St. Simeon's Compound

In 1620, Merkusha Fedotov, at the confluence of a nameless river, later called Merkushka, founded the village of Merkushinskoye (now Merkushino). The village gained fame thanks to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye . He led the life of the righteous in Merkushinsky, fished and was engaged in tailoring. In Merkushinsky Simeon Verkhotursky was buried. In 1692, the coffin with the imperishable remains of Simeon of Verkhotursky left the earth, and in 1704 his relics were transferred to the Verkhoturye St. Nicholas Monastery ^[1] .

At the beginning of the 20th century, Merkushinskoe was a rich village - the center of the parish of the Archangel Michael Church, which included 40 more villages. In Merkushinsky there were a shipyard, a medical assistant, a fire brigade and a zemstvo school with a library. The number of parishioners at the beginning of 1902 was almost 4 thousand people: 1919 men and 2015 women ^[2] . In 1917, the clergy of the Archangel Michael Parish of Merkushinsky consisted of 8 people: three priests (Stefan Kelsiyevich Startsev, Alexei Stefanovich Khlynov and Konstantin Stephanovich Bogoyavlensky ), two deacons and three hymnalists (Alexander Gashev and Gregory Starcev) ^[3] . In the village there were two stone churches connected by a gallery in one architectural ensemble - the Michael-Archangel and St. Simeon. Merkushinskoe was a major Ural pilgrimage center.

During the Soviet period , the persecution of the church and believers began. On July 14 (27), 1918, the Soviet punitive bodies shot at the village cemetery of Merkushinsky a young priest Konstantin the Epiphany, a church warden and two peasants, forcing them to dig a grave for themselves ^[3] . The parish in Merkushino remained in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church and did not pass either into the renovation scholarship supported by the Soviet authorities or the Gregorian schism . Locals resisted attempts to close the temples. Another local priest, Sergiy Uvitsky, was also shot.

In the 1930s, all the temples of Merkushino were closed and the parish ceased to exist. In 1935, the Holy Simeonovsky Church was closed, making first a granary from it, then a gym, then completely abandoned. The second church, the Church of the Archangel Michael, was blown up in the 1930s and stood in ruins. In 1945, a brick gallery was disassembled, and a birch grove near the temple was cut down ^[4] .

In the early 1990s, there was not a single temple in Merkushino, and only ruins remained from the previous ones. In 1997, the compound of the Novo-Tikhvinsky monastery was founded in Merkushino. The monastery itself is located in Yekaterinburg , was closed during the Soviet period and was revived in 1994. The monastery began the revival of temples. The first to restore the Church of St. Simeon, which was re-consecrated on September 24, 1999. The sisters wrote part of the icons for the temple ^[5] .

The restored Michael the Archangel church was consecrated on August 11, 2004 (central chapel) ^[6] . The southern chapel in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated on September 24, 2007. The northern chapel in honor of St. Dimitry of Rostov was consecrated on September 26, 2008. During the restoration, they discovered the relics of the holy martyr Konstantin Merkushinsky , which were placed in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel ^[7] - May 31, 2002 ^[3] . The sisters, who carried obedience in the Church-historic office of the Novo-Tikhvin women's monastery, collected and prepared documents, on the basis of which Konstantin Merkushinsky was canonized. In the name of Konstantin Merkushinsky a temple was built and consecrated on September 26, 2006 in the name of the martyr Konstantin Merkushinsky.

At present, the whole life of Merkushino is connected with the residence and reception of pilgrims. The population of Merkushino is small - 107 people (for 2010). At the farmstead, the nuns of the Novo-Tikhvin monastery, who come from Yekaterinburg, live alternately. They keep a record of all the wonderful cases of healing. In addition, they accept pilgrims who come to worship shrines in the compound ^[8]

There are three active temples in the compound:

• Holy Simeonovsky;
• In the name of the martyr Konstantin Merkushinsky. This temple is the baptistery , intended for the adoption of Baptism. It has a stone two-meter font for the baptism of adults following the example of the Baptistery temples that existed under Constantine the Great . In this baptism in the temple commit free;
• Michael the Archangel.

The main shrines of the St. Simeon monastery are the tomb of holy righteous Simeon of Verkhotursky with a purposeful source and relics of the martyr Konstantin Merkushinsky .

Address: 624378 Sverdlovsk Region , Verkhotursky District , village Merkushino Tel .: (34389) 2-31-00, 2-31-01, 8-90287-46002

• Novo-Tikhvin Monastery

• Compound in with. Merkushino