Time to read: 12 minutes(s)

In the 800-year-old Ryazan village of Isady, six years ago, the staircase to the second tier of the church, built in memory of the first people's militia, collapsed. Prokopiy LyapunovA little later, cracks appeared in the vault inside the church and along the walls. Damage was also visible on the church's exterior walls. Parishioners—residents of Isady and surrounding villages—began writing and visiting authorities, asking for the church to be repaired, or at least to be allowed to do it themselves. Both their requests were denied.

Local residents told NeMoskva about the veneration of the "true patriot" Lyapunov in these parts, the miracles and mysteries of the church destroyed during the Soviet era, and the numerous attempts to compel the state to restore the local shrine and historical heritage site.

Devastation and Reconstruction

A white church on white snow, to the left is an old cemetery and a "manor's" garden, to the right is the high bank of the Oka River. About 20 years ago, a major landslide began, and the church slid slightly into the river. The bank was reinforced, but this only delayed the destruction of one of the oldest churches in the region—built in 1636. It was built with funds from Prokopy Lyapunov's son, Vladimir, and other noble Isad families. More than five years ago, it became clear that the roof had rotted, cracks had appeared in the walls and main dome, and a stone step of the staircase leading to the second tier had collapsed, followed by the second and third. Now several steps are missing from the staircase, and a gaping hole remains in its place. It is filled with snow. 

The morning service has ended, but the people are still there, discussing current issues, including the church renovation. Valentine complains: one of the problems is that salt appears on the inner masonry and literally “eats” the whitewash. 

In my free time, I carefully clean and whiten everything, but it keeps showing through. We so want the church to be bright and elegant, but dark spots keep appearing. The window openings were just whitewashed, and now—again…

During Soviet times, the church was used as a grain and salt warehouse, and later as a fertilizer storage facility. This explains the damage to the walls.

The women vied with each other to tell how wonderful “our temple” is, how homey and “cozy” it is in it, and they recalled the miracles that took place there.

We used to run around here as kids when the church was destroyed, climbing up to the second floor and playing. And one day, some kids my age came running and said, "We saw an old man, little, with a beard." It was St. Nicholas—there's an altar to St. Nicholas right here, so he kept showing up, more than once. — says a parishioner Tatyana. - Our grandparents scolded us for this [playing in the temple], but we went anyway: how beautiful it was here, what frescoes! All the vaults were painted.

At the librarian's Maria Pashkina a recording of the story of a 95-year-old is kept Maria Tseplyaeva, who remembers the moment of the closing and destruction of the temple.

"Two priests served in the church—Father Vasily, the older one, and Father Arseny, the younger one. They lived in the priest's house, where the artist V.I. Ivanov now lives. In 1930, they organized the 'Red Army' collective farm. In the spring of 1939, the priests [spelling preserved] were arrested, and the church bells were removed. Yefremova Senkova held the keys to the church, but she refused to give them up for a long time. Then she was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. The keys were taken away, and the church was destroyed. Many icons were burned," Tseplyaeva dictated five years ago.

The nearly destroyed church was returned to the parishioners in 1988. They restored it themselves—with their own money and effort. 

About Prokopy Lyapunov

Prokopiy Lyapunov was a native of Isady, a Ryazan voivode and Duma nobleman. The Lyapunov family was first mentioned in the 1550s. Prokopiy Lyapunov played an active role in the Time of Troubles, rebelled against Boris Godunov and Vasily Shuisky, participated in Ivan Bolotnikov's uprising, and then defected to Shuisky's side of the rebellious thugs. He served False Dmitry I and had dealings with False Dmitry II. However, when Patriarch Hermogenes called for the country to be cleansed of Poles, Lyapunov heeded the call.

The Ryazan governor sent a message throughout the country:

"Let us stand firm, take up the weapon of God and the shield of faith, march with all the land to the royal city of Moscow, and with all Orthodox Christians of the Muscovite state, take counsel on who shall be sovereign of the Muscovite state. If the king keeps his word and gives his son to the Muscovite state, baptizing him according to Greek law, leads the Lithuanians out of the land, and retreats from Smolensk himself, then we, the sovereign, Vladislav Zhigimontovich, kiss the cross and will be his serfs. But if he does not, then we must all stand and fight for the Orthodox faith and for all the lands of the Russian land. We have one mind: either purify our Orthodox faith, or die to the last man."

On March 19, 1612, an uprising against the Poles began in Moscow, during which the invaders set fire to Moscow. Half the city was destroyed by fire. Later, militias and Cossacks, whom Lyapunov had recruited, arrived. They managed to trap the Polish government, the Seven Boyars, in Kitai-gorod and the Kremlin. Thus began a lengthy siege, which resulted in Lyapunov's army capturing the Round Tower, the Yauza, Pokrovskie, Frolovskie, Sretensky, Tverskoye, and Petrovsky Gates.

The militias and Cossacks created a zemstvo government, headed by Prince Trubetskoy, Boyar Zarutsky, and Lyapunov. Lyapunov actively searched for a candidate for the Russian throne. He sought a foreigner and negotiated with the Swedes. According to chronicles, his colleagues in the triumvirate hated Lyapunov. He was also disliked by the Cossacks, who guarded the roads leading to the capital, robbing ordinary peasants. Lyapunov demanded that Trubetskoy and Zarutsky "put them to rest."

The commander of the Polish garrison in Moscow, Alexander Gonsevsky, took advantage of this. To get rid of the talented commander, he ordered a Moscow clerk to forge a document stating:

«...wherever they catch a Cossack, beat and drown him, and when, God willing, the Muscovite state calms down, then we will exterminate this entire evil people". 

Lyapunov's forged signature was underneath. The Cossacks demanded an explanation and invited him to the circle three times; the voivode only agreed to the third time, having received assurances of safety. At the circle, he confessed that he had not written such a document, but the Cossacks attacked and killed him. Ivan Rzhevsky, who had tried to intercede for Lyapunov, perished with him. Their bodies lay in the open air for three days, then were taken to the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius, where they were buried without any honors, most likely in the same grave.

After Lyapunov's death, the militia disbanded, and Sigismund III declared his intention to become Tsar of Russia. That same year, 1611, a second militia was formed under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. It was successful. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov ascended the throne.

Trouble at Easter

Father Victor (Tarakanov) He became rector at the end of 1988. Before that, he served in Sreznevo, and, according to parishioners, an entire delegation from Isady "literally begged him" to join them. Father Viktor is sincerely loved in Isady and the surrounding area. When he comes to neighboring villages on business, "people want to rush to embrace him," and only respect and his clerical rank prevent him from doing so.

— The staircase collapsed right on Easter, I don’t know why. We need money for repairs, and where are we going to get it from the parishioners? They restored the church themselves [in the late 1980s]. First, six restoration crews arrived, but there was no money, so they couldn’t take it anymore and left. According to recent estimates [by specialists], the staircase could have been restored for about a million and a half, but now, it’s probably not even three million. There were no sponsors. I opened an account and paid for it [for account maintenance], but what’s the point… The church is truly needed and dear to the people; it’s their outlet. Where else can we go? At first, restoration specialists came, inspected it, and that was it. What can we do? I don’t know anymore. The authorities need to be stirred somehow. They came. One gentleman would come, then another. Everyone made promises. But in reality, no one responded, — the abbot described the situation.

Recently, bricks began to fall from under the roof, and Father Victor is afraid to conduct the procession next Easter.

He not only prays for the church's speedy restoration, but, in keeping with earthly traditions, appeals to all authorities, along with a group of parishioners and other activists from Isady and the surrounding area. Year after year, they are denied at every level. The fact is that the Resurrection Church is a federal cultural heritage site, and it's impossible to repair it "by eye." "In this church, we can sweep with certain brooms, but not with others," as one parishioner put it—such are the strict requirements for the maintenance of a cultural heritage site. To carry out restoration, a state inspection is required, and then the state must allocate funds for the work. But even this can only be carried out by a licensed organization, as the head of the Isady rural settlement puts it. Andrey Brekhov“We would have raised 200 thousand from the whole world to repair the steps and done everything ourselves, but no one would allow us to do it – it’s not allowed by law.”

Under the "protection" of the state

Since the church is a federal cultural heritage site, the parishioners asked the Russian Ministry of Culture for assistance. The ministry responded:

"The Russian Ministry of Culture, as part of the state program 'Development of Culture,' provides financial support for the preservation of cultural heritage sites owned by the federal government and religious organizations, based on applications received from the site's user or regional heritage protection authority, within the allocated federal budget limits. The Ministry of Culture has not received any relevant applications for this site. The user of the site is the Ryazan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)."

To the Metropolitan of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky Mark locals contacted us back in 2016, when he arrived to hold a liturgy in Isady. The 87-year-old told NeMoskva about that meeting. Valentin Lukashin, who has spent almost half his life proving that their church is a special place for Russian citizens, because it was built in honor of a true patriot who led the country's liberation movement from Polish intervention.

I was a little late; everyone was already leaving the church, but I managed to get through to him and express the parishioners' opinions about the church's renovation, as it was protected by the state. He was in a hurry and responded curtly, "Do you know how many properties I have that need repair?" He didn't want to discuss the matter with the people. The crowd moved toward the shore, where a buffet was being held—a table had been set, and the parishioners had gathered to feast on him. We tried to follow him, but Comrade Vorobyov [former head of the settlement, Alexander Vorobyov] gestured that we weren't wanted there. Insulted and insulted, we turned back.

That same year, Lukashin and his fellow villagers went to Mark's residence, but were only able to speak with the secretary, who advised them to put everything in writing. They never received a response to their "petition."

After some time, the pensioner's health deteriorated, and his daughter took his place as the temple's defender. Natalia LukashinaShe and a fellow villager also went to see the metropolitan.

He didn't accept it. We spoke with an assistant who relayed his words. Something like, "Yes, we're aware of this, but we distribute the funds received for church repairs according to priority areas. This year, our priority is the restoration of churches in the Ryazan Kremlin." And this has been the case for three years in a row. she said.

Parishioners recall that they have been turning to the State Duma deputy, Colonel, for help since 2011. To Andrey Krasov, ex-governor To Nikolai Lyubimov (currently a State Duma deputy, deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets), vice-governor To Igor Grekov (He is in pretrial detention on charges of bribery amounting to approximately 75 million rubles). They all promised to help, but that's all it ended with. According to Lukashina, someone local wrote about the church's dire condition to the governor's Telegram channel. To Pavel Malkov, but never received an answer.

At the same time, Father Viktor is required by law to obtain a safety certificate for the religious organization's facility, which has required him to travel 90 km to Ryazan several times. Sometimes one manager is absent, sometimes another is replaced, and everything has to be redone. Previously, he had to pay for an alarm system, which also requires maintenance. "What could possibly burn here?" the women wonder. "It's damp and there are bare brick walls."

A new community center recently opened in Isady, where parishioners enjoy concerts and performances, but they say their "feet still carry them to the church":

"You go out with your Nordic walking poles to the church. Someone comes to visit and wants to show you the church. Your grandchildren have scattered all over the place in the summer—you're looking for it by the church. As they say, all roads lead to the church. And we don't know how else to help it. We should either write to Patriarch Kirill or build some temporary steps ourselves—no one needs our church anymore anyway."

And, they say secretly, there's a large, unexplored cellar beneath the temple. Its entrance is unknown. What treasures or relics might be hidden there? But this question, too, interests no one but the parishioners.