The Solovetsky Monastery complex may be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church

Director of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve Mikhail Lopatkin, referring to the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Clement (Kapalin), said that in August the Government of the Russian Federation decided to transfer 300 buildings and structures on the archipelago to the Solovetsky Monastery. This decision was made without discussion with representatives of the museum and contrary to the agreement concluded in 2005 between the museum and the monastery.

According to M. Lopatkin, there are not 300 monuments on the state register, as indicated in the metropolitan’s report, but only 239 monuments. “The total transfer of monuments will require the removal of museum funds, exhibitions, and all museum services from their walls. There are no premises for such an “evacuation” on Solovki,” the director said. In addition, the maintenance of 58 buildings transferred to the monastery raises claims among specialists.

“Solovki is not only a spiritual center, not only a symbol of the period of repression, but first of all a museum,” says Igor Repnevsky, leading specialist of the cultural committee of the Arkhangelsk region administration. “The opportunity to access such monuments should be provided to all citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as foreign tourists."

“Even today, it is impossible to land on the island of Anzer, which has become the property of the Russian Orthodox Church, from the sea: its shores are constantly patrolled by employees of a private security company. With the transfer of all Solovetsky property to the Russian Orthodox Church, the archipelago will automatically become a closed zone, access to which will be possible only for Orthodox pilgrims,” notes “New news." - And one more alarming moment. It is impossible not to understand Metropolitan Clement’s concern over the facts of the seizure of plots of land on Solovki. But this began to happen in recent years precisely because the reserve team lost part of its powers, transferring them to the Patriarchate."

Legal adviser of the Moscow Patriarchate Ksenia Chernega denied the message about the transfer of monuments of the Solovetsky Archipelago to the monastery.

But, according to her, the Russian Government really considered this possibility. The result was the Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russia A. Zhukov dated March 28, 2007, which states that “The Solovetsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Stavropegic Monastery has the ability, in the prescribed manner, to formulate the necessary package of documents for sending to the Federal Property Management Agency in order for the latter to make a decision on transfer to the gratuitous the monastery’s use of religious objects located on the territory of the Solovetsky archipelago.”

The Ministry of Culture would also “consider it possible to consider the appeal of the relevant religious organization regarding the transfer of religious property located on Solovki into ownership or use.”

K. Chernega stated that “neither the state nor the Church raises the issue of liquidating the museum and relocating the local population of Solovki to the mainland.” The legal adviser of the MP considers the agreements concluded by the monastery and the museum in 2005 to be contrary to current legislation.

Sources

• M. Pozdnyaev. The islands will “go” to the monastery // New News. 2007. September 18.
• “Time to collect stones”: who owns the Solovetsky shrines? // Patriarchia.ru. 2007. September 18.