E-mail: antonina.antonina282@yandex.ru
Tel.: +7 (8422) 44-18-23
2/13, Dvortsovaya str., Ulyanovsk, 432000, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Associate Research, The Center of Folk Culture of the Ulyanovsk region
This article focuses on the veneration of St. Nicholas Mountain in the village of Surskoe in the Surskii district of the Ulyanovsk region in the 1950s — 60s. The material for the analysis includes recollections of local residents about the celebration; albums of photographs allegedly taken by the Commissioner of the government’s anti-clerical Council for the Russian Orthodox Church; as well as a report by the Commissioner entitled “About the celebration of St. Nicholas in the working village of Surskoe, Ulyanovsk region” (1958) and other archival documents. The purpose of the article is to consider the photographs as a visual narrative about the pilgrimage, complementing the memories of contemporaries. This time period was not chosen by chance. First of all, these years were marked by Khrushchev’s anti-church campaign aimed at combating “holy places” and pilgrimages to them. Second, the 1950s mark the childhood period of most of our informants, and consequently color their memories. The visual text, created by an unnamed photographer or photographers, not only presents a visual impression of a religious ceremony, but is also itself a document of the era, allowing us to embed the testimony of our informants in a broad context. The photo albums offer a visual text within which the ritual appears in its entirety, which cannot always be provided by disparate oral narratives. Visits to this sacred site were accompanied by various ritual practices which were performed over several days on the approach to the holy place, on the mountain itself, at its foot, and at springs in the forest. By the first half of the twentieth century, the tradition of venerating Nikolskaya Mountain had become firmly established, although after the 1930s, it did not have any church official support. Despite this, according to eyewitness accounts and archival documents, it peaked in the 1950s. It is noteworthy that this religious rite did not undergo significant changes even during periods of persecution of the church.
Berman A. G. (2024) Kampaniya po bor’be s palomnichestvami k «svyatym mestam» v chuvashskoi ASSR v kontse 1950-kh – nachale 1960-kh godov [Campaign Against Pilgrimages to “Holy Places” in the Chuvash ASSR in the Late 1950s and Early 1960s]. Istoricheskii poisk [Historical Search]. 2024. No. 4. Pp. 107–126. In Russian.
Berman A. G. (2025) Pravoslavie v Chuvashii vo vtoroi polovine KHKH veka. Ocherki istorii i dokumenty [Orthodoxy in Chuvashia in the Second Half of the XX century. Essays on History and Documents]. Cheboksary: Chuvashskii gosudarstvennyi pedagogicheskii universitet im. I. Ya. Yakovleva. In Russian.
Burke P. (2023) Vzglyad istorika: kak fotografii i izobrazheniya sozdayut istoriyu [The Historian’s Eye: How Photos and Images Create History]. Moscow: Ehksmo. In Russian.
Hong W. (2012) S ikonami i pesnopeniyami, ili episkop, sbezhavshii ot svoikh prikhozhan.Massovye palomnichestva v Rossii ehpokhi Stalina i Khrushcheva [With Icons and Hymns, or a Bishop Who Ran Away from His Parishioners. Mass Pilgrimages in Russia During the Stalin and Khrushchev Eras]. Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom. Religioznye praktiki v SSSR [State, Religion, Church in Russia and Abroad. Religious Practices in the USSR]. 2012. No. 3–4. Pp. 232–256. In Russian.
Lipatova A. P. (2012) Narodno-religioznye predstavleniya i praktiki [Folk Religious Beliefs and Practices]. In: Traditsionnaya kul’tura Ul’yanovskogo Prisur’ya [Traditional Culture of the Ulyanovsk Region]. Vol. 1. Moscow: Indrik. Pp. 97–116. In Russian.
Lipatova A. P. (2020a) Rasskazy ob uvidennom v detstve chude i protsess sedimentatsii opyta [Stories about Miracles Seen in Childhood and the Process of Experience Sedimentation]. In: Slavyanskaya traditsionnaya kul’tura i sovremennyi mir [Slavic Traditional Culture and the Modern World]. Moscow: GRDNT im. V. D. Polenova. Pp. 320–326. In Russian.
Lipatova A. P. (2020b) Rasskazy o razrushenii svyatyni v kontekste tsikla: nablyudenie nad odnoi zakonomernost’yu [Stories about the Destruction of the Shrine in the Context of the Cycle: Observation of One Pattern]. Traditsionnaya kul’tura [Traditional Culture]. 2020. Vol. 21. No. 2. Pp. 103–114. In Russian.
Podmaritsyn A. G. (2014) Svyatyni Ul’yanovskoi oblasti i antitserkovnye meropriyatiya v poslevoennyi period [Shrines of the Ulyanovsk Region and Anti-Church Activities in the Post-War Period]. Nauka i kul’tura Rossii [Science and Culture of Russia]. 2014. Vol. 1. Pp. 144–145. In Russian.
Podmaritsyn A. G. (2015) Sovetskaya kampaniya po prekrashcheniyu palomnichestva k svyatym mestam rubezha 50–60-kh godov XX stoletiya (na primere Kuibyshevskoi, Ul’yanovskoi i Chkalovskoi/Orenburgskoi oblastei) [The Soviet Campaign to Stop Pilgrimages to Holy Sites at the Turn of the 50-60s of the XX Century (Using the Example of Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk and Chkalovskaya/Orenburg Region)]. In: Samarskii krai v istorii Rossii: materialy Pyatoi Mezhregion. nauch. konf., posv. 190-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya P. V. Alabina [Samara Region in the History of Russia: Materials of the Fifth Interregion. Scientific Conference, Dedicated to 190th Anniversary of the Birth of P. V. Alabin]. Iss. 5. Samara. Pp. 251–256. In Russian.
Shakhnovich M. M. (2023) Lokal’nye «svyatye mesta» i praktika bor’by s nimi v period sovetskoi antireligioznoi kampanii 1950-kh gg. [Local “Holy Places” and the Practice of Combating Them During the Soviet Anti-Religious Campaign of the 1950s]. Religiovedenie [Religious Studies]. 2023. No. 2. Pp. 79–88. In Russian.
Shtyrkov S. A. (2009) Prakticheskoe religiovedenie vremen Nikity Khrushcheva: respublikanskaya gazeta v bor’be s «religioznymi perezhitkami» (na primere Severo-Osetinskoi ASSR) [Practical Religious Studies of the Time of Nikita Khrushchev: a Republican Newspaper in the Fight Against “Religious Remnants” (On the Example of the North Ossetian ASSR)]. In: Lavrovskii sbornik: Materialy XXXIII Sredneaziatsko-Kavkazskikh chtenii 2008– 2009 gg.: Ehtnologiya, istoriya, arkheologiya, kul’turologiya [Lavrovsky Collection: Materials of the XXXIII Central Asian-Caucasian Readings of 2008–2009: Ethnology, History, Archeology, Cultural Studies]. St.-Peterburg: MAEH RAN. Pp. 389–393. In Russian.
Lipatova A. P. A Visual Narrative About Pilgrimages to St. Nicholas Mountain in the Village of Surskoe in the 1950s in the Context of Documents of the Era. Traditional Culture. 2026. Vol. 27. No. 1. Pp. 22–36. In Russian