Residents of the Kaluga region found a pot of gold church utensils. After that, strange things began to happen to them.
Vyacheslav Agapov and Konstantin Chiliskin grew up and live near the Ugra River in the Kaluga Region. The guys go to Moscow twice a week - they work as security guards in a store. And when they have free time, they look for … ancient coins.
- In 1480, the Great Standing took place on the Ugra - the Russian army and the army of the Golden Horde under the command of Khan Akhmat were located on different banks of the river, - says Vyacheslav. - The big battle never took place here, but when we were boys swimming in the Ugra, we took out rusty swords and strange oriental coins from the water.
So Kaluga residents got carried away by history. And when they grew up, they began to collect collections of coins. We bought metal detectors and began to ransack the neighborhood.
- A friend, the same lover of antiquity, invited us to go to the Yukhnovsky district, - continues Vyacheslav. - We learned that there was a rich estate in the village of Velino, which means that coins should be found …
The searchers made inquiries: once upon a time there was an estate of the Shirinsky-Shikhmatov princes on the right bank of the Ugra River. But now only the centuries-old lime trees left from the park and a barely noticeable foundation remind of the prince's estate: the building was dismantled brick by brick. Nearby - the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Sign".
Baryga offered 700,000 rubles for the find
Vyacheslav and Constantine found the treasure behind the church, in a ravine.
The metal detector beeping. A few strokes with a shovel - and the guys pulled out a cast iron, covered with a gilded plate and filled with wax.
Promotional video:
Inside there were icons, fragments of an iconostasis, a bowl and spoon for communion, fragments of a church decor. The utensils sparkled with diamonds, emeralds, and shimmered with turquoise. On the plate treasure hunters found the inscription: "Belongs to the Assumption Church, which was built in the village of Velino in 1722".
Church utensils, icons were hidden in an ordinary cast iron.
Vyacheslav and Kostya called a friend, Roman. He offered to sell the treasure and immediately dialed the buyer's number on his mobile phone. According to the description of the find, the local huckster offered the seekers 700,000 rubles.
“But we had no right to sell the find,” says Vyacheslav. - Still, things have an owner - the Assumption Church. And with the guy who offered to drive the treasure, something strange began that day. Roman twice fancied that someone had touched his shoulder. Looks around - no one … I thought it seemed from fatigue. But then it seemed to him that a quiet voice was calling him by name, and suddenly - another blow on the shoulder. And again, no one!
Frightened Roman locked himself in the car and, without waiting for sunset, hurried to leave the village. He even turned to grandmas later. They say: they say, your name is from the other world … The guy was so scared that he gave up his hobby.
Whose voice reminded Roman that he did the wrong thing by offering to sell church valuables is not clear.
- Probably the voice of conscience! - smiling friends.
“We immediately decided to return the treasure to the church,” Vyacheslav continues. - True, they did not know where. After all, the Church of the Assumption has already been destroyed. We turned to the person who bought the metal detectors - to the treasure-hunting office of Vladimir Poryvaev. He advised contacting Komsomolskaya Pravda.
KP journalists contacted the chairman of the Public Chamber's commission for the preservation of spiritual and cultural heritage, Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk. He met with Vyacheslav and Konstantin.
Vyacheslav (left) and Konstantin decided to transfer the treasure to the Orthodox Church.
- The crisis is not a reason to indifferently contemplate the destruction of churches, - said the Metropolitan, - they were erected with donations even in more difficult times for Russia. This find near the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Sign" is a good sign for all of us. It's a miracle that she fell into honest hands. This is part of our history and will be kept as a shrine.
Vladyka proposed to solemnly hand over the relics during the annual Optina forum "Heritage of Russia: the spiritual choice of the Russian intelligentsia" in the Kaluga diocese.
COMMENTARY OF THE LAWYER
Alexander PRUDNIKOV, lawyer of the Moscow Bar Association:
- In any case, according to Article 227 of the Civil Code, the finder of the treasure must report the find (you can keep it at home) to the local government or the police If the owner of the found thing is not established within six months, the finder becomes its full owner. According to the law, the found treasure belongs in equal shares to the owner of the land and the treasure hunter.
In this case, the owner of the treasure is obvious - the diocese. Therefore, the finds must be transferred to the owner according to the inventory. From a formal point of view, the finders have the right to receive from the owner a reward of up to 20 percent of the value of the found (this requires an expert assessment of the treasure).
Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, turquoise … But the value of this brooch is rather spiritual.
VERSION
Who hid the valuables?
According to the coins found near the church, it can be assumed that the estate and the temple survived their last days in the early 30s. At that time, there was one person from the princely family of the Shirinsky-Shikhmatovs in Russia - Prince Nikola Shirinsky. He took monastic vows and became a deacon at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which is on Malaya Dmitrovka. After being arrested and exiled to the Belomorkanal, Nikola returned and in 1930 served in the village of Nikolskoye in the Moscow region. Perhaps during these years he visited the family estate and, knowing that the temple would be plundered, hid the valuables. However, in the summer of 1937, Shirinsky was arrested for creating the Union for the Salvation of Russia society, exiled to Tomsk and shot.
The following fact speaks of Shirinsky's love for hiding places. In 1917, when Nikola was a colonel of the Preobrazhensky regiment, he hid the regimental banner. He hoped that the monarchy would return and the regiment defeated by the Bolsheviks could be restored.
FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE
Do treasures bring misfortune?
The Slavs believed that the "sworn treasures" should not be picked up on any day, except for the New Year, Easter and Ivan Kupala (otherwise the treasure will bring great misfortune).
The passions around treasure finds were described by Vladimir Dal: “Either an invisible person will jump out of nowhere, grab it and hold it in place until you release the treasure from your hands; or a mountain will fall on your shoulder, so that you can't turn your tongue; either the legs will buckle, or they will become, abut, as if rooted to the ground; or, if you take a treasure and carry it away, no matter how much you carry it home, you take gold and bring shards; or, finally, you take it, and you yourself are not happy; the whole family will die out.”
Now treasures are found less and less, but mystical events associated with church relics still occur today. A year ago, "KP" said that in 1990, the houses of the thieves who carried away the icon of Seraphim of Sarov from the Church of the Holy Spirit in the Moscow region were burned down, and they were detained. In March 2008, this temple was again robbed by a trio of thieves. One of the thieves of 40 icons died suddenly without waiting for a trial.