Upper Saviour–Transfiguration Monastery (later known as Upper Dormition Edinoverie Monastery for Men; Russian: Верхний Спасо-Преображенский монастырь) was from the 18th to the early 20th century an Old Believer (later Edinoverie) male monastery, close to the town of Nikolayevsk (now Pugachyov) in Saratov Oblast.
It was founded as an Old Believer monastery, and soon became an all-Russian spiritual centre of the Old Believer movement, possessing wealth comparable to the largest Orthodox monasteries. Among the Irgiz monasteries, it maintained its independence the longest, but in 1841 was converted to Edinoverie. In that capacity it continued to operate until the establishment of Soviet power in the region, after which it was closed.
The Old Believers' arrival at Irgiz The Bolshoy and Maly Irgiz rivers' environs were places of Old Believers settlements since the early 18th century, despite the constant threat of nomadic raids. In 1727, Archbishop of Kazan Sylvester reported to the Holy Synod that "along the river Kirghiz (Irgiz), from the upper towns and districts, schismatics were living in great numbers, fleeing from investigation, with wives and children". The authorities periodically conducted searches for such settlers using military detachments, but despite such persecutions the region continued to attract more settlers. By the 1760s, "more than a thousand Russian subjects" were living in the area. A number of slobodas sprang up.
Almost immediately after his accession, Emperor Peter III sent to the Senate for consideration a decree permitting all Old Believers who had previously fled abroad to return to Russia freely, with the right of freedom of worship. G. R. Derzhavin supposed that such a decree came about under the influence of a proposal submitted by Ivan Serebryakov, a peasant from one of the Old Believer centres, the village of Malykovka, concerning the settlement of the sparsely populated lands along the Irgiz by Old Believer migrants from Poland. Catherine II in December 1762 confirmed the earlier decree, additionally promising settlers exemption from taxes for six years and grants of land. The decree became the principal source for the colonisation of the Saratov Region in the 18th century – according to Archbishop Filaret, in 1763 alone some 20,000 people migrated from the Polish sloboda of Vetka, which had long been an Old Believer centre, to the Irgiz. Together with the migrants from Europe, settlers from the interior of Russia also began quietly making their way to the Irgiz, and some of them also managed to obtain land grants. Soon several Old Believer monasteries appeared in the Irgiz slobodas, founded by emigrants from Poland.
History of the Old Believer Monastery
Foundation The exact date of the monastery's foundation is unknown. Ivan Dobrotvorsky and Nikolai Sokolov, scholars of the history of schism in Saratov Province, hold that the skete was founded in 1762. The same year appears in the collected works of former Saratov Bishop Iakov (Vecherkov), On the Schism of the Fugitive Priest Sect in Saratov Province, and in the Statistical Description of Monasteries compiled in 1827.
However, as early as the beginning of the 19th century, the Saratov governor Pyotr Belyakov noted that dating the monastery's foundation to 1762 was mistaken, pointing out that the imperial decree was issued only on 14 December, and that it would have been simply impossible to travel from Poland to the distant Irgiz in the remaining two weeks.State Archives of the Saratov Region. F. 407. Op. 2. D. 1597. L. 2. Belyakov placed the time of the monasteries' foundation in the mid-1770s,State Archives of the Saratov Region. F. 407. Op. 2. D. 1597. p. 1 (verso). which is indirectly confirmed by the absence of the Irgiz monasteries from the lists of schismatics in the province who paid the double poll tax in 1778. Moreover, since under Catherine II's decree the tax exemption was granted for six years, the monasteries could not have been founded before 1772.
Contemporary Russian scholar S. P. Polozov believes that the monastery was founded somewhat later than 1762, while another contemporary researcher, A. Naumlyuk, holds that the monastery was founded in 1764, a view echoed by yet another historian, Irina Polozova.
The founder is considered to be Isaakiy, a native of the Polish sloboda of Vetka, together with a brotherhood of 11 monks and 14 novices. They settled in a picturesque location on the left bank of the Irgiz River, on a peninsula between the river and Lake Kalach. When it was established, Isaakiy's skete lay about eight versts from the future centre of Nikolayevsky Uyezd, the sloboda of Mechetnaya (now Pugachyov).
Early years
For a long time the monastery preserved the founder Isaakiy's own holograph will, in which he urged his brotherhood and future inhabitants of the monastery to observe the ancient faith, to strictly follow the requirements of morality, and to adorn themselves with virtues – only then, he wrote, would the monastery endure long and securely. Isaakiy appears to have been an educated, deeply religious, and strictly moral man, who sincerely believed in the rightness of his convictions and sought to instil them in the souls of the brotherhood under his charge. The monks led a strict ascetic life, which earned them the respect of the local Old Believers. According to the census of 1762–1765, after its foundation, the Isaakiy skete was already home for 37 persons.
Although initially the skete did not differ markedly from the numerous similar ones scattered throughout Saratov Governorate, the inhabitants of the monastery, believing that the freedom of worship granted them by the imperial decree also extended to the construction of chapels and churches, set about building ecclesiastical structures, which noticeably increased the monastery's influence on the spiritual life of the region. In 1764 a chapel was built in the monastery in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. Metropolitan Macarius, in his work History of the Russian Schism Known as Old Belief, which had several editions, wrote that the first chapel appeared in the monastery only in 1770, but already on 21 July 1768 it was discussed in a communication from the Holy Synod to the Senate, which allows his assertion to be considered erroneous. From this time began the monastery's public activity in the spiritual guidance of the Old Believer flock. Laypeople approached the monastery for teachings and explanations of Scripture, for the performance of rites; it became the local spiritual centre and developed rapidly. The fame of the Irgiz hermits' sacredness grew quickly. Around 1774, a women's skete was founded near the men's monastery, which subsequently developed into the .
Flourishing The monastery's flourishing era is linked with the name of its second superior, Sergiy (Yurshev). He was the son of a Moscow merchant, a well-known Old Believer, and had fled persecution to Poland. In 1776, Sergiy took advantage of Catherine II's decree permitting schismatics to return to Russia. When crossing the border he identified himself as a native Russian who supposedly did not remember where he had been born or who had brought him to Poland.
In that same year, 1776, Sergiy appeared at Isaakiy's skete, where he soon gained the respect of the monastery's inhabitants, standing out among them as a native of Moscow, the son of a well-known schismatic, and a man of sober judgement, literate and widely read. There was in general a great shortage of educated people in the monastery. Thus during the Pugachev's Rebellion one of the elders said of educated persons in the monastery: "there are none such here; some twenty had gathered, but they all scattered on account of the squad of investigators".
A year after his arrival, Sergiy was playing an important role in the monastery's administration. Isaakiy even sent him to Moscow to establish connections between the Irgiz and Moscow Old Believers. Sergiy did not return from Moscow alone: he persuaded Mikhail Kalmyk, then regarded as the supreme father of the popovtsy group, to give him the hierodeacon Ieronimus to perform sacrifices needed by all the Old Believers of the Irgiz, where there had been no priests for two years.
In 1780, Isaakiy – the skete's founder and superior – died. Before his death he pointed to Sergiy as his successor, with which the brotherhood agreed: it was to Sergiy's name that they attached their hopes, and no one in the monastery could compare with him in fame. However, Sergiy reluctantly accepted the position offered, excusing himself on grounds of youth and inexperience. How sincere his excuses were is not known, but on 3 May 1780 the following document was drawn up by the skete's inhabitants:
By the will and grace of God the Father Almighty, we, the assembled brotherhood of the Upper Isaakiy Skete, gathered here for the election of a superior for our monastery, have chosen the monk Sergiy by our full, common, brotherly counsel, to govern all monastic needs, both spiritual and temporal. Above all, let the superior, monk Sergiy, take care of the common house of prayer, ensuring that divine service is never lacking. Let all of us in the brotherhood who are under his authority render him obedience in all God-pleasing matters without contradiction. Let the superior guide us in a fatherly manner and with righteousness. Let the superior not determine any matter pertaining to the monastery alone, but consult the treasurer. If a significant matter arises that affects the entire monastery and all the brotherhood, let it be presented to the assembled brotherhood for deliberation in a spirit of humility.
In addition, the superior used to oversee compliance with the monastic rule according to the precept of Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, so that "the elders should not keep or drink intoxicating and strong wine; lest disorder take root in the monastery, and from disorder every evil thing arise, that is, the ruin of patristic and monastic life".
Sergiy started to fulfill the brotherhood's charge: he drew up a rule of communal life and introduced a common refectory meal. His rule is not known to historians, but the rule of the Lower-Resurrection Monastery has survived,State Archives of the Saratov Region. F. 407. Op. 2. D. 1617. L. 2–2 rev. and is known to have been modelled on the rule of the Upper Dormition Monastery.State Archives of the Saratov Region. F. 407. Op. 2. D. 1617. L. 1 rev.
Have 12 people from the brethren for counsel, without which no matters are to be done. Have a collection box in the churches for donations, which go exclusively to the priests. If any of the brethren becomes guilty, feed him, do not deprive him of will, but punish only by determination with counsel. All sums of offerings go to the abbot, but the string-bound books of income and expenditure are checked by the elders. For receiving offerings in letters, appoint a special agent who will receive them, record them in books, hand them to the abbot, and he hands them to the treasurer or church warden. Do not accept those coming on pilgrimage or for living without the Council under any circumstances. For visitors, the treasurer allocates everything necessary. The abbot is not to travel anywhere arbitrarily without the Council and the treasurer. Expenditure of money by the abbot only after agreement of the Council and the treasurer. If any of the brethren is guilty of a crime, hand him over to the public offices at the desire of the whole brethren. Do not keep excess livestock, but for their care keep the corresponding number of workers. If the abbot does not fulfill it, the Council reports it to the other abbots; if the abbot does not submit, a new one is elected.