"Godly" work. The children's music school sued the monastery. Who is disturbed by the sounds of music - the correspondent of The New Times investigated
Children's Music School No. 58 named after Glinka in Pechatniki takes an honorable fourth place in the unofficial ranking of Moscow music schools. Many of its graduates have become professional musicians: they teach, play in orchestras, and are laureates of international competitions. Since foundation 1 The school is permanently led by Tamara Alexandrovna Karaeva, choir conductor, Honored Worker of Culture of Russia. Now she is not having the best of times: Tamara Karaeva has to defend the right to exist for her school, which is located in a building belonging to the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery.
Tamara Alexandrovna became worried back in 1993, when she learned that a decree of the Moscow government was being prepared to transfer the monastery complex (which included the school building) to the religious community. A few months before the release of the resolution, the director of the Children's Music School turned to the mayor of Moscow, Yu.M. Luzhkov with a letter in which she asked the mayor of the capital to include in the decree a clause on the construction of a new building for a school in the Pechatniki municipal district, as well as on the financing of this construction by the city. As Karayeva herself says, in the prefecture, having learned about this letter, they were surprised: “Why are you so worried, this is a church, as long as you need, you will be there for as long, no one will offend you.” The resolution was issued, and indeed, the interests of the school were taken into account in it. 2 . The building was handed over to the monastery, but under the terms of a long-term lease agreement with the school.
According to the documents, the monastery, as a landlord, was obliged to arrange the arrangement of both the building itself and the territory adjacent to it. However, from 1993 to this day, Tamara Karaeva, as they say, has been doing this exclusively. The monastery, meanwhile, leased the basement of the music school to commercial organizations.
The pipes are burning
Here are the "dividends" the school received from this: On April 20, 1999, a fire broke out in the basement due to the fault of tenants. The fire quickly spread throughout the building. To save the school, firefighters flooded the building with water for 10 hours. The fire was extinguished, and the school was practically destroyed: furniture, musical instruments, equipment - everything was lost. The director, together with the teachers, cleared the rubble from 9 pm to 5 am. They saved what they could. Tamara Karayeva bitterly says: “I appealed to various authorities: help at least someone. Various people responded. The abbot of the monastery never crossed the threshold of the school.”
Work to eliminate the accident was completed only in October 1999, the school breathed a sigh of relief, but, as it turned out, not for long. The burnt pipes of the heating plant, which run through the attic and which also had to be repaired by the landlord, burst on March 12, 2000. The building was flooded with boiling water: furniture, a concert piano, new equipment, parquet, educational documents - everything was destroyed again. After the flood, the director of the school rushed to knock on the thresholds of high authorities, asked, demanded and got her way: the school was completely renovated. From that moment, according to Tamara Karaeva, Father Vladimir Chuvikin, rector of the Patriarchal Metochion of the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery, laid his eyes on the well-maintained school building.
Since 2001, the rector either does not renew the contract or raises the rent. Currently, the school pays rent to the monastery about 2 million rubles a year. The school principal says: “He is a smart person and understands that you can’t take much from us. We are budget employees. It is necessary to clean us up and move us into a new, well-appointed tenants’ premises.”
Commercial benefit
The memory of past good relations with the Church: a gift from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', his portrait, still hangs in the office of school principal Tamara Karaeva
An experienced administrator, Tamara Karaeva, after the decree of the Moscow government was issued, wrote letters to various high authorities every year, inquiring about the construction of a new building for the school. The responses from all were unanimous. Research Institute of the General Plan of Moscow: "The construction of a music school is envisaged"; head of the Pechatniki district council: “The construction of a new music school is envisaged”; district government: "Issues of designing and building a children's music school have been taken under control by the district government." And suddenly, in 2005, Tamara Karaeva received a response from the Department of Culture of the South-Eastern District of Moscow to her next appeal: “Construction of a building for a children's music school is not provided.” Head of Department
Yelena Kalinicheva, who signed the letter, explained to The New Times: “Our city planning plans are adopted, and then numerous adjustments and amendments are made to them. In recent years, cultural objects have gradually begun to disappear with detailed planning. There is a commercial benefit. The city needs to earn money for us, state employees. And we also understand this when they explain it to us in the Department of Economic Policy.” Kalinicheva herself is discouraged, the issue was not decided by her. She only had to inform the principal of the school that the construction of this object is not a priority for the city authorities. Now this is one of the most important issues for employees of the Department of Culture. According to Tamara Karaeva, they are the only ones who help her save the school. Elena Kalinicheva speaks of the priest with slight irritation: “I didn’t fulfill my obligations. Made appointments and canceled. At meetings, he behaved strangely: he said that everything was collapsing in the basement, communications were unusable. We conducted an examination, proved that everything works there. We have planned funds in the budget for the rent of this school. Due to the fact that he does not conclude a lease, we cannot send this money to him, we have a non-fulfillment of the budget.
Outlaw School
The long-suffering building of the Children's Music School No. 58 named after. M.I. Glinka
In July of this year, another blow awaited Tamara Karaeva: due to the fact that the monastery did not conclude a lease agreement, the licensing commission refused to issue another license for the school to carry out activities. 3 . The confused principal suggested closing the school. “You have no right,” the confused officials answered. Tamara Karayeva laughs nervously: “The school is not closed, teachers are paid salaries. I am being punished for allowing this lawlessness.”
Father Vladimir Chuvikin sent another letter in August: “We ask you to vacate the occupied premises ... and hand it over to us according to the acceptance certificate.” Needless to say, the school did not vacate the premises. According to Karaeva, the rector turned off the heat in the fall in response. In the basement, the culprit of many troubles, there are valves, and the monastic services received an order: not to give heat to the school. This was apparently the last straw. Tamara Karaeva consulted with the Department of Culture and filed a lawsuit against the monastery.
The New Times tried for a long time to get a comment from the rector Vladimir Chuvikin. The priest's secretary said: "We have no problems." The correspondent of the magazine promised that in this case he would ask for a comment from the Moscow Patriarchate. The rector's secretary thought for a moment and said: “We need to talk to the priest. Maybe he will not bless you to apply. I had to apply without a blessing. Surprisingly, without exception, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, whom The New Times turned to for comment, were not aware of the matter.
The story is sad. Residents of the Pechatniki district seem to need both a monastery and a children's music school. But to decide what is more necessary is somehow unethical.
PS When the issue was being made up, Father Vladimir Chuvikin called The New Times with comments
Paper will withstand everything, ether too. Only God has the truth, and everything else will survive, unfortunately. How only Mother Earth holds us, I am amazed. How can we still walk and the earth has not opened up after such our untruths? We didn't have any conflict. It's just that we didn't conclude a lease agreement from September 1, because for four years we warned the music school that the building was dilapidated, the floors were wooden. It is dangerous for the life and health of children. The Institute of Corporate Governance was recently on fire, nursing homes are on fire - so many people are dying. We had normal lease relations, but when the building was under reconstruction, we warned that we could no longer renew the contract. Especially since there is a construction site nearby. Why risk children's health and safety? They begged us: "You have to bear with us for at least one more year." Well, let's go forward, we signed a contract for one year. A year has passed quickly, time flies instantly. Again they are with tears: "We have nowhere." And so we have been going towards them for the last three years. And already this year we showed firmness and said: “No”. This is a whole story, whole volumes of correspondence. Tamara Alexandrovna raised everyone by the ears. This is a slanderous person, everyone around here knows her. I tormented the prefecture, complained to all instances. We did not put the question like this: “leave”, we simply did not begin to conclude a lease. We turned on the light for them, we pay utility bills at the expense of the monastery. If something happens, they will ask me. All the media, including yours, will trumpet and yell at all voices: “What a cruel, what a scoundrel! He put the children in a dilapidated building, it burned down and collapsed. The children were crippled, God forbid they died. And the monastery is to blame for everything, father Vladimir, so we’ll quarter it.” Why do I need this in my old age? I'm already in my seventies. They also need a license. They don't extend. The building is owned by the monastery, but we do not expel. We do not set a goal to expel, we only worry about the health of children. I presented the contract, it does not suit them. They begin to yell again, be rude, even in an insulting tone: “We will fight for every clause of this agreement. Everything will be our way, not the way it is.” This is arm twisting. There is no subject matter for judgment. What arbitration? The contract has already been presented for a whole month - they do not want to sign it. I shouldn't be doing this. My job is to serve and engage in pastoral work, and not these women's squabbles. Let him rejoice, let him triumph! Are Tamara Alexandrovna's hands itchy? I have nothing against her, it's just a shame that she pours such dirt at all levels. And in the prefecture she is known as a quarrelsome, scandalous woman, and everyone in the council knows her. What to do? We have to endure. The strong always blame the powerless.
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1 DMSh No. 58 was founded in 1970.
2 Appendix No. 2 to Decree of the Government of Moscow No. 918 dated 12.10.93. 3 Art. 33 p. 9 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education".
