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- Orthodox cemetery in St. Petersburg. Located in the western part of the city on Vasilyevsky Island near the Smolenka River. Established in 1756 by decree of the Senate. On the other bank of Smolenka, on the island of the Decembrists, the Smolensk fraternal (siege) cemetery “Island of the Decembrists”, the Smolensk Lutheran and the Smolensk Armenian cemeteries are located.

History of the name

In the first years of the construction of St. Petersburg, carpenters and diggers - immigrants from the Smolensk province - were buried at this place. In 1756, the Smolensk Church was also built at the cemetery. According to information borrowed from the archives of the Smolensk Cemetery Church, as well as from the manuscripts of the own library of the priest of the Smolensk Church S.I. Opatovich, a wooden church in the name (in honor) of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was built in 1755, by virtue of the decree of Empress Elizabeth, government money from the province (since the spiritual authorities did not have the money). The cemetery itself was surrounded by a square fence, one hundred fathoms long, and on the western side it was also separated from the field by a canal. In order to compensate for the expenses incurred, the province subjugated the cemetery church with its income. The supervision of the cemetery was entrusted to retired soldiers of the city almshouse, which was located on the north side of the cemetery, and was built, possibly, from the abolished barracks of the Ingrian regiment.

By 1790, under the care of priest Georgy Petrov and according to the project of arch. A.A. Ivanov, the stone Smolensk Church was built. The wooden Smolensk Church remained, and in 1792 it was rebuilt and reconsecrated in the name of St. Archangel Michael. By 1829, this church had fallen into a state unsuitable even for repair, so it was decided to demolish it, and in its place to build a stone church in the name of St. Life-Giving Trinity

(Trinity Church), which was done in 1830-1831, according to the design of the architect V.T. Kulchenkov. In 1932, “the temple was dismantled into bricks by order of the atheistic authorities,” and now on the site of the main altar of the temple there is a memorial chapel, erected in 2001.

Burials

Here was the first grave of Taras Shevchenko, then his ashes were transferred to Kanev, Ukraine. Alexander Blok was buried here in 1921, and the Blokovskaya path in the cemetery was named after him. It is believed that A.S. Pushkin’s nanny is buried here (this is evidenced by a memorial plaque installed at the entrance to the cemetery, although there is currently no grave). Ksenia of Petersburg, canonized in 1988, is also buried here, over whose grave a chapel was erected in 1902 according to the design of the architect A. A. Vseslavin. Also, Blessed Anna Lozhkina, who wandered in the area of ​​​​Sennaya Square and Meshchansky Streets, is buried in the cemetery. A holy fool, dressed in rags, she sometimes spoke French. Cab drivers loved to give her rides, believing that it brought good luck. Anna's strange disposition and gift of foresight reminded St. Petersburg residents of Blessed Xenia. Shortly before her death in 1855, Anna came to the Smolensk cemetery, spread a scarf on the ground and asked the priest to serve a memorial service for the servant of God Anna. She was buried at this place.

Unfortunately, the cemetery has always suffered from the neglect of people, as a subjective factor, but also from objective circumstances - floods. Thus, the cemetery suffered from the flood of 1777, and especially hard from the flood of 1824.

The location of a number of graves was lost already in the 19th century. It suffered particular losses in the 1920s - 1930s, during the period of Bolshevik rule. Monuments of particular artistic value (with or without the ashes of the dead) were transferred by the authorities to other cemeteries or museums. The same was carried out in relation to especially prominent people, even if the grave did not have a valuable monument, for example, like that of the poet Alexander Blok. The remaining tombstones and crypts were often desecrated. In the second half of the 1960s and in the 1970s, in the former almshouse, at the entrance from Kamskaya Street, on the right, there was a small police department and vigilantes who, to the best of their ability, kept order in the cemetery and patrolled it.

The Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery still retains the unique flavor of old times, with its remaining monuments and graves, given that since 1988, restoration of monuments and other burials has been carried out there. On the bank of the Smolenka River, in the water, old wooden piles that were used to strengthen the bank are still preserved. At the same time, the cemetery is not abandoned - in the Smolensk Church and in the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed, divine services are constantly being held, a stream of pilgrims to St. Ksenia does not dry out.

In the cemetery, which now has a semi-closed status, burials are sometimes carried out, primarily of prominent or simply famous people, as in coffins, according to the old Orthodox custom, and in urns, for which a special area (columbarium) was allocated in the center of the cemetery, closer to Maly Prospekt, which was previously constantly flooded, which is why the old graves there fell into disrepair, were rarely visited by relatives, and were mostly lost.

Notable personalities buried in Cemetery A

• Abrastsov, Ivan Ivanovich. Mind. 1758, 50 years old. - Rzhev merchant. Granite slab, 1795. One of the oldest tombstones. Uch. 107. Evgenevskaya road.
• Akimov, Ivan Akimovich (1754–1814) - Academician of painting, professor and rector of the Academy of Arts, director of the Tapestry Manufactory. Under the Smolensk Church.
• Alekseev, Fedor Yakovlevich (1753-1824) - painter, founder of the Russian urban landscape. The grave is lost.

• Balabanov, Alexey Oktyabrovich (1959-2013) - Russian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.
• Bakhtin, Alexander Nikolaevich (1894-1931) - commander of the Panther submarine.
• Blok, Alexander Alexandrovich (1880-1921) - Russian poet. (In 1944, the ashes were reburied on the Literary Bridge of the Volkovsky Cemetery)
• Blok, Ariadna Alexandrovna (1832–1900) - grandmother of the poet A. A. Blok. Granite cross on a labradorite pedestal. Uch. 52. Nechaevskaya road.
• Blok, Pyotr Lvovich (1854–1916) - uncle of A. A. Blok. Granite cross on a pedestal. Uch. 52. Nechaevskaya road.
• Bubnov, Ivan Grigorievich (1872-1919) - Russian naval engineer and mathematician.
• Bunyakovsky, Viktor Yakovlevich (1804-1889) - Russian mathematician, vice-president of the Academy of Sciences.
• Burachek, family:
  • Burachek, Stefan (Stepan) Onisimovich (1800–1876) - shipbuilding engineer, lieutenant general, teacher of the Naval Corps, publisher of the Mayak magazine.
  • Burachek, Elizaveta Vasilievna (born Zrazhevskaya) (1810–1895) - wife of S. O. Burachek (Burachka). Marble cross on a pedestal; metal fence. Uch. 145. Nearby was the grave of the son of S. O. Burachek (Burachka), Rear Admiral E. S. Burachek (1836–1911), the founder and first commander of the Vladivostok port. The ashes were transferred to Vladivostok in 1988.
  • Burachek, Maria Stefanovna (1844–1910) - daughter of Lieutenant General S. O. Burachek (Burachka). Marble inclined slab; the cross is lost. Uch. 145.
• Bush, Vladimir Vladimirovich (1888-1934) - Russian literary critic, ethnographer, local historian, Doctor of Philology, scientific secretary of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House).

• Vladimir Aleksandrovich Wagner (1849–1934) - biologist and psychologist, founder of comparative psychology in Russia, professor at St. Petersburg University. Concrete stele. Uch. 20. Isaakievskaya road.
• Vilkitsky, Andrei Ippolitovich (1858-1913) - hydrographer-geodesist, polar explorer, General Corps of Hydrographers.
• Vitkovsky, Vasily Vasilyevich (1856-1924) - Russian surveyor, lieutenant general.

• Glebov, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1864-1941) - Russian political and zemstvo figure, engineer, entrepreneur, organizer of power engineering in Russia, philosopher.
• Gozhevoy A. A. - see Sovetsky, Mikhail Alexandrovich.
• Golubtsov, Evgraf Nikiforovich (1777-1835) - historical burial, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, awarded, among other things, the golden sword “For Bravery”
• Golubtsova, Maria Yakovlevna (1792-1861) - historical burial.
• Gramberg, Igor Sergeevich (1922-2002) - geologist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences.
• Guryanov, Georgy Konstantinovich (1961-2013) - drummer, backing vocalist of the Kino group.

• Dzhanpoladyan-Piotrovskaya, Hripsime Mikaelovna (1918-2001) - Soviet and Russian scientist, archaeologist-orientalist.
• Dostoevsky, Andrei Mikhailovich (1825-1897) - Russian architect and memoirist. The younger brother of the outstanding writer F. M. Dostoevsky, the father of the histologist Alexander Dostoevsky.
• Dubelt, Leonty Vasilyevich (1792-1862) - cavalry general, participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, chief of staff of the gendarme corps, manager of the III Division. The grave is lost.
• Duperron, Georgy Alexandrovich (1877-1934) - founder of Russian football and the Olympic movement in Russia.

• Eremeev Pavel Vladimirovich (1830–1899) - mineralogist, professor of the Mining Institute, academician, director of the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society. Granite cross on a pedestal. Uch. 207. 2nd Mountain Road.
• Ermolaev, Platon Ivanovich]] (1832–1901) - vice admiral, commander of the Vladivostok port. Granite pedestal, marble cross broken; metal fence. Uch. 107. Petrogradskaya road.

• Zhiryaev, Alexander Stepanovich (1815-1856) - Russian scientist, specialist in the field of criminal law, professor at Dorpat and St. Petersburg universities.

• Zablotsky-Desyatovsky, Andrey Parfenovich (1808-1881) - Russian statesman and economist.
• Zabotkina, Olga Leonidovna (1936-2001) - Soviet ballerina and actress.
• Zakharov, Yakov Dmitrievich (1765–1836) - Academician, chemist, founder of scientific aeronautics; brother of the architect A.D. Zakharov. Granite altar; completion is lost. Uch. 44. 1st Nadezhdinskaya road.
• Zernov, Dmitry Stepanovich (1860-1922) - teacher and professor of mechanics.
• Zinin, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1812-1880) - Russian organic chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, first president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society.

• Ivashintsov, Nikolai Alekseevich (1819–1871) - hydrographer, rear admiral, chairman of the mathematical department of the Russian Geographical Society. Granite cross on a pedestal. Uch. 160. Troitskaya road.
• Izmailov, Alexander Efimovich (1779-1831) - fabulist and novelist.
• Iznoskov, Alexander Alexandrovich (1845–1911) - founder of open-hearth steel production in Russia, builder of the first open-hearth furnaces. Cast iron openwork cross on a pedestal; in a gazebo made of forged rods. Uch. 238. Corner of Petrogradskaya and Transverse roads.
• Inokhodtsev, Pyotr Borisovich (1742-1806) - Russian astronomer.
• Jordan, Fyodor Ivanovich (1800–1883) - engraver, professor and rector of the Academy of Arts, curator of the Hermitage. Granite cross on a pedestal (in disrepair). Uch. 72. Kochetovskaya road.
• Iossa, Andrey Nikolaevich (1850-1907) - architect of the St. Petersburg educational district and the Mining Institute.
• Istrin, Vasily Mikhailovich (1865-1937) - Russian literary critic, specialist in ancient Slavic monuments, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

• Karatygin, Vasily Andreevich (1802-1853) - famous Russian actor, tragic. The tombstone, which was located at the Smolensk cemetery, was moved to the Necropolis of Art Masters. Under the canopy is a bronze bust by A.I. Terebenev. By the nature of the processing of architectural details, this monument is close to Asenkova’s tombstone, and, possibly, both of them were made in the workshop of N. A. Anisimov, whose mark is on the Karatygin monument.
• Kachalov Nikolai Alexandrovich (1818-1891) - Russian statesman, director of the Department of Customs Duties of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire.
• Kivshenko, Alexey Danilovich (1851-1895) - Russian painter.
• Knyazhevich, Alexander Maksimovich (1792-1872) - Russian statesman, senator, minister of finance, member of the State Council.
• Kolesnikov, Ivan Fedorovich (1887-1929) - Russian Soviet artist, graphic artist.
• Koloshin, Pyotr Ivanovich (1794-1848) - Russian poet, Decembrist.
• Konetsky, Viktor Viktorovich (1929-2002) - Soviet, Russian writer, screenwriter, artist.
• Krakau, Alexander Ivanovich (1817-1888) - Russian architect, academician of architecture, professor of the Academy of Arts.
• Kryzhitsky, Konstantin Yakovlevich (1858-1911) - Russian landscape painter, academician of the Academy of Arts.
• Kuindzhi, Arkhip Ivanovich (1841-1910) - Russian landscape painter. A bronze bust of the artist and a tombstone were installed on the grave - a granite portal with a mosaic panel depicting the mythical Tree of Life, on the branches of which a snake builds a nest. The edges of the panel were framed with carvings in the style of the ancient Vikings. A. Shchusev (project) and N. Roerich (panel sketch) took part in the creation of the tombstone, while the mosaic itself was assembled in the workshop of V. Frolov. In 1952, the ashes and bust were transferred to the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
• Kulman, Elisaveta Borisovna (1808-1825) - poetess. Marble sculpture of a girl on a bed of roses. Sk. A. Triscorni, 1825. The ashes and monument were moved from the Smolensk cemetery in 1931. Composer's road.

• Landgraf, Stanislav Nikolaevich (1939-2006) - Russian theater and film actor, laureate of the USSR State Prize.
• Levin-Kogan, Boris Yakovlevich (1918-1998) - Soviet football player, winner of the 1944 USSR Cup.
• Lesman, Yuri Mikhailovich (1954-2013) - Russian scientist-archaeologist, urban defender.
• Likhachev, Nikolai Petrovich (1862-1936) - Russian historian, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

• Makovsky, Vladimir Egorovich (1846-1920) - Russian Itinerant artist, painter and graphic artist.
• Markevich, Andrei Ivanovich (1769-1832) - lieutenant general, director of the 2nd Cadet Corps. The grave is lost.
• Mozhaisky, Alexander Fedorovich (1825-1890) - rear admiral, inventor - aviation pioneer.

• Navrotsky, Mikhailo Timofeevich (1823-1871) - Russian Orientalist scholar.
• Nartov, Andrey Andreevich (1737-1813) - writer, president of the Free Economic Society, president of the Russian Academy. The grave is lost.

• Palladin, Vladimir Ivanovich (1859-1922) - Russian botanist and biochemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
• Petrov, Alexander Ivanovich (1828-1899) - Russian navigator and traveler, rear admiral.
• Petrov, Vasily Vladimirovich (1761-1834) - Russian experimental physicist, self-taught electrical engineer, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
• Petrov, Georgy Petrovich (1743-1825) - archpriest, builder of the Smolensk Church.
• Petropavlovsky, Boris Sergeevich (1898-1933) - designer of rockets, one of the creators of the BM-13 (Katyusha).
• Piotrovsky, Boris Borisovich (1908-1990) - an outstanding archaeologist, orientalist, for many years headed the State Hermitage.
• Posen, Leonid Vladimirovich (1849-1921) - Ukrainian Itinerant sculptor, full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, senator.
• Popov, Andrei Alexandrovich (1821-1898) - Russian naval commander, shipbuilder, admiral.
• Popovich, Gennady Ivanovich (1973-2010) - Ukrainian and Russian football player, striker.

• Raevsky, Nikolai Fedorovich (1804–1857) - Archpriest of Petropavlovsk cathedral, chief observer of the teaching of the Law of God in military educational institutions. Under the Smolensk Church.
• Roerich, Konstantin Fedorovich (1837–1900) - Owner of a notary office in St. Petersburg; father of N.K. Roerich. Granite cross on a pedestal, in a metal fence. Uch. 144. Finlyandskaya road.
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Voin Andreevich (1822–1871) - Rear admiral, hydrographer, geographer; brother of composer N. A. Rimsky Korsakov. Granite cross on a pedestal, “From colleagues.” Uch. 29. At the west. facade of the Smolensk Church.
• Rogovikov, Petr Semenovich. Mind. 1797. Marble sarcophagus. Uch. 3 - historical burial of the 18th century.
• Rosenmeyer, Elizaveta Nikolaevna (born Vsevolzhskaya). Mind. 1830, 19 years old. Major General's wife. Granite altar with niche; overhead parts are missing. Uch. 103. Petrogradskaya road. - historical burial place of the 1st third of the 19th century.
• Rykachev, Mikhail Alexandrovich (1840–1919) - Meteorologist, academician, director of the Main Geophysical Observatory, chairman of the aeronautical department of the Russian Technical Society.

• Saitov, Vladimir Ivanovich (1849-1938) - bibliographer, literary historian, compiler of the “St. Petersburg Necropolis”. The location of the grave is now unknown.
• Sacchetti, Liveriy Antonovich (1852–1916) - Historian and music theorist, honorary member of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy, emeritus professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Concrete sink with a cross (broken). Uch. 35. 1st Nadezhdinskaya road.
• Samokhina, Anna Vladlenovna (1963-2010) - Soviet and Russian actress theater and cinema.
• Severgin, Vasily Mikhailovich (1765-1826) - Russian mineralogist and chemist. Granite sarcophagus on legs. Uch. 40. Ekaterininskaya road.
• Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Pyotr Petrovich (1827-1914) - Russian geographer, botanist, statistician, state and public figure.
• Saint-Hilaire, Karl Karlovich (1834–1901) - Zoologist, director of the St. Petersburg Teachers' Institute. Granite pedestal; the cross has been dropped. Uch. 68.
• Simoni, Pavel Konstantinovich (1859–1939) - Literary historian, bibliographer, corresponding member. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Concrete sink with a cross. Uch. 133. Second road. (At site 131 there is another shell with a cross and the inscription: “P.K. Simoni – 1859–1939.”)
• Sovetsky, Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1917–1944) - Flight navigator of the 1st Guards Mine and Torpedo Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force, senior lieutenant, Hero Soviet Union. There Gozhevoy A. A. (1911–1944) - Senior Lieutenant. Granite stele on a pedestal, in a fence. Uch. 80. Corner of Kuznetsovskaya and Petrogradskaya roads.
• Sologub, Fyodor Kuzmich (1863-1927) - Russian poet, writer, playwright, publicist, the most prominent representative of symbolism.
• Stasyulevich, Mikhail Matveevich (1826-1911) - historian, writer, public figure. The grave is lost.

• Traskin, Semyon Ivanovich (1777-1827) - major general, commandant of Kronstadt, page-chamber.
• Trediakovsky, Vasily Kirillovich (1703-1769) - poet and scientist. The location of the grave is unknown.
• Turkov, Vladimir Aleksandrovich (1936-2011) - Russian DJ and musician, better known as MC Vspyshkin.

• Ugryumov, Grigory Ivanovich (1764-1823) - historical painter and portrait painter.
• Usachev, Vladimir Ivanovich (1963-2000) - police major, Hero of the Russian Federation.

• Famintsyn, Andrey Sergeevich (1835-1918) - botanist, ordinary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
• Filipchenko, Yuri Alexandrovich (1882-1930) - Soviet biologist and geneticist.
• Figlovskaya, Galina Viktorovna (1938-2000) - Soviet film and theater actress.
• Fridman, Alexander Alexandrovich (physicist) (1888-1925) - Russian and Soviet mathematician, physicist and geophysicist, creator of the theory of the non-stationary Universe.

• Khil, Eduard Anatolyevich (1934-2012) - Russian opera, chamber and pop singer, National artist RSFSR.
• Khlopin, Grigory Vitalievich (1863-1929) - Russian scientist-hygienist, teacher, professor, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1927).

• Charskaya, Lidia Alekseevna (1875-1937) - Russian writer, actress.

• Shafranov, Nikolai Semyonovich (1844-1903) - Russian forester, professor at the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute, public figure, editor of the Forest Journal, organizer of exhibitions in Nizhny Novgorod, privy councilor.
• Shebuev, Vasily Kozmich (1777-1855) - Russian painter, active state councilor, academician.
• Shelkovnikov, Ivan Yakovlevich (1836-1901) - infantry general, hero Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878.
• Shirokikh, Nelly Vladimirovna (1930-2008) - announcer of Leningrad Television.
• Shulgina, Albina Aleksandrovna (1937-2009) - screenwriter, poetess, playwright.

Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery. May 14th, 2011

On Thursday I decided to go to the Smolensk cemetery. I had been planning for a long time, imagining how it would be and how I would feel, building expectations, drawing pictures. And, apparently, it was in vain. Firstly, the expectations are not met, and secondly, I probably delayed my desire, or it has expired, because I was not inspired. That is, completely.

It started with the fact that I took a very long time to get ready. At 8:30 I sent Masha to school and was ready to leave, but “little things” grabbed my hands like burrs, and I did them. When I was completely ready, I lost the battery from the camera. I had to negotiate with the brownies and feed them candy so that they would give it away. Then the navigator. For some reason he took me to Vasilyevsky Island via Petrogradka! At the same time, along the way, capturing all the blocked streets: Marshal Govorov and Gorokhovaya!

Okay, the navigator’s secret plans were quickly revealed, and I turned into Truda Square in time, despite the fact that the navigator groaned and ahhed for another 15 minutes, persuading me to “make a U-turn where it is allowed.” But I was relentless, and he had to change the route. But even then he came up with a trick - he took me not just anywhere, but across the University Embankment, and I don’t know how to drive past the Sphinxes calmly. My navigator apparently knew this. Maybe he reads my LJ? Because as well as about your love for them...

I hung out at the Sphinxes for another 20 minutes... The Egyptian stranglers (and this is how the word “Sphinx” is translated from ancient Greek) were quite supportive. On both sides.

I didn’t wait until sunset to see how their almost Giaconda-like smiles changed to an animal grin, and I moved on.

After another 30 minutes (!) I was finally near the Smolensk cemetery (Orthodox part). Apparently, by this moment all my obstacles on the way had ended (or there was no point in delaying me any longer), because, having approached the very gate, I found a car driving away and gladly stood in its place, solving the parking issue. So, Smolensk cemetery. You can't make a noise.

However, I didn’t even have time to walk 100 meters deep into the cemetery when Masha called and said that they had canceled additional classes and she was ready to go home...(!) But I had already decided that since I had arrived, I would still wander around here and agreed, that Mashkus will go on an extended period for a couple of hours. And she went wandering.

The cemetery had a strange effect on me. On the one hand, it’s so ancient, such huge trees, such ancient crosses and such worthy names on the stones. And on the other hand, the feeling of chaos, distortion, confusion and confusion did not leave. There was not that spirit of calm and order that can be found in old cemeteries.

In general, the impression was that the trees there were devouring the graves. In many places I saw broken stone graves, under the pressure of a tree that had grown from the inside.
Or displaced graves. In a word - an unfriendly community of trees and graves.

This is where it just gets picked up...

From time to time my legs began to buzz, especially when I stopped. The most vivid sensations in my legs were next to the chapel of Xenia of St. Petersburg, where, despite it being a weekday, there was a long line. The place surprised, but did not warm me up. Prayed for, but not mine.

I was absolutely delighted and enchanted by the milky fern, jumping out of the ground in fountains here and there.

I noticed that there are areas where only honeydew grows, and there are areas overgrown with ferns. I wonder what this could be connected with?

I don’t think I came across any particularly impressive graves. Although, to be honest, I really didn’t want to leave the path to approach some grave. There was some chaos in the air there.

It’s interesting here - the grave of PEASANT Kokoshin

And this, as I understand it, is the grave of N.K.’s father. Roerich

Basically, the cemetery is certainly in decline. Many graves are broken, crosses and monuments are often piled up,

broken or collapsed graves everywhere. For example, these (I didn’t want to look there).

And most importantly - the feeling of swirling air. Well, I didn’t want to walk there. He didn't walk, he ran. And my legs were buzzing.

Among the famous people buried in the Smolensk cemetery are:

2. Maria Gatchina (Lidiya Lelyanova), canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a holy new martyr.

There is a legend about forty priests buried alive in the Smolensk cemetery. “Soon after the revolution, priests from all over the city were arrested, brought to the Smolensk cemetery, lined up on the edge of a huge grave dug in advance and offered to either renounce the faith or lie down in the ground alive. All the priests chose to die. They said that for another three days groans were heard from the grave, and the earth in this place moved... Then a Divine ray fell on the grave, and everything became quiet.” (Quote from the legend from the network verbatim.)
It is still not clear whether this is a fact or a legend. But this sign hangs in the cemetery. True, I didn’t find it.

3. Pushkin’s nanny - Arina Rodionovna. The grave has not been preserved, and was not initially marked, because the nanny was a serf. However, according to the records in the church books, they restored the information that she was buried precisely at the Smolensk cemetery. There is now a board at the entrance about which.

They say that the image of Pushkin’s nanny has been greatly cultivated and transformed as part of the political correction of the image of Pushkin as national poet after 1917. Thus, according to Maria Osipova’s memoirs about Arina Rodionovna, “an extremely respectable old lady - plump-faced, all grey, passionately loving her pet...” the next part of the phrase was cut out in a number of publications: “... but with one sin - she loved to drink.” It is also strange that Pushkin had a faithful “uncle” - Nikita Kozlov. He was assigned to Pushkin since childhood and he himself carried the body of the wounded Pushkin into the house, and then lowered the coffin into the grave. However, there is no mention of him anywhere. Here is an interesting article about Pushkin's nanny.

In the Lutheran part of the cemetery, where I didn’t get to this time, there are graves:
Vladimir Dahl, Fyodor Sologub, the first burial of Alexander Blok (then the grave was moved to the Volkovskoye cemetery).

To be honest, I don’t know if I would want to go to this cemetery again. Somehow it didn’t suit my spirit, but apparently I didn’t like it. And it didn’t let me in. I drove instead of the promised 30 minutes - 2.5 hours. In general, I have a complicated relationship with Vasilyevsky Island. He and I are different. Although, of course, there are interesting things at the Smolensk cemetery. Here the top of the “drum” seems very harmonious to me.

And a few more photos for comparison at other times of the year (by other authors):

What do you think of the Smolensk cemetery? Do you like to walk there? I mean specifically the Orthodox part, not the Lutheran. Does he let you in?

Today I attended an excursion organized by the VKontakte group “Excursions to churches in St. Petersburg and the region.” The excursion was conducted by Master of Theology R.S. Kataev. Some notes during the excursion (some photos are not mine - taken from the Internet).

The Smolensk cemetery is one of the oldest in St. Petersburg. The first burials appeared here in 1738. There are two versions about the name: 1) among the first to rest in this cemetery were residents who came from Smolensk and the Smolensk province; 2) residents of Smolensk donated to the cemetery a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk for the cemetery church.

In the 1930s, they decided to close and destroy the cemetery. The graves of some prominent figures of history, science and culture were moved to other cemeteries. But, fortunately, the idea to destroy the Smolensk cemetery was not implemented.

Entrance to the cemetery - early 19th century, architect Luigi Rusca.

Before the revolution, there were three churches in the cemetery: the Resurrection of Christ, the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God and the Church of the Holy Trinity; now the temple of the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God and the chapel of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg are functioning.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ (under restoration). Built in 1901 - 1904 according to the design of the architect Valentin Delenovsky in the Naryshkin Baroque style. The Church of the Assumption on Pokrovka in Moscow served as a role model.

Of course, every cemetery has a temple or church. However, a very small number of cemetery churches are dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ (which is very strange): after all, the topic of death and the coming resurrection is extremely important for Christianity.

The St. Petersburg Church of the Resurrection of Christ was conceived and built as a tomb. At the bottom of the temple there is a crypt designed for approximately 160 graves. The funeral service for Alexander Blok was held in this church in 1921.

During the restoration work that is currently underway, an icon of the Virgin Mary of All Who Sorrow, the Joy of the early 20th century, was found. Revolvers and bullet marks on the walls were also found in the basements - it is quite possible that people were shot here during the years of revolution and repression.

The very first temple on the territory of the cemetery was a wooden church in the name of the Archangel Michael, which was damaged in the 18th century during a flood. Later on its place was built Holy Trinity Church, which was closed after the revolution and dismantled into bricks in 1932. Now on the site where the throne of the Trinity Church was, a small chapel has been built.

The oldest building of the temple today is Church of the Icon of the Smolensk Mother of God. In 1762, a decision was made to build a temple, the place for the temple was chosen by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Gabriel Petrov, and in 1790 the construction of the temple was completed. Architect - Alexey Ivanov. In the 19th century, extensions (refectory, classical portico) and reconstruction of the temple were carried out. In the 1920s, the temple was handed over to the renovationists. In 1940, the temple was closed and subsequently destroyed. In the 1990s, the temple was restored. Previously, in the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Smolensk there were 5 thrones.

After the closure of the Kazan Cathedral, the temple icon was kept in the Church of the Icon of the Smolensk Mother of God until 1940; after the closure of this temple, it was transferred to the Vladimir Cathedral; now the icon has returned to its native church.

The iconostasis is not “native”, but from the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist on Kamenny Island, which was closed in 1938 (my parish!).

In this photo you can see how the “non-native” iconostasis covers the painting in the semicircular arch:

Among the icons of the temple, noteworthy ones are:

Icon Holy Mother of God Tolgskaya. The icon itself is “mounted” in the center. Around there are marks, much older than the icon, which tell about the fate of the icon and miracles.

A very unusual, non-canonical image of the Virgin Mary. The Mother of God is depicted without her Son, alone, with a dagger piercing her chest. This refers to the words of Simeon the Receiver of God: “And a weapon will penetrate your very soul.” Mothers turn their prayers to this icon for their children.

In the left aisle, the Nativity scene, very cozy and familiar, attracts attention.

The right side chapel is dedicated to Saint Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg. In it, the icon of All Who Sorrow, Joy with Pennies, attracts attention - it is this icon that was found during the restoration of the Church of the Resurrection. This icon is a copy of an icon kept in the Kulich and Easter Church on Obukhov Defense Avenue and tells about an incident in this temple: during a fire, coins from a donation cup ended up on the icon, and remained on it.

The chapel immediately to the left of the entrance is where the sacrament of Baptism is performed.

It was here that the first consecrated temple was located: the church itself was still under construction, and here, on the throne consecrated in honor of John the Theologian, divine services were performed. The icon of the Mother of God “Merciful (It is Worthy to Eat)” was painted for the church in Galernaya Harbor.

There is also an icon depicting St. Cyprian and Justinia. They pray for people who have fallen into sects. And this is no coincidence. St. Cyprian was at first a very famous magician and wizard, to whom people turned with a request to bewitch someone or take them to the grave. One day a young man approached the magician Cyprian and asked to bewitch Juliana. Juliana was a Christian, and when Cyprian began his magical ritual, he felt that he could not overcome the power of Juliana’s prayer, he realized that there was a force much more powerful than his witchcraft. He believed, was baptized, accepted Christianity, and later became a bishop.

Its builder and first abbot are buried near the walls of the temple.

At the outer walls of the temple, behind the altar, the priests of the temple were buried. The monument in the form of a lectern is very unusual.

And a very nice little bird feeder:

Chapel of St. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. The first Saint Petersburg.

The chapel was built on the site of the grave of St. Xenia. She died at the Smolensk cemetery, she was found sitting under a tree. They buried him there. The grave was very revered in St. Petersburg, many took away a handful of earth from the grave, so that they repeatedly poured a mound of earth on her grave. In 1902, a stone chapel was built according to the design of architect Vseslavin. In 1940, the chapel was closed and they wanted to destroy it. After the war there were sculpture workshops there. It was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church only in 1983. After restoration work, the chapel was re-consecrated on August 10, 1987 by Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod, the future Patriarch Alexy II.

Eduard Khil was buried next to the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed:

In 1932, Maria Gatchina, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2006, was buried at the Smolensk cemetery.

In the world - Lydia Aleksandrovna Lelyanova, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, was born in 1874. At the age of 16, she fell ill with encephalitis, the complication of which was Parkinson's disease. Despite this, she graduated from high school and took her final exams in a wheelchair. In 1909 she moved to Gatchina, where she lived in the house of her older brother Vladimir. She had been paralyzed since 1912, but the girl retained her speech. Since 1921, a group of admirers formed around the girl, called the St. John’s Circle (in honor of the righteous John of Kronstadt). In 1922, Archimandrite of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Macarius (Voskresensky) at the courtyard of Pyatogorsky Bogoroditsky convent with the blessing of Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) of Petrograd, he tonsured Lydia Lelyanova as a monk and gave her the name Maria. She reacted negatively to the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) and called not to visit churches where his name is exalted during worship. The confessor of the community that formed around Mary was Pyotr Belavsky, close friend leader of the Josephite movement, Archbishop Dimitry (Lyubimov) of Gdov. In 1932, Maria and her sister were arrested by Soviet authorities during the “Seizure of Monks and Nuns” campaign, which took place throughout the country. She was charged with a standard charge, including preaching the Gospel. Maria Gatchinskaya was placed in the House of Pre-trial Detention hospital, where she died on April 17, 1932, having already been sentenced to three years of exile. In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad canonized the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia as New Martyr Maria of Gatchina. On July 17, 2006, she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church— included in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian 20th century on the proposal of the St. Petersburg diocese. On March 26, 2007, the relics of Maria Gatchina were found at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg and placed in the Gatchina St. Paul Cathedral.

During the years of persecution of the church, many Orthodox Christians came to the Smolensk cemetery to pray. Temples were closed and destroyed, it was unsafe to visit them, icons were burned. And in cemeteries crosses and icons were “freely available.” People in cemeteries prayed at the crosses and worshiped the icons depicted on the monuments. One of these revered places was this grave with a mosaic icon of the Savior. But even here the blasphemers tried to blaspheme: they repeatedly tried to damage the eyes of the Savior...

Some women repeated Saint Xenia's feat of foolishness. The grave of Blessed Anna is located in the cemetery. They say that she was the Empress's maid of honor, and her lover left her. She left the world, acted like a fool, when she died, there were 40,000 people at the funeral. There was also a chapel at the grave of Blessed Anna, but it has not been preserved.

Next to the grave of Blessed Anna there is a monument to 40 martyrs who suffered for their faith. During the years of the revolution, priests, monks and laymen were buried alive. Later the body was buried at the Smolensk cemetery.

Alexander Blok was also buried at the Smolensk cemetery; later his grave was moved to the Necropolis of the Masters of Arts of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The cemetery contains a mass grave of soldiers of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment who died during the explosion in the Winter Palace on February 5, 1880, organized by Stepan Khalturin.

Explosion in the Winter Palace (18:22; February 5, 1880) - terrorist attack, directed against Russian Emperor Alexander II, organized by members of the People's Will movement. Khalturin lived in the basement of the Winter Palace, where he carried up to 30 kg of dynamite. The bomb was detonated using a fuse. Directly above his room there was a guardhouse, and even higher, on the second floor, there was a dining room in which Alexander II was going to have lunch. The Prince of Hesse, brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was expected for lunch, but his train was half an hour late. The explosion caught the emperor, who was meeting the prince, in the Small Field Marshal's Hall, far from the dining room. A dynamite explosion destroyed the ceiling between the ground and first floors. The floors of the palace guardhouse collapsed (modern Hermitage Hall No. 26). The double brick vaults between the first and second floors of the palace withstood the impact of the blast wave. No one was injured in the mezzanine, but the explosion lifted the floors, knocked out many window panes, and the lights went out. In the dining room or Yellow Room of the Third Spare Half of the Winter Palace (modern Hermitage Hall No. 160, the decoration has not been preserved), a wall cracked, a chandelier fell on the set table, and everything was covered with lime and plaster.

As a result of the explosion in the lower floor of the palace, 11 military personnel who were on guard that day in the palace of the lower ranks of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, stationed on Vasilievsky Island, were killed, and 56 people were injured. Despite their own wounds and injuries, the surviving sentries remained in their places and even upon the arrival of the called shift from the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, they did not give up their places to the newcomers until they were replaced by their distributing corporal, who was also wounded in the explosion. All those killed were heroes of the recently ended Russian-Turkish war.

Dargomyzhsky’s grave was previously located at the Smolensk cemetery. In Soviet times, his ashes were transferred to the Necropolis of Art Masters. The graves of his parents remain on Vasilyevsky Island.

The grave of Fyodor Sologub:

Great Russian singers - Osip Petrov and Anna Petrova-Vorobyova, the first performers of the roles of Susanin and Vanya in M. Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar".

Everyone knows that Pushkin’s nanny Arina Rodionovna was buried here: her grave is lost, there is a memorial plaque at the entrance.

On August 10 (July 28, old style) a festival is held in honor. In St. Petersburg there is a church dedicated to this icon, which is located on. Both the temple and the cemetery meant and mean a lot to Orthodox St. Petersburg residents, if only because the relics of the patroness of St. Petersburg, Blessed Xenia, rest here. For this holiday, we offer the memoirs of the honored doctor, labor veteran Galina Georgievna Rudenkova, dedicated to the fate of the Smolensk temple and cemetery in the 40s and 50s XX century.

We met the year 1945 far from Leningrad, beyond the Urals, in evacuation, and for the time being we could not go to our hometown to celebrate with our fellow countrymen a wonderful day of joy and rejoicing - Victory Day. The military backup plant was reluctant to let its workers go. We were able to return to Leningrad only in the autumn of 1945.

The few churches in the city were overcrowded with praying and forced parishioners. After work, people went to evening services every day, where they whiled away the time in a pleasant atmosphere and warmth, so as not to bother their relatives, who were sheltering them while their housing problem was resolved. Many lived in the corridors of large multi-room apartments for up to three or even five years. Much later, I no longer saw some of them in the temple.

In the winter of 1945–1946, on Sunday mornings we hurried to the Smolensk cemetery to the wall of the chapel. The chapel was closed. At 10 o'clock in the morning a tall, heavily built priest arrived. On top of a warm fur coat was a cassock, a phelonion and an epitrachelion. Standing nearby was a middle-aged woman, dark-haired, plump; he called her Dunya. The priest's assistant in a dark robe was cheerfully collecting notes with a small, one might say meager, alms. A priest with a kind, bright face, full lips and unusually friendly eyes first served a prayer service, carefully reading all the names. He often raised his eyes to heaven and, apparently, prayed deeply for each of us.

Sometimes our unusual worship service open air accompanied by snowfall. A small snowdrift grew on the priest’s black antique skufia; this second white skufia greatly amused us, the children, who stood with their mothers at the prayer service and tried to comprehend everything that was happening.

Then a memorial service was served. Father’s assistant Evdokia sang loudly and firmly, but we timidly sang along with Father and her. Father Vasily (with some theological surname - either Vvedensky, or Preobrazhensky) somehow especially read the names of the deceased, emphasizing the word “warrior”: “warrior John, warrior Peter...” The women wept bitterly. Sometimes the priest's voice began to tremble, and tears flowed down his large face. When they sang “Rest with the Saints,” no one held back their tears, sobs and lamentations; everyone was united by a common grief.

The children kissed these improvised icons. Where did the priest get them from? Time of Troubles hostility against the Church?

The service, if you can call it a prayer service and memorial service, ended with the kissing of the cross. The priest consoled the worshipers as best he could, sometimes giving simple gifts to the children - sweets, small photographs of icons. The children kissed these improvised icons. Where did he get them in this troubled time of hostility against the Church? True, during the years of war and human suffering, the fight against God subsided, many turned to God, many were eyewitnesses of miracles and the salvation of those who turned to the Lord, those who found themselves in the most tragic situations.

After some time, the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed was opened, I don’t remember the exact date, but I remember that when it was opened, it seemed as if it had never been closed. hung on the walls ancient icons, the floor was covered with tiled tiles, and on the floor near the window stood a low tomb made of soft white marble, of a very harmonious shape, with a gilded cross on the front wall. There were two doors: they entered through one, and exited through the other after the prayer service. After the end of the memorial service and kissing the cross, people left, and others came in their place, filling the interior space of the chapel, and everything was repeated from the beginning: prayer service, memorial service, etc. The line to the chapel reached all the way to the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. Nobody stepped forward. Everyone stood in this line with some special blissful mood, talked about their troubles and hardships, shared joys, made acquaintances and even started families. Blessed Mother Ksenia is an amazing helper of families and children’s destinies. How many miracles there were near these holy walls! How much joy Mother Ksenia brought to war-weary people, especially children!

The baby really wanted a rubber ball. How was it for the mother, who did not know what to buy with cards - felt boots or galoshes.

One little girl really wanted to have a rubber ball. How was it for the mother, who did not know what to buy with cards - felt boots or galoshes. It didn't even come down to toys. One day, the mother gathers the girl for a service in the chapel, advises her to pray to the Blessed Xenia and tell her about her dream. Returning home, the girl bitterly complains to her mother that she did not receive any ball. At this time, the apartment bell rang: the girl’s godmother was standing on the threshold with a rubber ball in a silk net. She came to congratulate her goddaughter on Angel Day and remind her mother of this family holiday.

One Sunday we were walking from the chapel along the main path and saw that the side doors of the temple were open and old boards and rusty roofing iron were being taken out of them. Residents of nearby houses said that the dome of a neighboring church with very beautiful architecture was blown away by a shell, and the residents decided to preserve at least the roof and move the iron to the Smolensk Church, where the roof was not damaged by shelling. Over the following years, the iron rusted and was no longer good for anything.

The walls of the temple were washed, the floor was covered with boards, which were carefully rubbed with mastic. There weren’t enough brushes, so I scrubbed the floor with my felt boots.

People with joy and animation cleared the temple of debris, iron and rubble. My mother, wearing a black velvet coat with a white fox, quickly got to work. Some extraordinary bright feeling filled us, we did not pay attention to the gloves torn in the work, heavy boards were taken on our shoulders, and soon the temple was cleared of debris. However, the appearance of the temple inside was more than sad. Once upon a time beautiful frescoes were smoky, the huge panorama “Healing of Jairus’ Daughter” was covered with a thick layer of soot and dirt, and the majestic figure of Christ was difficult to see. We washed the walls as best we could, covered the stone floor slabs with boards, which we carefully rubbed with mastic. There weren’t enough brushes for everyone, so I scrubbed the floor with my felt boots.

Father Vasily became the rector, two more priests arrived, both were called Mikhail. Old Father Mikhail with a wedge-shaped beard and an injured eye served measuredly and did not say much during sermons. He lived on the Petrograd side, it seems, on Barmaleeva Street. His neighbors knew more about him than he knew about himself. There were no icons in the small, smoky room. One day he opened up and from under the closet took out a large, dusty photograph of a theological seminary graduation, where he was visible among other seminarian graduates. He was somehow not his own, a stranger. Confessions were held in a general manner; conversations with parishioners face to face were not approved. But one day, placing the stole on his mother’s head, he quietly asked: “Tamara Vasilievna, where do you work?” Mom was forced to violate the law of obedience accepted in church life and answered: “Father Michael, this does not apply to confession.” Mom held a high position at a military plant. How the Lord preserved her!

One day, after an all-night vigil on the eve of a big holiday, people left the church in a crowd and walked along the banks of the Smolenka River to tram No. 11. Mom said with delight: “What happiness, so many people came to the church!” To this, the unlucky priest Father Mikhail (“the old one,” as we called him among ourselves) noticed that during the war many men died on the battlefields, so women come to church to look at the priests. My mother was not taken aback and replied that it is better to look at men on the beach, but in the temple we see the image of Christ in the face of the priest.

Another father, Mikhail, was of a completely different type, as the writer V.N. Lyalina, a priest of “high standard”. He was young and handsome, with curly brown hair framing a noble face. During the sermon, looking up from a sheet of paper (a copy was kept by the diocese and by the commissioner for surveillance), he spoke passionately about the action of the Holy Spirit in the modern world, about the grace of the Lord, about prayer for those living and those who died during the difficult years of war. At this time, his eyes glowed with some kind of amber light. In his poem Vladimir Soloukhin writes that the Heavenly Light

It burns like a fire, beckons with fire in bad weather,
It shines through in the words and shines from the eyes.

Father Michael was an amazingly talented preacher and, through the cordons of prohibitions, he tried to convey to us the Truth of Christ in the light that the apostles left for us. His eldest son Nika served with him at the altar; he was wearing an old pre-revolutionary surplice, in which he looked like a true servant of the Church. Despite his young age (he was about 8 years old), he was very serious, collected, and did everything clearly and correctly. During Easter Week, one could see how he stood intently not far from the Throne, his deep gaze testifying to the sincere prayer that could only be in his childish pure heart.

Nicky's brother was much younger than him. Wearing a light gopher fur coat, he boldly moved toward the salt, pushing aside the densely standing parishioners with his elbows. An elderly woman, groaning and wailing, moved after him: “Oh, fathers, wait, where are you going?!” Here I am for you! Having reached the goal of his journey through the temple, he looked economically at the parishioners and, after standing for a while, also disappeared in the opposite direction. Mikhail’s father’s family lived on Maly Prospekt of Vasilievsky Island and occupied two small rooms. The kid loved to ride on the big antique door with the brass handle, opening and closing it. The nanny constantly grumbled at him, and he said: “Don’t swear, I will become a metropolitan - I will pray for you.”

After the Liturgy, Father Mikhail’s mother walked with the children along the main path of the cemetery. Raisa Vladimirovna carried her third child heavily, often got tired, sat on a bench near the large white marble crosses of the Ober-Boyarsky graves, and Nika stood in line at the chapel with his friend Valentin. Big-headed, short in stature, he was different from his friend. I was three years older than them and looked down on them somewhat, understanding, however, the spiritual height of these boys. They talked a lot about the most joyful things, Nika’s speech surprised with its measuredness, logic, depth and harmony beyond her age.

One day we learned that Father Mikhail (the younger) had received an exorbitant tax - even if you get into a hole of debt, you won’t be able to pay it off in a few years! Several reliable parishioners secretly organized a collection of money, only the names of donors were on the lists. Required amount was collected, and so we ransomed our priest!

Sometimes episodes from the history of the Smolensk parish emerge from deep memory, which testify to the deep faith of our people - long-suffering, but merciful and understanding of the misfortune and sorrow of their neighbors.

One day Father Mikhail (Jr.) addressed the parish with sorrowful words. His six-year-old daughter suffered from severe flu, then measles with severe complications. Doctors stated a complete loss of vision.

We decided to hold a prayer service for the entire parish. Everyone knelt before the Smolensk Icon. We sincerely prayed for the baby’s healing.

We decided to hold a prayer service for the entire parish. Everyone knelt before the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. They sincerely prayed for the baby’s healing, many asked with tears, especially when they sang “Offering to my Queen.” At regular services, parishioners sympathetically asked: “How is our little Helen?” “Better,” answered the priest. The child regained his sight, but some defect remained and reminded us of this event. Maybe this too has passed with time.

Concelebrating with the priests was Deacon Nikolai Kuzmich Ober-Boyarsky. They said that he served before the revolution in Gatchina, where the imperial choir sang and Emperor Nicholas II prayed. They talked about this in secret, because such a biography could harm his entire family. I loved his wife Natalia Ivanovna very much. She has been in charge of the library of the Academy of Arts since time immemorial. She often told how during all the wars she kept all the drawings, all the volumes about painting, and even the abstracts of the academy staff. During the siege of Leningrad, she did not burn a single brochure, freezing in the icy library. I listened eagerly to her stories. I worshiped this plump, friendly woman. What happened to Kira Nikolaevna, the daughter of Natalia Ivanovna and Deacon Nikolai? Where is Natasha, their granddaughter? I would really like to know, but I am old myself now and do not have the opportunity to go to the archives and pay tribute to the people who preserved our Russian heritage.

Over time, Father Mikhail (the younger) was transferred, it seems, to the Transfiguration Cathedral; it was not fashionable for us to follow a priest to another parish without a good reason.

Father Vasily was replaced by a tough-tempered abbot who was intolerant of human weaknesses. True, during his time a major restoration of the walls and paintings was carried out. We saw images of gospel events in all their beauty.

Evening services in the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God began at 18:30, since many worked until 18:00, factories finished work with a beep at 17:00.

The choir in the church was modest. The regent, a small retired soldier with an injured leg, directed the choir, holding right hand near the mustache, and with the left he regulated the rhythm of singing. I grew up in a musical family, even before the war I was taken to concerts at the Capella, where my cousins ​​sang in the boys’ choir. I really wanted our choir to sing better.

For a long time, the only psalm-reader in the church was engineer Vladimir Pavlovich; before the war, he worked with my mother at the same factory. At the front, half of his face was torn off, but his voice data was preserved. He always wore a large black bandage over his face. He read clearly and measuredly; I was struck by the pleasant timbre of his voice. When I prepare for Communion and read the pre-Communion prayers, I still hear his prayerful voice. His father was shot long before the war, and his mother was left with eleven children: she gave them all an education, and her grandchildren joined the galaxy of scientists and artists. Some still work in the Hermitage.

Thursday was a special day at church. In the evening, after Vespers, the whole world sang the Akathist to the Mother of God. Perhaps Thursday was chosen because on Wednesday many went to St. Nicholas Cathedral for the akathist to St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas Cathedral was never closed, and services were held there even during the blockade. The Ikos all sang together, all 13 “Rejoice.” Akathists were secretly typed on a typewriter at work by parishioner Taisiya; some copies were signed by her hand, in beautiful calligraphic handwriting.

Monuments. Church beauty and godless barbarism

A cemetery is a special place, a place of sadness, prayer and memory. It is shameful to become Ivans who do not remember their kinship. Not all, but many of us are residents of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, and therefore our relatives are those who rest in this holy land of the Smolensk cemetery, which is an oasis among big city. This is a place of memory that dates back centuries. It was founded in the middle of the 18th century and named after the residents of Smolensk, who worked on the construction of St. Petersburg and laid down on its soil. Thanks to them, a church was built in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in 1794 by the architect Lvov, and Blessed Ksenia herself secretly took part in the construction of the temple. Smolensk Cemetery is a memorial that preserved a high culture of burial, tombstones and sculpture. Many famous and worthy people were buried here: the artists Kramskoy, N. Ge, the writer Lydia Charskaya... According to legend, the nanny A.S. was buried here. Pushkina Arina Rodionovna. On the day of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, August 10, 1921, after the funeral service in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, the great Russian poet Alexander Blok was buried here (in 1944, his skull was moved to the Literary Bridge).

Enamel icons were once mounted into the cross - someone’s greedy hand broke them for their own needs...

Tombstones not only preserved the memory of the deceased, but also carried a deep spiritual instructive meaning. To the right of the entrance rises a majestic granite rock with a small iron cross on top, into the holes of which enamel icons were probably once mounted - someone’s greedy hand broke them out for their own needs. The slope of the monument represented a path consisting of seven steps at the bottom - probably this is the earthly path of a seven-year-old baby, it is very easy to climb up them; further on the road was wide and flat: this was probably the path of adolescence; then the smooth road rushed steeply upward, with vertical stripes of cliff on either side; even higher - the path became steep, slippery, and a narrow, almost vertical path led to the cross itself. It is not easy for an earthly traveler to get to the cross, to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The cemetery had many crypts with elegant above-ground structures in the form of chapels. The beautiful cast iron frame is surrounded by an elaborate metal mesh. The top of this grave structure was covered with a metal roof. The tombstones amazed with their beauty and grace. In front of the altar wall of the temple, on one of the graves there was a huge granite coffin on stone paws wild beast. The top of the coffin was covered with many incredibly beautiful life-size roses. The thin petals were made of smooth porcelain - a combination of great art, hard work and professionalism. After some time, I visited this monument again and was horrified to see the remains of broken flowers - cruelty and barbarity, bordering on madness.

Behind the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed, towards Maly Prospekt, there still stands a majestic monument in memory of the dead sailors. In the center of the semi-oval granite wall is a half-length image of the Savior by V.M. Vasnetsova. One day, while venerating this mosaic icon after a service, we saw in despair the broken face of Christ - a consequence of ignorance, malice and atheism. Repeated attempts at restoration were unsuccessful: the expression of the Savior’s face could not be restored. However, a similar image in a round niche, created by the same author, was preserved on the western wall of the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed: first it was painted over, and then covered with a rounded iron sheet, and this saved it from the power of the elements and human insolence.

They said that 40 priests were brought here at night and buried alive. Their screams and moans could be heard until the morning.

Not far from the monument to the dead sailors stands the modest grave of Blessed Irina Gatchinskaya; We didn’t know who she was, but we reverently approached the cross and kissed it. Closer to the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God there was a chapel; the cast-iron base of the structure securely held the iron roof over the grave, and an intricate iron mesh was stretched over its walls. This is the grave of Blessed Anna. On the way to Blessed Xenia, people came to this grave, prayed, and there was always a trodden path around the chapel, both in winter and in summer. Closer to the main path there was a very unusual burial: a large square-shaped mound; later a wooden cross appeared on this grave, perhaps to replace the rotten one. Residents of the Harbor said that during the years of the atheism, 40 priests were brought here at night and buried alive. Their screams and moans could be heard until the morning. One elderly woman I saw how the next morning the earth was still moving over the unfortunate people. Candles were not placed on the hill in the 1940s, so as not to incur persecution from the authorities.

Repeatedly over the Smolensk cemetery there was a serious threat of its liquidation, like many St. Petersburg burial places. At the end of the 1940s, I think in 1949, a decree was issued on the demolition of the graves and the transformation of the cemetery territory into a park with amusement rides and entertainment venues. My mother, having overcome her fear, wrote letters to the city party committee and personally to Comrade Stalin, clearly arguing that the liquidation of such a memorial to the memory, culture and art of Russian masters would negatively affect the moral situation in the city and the country, and games and dances on the bones of the deceased would be an outrage against in memory of those who died during the war, buried in mass graves in the cemetery, will undermine the authority of the leaders of the city and the country. Perhaps the fact that A.N.’s parents played a role in the cancellation of the decision. Kosygin was buried at the Smolensk cemetery.

The graves of the southern part of the cemetery were flooded to the very tops of the crosses.

A second wave of destruction hit the cemetery during perestroika. During the period when factories and factories were closed and the industry was seized by paralysis, the managers of the plant named after. Kotlyakov needed to expand the factory space, most likely for commercial purposes. The graves on the eastern side of the cemetery began to be partially destroyed and partially moved. But then another misfortune came: as a result of illiterate work, a very wise and complex system of cemetery reclamation, carried out hundreds of years ago, was disrupted. The cemetery began to sink into groundwater, which previously flowed into the Smolenka River. The graves of the southern part of the cemetery, near Maly Prospekt, were flooded to the very tops of the crosses and ruffly links of stars near Soviet graves. Not knowing what to do, the organizers of this crime abandoned their idea of ​​expanding the territory of the plant, which, by the way, was practically not working by that time. This terrible picture was brilliantly reflected in one of the “600 Seconds” programs by the talented, but subsequently lost and betrayed, journalist Alexander Nevzorov.

Another problem of perestroika and post-perestroika times is the reckless sale of cemetery plots and the destruction of old graves under the pretext that they are not being looked after. Often a person’s race is cut short through no fault of his own, and is it fair to throw him out of the grave and curse at the memory of a man who, perhaps, adorned our city and defended it?

And finally, the constant scourge of the Smolensk cemetery is the theft of ancient tombstones. Over time, ancient monuments began to be plundered, marble sculptures of angels were taken away, massive granite slabs, marble lecterns with skillful script with fringes and stone tassels disappeared.

Old inscriptions were erased from removed tombstones. They erected these monuments to their dignitary relatives, and sometimes to themselves, in advance.

I remember the story of the wonderful church writer (unfortunately, already deceased) Valery Lyalin about how a Georgian was dying in a Leningrad hospital. His fishing buddies called him Lyalik. He was involved in transporting monuments from St. Petersburg cemeteries to Georgia, mainly from Smolensk as the richest and preserved to this day. The fishing was very profitable. Rich Georgians willingly bought this priceless product from him, erased the old inscriptions and erected these monuments to their high-ranking relatives, and sometimes to themselves, in advance, so that later the household would not be embarrassed at his burial. Things were going smoothly, no one interfered or interfered with this nascent business. Old inscriptions were erased from the monuments, new ones were applied, they were placed above the grave in a special building, where lights were on around the clock and music was playing.

While in the hospital, Lyalik joked a lot and flirted with young nurses, but things were not going well for him. His kidneys and liver could not withstand his wild life, and, despite all the efforts of doctors, he died. He was transported to Georgia and buried there with all honors in a noble cemetery near his native village. After this, terrible events began in the village: the death of livestock destroyed all the herds, hail destroyed the crops and famine set in, young women died in childbirth, men died in road accidents, suffered from previously unknown diseases and died. The villagers realized the cause of their misfortune, dug up the famous supplier of monuments from the grave and buried him far from their village.

The story is very instructive. Truly, God cannot be mocked, and the desecrators of graves receive their retribution, if not in this century, then in the future, and at times both here and there. And we are already paying for the insane silence of the entire earth, for desecrated tombs, for lost works of our culture, for trampling on the memory of our forefathers and compatriots. And God forbid that we don’t pay for it THERE.

The Smolensk cemetery appeared almost simultaneously with St. Petersburg. And just as quickly it grew. Located on Vasilyevsky Island, it is considered one of the largest and oldest cemeteries St. Petersburg.
The first burials began here back in 1710. St. Petersburg was founded in 1703. Therefore, the Smolensk cemetery of St. Petersburg can be called almost the same age as the city on the Neva.
The Smolensk necropolis has a complicated history. Initially, from about 1710, at this place they buried the dead prisoners of the prison, which was not far from the military chancellery of St. Petersburg, from whom their chains were often not even removed. They say that on especially moonlit nights the ringing of chains can be heard from the cemetery, as if someone is walking in them, and sometimes these sounds are accompanied by heavy groans and crying.
And only in 1738 these burials received the status of a cemetery. At the beginning of the 20th century. 40 priests were buried alive here, the chapel of Xenia the Blessed stands here, adherents of the Order of Malta found their refuge here, restless souls roam here, mysterious events take place here.

The very name Smolensk Cemetery is presumably due to the fact that here, in a marshy and swampy area, not far from the seaside, settlers from the Smolensk lands who came to build St. Petersburg settled. According to the second version, the name of the cemetery, like the Smolenka River (formerly the Black River), was fixed after the construction of the temple in the name of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. But that doesn't matter anymore. I doubt that anywhere there will be such an ancient and still working cemetery that is almost the same age as its city.
Currently, its territory occupies about 50 hectares. But the mystery lies in the fact that along with the growth of the territory, urban legends and myths about ghosts living in the cemetery grew and multiplied.

And so our walk through the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Agree that all the ancient cemeteries of any city are shrouded in many mystical stories about restless ghosts walking along the cemetery alleys and frightening random passers-by.

But if we are talking about a city with a rich historical past - St. Petersburg, then the cemetery stories in this case are particularly diverse, which keep many secrets and legends.

T prison cemetery
As I said initially, this was a burial place exclusively for dead prison prisoners, who were buried in chains. People who live on Detskaya Street, which is opposite the Smolensk Cemetery, all as one tell strange stories that when there is a special rise in the sky full moon, in the cold season, when St. Petersburg is shrouded in fog. The sound of chains and groans can be heard from the cemetery. It’s as if someone is walking and rattling chains. I can also see small, flickering lights, like the flames of small candles.
One of the residents of the street next to the cemetery said that in their youth they made a bet with the boys that they would spend the night in the cemetery on the night of the full red moon. Everything that happened there left a heavy mark on their memory and psyche. One of the guys couldn’t speak for a very long time, and six months later the other hanged himself on the branch of an old maple tree that stood next to the crypt where they were holed up that night.
They saw the execution, they saw how people in white torn clothes walked along the road rattling chains to execution, and their faces were disfigured by pain and horror. It was all a moment, but it struck me forever.

The Legend of the 40 Martyred Priests

One of the most famous creepy stories of the Smolensk cemetery is associated with 40 priests; many historians believe that this legend hides very real events that took place on the territory of St. Petersburg in the twenties of the last century, when the Bolsheviks came to power.
The atheists who seized power first of all tried to get rid of those whose worldview had nothing in common with Soviet propaganda. Priests from all over St. Petersburg and all over the world were brought to the territory of the Smolensk cemetery. Leningrad region. Having lined them all up on the edge of a mass grave, the Holy Fathers were then offered a cruel choice: to be buried alive or to receive life in exchange for renouncing their faith. None of the priests recanted
It was rumored that for another three days muffled groans were heard from underground. Then, according to witnesses, a Divine ray fell on the grave from above, and everything became quiet. Despite the fact that almost a century has passed since then, this mass grave of 40 martyrs who gave their lives but did not renounce their faith still serves as a place of pilgrimage. In this corner of the Smolensky cemetery in St. Petersburg there are always flowers and lighted candles brought by visitors.

Chapel of Xenia the Blessed
There is a legend about Xenia the Blessed, the patroness of St. Petersburg.
According to this legend, a young girl suffered a great misfortune. She lost her beloved husband early, without whom she could not imagine her life. Having distributed all her property to the poor, wearing her late husband’s overcoat, Ksenia became a holy fool. The girl wandered the streets of the city in any weather and muttered strange things to passers-by, which seemed like the crazy words of a crazy woman. But later it turned out that they had a deep meaning, and what the woman said came true, all her words turned out to be prophetic.
Many will say that she gave away all her property, put on a jacket and became a holy fool... But no, Ksyushenka, for the sake of salvation and love for her neighbors, took upon herself the feat of appearing insane. For her labors, prayers, encouragement, wanderings and humbly enduring ridicule from people, the blessed one received from God the gift of clairvoyance and miracle-working.
Blessed Ksenia was born between 1719 and 1730 and carried out her saving feat in St. Petersburg. Ksenia's husband was the singer of the court choir, Andrei Feodorovich Petrov. Nothing is known about the blessed one’s childhood and youth; people’s memory has preserved only that which is associated with the beginning of Xenia’s feat of foolishness - the sudden death of her husband, who died without Christian repentance.
Shocked by this terrible event, the 26-year-old widow decided to begin the most difficult Christian feat - to appear insane, so that, by sacrificing to God the most valuable thing a person has - the mind - to beg the Creator for mercy on her suddenly deceased husband. Ksenia renounced all the blessings of the world, renounced her title and wealth, and, moreover, herself. She left her name and, taking the name of her husband, walked her entire way of the cross under his name, bringing to the altar of God the gifts of all-saving love for her neighbor.

Ksenia was buried at the Smolensk cemetery. Where at one time she helped build a church in the name of the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God.
A small chapel was built here. And in 1902, a new chapel with a marble iconostasis and a tombstone was built over the grave of Blessed Xenia. She was always open for the performance of memorial services, and nowhere were so many memorial services served as at the grave of Blessed Xenia.
The chapel has now been restored and is reopened for access and prayer.
There is no one people go to like Ksyushenka’s chapel. Even about two centuries after her death, people came to Xenia’s grave with their petitions. They carry notes with requests, leaving them in the walls of the chapel; some especially cunning ones break off the plaster from the chapel and immediately eat it, hoping for salvation (but as they say, “According to the faith of each, be it done to you”).
It is also believed that if you walk around the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed three times, thinking about your wish and asking Ksyushenka for help, then it will definitely come true.

Ghosts of the Smolensk Cemetery
Like any ancient cemetery, this necropolis of St. Petersburg also has its own ghosts, stories about which pass from century to century.
I'll tell you a few.
Knights of Malta
189* year from the diary of Nikolai Verbin.
He described the incident that happened to him in his diary. The autumn day turned out to be cloudy, and even at noon it seemed as if twilight had gathered around.
Lost in my thoughts, I did not immediately notice how a tall, stately man was walking towards me along a narrow path with an unhurried step.
When the passer-by came closer, I examined his clothes - he was dressed in a mantle with a white cross, characteristic of the Knights of the Order of Malta.
The proud posture and gait of the passer-by indicated that in front of me was a noble man. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make out his facial features. Without knowing the reason, I bowed my head to the stranger as a sign of respect.
When I woke up, there was no passerby nearby. But after it there was some kind of terribly chilling cold and a feeling that he was not alone, but big crowd of people.
“Knight of Malta” - a thought flashed through. I remembered that our late sovereign Paul I bore the title of the Order of Malta. Many noble holders of the order found their final refuge in St. Petersburg. If you believe the legends, the Maltese have come close to magical secrets. Perhaps “poor Paul” experienced the unknown.

Where are the knights of the order buried? We won't know. The Smolensk cemetery was damaged after the flood of 1824. Tombstones and crosses were washed away, the graves were covered with earth, and even relatives could not find the burial places of their ancestors. Church books containing the names of those buried were also lost after the flood.

Second meeting with knights and a girl with a doll.
A student walking along the alleys of an ancient cemetery on an autumn day met several strange ghostly figures. First, the guy noticed a man dressed in a cloak, like the knights of the Order of Malta wore, they walked towards him and when they caught up with him, they seemed to pass through him. Afterwards, there was also a feeling of the presence of a whole crowd of people and an unfounded panic.

And then, turning around, he met a little girl in whose hands was a porcelain doll. The young man was very surprised that the child was walking alone in such strange place, but when he followed the baby, he was even more surprised, because the girl’s figure suddenly disappeared into thin air. Instead, the guy noticed a grave with a monument in the form of a mourning angel, next to which lay a porcelain doll

Woman without a face
At the end of September 1963, three teenagers went to the cemetery to collect sulfur from destroyed tombstones and then watch it burn. When it started to rain, they decided to hide from it by climbing a tree. And, having climbed to a height of about three meters, we saw a woman walking with two large bags. She was wearing a raincoat, atypical for that time, with a hood covering her face.
The woman walked up to a grave sink located about eight meters from the tree and put the bags on the ground. There was complete silence. At this time, one of the teenagers accidentally dropped a matchbox containing sulfur he had collected. As the box fell, it hit the tree loudly. The woman raised her head and looked at the teenagers sitting on the tree. And they were seized by wild horror. The “woman” had no face. There was a void in the oval of the hood. Instantly the ghost disappeared into thin air. The teenagers, trembling from the horror they had experienced, quickly descended to the ground, but could neither run nor walk - their legs seemed to be numb.

Gradually the guys came to their senses, and one of them suggested that they had imagined everything. Warily approaching the place where the “woman” had recently stood, the friends saw that there were no traces on the path, although, sitting on a tree, they clearly saw on it the prints of rubber boots left by the creature that had disappeared into the air. There were no bags placed on the ground by the ghost either. And they started running without looking back.
After several years, one of the friends during the Scarlet Sails holiday was thrown from the bridge onto a barge sailing along the Neva, and he crashed. Another “registered” in places of detention for a long time. Events often happened to the third when he miraculously escaped death. And then he involuntarily remembered the ghost of a woman who had met him and his friends many years ago at the Smolensk cemetery.

Blokovskaya path
Very close to the mass grave of priests is Blokovskaya Path, where Alexander Blok was buried on August 10, 1921. Eyewitnesses recall that it was the strangest funeral in the history of St. Petersburg: the open coffin with the poet’s body was slowly carried through the city for six kilometers - silently, without an orchestra, almost silently. The strange procession lasted several hours.

Blok’s grave has long been moved to the “Literary Bridges” of the Volkovsky Cemetery, but the place where it used to be has not been forgotten. Someone planted a maple here, someone put a memorial stone with the inscription “Alexander Blok is buried here,” someone leaves flowers here on the day of the poet’s memory.

Arina Rodionovna's grave
We have heard a lot about the fact that Pushkin’s nanny Arina Rodionovna is buried at the Smolensk cemetery. The only problem is that researchers still don’t know where her grave is. Initially, a memorial plaque in memory of Arina Rodionovna was installed at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, with the mysterious text “In this cemetery, according to legend, the nanny of the poet A.S. is buried. Pushkina Arina Rodionovna, who died in 1828. The grave is lost." But later the legend was refuted by Pushkin researchers, and now it is officially believed that Arina Rodionovna was buried in Smolensk - there is even a corresponding memorial plaque hanging at the entrance to the cemetery. But the grave itself is still lost

T Aras Shevchenko: another grave that doesn’t exist
In 1861, the funeral of the famous Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko took place at the Smolensk cemetery. He died within the walls of the Imperial Academy of Arts on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg. The funeral took place in front of a huge number of people who crowded along the embankments and lines throughout the funeral procession. Among those seeing off the poet on his last journey were Dostoevsky, Nekrasov and many other well-known writers of those times. Thick snow began to fall, and one of the women shouted: “These children sent their tears from Ukraine for their father!”

The most interesting thing is that among all of Shevchenko’s paintings (and there are more than 1200 of them!) only one is dedicated to St. Petersburg. And it’s called “Corner of the Smolensk Cemetery.” And this corner, shown in the picture, surprisingly resembles his future grave - also on the edge of the cemetery, in a corner. But the sketch was made twenty years before the artist’s death. What is this - an accident, an irony of fate or a gift of foresight?

Two months after the funeral, Shevchenko’s friends and admirers fulfilled his request: They picked up the ashes and transported them to Ukraine in a zinc coffin.

The ancient Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg keeps many such mysterious and inexplicable stories.
Hangs right at the entrance commemorative plaque: “Pushkin’s nanny is buried here”
The depths of the cemetery are quiet, but the main alleys are very lively. In the summer, there are not only thoughtful young men and women looking for Blok’s first grave under the Beketovsky maple tree, but also various kinds of subcultures that scurry around the cemetery in the hope of catching ghosts.
Anchors are knocked out on old slabs of the Smolensk necropolis - symbols of salvation; they are often depicted on the graves of dead sailors. The tombstone of Vice Admiral Kopytov is impressive: a huge stone St. Andrew's flag.
Crosses here and there have grown into the trunks of two-hundred-year-old trees. Peeling angels peek out from the leaves. It has always been difficult for the dead here to sleep peacefully; In addition to the ever-scurrying extreme sports enthusiasts, it is enough to remember the flood of 1824 which completely destroyed the cemetery.
Many burials were lost over time, like the grave of Pushkin’s nanny or the Knights of Malta, secretly transferred here from Kamenny Island, others were opened and sent to organized memorial necropolises. Near the Smolensk Church, a stone marks the place of the first burial of Taras Shevchenko. Yes, even Shevchenko is said to have been buried here immediately after his death.

Legends and eyewitness accounts of events that fundamental science cannot explain do not arise out of nowhere. If you are a complete skeptic and do not believe in the existence of otherworldly forces and ghosts, you always have the opportunity to test this experimentally, wandering at night along the paths of the Smolensk cemetery, especially on nights of the full moon.