Anatoly (Smirnov)

Born on June 2, 1829 in the village of Bogorodskoye-Bazulino of the Kalyazinsky district of the Tver province in the family of the commander of the local Mother of God Church Vladimir Vasilyevich Chekalov and Maria Petrovna Dvoryashina, receiving the name Alexander ^[1] in baptism.

In 1837 he entered the Kashin parish theological school, and two years later he moved to the upper class of the same school. At the school, Alexander was given a new surname - Smirnov, according to the traditions of that time. He graduated from the theological school in 1844/5 and entered the Tver Theological Seminary . At the end of the course, he was fired with a certificate of second category.

July 14, 1854 was identified as a novice of the first-class Trinity Makaryev Kalyazin monastery. December 2, 1856, was tonsured a monk named Anatoly. August 22, 1857 was promoted to hierodeacon , in October - to hieromonk ; October 13, 1858 defined by the sacristan . May 29, 1861 determined treasurer. April 15, 1864 he was appointed governor of the Trinity Kalyazin monastery ^[2] .

April 26, 1865 was determined by the builder of the Kashinsky Dmitrov Monastery , although for some time, from May 11 to August 13, he continued to correct the position of rector of the Kalyazin monastery ^[3] . From August 1865, Father Anatoly takes up his duties at the Kashinsky Dmitrov Monastery, which he heads until the autumn of 1869.

On October 20, 1869 he was appointed rector of the third-class Krasnokholmsky St. Nicholas Anthony Monastery with the construction on December 14 of the same year as hegumen.

In 1883 he published the “Historical Description of the Krasnokholmsky St. Nicholas Anthony Monastery of the Vesyegonsk Uyezd in the Tver Province” ^[4] , compiled by him on the basis of documents from the monastery archive. This book is still the only general scientific work (sources, scientific literature) on the history of the Krasnokholmsky monastery. Modern researchers rely on the publication of Anatoly when writing their articles and monographs ^[5] .

In 1887 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite ^[6] .

In August 1895, he took part in the consecration of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Bezhetsky Annunciation Convent, co-serving with Archbishop Savva (Tikhomirov) together with his father John Sergiev (Kronshtadtsky) ^[7] .

According to the definition of the Holy Synod of June 23, 1899 No. 2251, the rector transferred to the Kalyazin Trinity Monastery with the preservation of the rank of archimandrite ^[8] .

September 2, 1901 took part in the consecration of the main throne of the church in the name of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God of the city of Red Hill , consecrated by Archbishop Demetrius (Sambikin) ^[9] .

On August 23-24, 1903, he served the archbishop Demetrius (Sambikin) at the solemn liturgical service in honor of the consecration of the chapel of the Monk Makarii Kalyazinsky in the Kashinsky Nikolaev Klobukov Monastery ^[7] . On September 21–22, he consecrated the confines of the Krasnokholmsky Vladimir Cathedral in the service of the local clergy ^[9] .

In 1904, he donated to the Tver Diocesan Historical and Archaeological Committee 20 photographs from the frescoes of the cathedral church of the Trinity Kalyazin monastery ^[10] .

By the decree of the Holy Synod on November 8, 1911, the 83-year-old father, Anatoly, was dismissed, according to the petition, from the post of archimandrite of the Trinity Kalyazin monastery, remaining to live alone at the monastery.

Archimandrite Anatoly presumably died in 1915. He was buried in the territory of the Trinity Kalyazin monastery, his grave was not preserved ^[11] . The burial was lost due to the flooding of the Kalyazin monastery.

Community Activities

In 1895 he was an honorary guardian of the economic part of the Theological College of the city of Red Hill ^[12] .

In 1903 he was appointed a member of the commission for compiling an inventory of antiquities of the Trinity Kalyazin monastery ^[10] .

In 1901-1904 he was a member of the Kalyazinsky branch of the diocesan school council.

From 1902 to 1908 he was a full member of the Tver Scientific Archival Commission (TUAK).

He consisted of a full member of the Society of Gonfalon Carriers of Kalyazinsky Nicholas Cathedral and an honorary member of the Kalyazinsky charitable society "Good Kopek."

In 1908 he was the director of the Kalyazinsky branch of the prison committee.

In 1908-1915 he was an honorary member of TUAK ^[13] .

Scientific activity

In the 70s of the XIX century, he studied the ancient archive (XVI-XVIII centuries) of the Krasnokholmsky St. Nicholas Anthony Monastery, contributed to the compilation of copies of a number of documents that were subsequently transferred to the Tver Museum of A. K. Zhizhevsky . According to the latter,

O [tets] Abbot Anatoly read these manuscripts. He noted in them a more outstanding place for some reason and borrowed everything necessary for the historical description of the Krasnokholmsky Monastery compiled by him. Then, Abbot Anatoly, fully aware of the importance of these manuscripts for science, and in particular for studying the past localities that were part of the Tver province, in the forms of their future savings, with the permission of the diocesan authorities, transferred them to the Tver Museum, established under the Provincial Statistical committee, in the manuscript department ^[14] .

Currently, these documents make up the fund 186 of the State Archives of the Tver Region (GATO) and are the most valuable sources on the history of the Krasnokholmsky Nikolaev Anthony Monastery ^[15] and the history of monastery economic activity ^{[16] [17]} . The earliest documents date back to the 60s of the 16th century ^{[18] [19]} .

Hegumen Anatoly was one of the correspondents of A.K. Zhizhevsky in matters of church history. Currently, one of the letters is known, found in the State Archives of the Tver Region by the Bezhetsky local historian V.N. Sorokin , which he presented at the Second Makaryevsky Kalyazinsky Readings on June 14, 2014 ^[20] .

The main work of Abbot Anatoly is “A Historical Description of the Krasnokholmsky Nikolaev Anthony Monastery of the Vesiegonsky Uyezd in the Tver Province”, which until recently was published only once in 1883. In 2017, an arrangement was made from this publication into modern Russian with preservation of the style and imagery of the author’s language ^[21] .

Written in the framework of the genre of “historical description” that became traditional for describing the history of Orthodox monasteries in the 19th century, it has an internal logic of narration (broken down into semantic chapters reflecting the history and modernity of the monastery), based on monastery documents and traditions, documents of archives of various spiritual departments of Tver dioceses, general historical scientific works of that time. The attraction of a large circle of sources allowed Abbot Anatoly to restore the names of the abbess in the monastery (before that only the list of P. M. Stroyev was published, mentioning some abbess of the monastery, which has significant temporary gaps ^[22] ), to describe the history of the monastery from 1461 to 1883. Moreover, in the book, the ancient history of the monastery dominates the history of the monastery of the XIX century. In the "Historical Description ..." Father Anatoly tried to reflect antiquity, to describe the former greatness and glory of the Nikolaev Anthony Monastery. Not being a specialist in the field of historical knowledge, Father Superior Anatoly managed to be very professional in treating the sources on the basis of which he created his work. Father Anatoly managed to write not only a book about the monastery, but also to identify the areas in which experts today work, studying the history of the Anthony monastery ^[23]

On June 24, 1860, he was awarded a plait , the first ecclesiastical award given to a priest for his zealous service to the Church.

On August 13, 1870, archpastoral gratitude was expressed to him for special zeal and labors in favor of the poor clergy at the recommendation of the Tver diocesan guardianship.

On April 15, 1872, for excellent diligent service, he, according to the decree of the Most Holy Governing Synod of April 29, No. 704, was awarded the golden pectoral cross ^[2] , which until 1896 was a distinctive sign of special recognition of services to the Church and society.

In 1894 he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree for service ^[24] .

In 1906 he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree .

December 28, 1907 - Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the priestly service.

• Guseva S.V., Tarasova N.P. Archimandrite Anatoly (Smirnov) - rector of the Krasnokholmsky Nikolaev Anthony and Trinity Kalyazin monasteries - a church figure of the XIX century. // Rev. Makary Kalyazinsky - patron saint of the Russian land / Collection of reports of the First Makaryevsky Kalyazinsky readings (May 19, 2012). Kalyazin-Tver, 2014 S. 90 - 100.
• Sorokin V.N., Guseva S.V. Letter of Archimandrite Anatoly A.K. Zhizhevsky // Rev. Makari Kalyazinsky - the patron saint of the Russian land / Collection of reports of the Second Makaryevsky Kalyazinsky readings (June 14, 2014). Kalyazin-Tver, 2016.S. 202-204.
• Tarasova N.P. Igumen Anatoly (Smirnov) and his "Historical Description of the Krasnokholmsky St. Nicholas Anthony Monastery ..." // Selskaya nov. 2017. No. 39. October 6. C.7.
• Tarasova N.P. Igumen Anatoly (Smirnov) - the first historiographer of the monastery // Tarasova N.P., Sorokin V.N. World Light: Rectors of the Krasnokholmsky St. Nicholas Anthony Monastery. 1461-1920 (materials for biographies). Bezhetsk-Tver: Tver State University, 2017.S. 13 - 28. ( ISBN 978-5-7609-1256-5 ).

• The official website of the monastery