The scientific director of the Regional Public Fund “Memory of Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church”, secretary of the Synodal Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate for the canonization of saints, executive secretary of the Church-Public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for the perpetuation of memory speaks about the study of the immortal feat of the new martyrs and their life in Christ new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, compiler of the complete set of lives of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian 20th century, abbot of Damascus (Orlovsky).

– Father Damascus, the life of the Church from the first centuries was built on the exploits of martyrs. How does the feat of the new martyrs differ from the feat of the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity? And how does studying their lives differ from studying the lives of ancient martyrs?

– The feat itself, its qualitative content has not changed in any way; the same Christian with faith in the risen Christ stood before God in ancient times, stood before God in the 20th century. It was not the content of the Christian feat that changed, but the circumstances in which this feat began to be performed. If Christians of the first centuries were persecuted only for the fact that they were Christians, Christianity itself outlawed them, then during the persecution in the twentieth century, Christianity was not declared criminal and worthy of death, as it was in ancient times.

From a Christian in the twentieth century. They did not always demand renunciation of Christ. The main thing has become not who you say you are, but who you really are. You can call yourself a Christian, but not actually be one. Therefore, if the life of the ancient martyrs was considered according to one criterion - their faith in Christ, then the life of those who suffered from the authorities in the 20th century is considered according to many characteristics. And the approach to studying them is personal, that is, we need to study a person’s life in order to understand who is in front of us. The authorities at that time were quite happy with the situation for Christians to be Christians only in name or to secretly help the persecutors. Therefore, in those years, Christians by name could be apostates from the faith, false witnesses against their neighbors and people of a lifestyle unworthy of a Christian. And at the same time, everyone must suffer like many of our glorious martyrs, those for whom there was nothing more precious and beautiful than the Church of Christ. This means that the methodology for studying the lives of martyrs, with church criteria remaining unchanged, has become different.

In the 20th century A political phenomenon that had not existed before - a totalitarian state - appeared on the historical stage. How can you characterize it? The totality and power of state pressure on an individual, when all the material and psychological power organized by the state was used, when in order to break and crush this or that person with an ideology that was hostile, as the authorities considered, all the levers and capabilities of the state machine were used. A church person found himself almost as if in a foreign, some kind of “Babylonian” captivity, but unlike ordinary captivity during interstate wars, he then had nowhere to run except Heaven. Under these conditions, some, in order to save their lives, made a deal with their conscience. Can they be called confessors or martyrs, even though they subsequently suffered a violent death? The feat of the new martyrs also differs in terms of the conditions of the investigative process, which in the twentieth century. in contrast to the open process in ancient times, it was closed from others and is almost inaccessible for full study at the present time, because the body of documents of judicial investigative cases, which is now mainly studied, reflects only part of the life of the injured clergyman or layman, and as part of the information the whole may not be sufficient to reconstruct events. The Church is now accused of allegedly completely trusting everything written in the interrogation reports of the accused.

However, it is not. Everyone understands perfectly well that people at that time were falsely accused of crimes that were not committed. And in this case, it is not the accusation itself that is important, but the position of the accused in relation to the accusation brought against him. At the Councils of Bishops, it was stated with the utmost clarity more than once that there are “no grounds for the canonization of persons who, during the investigation, incriminated themselves or others, causing the arrest, suffering or death of innocent people, despite the fact that they suffered. The cowardice they showed in such circumstances cannot serve as an example, for canonization is evidence of the holiness and courage of the ascetic, which the Church of Christ calls its children to imitate” (see: Report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, on Bishops' Jubilee Council. M.: Cathedral of Christ the Savior, August 13–16, 2000).

There were cases when people who found themselves face to face with persecutors bore false witness, betrayed their souls, and under pressure from investigators signed texts that they would never have signed under other circumstances. They say that the investigators had methods of influence, torture, etc. But this objection is beyond criticism, because in this case we are not talking about people in general, but about holy martyrs, not in general about unjust victims, but about those whose behavior in the face death was flawless in every way. A reference to the conditions of the investigation of the twentieth century, making perjury excusable, would mean a change in the canonization criteria accepted by the Church, which always considered the merits of the martyr’s feat and did not seek justification for sin in the severity of torture, under which moral and religious principles could be abandoned.

We can only call those who are glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church new martyrs. In accordance with the decision of the Holy Synod of February 16, 1999, we call only those glorified by the Church holy martyrs; the names of the rest, Thou, Lord, weigh. This formula and the non-inclusion of those not glorified by name in the list of new martyrs allows, in accordance with the definition of the Holy Synod, “to exclude from the rank of veneration those who died outside the Orthodox Church, having fallen away from it due to a church schism, or because of betrayal, or for non-church reasons” ( Canonization of saints in the twentieth century. M., 1999). So it would be a mistake to call those who suffered but were not glorified by the Church as new martyrs.

– What did the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church have to renounce in the first place for the sake of fidelity to Christ, what deprivations did they accept in life?

– First of all, in order to avoid persecution during the years of Soviet power, believers had to hide the fact that they were believers. In those years, if a person remained faithful to Christ, he could lose his job and generally be left without a livelihood, he could be arrested, imprisoned or sent into exile. Persecution concerned not only adult family members, but also children, who could be persecuted in schools for wearing a cross or for attending religious services. Accordingly, parents have always lived under the threat of deprivation of parental rights for raising children in a religious spirit. A believer should have been ready at that time to lose everything, but not be ashamed of Christ and His words.

– During the years of persecution of the Orthodox Church in the country, there was, as we would now say, a family crisis: the official policy of the godless government inculcated the cult of worship of material wealth, imposed freedom of relationships for spouses, public education of children according to standard state programs, which were based on the principles of godlessness and depersonalization. Today we are reaping the bitter fruits of the experiments of the Soviet regime. Can the life experience of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church help modern spouses in resisting this external pressure, as well as in raising children?

– In order for a family to resist modern temptations, the family itself must be Christian. Modern temptations can only be countered by another content of life - Christian content. One must, first of all, be a Christian, and then the temptations of this world will not touch a person’s soul. The experience of the new martyrs clearly testifies to this. At that time, many Christian families of laity and clergy were not afraid of anything, well understanding that their only strong support in this life was the Christian faith. In this sense, modern man is not so much seduced by the world as he is seduced himself, often looking for temptations himself and not looking for how and with what to spiritually feed his soul in order to save it.

Going through the family field requires a lot of effort from a person; without exaggeration, we can say that this is a feat. The Church symbolizes marriage with martyr's crowns, bestowing grace-filled strength on the spouses so that for the worthy and ascetic bearing of this cross on earth they will be crowned in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Arrival at the elephant

An example of family life was, for example, the Hieromartyr Tikhon and his wife, confessor Chionia, of Arkhangelsk, glorified in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. They lived in the Voronezh region, where Father Tikhon served as a priest. They had 18 children. The couple raised their children without being embarrassed by poverty, teaching their children to do all kinds of work, which helped them subsequently survive many hardships.

The mother, Khionia Ivanovna, was involved in raising the children. She taught the children to pray and to turn to God in all difficulties. On all major and minor church holidays, the children went to church with her. She taught them to fast in accordance with church regulations. During Lent, the reading of secular books was postponed and the Law of God was read. The children retold what they read to their father or mother. Since there was little free time from work then, they retold the story while they were working - in the garden, in the field, or doing handicrafts.

On August 9, 1937, Father Tikhon was arrested. “Are there any weapons?” – the NKVD officer asked him. “There is,” answered the priest, “the cross and prayer!” Archpriest Tikhon Arkhangelsky was executed on October 17, 1937. Before the execution, the executioner asked him: “Will you not renounce?” - “No, I won’t renounce!” - answered the priest.

On December 12, 1937, authorities arrested Khionia Ivanovna. A few days later, the courageous confessor wrote to the children from prison: “My dear children, I’ve been in a cage for three days, but I think it’s an eternity. There was no formal interrogation yet, but they asked if I believed that God saved the Jews by drowning the Pharaoh in the sea, I said: I believe, and for this they called me a Trotskyist, who need to be destroyed as enemies of the Soviet regime... God bless you and Him Most Pure Mother..."

On December 31, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced Khionia Ivanovna to eight years in prison. Khionia Ivanovna died in December 1945, becoming, together with her husband, Hieromartyr Tikhon, a Christian example of raising children and a prayer book for all those striving for a pious family life.

– To endure interrogations and torture in dungeons was beyond human strength. What helped the new martyrs to remain faithful to the gospel truth to the end and at the same time preserve human dignity?

– For the new martyrs, the trials that came became an exam that they passed to God, who was gracious to them. The main difficulty and sorrow of the martyrs of the twentieth century was not in torture, but in the fact that they could not wait out persecution and torment, exile and imprisonment, as happened in ancient times, when all persecution eventually ended and people could again begin to live their usual lives. them with life, almost not pursued. Our new martyrs and confessors had to live under conditions of persecution, imprisonment and exile throughout their lives.

What qualities did they need to endure all this with dignity? First of all, such a very useful virtue for a person as patience. “Through your patience save your souls... He who endures to the end will be saved,” says the Lord. This virtue, growing, helped the martyr to see the Providence of God in his life, the active participation of God in it, which in itself strengthened his spiritual strength. The second thing that helped to endure trials and at the same time was the fruit of patience shown in trials was the deepest Christian humility. It was this main virtue that suffering taught; thanks to this divine virtue, the martyrs were able to endure all the trials.

For the new martyrs and confessors, the persecution that befell them in the twentieth century was not a factor of external violence. For them, these were circumstances in which the Lord placed them not only to suffer, but also to live. And what could be more comforting for the new martyrs and confessors than to know that the Lord is always with them - both in a prison cell and behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp.

“Are you asking when my torment will end? – Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) wrote from prison. – I will answer this way: I do not recognize torment and do not suffer. With my “experience”, you won’t surprise or frighten me with prison. I’m already used to not sitting, but living in prison...”

– You have taken upon yourself the extraordinary work of studying the feat of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church and compiling complete biographies. What inspired you to do this and what is your current job?

– Of course, first of all, there is a duty to the Church, an awareness of the need for this to be done, and the fact that this can be accomplished within a certain time frame. There are things that can be done either now, or already, at least in the proper volumes, that will be difficult to do ever. Lives are written on the basis of research in various archival funds, and the methodology for researching and writing the lives of new martyrs is similar to how the lives of ancient martyrs were written.

Compiled by Hegumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

Hieromartyr Sergius was born on February 18, 1883 in the village of Voronovo, Podolsk district, Moscow province, into the family of priest Vasily Felitsyn. Sergei Vasilyevich graduated from the Perervinsky School and three classes of the Moscow Theological Seminary and in 1904 was appointed a psalm-reader at the Transfiguration Church in the village of Buzharovo, Zvenigorod district.

In 1907, he was transferred to the Resurrection Church in the village of Sertyakino, Podolsk district. Here he married a native of this village, Vera Sergeevna Osetrova. They subsequently had eight children.

In 1918, Sergei Vasilyevich was ordained to the rank of deacon, in 1921 - to the rank of priest at the Resurrection Church in the village of Sertyakino, where he served until the day of his arrest. He was awarded a gaiter and a kamilavka.

The parish consisted of residents of the village of Sertyakino and the villages of Maloe and Bolshoye Tolbino and Nikulino, located five kilometers from the temple. Father Sergius was most remembered by parishioners for his Christian kindness.

On November 27, 1937, at two o'clock in the morning, Father Sergius was arrested and imprisoned in the city of Serpukhov. The arrest of Father Sergius shocked his wife so much that she lost her voice, and she responded with signs to the demands of the NKVD officers to show all the places they wanted to search. The priest was accused of being “hostile to Soviet power and having close ties with the counter-revolutionary kulak Zarenkov, who was arrested for counter-revolutionary activities.” The priest was questioned immediately after his arrest.

– Which priests of the Podolsk region do you know? – the investigator asked.

Father Sergius replied that he knew the priest of the parish closest to him, as well as the priest who had previously been the dean, and the current dean.

– The investigation knows that you spread provocative rumors among the population that the Soviet government and the communists were following the path set out in the Holy Scriptures. Tell us about it.

“I didn’t say anything against the Soviet government or the party among the population,” answered the priest.

– Do you plead guilty to conducting anti-Soviet agitation among the population aimed at discrediting the Soviet government and the party?

“I do not plead guilty to the charges brought against me, because I did not conduct anti-Soviet agitation among the population of the village of Sertyakino,” the priest answered.

At this point the interrogation was over. On December 1, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced Father Sergius to death. Priest Sergiy Felitsyn was shot on December 15, 1937 and buried in an unknown mass grave at the Butovo training ground near Moscow.

SOURCES:

GARF. F. 10035, house P-61291.

RGIA. F. 831, op. 1, no. 280.

AMP. Achievement list.

Damascene (Orlovsky), abbot. Martyrs, confessors and devotees of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church of the twentieth century. Book 6. Tver, 2002. pp. 460–462.

0.)

Born on December 26, 1949 in Moscow, abbot. In 1979 he graduated from the A.M. Gorky Literary Institute at the Union of Writers of the USSR. He worked in the educational and methodological office at the USSR Ministry of Instrument Engineering. From 1983 to 1986 he served as a reader in the Assumption Church in the village of Zilina, Moscow region.

On April 7, 1988, in the Transfiguration Cathedral in Ivanovo, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Damascene in honor of St. John of Damascus. On December 28, 1988, Bishop Ambrose (Shchurov) of Ivanovo and Kineshma ordained him a deacon, and on December 29 of the same year, he was ordained a priest. Sent to serve in the Resurrection Church in the village. Tolpygino, Privolzhsky district, Ivanovo region.

In 1991, he was included in the Synodal Commission for the study of materials concerning the rehabilitation of the clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church who suffered during the Soviet period; in 1996 - a member of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints.

On April 9, 1996, by decree of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Alexy II was appointed to the clergy of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on Lyshchikova Mountain.

Since the late 70s, Abbot Damascene has been systematically collecting materials concerning the feat of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in the 20th century. Before 1990, research was conducted primarily by obtaining testimonies and identifying all available published sources.

Since 1991, Abbot Damaskin began studying archival and investigative cases in the Central Administration of the KGB of the USSR (now the Central Administration of the FSB of the Russian Federation). Subsequently, materials from the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation, GARF, RGIA, archives of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region and the Prosecutor's Office of the Tver Region were also studied. The materials collected by Abbot Damascene about the life and exploits of the new martyrs were presented to the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints and served as the basis for their glorification at the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Hegumen Damascene is the author of a scientific methodology for the comprehensive study of materials related to the martyrdom and confessional feat of saints of the 20th century. He continued the hagiography tradition, interrupted in the 20th century, restoring it on the principles of early Christian hagiography, when hagiographies were created on the basis of official documented and oral evidence.

Fundamental for the development of Russian hagiography at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries was the work of Hegumen Damascene “Martyrs, confessors and ascetics of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century. Biographies and materials for them" (Tver, 1992-2002. 7 books).

The publication includes more than 900 lives and biographies, calendars of memory of new martyrs and confessors. The author used materials from the archives of the FSB, the President of the Russian Federation, former party members, etc., incl. regional. The bulk of the sources consisted of judicial investigation cases. The hagiographer also used thousands of testimonies of eyewitnesses and participants in the events, collected by him in the 70s - 80s of the 20th century.

For this work, in 1997 he was awarded the Metropolitan Macarius Prize (for the 1st and 2nd books) and in 2002 - the Union of Writers of Russia (for the 6th book). The lives compiled by Abbot Damascus were also published in the collections “Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian 20th Century of the Moscow Diocese” (Tver, 2002-2005. Vol. 1-5, add. 1-4).

In 2005, the publication of the complete collection of “Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian 20th Century” compiled by Abbot Damascene began in accordance with their church memory by month. (Tver, 2005-2008. January, February, March, April, May, June, cont.).

Since 1997, Abbot Damaskinos has been the scientific director of the regional public foundation “Memory of Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church”, the goals of which are to study archival documents and other evidence relating to the feat of Russian martyrs and confessors, and to publish the spiritual heritage of the martyrs.

In 2002-2009, books of works by the holy martyrs of Tver Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky), Perm Archbishop Andronik (Nikolsky), Kursk Archbishop Onufry (Gagalyuk), Voronezh Archbishop Peter (Zverev), Bishop of Kamenets-Podolsk and Bratslav Ambrose (Polyansky), Bishop Peter and Paul Methodius (Krasnoperov), Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia Vladimir (Epiphany).

Hegumen Damascene is the author of numerous articles and participant in scientific conferences on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century, as well as a series of television programs about the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. The books of Hegumen Damascene have been translated into English, German, Serbian and Romanian.

Hegumen Damascene is the secretary of the Synodal Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church for the canonization of saints, a member of the council for the publication of the “Monuments of Church Literature” and “Slavic World” series, the editorial board of the scientific series “Materials on the Contemporary History of the Russian Orthodox Church,” and the scientific and editorial council of the Orthodox Encyclopedia. Member of the Russian Writers' Union.

Hegumen Damascene (Orlovsky). Martyrs, confessors and devotees of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church of the twentieth century. Biographies and materials for them. Tver: Bulat, 1992 - 2002. Book. 1. - 237 pp.; Book 2. - 527 pp.; Book 3. - 623 pp.; Book 4. - 479 pp.; Book 5. - 479 pp.; Book 6. - 479 pp.; Book 7. - 542 p. - 10,000 copies.

Modern scientific knowledge has been enriched by the unique hagiographic work of Abbot Damaskin (Orlovsky), which is increasingly recognized by the scientific community as a sign of a new time in the history of Russia on its path to the origins of traditional culture in socio-religious life. In 1997, the first published books were awarded the Prize in Memory of Metropolitan Macarius, and in 2002 - the literary prize of the Union of Writers of Russia.

IN. Klyuchevsky in his works “Ancient Russian Lives of Saints as a Historical Source”, “The Significance of St. Sergius for the Russian People and State”, assessing the significance of the lives of saints as sources for studying the earthly path of bearers of the ideal of people’s life, wrote: “Such people become not just great for future generations dead, but eternal companions, even guides, and people for entire centuries reverently honor their memory, so as not to forget the rules bequeathed by them."

Each of the 900 lives and biographies, as well as the work of Hegumen Damascus as a whole, is an integrated research based on archival data, an invaluable complex of documented information that reveals the phenomenon of the people, the individual and the state in Russian history. Representatives of the clergy, peasants, nobles, merchants, entrepreneurs, and other social groups, with the exception of workers, were included in the host of holy new martyrs of the twentieth century.

The creation of a monumental epic required a titanic thirty-year work of the author, who came to the understanding that “the people are facing the danger of losing the memory of their past, which may be followed by the destruction of the people’s self-awareness and their death” (Book 3. P. 8). The source base of the work is very extensive: rare documentary publications, thousands of testimonies of eyewitnesses and participants in events who were still alive in the 1970s, documents from the Cheka - GPU - NKVD - KGB - FSB, the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, former party and state archives in the center and locally. More than 100,000 cases of judicial investigations for the period 1917 - 1950 were studied. Thanks to the support of the leadership of the FSB, Rosarkhiv, GARF, RGADA, RGIA, Moscow City Archives and many other regional archival institutions, large-scale synthesized historical and hagiographic work was carried out, in which members of the section of personal funds and documentary collections of the Russian Society of Historian-Archivists also participated. A unique set of materials about the new martyrs of the 20th century. became the basis for the adoption by the Council of Bishops in 2000 of decisions on their canonization. The books, along with lives and biographies, include documentary publications, the author's historical and source studies, a calendar of memory of martyrs and confessors glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church at the bishops' councils in 1989, 1997, 2000. The books are equipped with the necessary scientific reference equipment.

In the author's preface, Abbot Damaskin notes that one of the most important and responsible in source studies of the history of Russia, especially the 20th century, is the question of the authenticity of the source. It was solved by the author on the basis of the principles of Christocentrism, Christological historicism, integrity, spiritually oriented psychologism, objectivity and documentary reliability of facts, relying on the categorical apparatus of historical, archival and theological sciences. Comparative analysis and criticism of oral and documentary evidence used to write lives led to a comprehensive study of historical conditions, establishment of the authorship of sources, circumstances and motivation for their creation, interpretation of the content of sources, taking into account the components of influence: state, socio-religious and sociocultural traditions in the period of their origin, source study synthesis of information based on an integrated territorial approach to studying the reliability of the data obtained about a person, his interaction with the outside world, etc.

For the first time used in hagiographic practice, the criterion of a single information field for the interaction of subjects of events in the context of a territorial entity turned out to be quite effective for detecting and understanding information about the person being studied. The work of Abbot Damascene refutes widespread assertions that the judicial investigations of the twentieth century. cannot serve as a historical source due to the alleged “falsification” of the investigation. Abbot Damaskin's research convinces that the evidence of the accused, the signatures of persons, and other details of documents in investigative cases are always authentic. And then, when the accused signs, denying his guilt, and when he refuses to sign at all, and when, broken by agony, he admits his non-existent political guilt. In all cases, the investigator was obliged to strictly comply with all external requirements of procedural documentation, including in terms of objective recording of the testimony of the accused, strict preservation of documents, and, regardless of the behavior and testimony of the defendant, to formulate an accusation of counter-revolutionary activities. And if the accused did not admit his guilt, the investigator resorted to the testimony of “regular” witnesses. The sentence for the clergy was given.

Lives of contemporaries of the twentieth century. in books about. Damascus allow us to explore the origins of the resilience of the human spirit, the spiritual meaning of the history of the people of Russia through the images of holiness and the realized moral ideal and make it possible to reconstruct the nature of spirituality, the social parameters of religious life, the theological views of a still unexplored era.

The work of Hegumen Damascene as a narrative source allows us to recreate the biography of a specific person who embodied in his destiny the spiritual and moral foundations of the individual, the traditions of the socio-religious life of the people, the cultural foundations of the organization of life, natural geographic, social and everyday environmental factors, historical facts and events in their objective reality, since in lives they are all, as it were, “drawn” into the outline of a person’s biography and create its natural external background, without undergoing the subjectivity of the author.

The hagiographic work of Abbot Damascus preserved objective information for historical science about many important facts and events of the 20th century. Lives dispel, for example, the myth of the “triumphant march of Soviet power,” reporting unknown data about widespread mass protests of peasants against the orders that were destroying traditions and the foundations of people’s life. They reveal the spiritual and moral essence of many facts of social life; some of them are still distortedly covered in historical and philosophical literature. Thus, in the modern pedagogical press, without reference to sources, the “phenomenon” of landowner N.N. is promoted. Neplyuev, who allegedly “manifested himself in the cause of true public education.” Neplyuev himself is ranked among the cohort of “outstanding compatriots”, “without knowledge of whose deeds it is impossible to understand the originality and integrity of our Russian national culture and national spirituality.”

True light on the activities of the Brotherhood of the Exaltation of the Cross and its organizer, landowner N.N. Neplyuev sheds light on the life of the priest Roman (Medved), who in 1901 served as a priest in the church of this brotherhood. In a detailed report to the diocesan bishop, included by Abbot Damascene in the narrative of his life, Father Roman denounces the fundamentally non-Christian institutions of the brotherhood, “the lack of assimilation of Orthodox teaching in primary and lower agricultural schools.” He characterizes the economic organization of the brotherhood “as a rigid form of the capitalist system without any opposition not only to Christian, but also to simply human feelings,” showing that the basis of its activities “were based on spiritual despotism and communist ideals rather than Christian ones” (Book 4. pp. 289 - 295).

The author’s use of the prose method and the rejection of creative subjectivism in the presentation of facts explain the fact that some biographies are extremely brief due to the lack of sources. They are limited to the statement of the supreme feat of a man, attested in the investigative case, who suffered torment and accepted death as the crown of service to God and the Fatherland. The lives are accompanied by unique photographs, including those taken in prison after the verdict was passed to identify the person led to execution. They capture the look of a person going into eternity...

The creative laboratory of Hegumen Damaskin reveals the inexhaustible possibilities of applying spiritually oriented methodology in science. Essentially, and this is not an exaggeration, domestic and world science received the first scientific study, holistic in its immense versatility, of the hitherto unknown spiritual and moral side of the history of the people of Russia, who preserved a living soul in the hard times and sufferings of the 20th century. For Russian historical science, the hagiographic work of Abbot Damascus is extremely valuable as a fundamental work, a phenomenon of historiography, scientifically confirming the possibility of objective knowledge of the past.

It is especially important that, from a scientific point of view, the work of Abbot Damascus is a discovery in the field of the humanities, opposing the latest ideas about the study of human history on a different empirical basis of sources than the one currently available to historical science. Modernist scientists associate such a base with the development of information technology and the creation of a virtual information environment, intensifying the search for methods that make it possible to build concepts of global history and universal science of man without resorting to sources of information about a real person. These scientists do not put forward man as the subject and object of research, but the functions of his interaction with nature, people among themselves.

Introduction to scientific knowledge of the lives of saints of the twentieth century. - a historically popular act of reviving the national self-awareness of the Russian people. The work of Abbot Damaskin is a large-scale phenomenon in the scientific, sociocultural and socio-religious life of the new Russia, which is being reborn on the traditional national foundations of existence.

In conclusion, we note that the specifics of the hagiographic genre confronted the author with the need to search for an adequate archaeographic design of archival information used in the text of a life or biography. And if in the first two books the author strictly follows tradition, without accompanying the text with references to the source, then in the third, archaeographic rules of design are applied, including the full codes of each source involved. However, this approach makes it difficult for those to whom they are primarily addressed - ordinary readers - to use the texts of the lives. In subsequent books, the author found, in our opinion, a fairly acceptable form for this type of publication as a hagiography, limiting the composition of information in references to the names of bibliographic publications and archives. True, this should have been stated in the prefaces to the books.

Z.P. INOZEMTSEV

Hagiography is a scientific historical and theological discipline. The object of her research is a person who embodied the highest moral ideal of human existence in his earthly path. The subject of the study is the phenomenon of martyrdom and holiness as the highest manifestation of the human spirit.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Orthodoxy in Russia. M., 2000. P. 310.

Malyshevsky A.F. School N.N. Neplyueva // Human World. No. 2 - 3. P. 36 - 40.