Arseniev-Komelsky Parish (1920-1930)

(Molchanov) Igumen Ignatii Ignaty (Molchanov), Hegumen of Svyato-Troitsky Pavlov Obnorsky monastery of the Vologda diocese 162011, Russia, Vologda region, village of Yunosheskoye, Svyato-Troitsky Pavlov Obnorsky Monastery, 6a obnorskij.pavel112@mail.ru

Smelova Elena Valentinovna PhD in History Senior Lecturer of the Department of State-Legal Disciplines of the North-Western Institute (branch) of University of O. E. Kutafin (MGUA) 160000, Russia, Vologda region, Vologda, ul. M. Ulyanova, 18 e.smelova.mm2014@yandex.ru

 Recently, the increasing attention of Russian historians has been attracted by the issues of the policy of the Soviet state in relation to the church, first of all, the Orthodox.

A special place is given to the first decades of its existence, when the foundations of a fundamentally new attitude of the state to the church and religion were laid. However, in most of these works, the main trends of this policy are identified at the national and regional level ^{[1, 5, 10]}.

The history of individual parishes (especially rural ones) remains much less researched. Meanwhile, works of a microhistoric nature allow us to enrich the study of the church policy of the Soviet state with new concrete facts, to present a more or less complete (depending on the preserved sources) picture of the religious life of an individual parish in the early years of Soviet power. The study of the history of the Arseniev-Komelsky parish in 1920-1930, to which this article is devoted, in addition to the above, contains information about the parish, which was practically previously unknown in the historical literature, and also allows "shedding light" on the consequences of the closure of the Arseniev Komelsky Convent in 1920 ^[3].

Arseniev-Komelsky parish was established on September 17, 1920 in Gryazovetsky Uyezd of Vologda province. Its creation was not quite ordinary: it was connected with the closure by the local authorities of the Arseniev Komel Monastery located in the same county on January 4, 1920. At the same time, the entire economy of the monastery, except for the "property of the religious cult", was transferred to the Komel School of Social Education, opened on the territory of the monastery on December 30, 1919. (The decision of the county authorities to create a school and transfer the monastery economy to the Gryazovets county Department of Public Education in this regard caused resistance of the priest and the inhabitants of the monastery, as well as the surrounding peasants in late December 1919 — early January 1920, which led to the adoption of a resolution on the closure of the monastery). The only monastic temple — the Provisions of the Holy Virgin's Robe in Blachernae "was sealed" (The State Archive of the Vologda region (hereinafter — GAVO F. 585 Op. 2. d. 198a L. 110; F. 250 Op. 1. D. 34. L. 64-64 vol.) (The history of the temple dates back to the 1st half of the XVI century. Then it was a wooden church. On July 1, 1654, a new stone church with two side chapels was consecrated in its place: the northern one in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh and the southern one in the name of St. Arseny of Komel. In 1850, the temple was rebuilt, after which on November 12 of the same year it was consecrated by Bishop Evlampy of Vologda and Ustyuzha ^{[7, p.384]}; The consecration of the temple in the Arseniev-Komel monastery of the Gryazovets district of 1850 November 12 days // Vologda provincial Gazette. 1850. No. 48. p. 545).

Soon the peasants who lived next to the closed monastery appealed to the Gryazovets county executive committee with a request to open the church and resume services in it. On April 6, 1920, the executive committee granted the petition of the faithful, while prohibiting the utterance of any anti-Soviet sermons and agitation in the church (GAVO F. 585 Op. 2 D. 198a L.289).

The opening of the church posed to the population of the surrounding villages the question of preserving it — the place of "eternal rest of the remains of St. Arseniy Komelsky" — "from desolation". The best solution to this issue was to create a parish at the temple. This was also facilitated by the position of a number of villages (Zimnyak, Gory, Kashin, Lipovik Arsenyevsky) closer to the temple (0.5-3 versts) than to "their" parish Resurrection Velikoretsky church (7-8 versts), as well as a very "convenient communication".

Taking into account these circumstances, as well as the consent of the parishioners of the clergy of the Resurrection Velikoretsky parish to allocate these villages into a separate parish, on September 17, 1920, the Vologda Diocesan Council decided to open at the former Arseniev Komel Monastery "an independent parish with local funds from the clergy of the priest and psalmist, classifying to this parish the inhabitants of the villages: Zimnyak, Gory, Kashin and Lipovik, formerly part of the Resurrection Velikoretsky parish, in the number of 200 households with a population of 922 souls of both sexes ..." (GAVO F. 498 Op.1 d. 38 l. 77-78 vol. With the formation of the parish, the church in a number of documents began to be called the Arseniev-Komel Church. GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d.396 L. 4 vol.).

On September 27, 1923, in accordance with the "Instruction on the procedure for registering Religious Societies and issuing Permits to convene congresses of such" dated April 15, 1923. (Resolution of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR, the NKVD of the RSFSR of April 15, 1923 "Instructions on the procedure for registering religious societies and issuing permits to convene such congresses" // URL: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_1616.htm (date of appeal: 01.09.2022), the Arseniev-Komel community was registered in the provincial Department of Management (GAVO F.53 Op. 2 d. 395 l. 459). The requirement for the registration of religious societies manifested the tightening of state regulation of the activities of the Orthodox Church, the desire to establish personal accounting and control over the composition of parish communities. The documents submitted for registration contained a list of members of the community, members of the parish council and ministers of worship, as well as the charter of a religious society established in the Instructions of the sample.

Let's characterize the composition of Arsenievo-Komelskaya parish.

The priest of the parish (probably before 1928-1929) was fr. Anatoly Nikolaevich Ilyinsky, who previously served in the closed Arseniev Komel Monastery (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21. L. 297). A. N. Ilyinsky was born on March 26, 1859 in the family of a priest of the Gryazovets district Nikolai Trifonovich Ilyinsky (GAVO F. 466 Op. 1 D. 763 l. 1 vol.-2; F. 496 Op. 1 d. 20315 l. 227-227 vol.). In 1881 he graduated from the Vologda Theological Seminary in the 2nd category (GAVO F. 496 Op. 1 d. 20315 l. 227-227 vol.). On April 10, 1882, he was appointed psalmist at the Pokrovskaya Komelskaya Church of the Gryazovets district. Soon, on April 17, 1882, he was ordained a priest at the Bogorodsky Katromsky Church of the Kadnikovsky district. On September 9, 1893, he was appointed head of the Katromsky Parish School of Letters. On January 1, 1899, he was appointed a law teacher of the Katromsky Zemstvo school. On October 30, 1905, he was moved to the vacancy of a priest in the Ilyinsky Vygalovsky Church of the Vologda district. On December 2, 1909, he was appointed a priest of the Arseniev-Komel Monastery. On March 25, 1910, he became a law teacher and head of the Arseniev Parish School. He had awards: a loincloth, a scuff, a camilavka, a pectoral cross. He was married to Maria Alexandrovna Strokina, the daughter of the collegiate registrar of the Gryazovets Spiritual Board (GAVO F. 519 Op.2 d. 15 l. 1ob.-2; F. 496 Op. 1 D. 20315 l. 227- 228 vol.). The couple had no children. On January 4 , 1920 , after the Divine Liturgy , Fr . Anatoly made a speech, asking the surrounding peasants to support the monastery, deprived of its property by the local authorities. The priest was arrested for this. Case O. Anatoly was transferred to the Vologda Provincial Revolutionary Tribunal. However, no punishment was assigned to the priest ^{[2, pp. 238, 240-241]}. Being in old age, at the age of about 70, Fr. Anatoly completed his ministry (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 l. 297).

In the spring of 1929, a new priest appeared in the parish — Stepan (Stefan) Konstantinovich Sedov. He was born on December 18, 1882 in the village of Chernyshevo, Vatlanovsky volost, Vologda uyezd in a peasant family. Being endowed with great abilities to study, in 1904 he graduated from the Vologda Theological Seminary in the 1st category and in the same year entered the Moscow Theological Academy (hereinafter — MD), graduating in 1909 with the degree of Candidate of theology (while studying at MD, S. Sedov met P. A. Florensky, who entered there in the same year, who dedicated a short story "The Ghoul" to S. Sedov ^[9]). From 1909 to 1918, S. K. Sedov was a teacher of arithmetic, geography and natural history, and then Latin at the Vologda Theological College. In 1918-1924, he was an employee of the Vologda City Production Committee and the Gubfinotdel, then he was dismissed due to staff reductions. In a difficult period for the church, S. K. Sedov takes the path of service. From 1924 to 1929 (before entering the Arseniev-Komelsky parish as a priest), he served as a psalmist at the Govorovsky community of the Vologda district (GAVO F. 467 Op. 1. d. 526. L. 82-82 vol.; F. F-5 Op. 2 d. 1387 l. 5, 11, 32-32 vol.; F. 53 Op. 2 D.351 L.13). In 1911 Sedov married Alexandra Vasilyevna Kolpakova. The couple had two children — daughter Olga and son Nikolai.

The list of the Arseniev-Komel religious society included 53 people – peasants of average income in 9 villages (Ivnyaga – 11 people, Zimnyaka – 13, Gory – 5, Zarechye – 2, Vederkov – 1, Kashin – 1, Lipovika - 4, Nizovka – 1, Slobodki 10) and several farms (5) (GAVO F. 53 op. 2 D. 395. L. 466). Unlike many other religious communities, only adult men were listed in this list and women and children were not mentioned, so it can be assumed that in reality the composition of the parish was much larger.

In addition to the priest and laypeople, the parish had a permanent executive body – the Parish Council consisting of 10 people elected from among the members of the community (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2, D. 395 L, 462). The functions of the chairman of the council at various times were mainly performed by Mikhail Evgenyevich Zyrin (d. Zarechye), Pavel Evgenyevich Adamov (d. Ivnyag) and Andrey Sevryugin (d. Zimnyak). M. E. Zyrin was the churchwarden for a long time.

Among the documents of the GAVO, another list of members of the Arseniev-Komel community from September 20, 1925 of 17 people was preserved (women and children were still not mentioned in it), which indicated a 3.1-fold reduction in registered members of the community (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d.812 l. 137). On the other hand, in the list of ministers of worship, in addition to the priest A. Ilyinsky, 2 acting psalmists were named – A. N. Kuchina and A. I. Ushakova (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d. 811 L. 93) – former novices of Arseniev Komelsky Monastery (Archive of the UFSB of Russia in the Vologda region F. 1 D. P-6021 l . 73 vol.).

The description of the composition of the Arseniev-Komelsky parish would be incomplete if we did not touch on the fate of the inhabitants of the closed monastery. And although the preserved archival documents contain very scant information on this issue, we will still try to answer it.

In 1919, 14 nuns (including Abbess - Abbess Lydia) and 51 novices lived in Arseniev–Komelsky Monastery ^{[3, p. 231]}. Abbess Lidia (in the world Anna Alexandrovna Chervontseva) was born around 1848 in the village of Myasnik, Gryazovetsky district, Vologda province in a peasant family. In 1861, she was admitted to the Vologda Assumption Convent. During the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878), she was a nurse, caring for sick and wounded soldiers. On June 7, 1896, she was tonsured a monk in the Vologda Assumption Convent. From January 24, 1905, she served as the treasurer of the monastery, and from July 10, 1907, she was confirmed in the corresponding position. On September 12, 1910, she was appointed acting abbess of the monastery, and on October 13 of the same year, she was confirmed as abbess of the monastery. On August 30, 1911, she was elevated to the rank of abbess. On April 14, 1911, she was confirmed as a trustee of the Arseniev-Komel parish school. On March 27, Abbess Lydia was awarded the Holy Pectoral Cross (GAVO F. 519 Op. 2 d.16). During the seizure of monastic property by local authorities, Abbess Lydia expressed her disagreement with these actions, for which, after the closure of the monastery in early 1920, she was arrested and put on trial. However, as well as fr. Anatoly, she was not sentenced (Archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Vologda region F. 1 D. P-6021 L. 212-212 vol.). After these events, according to some documents, she remained living in Vologda on the territory of the Dormition Convent, which was closed by that time (GAVO F. 53 op. 2 d.219 l.12). One of the documents testifies that, perhaps, the former abbess lived in Vologda at least until the spring of 1930. (GAVO F. 366. Op. 3 D. 638. l. 2 vol.).

As for the other nuns, only fragmentary information about three of them has been preserved. Thus, the treasurer of the former monastery, Sofia (Barakova), after the aforementioned trial (of which she was also a participant and was released from punishment in connection with the amnesty of the Central Executive Committee of May 1, 1920), remained in Vologda and probably lived with the former abbess Lydia until 1930 (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d. 219 L. 12; F. 366 Op.3 D. 638 L. 2 vol.). The nun Feofania (Cheremisina) moved to Vologda after the closure of the monastery, worked for hire in various places, and then as a cleaner in the church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, living at the temple, at least until 1931 (GAVO f. 366 Op. 3 d. 2663 l. 3). Finally, the nun Ekaterina (Ledolomova) lived in the 1920s in the village of Bogoslovo and was repeatedly mentioned in the lists of persons deprived of the right to vote (according to our data, the last time was in 1934 (GAVO F. 826 Op. 3 d. 61 l.3).

Little more information has been preserved about the novices. In the documents we have studied, at least 17 of the 53 are mentioned. So, after the closure of the monastery, in January-March 1920, 16 former novices aged 25 to 39 years entered the Arseniev-Komel School of Social Education as nannies, tailors, cowgirls, cleaners, housekeeper, assistant cook, etc. (Archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Vologda region F. 1 D. P-6021 l. 70-80; GAVO F. 259 Op.1 d.178 l.1-2; F. 259 Op. 1 D. 180 l. 1, 3, 9-9 vol.). However, despite the promise of the authorities on the eve of the transfer of the monastic economy to the newly opened school of social education that in this situation the residents will not suffer, because they will be able to enlist in this school (Archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Vologda Region F. 1 D. P-6021 L.58), some of the novices were dismissed from work "on staff reduction" already in 1923 and since then they have been forced to live on the means of casual earnings (GAVO F. 366 Op. 3 d. 638 l. 2-2 vol.). Some of them continued to live in the surrounding villages (Zarechye, Zimnyak, etc.) and were repeatedly mentioned in local lists of persons deprived of the right to vote as "former nuns" until 1930-1934 (A. N. Dolganova, A. I. Ushakova, G. I. Chernysheva, A. D. Tsvetkova) (GAVO F. 826 Op. 3 D. 30 L. 27 vol.; F. 826 Op. 3 D. 61 L. 3-3 vol.; F. 498 Op. 1 D. 132 L. 5). In January, three former novices were issued "certificates" of eviction from the "area of continuous collectivization" as owners of Kulak farms (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d.21 l. 9-10). Of course, it can be assumed that during the entire period of living near the closed monastery, the former residents were also devoted parishioners.

The entire subsequent history of the Arseniev-Komelsky parish was a continuation of the reflection of the anti-church policy of the Soviet state.

Its first significant step was attempts to solve the material problems of the state at the expense of the church, further undermining the property status of the Orthodox Church. Thus, even the poor church of Arseniev-Komelsky parish was not bypassed by the local authorities when implementing the Decree of the Central Executive Committee on the procedure for the seizure of church valuables used by groups of believers on February 23, 1922 ^{[6, p. 148]}. On January 29, 1923, members of the Council of the Arseniev-Komel community handed over to the local commission for the seizure of church valuables 1 chalice with accessories and 1 tabernacle made of silver with a total weight of 7 pounds 84 spool (GAVO F. 485 Op.1. d. 24 L. 597).

In August (according to other documents in the fall) of 1924, the monastery chapel of St. Arseniy Komelsky in Vologda was closed. All the liturgical property in it was subject to seizure. The chapel building was placed at the disposal of the housing department for housing (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d. 809 l. 204-205, 302). However, according to the application of the believers of the Arseniev-Komel parish to the Vologda Provincial Administrative Department for the issuance of church items, 16 icons that were in the chapel were transferred to the community in October 1924 (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d. 219 l.42-42ob.).

The neighborhood of the school of social education, which, as the acts of its examination by the Gryazovets ONO show, experienced serious problems with both the material living conditions of children and their behavior, was not in favor of preserving the temple itself in good condition. In one of such acts, drawn up in 1929 by the sanitary doctor of the Gryazovetsky district N. Pikunov, it was noted that the children of the orphanage break the glass in the temple and throw stones at it, justifying their actions by "fighting against popery" and daring (GAVO F. 998 Op. 1 d. 4 l. 102) (About the unfavorable situation in newspapers wrote to the orphanage: Ark. Gaidar. Dalton-plan in Vologda // Pravda Severa. 1929. October 5. p. 2; V. K. Komelskaya bursa // Uchitelskaya gazeta. 1929. October 5. No. 115. p.3).

The next direction of the state's policy towards the church, which the Arseniev-Komelsky parish faced, was active anti-religious propaganda among the population. Archival documents show that the issues of combating religion were almost regularly considered at meetings of the Shepyakovsky volost committee of the RCP (b), plans were drawn up for anti-religious work for each month (Arseniev-Komelsky parish belonged to the Vederkovsky Village Council. The latter, in turn, was included from January 1, 1919 to January 1, 1924 in the Gryazovets district of the Vologda province, from January 1, 1924 to July 15, 1929 - in the Shepyakovskaya parish of the Vologda district of the Vologda province, and from July 15, 1929 to July 23, 1930 – in the Gryazovets district of the Vologda district of the Northern edges). Its main forms were the holding of Komsomol "Easter" and Komsomol "Christmas", the organization of circles: "Godless" or friends of the newspaper "Godless", the creation of libraries of anti-religious literature, the publication of wall newspapers, anti-religious evenings, lectures, plays, exhibitions, etc. (Vologda Regional Archive of modern Political History – hereinafter VOANPI F. 2050 Op. 1 D. 280 L.33-37, 40, 66).

Despite this, in one of the minutes of the meeting of the bureau of the Executive committee of the CPSU (b) dated March 20, 1929, it was noted that anti-religious work among the population was not established (VOANPI F. 2050 Op. 1. d. 694 l. 44), and at one of the joint meetings of the Vederkov party cell with the Komsomol cell, it was noted that "a lot village youth goes to church" (VOANPI F. 2050, op. 1 d.694 l. 49). In the act of inspection of the Komel orphanage by the inspector of the OK RONO Rzhanitsyna dated August 18, 1929, the recommendation was given "to make exits to the village with conversations on an anti-religious topic and gradually prepare the ground for the closure of the church", "evenings and performances of an anti-religious nature should be timed to big church holidays", such as Christmas, Easter, Trinity Day and T. D. (GAVO F. 998, op. 1. d.4 L. 94).

The weak results of anti-religious propaganda were evidenced by the continuation of regular parish life, in particular, the preservation of the tradition of processions. Thus, the GAVO stores applications addressed to local authorities (vic) from citizens of the village of Zimnyak (July 1928), as well as the village of Zarechye and the village of Voskresenskoye (September 1928) with a request to allow religious processions, respectively, on July 15, 1928 and September 26, 1928. The first statement was about the procession to the village of Zimnyak from the Ordination Church on a temple holiday. The application was signed by 45 residents. In the second – about the procession from the same church to several villages on Sunday. The statement was accompanied by 16 signatures. The statement stressed that it was "established from antiquity" to walk in a procession in this way, that it was a "custom". Both statements were supported by the resolution "permission granted" (GAVO F. 498 Op. 1 d. 138 l. 24, 28). (Note that this case – "Statements of citizens of individual villages of Shepyakovskaya volost on the permission of religious rites" for the period from June 20, 1928 to September 10, 1928 contains 63 statements about godparents moves).

A serious measure on the part of the State in the fight against religion and the church was the discrimination of the clergy in the field of political rights – the deprivation of their suffrage. This was repeatedly enshrined in the legal acts of the Soviet state – the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 (paragraph "d" of Article 65), the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925 (paragraph "d" of Article 69 of Chapter VI) ^{[4, pp. 29, 169]}, the Decree of the Central Executive Committee "Instructions on the elections of city and village Councils" of October 13 1925 (Article 19 of Chapter III) // URL: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_2697.htm (date of appeal: 03.09.2022), Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the USSR "Instructions on elections to the Soviets" dated September 28, 1926 (item "l" of Article 11 of the sec. II) // URL: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_3065.htm (date of appeal: 03.09.2022), the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee "Instructions on elections to the Soviets and congresses of the RSFSR" dated October 20, 1930 (item "m" of Article 15 of Chapter II) // URL:  http://memorial.krsk.ru/DOKUMENT/USSR/301020.htm (accessed: 03.09.2022).

In GAVO there are more than a dozen lists of persons from the Arseniev-Komelsky parish and the former monastery deprived of the right to vote for the period from 1925 to 1934. Among the "deprived" are mentioned priests, "servants of the cult" A. N. Ilyinsky and S. K. Sedov, the wife of the "servant of the cult" M. A. Ilyinskaya, "former nuns" - E. E. Ledolomova, F. M. Cheremisina, as well as former novices - A. N. Dolganova, A. I. Ushakova, G. I. Chernyshova, A.D. Tsvetkova (GAVO F. 826 Op. 3 d. 61 l. 3-4, 6 vol.; F. 826 Op. 3 D. 92, L. 42; F. 498 Op. 1 D. 95 L. 33 vol., 42 vol.; F. 498 Op. 3 D. 2078 l.1; F. 366 Op. 3 D. 17 L. 32, 84, 89; F. 366 Op. 3 D. 2663 L.3; F. 366 Op. 3 D. 638 L.2; F. 261 Op. 1 D.401 L.350, 359).

Disenfranchisement was accompanied by important restrictions in the social sphere. So, having moved to Vologda and being in a difficult financial situation, A. N. Dolganova and A. D. Tsvetkova as "deprived" lost the right to receive food rations. The former novices wrote applications for the restoration of their rights, paying attention to their peasant origin and the fact that each of them is engaged in labor activity, but their requests remained unsatisfied (GAVO F. 366 Op.3 d.638).

A new round of attacks on the church, and, therefore, on Arseniev-Komelsky parish, occurred in 1929 – early 1930. This was due to the state's policy of continuous collectivization, accompanied by violent dispossession. In accordance with the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the signs of Kulak farms in which the Labor Code should be applied" dated May 21, 1929, one of the signs of a Kulak farm was service to the religious cult of its owner ^[2], as a result of which the latter was subject to dekulakization (Resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) "On liquidation measures kulak farms in areas of continuous collectivization" ^[8]).

The GAVO has preserved 6 groups of documents reflecting this policy. 1) the statement of the priest S. Sedov (along with the statements of a number of peasants) about the impossibility of paying an individual tax of 50 pounds of rye in the presence of parishioners collected for Fr. Stefan 8 pounds and the absence of grain surpluses, his request to add up the tax accrued by the grain procurement commission or at least give a delay (GAVO F. 498 Op. 2 d. 150 l. 263-264).

2) lists of kulaks compiled in 1930 Among them were named not only priests (Ilyinsky and Sedov), but Ilyinsky's wife, former novices (Tsvetkova, Ushakova, Dolganova, Chernyshova), former nun Ledolomova (GAVO F. 826 Op.3 d. 30 l. 24 vol., 27 vol., 87 vol.. All of them were ranked in the third category of kulaks.

3) the inventory of the property of these "kulaks" on January 25, 1930 and the act of its acceptance by the collective farm "Free Labor" "for storage until special orders" in February of the same year (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 l. 192, 203, 204, 209-223, 233). It is significant that there were no buildings or livestock in all the inventories, but mainly furniture, interior items, dishes, clothes, bed linen, tools, household utensils, a few products were listed. The priest Sedov, who lived in the parish for about a year, had an entire inventory consisting of 7 items (blankets, pillows, pillowcases, a summer blanket, a table, a stool and a washbasin) in the amount of 18 rubles 30 kopecks. The property of the other "kulaks" was estimated as follows: 713 rubles. 80 kopecks – A. N. Ilyinsky and his wife, 146 rubles. 25 kopecks – A. And Ushakov, 225 rubles. 95 kopecks – A. N. Dolganova and A. D. Tsvetkova. The "Kulak group" included peasants: P. E. Adamov as a "henchman of a religious cult" and the headman of the church M. E. Zyrin, whose property was also described (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 l. 203, 220-221 vol., 224-226 vol.). Adamov's statement about his disagreement with the inclusion of kulaks has been preserved. He complained that the volost executive committee at one time concluded a contract for the storage of church property with 18 parishioners (trustees), but all of them, except him, were accepted into the collective farm, even the chairman of the community of believers A. Sevryugin (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 L. 203).

4) the protocol of the Presidium of the Vederkovsky Village Council on the issue of reviewing the material on Kulak farms and dispossession. In relation to them, a decision was made: "the property should be seized and evicted from the district" (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 15 l. 12, 13 vol., 14 vol., 24 vol.).

5) certificates of eviction of parish "kulaks" from the area of continuous collectivization (Zarechye village) signed by the chairman of the Village Council Strezhelkovskaya, issued by A. N. Dolganova, A. I. Ushakova, A. D. Tsvetkova (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 l. 9-10 vol.).

6) statement by A.N. Ilyinsky dated March 17, 1930.. In it, the priest complains that when he was evicted from the village of Zarechye, all his things were "taken away" from him, and he himself was left "with a torn robe" and two pairs of torn underwear. He writes that in his old age (Ilyinsky was 72 years old), he and his wife (74 years old) are unable to work, have no relatives. For these reasons, he asks the Vederkovsky Village Council to give out his belongings, to give him the opportunity to live in the old apartment. On the application there is a resolution of the chairman of the Village Council of March 24, 1930 on the need to give the applicant the necessary number of things and give an apartment in the village of Slobodka (GAVO F. 933 Op. 1 d. 21 l. 297-297 vol.).

The years 1929-1930 became decisive in the fate of the Arseniev-Komel parish: the tightening of the anti-church policy of the state as a whole affected (Circular letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On measures to strengthen anti-religious work" dated January 24, 1929 / URL: https://istmat.org/node/59437 (date of appeal: 06.09.2022), as well as local interests (the desire to take possession of the premises of the Komelsky church a combination)  (by that time, the Komelsky Combine existed on the territory of the former Arseniev Komelsky monastery, which included an orphanage, a school for peasant youth – SHKM, a school of the first stage and an uchkhoz).

February 4 , 1929 in a secret letter to the deputy . The head of the Vologda Provincial Administrative Department expressed support for the petition of the school board of the Komel school district to terminate the contract with the Arseniev-Komel religious community and adapt the church building as a club for the school district. The author of the letter gave the following arguments in favor of this decision: 1) the influence of the church (obviously negative) located on the territory of the combine on the proper upbringing of children; 2) the affiliation of the church before 1920 (in the letter – until 1921) to the number of monastic, not parish, and, as a result, the ability of residents of adjacent villages to be "served", as before by their former churches located 5-6 versts away; 3) acute shortage of buildings for cultural and educational work. The official referred to the circulars of the NKYU of January 3, 1919 and the NKVD of February 29, 1919 (GAVO F. 412 Op. 1 d. 170 l. 8).

Local party and Soviet bodies have launched an active campaign to terminate the contract with the community for the use of the church building and its closure. On March 13, 1929, at the general meeting of the Vederkov cell of the CPSU (b), it was decided to "recruit" subscribers to close the church (VOANPI F. 2050 Op. 1 d. 694 l.50). At the meeting on June 18, 1929, it was emphasized that "it is necessary to achieve the closure of the church" and it was decided to widely expand anti-religious work with the beginning of the 1929/1930 academic year ((VOANPI F. 2050 Op. 1 d. 694 l.79).

November 28 , 1929 The Presidium of the Gryazovetsky District considered and granted the petition of the Komelsky Combine and the resolution of the Plenum of the Vederkovsky Village Council of November 25, 1929 on the closure of the church of the former Arseniev-Komelsky monastery and its transfer for cultural and educational purposes of the combine (GAVO F. 498 Op. 1 d. 150 L. 280).

On February 23, 1930, the Presidium of the Northern Regional Executive Committee decided: to terminate the agreement with the association of believers on the transfer of the church building of Arseniev Komel Monastery for use, to "liquidate the church" and the religious property located in it, to transfer its building to the Gryazovets district Executive Committee for the placement of school institutions of the Komelsky Combine (GAVO F. 22 Op. 1 d. 180 l. 63 vol.).

On March 21-22, 1030 , a number of items from the church were transferred to the Vologda Okrmuseum (Vologda Diocesan Antiquary F. 2 Op. 2 d. 14).

At first, in the winter of 1929, parishioners, under the influence of rumors spreading about the closure of the church by the decision of the VTsIK, appealed to the Shepyakovsky vic with a request to provide the community (with more than a thousand people) with church property to perform religious rites at chapels in the villages of Zimnyak and Lipovik (GAVO F. 412 Op. 1 d. 170 l.9). However, in the spring 1930, obviously, having learned that the decision to close the church was made at the local level for the time being, the parishioners began fighting for its opening by contacting the Gryazovets district executive committee. But they were refused (GAVO F. 22 Op. 1 d. 108 l. 166 vol.). Under these conditions, believers appealed against the decisions on the termination of the contract for the use of the church in the VTSIK (GAVO F. 22 Op. 1 d. 42 L. 406).

On June 7, 1930, the VTSIK Secretariat proposed that the Arseniev-Komel Church (GAVO F.) be immediately transferred to the use of believers. 22 Op. 1 d. 42 L. 406). But at a meeting of the Presidium of the Vologda Regional Executive Committee on June 28, 1930, it was decided to ask the Secretariat of the Central Executive Committee to cancel its proposal and send all materials on the liquidation of the Arseniev-Komel Church to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee (GAVO F. 22 Op. 1 d. 42 L. 406).

It should be noted that no relevant documents were found either in the GAVO or in the State Archive of the Arkhangelsk region (Arkhangelsk was the administrative center of the Northern Territory, which included the Vologda District from 1929 to 1936). In this regard, it can be concluded with a high degree of confidence that Arseniev-Komelsky parish was closed at the end of winter 1930 on the basis of the decisions mentioned above. This provision is also confirmed by the fact that the priest of the Arseniev-Komel church, S. K. Sedov, indicated in his questionnaire that he performed the duties of a priest of this church until February 1930, and from March 27, 1930 he performed the duties of a priest of the Burdukovo religious community (GAVO F. 53 Op. 2 d. 351 l. 19, 31).

Summing up, we can draw the following conclusions. The creation of the Arseniev-Komelsky parish was a reaction of believers to the anti-religious policy of the Soviet state in the early years of its existence, the desire to preserve the only temple of the closed Arseniev-Komelsky monastery and its shrines. The subsequent history of the parish clearly reflected the main directions of the anti-church policy of the Soviet state in 1920-1930. The peculiarity of the latter in relation to the rural parish was its tightening in the conditions of collectivization and dispossession. Under these conditions, the closure of the parish was inevitable. The tragic conclusion of this event was the political repression of 1937 against one of his priests and parishioners. On October 13, 1937, a troika under the NKVD administration, a former priest of the Arseniev-Komel church (at the time of his arrest, he was a priest of the Burdukovsky community of the Markovsky Village Council of the Gryazovetsky district and opposed the closure of the local church and its transfer to the club), was sentenced to imprisonment in the ITL for a period of 10 years (Archive of the FSB of Russia in the Vologda region F. 1 D. P-10081 l. 45). On January 21, 1937, a peasant P. A. Minkov, who actively opposed the closure of the Arseniev-Komelsky Monastery in January 1920, was sentenced to death by a troika under the NKVD administration (Archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Vologda Region F. 1 D. P-6405 L. 109). At the same time, the state policy discussed above could not completely destroy the religious consciousness of the population.