Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The history of this monument, unique both in its beauty and in its significance in the destinies of Russia, counts nine centuries. The walls of the Lavra have seen many great, mysterious, and sometimes scandalous events. The latter include the history of the laurel treasure.
There's some kind of stove here
On November 26, 1898, services ended in the Assumption Cathedral, called the Great Church. Several construction workers hired to repair this ancient temple ascended to the second floor, to the choir. Monk Ilya looked after the workers. The spiritual cathedral of the Lavra decided to replace the dilapidated wooden floors with stone slabs. On that day, these works were to be carried out in the chapel of the Monk Anthony. When the workers broke into the flooring and lifted the old boards, they saw that there was a considerable space between the floor and the stone vault, filled with caked rubble and debris. To remove this hardened mixture from the wall, it was necessary to use scrap. Suddenly the crowbar hit something metallic and fell into the void. "There's some kind of stove here!" - workers and church ministers huddled in the corner of the chapel. The wall was quickly cleared away and a thin cast-iron slab pierced with a crowbar was revealed to their eyes. It covered a niche in which a wooden tub and four tin cans with tightly screwed lids stood. The workers with difficulty removed the heavy vessels from the niche: it was immediately clear what they were filled with. So the richest treasure was found. The monks quickly transferred the vessels to the sacristy - the storage of the monastery treasures - and poured out an impressive heap of old gold and silver coins and medals, 1 pound 26 pounds of pure gold, 18 pounds 23 pounds of pure silver. The monks quickly transferred the vessels to the sacristy - the storage of the monastery treasures - and poured out an impressive heap of old gold and silver coins and medals, 1 pound 26 pounds of pure gold, 18 pounds 23 pounds of pure silver. The monks quickly transferred the vessels to the sacristy - the storage of the monastery treasures - and poured out an impressive heap of old gold and silver coins and medals, 1 pound 26 pounds of pure gold, 18 pounds 23 pounds of pure silver.
Fire in the Lavra
The exultation of the monks knew no bounds. On the occasion of the find, a magnificent thanksgiving service was served. Newspapers spread the news of the find all over the world. Not limiting itself to newspaper advertisements, the spiritual council quickly compiled an inventory of coins and medals - in Russian and in several foreign languages - and began willingly sending it to anyone who asked for it and who seemed to the monks to be a potential buyer. As they say, everyone had the same question on their lips: what is the history of this treasure, when and for what reasons was it walled up in the cathedral walls? But the monks preferred to remain silent.
An unexpected find in the Assumption Cathedral shed light on the events of almost two centuries ago, including an incident that happened on the night of April 21-22, 1718. That night the people of Kiev were awakened by the sounds of the alarm. It spread in all directions from the top of the hill, from the laurel. An ominous glow rose over the monastery - a fire! By dawn, when the fire had died down, the damage could be calculated. All the wooden buildings of the Lavra burned down, the top of the Assumption Cathedral suffered. According to the official version, the fire started in the house of the governor of the Lavra, who, due to absent-mindedness, probably forgot a burning candle in his cell … How it happened that the flame of a forgotten candle could so easily develop into such a devastating fire, none of the monks could intelligibly explain. But be that as it may, the laurel burned out,and her spiritual superiors began to compose tearful petitions for help addressed to Peter I …
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In a letter that Peter received from the monastery in April of the following year, 1719, Archimandrite Ioanniky Senyutovich begged the Russian tsar to release money to the Kiev monastery to restore its buildings. Money was tight: it was not the first year that the state treasury was devastated by the needs of the Northern War. For the sake of victory, Peter took away valuables that were uselessly lying in Orthodox churches and monasteries; even the bells were poured onto the cannons by his order. He could use the riches of the Kiev-Pechersk treasury, which the local monks were very afraid of. But there was a great fire, and now the Kiev-Pechersk archimandrite swore to the tsar that all the monastic property had perished, that the lavra had become impoverished and was asking for money itself. On October 16, 1720, Peter ordered to send 5 thousand rubles from state funds to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Where did the treasure come from?
The find on November 26, 1898 made it possible to look somewhat differently at the tragedy of 1718. The fact is that along with coins and medals, papers were found in a hidden niche of the Assumption Cathedral - acts of checking and recounting the secret monastic treasury. The monks, who in November 1898 drew up a protocol - an inventory of the found treasure, could not fail to mention them: “When the coins were poured out of the vessels, some of them contained brief notes of former archimandrites, namely Joasaph of Krokovsky, Ioannikiy, and more detailed ones - of Archimandrite Luke . Ioanniki is the one who swore to Peter I about the destruction of the monastery by fire and begged him for money to restore and renew the monastery!
The monks of the Caves had nothing to complain about the evil fate that sent a devastating fire to their monastery. They got rid of the old wooden buildings that had fallen into disrepair, at the expense of the royal treasury they renewed the monastery with stone buildings, much more convenient and reliable, and, it turns out, they hid and saved their cherished treasures … The thought involuntarily comes to me: was it that April night of 1718 "Red rooster" released on the laurel directly from the monastic hands? The last question remains: why were these treasures forgotten? In all likelihood, during the plague epidemic, in the late 60s - early 70s of the same 18th century, the monks who knew about the cache in the Assumption Cathedral died or fled without having time to tell the secret to someone else.
Monastic auctioneers
Let's go back to the events of 1898 again. Never before had the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra received so many telegrams from abroad. And everywhere - offers to sell what was found. But the monks were in no hurry to sell coins and medals: having received so many offers, one more profitable and more seductive than the other, they were afraid to sell too cheap. Naturally, Russian archaeologists also became interested in the Kiev find, who quite reasonably believed that this collection should become an adornment of the St. Petersburg Hermitage. Moreover, one should not think that the St. Petersburg Hermitage hoped to receive this collection for free. No, through his keeper A. K. Markov, he offered a very large sum for it - 65 thousand rubles. And the laurel at that time was not poor: in the banks of the Russian Empire, she kept about 2 million rubles of her own capital,which brought her - in the form of bank interest - about 90 thousand rubles annually. But to the humble monks of the Lechersk Lavra, these 65 thousand seemed already clearly insufficient amount, which they directly and unequivocally declared through their spiritual council: “According to available information, it can be assumed with certainty that foreign buyers from London, Berlin, Vienna, could get an amount of at least * over 20 thousand against the one proposed by Mr. Markov. " The commercial excitement of the Kiev-Pechersk monks threatened to lead to a noisy scandal. And the Holy Synod, concerned that this whole venture with an international auction for the sale of unique historical values could seriously damage the prestige of the Orthodox Church,was forced to intervene and by his power to force the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra "to sell the above collection to the Imperial Hermitage for the proposed price of 65,000 rubles." Such is the fate of the once hidden and then newly found treasures, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Andrey SOYUSTOV