El-Tyubu, or Verkhniy Chegem, is the place where Christianity in the present territory of Kabardino-Balkaria felt most comfortable. The number of churches that operated here in the Middle Ages is striking, Viktor Kotlyarov, a publisher and ethnographer from Nalchik, told sk-news.ru.
Referring to available sources
“Remains of ancient structures on the rocks,” wrote V. Teptsov, author of the famous work “Along the valleys of the Kuban and Cherek,” about these places, “to which there is no longer any way to reach, once inhabited caves, to which stairs carved into the rocks led, destroyed by time; a huge four-sided tower at the gates to the gorge, silhouettes of monuments in ancient cemeteries at the southern foot of the rocks - all this makes the Djilgi-su gorge even more mysterious and beautiful."
It is supplemented by Moscow scholars - philologist Vsevolod Miller and historian Maxim Kovalevsky (1851-1916), who visited the Chegem Gorge in the summer of 1883:
“Especially interesting for the remains of ancient buildings is the narrow gorge along which the Djilgi River flows, which still bears the Ossetian name (Zilga - whirling). In the rock on the right bank of the river, there are several caves and traces of the artificially made road that goes around the mountain with a cornice. A verst from the village on one site of this rock are the remains of a tower built of local stone on strong cement.
Rising in zigzags up to the tower, a path fortified with stone railings leads further along the edge of the mountain with a cornice to the east to a mountain cave, which probably served as a guardhouse. Below, at the foot of the same mountain, traces of other buildings are visible. Some kind of building in the form of a stone house was attached to one natural grotto of fathoms 5 in height on the right side, the back wall of which was formed by one side of the grotto. This place is still called papa's dwelling (i.e., priest's).
Not far from it, another, smaller grotto, apparently, was utilized as a chapel. It shows a stone ledge, on which an icon once stood; Several steps, carved in stone, lead to the ledge on the right. Even lower, near the river, there are gravestones with images of crosses. The sides of the grottoes that went inside the chapel and the Papas dwelling still bear traces of plaster. There is a legend that a pile of old books written on parchment was once found in one of the caves."
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And, based on the above, the conclusion of the Soviet scientist Leonid Lavrov:
“There were small churches in the Verkhniy Chegem region. In addition to them, in the cave, on the left bank of the Djilga River, there was a warehouse of liturgical books and other church items. A staircase carved into the rock led to the cave, the remains of which are still visible. Presumably, the use of the cave for storing books belonged to a later time than the construction of churches near the village of Verkhniy Chegem. The transfer of "sacred" objects from churches to the cave, in all likelihood, took place when, due to the prevailing political situation, the churches built before this were faced with the possibility of plunder."
What these "small churches" were like can be learned from the materials for the archaeological map "Antiquities of Kabardino-Balkaria", which was compiled by one of the most famous archaeologists of the KBR Ismail Chechenov.
So, let's list them:
Verkhne-Chegem temple
It was located on the northwestern outskirts of the village, on the right bank of the Dzhylgi-su river. Area - about 20 sq. m, the thickness of the walls - 80 cm. The temple had a throne (under the light hole), two niches (in the southern and northern walls); to it were attached (on both sides) rooms that had a common roof. Refers (tentatively) to the late Middle Ages.
Upper Chegem 1st Church "Khustos"
It was located on the right bank of the Dzhylgi-su River, on the slope of a mountain overlooking the village. It consisted of two rooms - a rectangular (western) one with a door and a semicircular (eastern) one with window openings. It belongs to the early Middle Ages, but, according to the archaeologist E. P. Alekseeva, the services could have continued until the 18th century.
Verkhne-Chegemskaya 2nd church "Bayrym" (St. Mary)
The most famous, since the famous traveler Y. Klaprot left information about it. It was located near the confluence of the Dzhilgy-su river into the Chegem river, on the rock "in which a winding path (cornice) was made, equipped with a parapet." According to Klaproth's calculations, the church was three sazhens long (about six and a half meters). Under it was a vaulted stone crypt, in which 6 skulls were found.
Verkhne-Chegemskaya 3rd church "Artla"
It was located on the right bank of the Chegem River, opposite the village of Verkhniy Chegem. According to A. Firkovich's information, it was visited by Balkars until the 18th century.
Upper Chegemskaya 4th church "Fardyk"
It was located in the village itself. On the front side there was a stone image of a ram. It was also visited until the 18th century.
So, in Upper Chegem there were at least five church buildings (the difference between a church and a temple lies in the presence of an altar in the latter). Three of them are on the Dzhylgi-su river, one is opposite the village; and one more - in the village itself (with the image of a ram).
But local residents, in particular, local historian Iskhak Gazaev, who is now, unfortunately, deceased, told me that in the village itself (more precisely, at the entrance to it) there are the ruins of another church, under which the vaulted cellar is practically preserved in its original form. Yuri Saidovich Shakhmurzaev, a native of Upper Chegem, the son of the Balkarian educator Said Shakhmurzaev (1886-1975), said what his father and himself saw.
This church was special. On one of its two preserved walls there was an image of a saint up to the waist (as Yuri Saidovich remembered, most likely the image was in full growth) with a clearly visible genital organ (phallus).
Those of the residents who, for some reason, did not have children, had to crawl here from their home on their knees and pray for the addition of offspring. Such a prayer, according to Shakhmurzaev Sr., helped; there were many cases when after such a visit to the church women became pregnant. Moreover, relatively recently: even in the post-revolutionary (1917) years
Yuri Saidovich said that he saw the ruins of the walls himself. I remembered that above the entrance to the basement there was a balcony with an iron rail. On either side of it there are two small skylights resembling loopholes. There were doors, entering into which one had to turn to the west, where there was a yellow-brown image.
There was a story connected with the basement itself that Yuri had heard from his father. Somewhere in 1910-1914, a lot of skeletons were taken out of the basement (almost several hundred; Shakhmurzaev is even more accurate - 450), laid them out at the top, counted. and then they left down.
Then it turns out that it was not a basement, but a stone crypt in which the dead were buried. But the question immediately arises: how could such a huge number of skeletons fit in a relatively small area - judging by the size of the previously described churches, it is unlikely that the one in which women prayed for offspring was larger. If only to assume that they were buried under the church for several centuries. But today you can't check it.
- Why don't you check it, - Yuri Saidovich objected, - the basement has been preserved; it can be examined even now. I was so impressed by this message that I offered to immediately leave for El-Tyuba.
And here we are. Together with Yuri Saidovich's cousin, we go to the outskirts of the village - there are now vegetable gardens. In one of them, one can clearly see a piece of a powerful (about a meter thick) side wall, made of untreated stones. Directly below it is a hole - the entrance to the basement.
I crawl inside and find myself in a small room, in the middle of which you can stand in full growth. Powerful walls are plastered. Arched vault; in the center, where they converge, about two meters high, the stones are processed. Dimensions: somewhere a little over three meters in length and about 2.40 in width. The floor is earthen, but it can be seen from everything that the bulk and the depth of the crypt was much greater before. However, how 450 skeletons could fit here is not clear. The remains of people were probably found in fact, but over time, the swag (conversations) multiplied their number, eventually settling on a specific figure of 450.
However, if you clear the basement of earth and stones, you can get a clearer answer. But what exactly will he allow us to clarify and how will he clarify who found the last resting place in the crypt?
Let's return to the Upper Chegem Church itself, or rather to the image of a certain saint with a phallus. Is it possible? Do Eltyubinsk aksakals confuse something?
Even the British scientist James George Fraser (1854-1941), the author of the famous work "The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion", expressed the opinion that in any religion, one way or another, there is a cult of the phallus and phallic symbols.
Here are some pertinent quotes.
French historian Champfleury: “Is there such a paradoxical imagination to determine the ratio of such an out-of-scope joke with the pious place where this image is sculptured? What authoritative influences were needed so as not to stop the hand of an artisan who performed such details?.. On the walls of some ancient Christian churches, we are surprised to see images of human genitals, which are obsequiously displayed among objects intended for worship. As if an echo of ancient symbolism, such pornographic sculptures are carved with amazing innocence by stonecutters … These phallic memories of antiquity, found in the dark halls (where the bacchanalia were performed) of the cathedrals of central France, are especially numerous in the Gironde."
Valery Demin (he is considered a representative of the "folk history" - he put forward the assumption of an ancient civilization that existed in the Russian North - Hyperborea), wrote: ancient Semites, as well as other peoples who lived in Mesopotamia, Phenicia, Palestine, etc., including among the ancient Jews and Arabs.
The Bible is filled with references to stone fetishes, later supplanted and eradicated by Judaism, Christianity and Islam …
Traces of a phallic cult were also recorded at the other end of Eurasia - in China. So, in the sanctuary (temple) of the God of the Earth - the patron saint of one of the communities - there was an ancient stone pillar, its ritual functions were similar to those known from the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew religions … On other continents and in other regions of the globe, stone phallic sculptures were also preserved, which in itself testifies to the significant antiquity of the cult: beliefs common in the distant past were spread all over the world …"
But what to go far - let's turn to the menhirs, of which there were dozens of them on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria until recently, but today there are only a few. And most likely they were destroyed precisely for the reason that some orthodox people see them as images of phalluses, as an object of the cult of pagan religions. Although this is only one of the assumptions about the purpose and symbolism of stone megaliths, the upper part of some of them is known to be unworked; found in the form of human faces - warriors in a helmet and with hands drawn symbolically on the sides of the idol.
Margaret Murray, author of The Witch Cult in Western Europe, is convinced that the women who were called "witches" were adherents of the pre-Christian fertility religion.
Michael Harrison, author of The Roots of Witchcraft, concluded that early Christianity did not deny the phallic cult. According to him, it turns out that even before the beginning of the 15th century, the phallus was present in one way or another in the church.
In Upper Chegem, where, as is known, the Caucasian bishopric was located, the so-called "phallic Christianity" survived much longer. But who was this saint, with whom exactly can you personify him? You can recall the names of the saints, whose phallus was of particular importance for childless women who dream of offspring. In the work "Harmony of Christianity and Phallic Symbolism in Medieval Western Europe" the following are named:
“Saint Photinus - the first bishop of Lyons, died a martyr's death in 177. Statues of St. Photina depicted him with a large phallus. At a distance of several leagues from Clermont there was a single rock, resembling a phallus in appearance, and it bore the name of Saint Photinus. The worship of the phallus proceeded as follows: barren women poured wine over the head of the phallus and collected the wine in a bowl, allowing it to turn sour afterwards.
Saint Gerlichon was a phallic saint from Bourg-Dew near Bourget, France. Back in Roman times, there was a Roman phallic statue in Bourg-Dew, which was worshiped as helping from infertility. In Christian times, the statue was declared dedicated to a certain saint. He got his name and cult. The phallus of the "saint" was rubbed, the resulting powder was drunk as a remedy for female infertility. When the phallus was worn out, it was replaced with a new one. Then, tired of constantly updating the statue, they closed the causal place with an apron and said that the look at the phallus, which was periodically opened, heals.
Saint Terce of Antwerp or Priapus of Antwerp is a local saint. The name Ters has been associated with sexual functions. There was a priapic temple of Ters in Antwerp. There was also a statue of Ters standing at the city gates, with its legs spread wide and a phallus protruding. The women here, too, completely abused him, because they scraped off the powder from him and drank it with wine to cure infertility.
Further, there is a whole series of names of saints who do not say anything to our ears and about which in the Caucasus, of course, they did not know. But who was the one to the image of which on the wall of the Upper Chegem church women had to crawl on their knees, believing that their dream of posterity would come true after overcoming such a martyr's road and turning to the saint?
There is no answer, and we are unlikely to know it. However, is it so important? The main thing is that women believed and this faith helped them to find children. This cult is a thing of the past long ago, it is perceived today with a smile, but the memories of it, passed down from generation, live in the memory of old-timers.
… I stood, practically resting my head against the vault, in the dark basement of a medieval church. The sunlight on a July day illuminated the massive walls built centuries ago. And it seemed that the musty stone bag was not a crypt, but a kind of time machine.
He closed his eyelids. Iridescent circles floated before my eyes and the opened sparkling tunnel began to draw in itself. Centuries rushed swiftly - the twentieth, nineteenth, eighteenth, seventeenth, sixteenth, fifteenth … And then from somewhere above, breaking through time, the words of prayer rang out. And there was so much fervent faith, bright hope, unclouded sincerity in this female voice, whose modulations preserved the stone walls, that I understood that higher powers bestowed upon the begging offspring. Her family continued and continues.
