In the Penza region, in one of the villages (Pobeda village), the Investigative Committee is checking the local monastery, and in fact, the religious sect. People come there from almost all over the country, sell apartments and remain in fact in voluntary slavery, at the risk of never getting out of there again.
There is an ominous silence in the village of Pobeda. Locals do not leave the house unless absolutely necessary. The news that the body of a parishioner of the local religious community was found in the forest nearby did not surprise anyone - the Mikhailovsky monastery has long been called a sect and, hiding their faces, they tell in an undertone what is happening here.
“People are attracted to themselves, forced to work, and they add something to their food, but I don’t know what they add. The woman came out of there alone and said: I felt bad there, no matter what I sing, I’m all in a dope,”says a local resident, who asked not to be named.
The late Sergei Murin from Krasnodar came to the monastery regularly, the last time this spring. In May, the parents lost contact with Sergei, and the other day they found him. Apparently, the man lay in the forest for several months.
“Relatives identified him by his neck cross and other personal belongings. At present, all the circumstances of the incident are being clarified, a number of examinations and investigations have been assigned, and a procedural decision will be made based on the results of the inspection,”said Lyudmila Fomina, senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee of the RF IC for the Penza region.
The first time Sergei came here, like hundreds of other pilgrims, having learned about the monastery from a magazine, and so he stayed. Little is known about how he lived here. The father of the deceased, Alexander Murin, says that his son was not allowed to speak on the phone and was even allowed to write home only on holidays. Sergei worked very hard, says Sergei Murin's father.
The cloister is surrounded by a fence taller than a human being, doors and gates are made of strong metal and with combination locks, and the sounds of working equipment can be heard from inside around the clock. As it turned out, all these buildings are illegal, and by a court order they were to be demolished, but when the bailiffs arrived at the scene, the adepts threatened to set themselves on fire.
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The journalists managed to enter the territory disguised as parishioners. Right from the doorway, they are promised healing and grace, and they hint that every miracle has its own price.
“Is this territory a no-man’s one? It was bought by people and donated to the monastery. People give to us. Here is Father Raphael - he sold all his property, his parents', his parents died. And he himself lives here in a cell for many years. He gave it away,”said novice Tatiana.
Tatyana herself gave up everything worldly - she sold an apartment in Krasnodar and settled in a cell. It is difficult to say how many people like her are here - the monastery is constantly expanding, and even the procession is accompanied by a working "grinder".
In the picture - Elder Alexy, a monk who lived in the village and built an Orthodox church himself, died 10 years ago, is not canonized. The Mikhailovsk monastery grew up after his death, Alexy never had anything to do with it. Here they do not attach any importance to this: they treat all diseases with earth from his grave, and for any questions they call directly to the next world.
“One came - his family is bad. He walked over to one. She calls him at the grave: Alexy, what should Volodya do, that's what his name is. He answers - sell the apartment, move to the monastery. Everything will be fine. Elder Alexy from the grave said on the phone! - says local resident Nikolai.
Journalists are offered to come to the monastery again with money to order prayers and buy literature. Those who do not pay end up in labor slavery. So it was with Irina.
“It turned out that the women worked there for 16 hours, and now I got there. It’s already dark, you can’t see a shovel or earth, but this assistant keeps saying: come on, come on, this work needs to be completed today,”she says.
The monastery is located across the street from the temple, door to door, so visitors do not immediately understand that these people have nothing to do with the official church. The police did not receive a single statement - the adepts do not consider themselves to be victims, they part with their property easily and without claims, therefore there is no legal basis to close the monastery. The Penza diocese has long been trying to "expose" the Mikhailovsky community, but the parishioners do not listen to anyone.
“Having come as if to the Orthodox Church, you can get into an ordinary, so to speak, office, which will pull money out of you, deprive you of your livelihood, and in fact, in the 21st century you will become such a slave, you will just work for a piece of bread,” he says. Seraphim (Domnin), Metropolitan of Penza and Nizhny Lomovsk.
According to law enforcement agencies, at least 800 thousand rubles are sent monthly to the monastery's account from various parts of the country, and these are only those transfers that can be tracked. A check is underway, however, they are not interested in its results behind the high fence: if anything, the adepts are ready to threaten them with self-immolation again according to the already worked out scheme.