example, due to the fact that it was spreading in the Urals at the end of the 17th century. split. One way or another, it cannot be unequivocally stated that Matthew was appointed to his position precisely by Bishop Ignatius, who had just been appointed to the See of Siberia and Tobolsk, and not by his predecessor, Metropolitan Paul). After a short time, miracles began to occur over the grave of the unknown. Thus, in June 1694, Verkhoturye gunner Ivan Grigoriev, nicknamed Cossack, received help from the “green disease of relaxation” from the Merkushin relics. In I. Grigoriev’s dream there was a voice commanding in Merkushino “to chant a prayer service to the holy Archangel of God Michael and to chant a panakhida at the ascending tomb.” Being unable to move himself, Ivan Grigoriev asked “the ambassador of his son Stefan” to the Merkushino priest. After a prayer service and a memorial service over the newly revealed relics, the gunner received healing and soon with his whole family (“with his entire household”) made a pilgrimage to Merkushino, where, at the end of the memorial service “at the tomb of the righteous,” he took a handful of earth from the grave “and shook it all over his body.” , “to be in perfect health, as if never sick.” A little later, I. Grigoriev and his family made a second pilgrimage to Merkushino. This time, the Verkhoturye gunner asked the prayers of an unknown righteous man for the healing of his daughter, who suffered from rotting ulcers on her face. As on his first visit, I. Grigoriev ordered a requiem service over the coffin from the Merkushino priest “in the name of the Lord the message” and wiped his daughter’s face with grave soil, from which she recovered. Almost simultaneously with I. Grigoryev, he received healing from the Merkushinsky relics crippled by an unheated horse of the Verkhotursky governor of the Duma nobleman Ivan Eliseevich Tsykler Peter (Life of Simeon Verkhotursky // Literary Monuments of the Tobolsk Bishop House of the 17th Century. Novosibirsk, 2001. S. 201-203, 237-239 (History of Siberia. Primary sources. Issue 10)).

In the winter of 1694/95, Metropolitan Ignatius (Rimsky-Korsakov) of Siberia and Tobolsk* toured the monasteries and parishes of his diocese (Attention should be paid to the widespread error in the literature in the dates of the examination of the relics of the Merkushinsky righteous saint by Saint Ignatius. In the vast majority of publications of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye (adapted for spiritual reading, as well as scientific and popular science) it is indicated that Bishop Ignatius examined the relics revealed in Merkushino in December 1695 (see, for example: Baidin V.I. St. Simeon of Verkhoturye - a real person ? Life, hagiographic legend, veneration // Christian missionary work as a phenomenon of history and culture (600th anniversary of the memory of St. Stephen of Perm). Materials of the International scientific and practical conference of 1996. Vol. 1. Perm, 1997. P. 190 ( 190-210); He is also Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye - a real person: life, hagiographic legend, veneration // Essays on the history and culture of the city of Verkhoturye and the Verkhoturye region (To the 400th anniversary of Verkhoturye). Ekaterinburg, 1998. P. 114; Korchagin P.A. History of Verkhoturye (1598-1926). Patterns of socio-economic development and the formation of the architectural and historical environment of the city. Ed. 2nd, add. Ekaterinburg, 2012. P. 57; Tikhon (Zatekin), abbot, Nechaeva M.Yu. Ural Lavra. Ekaterinburg, 2006. P. 46; Tikhon (Zatekin), archimandrite. Tsarskoe Verkhoturye. Nizhny Novgorod, 2013. P. 15). This date is present in all, without exception, popular expositions of the Life of St. Simeon, right up to its newest reprints (see, for example: Baranov V.S. Chronicle of the Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Men's Cenobitic Monastery (Ekaterinburg Diocese) in connection with the historical legend about the Life of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye the Wonderworker. 2nd ed. B. M., 1991. P. 58; Lives of the saints of the Ekaterinburg diocese. Ekaterinburg, 2008. P. 484; Macarius (Mirolyubov), archimandrite. A detailed account of the life and miracles of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye the Wonderworker and the honoring of his holy relics // Verkhotursky Nikolaevsky monastery and its shrine (Nizhny Novgorod, 2012, p. 163). However, the examination of the relics by Saint Ignatius took place a year earlier - in 1694. The Metropolitan’s inspection trip “through the towns and villages” of his diocese, as was said, took place in the winter of 1694/95 - according to the years “From the Creation of the World” in 7203 (this date is indicated in the text of the Life of St. Simeon). The year “From the Creation of the World” began on September 1. From this day until December 31, when recalculating years from the “From the Creation of the World” system to the currently accepted “From the Nativity of Christ” system, the year 7203 did not correspond to 1695. , and 1694. Therefore, Bishop Ignatius, who visited Merkushino twice on December 18 and 30, came there at the very end of 1694. For the first time, P.I. Mangilev drew attention to the discrepancy in the dates found in the texts of the Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye. He reconstructed, down to the day, the stages of the “traveling procession” of the Right Reverend Ignatius through the lands he cared for (Mangilev P.I. Sources on the history of the veneration of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye // Archeography and source study of the history of Russia during the period of feudalism. Abstracts of reports of a scientific conference of students and young people scientists May 22-24, 1991. Sverdlovsk, 1991. pp. 37-38; Mangilev P.I., proteur. On the history of the text of the Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Problems of the history of Russia. Issue 4: Eurasian borderland. Ekaterinburg, 2001. With 293-301). The correct date is given in the comments to the scientific edition of the texts of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, as well as in the dictionary article about this monument (Prokhorov G.M., Romodanovskaya E.K. Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Dictionary of Scribes and Books of Ancient Rus'. St. Petersburg, 1993. Issue 3. (XVII century) Part 1. A-Z. pp. 281-282; Literary monuments of the Tobolsk bishop's house of the 17th century. Novosibirsk, 2001. pp. 377-378). We also read the date 1694 in some popular science essays about St. Simeon, St. Nicholas Monastery and about Verkhoturye in general (Nechaeva M.Yu. St. Nicholas Verkhoturye Monastery // Russian monasteries: Ural. Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye diocese. Novomoskovsk, 2007. P. 258); Mankova I.L. Strengthening the foundations of Orthodox life // History of the Ekaterinburg diocese. Ekaterinburg, 2010. P. 128). The correct date is also present in the newest dictionary entry devoted to the history of the text of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye (Mangilev P.I., Archpriest. Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // History of Literature of the Urals. End of the XIV-XVIII centuries. M., 2012. P. 193)).
On the way from Pelym to Verkhoturye, the bishop stopped in the village of Karaulnoye, located about seven miles from Merkushin. Hegumen of the Dormition Dalmatovo Monastery Isaac, who was one of the clergy accompanying the bishop on the trip, told him about St. Michael the Archangel's grave. The abbot asked the bishop if he would deign to examine the remains in the coffin, “so that Orthodox Christians do not have any sin about themselves, since from that coffin there are many signs, healing is given to those who pray with faith.” His Eminence Ignatius ordered Abbot Isaac and several clergy from his retinue to go to Merkushino (The commission sent by the Bishop to Merkushino included, in addition to the above-mentioned Abbot Isaac, the keynote of the Tobolsk Sophia Cathedral, Priest John, Priest Joseph, Deacon Peter, as well as the novice of Abbot Isaac, Hierodeacon of the Dalmatov Monastery Basilides). He himself remained in Karaulny to perform the morning service. On the morning of December 18, the metropolitan's envoys arrived in Merkushino and began examining the remains lying in the coffin. The clergy saw the body almost completely incorrupt. Only in a few places did the skin clinging to the bones turn to dust, and the funeral clothes decayed. Metropolitan Ignatius, after performing Matins in Karaulny, also went to Merkushino. There he intended, first of all, to serve the Divine Liturgy in the Archangel Michael Church. The Right Reverend did not see anything special in the appearance of the tomb - “I seem to be nothing, and the thoughts of being are few bones and simple things.” Having arrived in the village and having listened to the stories of his companions about the condition of the remains of an unknown person lying in a coffin, the bishop was still in no hurry to examine them. In the meantime, the unexpected happened: the Metropolitan felt a sudden pain in his eyelid, as if from barley - “the left eye of my eyelid began to hurt so badly, as if I had crushed the barley with some verbs.” The Right Reverend decided that he had been blown away on the road - “at first he thought that for the sake of the wind and the cold of winter such a disease would arise.” However, then it occurred to him that this was some kind of sign that came from a reluctance to see the relics of the righteous. The Bishop prayed: “Have mercy on me, Lord, and heal my eye. And you, righteous one, do not be angry with me, follow the Holy Liturgy and see the grace given to you from God, which comes to us from your venerable relics.” He served the Liturgy, and then, accompanied by his retinue, went to the tomb. The Metropolitan himself was convinced of the correctness of the words reported to him: “This righteous body is not all intact, but some parts, like the fingers on the hands, the head and chest, and the rump, and the ribs, and from the girdle, and the thigh, and the nose are intact, the bones are flesh, which are covered with skin, and the flesh of it is flesh. .. The funeral clothes were all falling apart.” The coffin examined by the bishop also turned out to be “very intact and strong, as if new.” Then the Right Reverend Ignatius, pointing to the holy relics, said: “This is a certain new saint, like Alexei or Jonah, the metropolitans of Russia, or the miracle worker Sergius of Radonezh, for he was granted the same incorruptibility from God, like these holy miracle workers.” A lithium was performed over the coffin of “the servant of God, whose name is the Lord,” then it was closed with a lid and sprinkled with a small layer of earth - “like a single inch” (a quarter of an arshin, i.e. about 17 cm).

After the litiya was completed, Bishop Ignatius began asking the indigenous Merkushin inhabitants if anyone remembered the name of the person buried here, as well as his life. Out of the crowd came “a certain man, Afanasy by name, an elderly husband and honest in character, as if he were seventy years old” (Documentary sources make it possible to clarify his biographical data - among the residents of Merkushino with the name Afanasy, only Afanasy Timofeev, son of Chashegorov, by 1694 was about 70 years old. age). “There are no memorials to this coffin,” he said. However, I remembered that in the place where the coffin came out of the ground “there was laid a certain lover of Christ who had died.” He was buried very first at the newly built St. Church in Merkushino. Michael the Archangel (Subsequently, the church underwent redevelopment, chapels were built in the name of St. Elijah the Prophet and St. Nicholas of Myra, so the burial was at the entrance to the refectory that previously existed on the south side - “at the former church there are new ones... right from the noon at the meal of the former doors "). “His life was good,” Afanasy told about the unknown, “that man was a stranger to the Siberian country, born into a noble rank, and lived with us as a wanderer.” The narrator said that the deceased was engaged in tailoring and was famous for sewing fur coats, decorated with a special braid - “his handicraft is byshe, even sewing stripes on sheepskin clothing, and there are hamyan stripes that appear on warm clothes, that is, fur coats” (B In oral folk tradition, many stories have been preserved about the righteous tailor. Thus, according to them, St. Simeon with special love took up work for the poor, from whom he often refused to take money for sewing work. He considered the shelter and food that he enjoyed from the owners to be sufficient payment for himself the house in which he lived while working. In order not to take money, St. Righteous Simeon, deliberately leaving the house a little before finishing his sewing. For this, he often had to endure insults and even beatings, but the saint humbly endured them as deserved). Also, according to the old resident Afanasy, the unknown person was “diligent to God and constantly came to church for prayer. With my body I am saddened, as if from abstinence.” The Reverend Ignatius asked: “What is his name?” Afanasy could not remember (“it’s impossible to remember”). Having heard this, the Metropolitan called on the people to fervently pray to God (“he also promised to pray himself”) “for the honor of the righteous name.” Then the bishop rode off on a sleigh to Verkhoturye.

On the way, the Right Reverend Ignatius cried out to the Lord so that the name of the unknown would be revealed to him: “Have mercy on me, O Lord God, Thy creation, who has shown such Your mercy to Thy people, whose mouth Thou hast entrusted to me, and who has given me to see the relics of Thy righteous servant, show us his name given to him from Holy Baptism.” When they drove away from Merkushin “seven races”, the bishop dozed off in his sleigh (“fell asleep”). He dreamed of “a multitude of people, a competition of those who were doing, to seek the name of that righteous man.” “From a single country” a voice reached the ruler: “His name is Simeon!” Following again came the following: “His name was Semyon.” Then, for the third time, “speaking words of consolation” sounded: “His name was Senka.” Metropolitan Ignatius laughed a little in his sleep (“he laughed and grinned a little”), but immediately woke up and said the Jesus Prayer. The rest of the way he thought about the meaning of the dream. In Verkhoturye, the Bishop was met by the governor, Duma nobleman Ivan Eliseevich Tsykler*, Archimandrite of the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery Alexander*, local clergy, as well as many people - service people, townspeople and peasants with their families, asking for the archpastoral blessing. Having stopped at the St. Nicholas Monastery, Metropolitan Ignatius, having considerable spiritual experience, in order to avoid mistakes, told about his dream to the archimandrite of the Tobolsk Znamensky Monastery Sergius and the abbot of the Dalmatovo Monastery Isaac, who accompanied him on the trip, as well as the local abbot, Archimandrite Alexander. The abbots unanimously decided that the vision of the Right Reverend was nothing more than a Divine revelation. They also decided that Simeon is the name by which the saint of God should be called; his name was Semyon during his life, and “his father and mother, for the sake of love, called him Senka by the touching name.” The bishop himself agreed with their opinion, glorifying the Lord God.

“On Thursday, December 27, 1694, Metropolitan Ignatius consecrated the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church in Verkhoturye, which was badly damaged by a fire and rebuilt by governor I.E. Tsykler. In the evening of the same day, there was another confirmation of the authenticity of the revealed name of the new saint. Hegumen Isaac's novice, Hierodeacon Basilides (He, as was said, was part of the commission sent by Bishop Ignatius on December 18 to Merkushino to examine the revealed relics) was in the same cell with Metropolitan Ignatius and Abbot Isaac. “After the evening rule” the Bishop and the Abbot were still not sleeping. The novice dozed off while sitting (“I took a nap while sitting”). Not yet in a deep sleep, but in a subtle vision, he imagined that in their cell there were “many people, a competition to seek the name of the righteous, like in the village of Merkushin.” Basilides heard “a voice from the people saying: “Why are you striving so much, for his name has already been said, as if his name is Simeon.” The hierodeacon immediately woke up and made the Sign of the Cross. He did not tell Bishop Ignatius about his subtle dream immediately, but only after three days. The Metropolitan, having listened to the story, considered the “dream vision” to be genuine and later mentioned it in his “Tale known and testified to the manifestation of the honest relics” of the Merkushin righteous man.

On December 30, 1694, on Sunday, “at matins,” Metropolitan Ignatius, on his way back from Verkhoturye to Tobolsk, again stopped in the village of Merkushino (in his words, “joyful for the sake of seeing” the relics of the righteous Simeon). The Bishop was accompanied by the Verkhoturye voivode I.E. Tsykler, as well as many clergy and secular persons (More than likely, the archimandrite of the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery, Alexander, was among the bishop’s escort. He was not present at the examination of the newly revealed relics on December 18 - among those accompanying Only one archimandrite was noted for Metropolitan Ignatius - Sergius of Znamensky. However, Father Alexander, without a doubt, knew about the coffin that emerged from the ground and, apparently, visited Merkushino even before December 18). Having served in the Merkushino Church of St. Michael the Archangel Divine Liturgy, the Reverend again examined the holy remains. All those present, following Bishop Ignatius, reverently kissed the relics of the righteous Simeon (“on the forehead of his head”), and the governor I.E. Tsykler noted that the newly-minted righteous man “is like the incorruptible bodies of the Kiev-Pechersk saints.”

Additional confirmation that the name of the righteous man is Simeon was also found in Merkushino. Merkushino priest John Andreev reported to Bishop Ignatius about the dream he saw on December 27 after the evening rule (on the same day as Hierodeacon Basilides). “He was in a dream,” whether he was standing in the Merkushin church and reprimanding the litany in front of the tomb of the righteous man, “perplexed about the name as if he were commemorating him.” And a voice is heard to him: “Why are you perplexed? “Remember him,” he said, “as Simeon.” Both the Bishop himself and all those present recognized this vision of Fr. John with another revelation from above about the name of the newly-minted saint of God.

When was St. born and when did he repose? righteous Simeon there is no exact information. The year of his repose - 1642, is calculated approximately based on the fact that the coffin that came out of the ground in 1692 in Merkushino, according to the text of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, had previously lain in the ground for about 50 years. However, it is documented that in 1642 there was no church in Merkushino yet. It did not exist a few years later - in 1645/46, when the Merkushin inhabitants swore allegiance to the new Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. To date, written sources indicating the year of construction of the church of St. Michael the Archangel has not yet been identified in Merkushino. The fact that Merkushino initially did not have its own temple is also evidenced by the oral folk legend about the forest "Simeon's Path" 36 miles long between Merkushino and the village. Makhnevo on the river Tagil - along it the righteous man walked to the ancient Church of the Transfiguration of the churchyard of the same name (the center of the Tagil settlement). Therefore, St. Righteous Simeon could not have been buried “the very first” at the church of St. Michael the Archangel neither in 1642 nor in 1645/46. Most likely, the repose of St. righteous Simeon took place in the late 40s and early 50s. XVII century At least in Merkushino, above the holy spring at the site of the grave of the righteous man, it is indicated that he died in 1650. Perhaps this epigraphic inscription, made in the second half of the 19th or early 20th centuries, had some earlier archetype, going back to in turn, to even more ancient documents that have not survived to this day (Baidin V.I. Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye - a real person: life, hagiographic legend, veneration // Essays on the history and culture of the city of Verkhoturye and the Verkhoturye region (To the 400th anniversary of Verkhoturye Yekaterinburg, 1998. pp. 123-124; According to the historian’s assumption, one can identify St. Righteous Simeon with the “walking man” (as free people engaged in seasonal work and handicrafts were called at that time) Semyon Ivanov Pinezhanin. However, this is an assumption is currently not sufficiently substantiated).

Oral folk tradition about St. Simeone of Verkhoturye testifies that the favorite pastime of the righteous man was fishing. He often walked from Merkushino up the river with a fishing rod in his hands. Tour about ten miles to a secluded place. There on the shore, sitting under a spreading spruce tree, he was meditating on the Lord’s greatness and “had a thought towards God ... so that he would not be caught by the wisdom of sin from the evil enemy of our salvation” (Canon to St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. Menaion, September 19). St. Righteous Simeon always observed moderation - he caught fish not for sale, but only for his own food.

On the banks of the Tura, even today they still point to the stone on which the Merkushin righteous man was fishing. This stone was perfectly suited for fishing - its lower part protruded forward. It was convenient for the person sitting on the stone to place his feet on it. A spruce tree once grew next to the stone, but it has not survived to this day. Those who come to venerate the relics of St. of the righteous Simeon, the pilgrims were eager to take away with them some object sanctified by his presence. So they broke off branches from the spruce tree. Gradually the tree died. Around 1854 it was broken by a storm, and the trunk was probably carried away by the river current. The spruce tree and the stone on which the righteous man was fishing are usually depicted in images of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. On icons depicting the saint in the waters of Tura, you can often see a fishing device called ez - a local dam made of willow twigs.

As for the appearance of St. righteous Simeon, then his iconographic original goes back to the hagiographic tradition - both in the Early and in the Common editions of his life, the saint repeatedly appears in visions (“in a subtle dream”) to different persons exactly like this: “in white clothes, in stitching like black, that is, azure color (On early icons, the blue caftan of St. Righteous Simeon has a wrap on the left side (this is how women’s clothing is now fastened). This is not surprising. In the 16th - first half of the 18th centuries, all Russian national clothing was wrapped on the left side. “Foreigners “(Tatars, Bashkirs, etc.) wrapped their clothes in the opposite direction - to the right). He is of average age, about half a century old (35 years old - A.P.). The origins of Brady and Nausiya are fair-haired and have kind eyes.”

Popular rumors about the saint of God who appeared “in the Siberian country” quickly spread. An increasing number of people not only from Siberia, but from the districts of European Rus' flocked to Verkhoturye to venerate the incorruptible remains of St. Simeon Merkushinsky.

At the very beginning of the 18th century. - in 1702, Filofey (Leshchinsky) * was installed as Metropolitan of Siberia and Tobolsk as the abbot of the Bryansk Svensky Monastery. The Bishop arrived in Tobolsk on February 12, 1703. There is no doubt that the Right Reverend Philotheus, passing through Verkhoturye, stopped at the St. Nicholas Monastery. The rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Israel*, asked the bishop for a blessing to transfer the relics of St. Righteous Simeon to the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery (In the newest edition of the Life of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye we read: “As soon as the Right Reverend arrived in Tobolsk, the Verkhoturye governor Alexei Ivanovich Kalitin and the customs head Peter Khudyakov appeared to him. On behalf of the Verkhoturye citizens they asked permission to transfer relics of St. Righteous Simeon from the village of Merkushino in Verkhoturye. The Bishop approved their good intention and blessed to transfer the relics to the St. Nicholas Monastery "(Lives of the Saints of the Ekaterinburg Diocese. Ekaterinburg, 2008. P. 487). Such a statement seems incorrect. Firstly , spiritual issues (which include the issue of transferring the relics of St. Righteous Simeon) were not included in the competence of the secular authorities.Secondly, neither the Early nor the Long editions of the Life of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye about the trip to Tobolsk of the Verkhoturye governor Stolnik A .I. Kalitin and the customs head P.R. Khudyakov, not a word is said - it is only indicated that the relics of the righteous man from Merkushin to Verkhoturye were transferred “with the blessing of the great master, the Right Reverend Philotheus, Metropolitan of Siberia and Tobolsk,” which is natural - everything in the Russian Orthodox Church was and is being done with the bishop's blessing. Finally, thirdly, it made sense for the Verkhoturye administrators to follow Metropolitan Philofem, and “as soon as the bishop arrived in Tobolsk” there was no “appearing” to bow to him - the governor and the customs head had every opportunity to meet with the new Siberian bishop, literally the day before - when he stopped in Verkhoturye on the way to Tobolsk (at least for several days in order to resolve issues related to diocesan affairs in Verkhoturye district). The initiative to ask for a metropolitan blessing to transfer the relics of St. righteous Simeon from Merkushin to the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery, without a doubt, belonged to Archimandrite Israel. Local secular authorities could only support (and did support) this initiative. The thesis about the active participation of the governor in the transfer of righteous relics to Verkhoturye probably arose due to the etiquette mention of his name in the chased inscription on the copper shrine of St. Simeon, made in 1798. The inscription says that the relics were transferred from Merkushin “at the request of the city ruler of the Verkhotursk city, steward and governor Alexy Ivanovich Kaletin and all the Verkhotursk city and district residents, with the blessing of our great archpastor, the Most Reverend Philotheus, Metropolitan of Tobolsk and all Siberia. , under Archimandrite of the Nicholas Monastery Israel Dalmatovsky." The name of the Verkhoturye customs head P.R. Khudyakov is known from the text of the Early and Long editions of the Life of St. righteous Simeon - the head complained that the inclement weather prevailing at the time of the transfer of the relics probably indicates that the righteous man did not want to leave his beloved Merkushin for life and death).

In early September 1704, Archimandrite Israel “went to the village of Merkushinskoye for the sake of preparation to transpose the relics of the holy and righteous Simeon into a new prepared shrine” and to order the procedure for transferring them to Verkhoturye. The reliquary for the relics of the righteous was made of cedar in the form of a large box with a sliding lid. The outside was decorated with carvings, and the inside was upholstered in leather and covered with swan's down.

The transfer was scheduled for September 8, 1704, but inclement weather (“the rainy season of September from the 1st to the 8th is incessant”) forced to postpone this celebration until favorable days were established. Archimandrite Israel “transferred the relics of the saint into a new shrine.” Immediately the sky cleared of clouds - “the rain stopped, and the air became clear.” The archimandrite announced in Verkhoturye about the transfer of the relics of the righteous man into a new shrine and his intention to transfer them in the near future. After this, in Merkushino “a priestess came from the city, with holy icons, and a multitude of people, and with small children.”

“On the 12th day of September”, in a solemn procession of the cross, the relics of “the holy and righteous Simeon were brought from the Merkushinsky village in Verkhoturye to the Nikolaevskaya monastery” (The newest edition of the Life of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye states that “having arrived in Verkhoturye, the procession headed to the convent, where the relics of the righteous man were placed in the wooden Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. Soon they were transferred to the Church of St. Nicholas in the St. Nicholas Monastery "(Lives of the Saints of the Ekaterinburg Diocese. Ekaterinburg, 2008. P. 487). In the Early and Long editions of the Life of St. Simeon Verkhotursky does not speak about the temporary “placement” of the relics of the righteous in the Intercession Convent for women).

The old coffin in which the righteous man was buried remained in Merkushino (unfortunately, the ancient Merkushino Church of St. Michael the Archangel, along with the relic located in it, burned down in the 19th century).

Since the transfer of the relics of St. righteous Simeon, they began to call him not Merkushinsky, but Verkhotursky. At the same time, they began to celebrate the date of September 12/25 (Initially, the service to St. Righteous Simeon was performed according to the general Menea. Since 1862, a special service was compiled for him).

We should touch upon the handwritten tradition of the Life of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. The original version of the Life has not survived to this day. All lists now known to science reflect several stages of editorial work. As a result, the early text was supplemented with new articles and later miracles (And to this day, a record of miracles occurring from the relics of St. Righteous Simeon is being kept).

The basis of the Life was created at the end of the 17th century. in the Tobolsk bishop's house, shortly after the examination of the relics of the saint, as stated above, which took place on December 18 and 30, 1694, by a commission headed by Metropolitan Ignatius of Siberia and Tobolsk. The Bishop was directly involved in the creation of the original text of the Life. By the time of his appointment to the Tobolsk See, Metropolitan Ignatius was already known as the author of a number of spiritual works. In Siberia he continued his writing activity. With a significant degree of confidence we can say that the preface and the first fourteen stories were written by the Right Reverend Ignatius.

The earliest editions that go back to the original text of the Life are the so-called ones we mentioned above. “Early” (title: “The story known and testified about the manifestation of honest relics and partly the legend about the miracles of the holy and righteous Simeon, the new Siberian miracle worker”) and “Widespread” (title: “Miracles and the life of the holy and righteous Simeon, the Verkhotursk miracle worker”) ") editors. The earliest of the lists of the Life of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye dates back to the 20s. XVIII century In total, to date, science knows 12 lists (XVIII - XIX centuries) of the Early and Common editions (Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Literary monuments of the Tobolsk bishop's house of the 17th century. Novosibirsk, 2001. P. 232-271, 371-386 (History of Siberia . Primary sources. Issue 10); Mangilev P.I., proteur. On the history of the text of the Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Problems of the history of Russia. Issue 4: Eurasian borderland. Ekaterinburg, 2001. pp. 293-301; Literary monuments of the Tobolsk bishop's house XVII century. Novosibirsk, 2001. pp. 377-386).

In addition to the group of lists containing editions of the Life, there are lists that contain the so-called. “An extract from the records and other documents available in the Verkhotursky Nikolaevsky Monastery of the Perm diocese about the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, whose incorruptible relics rest in this monastery.” The “extract” was created by the middle of the 19th century, probably in 1846, when the transfer of the relics of St. Simeon from a copper shrine to a new silver shrine (more on this will be discussed below). By using the scientific literature that had appeared by that time, the “Extract” provides a detailed description of the historical events against the backdrop of which the righteous man spent his earthly life. The last chronological reference is a link to N.G. Ustryalov’s “Russian History”, published in 1845. It was the “Extract” that laid the basis for the Life of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, first published in 1856 (Baidin V.I. Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye - a real person: life, hagiographic legend, veneration // Essays on the history and culture of the city of Verkhoturye and the Verkhoturye region (To the 400th anniversary of Verkhoturye). Yekaterinburg, 1998. P. 117). The writing of the text of the printed Life can probably be associated with the name of Archimandrite Gabriel (Lyubomudrov), who was in charge of the St. Nicholas Monastery from 1854 to 1880. He, as is known, prepared the Akathist of St. for publication. righteous Simeon and composed the main service for him (Mangilev P.I., prot. On the history of the text of the Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Problems of the history of Russia. Issue 4: Eurasian borderland. Ekaterinburg, 2001. P. 299).

The collections of the Holy Synod in the RGIA (Russian State Historical Archive) have preserved interesting for the history of the veneration of St. Righteous Simeon, materials from the investigation of the Holy Synod, held in the 20s. XIX century (RGIA. F. 796. Op. 107. (1826). D. 812; Mangilev P.I., prot. On the history of the text of the Life of Simeon of Verkhoturye // Problems of Russian history. Issue 4: Eurasian borderland. Yekaterinburg, 2001. pp. 298-299). In this synodal matter, rich material was deposited, extracted from the archives of the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery, the Tobolsk and Perm spiritual consistories, and the Moscow Synodal Office. In fact, the file contains one more - the thirteenth, list of the Life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. The service contained in the file is an adapted service of Christ for the holy fools from the General Menaion. Of interest are two akathists to St. righteous Simeon. The first, anonymous, is well known - it is still read over the relics of the righteous. The second, written by the archpriest of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Shadrinsk Ioann Popov, was considered lost. Historiographer of the St. Nicholas Monastery of the early 20th century. V.S. Baranov noted that this version of the akathist was initially kept among the monastery papers, but over time it was “lost unknown” (V.S. Baranov, Chronicle of the Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Men's Cenobitic Monastery (Ekaterinburg Diocese) in connection with the historical legend about the Life of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye the Wonderworker, 2nd ed. B. M., 1991, p. 114).

In 1798, at the expense of Felitsata Stepanovna Turchaninova, the widow of the famous Ural salt industrialist, titular adviser to Alexei Fedorovich Turchaninov, for the relics of St. righteous Simeon's shrine was built from red copper. The raku was made in the Rococo artistic style, popular at that time, at the Troitsky Solikamsk plant. It was decorated with engraving and chasing, and in some places it was silvered. In the five “stamps” were inscriptions about the date of the appearance of the holy relics and the name of the sovereign during whose reign their transfer took place. The names of persons involved in the transfer of the relics or in the “construction” of the shrine were also engraved - the Verkhoturye governor A.I. Kaletin, the archimandrite of the St. Nicholas Monastery of Israel, donors A.F. and F.S. Turchaninovs.

By the beginning of the 19th century. The wooden chapel over the grave of St. fell into disrepair. righteous Simeon in Merkushino. Verkhoturye resident Fyodor Kurbatov in 1808 submitted a petition to the ecclesiastical authorities for permission to build a stone chapel in its place. Bishop of Perm Justin (Vishnevsky) blessed the construction. Soon a stone chapel with an iron roof was built at the site where the relics of the righteous were found.

From the Merkushino grave of St. Righteous Simeon, a life-giving source flows to this day. Water from it, being in any container, does not deteriorate for several years. Since ancient times and to this day, pilgrims visiting Merkushino draw this water from the source, often receiving miraculous healing from various ailments, for which there is numerous evidence.

By the 40s. XIX century copper shrine for the relics of St. righteous Simeon began to seem insufficiently splendid. With the approval of the diocesan authorities, they organized the collection of private donations for the production of a silver shrine for the main monastery shrine. By 1846, the necessary amount of money was collected - mainly through subsidies from merchants from Yekaterinburg, Verkhoturye and other cities. The contract for the construction of the shrine was concluded with the Moscow merchant Gavriil Matveevich Kornilov, and the work was carried out by silversmith from St. Petersburg Fyodor Andreevich Verkhovtsev. Soon the crayfish was ready, but its weight turned out to be 2 pounds more than specified in the contract. When this was reported to the Archbishop of Perm and Verkhoturye Arkady (Fedorov), the bishop reacted calmly, noting in a written resolution on the report that “for St. no splendor interferes with the relics.” The famous “historiographer” of the monastery at the beginning of the 20th century. V.S. Baranov in his book “Chronicle of the Verkhoturye Nikolaev Monastery” gives the shrine the following description: “A silver shrine is 3 arshins in length, and 1 arshin is 4.5 vershoks in width. Pure silver was used for cancer: 10 poods 8 pounds. Its cost is 14,573 rubles. silver This cancer has the following structure: the roof is on silver shanks, with two brackets, the outside is all silver; it depicts the righteous Simeon in full height, his face and hands are picturesque, and the dress and coverlet are silver under the “mat”; on the head is a silver-gilded crown with seven medium-sized amethyst stones, which are studded with rhinestones. In two corners above the head of the saint, two angels are depicted holding scrolls in their hands with the inscription on them: “Holy Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, the Wonderworker.” The uppermost part of this roof is a special hinged lid, in order to more conveniently apply to the saint. relics; it opens to the saint's waist, on one silver shalner and two silver chains, with an outside bracket and one iron lock. The roof cornice is decorated in two rows along the roof with a gilded frieze; The first row is linear, the second is rocoque cut. The inside of this hinged lid is upholstered in dark crimson velvet, on top of which are attached silver images of the Holy Spirit with radiance and the Life-Giving Cross. The upper cornice of the shrine is all smooth and polished; on the four corners, just under the cornice, there are four molded cherubs, and under it there are corners of rococo carving, gilded to look like a “mat”. On the four smooth sides of the shrine, below the cornice, is stamped: on the right - the transfer of the honorable relics of the righteous Simeon from the village of Merkushino to the city. Verkhoturye, without gilding under the “poler” and under the “mat”; and around this image it is surrounded by gilded rocoque carvings: on the left side, without gilding, there are depicted under the “poler” and under the “mat” things belonging to the occupation of righteous Simeon in life as fishing - this is in one compartment, and in the other - fishing with seines and with nets, and in the third, the Righteous One himself is depicted praying on his knees in a thicket of cedar forest, and is surrounded by gilded rocoque carvings with tassels; On the front side of the shrine, at the top, below the cornice, there are two angels holding a brand on which are carved the words: “These honorable relics of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye the wonderworker, found incorrupt in the Verkhoturye district in the village of Merkushino in 1692”, without gilding, under the “mat”, and surrounded by gilded rocoque cutting; on the back side, at the feet, there is the same brand and with the same decorations as on the front side, with the following inscription: “These honest relics of the saint of God Simeon the righteous Verkhoturye wonderworker were transferred to the Verkhoturye monastery in September 1704 on the 12th day under the Tsar Peter Alekseevich and under the rector Archimandrite Israel.” The lower cornice around is decorated along the goltele with a gilded frieze of Rococo carvings. Under the shrine there are six silver-plated, mat-like frame legs attached to the shrine with iron. The crayfish has a wooden bottom. Inside the shrine is a coffin made of cypress wood, upholstered in crimson velvet.”

On September 12, 1846, the solemn transposition of the relics of St. Simeon from a copper shrine to a silver one. It was headed by His Eminence Arkady, Archbishop of Perm and Verkhoturye (The further fate of the silver reliquary is as follows. During the Civil War - in June 1918, when the Kolchak army was retreating from Verkhoturye, the brethren of the monastery, fearing terror and robbery from the Reds, took the reliquary out of the city ( the day before, the relics of St. Simeon were laid out from it and safely hidden in the monastery). On the border of the Irbit and Tyumen districts, the Krasnoselsky convent was located. The shrine was hidden there. The Bolsheviks, who seized power in Verkhoturye, at first had little interest in the St. Nicholas Monastery and, in In general, they behaved quite restrainedly, so it was decided to return the cancer. In February 1920, it was again brought to Verkhoturye. As it turned out, the brethren’s hopes for loyalty to the new government were in vain. By 1922, the Soviet government actively launched a campaign to confiscate church valuables.In this regard, a special commission came to Verkhoturye on April 26, 1922. It was primarily interested in a massive shrine made of high-grade silver for the relics of St. righteous Simeon. The protocol on the seizure of valuables in the St. Nicholas Monastery states that “the first thing the commission decided to do was to remove a silver shrine weighing 10 pounds. 7 lb. 36 spools and, along with it, chasubles and wreaths from icons in the amount of fourteen items with a total weight of 15 pounds. 37 spools." The reliquary, along with other silver utensils, was taken from the monastery to Yekaterinburg. Nothing more was heard from her. Most likely, like everything else, with rare exceptions, the seized church silver was melted down in the Yekaterinburg gold-alloying laboratory and, by order of the center, already in ingots with a designated hallmark, sent to Moscow).

In 1913, a new cathedral was erected in the St. Nicholas Monastery in honor of the Honest and Glorious Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On September 11, Bishop of Yekaterinburg and Irbitsk Mitrofan (Athos), in the concelebration of the Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye clergy, performed the rite of consecration of the main altar of the newly built cathedral (the side chapels will be consecrated later - the left Simeonovsky - on May 27, 1914, and the right Assumption - on September 10, 1916). In the evening of the same day, the coffin with the relics of St. Righteous Simeon was solemnly transferred from St. Nicholas Church to the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross. In the new cathedral, the relics of the Ural righteous were installed in a silver shrine, the same one in which they had rested until now.
May 25, 1914 over the shrine of St. Righteous Simeon was erected with a canopy built by the support of the Romanov family. The date of the celebration of the installation of the canopy was not chosen by chance - it was timed to coincide with the birthday of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Dmitry Nikolaevich Loman, colonel of the Life Guards of the Pavlovsk regiment, ktitor of the Sovereign Feodorovsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg, was present as the “royal commissioner for the delivery of the canopy to the monastery” (a person representing the Imperial Court at the ceremony of consecrating the canopy). The “receiving” party was His Grace Seraphim (Golubyatnikov), Bishop of Yekaterinburg and Irbit, and Archimandrite Xenophon (Medvedev) and the brethren.

The so-called canopy was chosen as the artistic basis for this canopy project. “royal place” (prayer throne under the canopy) of Ivan the Terrible in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, as well as functionally close to the “royal place” objects from the era of the “Moscow Kingdom” of the 16th-17th centuries. The model was developed in the Old Russian style by architect Stepan Samoilovich Krichinsky. “On February 12, 1914, the order for the manufacture of the canopy was received by the Partnership of I.P. Khlebnikov, Sons and Co., the official supplier of the Imperial Court. The cost of materials and work amounted to 26,500 rubles. More than 125 employees of the company were involved in fulfilling the highest order. By May 5, the canopy was ready - it was sent disassembled by rail to Verkhoturye. On May 14, the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross began installing the sent canopy parts. Unfortunately, it has not survived to this day. Only photographs and descriptions remain: “The canopy is a tent bordered by three rows of kokoshniks. On four bronze columns and a marble pedestal (the pedestal was made using monastery funds). The canopy is surrounded by a bronze lattice. On the columns of the canopy, in the kokoshniks, on the pediments and on the ceilings of the tent there are iconographic images, the work of the Moscow icon painter Nikolai Sergeevich Emelyanov. The top of the tent is crowned with an eagle in the style of the time of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The canopy is assembled on an iron frame. The frame is made of I-beams and channel beams and various profiles of shaped iron, riveted and supported by four riveted columns of thick angle iron with trusses below. The entire frame is up to 90 poods. The body of the canopy is made of dense copper with chased decorations. The ceiling of the tent is solid embossed. The upper kokoshniks and the tent are made of wood, upholstered in hammered copper with edges mounted from dense copper. The canopy is gilded to resemble old gold. The inscription on the pediment is silvered. The grille is bronze, finished in patinated bronze color. Consists of 9 links. The weight of each lattice link is about 8 pounds. Canopy dimensions: height 16 ½ arshins, with a base of 5x5 arshins. The weight of the canopy with bars is more than 500 pounds. All bases, columns, capitals and brackets supporting the pediments of the canopy are made of cast, hammered bronze. The eagle crowning the canopy is of the same work. The eagle is placed above the chased enamel dome. The iconographic images on the canopy are as follows: 1. On the columns: 1) saints glorified during the current prosperous reign of Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich: St. Hermogenes, St. Anna Kashinskaya, St. Rev. Theodosius of Chernigov, St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, St. Seraphim of Sarov and Joasaph of Belgorod; 2) St. Stephen of Perm and 3) St. Pitirim, whose image is to be replaced by the image of St. Pitirim of Tambov after his glorification. 2. In kokoshniks: 1) in the first tier: St. Simeon and the saints named after their imperial majesties and august children, namely: St. Queen Alexandra, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Alexy Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Tatiana, St. Olga, St. Anastasia and St. Maria; 2) in the second row there are saints corresponding to the birthdays of their imperial majesties and august children and the day of the sacred coronation of their imperial majesties, namely: St. Job the Long-Suffering (May 6, birthday of the Emperor), 3rd finding of the head of St. John the Baptist (May 25, birthday of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), St. John the Fool of Ustyug (May 29, birthday of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna), Blessed Princess Theodosia, mother of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky (June 5, birthday of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna), Reverend Princess Anna Vsevolodovna (November 3, birthday of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna ), St. Prince Mstislav, baptized George (June 14, birthday of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna), St. Martyr John the Warrior (July 30, the birthday of the heir to Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich) and the Icon of the Mother of God of Yaroslav-Pechersk (May 14, the day of the coronation of their imperial majesties). On the ceiling of the canopy is an icon of St. Trinity. On the canopy there is an inscription testifying to the gift of their imperial majesties: “This canopy was built for the relics of St. Simeon the Righteous, to the Verkhoturye Monastery, with the support and love of the most pious Great Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, the most pious Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the most pious Sovereign Heir to the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexei Nikolaevich and the blessed Grand Duchesses: Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anasasiia Nikolaevna in the summer of Christmas Christ 1914th May 25.”

The royal gift was by no means a formality on the part of the supreme power. From 1907 until the February Revolution of 1917, a special relationship developed between the imperial family and the St. Nicholas Monastery. In fact, the monastery was under the sovereign's patronage. This is evidenced by the regular exchange of postal telegrams between the “palace” and the monastery.

One fact cannot be ignored here. The St. Nicholas Monastery received the highest patronage of the Romanov family thanks to G.E. Rasputin. Public assessments of the personality of “Elder Gregory” are now very contradictory and politicized. However, no matter who G.E. Rasputin was in Russian history, his role in increasing the authority of the St. Nicholas Monastery at the beginning of the 20th century. (and the increased public interest in the veneration of St. Righteous Simeon) cannot be denied. Already on October 13, 1906, when “the peasant of the Tobolsk province Grigory Efimov Rasputin” first received an audience at the palace, he presented the imperial family with an image of St. righteous Simeon. The Emperor (and subsequently the entire “court”) not only learned in detail about the Verkhoturye righteous man for the first time, but also showed keen interest in the monastery hidden behind the Ural Mountains, where the saint’s relics rested.

The fate of the relics of St. righteous Simeon was tragic, but the Lord did not allow their loss. The “people's power”, which had established itself in Verkhoturye in 1918, after some time began to show a lively “interest” in the holy remains of the righteous man. The Ural Bolsheviks were haunted by the status of Verkhoturye as a recognized spiritual center, and since by 1920 blasphemous autopsies of the relics of some saints had already been carried out in Soviet Russia, the local authorities were impatient to organize the “exposure” themselves. On September 25, 1920, a public sacrilegious performance was staged. In front of a large crowd of people, the relics of the righteous man were carried out to the porch of the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross and taken out piece by piece from the coffin. Several people, including Archimandrite Xenophon, were arrested (this was the first arrest of an archimandrite - more repressions would follow). All were accused of resisting the authorities. In fact, on their part there was only a dull murmur and sincere rejection of the clearly blasphemous actions of the Soviet authorities. Despite the “exposure,” the pilgrimage to the holy relics did not stop. On August 8, 1924, the Presidium of the regional executive committee decided to remove the relics of St. from the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross. righteous Simeon for further delivery to the museum. However, hundreds of believers somehow found out about the impending atrocity and gathered near the cathedral. The members of the commission for the removal of the relics retreated at the sight of the public pandemonium, not without reason fearing unrest. They only decided to seal the shrine with the executive committee's seals. Relics of St. righteous Simeon remained in the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross. The cathedral community sent its elder I.I. Leontyev to Moscow with a complaint “to Kalinin or the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.” The believers asked “for the abandonment of St. relics in the temple, although in a closed form or with permission to hide them in the ground.” In the response received to the request of the Holy Cross community, it was “permitted to leave St. relics in the temple, but to avoid infection, cover them with glass.” On March 25, 1925, the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross was transferred to the community of Renovationists - “Living Churchers”, and the “implementation of the decision” of the Verkhoturye authorities to remove the holy relics for “certain political reasons”, since the “viability” of the new community “needed to be supported”, for the time being “ postponed." By the way, widespread in the 20s. XX century The ideas of renovationism partially affected some monks of St. Nicholas Monastery. However, at the general meeting of the brethren on May 11, 1924, a resolution was adopted “on the non-recognition of the Renovationist Church.” In the spring of 1929, the question of removing holy relics from the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross was raised again. This time the authorities decided that the time had come to “recognize it as possible... the contents in the shrine (relic) in a hermetically sealed form in a glass cabinet for anti-religious propaganda should be placed in the Tagil Museum.” Before the removal of the relics of St. Righteous Simeon, just as in 1920, their public dissection and “exposure” took place. On May 29, 1929, the head of the Verkhoturye station was instructed in a package marked “Strictly Secret”: “to provide... a covered carriage for special-purpose cargo. In the documents, the cargo is called “a consignment of used household items.” Provide another carriage for security. Attach the cars to the train, even if the others are uncoupled.” The next day, the relics of St. Righteous Simeon was removed from the St. Nicholas Monastery and sent by train as a “special cargo” to Nizhny Tagil. According to a written testimony left in the margins of one of the books that belonged to Hieromonk Ignatius (Kevroletin), on May 30, 1929, “from the Verkhoturye Nicholas Monastery of the Holy Cross Cathedral,” along with the relics, “a shrine (copper), a canopy, lamps, candlesticks, a lattice and an image were taken away with the icon case that was before the relics.”

In the Nizhny Tagil Museum of the relics of St. Simeon were kept until 1936. The director of the museum, a prominent Ural local historian Alexander Nikolaevich Slovtsov, managed to defend the Cathedral of the Entrance of Jerusalem, which was closed in Nizhny Tagil. Due to the fact that the temple became a museum building, the iconostasis and almost all of the interior decoration were completely preserved. In the interior of the cathedral a copper shrine containing the relics of St. righteous Simeon, as an exhibit of the “anti-religious exhibition” of the museum. This had the opposite effect - under the auspices of visiting the museum to venerate the relics, a hidden pilgrimage took place. The authorities could not like this situation. A.N. Slovtsov was arrested and convicted. One of the accusations brought against the director of the museum was directly related to the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. He was accused of carrying out “anti-Soviet activities, expressed in the deliberate misuse of museum exhibits to create anti-Soviet sentiments among citizens visiting the museum.”

In February 1936, the relics of St. righteous Simeon were transported to Sverdlovsk. Initially, they were located in the Sverdlovsk Anti-Religious Museum, located in the “Peasant’s House” opposite the closed Novo-Tikhvin Convent. However, the museum soon moved to the infamous Ipatiev House. Thus, the relics of the Ural saint, so revered by the royal martyrs, ended up in the mansion of the engineer Ipatiev, where the life of the Imperial family ended. They could be seen in museum exhibitions until the Great Patriotic War. Just as in Nizhny Tagil, pilgrims came to the museum under the guise of excursionists to venerate the relics. During the war, the anti-religious museum was preserved, and in 1946 it completely ceased to exist - it was disbanded. In October of the same year, St. the relics were transported from the Ipatiev House to the depository of the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, at 3 Voevodina Lane. Since then, they, having received the inventory marking “exhibit s/m No. 12125,” have never been subject to open display. Despite this, many believers knew that the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye are in the museum.

After the war, there was a short period of warming relations between the Stalinist government and the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1946-1947 the state returned the relics of some saints to the Russian Orthodox Church. These events prompted Bishop Tovia (Ostroumov) of Sverdlovsk and Irbit, with the blessing of the Holy Synod, to petition for the return of the relics of St. righteous Simeon. The authorities did not respond to the bishop’s petition (It should be noted that there was still a benefit from the fact that the question of returning the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye to the Russian Orthodox Church was raised. Thus, the Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR G.G. Karpov in general, he proposed, “if the consent of the government is given,” to destroy all the relics stored in the country’s museums. The only exception was made in relation to those relics “for which petitions have been raised by the bishops and the Patriarch... they will have to be preserved, since they were seen by representatives of the clergy and believers , when they were exhibited in museums for viewing, they know their location and condition" (Tikhon (Zatekin), archimandrite of Tsarskoe Verkhoturye. Nizhny Novgorod: Publishing department of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese at the Ascension Pechersk Monastery, 2013. P. 204-205). " The silence" of the authorities lasted more than 40 years. Only with the advent of the notorious Perestroika, on the eve of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', the question of the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, at the insistence of the Orthodox community, was raised again (There is a persistent legend that in 1988 the Archbishop of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Melchizedek (Lebedev) informed about the relics of St. stored in the storerooms of the Sverdlovsk Museum of Local Lore. righteous Simeon, a certain pious woman who worked as a cleaner in a museum. This legend is often voiced in literature as an actual fact (Lives of the Saints of the Ekaterinburg Diocese. Ekaterinburg, 2008. P. 494). However, as mentioned above, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church already from the second half of the 40s. XX century It was well known about the location of the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. It should be recognized that, most likely, the story about the “pious woman”-cleaner is only an oral folk tradition associated with the second discovery of the relics (Tikhon (Zatekin), abbot, Shinkarenko Yu.V. “The power of the kings, the fortress of the righteous.” From history Verkhotursky Holy Cross Cathedral. Nizhny Novgorod, 2002. P. 183). On September 15, 1988, the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR issued an order “to transfer from the funds of the Sverdlovsk State United Historical and Revolutionary Museum to the religious association of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral of the city. Sverdlovsk for long-term free use of the “holy relics” of Simeon of Verkhoturye No. 12125.” On April 14, 1989, from the museum depository, located in the building of the Church of St. the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky (Green Grove), the official transfer of the holy relics of righteous Simeon to the Sverdlovsk diocese took place in the person of Archbishop of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Melchizedek (Lebedev).
For a short time, the relics of the Ural righteous man were in the diocesan administration. But already on May 25, 1989, they were solemnly transferred to the Church of the All-Merciful Savior in the village of Elizavet on the outskirts of Sverdlovsk, consecrated literally the day before - April 23.

By the Simeon Days of 1992, it was decided to return the holy relics to Verkhoturye. A religious procession was scheduled for September 24, with which the relics of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye to St. Nicholas Monastery. Archbishop Seraphim (Tikhonov) of Penza and Kuznetsk and Bishop Georgy (Gryaznov) of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust arrived at the celebration. Together with Bishop Melchizedek, they celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Spasskaya Church in the village of Elizavet, after which the foundation stone of a temple in honor of All Saints was laid on the site of the Ipatiev House. Bishop Melchizedek laid a marble capsule containing a particle of the relics of St. at the site of the proposed foundation of the throne of the future cathedral. righteous Simeon.
On September 24, 1992, a cortege with holy relics set out from Yekaterinburg. The holy relics were accompanied by three bishops - Archbishop Melchizedek of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan, Archbishop Seraphim of Penza and Kuznetsk, Bishop Georgy of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust. Along the way - in Nevyansk, Nikolo-Pavlovsky and Nizhny Tagil, this solemn procession was greeted by religious processions led by the local clergy. By half past nine in the evening the motorcade arrived in Verkhoturye. Local parishioners and pilgrims stood along the road with candles in their hands. At the holy gates of the monastery, the relics of the saint of God Simeon were met by the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Tikhon, and his brethren. Accompanied by a procession of the cross, to the sound of bells, the holy relics were brought into the Transfiguration Church, which had been consecrated shortly before - on August 23, 1992. After the holy relics were placed under the canopy with burning lamps, the archpastors and shepherds served a prayer service with an akathist to St. righteous Simeon. The next day, September 25, after the Divine Liturgy, a procession of the Cross was held around the Transfiguration Church. The righteous man returned to where he had rested for 300 years.

Celebration of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye is celebrated three times a year: May 12/25 - on the day of the second discovery of the relics, September 12/25 - on the day of the transfer of the relics of the righteous from Merkushino to Verkhoturye and December 18/31 - on the day that is considered to be the day of the repose of St. righteous Simeon (This date is read in the above-mentioned inscription above the holy spring at the site of the grave of the righteous man in Merkushino on December 18, 1650).

Christianity knows many amazing examples of perseverance in faith and true confession. And a huge host of Orthodox saints is the best proof of this. Studying the life path of this or that ascetic, there is no doubt that God’s Providence exists and guides a person throughout his entire life. Thus, one of God’s amazing saints, to whom many Christians resort for help, is the holy and righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.

Biography of Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye

The holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye is a very revered saint in Russia. He is considered the patron saint of the Urals, therefore we especially honor him on Ural soil. On the days of his memory, thousands of pilgrims come there.

Unfortunately, there is very little reliable information about the earthly life of the ascetic. What is known about his origin is that his ancestors were nobles, and Simeon himself was born in the 17th century. His family was distinguished by its special piety and Christian life, which could not but affect the upbringing of a special child.

When Simeon's parents died, he went to live and wander in the Ural land. He lived in the city of Verkhotursk, and then in the village of Merkushino, which was located nearby. Therefore, along with Simeon of Verkhoturye, this ascetic is sometimes called Simeon Merkushinsky. It was in the village that the saint of God spent almost the rest of his life.

Simeon Verkhotursky

Trying to live as modestly as possible, the ascetic hid his noble origins from everyone. He lived on fishing and the meager fruits that the Ural soil provided. Also in winter, he sewed fur coats for the local population.

Interesting. An interesting fact is indicated in his biography: in order to practice non-covetousness and avoid human praise, Simeon often left his work a little unfinished, after which he gave it to the owner without charging payment for it. This attitude towards earning money and evaluating one’s work really speaks of a deep spiritual life and asceticism.

Of course, having discovered the light of Christ’s faith for himself, the righteous man could not help but bring it to people. In those days, in the Urals there were settlements of the indigenous population - the Voguls, whose beliefs were far from Christianity. The saint was engaged in the enlightenment of this people, and through his efforts and prayers many people joined Christianity.

During his lifetime, Simeon earned the reputation of a righteous and pious man. Practicing a lot in prayer, he spent long hours kneeling on a bare stone right in the middle of the harsh taiga. The river where he fished for his livelihood also had a secluded place for his prayer.

Brief information about his earthly life was collected together by Metropolitan Ignatius (Tobolsk and Siberia) after the death of the saint and the discovery of his venerable relics. The holy and righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye reposed in the Lord in 1642, all in the same village of Merkushino, where he lived. The memory of the ascetic is celebrated three times a year - December 31, September 25 and May 25 according to the new style.

Icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye

Finding the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye

Despite his righteous life and veneration during his life, after the death of the elder he was quickly forgotten. His grave near the village temple became abandoned, and soon no one could remember who exactly was buried there.

But the Lord did not allow the memory of his ascetic and faithful follower to disappear so easily. 50 years after the burial, the honest and incorruptible relics of the saint were miraculously found.

It happened like this. In 1692, local residents discovered that the old temple burial had suddenly risen from the ground, and the remains of the deceased, which had not succumbed to decay over all the past years, appeared through the coffin. Considering this as a sign of the holiness of the buried person, residents tried to restore the identity of the deceased, but no one could remember who was buried at this place.

When Metropolitan Ignatius learned about what had happened, he created a special commission to investigate. By that time, repeated cases of miracles and healings that occurred from the acquired relics had already been recorded. Thus, local residents noticed that if they apply soil from the grave to the sore spot, the pain goes away. Evidence of healing from skin diseases with the help of this earth has also been observed.

Relics of Simeon of Verkhoturye

Among others, the monk Nikifor was sent to Merkushino by the metropolitan, who spent the entire journey in concentrated and heartfelt prayer. At some point, he fell into a kind of dream, in which he saw a man in light and shining clothes. The monk asked who he was, and the man replied that he was Simeon Merkushinsky. Later it was reliably determined whose burial had been discovered, and the monk testified to his vision.

Metropolitan Ignatius himself came to Merkushino. Having listened to the reports of local residents, who had already begun en masse to venerate the unknown saint, the bishop was at first quite skeptical about all the miracles. However, later, having seen the truly incorrupt remains of the body, once again studying all the evidence of miraculous help and learning about the monk’s vision, the Metropolitan changed his mind.

At the direction of the Metropolitan, the relics were transferred with full honors to the temple. Data also began to be collected about the earthly life of the ascetic, on the basis of which the life of Simeon of Verkhoturye was compiled, and to him.

Nicholas the Wonderworker and righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye

Veneration of the relics of Simeon of Verkhoturye

At the very beginning of the 18th century, the relics of the saint from the village of Merkushino were transferred to Verkhoturye, and with the permission of the church authorities they were placed in the monastery church of the St. Nicholas Monastery. Soon there was a strong fire in the monastery, which destroyed the church to the ground. However, the shrine containing the holy relics was miraculously not damaged and remained untouched by the fire.

In honor of this wonderful event, a separate chapel was made in the restored church in honor of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, where his relics were placed.

In the village of Merkushino itself, the site of the first discovery of holy remains was also revered. On the site where the grave was originally located. The water from it had healing powers. At the same time, a wooden chapel was erected nearby, which over time was rebuilt into a more reliable stone one.

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Interesting. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the saint’s fame had reached truly all-Russian proportions. Over the course of a year, up to 60 thousand people flocked to the monastery to venerate his relics.

All this time, obvious miracles and healings granted to believers through the prayers of the ascetic did not stop. Many people who fell with ardent faith at the holy relics and sincerely asked for something that did not harm the human soul received what they asked for.

St. Simeon's Cathedral, Chelyabinsk

With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks in 1917, a stage of persecution of the Orthodox Church and repression began. This misfortune did not spare the Nikolaevsky Monastery, where the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye rested.

In order to prove the unscientific nature of religion and the natural causes of any miracles, it was decided to open the incorruptible relics by the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry. This fact caused a storm of indignation among believers who considered such actions blasphemous. And only the diplomatic position of the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Xenophon, was able to contain the religious rebellion that was rising. As a result, the investigative commission limited itself to a formal examination of the relics, from which only the outer covers were removed.

After the retreat of the White Guard from the Urals, a decision was made to evacuate the brethren of the monastery. Unable to take away all the monastery shrines, including the precious shrine with the relics of Simeon of Verkhoturye, they were hidden in monasteries on the territory of the monastery. Later, when in 1920 the brethren returned to the now Soviet city, they would find the shrine safe and sound, absolutely untouched.

Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Monastery, where the relics of Simeon are kept

But the persecution of the monastery did not end there. On the day of the celebration of the memory of Simeon of Verkhoturye in 1920, immediately after the brethren returned and settled in their monastery, a special commission decided to re-open the relics. This time the shrine had to be removed and placed on the table. And again, only with the admonitions of the governor, Xenophon, was it possible to contain the wave of popular anger. A few hours later the relics were allowed to be returned to their rightful place.

However, already in 1929, a new decision was made to transfer the incorruptible remains to the museum to create an anti-religious exhibition. However, the exhibition was not a success; the director of the museum was accused of being insufficiently anti-religious, and the relics were transferred to the Ipatiev House Museum.

Thus, the great Orthodox shrine, the incorruptible relics of a Christian ascetic, wandered through the storerooms of various local history museums in the Urals for several decades. It was only in 1989 that they were finally returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and became again available for worship by believers. And in 1992, with all the honors of the cancer, it was moved to the newly restored Holy Cross Cathedral of the St. Nicholas Monastery in Verkhoturye, where it remains to this day.

Studying the iconostasis of any Orthodox church, you can find on the icons both images of wonderworkers widely known in earthly life, and the faces of such righteous people as Simeon of Verkhoturye. His name was little known to his contemporaries. But his relics were glorified by incorruption and continue to exude miracles to this day.

Briefly about the earthly life of the saint

Born at the beginning of the 17th century, Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye was little known during his lifetime. During his earthly life, worldly honors were alien to him. Therefore, having buried his parents, he renounced the inheritance of the boyar family and went beyond the Urals.

Icon of the Holy Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye with Life

Having settled in the village of Merkushino not far from Verkhoturye, the saint fished, sewed fur coats in winter, and spent a lot of time wandering and praying. Those who take their first steps on the path to Christ can be helped by prayer before the icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye, who often and for a long time prayed to strengthen the faith of the newly converted inhabitants of the Siberian land.

The saint died early, about 35 years old. He was buried in the cemetery of the village of Merkushino.

Miraculous glorification of a forgotten righteous man

Half a century after this, the saint’s body was found incorrupt. Almost no one remembered his name. But the miracle of finding the relics of Saint Simeon amazed many: the coffin rose from the ground, through the rotten boards the remains preserved from decay were visible. Soon the relics of the saint healed a paralyzed villager, and then many other people.

Facts about the miraculous discovery of the relics were attested thanks to Metropolitan Ignatius of Siberia, who personally arrived in Merkushino and compared the righteousness of Saint Simeon with the exploits of Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, and Sergius of Radonezh.

Icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye

In 1704, on September 25, according to the new style, the relics of the saint were transferred to the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery. In honor of this event, every year on September 25, believers from all over Siberia flock to Verkhoturye to pray in front of the icon of St. Simeon.

On a note! Over the years, the healing miraculous power of the saint’s relics did not dry out: at the beginning of the 20th century, up to 600,000 pilgrims came to them annually.

Prayers before the icon of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye

First of all, the saint is famous for his healing power and healing of souls and bodies. The struggle with thoughts and temptations does not bypass anyone, no matter what a person strives for - sincere prayer in front of the icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye will help to defeat demons.

Troparion to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, tone 4

Fleeing worldly rebellion, you turned all your desire to God, / so that in visions of the sunrise you found grief, / by no means deviating into the wickedness of the heart, / but having purified your soul and body, you received the grace to sharpen the healing of the faithful and the unfaithful, flowing to you, righteous Simeon. / Moreover, according to the gift given to you, ask Christ God for healing for us who are sick with spiritual passions, / and pray to save our souls.

Kontakion to the Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, tone 2

Thou hast rejected the vanity of the world, so that thou mayest inherit the blessings of eternal life,/ having loved kindness and purity of soul and body./ Thou hast gained what thou hast loved, for the tomb and incorruption of thy relics, and especially the grace of miracle-working, testify to this./ Sharpen the healing of all who come to thee. and the unenlightened, blessed Simeon, wonder-working wonder.

Prayer to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye

O holy and righteous Simeon, with your pure soul you may dwell in the heavenly abodes in the face of the saints, while remaining everlastingly with us on earth! According to this grace from the Lord, pray for us, mercifully look upon us, many sinners, even if unworthy, but flowing to you with faith and hope, and ask us from God for forgiveness of our sins, in which we fall in multitudes all the days of our life. And just as before, to those who suffered from green illnesses, they were able to heal their eyes, to those who were near death, healing from severe ailments, and to others, you bestowed many other glorious benefits: deliver us from mental and physical ailments and from all sorrow and sorrow , and all that is good for our present life and for eternal salvation that is beneficial to us from the Lord, ask, so that by your intercession and prayers we have acquired all that is useful to us, even if we are unworthy, gratefully praising you, let us glorify God, wondrous in His saints, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The appearance of Saint Simeon the Wonderworker of Verkhoturye, depicted on icons, as well as his name, became known after Hierodeacon Nikifor Amvrosiev saw a fair-haired man in white in a dream. To the question “Who are you?” he replied “I am Simeon Merkushinsky” and disappeared.

As the patron saint of the Urals, believers in this part of the country pray to Saint Simeon. It is also especially revered by fishermen. Pure, heartfelt prayer in front of the icon of the righteous Simeon the Wonderworker will help get rid of many adversities and illnesses.

On a note! The first person to receive healing was a paralyzed resident of Merkushin. Therefore, now those suffering from such an illness turn with prayers to the icon of the holy righteous wonderworker Simeon of Verkhoturye.

There are known cases when, in front of the icon of St. Simeon, believers were delivered from blindness, lameness, and mental illness.

Holy Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye

The face of Simeon of Verkhoturye accompanied the family of Emperor Nicholas II in their wanderings after his abdication. The icon of this saint was discovered among others that served as a home iconostasis for the royal passion-bearers.

Relics of a saint in the Museum of Atheism

New oblivion awaited the saint with the advent of Soviet power. Persecution of faith did not spare the Verkhoturye Monastery, which was closed in 1926. All valuables were confiscated, and the relics of the saint were transferred to the local history museum of the city of Nizhny Tagil.

The “iconographic original” describes the image of the saint as follows:

“Holy and righteous Simeon of Merkushinsky and Verkhoturye, who is also the new miracle worker in Siberia; the likeness of Rus, brad and hair on the head like Kozma the Unmercenary; the vestments on him are simple, Russian.”

Now the believers went to bow to Simeon of Verkhoturye... to the museum. The veneration of the saint’s relics was widespread, which led to their removal from the museum’s display in 1935. Then the authorities decided to exhibit the miraculous remains of the saint in the Museum of Atheism in the city of Sverdlovsk, located in the Ipatiev House. At the site of the execution of the holy royal passion-bearers, the relics of Simeon of Verkhoturye were kept until 1946, and then were sent to the storerooms of the historical museum.

Repeatedly in Soviet times the question of destroying or burying the remains of the saint was raised. But in 1992 they were returned to the Church and moved again to the Verkhoturye Monastery.

Video about the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye