This place is 60 kilometers from Arkhyz, where the image of Christ was discovered almost 20 years ago.
Thousands of people know that in the Caucasus there is one of the most famous rock faces of Christ. But they even more dream of seeing him live and touching the holy image.
- In 1999, my father Alexei Nikolaevich Zhigailov just discovered the face of Christ on Arkhyz in Karachay-Cherkessia. It all turned out like this. Two black diggers who robbed dolmens were caught by the police. They offered a kind of deal. If they are released, they will show the holy image in front of the monastery, - says the son of Aleksey Zhigailov Eduard to Komsomolskaya Pravda. - I do not know how the case of the diggers ended there, but the police went to the mountains. And the first of the journalists on the spot was my father, who at that time was working as a correspondent for a news agency for the North Caucasus. He first removed the face of Christ.
The rock face of Christ. Photo: Administration of the Kardoniki rural settlement.
This place is gaining popularity every year. Tourists passing to the ski resort also stop there. Both church people and those who have not yet acquired a firm faith travel there by pilgrim buses. From the image, they say, comes an inexplicable pacifying light.
And almost 20 years later, by coincidence, the discovery, like his father, was made by Eduard Zhigailov. True, already in the Ilyich farm of the Otradnensky district of the Krasnodar Territory.
There are “windows” in the rocks near the mouth of the Kuva River, from where beautiful views of the Caucasian ridge open. Photo: Eduard ZHIGAILOV / kp.ru
In the rocks near the mouth of the Kuva River there are "windows", at the base of which are the ruins of an ancient temple of the 12th century. And just 150 meters from them, the image of the Mother of God is gleaming on the rock. An incredible picture opens before your eyes. The face of the Mother of God looks right at you from the rocky grotto. The size of the picture is small - about one meter by one meter.
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At the base of the "windows" are the ruins of an ancient temple of the 12th century. Photo: Eduard ZHIGAILOV / kp.ru
Interestingly, there are trident-shaped trees next to the face. Three trunks grow from one root, like candles. It is impossible to pass by such a miracle of nature.
There are trees of unusual shape not far from the face. Photo: Eduard ZHIGAILOV / kp.ru
Eduard Zhigailov learned about the holy image from his old acquaintance.
- Eduard and I have been in contact for a long time, he talked about his father more than once. And, of course, I knew he was a photojournalist. I thought this place should interest him, - says a resident of the village of Peredovoi Yuri Repilov. - I sometimes wander in the area where I once saw the face. Last year I was there, however, I did not notice. Hiking trips are often organized here, mainly for local schoolchildren - they take them to the mountains. Go, they just don't get to that place, or they go around by another path.
150 meters from the foundation of the temple, the image of the Mother of God is whitened on the rock. Photo: Eduard Zhigailov / kp.ru
Residents of the village of Peredovoy have also heard about this face. True, we are sure that he is already five years old. The Otradno Historical and Archaeological Museum recalls that a few years ago the locals already spoke about him: they say, they saw it, but they decided that it was one of the priests or just believers carved in stone. Maybe what kind of sin he atoned for?
But Eduard Zhigailov believes that the face is not made by hands.
Eduard Zhigailov hardly found the face of the Mother of God.
- There was a legend that even before the revolution, the Cossacks saw the face of the Mother of God in these places, they said that it was in the gorge of the Kuva or Urup River. My father was looking for this image for 20 years, but he could not find it, - continues Eduard Zhigailov. - I was able to get to this place quite recently, at the end of June I was told about the face and I set off. But I want to warn you right away - the place is hard to reach. You can't just get close to him. The danger is that if it rains in the mountains, the water level in the Kuva River immediately rises, the stream can easily wash away tourists. In addition, there is nothing fenced there, it is very difficult without special equipment. Having stumbled, you can fall into a cliff. Yes, and the cell phone does not catch there, so the elderly are definitely not allowed there.
It is not known when the rock face appeared and who its author is. Historians have not yet visited the site, and the priests are now on a pilgrimage tour.
- I heard about this face, no one went to the place, there seemed to be no instructions from the diocese. But only priests can tell you for sure, they are, unfortunately, far away now, - says the grandmother in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Otradnaya.
However, the famous archaeologist Irina Tsokur, who explored the Ilyichevsk settlement, believes that the face found is most likely a remake.
- From 1988 to 2001 I dug the Ilyichevsk settlement itself. Mikhail Lozhkin gave me the opportunity to explore from and to this monument, and I did not find any faces there. My colleagues have not seen anything like this either, which means that we are not talking about an ancient find,”says Irina Tsokur to Komsomolskaya Pravda - Kuban. - It is very difficult to determine the value of the image from the pictures. A specialist must go to the site, who will make an examination and assess the naturalness and reality of the face. But so far we are not talking about this.
In the future, Eduard Zhigailov hopes that this place will also become a tourist mecca.
“The place is incredible, the Illichivskoe settlement is a unique monument of world significance,” continues Eduard Zhigailov. - I am sure, if everything is arranged, thousands of tourists would come here, and not only from all over the country.
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How is this place known?
Ilyichevsk ancient settlement was discovered in 1962 by Mikhail Lozhkin. Excavations made it possible to classify the settlement as an urban-type settlement and date it to the 9th-13th centuries. The city stood on the Darinsky branch of the Great Silk Road and was one of the largest trade, craft and military centers of the Alanian state in the Northwest Caucasus.
It is here that you can see silent witnesses of distant events - the remains of stone walls, temples and buildings of an ancient settlement.
On one of the elevations, the base of a stone stele was discovered, with a well-worked surface. The upper part of the stele, however, has been lost. It can be assumed that these are the remains of a stone cross, indicating the church complex, located on the citadel of the monument.
In addition to temples, residential and household buildings were opened on the site, as evidenced by the finds of a large amount of ceramics, iron slag, and animal bones.
And on the slopes of the deep gorges of the Gamovka and Balabanka rivers, in natural niches and sheds, there are rock burial grounds of the monument, which are an interesting ceremony of the Middle Ages.
EVGENIYA KHILKO
