Description of the attraction
Memorial museum-apartment about. John of Kronstadt was opened on October 30, 1999. It is located in Kronstadt on Posadskaya Street (house 21). In the 19th century. all of Russia knew this address. It was here on the second floor that Father John of Kronstadt lived, who is rightfully considered a great saint of God.
Father John (Ivan Ilyich Sergiev) lived in this house for more than fifty years, from 1855 to 1908. During this period, this house became a place of pilgrimage. Countless pilgrims came here, thousands of telegrams and letters were sent. Fr. John's guests were high hierarchs, Grand Dukes, famous merchants and naval commanders, ordinary people and his spiritual children, who today are glorified as Russian new martyrs. Hieromartyrs Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) and Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov), Hieromartyrs Archpriest Philosopher and John of Ornatsky, Abbess Taisia, abbess of various Russian monasteries, visited this house. This apartment was the only place where Father John could pray in solitude.
Father John of Kronstadt was born in the Arkhangelsk province, in the village of Sura in 1829. He studied at the theological school of Arkhangelsk, the theological seminary. Then he continued his education at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. John Ilyich Sergiev in 1855 was sent to the St. Andrew's Cathedral in the city of Kronstadt for service. In 1875 he received the rank of archpriest, and in 1897 he became rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral.
John of Kronstadt deserved great popular love for his service, charity, his own example and justice. His fame spread throughout Russia. People said that John of Kronstadt heals from all kinds of ailments. Pilgrims flocked to Kronstadt from all over Russia; the local post office could not cope with the flow of letters coming to Father John. And he helped people as much as he could. At the services of Fr. John gathered thousands of believers.
Father John of Kronstadt founded monasteries and churches, participated in charitable organizations, and was repeatedly received by the emperor's court. In the difficult years of the early 20th century. he condemned the religious views of Leo Tolstoy, supported the Black Hundreds. Fr. John's articles and prayers were published in the Kronstadt Mayak newspaper. In 1907, John of Kronstadt was appointed a member of the Holy Synod.
Contemporaries described the house of John of Kronstadt as a modest apartment, which differed only in that in all corners of the room there were icon cases with icons brought to him from different parts of Russia. On the cupboards were cages with live pigeons, and near the windows were canaries, relentlessly chirping. The "Holy of Holies" of this apartment is Fr. John's study, which simultaneously served as a bedroom, a workroom and a prayer cell. It was in this room that John of Kronstadt composed his inspired sermons, wrote his spiritual diary, which became the famous book "My Life in Christ". In this apartment, Father John had a wonderful vision of the Mother of God.
The guardian of the apartment of St. John of Kronstadt was Matushka Elizabeth Konstantinovna.
Father John loved his home and his prayer apartment. Here he died on January 2, 1909. He was buried in St. Petersburg, in the Ioannovsky convent founded by him. And a temple was built in the apartment. Patriarch Tikhon gave his blessing to build the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in this apartment. Thanks to this, the Kronstadt shrine was preserved until 1930.
In 1931, the St. Andrew's Cathedral was closed and then destroyed. Father John's memorial apartment has become an ordinary communal apartment. In the 60s. 20th centurythe house was built on, and the famous apartment was divided into several separate ones. In 1995, work began to return the shrine. The result of this work was to be the restoration of the apartment in full and the revival of the Holy Trinity Church under her. By 1999, two rooms were resettled and rebuilt. The Museum was registered in them.
An active part in the reconstruction of the saint's apartment is taken by his descendants who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow: G. N. Shpyakina, T. I. Ornatskaya, S. I. Shemyakin, writers V. Ganichev, V. Rasputin, V. Krupin.
