"… But the sacraments did not end there. After some time, the comrades saw how someone like a man came out through the north gate of the church. Its height was about five meters." This is an angel, "the friends thought. And at that moment the unknown the creature went in their direction. Ten meters away from them, the "angel" stopped …"
The story that we will tell you about happened in the Tver region almost half a century ago. A mystery that has survived for several decades is carefully inherited. But only the participants in those events still try to keep silent about what they saw. And yet, we managed to hear this story practically from the mouth: the rector of the Koltalovsky church in honor of St. George the Victorious, Father Fyodor, who once had a chance to personally meet one of the eyewitnesses, told us about it.
Mysterious vision
A mysterious vision happened back in 1959, four kilometers from the village of Koltalovo (not far from the cemetery, where the village of Troitskoye Maloye was previously located).
Three friends went to this area to hunt ducks. From the very morning they wandered through the forests, but the day, apparently, was unsuccessful, and the hunters were left with nothing. Then they came up with such a monstrous idea. They, without hesitation, went to the church located in the cemetery, knowing that pigeons nest under its vault. The temple was abandoned, therefore nothing prevented the comrades from implementing their plans.
Shoot, as they say, plenty. However, the hunters did not go far with the newly minted prey. Literally a hundred meters from the sacred place (not far from the Tmaka River) we settled down for lunch. Suddenly one of the friends, Alexander Trashkin, reaching for something in his bag, froze in horror: the light was on in the church. Often visiting these places, the hunter knew perfectly well that the church had not been inhabited for a long time, what can we say about electricity: it had never been here. Trashkin, without taking his eyes off such a mysterious vision, reported what he had seen to his comrades. However, in response, he heard only ridicule.
Soon, Father Fyodor says, the hunters were no longer laughing. “Although you never know what happened, - thought the friends, - maybe someone lit a fire right in the church, why should it be worthless to hammer your head with bad thoughts”. In addition, the times were different: making a fire in the temple seemed, if not natural, then quite acceptable.
But the sacraments did not end there. After some time, the comrades saw how someone like a man came out through the north gate of the church. Its height was about five meters. "This is an angel," thought the friends. And at that moment, the unknown creature went in their direction. Ten meters from them, the "angel" stopped. Greatly frightened, the comrades threw down their guns and ran, without looking back, back to Koltalovo, to their uncle. And soon they left for Moscow.
They tried not to talk about what they saw: firstly, few would have believed, and secondly, they would be mistaken for crazy. But, as usually happens, any secret becomes apparent. Over time, this story has become a local legend, the authenticity of which not only the residents of Koltalov, but the nearby villages do not doubt.
Father Fyodor
Father Fyodor, who now lives in the village of Koltalovo, became interested in the mysterious story 39 years after the incident. Once a woman I knew told me that Alexander Trashkin currently lives in Dzerzhinsk. “There will be a case, I thought, I will definitely find it, if only because once and for all for myself to find out all the circumstances of that event: as they say, either truth or reality,” recalls Father Fyodor. And the opportunity presented itself very soon: friends invited him to stay in Dzerzhinsk, see the sights, and at the same time meet with Trashkin.
- When we appeared at his house and told about the reason for our arrival, Alexander was very surprised. He was interested in one question: how did we know about this story, - recalls Father Fyodor. - It turned out that even Alexander's wife, who exchanged with him for more than a dozen years, did not even suspect about such a mysterious story from the life of her husband.
And yet he did not deny, saying that nothing like this had happened to him and his friends. He told everything as it was. It turned out: despite the remoteness of the events, there was not a day that this story did not pop up in his memory, and the horror that gripped at that moment haunts the eyewitness all his life. When asked what he remembered more about the “stranger”, Trashkin replied: “The way he looked at me. From this look, everything in me turned upside down."
Koltalovo. Mysterious nearby?
According to local residents, something unusual happens from time to time in the village of Koltalovo: for example, quite recently, several people who attended services in the local church miraculously were healed of a terrible cancer. But what can I say, if even the path to the priesthood of Father Fyodor cannot be called otherwise than mysterious.
Once Father Fyodor was an ordinary policeman and, as he confesses, just like those friends, he could easily come to the church and shoot at it with a gun, and cook dinner from newly minted booty right there, a hundred meters from the temple.
The outlook was turned by the clinical death of one of his sons.
“When he regained consciousness, he said that he was in paradise,” says Father Fyodor.
At first, the whole family was skeptical about what was said. However, it became obvious that it would be impossible to live as before. And yet, no less than five years passed until the moment when Fedor Mikhailovich became father Fedor. During the construction of the famous Koltal temple in honor of St. George the Victorious, he did not even think about this dignity.
The temple, as they say, was built by the whole world. For their labor, the ascetics did not receive a dime. But nobody complained. Residents from both local and neighboring villages took part in the construction: some brought building materials and donations, others - food for the workers, and others - icons for the future temple. In general, only a year and a half passed from the beginning of laying the first stone to the first service in the church.
“Shortly before the end of the construction, Archbishop Victor asked who would be the priest in this church,” Fyodor recalls. - I then said to invite a person from the outside, since we have no one in Koltalovo. To this the archbishop replied: "You will be a priest."
The more he thought about it, the more the incredible became reality. Gradually, Father Fyodor began to comprehend the basics of Orthodoxy, reading in Old Russian. I went to Rzhev to study.
In a word, ten years have passed since the first service. However, the construction of the temple did not end there.
Now, with the same world, Father Fyodor, together with his assistants, are restoring three more sacred houses. One is in the village of Krasnaya Gora (better known as the Peasant), the second is not far from the village of Sukhoverkovo, and the third is the same one where such a mysterious vision happened. In the temple, the roof has already been replaced by eighty percent, plastic windows have been inserted. And this is all with the money of one widow, who after the death of her husband sold the car and donated the proceeds to help the construction. She, too, had heard about the mysterious story and wished that the shots of a gun would never be heard in this temple again.
Vera Pakina
