Ipatievsky Vestnik № 4 (32), 2025

In the history of our planet, the biblical event of the World Flood is marked by specific deposits. The deposits under consideration can be found in the European part of Russia, Iran, Mongolia, China, the republics of Central Asia, and are present in the USA and Argentina. These are dusty clay soils, called loess in the south of Russia by the German- language term, as well as similar deposits of the Non-C hernozem zone of Russia, called cover deposits. They have the features of sediments from a single huge ocean-a flood. We will list these features below. Firstly, both loess and cover sediments are not layered. It indicates the origin of the entire stratum of these sediments in one act of the sedimentary process, or, simply put, indicates the deposition of the entire multi- meter layer at a time from the water of one deep basin. Secondly, in the bottom of the sediments under consideration, there is material from the underlying older sediments, which indicates the erosion of its bottom by water flows, from which a flood ocean was formed in a short time. At an early stage of its temporary existence, the loess and their northern counterpart settled on earth. Thirdly, inside the layer, there is a bottom-up decrease in the size of soil particles from small, barely visible to the naked eye to the smallest ones, invisible even through an optical microscope, distinguishable only with magnification available to an electron microscope. Such differentiation indicates the primary deposition of larger and therefore heavier particles from a single solution and the covered deposition of the smallest particles, which were held in suspension by colloidal forces during a single and short-term act of formation of a multi- meter layer of loess or cover loam. Fourthly, the very name "cover deposits" generally recognized in Russia indicates their occurrence on the earth's surface in the form of a cover quite similar to the snow cover of the northern winter. Just as snow from the atmospheric ocean covers everything on earth, so the sediments of the flood ocean formed a continuous layer on all the more ancient sediments, including the moraines of the continental glaciations of Europe and the deposits of glacial meltwater. This shows that the flood took place after the completion of the continental glaciations. Just as snowfall occurs somewhere, not everywhere, so the dusty-clay sediment of the flood did not form everywhere, but in regions where previously accumulated dusty-clay deposits were on the earth's surface, which could be lifted by water flows. In the Eastern European or Russian plain, sandy-d usty-clay material was formed in excess during continental glaciations and, consequently, was stored by the time of the flood. So, the presence of flood sediments on different continents, their covering shape over various older sediments, and other signs of loess and cover sediments mentioned here indicate that the flood covered a number of continents. Geological data do not allow us to estimate the time of formation of flood deposits in years, due to the unreliability of the method of determining the absolute age of geological objects. But the discovery of human footprints in the form of fragments of pottery and stone tools under yellow sandy-clay deposits between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers indicates that the flood took place after the creation of man by God. Geological data suggest that the flood occurred in recent geological times, after the continental glaciations of Europe, after the formation of the modern river network of the Russian Plain. The flood was accompanied by catastrophic geological processes. A forty-day rainstorm and widespread rising water had an impact on the surface and the bowels of the earth's crust. Mud-stone flows occurred on the surface — mudslides and landslides, which demolished people's homes located in the valleys that had not yet been flooded. In seismically active regions, the load from the weight of ocean water caused earthquakes. There are traces of strong earthquakes in the loess of China and the western Black Sea region. In the loess there are remains of plants and animals, in particular, shells of mollusks. These are the remains of only continental flora and fauna. It follows that marine life did not enter the waters of the flood ocean. This fact indicates that the flood ocean was not connected with the ocean and seas. There is no evidence in the Bible about the rise of water levels in the ocean and seas simultaneously with the flooding of the earth, they are not in the geological chronicle. On the contrary, environmental considerations tend to suggest that the oceanic expanses were miraculously spared from rising water. The Prophet Moses and the Church fathers write only about the flooding of the earth. It must be assumed that God's omnipotence held back the wall of water on the coasts, just as it held back the walls of water, protecting the passage for Jews in the Red Sea.

The study examines the dogmatic system of an outstanding Russian theologian, preacher of Slavic- Greek- Latin Academy, Archimandrite of the Zheltikov monastery and rector of Tver Theological Seminary Makariy (Petrovich). As rector and teacher of Tver Seminary, Archimandrite Makariy proposed his own and original dogmatic system, enriching the Russian dogmatic school. The topic of the article is devoted to the study of the theological legacy of Archimandrite Makariy (Petrovich), and is related to a systematic study of the history of dogmatic theology of the synodal period. The article is based on the analysis of the text of Archimandrite Makariy (Petrovich) 's work "Dogmatic Theology or the Eastern Orthodox Church, which contains everything that a Christian seeking his salvation should know and do" in historical context, and is intended to make a small contribution to the formation of a holistic view of Russian theology as an integral part of the entire patristic heritage of the Church. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that Archimandrite Macarius' work deserves the highest theological assessment. Archimandrite Macarius' presentation of the Orthodox doctrine of faith was a harmonious synthesis of scholastic methodology and Orthodox dogma in 18th-century Russian theology.

The article presents the experience of the comparative analysis of the performance of the Sunday All–Night Vigil, on the one hand, according to the Typicon and, on the other hand, in its modern well-established edition. The author consistently examines the key structural elements of the "ideal" Sunday All- Night Vigil set out in the Typicon, pointing out the direct differences that occur in the practice common in the Orthodox Church nowadays. Summing up the revealed discrepancies between the statutory and the actual types of worship, the author concludes that although from the semantic symbolism's point of view gradually forming over the centuries, the Sunday All-N ight Vigil in the modern version is a direct projection of the "ideal" form, nevertheless many utilitarian features of worship have lost their original meaning and can be interpreted purely allegorically.

The article describes the history of the transfer of the chair of the Kostroma bishop and the miraculous Theodore Icon of the Mother of God from St. John Chrysostom Church in Kostroma (Cathedral of the Kostroma Diocese in 1929–1964) to the Resurrection Cathedral in the Lower Wilderness of Kostroma (Cathedral of the Kostroma Diocese in 1964–1991). The documentary evidence about these events from the archive of the Kostroma Diocese and from the archive fund of the Authorized Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Kostroma region is analyzed.; Some historical documents are published in the appendices for the first time. A critical assessment is given to the memoirs of a direct participant in the events, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak; in 1961–1964, he was bishop of Kostroma and Galicia). It is concluded that the relocation of the pulpit and the miraculous icon was a forced and risky measure, but this risk proved justified: as a result, the Kostroma diocese managed to prevent the planned closure of both the Resurrection Church on the Lower Debre (according to the initial plan of the local authorities) and St. John Chrysostom Church (on the initiative of the authorized Council for Russian Orthodox Affairs Churches in the Kostroma region by V. K. Kudryavtseva).

Our article is devoted to the preaching activities of Saint Yelisа on the basis of Armenian medieval literature. Armenian historians Movses Kagankatvatsi, Ukhtanes Bishop of Sevastia, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Archimandrites Mkhitar Gosh and Vanakan Vardapet wrote about Saint Yelisha in their books. Saint Yelisha was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ who came to Armenia with the Apostle Thaddeus, but returned to Jerusalem after the martyrdom of the Apostle. Ordained a bishop there, Yelisha again comes to the East. We have presented Elisha's preaching path: first, he reached Chor, which connects the North Caucasus with the South, Eastern Europe with Western Asia. From there Yeghisha came to the provinces of Artsakh (Nagorno-K arabakh) and Utik of Historical Armenia, being in the places of Sahar and Gis. He was martyred in Zerguni, a pagan sanctuary. His relics were buried in Khomenk, then transferred to Urecan, then to Jrvshtik, where a church named after him was built. In this article we tried to substantiate that Apostle Yelisha was a historical figure, and it was no coincidence that he began his preaching journey from Chor (Derbent).

The year 2025 marks the centenary of the appointment of Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) of Krutitsy to the post of Patriarchal Locum Tenens. For a more thorough study of the hierarch’s life path and ministry, it is important to highlight the early pages of his biography. This article presents a description of the ministry of the future holy martyr as the superintendent of Zhirovitsky Theological School in 1896–1906. The main source used is the audit materials of Zhirovitsky School, carried out in 1898 by the auditor of the Educational Committee P. I. Nechaev.

The article attempts to analyze the formation of the primary theological educational system in the context of the forming of the Russian society's class structure in the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. The process of the clergy's "enslavement", launched by the adoption of the "Church Regulations," was of great importance in the general policy of the state to form the class structure of the society. The key criterion for belonging to the clergy was special theological education that allowed clergy to fulfill their direct duties. The reforms of Peter the Great, legislative initiatives of the palace coups' epoch, projects for theological educational transformation during the reign of Catherine II, the adoption in 1814 of the Charter for theological schools, and attempts to reform the system of theological education under Nicholas I are considered as key stages in the formation of the class primary education for the clergy.

The article is devoted to a brief biography and martyrdom of the holy new martyr Stefan (Nalivaiko) (1898–1945). Saint Stefan was repeatedly persecuted for his Orthodox faith during his life. Having spent many years in prison and exile, he followed the path of faith profession, which included vast spaces from the Solovetsky islands to Kazakhstan, from Vladivostok to Norilsk. Norilsk became the place of his final resting place, where he died as a result of exhaustion and deprivation, forever becoming the patron saint of the Taimyr land, sprinkled with the martyr's Christian blood. The article also speaks about the modern veneration of the martyr in the territory of the Norilsk diocese.

The article examines the reaction of diocesan periodicals to the holding of the All-R ussian Local Council, the establishment of the Patriarchate in Russia and the election of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, St. Tikhon, the degree of interest of publications in covering this information, and the stand of editorial offices on this topic. In this regard, the following periodicals are being analyzed in detail: the Kostroma Diocesan Journal, the Kostroma Church and Public Bulletin. The magazine for the Clergy and Laity of the Kostroma Diocese, the Yaroslavl Diocesan Journal, the Vologda Diocesan Journal, the Vladimir Diocesan Journal, the Moscow Church Voice—name of the Moscow Church Journal (originally, the Moscow Diocesan Journal). In the course of the research, it was found out that only two recent periodicals wrote about this topic: the Vladimir Diocesan Journal and the Moscow Church Voice. The Vladimir Diocesan Journal provided the most complete information about the passage of the All- Russian Local Council and the election of St. Tikhon (Bellavin) as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. They explained the reasons and meaning of the restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia after a 200-year interval and the historical significance of this event. The periodical fully supported this significant event and the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia, and the Moscow Church Voice also regularly published notes and reports on the work of the Local Council, although not in as much detail as the Vladimir Diocesan Journal. The reasons for the lack of reaction of the first three periodicals on this topic require additional research. However, the dramatic situation of the political and spiritual struggle of 1917–1918 leads to the conclusion that an extremely difficult, dramatic time, which escalated the contradictions between people of that time, did not always allow to write about certain issues.

The article describes an event from the sphere of church- state relations of the Soviet era, which took place in Kostroma on October 17, 1980. The ordinary diocesan meeting became a unique event, assembled at the request of the Commissioner for the Council of Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Kostroma region. The venue of the event gave it special significance. It took place within the walls of the ancient Holy Trinity Ipatievsky Monastery in Kostroma, which was closed for worship. In official documents, the event received a standard name: "Meeting of the clergy and chairmen of the executive bodies of the churches of the Kostroma Diocese." In the background of the achievements of the Soviet system and anti-religious propaganda, the assembly was of great importance for supporting the clergy in the face of an atheist state. Soviet party workers spoke at the event along with the clergy. For this purpose, the only formal platform for cooperation between the Church and the Soviet state at that time was used — the Soviet Peace Foundation. The author has рconducted conversations with eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the event and studied the preserved archival materials. A detailed study of this event includes previously unavailable information about the state of the Kostroma Diocese in 1980 and data from the archive of the Commissioner for the Kostroma Region, as well as attribution of the event participants (55 out of 80) captured in a large group photograph taken after the meeting on the square in front of the Trinity Cathedral of the Ipatievsky Monastery. This photograph hung in the offices of many Kostroma priests until the end of the Soviet era. The article presents a small picture with the numbers of the participants and an enlarged picture on the centerfold without numbering. The appendix to the article is a list of persons who attended the meeting on October 17, 1980 (according to the numbering in the general photo). The article was prepared in connection with the 45th anniversary of the event (October 17, 1980).

This article is devoted to the study of the nature of the state in Zoroastrianism. The phenomenon of the state is also very complex for modern society, but in the conditions of the world of ancient civilizations it turns out to be especially significant, requiring a person to have developed abstract thinking, literacy, and a sense of responsibility extended to a social organism far beyond its kind. The Avesta, as the holy book of Zoroastrianism, testifies to the developed written culture of the ancient Persian society and contains such regulations and principles that prescribe to a person a state form of being. Moreover, this turns a person not only to the organization of his own social life, but also to participate in the implementation of the divine plan for the entire world created by Him. Thus, in public life, a person is called to worship. The ethical norms so developed in Zoroastrianism are valuable not in themselves, but because they are absolutely necessary for worship, an integral part of which is the protection and maintenance of the state.

The article presents a general description of Orthodox media in the Russian media space. Their development in retrospect is briefly outlined and their current role is reflected. The authors examine various forms of using the media space for information support of social and charitable topics. The content of the archive of issues of the specialized Orthodox magazine «Neskuchny Sad» is used as an empirical base.

The article presents an analysis of the activities of the best scientific and theological periodicals produced by regional scientific centers. The study covers the last three publications of the annual lists of the best Science index journals on the subject of Religion. Atheism" in the national elibrary database for the past three years (2022, 2023 and 2024). For the sake of objectivity, the information from these lists is supplemented with information about the presence of journals in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission and in the Unified State Register of Scientific Publications (Unified State List of Scientific Publications), which replaces the White List. The article is a continuation of the authors' extensive methodological work carried out since 2023 (See: Bochkov P., sv-k, Zhigalov M. I. Rating of seminar journals. An attempt to evaluate scientific periodicals of the theological seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church based on the experience of studying their publications on the problems of the Old Believers // Ipatievsky Bulletin. Kostroma, 2023. No. 3 (23). pp. 139–191). The present study is a record of interim results in connection with various relevant innovations in the domestic scientometric system that have taken place recently. The article is accompanied by a rating table of the leading regional publications. The calculation methodology is open and based on an approach that has passed the test of time after the authors' first thematic publication.

The review is dedicated to the regional publication of the Kuzbass Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Church of 2022, containing diary entries and memoirs of the outstanding Orthodox priest Schema-A rchimandrite Irenaeus (Bryksin) (1931–2019), who performed his priestly and spiritual ministry in Siberia for more than 60 years, from the middle of the 20th century until the first half of the 21st century. During his long life, this pastor had a spiritual connection and prayerful communication with a whole galaxy of outstanding clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century, whose figures vividly illustrate the entire book with bright pictures. Along with descriptions of life and everyday situations, relationships between clergy, pressure from representatives of Soviet supervisory bodies, Schema- Archimandrite Irenaeus describes his inner feelings associated with certain experienced moments. These notes contain both human doubts, questions addressed to God Himself, and fervent prayer, religious and philosophical reflections, and sincere joy from communicating with Christ. The publication is supplied with extensive reference material, a mass of valuable photographs from various archives, and photocopies of archival documents. The book itself, filled with deep reverence for the deceased pastor, not only introduces into research circulation a mass of archival materials and testimonies dedicated to the era of the life of the Orthodox Church in Siberia during the years of Soviet power, but is also an offering of grateful memory to the personality of Schema-A rchimandrite Irenaeus.