Isaacievsky schism

Scandal, split. The “hand of Moscow” and the kneeling readers of the Constitution on the wide cold steps of Isaac. Emergency "landing" from the Moscow Patriarchate. The fussy work of dozens of brigades of local and federal TV, the debate on the air of radio stations, inconsistent with the folk gathering, disguised as a meeting with deputies . And all this in three days in a poor unrest in St. Petersburg. Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, at the request of Patriarch Kirill, for 49 years, gave one of the symbols of the city - Isaacievsky Cathedral for free use.

In fact, this is an illustration of the classical opposition of the northern capital by the decision made in Moscow. The resonance is the stronger that we are talking about the monument to which the city is so proud of. The question of the transfer of Isaacia for several years remained regional: no further than last fall, the city government, having discussed the application of the local diocese, decided to leave Isaac in the jurisdiction of the museum - primarily for economic reasons. The State Museum-Monesty "Isaac's Cathedral" earns about 800 million rubles a year, which completely covers the costs of maintaining and restoring the building. And suddenly, on New Year's Eve, according to the oral agreement, the governor and the patriarch of the Cathedral retreats into the hands of the Russian Orthodox Church. What involves charging fees for excursions, but not for the entrance (and no excursions during daily services, of course). In fact, the city is offered to destroy the independent economy of the museum, making the cathedral subsidized. Who needs such ritual activity is unclear. In 2016, the Complex "Isaac's Cathedral" was visited by 4 million people (and this is the top 3 attendance among all museums of the country), and only 40,000 came to temples as a church, and not as a museum. 1% of all visitors.

- The very decision to transfer the Cathedral of the Church seems murderous to me for the museum.

“About 92% of the revenue are entrance tickets,” says Museum Director Nikolai Burov. - And only 8% falls on the rest. Calculations about self -sufficiency at the free entrance - from the field of science fiction. And only the restoration of monumental painting, which I planned until 2028, will cost 3.6 billion rubles. The decision to transfer the church’s cathedral to me seems murderous for the museum. True, the idea warms that the cathedral itself from the city will not go anywhere, no one wants to make it out or ditch it. But one thing is not to want to ditch, and another is to be able not to ditch. You know, this story began 150 years ago, in a difficult time of tsarism. Then the Synod appealed to the government of the empire with requests to transfer the cathedral from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior to the full maintenance of the church. The tsarist government refused over and over again. After the revolution, the Bolsheviks gave the Cathedral of the church twenty, but in 1928 he again became state - the church could not support it. For 90 years it was a museum. If you transfer it now, then in good hands, so that it is not painfully a shame then, that they have ruined what they had. Probably, someday, then my legs will bring me to Isaac, I will be interested to look at him. ”

The first conversations about the transfer of the cathedrals of the complex (“Isaac's Cathedral” used to consist of Isaac, the Savior on Blood, Smolny and Sampsonievsky Cathedrals) began four to five years ago. As a result, by 2016, Smolny and Sampsonievsky cathedrals have already been transferred to the church, and the director believes that the next year will come the turn of the Savior on the blood. But last year, it was he, according to the British edition of VouCherCloud , became the most popular attraction of Russia.

Burov notes that the Church led all the negotiations “over the head”, not turning to the museum, despite the seemingly achieved compromise - in 2016, 640 services were held in the cathedral. As the new “owners” are going to support the most difficult historical structure protected by UNESCO, without adopting experience from the museum, is unclear.

Poltavchenko’s statement appeared on the evening of January 10 , and already on January 12, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate arrived in St. Petersburg, trying to convince Petersburgers, what good the new status of the cathedral promises them. They appealed to the experience of Europe and especially Italy, where basilicians are governed by the church. Vice-governor Mikhail Mokratsov announced the readiness of the city to subsidize Isaac. The Moscow guests (chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Bishop Egorievsky Tikhon (Shevkunov), the head of the legal service of the Moscow Patriarchate of Igumenia Ksenia (Chernoga) and the chairman of the Synodal Department for the Church Relations with Society Vladimir Logoyd) promised to create an excursion bureau, maintain an exit to the colonnade and "even expand enlightenment activities." The hypothetical new museum will have nothing to do with the current one, and for obvious reasons, Director of Burov is worried for 400 of his employees and the collection (a blocked exposition, the famous Foucault pendulum and thousands of other values). But protest fermentation in the city does not support and does not consider himself a revolutionary.

So, it was not possible to convince the stories of the sacred and spiritual Petersburgers. On Friday, the 13th, on the eve of the old New Year, in the square between the cathedral and the monument to Nicholas I, under the guise of a meeting with the deputies, a rally was held against the transfer of Isaac of the Church. Instead of the expected group of a couple of hundred people, about a thousand gathered: pensioners and youth, relatives of the singing choir, who now contains the museum, the deputies of the Yablons. “This is all the Moscow Patriarchate started, Moscow will peck the money here, and keep it - the city, we! - the protesting pensioner argues desperately. - I already, you know, go to the pharmacy like a jewelry store, but it will be even worse! ” The general indignation that the income of the cathedral will go "to the pocket of the priests." At the Christmas tree in the center of the square, signatures were collected under a protest petition, called for the resignation of Governor Poltavchenko and compared the Isaac with the unfortunate “zenith-radical”. It is not unreasonable: the stadium also marks the symbols of the city, and Isaac was a grandiose long-term construction of the 19th century, which cost Auguste Montferrand (Zenit-Arena architect Kisyo Kurokawa died in 2007). Immediately after the end of 40 years of work, the restoration of the plots erected first was needed-and so in a circle. Isaac is always in the forests. The construction of the stadium also has already become a conceptual, masochistic process from the point of view of the budget. And then, in addition to concrete of the stadium, the granite and marble of Isaacia will also be on our scarce budget.

- I myself am a believer, but the church in this situation will discredit itself.

However, the matter is not only in the economic background. The transfer of the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church is precisely the “gift” from the governor, and not the “return”. Isaaki remains owned by the city (until 2012 he was in federal jurisdiction), he is “given for free use” of the church for 49 years. It seems that even taking into account the imperial and Bolshevik past, this will be the longest term of church rule in the cathedral.

“In my opinion, it is not so important who, and when owned the cathedral,” explains the historian and manager of the “Color of the North” project Vitaly School. - One thing is important: it is now needed by the Church as a temple or a city - as a museum. I myself am a believer, but the church in this situation will discredit itself. He acts as a corporation, which just wants to get a large beautiful building in the city center. And with Isaacia will happen as with the Kazan Cathedral: no one will explain what you see here. I recently went into Kazan and thought how great it would be if they talked about the importance of the war of 1812 (Mikhail Kutuzov was buried in the cathedral and there were keys to the French cities taken by the Russian army. - A.S. ). This is the degradation of society: there will be just a beautiful background for a selfie. A business card, marble, all in gold: a beautiful picture. Awesomely large cathedral. But, in my opinion, its cultural significance is at least no less than religious. This is a monument of architecture and art. In addition, the services are held there, and I would not say that the cathedral is completely filled with believers. So this is a banal redistribution of property. ” The practice of “like in Italy” in Russia is inappropriate, according to Stantsov. “Compare the history of Italy and the history of Russia,” the historian continues. - There was no anti -lrical revolution, to the current order went gradually, centuries. And our population for the mass is unbelievers. Therefore, it is impossible to copy the European model. ”

- The abbot can do as they did in the St. Nicholas Cathedral: to hang a chain and a sign with the inscription "Entrance only for prayers."

In general, the second cathedral of St. Peter will not be on the banks of the Neva (although this was clear 150 years ago). What will happen if a city protest, as often happens, will not lead to anything? “To imagine the future of the Isaac's Cathedral in case it is transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church in a everyday cut,” said Architectural critic Maria Elkin. - We are in a not very good economic phase, there is no extra money and is not expected, so it may turn out that Isaacievsky will begin to finish gradually. The monument is fabulously expensive in the content, I believe, one of the most difficult in St. Petersburg. Now the museum pays off, this is an incredible rarity, it would be worth simply, as they say, not to breathe on this situation, to protect strength and money for what they really need. Potentially the transfer of the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church can be the risk of its safety - this is if it is pragmatically assessed by the situation. There is a huge temptation to imagine how colorful services pass in this semi-European-Poluvisantine building-and everything seems to be returning to its circles, the place takes on its genius. However, there is no need to build illusions: traditions are colorful only when they are continuous, and when they are artificially returned, this is no longer a tradition, but a carnival. The entrance to the church will be free, most likely, but it will hardly become a relief, because the abbot can do as they did in the Nikolsky Cathedral: to hang a chain and a sign with the inscription “Entrance only for prayers”. In a word, the Isaac's Cathedral is waiting for a rather dull future if the governor’s decision is put into effect. ”

The active opponent of the transfer of Isaac, the political scientist and deputy of the Legislative Assembly Boris Vishnevsky does not tire of reminding that the organization that runs a monument of federal significance, whether it be a museum or church, should contain it. The Russian Orthodox Church made it clear that she was not going to do this, counting on the subsidies of the city. This, as well as the fact that, in contrast to the situation with the transfer of the Smolny Council, the museum does not provide a similar value to Isaac, may become a reason for the trial. And probably, the “Isaac's Cathedral” will destroy - after all, the museum cannot exist without a key monument. Therefore, the Union of Museum Workers of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region also expressed an open protest against the decision of the governor.

Despite the order of the city committee of property relations, the situation does not look obvious. Firstly, there was no official application from the local diocese. Secondly, even if the courts do not begin and urban unrest will not gain momentum, the renewal of the cathedral from one “manager” to another will take at least two years. Thirdly, immediately after the statement of Poltavchenko, the Ministry of Culture gave reporters an ambiguous comment about the “purely theoretical” opportunity to preserve the museum in the temple, that is, as if he also did not support the idea. Finally, Dmitry Peskov spoke out, calling the fate of Isaacia the "prerogative of the city authorities." Well, fourthly, at a spontaneous rally, the police did not try to detain anyone. But the reason for hopes for the protesters is not easy to find. The referendum demanded by Petersburgers, the vice-governor of Mokratsov dryly called the “exotic way of the execution of the federal law”, referring to the Federal Law No. 327 on the transfer of religious real estate objects to the church. In addition, simultaneously with Isaac, the Church received one of the buildings of the Russian National Library on the embankment of the Obvodny Canal and the Cathedral of St. Catherine in Tsarskoye Selo.