Miraculous escape from the explosion 21 March 1898 of the year
Veneration of the Kursk Miraculous Image from a local one gradually turned into an all-Russian one. We've already mentioned, that in Kursk and in the Root Desert by the time of the removal of the Icon flocked worshippers from all over Central Russia. Twice the Icon visited the Moscow First Throne. AT 1676 year she was taken to the Don to inspire Cossack regiments. AT 1687 Tsars John and Peter Alexeevich ordered to take the Miraculous Icon to the "Big Regiment", T. E. Army, going on a campaign against the Crimean Tatars. This "Big Regiment" reached all the way to the Crimea and put an end to the Tatar raids on Russian lands..
So, Kursk Miraculous Icon, appearing on the encouragement of the Russian people on the borders of the Russian land, lying in ruins after the Batu invasion, participated in the last victorious campaign of the Russians against the Tatars, finally eliminated the Tatar danger to Russia.
AT 1812 year, during the Patriotic War, the Kurians built an accurate ornate list of the Miraculous Icon and sent it to Kutuzov.. This list, together with the Smolensk Miraculous Image, was in Kutuzov's headquarters and overshadowed the troops during the Battle of Borodino. There is a legend, that this list then participated in the campaign of the Russian army in Europe in 1813 year and, It's possible, was at the Battle of Leipzig and paris, as if to show the way abroad of the Miraculous Icon itself.
The exact lists of the Kursk Icon of the Sign were in the royal palaces of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Several miraculous lists of the Kursk Image also appeared., for example, in the Seraphim-Ponetayevsky Monastery of the Arzamas Uyezd of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, in the Znamenskaya Church in St. Petersburg, in one of the villages of Okhtyrka Uyezd, Kharkiv Governorate and in other places.
Such an all-Russian veneration of the Kursk Miraculous Image attracted the attention of socialist revolutionaries , these forerunners of Bolshevism. Understanding perfectly, that the foundations of Russian statehood are rooted in the Holy World. Orthodoxy, these gentlemen intended, to shake these foundations, to shake the people's faith. To do this, they boldly decided to destroy one of the most revered national shrines., and destroy it before the eyes of the people. Their choice fell on the Kursk Miraculous Image, all the more so, that it was easier to carry out their villainous intent in the province.
In the conspiracy, inter alia, Maxim Gorky and a number of prominent SRs took part, very possible, and Savinkov, as one of the most prominent terrorists. A hellish machine of very great strength was made in Finland.
It was decided to make an explosion, for a better effect, during the festive service. Blasphemously chosen for this week of the Cross. The execution of this heinous deed was entrusted to the Kursk realist Ufimtsev, who was expelled for revolutionary activities., which Gorky later, in his memoirs, called "the poet of scientific technology".
Ufimtsev, as he later confessed at the inquest, brought a hellish machine, wrapped in rustic canvas, during the vigil, on which the cross was carried out, and calmly laid on the floor near the Icon itself, as an "offering". No one paid attention to this., for canvas was often brought by peasants and laid, as a victim, to Icon, where these bundles remained sometimes until Sunday evening. With Ufimtsev, another person participated in the explosion, whose name we will not name. The thing is,, what in 1949 Mr., when the ruler of affairs of our Synodal Chancellery, Protopresbyter o. George Grabbe, was in Frankfurt with the Miraculous Image, an old man approached him and, pulling aside, quoth:
" I was an accomplice of Ufimtsev in the attempt to blow up this icon. I was a boy, I didn't believe in God. So I wanted to check.: if there is a God, then He will not allow the destruction of such a great Shrine. After the explosion, I fervently believed in God and still bitterly repent of my terrible act..
After that, the old man with tears bowed to the Miraculous Icon and left the temple.. This conversation is about. G. Grabbe allowed me to publish.
Criminals, who detonated the explosion, were not found at first. However, two years later, Ufimtsev, arrested in another revolutionary case and sentenced to exile to Siberia, sitting in a transit prison in Kharkiv on Kholodnaya Gora, began to boast among the prisoners, that it was he who caused the explosion in the Znamensky Monastery. One of his cellmates, who turned out to be a believer, resented such blasphemous bluster and reported to his superiors. At the additional investigation, Ufimtsev had to confess to the work of the explosion, on behalf of the Socialistist Revolutionary Party, but he did not betray his comrades.
Since Ufimtsev, during the commission of his terrible crime, was still a minor, he got off with just a few years of prison companies.. By served his sentence, he returned to Kursk and opened a locksmith shop there.. To the shame of the Chickens, he had enough clientele.. He was even, in a sense, a celebrity., which they went to look at, and was openly known as a revolutionary.
After the October Revolution, Ufimtsev immediately joined the Bolsheviks, went to Moscow and enjoyed the patronage of Gorky. But even before the revolution, our "advanced" intelligentsia, you could say, carried it in her arms. Famous writer Leonid Andreev used the "spectacular plot of the explosion" for the blasphemous play "Savva". In it, he, under the name of the revolutionary Sava, brought out Ufimtsev. Savva persuades for money one drunk monk from the monastery to put a hellish car under the Icon. He agrees., but at the last minute he is frightened and reports everything to the abbot. The abbot decides to use this circumstance "for the glory of God" and to increase the monastic income.. He orders the monk to put the infernal machine to the canopy., and he takes out the Miraculous Icon. After the explosion, the abbot secretly places the Icon and demonstrates the "miracle".
The sheer incongruity of this vile fabrication, worthy of the Bolsheviks, Obvious. From the description of the explosion, this will become clear to everyone.. And such things were not only written before the revolution., but also freely staged. Really, the play was only allowed to be performed in 1906 year, when, after the first revolution, all kinds of freedoms were declared. You could say…. "freed".
Pore, however, go to the description of the explosion itself.
Here is the testimony of one witness monk of the Znamensky Monastery, borrowed by us from the magazine "Russian Pilgrim" No 12, From 21 March 1898 of the year:
«Kellia, in which I slept, located next to the rectory… We've been asleep for a long time., as if suddenly, around one o'clock in the morning, there was a terrible explosion, from which the glass on the windows burst and things fell from the tables. Of course, everyone woke up. I jumped out of bed and, but no one saw anything… Everything was calm and immersed in the darkness of the night.… The silence is kind of ominous.. Throwing on a cassock caught under his hands, I ran out into the yard., where the night watchmen were already sounding the alarm. From them I learned, that the explosion occurred in the temple. Ran for the key, got the lights.
Entered the temple… and a terrible picture of destruction presented itself to our eyes.. North side windows and massive iron doors were broken into., they were precisely broken into by armed robbers … Then it turned out, that these are the consequences of the explosion. When the inside of the temple was illuminated properly, a complete picture of the destruction was presented. Umbrage, under which the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God was placed, the platform in front of the Icon, it all turned into a pile of ruins.. Cast iron gilded canopy, massive candlestick on 150 candles – everything shattered into pieces…
All the brethren hurried to the cathedral. His Eminence Juvenal also arrived.… Imagine our consolation and joy., when we saw, that not only the Shrine, but also the most kyot, in which she was in the canopy, - Unharmed! So unscathed, that no scratch anywhere. There are ruins all around, piles of debris, picture of total destruction, a holy icon, as a miracle of miracles, - Unharmed. With tears of emotion, everyone fell before such a clear new miracle of our great Shrine., and with tender tears performed the first prayer after the destruction».
And here's the testimony of another monk., whitewashed with gray hair, in the same log:
«At the end of the first hour, the whole brethren went to bed.. During a deep sleep, I heard a terrible hellish roar., from which my bed seemed to sway in the air. At first, my head kind of went crazy., — the awakening was too scary. Second, the other and ran down the hallway. Then only I understood, that something terrible happened. Running out into the hallway, I met monks and, with them, hurried to the monastery courtyard. Night watchmen came across, Who have indicated, that something terrible happened in a large temple … They ran to report to his eminence and archimandrite, but they had already gotten up and hurried to church..
The appearance of a venerable ruler among us, ahead of all, with the firm determination of marching into the temple and encouraging us with example and word, gave us the strength to follow him to church ourselves.. As soon as we crossed the church threshold, how a terrifying thick stench smelled in his face. Brought lights, began to light candles, but they were extinguished by a mass of thick and acrid smoke.. Then they opened all the doors and arranged a draft., to purify the air at least somewhat. When the church was lit, screams of terror erupted from the chests of all those present.. Magnificent canopy, where the Miraculous Image was placed, was literally all destroyed.. Dozens of precious gold and silver lamps are broken and thrown back with incredible force. 6-7 Fathoms. The walls of the canopy and its columns are shifted from their places, squeezed, spoiled and badly burned. The canopy of the canopy is moved from its place, Steps, located under the canopy, far thrown away with incredible force and lay a few fathoms from their place. Stucco decorations crumbled and peeled off.. The entire vast cathedral was covered with disparate debris.. Everywhere: plaster, pieces of wood, Nails, pieces of stucco decorations, candles, shreds of matter… His Grace Juvenal and his brethren, struggling to get through the pile of debris, with awe they took out from the kiosk the miraculous Image of the Sign of the Mother of God completely unharmed.. In the kiosk, only the glass was broken., and at sv. Icons only smoked, or rather,, smoked with gunpowder smoke corolla…
It is difficult to describe that joy and that thanksgiving to God and the Most Holy Theotokos., koi embraced all of us present, — continues the monk, — when we saw, that a new miracle of God's grace has been performed over the Miraculous Image. The news of the miraculous event barely spread., like all the inhabitants of the city, from noble and eminent people to the last poor, hurried to the monastery. At nine o'clock in the morning, the gospel was heard., and the doors of the temple swung open. Crowd of thousands, how one man bared her heads and made the sign of the cross. People rushed to the church, where in the presence of superiors and officials of the city, a solemn thanksgiving prayer was performed by His Grace Bishop Juvenal of Kursk before the Miraculous Image. The temple could not accommodate all those who came to see with their own eyes the wondrous miracle of God's mercy., and more and more crowds of worshippers formed around the cathedral.. Extraordinary solemnity distinguished this first, after a miracle that has just occurred, rogation. It's hard to describe a minute., when, after the end of the akathist to the Queen of Heaven, His Grace Juvenal lifted up the Miraculous Image and overshadowed the four sides of the worshippers, fallen before a deeply revered shrine».
In addition to the above two testimonies, Here is another description of this wonderful event in local Kursk newspapers:
«8 March in 1 h. 50 m. Night, all the brethren of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery were suddenly awakened by some terrible blow., and in all the cells the windows trembled, and the cell of His Grace Juvenal, Bishop of Kursk, was even thrown out of bed. In great fright, the monks ran out into the courtyard.. His Grace Juvenalia and his brethren addressed the cathedral, where did some suffocating smell come from?. Was, when they tried to enter the cathedral, that it is all filled with acrid smoke and burning, from which it took my breath away and extinguished the candles. Immediately sent for the police and the prosecutor, and the terrible news of the disaster instantly spread throughout the city..
In front of the eyes of all representatives of local authorities who quickly gathered in the cathedral: Governor, Gendarmerie General, Prosecutor, police master and others, a stunning picture presented itself. Planks and broken glass were scattered all over the floor., Fallen, as it turned out later, even from the upper windows of the dome from a fifteen-foot height. The northern massive door of the cathedral was literally all broken and pierced even out.. Wall painting and alabaster are spoiled. But, most of all, that northern niche was damaged, where there was always a highly revered Shrine - the Miraculous Kursk, or Indigenous, Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God.
This niche, in the shape of a large nod, decorated with ornaments and sacred medallions, was literally all broken.: the inner gilded walls and its columns were burned and pushed outward, all the stucco decorations and lamps were far tossed to the sides., even beyond the bishop's pulpit; iron grille, in front of the canopy, was disrupted, a massive candlestick on 150 the candle was disfigured and thrown a few fathoms to the opposite wall.; scattered sills in all directions, leading to the canopy, damaged wall painting…
Despite all this damage., which could only have come from the explosion of some very strong substance, the precious Image itself, six-hundred-year-old Russian folk shrine, Miraculous Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God, and this time she showed us a great miracle and remained on the charred broken walls of the canopy safe and sound.. She just moved slightly to the left in a nod., yes at the robe the crown was sooty with smoke. Her nod didn't even have the glass broken. (according to the previous testimony of the monk, the glass was broken, which is more plausible, otherwise how could the corolla smoke? Archieps. S). A hellish car was also found., which was an oblong white metal box, as you can guess from its remnants, with clockwork. This box is the size of its own, with foreign stamps, could hold more than a pound of dynamite, which was perfectly enough, in the opinion of the, as an expert, from Kharkov pyrotechnics of artillery department G. P. Ivanova, for the perfect destruction of the canopy, together with Icon. The investigating authorities made a protocol inventory of all the injuries and took several photographs.». (Taken from the book: "On the Miracles of God" edition of the Athos Elijah Skete. 1900 Mr.).
All of the above notes the terrible power of the explosion and the obviously miraculous preservation of the Icon., only slightly moved from its place, as if the Queen of Heaven had turned Her Face away from the terrible atrocity committed.. What would be, if the explosion had occurred during the vigil or Sunday liturgy, when accommodating up to 5000 The cathedral was full of people, especially those who were close to the Miraculous Icon. Of course, more than one hundred souls would have suffered. But the clockwork mechanism of the hellish machine by this "poet of scientific technology" was installed with this calculation., so that the explosion for greater effect occurred on the people.
Thus were announced two great signs from the Miraculous Image of the "Sign": and the Icon Survived, and not a single soul perished.
The news of this wondrous sign flew all over Russia and even penetrated abroad.. For all Russian churches next Sunday, 15 March, thanksgiving prayers to the Lady were served, on the occasion of the miraculous salvation of Her Icon. Kursk began to be flooded with pilgrims, and Takeaway Icons, on the ninth Friday after Easter, glass above 60.000 Bogomoltsev.
