THERE IS A HILL IN SEMILUKI
St. Sergius of Radonezh, one of the greatest Orthodox ascetics, who did a lot for the Russian Church and our state, is a blessed teacher of the nation's spirit. Thanks to venerable Sergius, Russia has a new type of monasteries that live on their own farming, not on donations. One of them is the world-famous Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. In the old days here used to be a wooden area therewith the Mount Makovets, on which the Trinity monastery appeared. There was not a soul around, except for wild animals. There were many temptations from the devil and a lot of grace from God for those who had the firm Faith.
Outside the walls of the monastery there is vanity and passion, but above there is a high and strong prayer of elder Sergius (It is difficult for a human to understand this heights!)...
How far from steppe Back Soil from Wooded Moskovia is – but for the grace of God there is no distance! The memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh lives in our area as well.
There are three ravines near Semiluki called Bolnichniy (Hospital’), Koziy (Goat’s) and Semilukskiy. Not far from the latter a hill rises which is said to have been visited by St. Sergius three times. It seems to be just a legend without any hard data, but who knows? Our famous countryman, a writer Valentine Sidorov, whose fate is connected with Semiluki, in 1979, met a clairvoyant elder lady, who told him something about the hill in Semiluki: «This hill is special. Healing herbs grow here. It also has a healing spring. This hill is consecrated. St. Sergius of Radonezh visited the hill three times and he blessed it three times. He erected a cross on this spot». In 1984, thirty years ago, archaeologists discovered the remains of the ancient fortress here. They also found a small spring at its foot.
So, the hill and the spring, which, according to the legend, were blessed by Sergius of Radonezh three times, are located in the city of Semiluki near the archaeological monument «Semiluki settlement». The monument is a long, narrow promontory, located at the seventh turn of the Don on the Northern fringes of Semiluki.
More than a century ago, in May, 1911, in the village of Semiluki there occurred a soil collapse that exposed four-meter failure, underground passages and corridors. One of the vaulted corridors had a semicircular arch more than a meter high and niches in the form of small shelves. It led into the room where the floor and the walls were smeared with clay, and you could clearly see traces of the four-pointed Orthodox crosses on the ceiling. Later speleologists found out that the village of Semiluki stands on solid cavities, and landslides had happened here before. So in 1697 the Ogibenskiy monastery, which used to be in Semiluki, partially fell into a dungeon. After that its brethren moved to a new location, the village of Bogoyavlenka, where one of the oldest churches of our diocese still stands.
St. Sergius of Radonezh might really have visited our area. After all, being old, the monk had to take his stick and travel hundreds of miles to reconcile and exhort Russian princes at war. For example, in the autumn of 1385 he went to Ryazan with a diplomatic mission to prevent a possible war between Moscow and Ryazan. It was not an easy task because the Prince of Ryazan longed for a war, but simple and heartfelt words of the Saint persuaded fierce Oleg of Ryazan. So, the war was prevented. Present-day Semiluki land used to be a part of the Principality of Ryazan in the 14th century, so there is a possibility that the great Radonezh ascetic visited these places.
Did Russian people know the Black Soil Area? Of course they did. In the middle ages important trade routes took through the Don, from East to West and from North to South linking the Dnieper, Volga and far-away Scandinavia. The Don was praised in one of the Icelandic sagas. The Norwegian King Olaf used to sail along this Russian river. Some Roman, Arabic and Byzantine coins, which were found by archaeologists in Semiluki and in the neighborhood, prove that the Don was a busy shipping route.
The way from Moscow to the Don was quite beaten. The well-known journey of the Metropolitan of Moscow Pimen to Constantinople is a good example. Being Dmitri Donskoi's protégé from 1382 to 1389, Pimen tried to get a position of the Metropolitan of Moscow. His main opponents were monastic elders, who recommended Dionysius, a Bishop of Suzdal for that position (by the way, when St. Sergius of Radonezh was offered the same position, he refused to accept it). On May 9th 1385, Pimen went to Constantinople for the first time, however, he was not consecrated a Metropolitan. Нe returned to Moscow only three years later, but soon he received the Patriarch's announcement of his deposition and he went to Constantinople again. In May 1389 Metropolitan Pimen reached Ryazan by the Oka from Moscow. Then he reached the Don from there by land, where he got on a ship to get to Tsar-grad by water. «During the week of the Myrrh bearers everyone, including the Metropolitan, got on the ships and sailed through the Don, feeling sad and sorrow about the journey». It was the beginning of the notes by Ignatius Smolyanin who accompanied Pimen to Constantinople. These notes are frequently used by different researchers. The atmosphere of these notes, as you can see, is «sad and sorrow». But there are other associates of Pimen, apart from Ignatius, who made notes, because the Metropolitan himself advised his companions to do it before their departure: «If you want to describe your journey, you may do it the way you like. Describe how it started, what happened and where, who returned home and who didn't. But not all of them returned to Russia. Who knows what was in those notes? On the sixth day of the journey, i.e. on May 9th, at the mouth of the Voronezh River the travelers met a numerous retinue of Prince Yuri of Yelets «with his court nobility and many people». However, it was not a surprise meeting. It had been planned. By the way, Dmitri Donskoy died in Moscow that day...
If we assume that Sergius of Radonezh might have visited our area, a reasonable question arises: what for? The answer is obvious: for purely political reasons. He probably wanted to persuade the brodniks of the Don to unite with the Russian population, as most of them were on the side of Mamay during the Battle of Kulikovo. Perhaps the Saint strengthened their faith before a possible invasion of Tamerlane (which really happened later). However, the reason why St. Sergius of Radonezh visited the Semiluki area may be quite different and it is beyond us...
It is known that Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples founded many sacred monasteries. One of them is the Monastery of Simon that was founded in 1370 by Theodore (born John), a disciple and nephew of St. Sergius, who was born in Radonezh. The heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo schema monks Peresvet and Oslyabya were buried in the Monastery of Simon. They were blessed to the feat of arms by St. Sergius. In the 1820th the youngest and the most handsome poet of Pushkin's time Dmitry Venevitinov was buried in this monastery. He was destined to live a short life – only 22 years. Нis estate was located on the bank of the Don in the village of Novozhivotinnoe, the ancient "biography" of which is closely connected with Semiluki... Some well-known people of Voronezh were buried at the old monastery cemetery, those whose life was connected with our land in some way: the Olenins, the Venevitins, the Islentevs, the shipwright Feodor Golovin, the composer Alexander Alyabyev...
The Don flows and keeps memories of the venerable Sergius of Radonezh. Perhaps it is no coincidence that one of the Voronezh factories recently cast a bell for the Monastery of Simon, called «Peresvet». Today its chimes, singing in the neighborhood, remind us about the unity of the Russian land, which was spiritually «united» by St. Sergius. If you listen carefully, you can hear it...
Igor Markin
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