There is an opinion among the people that the first Christian monks of the Russian North were taught by the Magi of a certain old civilization. The mysterious story of the possible location of ancient knowledge was agreed to tell the writer, the famous ethnographer of Karelia Aleksey POPOV.
Aleksey, did the so-called pagan wise men in Karelia not only welcome the first Christians cordially, but also passed on their secret knowledge to them?
- It turns out exactly so! But let's talk about everything in order. I, like many Russian historians, have always been amazed at the fact of the bloodless baptism of Rus. It was even more striking how on one territory actually dual faith could exist for centuries. I received the answer to my questions this autumn in the most unexpected way after the closing of the conference on the study of the phenomenon of giants, which really once lived on Earth, held in Karelia.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the conference, so after its end one of the organizers of the event, a man who introduced himself as a priest, Father Mikhail, came to me himself to talk about one of the chapters of my book "The Mysterious World of Karelia", in which I describe the people of giants, who once lived on the territory of the republic.
How can a priest and giants be related?
- I was also surprised at first, but Father Mikhail explained to me that the priesthood does not prevent him from studying the history of his native land, and all creatures, including those that are considered mythological, are God's creations. Then Father Mikhail told me an amazing story. It turns out that at one time he had access to the library of the Solovetsky Monastery. Once, while working with the library funds, he discovered a strange document, the existence of which had only been legendary before. It was a diary, the uniqueness of which was that it was kept continuously for many centuries in a row!
It turns out that among the first monks who once came to the shores of the White Sea, there was a special, in modern language, journalist-chronicler. His duties included relentlessly following the missionary monks and impartially recording everything that happens to them along the way. The monk-chronicler was not supposed to part with this diary, either day or night, and for the preservation of the precious chronicle two guards were assigned to it.
Did the diary say about the meeting with the giants?
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- Much more interesting - with direct descendants of the Hyperboreans! According to Father Mikhail, the diary began with the choice of a place for the foundation of the Solovetsky Monastery. Moving between the islands of the White Sea, the monks landed on the archipelago, where this unique monastery appeared in the future. On land, the monks were met by aggressively minded local residents of small stature, outwardly more like gnomes, with piercing white eyes.
It was the same famous white-eyed chud, or, according to the local, Syrtya. In the event of a skirmish, the monks would have had a hard time, but at the very last moment, when it seemed that an armed clash could no longer be avoided, a boat moored to the island, in which there was a tall gray-haired old man. He said something sternly to the little creatures, and they, without touching the monks, left.
The elder explained that he represents the priestly caste of an ancient people with unique knowledge. The sorcerer helped the monks settle on the island and once even brought them to a mountain that turned out to be a pyramid. Inside the mountain, the monks found on the walls, lit with torches, inscriptions in the Slavic runnitsa and several other languages unknown to them. There, as stated in the diary, there were many unique artifacts.
Sounds fantastic. The monks, of course, will deny the presence of a chronicle diary. At the same time, if the story told to you is true, then the monastery document should have indicated exactly the location of the stone pyramid …
- Quite right! And it is known - this is Mount Sekirnaya. In 2002, scientists studied this mountain and came to quite sensational conclusions. They found that the base of the mountain consists of glacial deposits, and its upper part, which outwardly resembles a pyramid, clearly oriented to the cardinal points, may indeed consist of artificial mounds.
Usually, the solution to the mystery of certain natural objects lies in their name. Is it known where the name of this mountain came from?
- A whole layer of amazing legends is associated with the name of this mountain. The modern name Sekirnaya comes from the word "sech". There is a legend according to which once upon a time two monks whipped the evil wife of the Pomor, who fished fish and mowed hay on the Solovetsky Islands, but forbade the monks to do so. True, some ethnographers interpret the word "Sekirnaya" not from the word "sech", but from the word "ax", which, in general, is quite logical. In this case, it turns out that the monks did not whip the Pomor's wife, but marked her death with axes.
The second name of the mountain, which has fallen out of wide use, is even more surprising - Chudova Gora. This name speaks for itself and designates either the place where the miracle happened, or the area where the legendary white-eyed miracle lived. An indirect confirmation of this version can be the research of scientists carried out in the 30s of the XX century. They could not understand in any way where on the flat, glacier-polished Bolshoy Solovetsky Island came a mountain about a hundred meters high. As a result, they recognized it as a pyramid of boulders, built by some ancient people who lived in these places.
So this is really not a mountain, but a house of Chudi?
- In a sense, yes. You know, archaeologists have established quite accurately that the Solovetsky archipelago was inhabited by people several thousand years before the arrival of monks. The Novgorodians called these people Chudyu, and the local mainland peoples, including the Nenets, called Sirta (Skirta). There is even a mention of this tribe in the Tale of Bygone Years. I think that the second name is more correct, because in translation from ancient languages "skr" is an artificial embankment of an elongated shape.
Remember, the same rick is an artificially poured mountain of hay of an elongated shape. However, it should be borne in mind that "skrds" are bulk, artificial dwellings, which could be made of hay, branches, moss or stone. In this light, the assertion of the ancient Novgorodians becomes logical that "the chud went underground and buried itself." Scientists have quite accurately established that the ancient population of the Solovetsky archipelago lived in caves. By the way, back in the 19th century, Academician Lepekhin wrote:
“The entire Samoyed land in the present Mezen district is filled with desolate dwellings of a certain people. They are found in many places, near lakes on the tundra and in forests near rivers, made in mountains and hills like caves with holes like an animal. Stoves are found in these caves and fragments of iron, copper and clay household items are found."
As for the stone fill mountains, such as Sekirnaya, these are no longer houses made of peat and moss for living people, but houses of the dead, pyramids made of stones.
There are similar stone pyramids in other places of the Russian North - the dwellings of the Chudi-Skirta?
- Of course. At the mouth of the Korotaikha River is Mount Sikhirtesya, translated from Nenets into Russian - “mountain of the Skirta people”. On the island of Vaygach there is a Cape Siirtesale, translated as “Cape Skirta”. Moreover, both there and there these places are considered sacred. On the island, archaeologists also discovered figurines of winged people, which they attributed to the era of the ancient people who inhabited the coast of the Arctic Ocean.
It all fits! True, in this case, the monks who officially founded the monastery should have been the discoverers of the Sekirnaya Mountain …
- And there is. After all, it was at this mountain at the beginning of the 15th century that the monks Herman and Savvaty, the future founders of the monastery, first landed on Solovki. On the mountain, the monks built a skete, and only then on the shore of the Bay of Blagopoluchiya the monastery itself was founded. According to legend, it was from the slopes of the mountain that the monks took pine and spruce for their construction. In this light, the name "Sekirnaya Gora" can mean, in modern terms, "logging". By the way, it was because of Herman and Savvaty that two angels (white youths) whipped the wife of a Pomor fisherman who had settled here, claiming that the Lord had designated this land for the monastery.
Has no one still found the entrance to the inner part of Mount Sekirnaya and discovered the amazing artifacts of the previous civilization of the Earth?
- You see, if the chronicler's diary reflects the real history, then in the past the monks carefully guarded this mountain from prying eyes. In Soviet times, during the existence of a concentration camp on the Solovetsky archipelago, there was a punishment cell on the mountain. There was even a saying: "All Russia is afraid of Solovki, and all Solovki are afraid of Sekirnaya Mountain!"
If the prisoners found something, then their knowledge was buried here, along with them. Today the mystery of the Solovki is again guarded by monks, so I can't even imagine when the researchers will finally get the opportunity to uncover the secrets of Mount Sekirnaya, if such, of course, really exist.
Interviewed by Dmitry SIVITSKY
Reference:
In August 2002, geological and geomorphological studies by Russian scientists confirmed the possibility of the artificial origin of Sekirnaya Gora. Although the elevation itself (the base of the pyramid) is formed by glacial deposits, there is reason to say that from above this natural formation was indeed supplemented by artificial mounds, thousands of years ago, which gave it the shape of an absolutely regular pyramid. In 2002, in the outlines of the Sekirka relief, researchers identified geometrically regular forms, moreover, strictly oriented to the cardinal points.