Turovsky crosses
I will begin my story with the main attraction of the city of Turov - the Turov crosses. First, let's try to figure out how they got to Turov.
According to legend, in the 10th century, after the introduction of Christianity along the Dnieper and Pripyat rivers, against the stream, stone crosses sailed to Turov from Kiev. There were ten of them, according to some sources twelve. Upon arrival in Turov, they were installed in a place of honor near the river, where they stood for about a thousand years. At all times, local residents venerated them as a shrine. There is no doubt that the crosses were brought here from afar, because in the Turov lands, by the very property of the soil, there is not a single stone anywhere. And if they come across, they are very small and of a completely different composition.
In 1930, XX century, during the persecution of faith in God, by order of the Soviet authorities, all the crosses were sunk. But in 1937, four of them surfaced in different places at different times.
Two large ones, covered with mud and algae, surfaced off the coast of the village of Chernichi, where the monastery of St. Barbara was previously located. The women, mistaking the crosses for wooden graves, hastened to push them away from the shore with hooks. According to legend, grave crosses sticking to the shore could bring misfortune to the village. Further, the crosses sailed up the river against the current, repeating the ancient miracle, and moored to the pier in Turov, where they were found by local men spending their leisure time on the banks of the Strumen River (a branch of the Pripyat River) and pulled out of the water. To extract it took the power of more than one man, since the crosses, to the surprise of all witnesses, turned out to be stone and were larger in size than human growth. The local authorities ordered to break them up into small parts and drown them in this form, but the men, fearing God's punishment for mocking the shrine,carried the crosses to the church and hid them in the bushes near the foundation. When the atheist time calmed down, the crosses were erected in the Church of All Saints, which during all this time, surprisingly, was not closed by the authorities for divine services.
In 2010, one of the crosses was moved to the territory of a new cathedral under construction in honor of Saints Cyril and Lawrence of Turov and later installed on the cathedral square for worship, where it is now.
Promotional video:
Another cross surfaced near the village of Pogost, Zhitkovichi district. People were not afraid of the anger of the authorities and installed it, but according to the decree of the board of the village council, it was drowned back. After some time, the cross appeared in the same place where it stood. Twice he was drowned, but he still appeared. When the cross appeared in its place for the third time, it was taken away and taken to Gomel for research. According to one version, the cross moored three times to the same place and people put it in its original place. The locals were very reverent about the miracle from above and prophesied to the people in civilian clothes who were taking the cross away, imminent deaths and serious illnesses for blaspheming God and trampling on the shrine. Soon, the people who participated in the removal of the cross really began to get sick and die. And then the cross was returned back, and at the place of its establishment,a wooden chapel was built. Later, on the site of the chapel, a temple was built in honor of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, where this cross is to this day.
According to Soviet laws, the phenomenon of the miracle of the stone crosses floating on the water was not subject to public announcement, a reward for silence was announced to witnesses and participants in the acquisition of the crosses. They were given food rations - wine, sugar, cereals, bread, butter. And for spreading rumors about a miracle, they threatened with exile and prison. But this fact could not be kept in secret, popular rumor spread the news at the speed of light even before the decree of local authorities and everyone knew about the miracle, from young to old.
The fourth cross and its place of residence became known from the peasant Ivan through his story, also recorded by local residents. The cross was covered in mud, near the Boris-Gleb inheritance he found floating on the water. Ivan thought that the water had washed the cross from the grave and that it was wooden, but when he began to lift it, it turned out to be stone and almost turned the boat over. It was a sheer miracle! In those days, he could not announce this. Frightened, fearing punishment, Ivan hid the cross, burying it deep in the ground near the church at the Boris-Gleb cemetery. It was this cross that began to grow here.
Once on this place, in the 10th century, one of the first Russian monasteries was formed in honor of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb. Here the monks prayed until 1241. The especially revered, great holy lands of Turov - Saints Cyril and Lavrenty, Bishops of Turov and the Monk Martin of Turov, asceticised in this monastery.
The first signs of the growth of the cross appeared around 1956. Then only a small upper part of it appeared from the ground. This phenomenon was noticed by people caring for the graves, near which the cross began to grow. But then no one attached much importance to this, since the cross looked like part of a small stone that came out of the ground.
In 1982, the cross came out 2.5 cm. By 1997, the top and part of the right wing were visible. In 2001, the left wing came out. In the same year, in winter, at a temperature of 5-15 degrees below zero, all the snow melted within a radius of 3.5 meters and there were puddles, and the cross was clearly warm. This phenomenon lasted about 10 days and then disappeared. Some also tell about three luminous pillars emanating from the ground near the cross and directed into the sky. The pillars shone for about several minutes, so there are few witnesses of this phenomenon.
Later, the cross began not only to emerge from the ground, but also to grow in breadth. In 2004, the width of the cross was 28 centimeters, in 2007 - 34, in 2009 - up to 35.5 centimeters. For this reason, the cross is called growing.
Who just came to study the miracle cross. There were geologists, ufologists, and physicists, who were not there. They photographed, measured, took something for analysis. The data on measurements are actually made by scientists. What crazy theories have not been put forward about the growth of the cross. Either it is heated and moved by some unknown underground energy, then it is simply pushed out of the earth by some unknown force. One researcher once said:
- All stones grow.
- How do they grow? - asked the headman of our chapel at the Boris-Gleb cemetery.
- One centimeter per hundred years, well, some breeds can be two!
- Why did our cross grow more than seven centimeters wide in several years?
- You have a bad ecology! Maybe the radiation did this … - That was the answer from the researcher.
How many stones have grown in the Chernobyl zone and whether radiation can act, which, in fact, is not in the growth zone of the cross, he never said.
Really, no one could come up with anything scientifically substantiated for all the time. None of the cosmic, physical and human laws could explain the nature of such a rapid growth and exit from the earth of stone. So much for the Miracle Cross!
After 2009, the cross stopped growing in breadth, and now it is only gradually emerging from the ground.
The fact that the cross has grown is a fact. There are a million witnesses to this, even the current governor of the Gomel region, who visited Turov at the dawn of his career, remembers the cross as small, not like now. And I have my own small example of its growth after 2009. When I arrived in Turov, like all newcomers, I went to the cross and photographed it. Then, some “kind” person broke off a piece from the cross and a deep chip with sharp edges remained in this place. In this state, my camera captured the cross in 2011. And by 2014, there was almost no trace of this cleavage, only a small rounded fossa, and everything else dragged on, like a wound on a human body heals up. I attach the before and after photos, you can see, of course, not as clearly as we would like, but you can notice the difference.
In 2008, in the central part of the Boris-Gleb cemetery, another cross began to appear, which is not mentioned in the legend. He came out already at 17 centimeters. Unlike the growing cross, this cross is considered to be exiting. It comes out near the foundation of the ancient monastery church, under the grave fence (which later had to be cut off, since the cross began to rest against it). No miraculous properties are attributed to him, but believing people apply to this cross, as they believe that crosses on this earth grow to the glory of God.
There is an opinion that the growing cross is still warm in winter and summer. This is not the case, it was only warm in 2001. Although there are frosty days when thawed patches are visible around it and the cross "opens" to everyone in their own way. Someone is really warm, someone sees the face of an Angel on him, someone is crucified of Christ, someone does not feel anything at all, and who cannot approach at all, rages and squeals like a pig, or, on the contrary, feels grace. Any local resident who believes in a miracle will tell you his story that happened to him at the cross or a story that he himself witnessed.
People who come to the cross with faith as a source of grace and ask God for help with sincere repentance, as a rule, receive the requested and the miracle of healing to this day! And whoever goes to the crosses, as to the stones, for the sake of curiosity, he can leave with nothing.
There is also the custom of tying colored ribbons near the cross, putting sweets, etc. I must say right away that this tradition is a relic of paganism and has nothing to do with Orthodoxy. It just so happened that many who come to us, read all sorts of mischief in the network and begin to follow the specified rules. If you really want to tie a beautiful ribbon on your memory, do it without giving any sacred meaning, just for beauty.
HEALING AT THE CROSS
Boris Gleb Monastery (now a cemetery) became a place of pilgrimage. People who believe in its miraculous power come to the growing cross. People come here not only from all over Belarus, neighboring countries, but also from far abroad for the purpose of healing from various ailments, as the popular rumor says: “Turov's“growing”cross” heals!
When people go to the cross with faith, with hope, real miracles happen! If you collect all the amazing cases of healing that happened near the cross, you get a big book.
The priests of Turov heard many confessions from both local and visiting people.
Here are some of the more recent cases:
Among a group of pilgrims with disabled children from Gomel, two visually impaired girls prayed earnestly at the cross and, despite the fact that the disease was incurable from a medical point of view, they received complete healing some time after returning home - they received their sight.
The driver from Minsk fell ill with polyarthritis. I had to endure severe pain, so much so that at night an adult man cried. His mother, a local resident, persuaded him to stop by the cross on the way to her and ask the Lord for help. The man venerated the cross, prayed as best he could. After three or four weeks, his arms straightened, the tumors disappeared, the pain went away.
Another man confessed that when he touched the cross, he clearly felt an inner thrill, a tremor, as if he was turned over, and it was here that he began to look at the world differently.
The Cross has repeatedly helped childless couples.
There are also known cases of healing from cancer and demonic possession.
Never lose hope, come to the growing crosses, attach to them and ask!
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. The Gospel of Matthew (ch. 7, v. 7)
According to your faith, let it be to you. Gospel of Matthew (chap. 9: 18-34)
If you want to come to the crosses, go to the temple and venerate other shrines, whether you believe in God or not, try to follow a small simple list of rules:
- Do not drink alcohol before visiting holy places.
- Refrain from smoking, profanity and blasphemy in a holy place.
- Do not break off pieces of shrines for yourself. You can attach your pectoral cross, icon or any other object to them to preserve the grace of the shrine.
- Women are advised to visit holy places with a skirt and head covered. If, nevertheless, there is no such opportunity, it does not matter, entering the temple, you can always ask the attendants for a kerchief and a special skirt. Also, women during special days should not kiss the shrines, but you can visit the temple.
There is no need to observe special rituals for worshiping the cross, if you are an Orthodox Christian, sign yourself with the sign of the cross and attach your forehead or lips to the cross. If for some reason you cannot do this, just hold your hand for any part of it or stand nearby. Repenting, asking for something from God, or simply being silent in contemplation at the cross is the business of each of you.
When asking, do not forget to thank God after receiving the request.
That's actually all that I wanted to tell in this story.
I will tell you about Turov, its history, other shrines and sights later in other parts.
