Only the righteous and saints can see this city. Only a true believer is worthy to hear the ringing of his bells. City of Kitezh. A legendary city. Until now, many Orthodox Christians are going to make a pilgrimage to the lake, in the depths of which the legendary city supposedly rests. Centuries have passed, but people still strive here. They believe that Kitezh stands at the bottom of the lake, and their faith is unshakable.
So why is the legend about the city of Kitezh so popular? Why can't people forget about this place?
The trace of the Virgin
The inhabitants of the city not only did not build any fortifications, but did not even intend to defend themselves. Seeing the approaching enemy army, they simply began to pray to the Mother of God. And a miracle happened. As soon as the Tatars rushed to the city, the Mother of God descended from the heavens, and there and then from the ground abounding springs suddenly gushed out. Before the eyes of Batu and his troops, the holy city plunged into Lake Svetloyar, not being plundered, dishonored and killed by the enemy …
Tellingly, the place where the Mother of God set foot on the ground is known to every man of light - if you can call the local residents that way. Near the now closed temple of the Kazan Mother of God stands a huge stone dug into the ground. On closer inspection, a footprint is clearly visible on it. Old-timers claim that this is the trace of the Mother of God, and they venerate the stone as a saint. Numerous pilgrims adhere to the same opinion: the trees around the stone are hung with multi-colored ribbons with pleas for help.
This is the legend …
Promotional video:
Holy water
But this is the reality …
Believers from all over the country come to the mysterious Svetloyar, foreign tourists come, and local residents on the feast of the Vladimir Mother of God in July arrange a procession with candles around the lake.
Strong 100-120-year-old people from the surrounding villages are an ordinary phenomenon. Since ancient times, there is a custom here: you have to crawl around the lake on your knees three times, and then your health will return or your cherished desire will be fulfilled. True, it is not so easy to do this: the diameter of the lake is more than 400 meters - so try to crawl for more than a kilometer in a circle, and even three times. However, for a true believer, this test is not an obstacle. Stories of miraculous healings are passed from mouth to mouth …
There are unwritten laws of visiting Svetloyar. You can't swim in the lake, for example. In the old days, it was also forbidden to cut coastal trees. Stories about how “it was so long ago a woman cut the elshin down - they say, what kind of ban is this? - as she cut her down, the tree bruised her to death,”and now she is more alive than all the living. So it is not recommended to defile a holy place with a disrespectful attitude. But to drink water, take a bath - please: according to local legends, lake water has healing properties and is able to cure many ailments.
Svetloyarsk water is really unique in its composition, it can be stored for years and not deteriorate. This property, according to chemists, is given to it by springs with hydrocarbonate-calcium water, gushing from the bottom of the lake. And in the opinion of believers, holy water is made by the wonderful Kitezh-city, resting at the bottom of the lake. This point of view cannot be discounted. On the days of Orthodox holidays, bells are clearly heard from Lake Svetloyar. This phenomenon was also observed by scientists, but they could not explain it. And very few people had a chance to see the reflection of the white-stone city in the lake. They say that only the righteous can see the golden domes of Kitezh, and then happiness and good luck will not leave them until the end of their days.
Was there Kitezh?
And everything would be fine, only scientists do not have any material confirmation of the existence of the holy city ever. The same small Kitezh, ravaged by Batu to its foundations, is now known as Gorodets. And Big? There must be at least some trace of him …
Legend has it that the lake hid Kitezh until the end of time, they say, just before the end of the world, it will rise again from the waters, but the researchers do not intend to wait so long.
In the course of geological research of Svetloyar and coastal areas under the modern relief, voids and depressions were found, as well as traces of surface halts over some of these places. A version was put forward: the legend of Kitezh reflects a natural cataclysm, as a result of which there was a rapid sinking of the soil and the immersion of the city standing on the shore of the lake under water. Therefore, the remains of the legendary Kitezh must be sought at great depths.
During one of the expeditions, hydroacoustics listened to the lake with the help of modern instruments and clearly recorded sounds similar to an alarm buzz.
As a result of underwater research, archaeologists have found that the bottom of the reservoir consists of several layers of soil, one of which - at the twenty-meter mark - belongs to the 13th century: small objects made of wood and metal found at depth were dated to this century. However, this was the end of the findings. No golden domes, no white stone walls - like a cow licked her tongue, or rather aliens: a hypothesis arose that Svetloyar appeared as a result of a UFO collision with the earth's surface.
This idea was prompted by some researchers by a suspicious - too regular shape of the lake: clearly artificial! The version turned out to be unsubstantiated. Now many experts explain the formation of the lake by the fall of a meteorite. However, not everyone shares this point of view.
Wonders of Svetloyar
Whoever needs it will open up!
From the time of the "Chronicler" to the present day, stories about the wonders of Svetloyar are alive, even despite the years of Soviet power. The pilgrims still go to the lake. And now you can hear about miraculous healings, about the ringing of the Kitezh bells, which someone is given to hear, and someone can see the city itself. They talk about meetings in the surrounding forests with mysterious elders, about monks walking on water in the morning fog. And in the not so distant past, holy people lived in the hills around the lake and in dugouts. In the museum with. Vladimirsky, you can see a photograph of the 30s. XX century, in which a woman gives alms in front of the entrance to the underground dwelling of a saint.
There are three versions of the cover-up of Kitezh. According to one of them, he disappeared into the waters of Svetloyar, according to the other, he went underground (maybe they will even show you a place in the hills surrounding the lake, where one of the entrances to the city is hidden), according to the third, he went to heaven.
There are many stories about how especially righteous people managed to get to Kitezh. In the 17th century in Russia, the essay "An Epistle to the Father from a Son from Onago's Secret Monastery, so that they would not have contrition about him and did not impute the one who was hiding from the world" was known in Russia. In it, the son informs his parents:
“I live in the earthly kingdom, with the holy fathers, in a place of rest. Truly, my parents, the kingdom of the earth. And peace, and silence, and fun, and spiritual joy, not bodily. These are the holy fathers, I live with them, flourishing, that the lilies of the field (lilies of the field) … and like a precious stone … and like trees that do not age, and like the stars of heaven. And from their mouths an incessant prayer to the Heavenly Father, as if fragrant incense … And as soon as the night comes, then from their mouths the prayer is visible, as pillars of fire with sparks of fire, and as if from the moon and the stars the great light is not only to this place, but to the whole country this light, like lightning. At the same time, you can write honor or write books, without a glowing radiance. If you love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, so will God love them … like the mother of your beloved child, and what you ask in your prayer from God, He will give everything. Whoever loved silence and corrected all virtues with all his heart, and God … keeps them like the apple of his eye, and covers them invisibly with his hand;
Legends say that at all times very few were worthy to see the fabulous Kitezh, and even more so to get into it. This is how the Russian writer V. G. Korolenko in his essay "In the Deserted Places": "And it seems to our sinful, unenlightened gaze only one forest, but a lake, and hills, and a swamp. But this is only a deception of our sinful nature. In reality, “for real”, splendid temples and gilded chambers and monasteries stand here in all their glory … the ringing rushes over the surface of the seeming waters. And then everything calms down and again only the oak grove whispers”.
Parallel world
The last, truly interesting, version is as follows. In the story of the disappearance of Kitezh, we are dealing with a different dimension: the city of the righteous simply "stepped" into a parallel world. There is an assumption that at certain times and under certain circumstances, different dimensions may touch. In this case, according to a number of researchers of the Kitezh mystery, the displacement of the layers of reality occurred as a result of the collective prayer of the besieged. Plus, the events took place in an ancient sacred place. The time for prayer was probably not chosen by chance either. Here is the result: there was a city - and no …
