The village of Vyritsa, Leningrad. Vyritsa (Leningrad region) is a wonderful holiday village. Churches and temples. Which ones are worth visiting?

On the territory of which this settlement is located, it consists of 17 districts and one urban district. Vyritsa belongs to the Gatchina district, and from it to the regional center of the city of Gatchina is only 32 km.

Old owners

In ancient times, up to the 18th century, the territory on which the current Vyritsa is located ( Leningrad region), belonged to the Votskaya Pyatina, an administrative-territorial unit used in the Land between the Volkhov and Luga rivers, a tributary of which is Oredzh, belonged to this Pyatina of the Novgorod land. Over the course of time, the village had many owners; the last pre-revolutionary owner was His Serene Highness Prince F. son of Stefania Radziwill, who dominated the huge quantity lands of western Russia.

The first written mentions of the current village of Vyritsa (Leningrad region), and the then Swedish village of Werektca, date back to 1676 (map of Ingermandland, or Izhora land, compiled by A.I. Bergenheim).

Protected areas and access to them

The places where the village of Vyretsa is located are full of charm and have always attracted vacationers from St. Petersburg. In 1906, there were plans to create a “garden city” or “ideal city” here, the concept of which included the unity of maximum urban comfort with nature, which would make human living in it exemplary. These plans arose after the commissioning of the Tsarskoye Selo railway line, which runs directly through the village of Vyritsa. The Leningrad region now in this urban-type settlement has several stopping points of the Oktyabrskaya Railway (the oldest in Russia, the St. Petersburg - Pavlovsk section of this road is included in the list World Heritage UNESCO) - Mikhailovka, Vyritsa, platforms 1, 2, 3 and Village.

The largest village in the Leningrad region

This number of stopping points is not surprising, since Vyritsa is the largest (the occupied area is 30 square kilometers, in some sources - 50) village in the Leningrad region - 12 (sometimes they say 20) thousand people constantly live and work in it. The railway track, running through the village from southwest to northeast, stretches 15 km.

Along the Gatchina - Shapki highway, Vyritsa stretches for 7 km. In the summer, the population of Vyritsa increases several times, since this settlement remains a favorite holiday village for St. Petersburg residents, despite the industrial enterprises located here. In the 70s of the last century, 4 factories were built here - a metal products and experimental mechanical plant, a sawmill and a weaving factory "Uzor", whose tapestries are known and in demand abroad. A microdistrict of 8-story buildings has been built for people working at these enterprises.

A highlight for connoisseurs

The climate of these places is wonderful: wonderful dry and soft air, a clean and fast Oredzh River, which has formed a forested valley indented by ravines. The river's steep banks expose red clay, and the ancient pine trees above them give the area a unique charm and make the village of Vyritsa increasingly popular.

The Leningrad region boasts many wonderful recreation areas, such as Komarovo, but Vyritsa is also quite in demand. Here are the dachas famous people, as academician D. Likhachev, I. Glazunov and K. Lavrov, V. Bianki and V. Pikul, M. Svetin and O. Basilashvili.

Notable residents

Vyritsa is also famous for its inhabitants, the most famous of whom are the philosopher and paleontologist, science fiction writer Ivan Efremov, author of the world famous “Andromeda Nebula”. Elder Seraphim Vyritsky, glorified among the saints and venerables, lived in this village for many years. His grave became a place of pilgrimage. Another famous resident of Vyritsa is the composer. Such a person brought fame to the village. interesting person, as the leader of Christian teetotalers Ivan Churikov.

There is something to see and something to worship

In addition, many tourists also go to the village of Vyritsa (Leningrad Region). The sights of this place are known far beyond its borders. What is attractive about the town in this sense?

The main attractions include the Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Made of wood in a tent style under the direction of engineer M.V. Krasovsky, it is an architectural monument of the first half of the 20th century. Next to it is the chapel of St. Seraphim Vyritsky.

Another monument of architecture from the beginning of the last century is the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. It was erected with donations from parishioners according to the design of the architect N.I. Kotovich. As a result of the restoration work, which lasted 13 years, the church received the status of a newly identified cultural heritage site.

Specific objects

The village of Vyritsa (Leningrad Region) has another unique attraction. The photo attached below shows an unusual mansion. It was erected in 1906 for a community of teetotalers, which formed and grew into a fairly large sect thanks to Ivan Churikov, who, by reading the Gospel aloud, healed people from alcoholism. Pos. Vyritsa, Leningrad region, is also famous for the mansion erected in our time (2006). This is the palace of the Vasilyev brothers, which amazes the imagination both with its layout and decor, as well as with its architectural volumes. Local residents love to watch the owners of the palace, made by the best domestic and Italian craftsmen, arrive by helicopter.

Old-time charm and access

On the western outskirts of the village, burial mounds of the 11th-12th centuries have been preserved. The wonderful hunting castle of the Wittgensteins has survived to this day, as well as several other ancient dachas built at the beginning of the last century.

There is a former hydroelectric dam in the village, which is a place for walks and a unique attraction. The easiest way to get here is by train from Vitebsky Station, and from Gatchina you can travel by numerous buses, which depart on average in 15 minutes.

The village of Vyritsa in the Leningrad Region is also called the “dacha empire”, and in the old days it was called the Princely Valley. The settlement is inferior in popularity to the same Komarovo and Peredelkino, however, the nature and the magnificent Oredezh River are much more beautiful here, Pine forest. Such a unique atmosphere provided the opportunity for the development of more than one extraordinary personality: the science fiction writer Ivan Efremov, the leader of the teetotalers Ivan Churikov, Saint Seraphim of Vyritsky and others. There is something to see in the village, there are old country houses of non-poor people and modern buildings, the cost of which is estimated in millions.

About the village

Vyritsa in the Leningrad region has the status of an urban-type settlement, assigned to the Gatchina district. It is located on the banks of the Oredezh River, 60 kilometers from the northern capital - St. Petersburg. The city of Gatchina is 32 kilometers away.

As of the beginning of last year, 12,430 people live in the village. In the summer, the population more than doubles due to vacationers.

There are several small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the settlement: a weaving factory, an experimental mechanical plant, a sawmill and a number of others.

A little history

There are several versions of the origin of the name. According to one of them, the word “vyr” in Russian means abyss on the river. Other researchers claim that the word was taken from the Old Russian language, namely “Iriy-sad”, which over time transformed into “Vyriy-sad” and means paradise.

Until the 16th century, the lands of modern Vyritsa, Leningrad region, belonged to the Novgorod Vodskaya Pyatina. Then the territories not yet inhabited are transferred to the Gryaznevsky Nikolsky Pogost.

According to some sources, the founders of the settlement were fugitive Saratov serfs from St. Petersburg. They liked the local beauty and settled here. There is even a legend that an oak tree is still growing on the banks of the Oredezh River, which was planted in honor of the first settlers.

Until the end of the 19th century, there were no more than 1.5 hundred people in the village.

When appears in the village Railway, with the station, in 1906, plans were born to create a conceptual settlement - a “garden city”. That is, it was planned to create all the conditions for comfortable living in the lap of nature. In the same year, a school was opened in the village, and 2 years later a temple was opened. In St. Petersburg newspapers there are constantly advertisements with offers to purchase land on the fertile land of Vyritsa. One of the very first and wealthy settlers was the father of Ivan Efremov.

During the Second World War, the city of Vyritsa, Leningrad region, was occupied; Germany's allies - the Spaniards and Romanians - settled here. The Germans themselves opened a concentration labor camp for children.

Already in 1944, the settlement began to be restored, a hydroelectric power station, factories and even 8 five-story residential buildings were erected.

Labor camp for children

Few people even suspected the existence of a children's forced labor camp between September 1942 and the end of 1943. local population. The Germans organized it on the basis of one of the rest houses.

After the construction of the hydroelectric station, the water rose high, began to wash away the banks, and the remains of small children began to appear, these were bones and skulls. The school principal working at that time became interested in this fact and, together with his students, began studying history.

As a result of the research, it was found that after the liberation of the village, the 72nd division discovered Kid `s camp. There were still 50 living, but severely exhausted children from work and hunger. They were brought from nearby villages; they were mainly orphans and children from large families. The territory was surrounded by barbed wire, and escape was punishable by execution.

It was also possible to find out that during the existence of the camp, about 2 thousand children died. The remains were collected and buried near the cemetery in 1964.

The children of the village of Vyritsa, Leningrad Region, decided to erect a monument; for its construction, the children worked on the state farm, at local enterprises, and collected scrap metal. As a result, a monument was erected in 1985.

Father Seraphim helped the children as best he could; even a paper was found drawn up in the form of an act of acceptance and transfer of things to the children. Some former prisoners remembered this holy man.

Preserved architectural monuments

Pos. Vyritsa, Leningrad region, is famous not only for its tragic events; many interesting and ancient dacha buildings have been preserved on the territory of the settlement. For example, the houses that once belonged to Countess Thompson are located in Kommunalny Lane, these are Nos. 13, 15, 17, 19. And the banker Bumagin owned 6 houses, and at his own expense he built a bridge, which is named after in his honor.

Village districts

Only by the end of 1913 the central part of the village was formed. The settlement is conventionally divided into 5 districts.

Prince's Valley (modern hydroelectric power station area). There were about 15 houses here, and all of them belonged to wealthy people or princely families. It was located in the area of modern Lieutenant Schmidt Avenue (Petrovskaya Embankment) and Melnichny Avenue. In the center of the area there was a paved road surrounded by larches. Where the dam is now located, there was a wooden bridge, which had to be rebuilt every year in the spring, after the ice drift.

Here lived: Prince Wittgenstein, Count Moss and Countess Zhukova.

Red Valley. Located in the area of Kirovsky and Kommunalny Avenues, Rechnaya Street. It was on this street that the trainer Anisimov’s dacha was located, which was later transferred to Chkalov.

Petrovka. The area is located in a place where members of the Christian temperance community still live, and in fact its founder was Churikov. Since 1906, over the course of 20 years, the area has grown rapidly; the settlers, who vowed never to drink again, grew vegetables here, kept livestock, that is, they conducted subsistence farming.

Central part. Once upon a time there was a huge bazaar in the center, and in the area there were small houses where merchants who came to the market lived. The central part was more of a shopping area.

In the area of the experimental mechanical plant. This is the youngest part of the village, which is still being formed today.

Palace-estate of the Vasiliev brothers

Despite the fact that the palace was built in 2006, it has already been classified as an exclusive object and attraction of Vyritsa, Leningrad region. This is unique architectural object, is located in one of the most scenic spots settlement, owned by oil tycoon Sergei Vasiliev. All decoration of the house is made exclusively from natural materials, and behind the palace there is a magnificent landscaped park.

The object is located on Rabochaya Street, but you won’t be able to admire it up close; this is only possible from the other bank of the river.

Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God

This temple in Vyritsa, Leningrad region, is located on Kirova Avenue, 49. The building was laid on July 14, 1913 and was already consecrated on July 26, 1914. At first, services were held only in the summer. In 1933, Seraphim became the parish's confessor after the Alexander Nevsky Lavra closed. In 1938, the temple was closed and the OSOAVIAKHIM society was located.

The doors of the church open after the Germans arrived in the village in 1941. After the end of the war, the temple never closed. However, since 1959, the Council for Church Affairs has not appointed a priest in any way so that there is an official reason to close the parish. However, the village residents took an active position, but sought the appointment of a permanent priest only by 1966.

The structure was erected in the style of tented wooden churches in the north of Russia, and has the shape of an octagon on a quadrangle. Designed for 700 parishioners and has 3 side-chapels. On the territory there is a refectory, a small cemetery, a spring and a chapel.

The following shrines are kept here: the stole of Seraphim Vyritsky, the relics of Nikander of Gorodnoezersk, the Great Martyr Catherine and other saints.

Another Holy place in the village on Pavassara Street there is the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. It was consecrated in 1908. The temple was built entirely at the expense of parishioners.

This is a wooden structure, shaped like a cross and designed for 800 parishioners. Like most churches in the country, in 1938 the church was closed and a club was placed in it, then the building was occupied by the military, and with the arrival of the Germans, a stable was located here.

In 1942, when the Germans were in the village, local residents received permission to restore the church and carried out all the work in almost a matter of days. It was consecrated by Archimandrite Seraphim. As soon as the German troops left the village, the church was closed again. Only in 1944 the doors of the holy place were opened again.

The main shrine is the reliquary ark.

On Pavlovsky Avenue in Vyritsa, Leningrad Region, to this day there is a unique institution - a community of Christian teetotalers.

The founder and ideological inspirer of the society, Ivan Alekseevich Churikov, read his sermons since 1894 in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. However, in 1897 he was expelled, citing the anti-Orthodox nature of his sermons. He returned to Samara province and continued his activities. In 1900, Churikov was accused of sectarianism and thrown into prison.

After leaving prison, Ivan is helped by merchants from Vyritsa, and near the village he creates a colony of teetotalers. But the community not only engages in propaganda; members who have joined the society are engaged in subsistence agriculture. And in 1924, the commune was even awarded a distinctive badge for achievements in agriculture. After much persecution, the commune was registered again only in 1980. And after 11 years, the direction splits into:

followers of Churikov, who believed that he was a saint;
“radical” forces that do not believe in the divine origin of the founder and consider another branch a sect.

It is the latter branch that operates in Vyritsa these days. At two o'clock in the afternoon, every Sunday, a service takes place in the community house. It is very reminiscent of a Protestant meeting. The society publishes brochures and a newspaper about promoting a healthy lifestyle.

In their reviews, people note another attraction of Vyritsa, Leningrad region - a museum dedicated to the science fiction writer Ivan Efremov, who is a native of these places (1907). The museum is located at 35 Efimova Street, in the library building. The science fiction writer's traveling chest, compass, expedition route (1949) and other things of the writer are kept here.

Children's holiday

As soon as the children's holidays begin, parents immediately begin to think about what to do with their child in the free time, especially if the family lives in big city, in the same St. Petersburg. This issue can be resolved quite simply by sending the child to the Mayak camp in Vyritsa, Leningrad Region. It is located on Kommunalny Avenue, building 29.

Judging by the reviews, children aged 7 to 17 years old are accepted here all year round. The convenient location allows you to send your child on vacation without any problems. Experienced and professional teachers work here who will not let children get bored. In addition to entertainment, the child will breathe fresh air and communicate with peers.

Where to live?

There are a sufficient number of hotels in Vyritsa, Leningrad region, and at affordable prices. So, for example, you can stay in the Lida mini-hotel (Victims of the Revolution Street, 25). Visitors and vacationers are offered all the conditions, a shower and toilet room, free parking and Wi-Fi. Room cost from 2,000 rubles.

In their reviews, people often praise another inexpensive mini-hotel - “Center Mayak” (Kommunalny Prospekt, 29). Guests are provided with rooms with all amenities, priced from 1.3 thousand rubles.

If you want to get as close to nature as possible, you should stay in the “Vyritsky Tarkhany” houses, Vyritsa, Leningrad region. Photo wooden houses impressive, they have all the amenities, a kitchen and a balcony. The area is surrounded by greenery, there is a sauna and a barbecue area. The facility is located in Lermontov Lane, 2. Accommodation costs from 3.5 thousand rubles.

How to get there?

How to get by train to Vyritsa, Leningrad region? Suburban trains depart regularly from St. Petersburg from Vitebsky Station. The journey will take about 1 hour and 10 minutes (63 kilometers). In the village itself there are 4 railway platforms: 1, 2, 3 platform and Poselok station. If you move from the Oredezhsky direction, then there are two - the Vyritsa station and the Mikhailovka platform.

There is an established connection between the city of Gatchina and the village bus service, runs here public transport, following the route: K-534-A and 534.

The P40 “Kempolovo-Shapki” highway runs through the village.

A large urban village with a population of 12 thousand inhabitants south of St. Petersburg (you can get there by train from Vitebsky station), in the Gatchina district of the Leningrad region. Before the revolution, Vyritsa was a dacha village, but it still retains this status. In this regard, the village abounds in wooden country houses in the Art Nouveau style.

There are almost no apartment buildings in Vyritsa. The population density here is low, and because of this, the village itself has a very impressive size in area - 164 square kilometers. Vyritsa stretches from east to west for almost 10 kilometers, and its width does not exceed three kilometers. At the same time, there is a unique attraction here - the intra-village railway. From railway station Vyritsa, located on the St. Petersburg-Vitebsk highway, a single-track electrified line with a length of 5.5 kilometers extends to the west, which ends at the dead-end station Poselok at the southern end of Vyritsa and has three intermediate stops, which are simply called by numbers. I arrived by train from St. Petersburg to the Vyritsa station and walked almost all of Vyritsa to the Poselok station, from where I went back.

2. Vyritsa station. The frame shows a Stalin-built train station:

4. The name Vyritsa is of Finno-Ugric origin and has the same root as the name of the Estonian city Võru, which means “ring”, “circle”. The villages of Vyra and Virkino, located not far from Vyritsa, are of the same origin. By the way, I even saw the Vyry station somewhere in Mordovia from the train; I’m not sure, but it is possible that this is the name of the same root - after all, the Mordovian language is also one of the Finno-Ugric languages.

5. First mention settlement dates back to 1676, when the village of Werektca appears on the Swedish map of Ingria. On the Swedish “general map of the province of Ingria” of 1704 it is mentioned as Dornitza (Duårnitza). The name Vyritsa was first mentioned in 1844 on the map of the western part of Russia by F. Schubert. Closer to end of the 19th century century Vyritsa comes into the possession of the Wittgenstein princes. Russians and Ingrian Finns from the Evremeis group lived here.

6. Sometimes you come across interesting signs. A million is probably before default?

8. After passing through several blocks of the private sector, I came out onto the Oredezh River. Cold March is doing its job - it’s already the end of March, and the ice on the river is still strong, and you can walk.

9. Modern villa on the other side of the river:

10. Pines grow on the shore:

Vyritsa retains a painful memory of the Great Patriotic War. On September 10, 1941, the village was occupied by Wehrmacht troops. At the same time, the German units mostly went to the front line towards Leningrad, leaving mostly Romanians and Balts in charge in Vyritsa. A concentration camp was built on the outskirts of the village, and gallows stood on the central streets... A large number of residents of the village died at the hands of the enemy during the occupation. On the night of January 27, 1944, that is, on the day the siege of Leningrad was lifted, Vyritsa was liberated by the forces of the 72nd Pavlovsk Red Banner Rifle Division under the command of Major General I. I. Yastrebov.

11. Someone's plots go straight to the shore. Moreover, not even a street separates them from the shore. You can make your own boat dock.

12. By the way, in the floodplain of Oredezh, and in general in the area close to the river, the soil is rich in iron, and therefore has a red tint. True, in winter, when everything is hidden by snow, it is not so clearly visible, but in places it still appears:

14. One of the main attractions of Vyritsa is wooden church The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1913-1914 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, designed by architect Alychkov and engineer Krasovsky. On July 26, 1914, the temple was consecrated by Bishop Veniamin (Kazan) of Gdov - the future holy martyr Veniamin of Petrograd, shot by the Bolsheviks in 1922 and canonized in 1992. Archpriest Philosopher Ornatsky, glorified in the host of new martyrs, also took part in the consecration.

Good quality wooden building. I especially liked the inside - very cozy twilight. During the war and until his death in 1949, the elderly hieroschemamonk Seraphim lived in Vyritsa, who, before taking monastic vows in 1920, was a merchant Vasily Muravyov and was engaged in the sale of furs; then he took monastic vows at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with the name Varnava and a year later became a hieromonk, and in 1929 he accepted the great schema with the name Seraphim. Living in Vyritsa, Father Seraphim could no longer perform divine services, since he could not get up due to illness, but he was known as a miracle worker and received those who came to him every day. Throughout his life he did not suffer from either the Bolsheviks or the Nazis. In 2000, he was canonized as Saint Seraphim of Vyritsky, and at the same time a chapel was built near the Kazan Church, in which there is a shrine with the relics of the saint.

IN last years Vyritsa became one of the centers of Orthodox pilgrimage in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. A small pilgrimage hotel was built here.

17. And again the old dachas:

18. The street is almost in the middle of the forest:

19. Rural school of Stalin times:

21. I must say that it is quite difficult to navigate in Vyritsa. And while I was walking, I stopped all the time to check with the map to see if I was going right.

26. And here is the village railway:

27. Station Poselok. On the left is the train that I will take back to St. Petersburg:

28. Finally, a photograph of the Semrino station from the train window.

I learned about Vyritsa literally a week ago, from dima1989 . By this time I already had them on my table Railway tickets along the route Moscow - Smolensk - St. Petersburg - Moscow, and I was thinking what to devote the day to Northern capital. The tip to Vyritsa came in handy - this village immediately intrigued me.
After all, there is: a lot of wooden Art Nouveau (including two churches), beautiful nature, an intra-village railway, a baroque palace not listed in any reference book and the community of spiritual Christian teetotalers Ioann Churikov - a fragment of that system of Orthodox sects that included the famous runners and whips before the Revolution (45 photos, I couldn’t do less).
Besides, I was very lucky with the weather - I’m talking about frosty landscapes.

Formally, Vyritsa is an urban-type settlement in the Gatchina district of the Leningrad region, 60 km south of St. Petersburg (trains from Vitebsky station). Its population is 10.5 thousand people, but in fact Vyritsa is a gigantic holiday village with an area of 50 square kilometers, that is, approximately 10-15 km in length and 3-5 km in width. For St. Petersburg, Vyritsa is like Malakhovka or Nakhabino for Moscow, and in the summer its population reaches several tens of thousands of people.

But in winter the dachas sleep.

Vyritsa is a gigantic conglomerate of thousands of dacha plots of varying degrees of luxury, divided by a grid of absolutely straight streets and avenues. Pine and spruce trees rise high above the plots:

And it’s extremely difficult to navigate in Vyritsa: almost the same terrain throughout the entire territory (straight streets, dachas, fences, pine trees), tall trees behind which no landmarks are visible, and even complete desertion in winter - you can get lost here no worse than in the forest .

Several hundred wooden dachas of pre-revolutionary construction are scattered across the vast space of the dacha village - the rise of Vyritsa began in the 1880s, Rozanov, Likhachev, Bianki vacationed here, and the writer Ivan Efremov was born here.
It is pointless to specifically search for modern dachas in Vyritsa - the spaces are too huge, but regardless of your route, dachas will come across periodically.

What is in the frames above was filmed a 10-minute walk from the station along main street, and this house stands behind the Churikov community:

A couple of interesting houses outside Oredezh, in the so-called Princely Valley (and Vyritsa is divided into several “districts”):

Just don't know where:

Many modern dachas look quite worthy of modern ones, but I have not found the most beautiful dachas (for example, the former dacha of the Bumagins near Oredezh).
In winter, these areas are empty - although smoke curls over some of the houses. There is a dog in almost every yard, and there is loud barking throughout the village. In winter it’s quite scary here: there are very few people, and mostly all sorts of workers, watchmen, and also thieves.

Vyritsa station - station and House of Culture:

Shop near the station in a Stalinist building:

Vyritsa is divided by railway into two parts: western and eastern. The western one is about 4/5 of the Vyritsa area; it takes more than an hour to walk to its far end. This part of the village lies along three main highways.

Communal Avenue runs through the center:

The bus in the foreground is a commuter bus; there is no completely internal transport in Vyritsa, and this is very difficult, given the distances. However, taxis are cheap here - 50 rubles in the village.

However, Vyritsa has a unique facility for urban settlements - an intra-village railway. From Vyritsa station a single-track line departs to the west to Poselok station, which forms southern border Vyritsa. St. Petersburg electric trains run along it (every half an hour to an hour, with a large “window” between 11 and 15 pm) from the Vitebsky station, but are there still so many PGTs for communication? different parts which railway is used?

Between Vyritsa and the Village there are 3 platforms without a name (only numbers), the Village itself is a dead-end station.

I left St. Petersburg at 8 am, was in Poselok at 9:30, at 9:41 the train went back and I reached the 3rd platform. And it was unbearably cold (and the locals were much colder than me), but I started the long journey on foot. After all, a lot of interesting things are lost in the conglomerate of dachas, and the main direction of my route was supposed to be the third Vyritsa highway - the Oredezh River:

In such frosts, Oredezh is so frozen that it’s not only possible to walk on the ice - it’s covered in tire tracks. Along the coast there is a luxurious coniferous forest, and rare, rare climbs, and mostly the coast is covered by private property:

In some places the Epiphany baths remained on the ice - the water was frozen, but the ice was not yet covered with snow, and there were ice crosses at the edge:

The farthest attraction from the station in Vyritsa is the baroque Vasilyevsky Palace:

Beautiful? And clearly something in the spirit of the St. Petersburg suburbs. Why is so little known about him?

Because this palace was built in 2005-2006! Not restored or recreated - but built from scratch. This is the property of Sergei Vasiliev, a St. Petersburg oligarch, owner of an oil terminal. A native of Vyritsa, having become rich, he erected a palace in his native village:

Upon closer inspection, it seemed to me that the details of the palace’s design look somewhat artificial:

Over the 3 years of its existence, the palace has managed to acquire rumors - in particular, they say that Vasiliev bought himself the original of the Amber Room and paid for the version of its death in Königsberg. Of course, this is only a legend - but the interiors of the palace (scans from the magazine "Salon", No. 9, 2009) are available on the Internet (the photo is of course not mine, taken from the link!):

In general, an excellent occasion for expressing a civic position. But I ask you right away - I don’t want to discuss “justice” here. I prefer to admire the palace - I think the most beautiful of the New Russian villas - than to count other people's money.

From the palace I got out to the shore, and then wandered through the streets for another hour and a half, admiring winter's tale. I had to walk diagonally again to the shore of Oredezh and the wooden Kazan Church, but finding the road turned out to be almost impossible. I was escorted by two rare-looking men in old sheepskin coats, and besides, by their own admission, illiterate. Finally, they asked for money for marijuana. Perhaps they were thieves.

The Kazan Church is like a cathedral for Vyritsa:

It was built in 1913-14, for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, at the intersection of modernity and traditions of the Russian North:

A fabulous tower, which is even difficult to perceive as a temple.

There are many different buildings around the church, for example a church shop:

And the chapel over the grave of Seraphim Vyritsky:

Kazan Church in Vyritsa - major center pilgrimage. Seraphim Vyritsky lived in the first half of the twentieth century (became a monk before the Revolution, died after the war), was famous for his generosity and honesty (for example, once a thief broke into his house, but at the gate he collided with the returning Seraphim, dropped the bag... and Seraphim helped the thief collect the things stolen from him and let him go in peace), later - with insight and the ability to heal. Seraphim spent his last years in Vyritsa, even then pilgrims came to him for help, neither the NKVD nor the Nazis could harm him, and largely thanks to him, Vyritsa survived the occupation relatively easily.
The Chapel of Seraphim is very beautiful: a stone tombstone, a wooden shrine, an icon surrounded by fresh foliage... But I was embarrassed to take photographs there, although no one had seen it.

From the Kazan Church, a few more minutes walk to the shore of Oredezh. Having gone there, I decided to stick to the river so as not to get lost again. Along the very edge of the high bank there was a narrow cornice path, which I followed. Soon I came across the abandoned Wittgenstein Hunting Palace:

In the 19th century, Vyritsa belonged to the noble family of Wittgenstein, and it was they who began to develop dacha farming in Vyritsa in the 1880s. Somewhere in the quarters of the village, the Wittgenstein Land Office has been preserved - and it all began with the Hunting Castle, the oldest of the Vyritsa dachas.

A little further away, stilted pines grow on the shore:

Why their roots are higher than ground level - I don’t know. Probably, the shore is gradually sliding away, but the pines are still standing.

Natural Martians!

So I walked along the shore of Oredezh, sometimes descending onto the ice, for several more kilometers. On the way I came to the old dam of the Vyritskaya hydroelectric station, which operated in 1948-72:

Small hydroelectric power stations in the North-West, built in the 1920s-40s, are a separate topic from the time of the first five-year plans. Their closest analogue in the Moscow region is the peat mining in Meshchera. There are hydroelectric power stations in Ivangorod, Kingisepp, Porkhov, Siverskoy, Vyritsa, Volkhov, Sviritsa. The Volkhov hydroelectric power station is also the oldest of the GOELRO plans.
From the dam I went out onto Communal Avenue. It’s difficult to put into words how pleasant it was to walk on the asphalt after the snowdrifts and ice! After another 15 minutes, I went out to the station, rested a little and went behind the station.

The eastern side of Vyritsa is approximately 1/5 of the area of the village. However, if the western half is almost exclusively dachas, the eastern half is home to a permanent population of urban settlements:

There are two wooden churches of different faiths here. A kilometer southeast of the station is the Peter and Paul Church (1908):

In the 1930s, it was the main church of the True Orthodox Christians, or Catacombs, in the Leningrad region. These were one of the last schismatics who separated from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1920s due to the fact that they recognized the “power of the Antichrist,” that is, the Bolsheviks. Many individual catacomb sects have become very radicalized, some have gone very far from the canon - in general, a repetition of the history of the Old Believers in miniature. Almost no catacombs have survived to this day. Nothing here reminds us of them anymore.

Church of John of Kronstadt (2005) next to Peter and Paul Church - was built as a temporary one while the main one was being repaired:

If you go from the station to the northeast (and there is a straight street leading there from the church), you will come out to a huge blue tower above Oredezh:

This is the community of Christian teetotalers Brother John Churikov - one of the few surviving communities of “spiritual Christians”. The latter are not Old Believers, but the general name of several unrelated Orthodox sects. The spiritual Christians included the Khlys, famous in 19th-century literature, the lesser-known runners, eunuchs (who practiced ritual castration), Molokans and Doukhobors (these have survived - several villages in Georgia and Armenia, communities in the USA). Teetotalers are one of these movements, in those days insignificant in scale. However, the majority of spiritual Christian sects did not survive Soviet rule and disappeared into history.

At the end of the 19th century, wanderer Ivan Churikov came to St. Petersburg from the Samara province. He lived in shelters, earned his bread as needed, read the Gospels aloud - and it was soon discovered that he knew how to cure people from drunkenness through words (conversations and quotes from the Bible). Soon Churikov succeeded in this - kilometer-long queues lined up for him, he administered communion with sugar, not wine, and created the doctrine of Holy Sobriety...

Churikov himself considered himself Orthodox, but many of those healed by him from drunkenness soon declared him the Second Christ, and nicknamed him Brother John. The community rallied around Churikov, in 1906 a house was built in Vyritsa (which was named the Capital of World Sobriety), in the 1920s the community turned into the Labor Commune named after. Brother Churikov:

Churikov took on the role of head of the community. Even before the Revolution, he was excommunicated from the church, and in 1938 he was repressed and died in Butyrka prison. The community was dispersed, the house was taken away.... And yet the Churikovites survived Soviet power, gathering in apartments and holding conversations, since within the community the fight against drunkenness was carried out successfully. In 1992, the house in Vyritsa was returned to them, but now there are two Churikov communities. “Moderates” gather in the Fedorovsky Church in St. Petersburg near the Moscow railway station and consider Churikov simply a saint, seeking his canonization from the Russian Orthodox Church. In Vyritsa live Orthodox Churikovites who consider Brother John the second Christ:

The community was governed by elders, the oldest of them was Alexander Sinnikov, who also knew Churikov himself, but he died in 2007. The Churikovites are very friendly, they let me inside, told me about their philosophy and allowed me to take photographs. On the ground floor of the blue tower there is a prayer room:

Here at 14:00 on Sundays, conversations (not prayer services) and stories of healings are held. The Churikovites have no priests; communication with God occurs through the burning of notes - this is one of the foundations of the faith of spiritual Christians: the Holy Spirit can incarnate in people.
In the center of the iconostasis is the image of Brother John:

Churikov’s people gave me several pieces of paper with prayers and three lumps of sugar in a paper wrapper - “So that life would be sweet,” as Churikov said. The community has its own website, which contains a lot of interesting things (for example, the prayer Indictment of the Mind on Drunkenness), but here is another view from Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich.

And I myself, as an amateur ethnographer, am neither for nor against such a community. What interests me is that it exists. And to this day, the inhabitants of the blue tower do not drink, do not smoke and do not swear, but they work hard. I myself am a teetotaler, I haven’t gotten drunk for many years and I can go for months without a drop of alcohol, I don’t smoke and I don’t swear. In general, I feel good in the Orthodoxy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

From Vyritsa I took the train to St. Petersburg, walked around the city a little, and at dusk I reached the Frozen Sea. Behind us there were about 10-15 kilometers of walking through snow and ice in 20-degree frost.

Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky was canonized in 2000. From childhood, he showed love and desire to serve the Lord, which determined his life path. The saint also became famous for his heartfelt sermons and prophecies, some of which have already come true.

Today, the relics of this holy elder are located in Vyritsa next to the Kazan Church of the Icon of the Mother of God. Days of veneration of the saint: January 15 and August 1.

The Kazan Church of the Icon of the Mother of God was erected in Vyritsa in 1913-1914. Talented architects Vladimir Petrovich Apyshkov and Mikhail Vitoldovich Krasovsky worked on the project for its construction.

The church was built of wood in the style of Olonets and Vologda tent churches. There can be up to 700 worshipers within its walls at the same time.

The main shrines of the temple:

The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which is the ancestral image of the Muravyov family (it was from this family that the Monk Seraphim Vyritsky came),
a particle of the relics of Seraphim of Sarov,
Epitrachelion of St. S. Vyritsky,
a piece of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker,
a piece of the relics of St. George the Victorious,
a particle of the relics of the Great Martyr Catherine.

On the territory there is a chapel of Seraphim Vyritsky, a refectory for pilgrims (open daily from 12:00), church shops, a small cemetery and a spring. All this is available to pilgrims throughout the year.

Helpful information:

Address: Leningrad region, Gatchina district, Vyritsa village, Kirova street, 49.
Opening hours: daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
E-mail for notes and questions to clergy: [email protected].
Divine Liturgy: daily from 10:00.
Reading of the Akathist to St. S. Vyritsky: every Sunday at 17:00.

Relics and chapel

Next to the Kazan Church of the Icon of the Mother of God there is a wooden chapel where the relics of Seraphim Vyritsky are kept.

It was erected in 2001. The architect S.A. worked on its creation. Pavlov. The chapel was built in the cage style with its characteristic rectangular façade and gable roof.

Next to the saint’s grave is the grave of his wife, schema-nun Seraphima (Muravyova).

Anyone can come to venerate the relics of the saint at any time. During his life, the great elder told people: “Come to my grave as if you were alive, talk as if you were alive, and I will always help you.”

And for several decades now, a continuous line of people has been coming to the saint’s grave with their prayers, requests and gratitude. Believers are confident that in this holy place the Lord will definitely hear them and answer their prayer.

People revere the monk as a miracle worker. He is contacted when required:

healing from illness;
peace of mind and tranquility;
searching for the true path;
searching for a soul mate, strengthening relationships between spouses, the birth of a long-awaited child;
assistance with work and financial well-being;
solving various life and everyday problems;
relief of grief.

Note! If it is not possible to come and venerate the relics of the saint, you can buy an icon of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky and read a prayer in front of it every day.

How to get there?

Many pilgrims are interested in how to get from St. Petersburg to the Kazan Church of the Icon of the Mother of God.

The easiest way to get to Vyritsa is by one of the commuter trains, which depart from Vitebsky railway station (located in close proximity to the Pushkinskaya metro station).

Electric trains in the direction of Vyritsa run quite often.

How to get from Pulkovo Airport (St. Petersburg)? From the airport terminal, you should first take a city bus to the Moskovskaya metro station, and then change to the metro to the Kupchino station. Electric trains depart regularly from the Kupchino platform to Vyritsa.

Vyritsa railway station is located 3 km from the temple. If you wish and there is good weather, you can get to the church on foot (how to get there, you can ask local residents or use a navigator).

You can also get to the church by taxi or city bus (stop “Ul. Rakeevskaya”). The bus stop is located in close proximity to the platform.

During a walk to the temple you can visit two interesting places, which are connected with the life of Seraphim Vyritsky:

The house at 9 Pilny Prospect, where during the Great Patriotic War the saint prayed on a stone for 1000 days for the salvation of his Motherland.
The house at 39 Maysky Avenue, which was the last earthly refuge of the saint.

Note! Walking tour to church with visit memorable places is a kind of pilgrimage that purifies not only the spirit, but also the body. You can walk this entire path with prayer in your heart.

The village of Vyritsa is famous not only for the fact that on its territory there is a chapel with the relics of St. Seraphim Vyritsky. A healer lives here who helps remove damage, get rid of a serious illness, resolve a difficult life situation, and remove the crown of celibacy.

It is best to come to the healer on weekdays, since she does not accept people on Sunday, and on Friday and Saturday she has long queues. More detailed information You can find out from local residents.

Holy place of the village of Reshetnikovo

In the village of Reshetnikovo in the Klin district of the Moscow region there is a new Orthodox church, erected in the name of St. Seraphim Vyritsky.

It was built on the site of an old coal boiler house, which was donated by the district administration to the local community of believers.

This is not only the first temple dedicated to the monk, but also the first Orthodox Church on the territory of Reshetnikovo for the entire existence of the village.

The rector of the Kazan Church in Vyritsa donated a piece of S. Vyritsky’s stole to the Seraphim Church, which is now kept in the reliquary of the temple icon of the saint. Thanks to this, residents of the Moscow region have the opportunity to venerate the saint and ask for his help in charitable deeds without visiting St. Petersburg.

The parish of St. Seraphim Vyritsky in Reshetnikovo is open daily. You can view the schedule of services on its official website: http://prep-serafim.cerkov.ru/.

The church is located at Oktyabrskaya Street, 19. To get to it by car from Moscow, you must follow the following sequence:

Take the Leningradskoye Highway and drive to the village of Spas-Zaulok.
Before the village, at the traffic light, turn left to the village of Reshetnikovo.
Follow the road signs for St. Seraphim Church.

You can also get to the temple by minibus or metro. They run towards the Seraphim Church in Reshetnikovo minibuses No. 35 and 39. If you plan to travel by metro, then you should go to the Reshetnikovo station. From the metro station to the church it is only a 10-minute walk.

Church in Kupchino

Today, in the Kupchino district (St. Petersburg), with donations from believers, a magnificent temple Seraphim Vyritsky. He is active.

You can visit it daily from 09:00 to 19:00. You can get to the temple from the Kupchino metro station by trams No. 45 and 62.

There is a Sunday school for adults and children on the church premises. Here they read the Old Testament, introduce believers to the acts of the apostles, and even draw and make various crafts.

Every second Sunday of the month, everyone is invited to a prayer service in front of the icon of Peter and Fevronia. In front of the icon, you can pray for the birth of a child, ask for help in finding a soul mate, creating an Orthodox family and strengthening marital ties.

The Seraphim Pilgrimage Center operates at the temple, located at Zagreb Boulevard, 26. Pilgrimage trips to holy places in Russia and around the world are regularly organized here.

Note! The Church of Seraphim Vyritsky in Kupchino needs financial resources, since the construction process is not yet completed. If you wish, you can do a charitable deed and donate any amount of money for the improvement of the temple.

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Let's sum it up

Today in Russia there are only two churches dedicated to St. Seraphim Vyritsky - in Kupchino (St. Petersburg) and Reshetnikovo (Moscow region).

However, the relics of the saint remain in the chapel near the Kazan Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Vyritsa, where the saint ended his life.

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