The world remembers St. Luke. III. New oral evidence

On June 11, when the Russian Orthodox Church honors the Archbishop of Crimea, festive services will be held in many cities of Russia, Ukraine, Greece and other countries. On this day, flowers will be brought to the Saint by residents of Simferopol, where the relics of the holy physician are located in the Holy Trinity Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Saratov, Ulyanovsk and Moscow, where there are churches dedicated to the archbishop-surgeon. And how many more churches and chapels bear the name of one of the most outstanding figures of Russian medicine and the Russian Orthodox Church! Churches, whose representatives the Soviet government destroyed for decades, shooting, exiling to camps, and imprisoning them. But not all the inhabitants of Stalin’s camps were later awarded by this government with such a high award as the Stalin Prize of the first degree.

On June 6, 2013, the Fifth International Scientific and Practical Conference “The Spiritual and Medical Heritage of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)” was held in Kupavna near Moscow, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the founding of the 32nd Central Naval Clinical Hospital named after. N.N.Burdenko. One of the participants was the chairman of the expert council on the most important scientific, technical and socio-economic problems of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, president of the St. Luke Foundation, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Economics, professor, the presentation of whose book “The Aesthetics of St. Luke” took place at the conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Archbishop Luke’s episcopal service.

– Vladimir Alexandrovich, hIs your report at the fifth conference dedicated to it?

– In the report “The Ethical Heritage of St. Luke. V.F.'s oath Voino-Yasenetsky” I touch upon those ethical principles that St. Luke, on the one hand, developed as a theorist of Orthodox ethics, and on the other hand, suffered through as a practicing surgeon. I put together bright thoughts from various sermons and medical works of Valentin Feliksovich and formulated the ethical principles of a doctor in the form of Voino-Yasenetsky’s oath. I ask the medical community to discuss the text of this oath, and if the community recognizes it as appropriate, then we will take a legislative initiative so that all graduates of medical universities and schools take Voino-Yasenetsky's oath in addition to the Hippocratic Oath, which is largely outdated and does not reflect many modern realities.

– What does the oath of St. Luke sound like and how does the medical community feel about it?

– I published the oath of the doctor Voino-Yasenetsky (St. Luke) as a separate brochure and handed it over to the 1st Medical Institute in Moscow. It has already been approved in Kursk and Simferopol.

- Vladimir Alexandrovich, tell us about your books dedicated to St. Luke.

– My last book, “The Ethics of St. Luke,” was published on the 90th anniversary of the episcopal ministry of Archbishop Luke, who has a very multifaceted legacy. Unfortunately, many authors write about only two aspects - his rich medical heritage and his spiritual heritage. I think this view is wrong, because... it greatly impoverishes the image of the Saint - the last Russian encyclopedist, who reached heights in many fields of science. His legacy can be divided into 11 major branches of knowledge, some of which have not yet been explored. I started this work two years ago. Last year I published a book, “The Aesthetic Heritage of St. Luke.” And my first book was published in Kuban in 1994. The second book, “Saint Luke,” was published by the Sovetskaya Kuban publishing house in 1996. Then the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate published an abridged edition of it. In 2000, the book “The Way of the Cross of St. Luke” was published based on KGB materials for the 2000th anniversary of Christianity and in honor of the glorification of St. Luke as a saint revered by the entire Russian Orthodox Church.

I managed to gain access to KGB archival materials, among which I found completely unique documents - protocols of interrogations and arrests, a protocol of the burning of his notes, diaries, letters, and liturgical literature by KGB workers. In 1938, they made a bonfire of his books, which I would compare to a bonfire of books burned by the Nazis in Berlin. Then I published a book, “The Zemstvo Path of St. Luke,” dedicated to the years of his service as a zemstvo doctor. Unfortunately, the publishers were looking for cheapness, and therefore there are many typos in the book. In 2009, I published the book “Luke, the Beloved Doctor.” My next book is called “The Tambov Way of St. Luke.” Its volume exceeds 600 pages. It partially includes unique sermons that were delivered during the Tambov period and which were practically not repeated subsequently. In these sermons, the bishop expounded to his flock his thoughts on the relationship between religion and science, since at that time he was writing the book “Science and Religion.” This was a deviation from the canonical topics that the ruling bishop is obliged to cover in his services. The KGB Commissioner for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Tambov Region repeatedly wrote to him, making comments that the Patriarch asks not to deviate from the gospel theme, that one should speak only on gospel topics, and sermons dedicated to the fight against materialism are punishable by law. Saint Luke was accused of anti-Marxism and the fight against Soviet power, for which he suffered and was persecuted. In 2011, my book “The Military Path of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)” was published. It is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The book contains materials about the participation of St. Luke as a military field surgeon in the Russian-Japanese, Civil and Great Patriotic Wars.

– When and under what circumstances did the need to write books about St. Luke arise? Has working on them changed your worldview?

– I had no idea that I would ever write books about St. Luke. But one day I had a dream that I was writing books about St. Luke, and I told the saint’s youngest son Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky about this. He says: “Remember this dream, maybe it will turn out to be prophetic.” And so it happened. I remembered this dream when I was summoned to the KGB, and Colonel Notkin began to interrogate me as a Moscow relative about how the letters of St. Luke ended up in New York, and why they were quoted by such enemy voices as Radio Liberty, Voice America" ​​and others. I told Colonel Notkin about a member of the Writers' Union, Mark Popovsky, who, under the pretext that he was going to write a book, begged letters from the Saint from his relatives for a week. Weeks turned into months, months into years. He left for the USA, taking with him the correspondence of the Saint with his children, including those letters that my mother had. Later, it seems in 1978, his book “The Archbishop-Surgeon” was published by the Paris publishing house “YMCA-Press”. In my opinion, this is a harmful book in which the author defames the Russian first hierarchs and the majority of archbishops, and writes blasphemously about St. Luke. According to the author, Archbishop Luke allegedly had a hand in the repressions of 1937. However, studying the family archives, Popovsky could not help but know that in 1937 the Saint was imprisoned, and for three years he was subjected to new tortures, including such a cruel method as the “conveyor belt”. Twice he experienced this “conveyor belt” - interrogations without sleep, without rest, without food, only drink was given. And Popovsky has several hundred similar blasphemous statements. But the worst thing is that his book is being republished. The anti-Orthodox publishing house "Satis" in St. Petersburg has already released three reprints. True, they cleaned out the most offensive places.

After reading Popovsky’s book, I was completely shocked. I called my uncles Mikhail and Alexey in Leningrad and Valentin in Odessa. As it turned out, they were also called and interrogated about this. And I suggested: “Let’s write a book refuting all these false facts.” Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky agreed with me, but Mikhail, the eldest son, the first-born of St. Luke, whom the bishop loved very much, objected: “What? Refuting? Cast pearls before swine? No way!” He blasted Popovsky to smithereens, and then suggested: “We’d better think about writing a book about the medical heritage of St. Luke and be sure to add his sermons.”

We wrote an application, agreed with Colonel Notkin and sent it to the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate. The publishing department was then headed by Metropolitan Pitirim. He says: “Vladimir Aleksandrovich, our editorial portfolio is very full, we are under a lot of pressure, so, unfortunately, we can’t do it now. Maybe later". Then I turned to the publishing houses “Mysl”, “Science”, “Progress” with a request to publish the book, but we were refused everywhere.

– When it was?

– This was from 1980 to 1985. Then the children of St. Luke, the second generation, began to leave. Then came perestroika. And then, when it was already possible to write, only the youngest son Valentin remained alive, but he was already so weak that he said: “Volodya, let’s finish this book yourself, I’m no longer able to.” Although it is a pity, because it was the sons who were the first witnesses to all the events that happened to St. Luke in the pre-revolutionary years. I talked with them, I remember how they described many events, but this is not enough to make a coherent book. That's why I started doing archives myself. Processed more than thirty thousand storage units. I dug through archives in almost all regions, territories, and republics where Saint Luke ever served or was in camps and exile. I collected a lot of material and am publishing a series of books about it.

– What struck you while exploring the archives?

– I once read in an explanation to the investigator that after the next “conveyor”, in order to stop this terrible series of meaningless interrogations that lasted for days and weeks, the Saint decided to imitate suicide. He writes directly about this. When they brought him a fork and knife for dinner, he tried the edge of the knife (he is a surgeon) and realized that he would not even cut the top layer of skin. He intensively began to saw at his throat, although he knew that it was completely useless. “The investigator, who was sitting at the other end of the table, jumped up like a cat, and with a sharp blow to the chest, he knocked me down and began to kick me,” writes St. Luke. It is events like this that give rise to a lot of speculation among people who have not read archival documents. Popovsky’s book begins with the fact that there are more than two dozen popular stories about Archbishop Luke. And he himself wrote not a biography, but another myth. In my opinion, the only thing that can arouse interest in this book is the publication of individual excerpts from the letters of St. Luke. And these unique letters may be lost forever.

– Couldn't you get anything back?

– Unfortunately, not yet, although we have made a lot of efforts. Popovsky died in 2004 or 2005. The son did not need the letters, and he gave them all to one of three New York universities. Now I want to write a letter to V.V. Putin so that he turns to Obama with a request to return the letters of St. Luke to us.

– Have you really studied all the archives that exist, or are there some that have not yet been fully explored?

– Popovsky’s archive, which contains a very large array of letters from St. Luke, has not been studied. You can find quite a lot there, but it's in New York. The Tashkent period of the life of St. Luke has not been studied fully enough. Since this is now a different state, it is difficult to communicate with them. I met with Prime Minister Sultanov, I think, in 2002. He asked that the house in which the Saint lived be turned into a museum, and wrote a justification. He promised, but then it was withdrawn, and the promises remained nothing. The house has now been demolished, unfortunately.

– How do you remember Saint Luke? Do you have any vivid childhood memories of him?

– The first childhood impression remained for life. When my mother first brought me to St. Luke in 1948, I was 7 years old and my sister was 3 years old. The saint rented a dacha from the writer Garshin in the Workers' Corner. We arrived there, found a gate in the thickets, entered a shady courtyard, and a blooming garden appeared before our eyes, in which there was a chair, and in the chair sat the Lord God, or at least the Patriarch, whom He had sent to earth. A high forehead, gray strands hanging down to the shoulders, a wise look, majestic calm. We were dumbfounded. Mom pushed: “Go, get a blessing.” We approached him with shaking knees. The childhood impression was that we had approached the Lord God. He blessed us and asked how we were studying, how we were doing. I was eight years old. This was my first class. We communicated with Saint Luke when we visited Alushta every year in the summer. We didn't stay with him. Either we rented a dacha nearby, or dad received vouchers where he and my mother and I lived in a sanatorium. But almost every day we came to the Saint. He told everyone in advance, including Crimean and other relatives, at what hours he could communicate with us. He told us biblical stories. Very vivid impressions, a lot of stories. Now, of course, I don’t remember the details, but here, for example, is one episode. I think it was 1951, and the conversation turned to fists. He says: “Do you know who the kulaks are?” I say: “Yes, we were told at school that these were rural bourgeois, world-eaters who exploited the peasants.” He says: “Well, that’s not true. Why were they called kulaks, do you know?” We say: “No, we don’t know.” “Because these were the most hard-working peasants who worked 14-16 hours. And that’s where their sleep overcame them, they put a fist under their head and fell asleep. They fell asleep for 3-4 hours without a pillow - in a field or in the steppe, on a bench in the house. That’s why they were called kulaks, because they fell asleep, falling from fatigue, and slept on their fists.” These were the flower of the peasantry, they were the most hardworking people in the village. But, unfortunately, they could be said to have been slaughtered as a class, because according to American researchers, from 1918 to 1934, 30 million peasants from other segments of the population were exterminated. Our statistics, of course, do not confirm these figures, but Saint Luke said that he himself sat with these peasants in the Makarikha concentration camp in terrible conditions and saw huge peasant families of 16-20 people...

– Please tell us about your parents. Where were you born?

– I was born in Tashkent, with which the longest period of St. Luke’s life is associated. He arrived in Tashkent at the end of April 1917, was arrested, and was taken away from Tashkent in 1940. I was born in a house bought by St. Luke with royalties from the first edition of his famous book “Essays on Purulent Surgery.” He bought this house so that Sofya Sergeevna, the named mother, would raise his children. After the arrest of Vladyka Luka in 1937, this house could have been confiscated as the house of an enemy of the people, and in order to save the house, my father Alexander Alekseevich Lisichkin, a deputy of the Supreme Council, one of the three best ace pilots of the Turkestan military district, despite the threat of arrest, bought it his. He served in the Moscow region, in Bear Lakes, where there was a military airfield. He was an outstanding military pilot and took part in the bombing of Berlin in September 1941. Stalin sent three special forces divisions to bomb Berlin to show Hitler that we were not broken. And after the war, my father received the Pobeda car as a reward (they began to produce them then). Every summer we used this car to go to Crimea to visit St. Luke. In fact, I communicated with him until 1956. And in 1957, we flew to my grandmother in Tashkent, to the same house where my cousins ​​stayed. The saint loved my mother Maria Vasilyevna Lisichkina very much. They congratulated each other on all holidays. Of all the relatives, she was the only one who was deeply religious and did not retreat under the pressure of the atheistic forces, while the three sons of Saint Luke were practically atheists.

– Would you like to write your memories of your meetings with St. Luke?

– Previously, when writing my books, I took only documented facts - either from archives, or from medical books and other sources. Then, when I began to talk about my childhood impressions, the Patriarchate told me: “Vladimir Alexandrovich, this is very valuable.” But I say that my impressions are very subjective, and in our research we try to move away from the subjective in order to find the objective truth. But perhaps it will be more colorful and interesting for the reader. Therefore, I am going to write a book about my childhood impressions, “Tales of Grandfather Luke.” This is a big topic, and I won’t reveal it now...

– How did communication with St. Luke influence you, your worldview, your profession?

– In the works and autobiography of Saint Luke you will find statements that many life decisions were suggested to him from above by the Lord God, and many even in a dream. I don’t know if this is inherited, but this also happened in my life. Since my student years, as far as I can remember consciously, I have had prophetic dreams. They concerned different life situations. In theory, I was supposed to become a doctor, because my uncle (the youngest son of the Saint, Valentin Valentinovich Voino-Yasenetsky, with whom we always lived as a family) told me: “Volodya, you should be a surgeon, look, you, like your grandfather, have , strong and kind character, strong hands.” I say: “Being a surgeon is wonderful!” But then, you know, in society there were discussions between physicists and lyricists, and I chose the path of a physicist. In Odessa, I entered the physics department of the Polytechnic Institute and graduated from the university with a degree in semiconductor physics. I wrote my diploma in Leningrad with Academician Ioffe.

– Do you feel the gracious help of St. Luke?

- Certainly. I felt his support at almost every stage of my life. When investigator Stilve imprisoned the Saint for the sixth criminal case in Turukhansk and said that he was deporting him, the Saint asked: “Well, where should they send me, I’m already beyond the Arctic Circle?” He says: “Your final point of exile will be the Arctic Ocean.” And he gave instructions to the Komsomol member who accompanied him, at his discretion (this was not the case in the practice of the investigative authorities), so that there would be no final place of exile. The Komsomolets found a small Plakhino machine for serving his exile. In my opinion, this is 320 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, practically there is the lower reaches of the Yenisei at its confluence with the Arctic Ocean. Saint Luke, when he arrived, asked: “Where am I going to live here? Here I saw only a few hills covered with snow.” This was the housing. He lived in one of these plagues. And as he himself writes, during this journey, he physically felt the support of the Lord. This is how I felt the help of the Saint at different periods of my life.

– Give some example.

– For example, I had one severe abdominal operation. The doctors made the wrong diagnosis, and the Saint took me away from the operation. They had already prepared it and were taking it on a gurney to the operating room. And the surgeon, when he touched it, said that the body was hot. It turned out that my temperature was 39.8. The saint sent me a temperature so that they would postpone and then cancel this operation. I was transferred to another hospital, and they gave me a different diagnosis.

– How does a person manage to survive in inhuman conditions? There are many known cases of people committing suicide in prisons and camps, unable to be imprisoned any longer. Where does fortitude come from if a person has lived in such conditions for years?

“Everywhere his spirit was supported only by deep faith in the Lord. The Lord constantly supported him and saved him during the most difficult time for the Russian Orthodox Church. I believe that we have never had such persecution in Rus' as in Soviet times. And God sent him precisely during this difficult period to guide the people on the true path, because the Russian people departed from the path of God, lost their way to the temple, chased after an earthly kingdom, after an earthly paradise, which is fundamentally wrong. Among the few shepherds who did not leave God’s field was St. Luke, whom God sent to save the Russian Orthodox Church. This was his main mission. Thanks to his faith, the Lord protected him as a shepherd. This is precisely the source of all his strength and all those high deeds that marked his life.

– Did the work on creating books change your own worldview, what did it bring, how did it enrich it? Did anything change in your life while writing the books?

- Well, naturally. For example, all of our relatives believed that since he had three exiles, there were three criminal cases for which he endured all this suffering, for which he was declared a political criminal. As chairman of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy in the State Duma, I, along with other leaders, was obliged to attend government meetings. In 1999, when Putin became chairman of the government, I turned to him: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, you know, it is a complete injustice and paradox that a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church is still considered a criminal.” He says: “How so?” I say: “Yes, St. Luke has not yet been rehabilitated. I am not allowed to access the archives, and this is necessary for writing books in which I must refer to specific criminal cases."

V.V. Putin says: “Write to me.” I wrote. And he gave the command to the head of the FSB to allow me access to the archives. To my surprise, I discovered that six criminal cases had been opened against St. Luke. The last criminal case was opened when his term of Turukhansk exile had already ended. That is, having returned to Tashkent and thinking that he was free, he actually found himself under investigation again. He was under secret surveillance; all his sermons and conversations were recorded. Thanks to my acquaintance with these archives, I learned a lot of new things about St. Luke; his actions and motives at different periods of his life became more understandable.

– How did you take the news of the canonization of St. Luke? Didn't the question arise, why exactly him, because a huge number of priests - the most worthy Christians - suffered in those years?

– The Council of 2000 canonized a very large number of victims as new martyrs. Saint Luke was glorified not as a great martyr, but as a confessor who confessed not only Christ, but also His teaching. He brought the Light of Christ to the masses who were rejected from the body of Christ, from the Church. Some by force, others by education. For example, both my generation, born of the war, and the post-war generation were raised in an atheistic environment. Saint Luke was sent to return the small flock so that the flock could find their way to the Temple. Therefore, his confession consists of bringing the teachings of Christ to people of almost all ages, all genders and nationalities. Saint Luke not only proclaimed the bright thoughts that Christ is the Way and salvation, but with his whole life he showed how one must go to Christ. His life is a feat. This is confession. And he was an outstanding confessor, absolutely unique. His spiritual heritage is a unique phenomenon in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, he also left a colossal philosophical legacy. He opened new pages in epistemology, i.e. in the theory of knowledge. He proved, for example, that the organ of cognition is not the brain, but the heart. He has a completely unique theory: “The Heart as an Organ of Cognition.” He made a great contribution to philosophical ontology, brilliantly proving that the Bible is a description of real events, and not a set of tales and legends. In addition to sermons, Saint Luke has a rich philosophical and aesthetic heritage, which is based on the Orthodox worldview. I write about his great contribution to the theory of aesthetics in the book “The Aesthetics of St. Luke.” He was a unique personality - not only a unique hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also a phenomenon of Russian culture. And the fact that he was canonized as a confessor is only a small part of the real assessment of his significance in the history of not only the Russian Church, but also in the history of culture. Therefore, it is impossible to compare who suffered more and who suffered less. This is the wrong view.

– What actions or expressed thoughts of St. Luke can you still not understand?

“Basically, I understood his life path, his motives. I have no problems understanding this or that action. It seems to me that I was able to fully understand his credo, which is reflected in many of his medical works and in his sermons. He was a man of iron will and followed this credo throughout his life, which is rare. People most often adapt - he doesn’t. Saint Luke, contrary to public opinion, contrary to established views, committed actions that were incomprehensible to others, for example, accepting the priesthood. None of his colleagues took it seriously. His student Benyamovich writes: “So he was attracted only by the bright clothes of the priests, the conduct of services, all Orthodox rituals, the external side attracted him, and therefore he accepted the priesthood.” Well, this is complete idiocy - such an understanding.

– Tell us about your activities at the St. Luke Foundation. Why was it created and what is it doing now?

– In 1998, I founded the St. Luke Foundation. First of all, it was created with the goal of recreating the full legacy of St. Luke and disseminating the ideas and views of this great scientist and our outstanding compatriot not only among believers, but also among all residents of our Great Motherland. In addition, we provide assistance to churches. For example, the foundation helped return lands confiscated by the Bolsheviks to the Church of the Archangel Michael in Yeisk, Krasnodar Territory. They gave funds and helped restore this temple. The second is the ill-fated village of Kushchevskaya, located in the center of the Kushchevsky district of the Krasnodar Territory, where I was a deputy from the Krasnodar Territory. We have done a lot for the Orthodox Church in the Krasnodar region. We also helped Father Nikolai Onoprienko build a very large church in the turbulent 90s, when people did not have enough money to feed themselves. We were able to organize assistance in the construction of a magnificent temple. In Adygea, 21 km from Maykop, there was a mountain monastery of St. Michael's. In 1991, tanks were sent there, they shot and bombed from planes, but they could not blow it up completely. A lot was destroyed, but the outlines still remained. They also helped him return the land, begin to restore this monastery, and returned its status. On the territory of Adygea, 20 percent are Adygeans, the rest are Russians. In the Moscow region, we helped in the renovation of the Old Believers' temple. If you drive along the Ryazan highway, you will find the village of Mikhailovskoye, it seems, where the Old Believers live. The temple is located on the left side of Ryazan - directly opposite the city of Zhukovsky. In Bronnitsy we helped restore the destroyed Wayside Temple. We helped many schools with computers, with literature, hospitals, orphanages, and maternity hospitals in the Moscow region. In Sokolniki, for three years, during children's school holidays, we treated children to free lunches. It was a field kitchen where sweets were prepared for children for the New Year holidays or Easter. Now we are creating a museum of St. Luke in Tambov. We found the house where he lived. Through the Duma we achieved that there should be a memorial plaque there, and now we are trying to have this house declared a cultural monument. The governor agreed.

– Where else are there museums of St. Luke?

– There is a museum in Simferopol in a convent. There are a lot of exhibits there, but I think we will have no less, my personal family archive alone contains more than 600 exhibits: letters, things and surgical instruments, including those from the Tambov period. I managed to collect them in Tambov. Plus there are still things left from my mother.

– Is there no museum in Krasnoyarsk?

- No. But there is a wonderful monument to St. Luke. And near Krasnoyarsk they found the church where he served during the war. In the archives I found records of Saint Luke’s examination of the fighters, the diagnoses he made, and the treatment he undertook. Part of this information was included in my large report “The Russian Orthodox Church during the Great Patriotic War.” I published something in the book “The Military Path of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky),” which was published in 2011 by the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and includes materials about the participation of St. Luke as a military field surgeon in the Russian-Japanese, Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. I want to give you this book.

– Thank you, Vladimir Alexandrovich. I was born in Krasnoyarsk after the death of St. Luke. When Vladyka left the Krasnoyarsk see, my mother was 5 years old, and I did not hear anything about him from her.

– In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the surgeon saint was twice in exile – in the early 1920s and at the turn of 1930-1940. It was from Krasnoyarsk that the Bishop wrote amazing words to his son: “I fell in love with suffering, which so amazingly cleanses the soul.” He also wrote to his son that after 16 years of painful longing for church and silence, the Lord gave him the untold joy of serving in a small church in Nikolaevka, which opened on the outskirts of Krasnoyarsk. It was in Krasnoyarsk that Bishop Luke became a permanent member of the Holy Synod under the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Sergius. Uniquely, the Synod equated the treatment of the wounded with episcopal service and elevated Bishop Luke to the rank of archbishop.

– It is impossible to talk about St. Luke without mentioning miracles. What is the attitude of your colleagues to the church life of St. Luke and to the miracles through his prayers?

– I believe that miracles are a manifestation and proof that St. Luke really was a Saint from the Lord God. The decision to canonize him was purely formal, since his relics were incorruptible, and it was clear that the Lord sent him as a confessor at the most difficult time for our Russian Orthodox Church. Miracles are the evidence that allows the canonization commission to decide whether to canonize a particular martyr or confessor. Therefore, both his incorruptible relics and his whole life are a feat. Only the apostles of God or the messengers of God are given the ability to perform miraculous healings. You know that the holy spirit gave all the apostles the ability to heal people. And Saint Luke healed during his life and after death. Prayers to him also allow people to be healed. In my last book there is a chapter dedicated to miracles; for those doctors who are still atheists, I made a small selection, describing 30 cases of miraculous cures that I personally know. Of course, not all my colleagues, but most of my friends and colleagues became believers when they read my books. But there are those who still doubt it, for example, several professors who are trying to examine and explain the miracles of healing from a materialistic point of view.

– My diabetic brother is seriously ill and is now in the nephrology department. I pray for my brother’s release from hemodialysis. He is a resident of Ukraine, and we have already paid more than 400 thousand rubles from the funds that kind, sympathetic people collect for us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who responded to our plight. What can you wish for my brother, the parishioners of the Church of St. Luke and all those who read this interview?

– The most important wish is that people sincerely turn to Saint Luke with requests to solve our life problems and health problems, that they pray to the Lord God and keep all the Gospel commandments, that they not only go to church on major holidays, but follow the ways of God every day, every hour thinking about the Lord. And then everything will come true.

Interview with Archpriest Sergius Filimonov, Chairman of the OPV of St. Petersburg named after. St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea. Newspaper “Orthodox SAINT PETERSBURG”, 2006

Time of Faith

In February 1999, on the initiative of the charity department of the diocese and the sisterhoods of mercy - Pokrovsky and St. MC. Tatiana, the scientific and educational Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg was organized. The confessor and physician, Archbishop St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), was unanimously chosen as the heavenly patron of the Society. The Society was headed by the rector of the hospital parish "St. Martyr and Healer Panteleimon-on-Ruchye", Doctor of Medical Sciences, Archpriest Sergius FILIMONOV. Today Father Sergius is our guest.

- Father, why did it become necessary to create a Society of Orthodox Doctors?

There are several reasons: firstly, the disunity of Orthodox doctors, their scattering among various medical institutions, which made it difficult to conduct any joint activities; secondly, the absence of a professional medical organization as opposed to the dominance of magic and the occult in the city, which have long acquired an organized character in the form of institutes, academies of witchcraft and magic, universities of extrasensory perception, bioenergy and others. And our Society sets as its goal the promotion of the development of medical activities on the basis of the Orthodox faith and Christian morality and the integration of Orthodox doctors of various specialties in this direction.

It is my deep conviction that the duties of any doctor should be of a Christian nature. “Walk according to what is commanded to you,” instructed St. Theodore the Studite. What can a Christian doctor take into account from the pagan Hippocratic oath?

In our Society, the Hippocratic Oath has been adopted almost completely. But! Hippocrates’ first lines say: “I swear by Apollo the physician, Asclepius, Hygia and Panacea...” and so on. These words were replaced in the first centuries of Christianity in Greece, and the beginning of the oath sounded like this: “Blessed be the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity Consubstantial and Indivisible...” Therefore, in our Society we do not take the “Hippocratic Oath”, but “The Oath of the Christian Doctor,” which borrowed 90% of the text from the Hippocratic Oath, except for the confession of faith of the pagan gods. The remaining provisions remain: I will not give anyone even the requested deadly potion and will not show the way to this, I will not give an abortifacient, I will not enter the house of a sick person with malicious intent, I will not seek self-interest and profit; Whatever I see or hear during treatment, I will not divulge, considering it a sacred secret... These postulates carry a deep moral meaning and are of a universal nature. How many centuries have passed, but the oath is still relevant. Hippocrates, being a pagan, left us a legacy of an oath based on Christian principles, for the Law of God - how one should act - is written on the tablets of the human heart.

But it must be said that today's doctors do not comply with this oath. For modern neo-pagans who graduate from medical schools and who believe in gods whose names are money, success and career, the Hippocratic Oath is a hindrance. That’s why doctors used to take the Soviet Doctor’s Oath, but now they take the so-called Geneva Oath, which does not, for example, contain words about the inadmissibility of abortion. These words have been neatly removed.

How should we treat chronic diseases? It seems possible to live, but a person is left with a painful feeling that he cannot consider himself healthy.

This only testifies to the cowardice of a person, his lack of churchliness. A painful feeling is a signal that a person is falling into the sin of despondency. We must learn to be complacent in illness and thank God for His mercy - sending down the cross of chronic illness. For the cross in the form of a chronic illness is saving for a person, because it makes you think, repent and lead a Christian lifestyle. In our time, when a rare person is capable of high feats in the name of faith, one can be saved by meekness, humility and patience with adversity, including illness.

And if the disease has already gone so far that it is necessary to go to the hospital or have an operation, where should you start getting ready for the hospital? Well, except for slippers, spoons, mugs, etc.

We must start, of course, with God’s: take with us the Holy Gospel, a prayer book for reading morning and evening prayers, an akathist to the Holy Martyr. and the healer Panteleimon, any of the patristic books that best at the moment meets the needs of the soul. From the icons it is best to take a fold with the image of the Savior, the Mother of God, the icon of your Guardian Angel and the namesake saint. If there is some chosen saint who patronizes your family, clan or a specific person, then take his icon to ask for his holy prayers. In small vials you need to take holy oil and holy water. And then take care of the mug, spoon, plate, slippers, robe... One does not interfere with the other.

The operation is not an easy ordeal. How to overcome the all-consuming fear of it, of possible death on the operating table, when you are under anesthesia and completely helpless, you can’t even pray?

The soul of any person languishes and suffers before an operation; animal fear of an operation is a natural human reaction, a reaction of self-preservation. To reduce fear, we must remember that without the will of God even a hair from a person’s head cannot fall, and therefore accept everything from God’s hand with humility and gratitude. What to do specifically? First you need to pray to the Lord to bless the operation, if He pleases; if you don’t want, then take her away or transfer her to another, good time, when the operation will take place without complications and will serve for healing, and not for destruction.

On the eve of the operation, you should pray for all the doctors who will take part in it, anesthesiologists and nurses, so that the Lord will make them with His hands, healing your body. And until the very moment of the operation, while in consciousness, you need to pray incessantly short prayers: “Lord, have mercy! Lord, bless! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” The main thing is to “go into anesthesia” with the Jesus Prayer and with a prayerful petition to your Guardian Angel. After all, there are known cases when people (even priests), who “fell asleep” without prayers, were attacked by evil spirits in an anesthetized sleep.

If local anesthesia is used during an operation, what should a believer do before, during and after the operation?

When you are taken to the operating room, do not be embarrassed to make the sign of the cross and cross the operating table. And then pray and rely on the will of God. Upon completion of the operation, this also applies to operations under general anesthesia; as soon as he came to his senses, the person must praise God and thank Him for preserving life and the successful operation: “Glory to Thee, God! Glory to Thee, God! Glory to Thee, God! " It would be good if the relatives of the person who had the operation come to church, pray and light thanksgiving candles.

When I had a kidney biopsy, the doctor demanded that the cross be removed. I replied that my kidneys are not on my neck, and I refused to remove the cross. Then the professor barked: “Take it off!” She took it off, but held it in her fist. Did I do the right thing or was I cowardly?

Of course, you must try to convince the surgeon so that he does not force you, as a person of the Orthodox faith, to remove the cross. But if he begins to get irritated, if an argument flares up, in this case it is better to remove the cross, hang it on your hand or finger, weave it into your hair, or ask the anesthesiologist (the doctor who provides anesthesia) to place the cross next to you during the operation. After all, why do doctors demand that the cross be removed? The first reason is when the doctor is an unbeliever. The second is for purely medical reasons: in the event of an unforeseen situation, for example, the need for resuscitation, a cross on a strong chain cannot be broken, you cannot cut it with scissors, and every second of delay can become fatal. The third is if the cross and chain are made of precious metal, which can tempt dishonest people, and the attending physician will have to answer for the loss. Therefore, you should go to the operation with a simple cross on a cord or ribbon.

The Athonite elder Paisios warned: “If we do not pray for the sick, then the disease develops.” Are these words true even if the person is discharged from the hospital in satisfactory condition and appears to be healthy?

I must say that when we pray, illness can also develop... I think that Elder Paisios put a slightly different meaning into his words. That when we pray for a sick person, with our prayer we can appease God and stop the further development of the disease. Well, this is how they turned to St. John of Kronstadt for prayer help - he received from God the gift of praying for the sick - and he prayed boldly, asked for the healing of the sick, and the Lord gave healing to the sufferer through the prayer of the saint, and the people remained alive. But if we don’t pray, the outcome can be disappointing. This is how you need to understand the words of the elder, that when a disease develops, you need to pray for the sick, asking the Lord for healing or to stop the further development of the disease. And having prayed and trusted in the will of God, then everything should be accepted without complaint, for there is no prayer that is not heard by the Lord.

The strip was prepared by Irina RUBTSOVA

Voino-Yasenetsky Valentin Feliksovich

(27.04.1877 - 11.06.1961)

Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) is the greatest saint of our time. Theologian; but also a thinker and a world-famous surgeon, doctor of medicine, professor. Monuments were erected to him in Tambov and Simferopol. Metropolitan Lazar of Crimea, co-served by the clergy, performed a prayer service at the place where the monument was erected and consecrated it. His Eminence said: “St. Luke did an incomprehensible amount for the Church of Christ and our Fatherland, for the cultivation of spirituality in man and the development of medical science. Throughout the war, he courageously worked as a surgeon and organizer of care for the wounded, saving thousands of lives. For his work, he was awarded the Stalin Prize, which he donated to help orphans.”

And the third was erected in Krasnoyarsk, where the disgraced professor was transferred in the fall of 1941. Here he was a consultant to all hospitals and a surgeon at the evacuation hospital. He combined his work as a surgeon with his episcopal service.

In Tashkent, his memory is immortalized only by an icon in the Holy Dormition Cathedral (author - Tashkent icon painter Zavadovskaya N.A.).

He was a brilliant doctor and diagnostician: he only had to touch a sore spot to make a diagnosis. He treated famous people, was a laureate of the Stalin Prize for his book “Essays on Purulent Surgery” - and a brilliant scientific career opened up before him. But the main thing was serving God.

Voino-Yasenetsky Valentin Feliksovich (Archbishop Luka) is a representative of a famous noble family (impoverished). He was born in Kerch on April 27, 1877 in the family of a pharmacist (an ardent Catholic). He was raised by his mother in the Orthodox faith. He spent his youth in Kyiv, where his family moved. Here he graduated from high school and drawing school. Having decided to do only what is “useful for suffering people,” in 1903 he graduated from the medical faculty of the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir. During the Russo-Japanese War, he headed the department of surgery at the Kyiv Red Cross hospital in Chita. There he married sister of mercy Anna Lanskaya. From 1905 to 1917, Voino-Yasenetsky worked as a zemstvo doctor in Simbirsk, Saratov, Kursk, Yaroslavl provinces, as well as in Ukraine and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. In 1916 (according to other sources - in 1915), the “peasant doctor,” as Voino-Yasenetsky called himself, defended his doctoral dissertation, “Regional Anesthesia,” which was recognized by his contemporaries as the best work of the year.

Due to his wife’s illness, the family moved to Central Asia, where Voino-Yasenetsky was the chief physician of the Tashkent city hospital from March 1917, and the chief surgeon of Tashkent in 1917–21, and contributed to the organization of the Turkestan University. “Unexpectedly for everyone, before starting the operation, Voino-Yasenetsky crossed himself, crossed the assistant, the operating nurse and the patient. Lately, he has always done this, regardless of the patient’s nationality or religion.”

From 1920 he headed the department of operative surgery. During this period, he was already a deeply religious person. In 1919, his wife died of tuberculosis, leaving four children.

In 1921, Voino-Yasenetsky was ordained a priest, but did not stop operating and lecturing. In 1923 he took monastic vows under the name Luka and was soon appointed Bishop of Turkestan.

Wherever possible, Voino-Yasenetsky serves, preaches and operates, creating wonderful scientific works on surgery. At the same time, he constantly wears a cassock - both on the street and in the operating room. The authorities tolerated this while Luka was an indispensable surgeon, but soon several more high-class surgeons appeared in Tashkent - and the patience ran out. In June 1923, Luka was arrested as a supporter of Patriarch Tikhon and accused of counter-revolutionary connections. 1923-1943 - years of prisons, stages and exile (Butyrskaya and Taganskaya prisons in Moscow, Yeniseisk, Turukhansk, Tashkent, Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory), arrested 3 times.

Between exiles, V.F. Voino returned to Tashkent once again - in the spring of 1934, “having come to his senses a little.” I wanted to see the children, Elena and Valentin (Mikhail and Evgeniy lived in Leningrad). Local officials did not give him surgical work. There was only one thing left to do: go to the provinces, forget dreams of science and drag out life in some hospital with two dozen beds. Voino chose Andijan. There he was taken as a consultant surgeon to a city hospital that did not have a purulent department. And then thank God.

In Andijan, a small Uzbek town several hundred kilometers from Tashkent, Voino finally received the long-awaited opportunity to operate. The hospital operating room, however, is small and not very comfortable, but after the Arkhangelsk outpatient clinic it should have seemed quite decent to the surgeon. Moreover, Andijan doctors received the professor respectfully. He was asked to give a course on surgery for specialists, including making several reports on the surgical treatment of malignant tumors. In the end, scientific work is being done in the provinces, scientific schools are being created. After all, Voino himself once defended his doctoral dissertation while heading a Pereslavl hospital with thirty-five beds.

In Andijan, work is good, life is organized, but there is still no peace in the soul. Life is poisoned by the thought of committing sin. By rejecting the episcopal service, he undoubtedly angered God. The surgeon views his every failure in the operating room or in the ward as a punishment sent from above.

And the tragic illness, papatachi fever, which struck him in Andijan about two months after his arrival, seems to him to be a very clear expression of divine indignation. The disease was complicated by retinal detachment, and there was a real threat of losing his left eye. I had to leave hospitable Andijan and seek help in Moscow (gradually my vision finally died).

In 1943, Voino-Yasenetsky was Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk; a year later he was transferred to Tambov, where he continued his medical work in military hospitals. In 1945, his medical and pastoral work was noted: he was awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45” and received the right to wear a diamond cross on his hood. In Feb. 1946 archbishop Tambovsky and Luka Michurinsky became a laureate of the Stalin Prize, 1st degree, for the scientific development of new surgical methods for the treatment of purulent diseases and wounds, outlined in the extended work “Studies of Purulent Surgery.” In 1945-47 he graduated from the book. “Spirit, Soul and Body,” begun in AD. 20s (the book was not published during his lifetime). Since 1946 he has been Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. Blindness, which occurred in 1958, did not prevent him from performing divine services.

Died on June 11, 1961, buried in Simferopol. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1996.

“Spirit, Soul and Body” is Voino-Yasenetsky’s only philosophical work. In this amazing book, a broad-minded person, a priest, a doctor, analyzing the facts and scientific discoveries of the XIX - AD. XX century, philosophical works of ancient and contemporary philosophers and quotes from the Holy Scriptures, substantiates his understanding of such concepts as “spirit”, “soul”, in the existence of which he is convinced. Voino-Yasenetsky believes that the great scientific discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries. prove to us the inexhaustibility of our ideas about life, about man and allow us to reconsider many basic ideas of natural science. Thus, knowledge of new important forms of energy - radio waves, infrared rays, radioactivity and intra-atomic energy - allows “... to assume ... that there are other forms of energy in the world, unknown to us, perhaps even much more important for the world than intra-atomic energy... With materialistic point of view, and these, as yet unknown, forms of energy must be special forms of the existence of matter..." "Where is the basis for denying the legitimacy of our faith and confidence in the existence of purely spiritual energy, which we consider the primary and progenitor of all physical forms of energy , and through them, matter itself? How do we imagine this spiritual energy? For us, it is omnipotent Divine love... The energy of love, poured out according to the all-good will of God, by the Word of God, gave rise to all other forms of energy, which, in turn, gave birth first to particles of matter, and then through them the entire material world.” Voino-Yasenetsky is convinced that the organ of higher knowledge is not the brain, but the heart. Analyzing I. P. Pavlov’s research on brain reflexes, the works of Epicurus, Pascal, Bergson, referring to numerous texts of the Bible, Voino-Yasenetsky writes: “Thinking is not limited to the activity of the cerebral cortex and does not end there. We know the motor and sensory centers, vasomotor, thermal and other centers in the brain, but there are no feeling centers in it. No one knows the centers of joy and sadness, anger and suffering, aesthetic and religious feelings.” In his opinion, in the heart “... thoughts born in the brain receive sensual and volitional replenishment... Knowledge is born from this activity in it and wisdom rests in it.” It is the desires and aspirations of the heart that determine all human behavior. Voino-Yasenetsky gives a lot of examples of the transfer of spiritual energy from person to person (doctor and patient, mother and child, unity of sympathy or anger in the theater, parliament, “spirit of the crowd”, flow of courage and bravery, etc. ) and asks: “What is this if not the spiritual energy of love?” Speaking about matter, he writes: “Matter is a stable form of intra-atomic energy, and heat, light, electricity are unstable forms of the same energy... Matter, thus, gradually turns into energy... What prevents us from taking the last step and recognizing existence completely immaterial, spiritual energy and consider it the primary form... and the source of all forms of physical energy? In the preface to the book, Rev. Valentin Asmus, regarding the presentation of Voino-Yasenetsky’s views, writes that the author’s concepts are dynamic: “Recognizing the influence of the bodily side of a person on the spiritual, the author also sees the reverse influence of the spirit on the body, and “spirit” calls the sphere where the spiritual side predominates and reigns, and “soul” - that sphere where the spiritual is intimately connected with the physical and depends on it.” Indeed, Voino-Yasenetsky himself understands the soul as a set of organic and sensory perceptions, traces of memories, thoughts, feelings and acts of will, but without the obligatory participation in this complex of the highest manifestations of the spirit. From his point of view, those elements of human self-awareness that come from the deceased body (organic and sensory perceptions) are mortal. But those elements of self-consciousness that are associated with the life of the spirit are immortal. “Spirit is the sum of our soul and the part of it that is outside the boundaries of our consciousness.” The spirit is immortal and can exist without connection with the body and soul. This, he believes, is proven by the inheritance of the spiritual properties of parents to children. Character traits, their moral direction, inclination towards good and evil, the highest abilities of the mind, feelings and will are inherited, but the sensory or organic perceptions of the parents, their private thoughts and feelings are never inherited. The presence of proven transcendental abilities in many people - telepathy, foresight, healing abilities, etc., according to Voino-Yasenetsky, is associated with the presence in people not only of five senses, but also of higher-order perception abilities, the existence in nature of “vibrations” that set in motion human intellect and facts that reveal to it, about which its senses are powerless to communicate. Voino-Yasenetsky is not satisfied with the explanation of memory by the theory of molecular traces in brain cells and associative fibers. He is convinced that “besides the brain there must be another, much more important and powerful substrate of memory.” He considers this “the human spirit, in which all our psychophysical acts are forever imprinted. For the manifestation of the spirit, there are no time norms; no sequence and causal connection of reproducing experiences in memory, necessary for the function of the brain, is needed.” Voino-Yasenetsky, believing that “the world has its beginning in the love of God” and people are given the law “Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” is convinced that the possibility of implementing this commandment, the endless perfection of the spirit - eternal immortality, should also be given. “If matter in its physical forms is perfect (indestructible), then, of course, spiritual energy, or, in other words, the spirit of man and all living things, must be subject to this law. Thus, immortality is a necessary postulate of our mind.”

Documents and comments

Lyudmila Zhukova

“He would take a small book out of his pocket and immerse himself in reading it...”

A few more lines about the legendary man V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky

A significant phenomenon always captivates us,

having recognized its merits, we ignore what

what seems doubtful to us about it.

Lion Feuchtwanger

Enough has been written about the brilliant surgeon and Archbishop V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Saint and Holy Confessor Luke (1877-1961). And yet, every new, even small, touch to his portrait helps to more clearly present the image of a man who combined deep religiosity and scientific medical activity.

I. They talked about him like this

For the first time about V.F. I heard Voino-Yasenetsky at a lecture at Tashkent State University1 from the famous ethnographer A.S. Morozova in 1960. There was a conversation about devotion, and Anna Sergeevna told the students one of the legends that existed at that time - intertwined with reality - about Valentin Feliksovich: in the name of love for his future wife, the young man abandoned his career as an artist (a selfish profession, in the opinion of girls), and - at the request of his beloved - became a simple zemstvo doctor...

The premature death of his wife in Tashkent radically changed the course of his fate. Wanting to remain faithful to his oath to his wife, Voino-Yasenetsky abandoned the temptations of worldly life and became a monk-priest (The marriage with Anna Vasilievna Lanskaya took place in 1905, but Valentin Feliksovich entered the medical faculty of Kiev University back in 1898. His wife died in 1919 , he will take the priestly rank in 1921. And only on May 31, 1923 (“having abandoned the temptations of worldly life”) he was ordained to the rank of bishop.

When reading this material, it should be remembered that some other figures, facts, dates, names and surnames cited by the author (and first published in memoirs) may also require further factual clarification. After all, no one has yet written a large, complete, academic biography of St. Luke).

Then he was in mortally dangerous exile in the Far North, and whenever possible, he treated the sick - increasingly with folk remedies. During the Great Patriotic War he worked as a surgeon in a hospital. Then this surname, already familiar to me, was mentioned in a student archaeological expedition during one of the evening conversations in the story of Academician M.E. Masson. We were talking about the well-known “case of the Tashkent doctor, Professor Mikhailovsky” in the late 1920s.

In the mid-70s. XX century, while working on the Republican Board of the Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Uzbekistan, I read an article about V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky in the journal “Science and Religion”, and the first impulse was to secure the name of this incredibly integral personality in the memory of our townspeople, at least in the form of a memorial plaque on one of the buildings where he lived or worked... It didn’t work out. There were no published materials about the scientist’s work in Tashkent, necessary in such cases for difficult bureaucratic procedures: in the post-war period, until the change of political eras, the name of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky appeared mainly in the scientific medical literature, only occasionally in the central media and never in the local media.

The first publication in Uzbekistan, the first, one might say, a swallow, was the article by S. Varshavsky and I. Zmoiro “Voino-Yasenetsky: two facets of one destiny”, published in the magazine “Star of the East”, 1989, No. 4., followed by material Ekaterina Maralova “Professor Voino-Yasenetsky. Archbishop Luke” in the newspaper “Komsomolets of Uzbekistan” dated May 25, 1990. Unfortunately, then these publications somehow passed by the author of these lines.

The canonization of Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), our contemporary and fellow countryman, by the Simferopol and Crimean diocese in 1995 as a locally revered saint, and then canonization as a confessor prompted me to search for new objects of cultural heritage in our republic associated with his name. They could help us more reliably reconstruct the Tashkent period of the biography of this stunning personality. Moreover, I am absolutely sure of this, and in the future historians, writers, figures of fine art, theater, cinema, and television will repeatedly turn to his image. And new discovered materials, among which there may be real “golden grains,” will not be superfluous. Sometimes seemingly insignificant facts make it possible to clarify the main thing.

II. Written documents

Many significant and turning points in the dramatic life of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky are firmly connected with Uzbekistan. Here he gained spiritual glory. Here he, having minimal experience as an ordinary clergyman, became a bishop in 1923 and found the courage to lead the Tashkent and Turkestan diocese. And this was one of the most difficult periods in the history of Orthodoxy in Central Asia.

Here Voino-Yasenetsky, with forced breaks, among which the longest were two administrative exiles, worked fruitfully in the medical field (from 1917 to 1937). It was during the Tashkent period that he prepared and at the end of 1934 published one of his main monographs, “Essays on Purulent Surgery,” which, together with other works, brought him world scientific fame.

In total, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky was isolated from society in Tashkent for about four years - he was under investigation three times. The last court case lasted especially long - from July 23, 1937 to March 1940. Then the doctor of medicine and a representative of the highest clergy was transferred to Eastern Siberia. In subsequent years he lived in Russia and Ukraine.

For significant contributions to practical and theoretical medicine in December 1945, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky was awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st degree (an unprecedented case for a priest!)...

We began our search with a visit to the Central State Archive. It turned out that none of Voino-Yasenetsky’s main biographers to date worked with his funds - neither Mark Popovsky4, who visited our city in 1967 and 1971, nor other authors of articles and books about V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky.

Therefore, from the creative field of view of researchers, a handwritten letter from Bishop Luke, written in prison dungeons, addressed to Comrade. Rusanov, authorized representative of the Permanent Representation of the GPU (Main Political Directorate) in the Turkic Republic (June 28, 1923), and the personal file of Voino-Yasenetsky, filled out in his hand on November 1, 1934. The latter document allows us to clarify some aspects of his work activity and place of residence in Tashkent at that time (V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky. Personal file. Central State Administration of the Republic of Uzbekistan. F. 837-22. file 34. l. 197).

In addition, in the personal collection of a major scientific anthropologist, associate of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky - L.V. Oshanin there are typewritten essays about Valentin Feliksovich. This valuable memoir source has been repeatedly used in biographical literature, but in fragments. Therefore, we considered it necessary to publish this work by L.V. Oshanin in the collection “On the History of Christianity in Central Asia” (Uzbekistan Publishing House, 1998). The above-mentioned letter was also placed there (Also published in the magazine “East From Above.” Issue VII).

In the documentary story by M. Popovsky “The Life and Vitae of Voino-Yasenetsky, Archbishop and Surgeon,” only one fragment is given from the memoirs of the first Central Asian bacteriologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexei Dmitrievich Grekov (1873-1957), concerning V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, and without reference to the source used.

We have established that the text was taken by the historiographer from a copy of A.D.’s unpublished typewritten manuscript. Grekova - “50 years of a doctor in Central Asia” (manuscript, 1949, pp. 145-146), at that time stored in the Republican Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. The first copy of the memoirs is in the family archive of the doctor’s daughter O.A. Grekova. Here are the excerpts in full:

“As you know, before the revolution there were no universities in Central Asia, including no medical faculties. On the initiative of the then Commissioner of Health I.I. Orlov gathered a group of the most prominent doctors, incl. Slonim Moses and Mikhail, Yasenetsko-Voino, myself, some others, and the question of personnel was raised before us. This immediately attracted a lot of people who wanted to study from among those who had graduated from high school and from workers who were drawn to science. The classes, which began in the fall of 1918, were so successful that already in the fall of 1919 the decision was made to transform the high school into the first year of the medical faculty. This coincided with a similar decision by the Center to open a university with a medical faculty in Tashkent. So far, Mikhail Ilyich Slonim, Oshanin, Yasenetsko-Voino and I have become members of the organizational group in Tashkent. The botanists invited Drobov to read. And since all of us, named, were reluctant to become economic deans, at my suggestion, they invited the old Tashkent doctor Broverman, who was very flattered by this and, having connections with the ruling head, soon achieved the provision of premises for the medical faculty of the former cadet corps. This is where we moved from the former “buff” (cafe-chantan (variety theater) “Buff” was located on the corner of two streets - Karl Marx 42 (now Musakhanova St.) and 1 May (now Shakhrisyabzskaya St.), where we first started reading lectures and classes: General biology was taught by Mikhail Slonim, Voino-Yasenetsky - anatomy, Drobov - botany, I - microbiology, Oshanin - physics and chemistry...

There were a lot of students, and they greedily attacked their studies, helping the young faculty with everything they could. So, I remember, bones for anatomy were obtained from old cemeteries in the vicinity of Tashkent, risking their sides... There were no books, hectographs were used to reprint prints from those that the leaders had. Voino-Yasenetsky made artistic tables on anatomy, the botanist collected herbs and taught students using them, etc...

In December 1920, I was elected professor along with Moisei Ilyich Slonim and Voino-Yasenetsky...

During the creation of the medical university, the colorful figure of Voino-Yasenetsky especially attracted attention. He came to Tashkent at the beginning of the First World War as a surgeon at the city hospital. I had to encounter him for the first time, sorting out, among other doctors, a conflict between him and doctor Sh, who had previously worked in a city hospital. I don’t remember now the essence of the conflict, but Sh was to blame. Later, I began to meet with Voino-Yasenetsky, when the initiative group for the deployment of the medical school and faculty. I noticed that if Voino-Yasenetsky, like me, had to come to a group meeting earlier than others, he would take a small book out of his pocket and immerse himself in reading it. I soon became convinced that this was the Gospel. Later, already with the expanded faculty, probably in 1920 or 1921, we learned that Voino-Yasenetsky was ordained a priest, and some time later he became a bishop, enjoying enormous popularity. He was constantly surrounded by fans - God's old women and, probably thanks to them, thanks to his sermons, which were not always consistent with the trend of that time, a series of persecutions fell upon him. He was also in prison, he was sent to one or another remote area, where, by the way, the population was in a hurry to use him as an excellent unmercenary surgeon. But he remained faithful to his new rank and calling, and boldly measured the Union from end to end. But years of intolerance passed, the ruling circles realized that, in addition to the bishopric, Voino-Yasenetsky was a major surgeon, and they gave him the opportunity to complete and publish an excellent book on surgery. The Patriotic War broke out, and he became the head of the surgeons of a large center of Siberia, and after the war we see him already in a large European city of the Union, surrounded by the halo of one of the largest surgeons of the Motherland. And at the same time, he is still a bishop. You may not agree with the beliefs of this man as a clergyman, but you have to bow to his steadfastness and steadfastness in his religious beliefs.”

“V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky. Surgeon. M.D. Professor. The luminary of medicine. A close friend of Academician Filatov. While in Tashkent, in 1921 he was ordained a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1923, the church leadership elevated him to the rank of Bishop of Tashkent and Turkestan with the monastic name Luke.

Having taken such a position in religion, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky did not reduce or stop the activities of the attending physician and professor. He was very energetic. But not everything went smoothly.

At the end of the twenties, he was accused of the murder of Mikhailovsky, a professor at the Tashkent Medical Institute. I came to live in Tashkent later. Then I talked with the son of the murdered professor, who was a character in this tragedy. Young Mikhailovsky answered reluctantly. He said that a book telling the story was available for sale. Young Mikhailovsky studied at TashMI and now works as a doctor in Tashkent. In February, March or April 1936, the newspaper Pravda Vostoka published an article entitled “Medicine on the verge of witchcraft” and was directed against the experiments of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky with cataplasms). The article was signed by Tashkent professors and doctors and concerned Voino-Yasenetsky (“Pravda Vostoka” dated April 9, 1935).

Professor Voino-Yasenetsky sent his explanations to the editor, his letter was also published in the newspaper “Pravda Vostoka” (“Pravda Vostoka” dated July 10, 1936). In the collection of documents “The Way of the Cross of St. Luke (original documents from the KGB archives)”, prepared V.A. Lisichkin, the publication dates of these articles were taken from nowhere. I had to look through 8 newspaper files to clarify them. - L.Zh.).

For a person of today it is clear that V.F. Yasenetsky was on the verge of the greatest discovery - the discovery of life-saving penicillin: ulcers were cured by mold and fungus of unsterile black soil. But they didn’t know this then. The idea was picked up by the British, who gained worldwide fame...

Somehow I came across a book in which a Soviet author introduces readers to the scientific work of scientists in the field of medicine who were of interest abroad. The author comes to the name Voino-Yasenetsky. The surgeon professor left a philosophical legacy. Argues that the organ of the human body, the heart, performs not only the function of pumping blood. But it is with the heart that a person receives information from the outside, mental creative work intervenes in the heart, the heart makes intellectual discoveries and inventions. The heart makes decisions, not the brain. This teaching abroad was called cardiocentrism.

Proposed portrait (photo portrait) of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky does not give any idea about his appearance.

He created the impression of being chosen and great. Everyone was silent until he asked questions, until he started a conversation. Tall, slender, strong male body. Big head, manners with masculine elegance.

He accepted patients for free. He gave away his money. His name will live for centuries"(Makhkamov E.U. Manuscript. 1986. Museum of Healthcare of Uzbekistan. Archive. Folder 118).

We were able to collect unknown or little-known biographical information about the people of Tashkent, with whom Voino-Yasenetsky especially sympathized, with whom he had business contacts, which subsequently influenced his fate.

This information has not previously been mentioned in biographical literature.

It is known that the close environment of any person to some extent reflects the traits of himself. In August 1937, defendant V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, during the next interrogation, answered the investigator’s question: “Which of your close friends in the city. Tashkent from non-church people? - after professors of medicine S.G. Bordjima and M.A. Zakharchenko, the third named engineer Alexander Lvovich Tsitovich. “I have known him since 1921 through his wife, the daughter of the former priest Bogoroditsky.14 I am the godfather of his son. Tsitovich came to my apartment several times regarding the construction of my house as a consultant, came to me several times with a request to help his sick friends and for this purpose sent me his car. Once, in the summer of 1934, I went to Tsitovich’s apartment.”

A.L. Tsitovich - a Russified Belarusian, an atheist, as a city architect, took part in the design of the drama theater (now the Uzbek Drama Theater named after Abror Khidoyatov is located in this building), the first monument to Lenin in the Old Town, and later in the design of the Tashtelegraph (st. Navoi). His two sons Peter and Nikolai became specialists in the field of exact sciences. The third, Pavel, is an Honored Doctor of the Republic.

The youngest son of A.L. Tsitovich, Nikolai Alexandrovich (1915-2003), a former senior teacher at the local Textile Institute, completely imbued with pro-Christian sentiment, recalled Vladyka Voino-Yasenetsky with great reverence:

“When Father Luke left the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh at the end of the service, he was accompanied by such a large crowd as at a demonstration. Yes, he was a great man. He had a special voice, incomparable to anything. I dreamed of building a hospital with 5-6 beds and asked my father to design it. Valentin Feliksovich came to visit us occasionally. At that time, my lungs hurt, and he advised my parents to take me to Semirechye. At that time we lived in a corner mansion at the intersection of Zhukovskaya (house 22) and Sovetskaya streets. The house has not survived. Saint Luke came to our city in 1946-47. Then he visited the Botkin cemetery for the last time, where he paid tribute to the memory of the grave of his wife Anna (1887-1919). On the way back to the Tashkent station, Vladyka was accompanied by his godson - my middle brother Peter (1920 -1997). He was baptized in 1922 after the death of my grandfather.”

During one of the interrogations on December 3, 1937, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky was asked a question that later became fatal in his investigative case: “When and under what circumstances did you meet the Polish priest Savinsky?”

“The Polish priest Savinsky visited me at my apartment 2-3 times as a sick person. I talked with him about books on Catholic theology, in which I am very interested. After him, apparently on his instructions, Shchebrovsky was in my apartment 2-3 times, bringing me Catholic theological books.”

From the additional protocol of March 20, 1939: “...thirdly, I also could not participate in espionage work together with the Polish priest Savinsky, since regarding Shchebrovsky, who appears in the case as an espionage intermediary, I was warned by my son-in-law Zhukov “It was known back in 1926 and 1927 that this was the most dangerous provocateur and secret employee of the GPU.”

Until very recently, nothing was known about priest Savinsky. Moreover, his name did not appear on any lists of Catholic clergy. Priest Savinsky was arrested on July 19 of the same ill-fated year. During interrogations, he testified that he personally knew V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky (Bishop Luke). On November 24, 1937, the Roman Catholic priest was shot, and in 1939 Voino-Yasenetsky was charged as one of his connections “with the Polish priest in Tashkent Savinsky, a resident of Polish intelligence.”

Savinsky Joseph Boleslavovich was born in 1880 in Poznan (Poland), in the family of a doctor. Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the University of Rome. From 1905 to 1906 he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Breslav in Germany. Served as vicar in the city. Lutsk and Kremenets (1917-20). In 1920 he served as a chaplain for several months. Then he served for two years as rector of the church in the town of Lyakhovtsy.

After the delimitation of territory between the USSR and Poland, he ended up on the territory of the USSR. From 1928 to 1933 he served a sentence under Article 58-6 (espionage). After his release, through the authorized representative of the Polish Red Cross, he tried to leave for Poland. In 1934, having received no response from the Polish Red Cross, he contacted the community of the city of Tashkent and arrived in Tashkent as rector of the Roman Catholic church.

In 1937, he was arrested by the NKVD of the Uzbek SSR on charges of counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation, as well as participation in a counter-revolutionary organization and in organizational activities for the preparation of counter-revolutionary crimes.

By the determination of the Military Tribunal of the Turkestan Military District of May 19, 1958, the resolution of the NKVD Commission and the USSR Prosecutor's Office of October 10, 1937 was canceled.

Shchebrovsky Evgeny Vladimirovich, born in 1904, native of Tashkent, Russian. Social origin - from the nobility. By religious convictions he is a Catholic. Single. In 1936 he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​at the Pedagogical Institute. He was engaged in teaching activities. He was repeatedly convicted for participation in anarchist circles.

From 1920 to 1921 E.V. Shchebrovsky was one of the members of the anarchist organization “Anarcho-Cult”. In 1921-1922 he was a member of the Anarchist Youth Federation. For three years (1924-1927) he was in exile for participating in an anarcho-mystical circle in Ashgabat. In 1930 he was again convicted under Art. 58, 10 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and sentenced to 3 years of exile in Tajikistan for organizing an anarcho-mystical youth group.

Arrested on February 28, 1937 by the State Security Department of the NKVD of the Uzbek SSR. He was accused of “being an active opponent of the Soviet regime, systematically conducting counter-revolutionary fascist defeatist agitation, expressing counter-revolutionary slanderous views about the Stalinist Constitution and praising German-Italian fascism.”

From the interrogation protocol of E.V. Shchebrovsky:

“In my worldview and my psychology, I am alien to the Soviet government and Soviet ideology and do not share the policies of the Soviet government,” “I spoke about the need for all believers to join the Catholic Church with the acceptance of all its dogmas - as a mandatory requirement of faith and as a strengthening of faith in order to fight with godlessness."

On August 17, 1937 he was sentenced to death. Rehabilitated in 1989 due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions (Letter of the FSB dated 10.2263 dated August 18, 2003 addressed to the head of the Roman Catholic parish in Tashkent, Krzysztof Kukolka).

III. New oral evidence

65 years separate us from the time when Voino-Yasenetsky - already forever - left Uzbekistan. But just recently we were able to communicate with the people of Tashkent who remembered the pastoral ministry of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky in the capital's Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, visited his home, communicated with him in their apartments, studied and worked with his children, or heard about him from representatives of the older generation. Now there are few witnesses left to this wonderful life, and all of them are well over eighty.

But even now, other townspeople, not by hearsay, but on the basis of personal communication with him or with his patients, call Voino-Yasenetsky one of the best surgeons of the twentieth century, a widely educated doctor in various fields of medicine and simply a person with outstanding spiritual qualities.

This is what Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Doctor of Art History G.A. told us. Pugachenkova:

“I heard about Voino-Yasenetsky in the 30s as a strange combination of a doctor and a clergyman at that time. For me, a convinced atheist, this seemed incompatible. Moreover, in Tashkent there were fresh memories of the events of the 30s associated with another doctor - Mikhailovsky. But I learned one detail about Voyno-Yasenetsky from archaeologist Vsevolod Danilovich Zhukov (1902-1962), whose older brother, Sergei, was married to his daughter...

Once, while on a business trip to Bukhara, V.D. Zhukov drank water from the extremely unsanitary reservoirs there, full of infectious evil spirits, and fell ill with a very severe form of amoebic dysentery. Doctors in Tashkent put him on a strict diet. Almost all foods were excluded, and he almost died not so much from illness as from hunger. Having learned about this, Voino-Yasenetsky ordered: “We need to eat!” and suggested - to the horror of his fellow therapists - to eat more grated raw tomatoes and something else from living vegetation. And brought the man back to life. He was a surgeon and had extensive knowledge of medicine and nature. His book on purulent surgery of the war years, which was awarded the Stalin Prize, was largely based on this breadth of positions.”

And here is the story of history and geography teacher Anastasia Vasilyevna Stupakova (born 1918):

“I know Voino-Yasenetsky as a doctor. My grandmother loved me very much and took me to doctors because I was very thin. Someone advised her to contact Voino-Yasenetsky. We went to his apartment, which was located in the area of ​​Uezdnaya Street. I was then 9-10 years old, but I remembered this visit to the doctor very well, since it was the first time I was examined so carefully (listened to my heart and lungs, examined my throat, arms and legs, etc.). Finally, the doctor told the grandmother: “There is nothing to be afraid of this one. This one will live a long time." Thus, the assessment of the state of my body turned out to be very correct. And now I have lived to be 86 years old, and I am not going to die. I take care of myself completely and also help my sons and daughter-in-law.”

From a conversation between priest Sergius Nikolaev and one of his parishioners (recorded in 2003, the text of the memoirs was kindly given to us by R. Dorofeev):

“...Many knew that wounds and diseases associated with suppuration would be healed best by Vladyka Luka (he was also called Professor Voino-Yasenetsky).

There lived one family in Tashkent that suffered the brunt of repression, exile and, by the will of God, ended up in Tashkent. The husband did painting work, and the wife did housework. At the beginning of 1937, their son became seriously ill: an infection got into his arm and affected the periosteal tissue. Severe suppuration of the periosteum began, threatening gangrene.

The poor mother turned to the Tashkent Medical Institute for help. On the advice of one person, she and her son managed to get an appointment with Vladyka. He examined the boy very carefully, took the woman aside and said: “Amputation is necessary.” “No,” exclaimed the woman. “It’s better to die than to be crippled for life.” Vladyka, amazed at the firmness of the young mother, retired to the operating room, where he had an icon hanging, and prayed for a long time. Then, going out, he said: “Prepare the boy for the operation,” and left to prepare everything necessary for its completion.

The operation lasted 8-9 hours. The boy's entire arm and back were covered with numerous surgical stitches. (Later) the very tired Vladyka said that it was very difficult, the suppuration spread to the back. There was a danger of complete destruction of the body.

The boy began to recover. Vladyka fell in love with him and even took him with him on his morning rounds of the sick. “Well, is it difficult to live in the world?” asked Vladyka (one day). “It’s difficult,” answered the rescued child.”

Bolislav Mstislavovich Matlasevich, who celebrated his eightieth birthday in 2002, recalled another incident. In 1929, his mother visited Dr. Voino-Yasenetsky with complaints of stomach pain. After the examination, he recommended that she go to Semirechye, to the town of Vannovka and drink more water there.

Our contemporary Georgy Aleksandrovich Boryaev (engineer, born 1934) calls Vladyka his godfather for the reason that in 1936 he saved his life.

“I was hospitalized with my mother at TashMI due to lobar pneumonia. My health was critical. Luckily, my mother met Voino-Yasenetsky at the clinic at that time. She turned to him asking for help. Voino-Yasenetsky read a prayer, gave me some medicine, and I recovered. My mother was a pious woman and a good dressmaker. Sometimes Valentin Feliksovich also asked to sew something. We lived very close then.

In the post-war period, Vladyka came to Tashkent only once. He came to our house. This was in 1947, shortly before ration cards were abolished.” (From personal conversation in December 2003).

The emotional opera singer of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Opera and Ballet named after Alisher Navoi, Iraida Fedorovna Cherneva (1922-2005), could not remember certain moments from the distant past associated with the name of Bishop Luke without tears:

“I still remember one of the episodes. One day dad and Vladyka met on our street. My father lifted me up, and I put my hand into the large, splayed pocket of my godfather’s cassock and pulled out thin cookies, most likely mallow. This man is very dear to me many times over. He saved my father's life: he performed a craniotomy. He also operated on my husband.”

There were legends about the difficult character of Voino-Yasenetsky. He is one of those who does not change his principles and beliefs. All informants noted his extraordinary energy and incredible integrity of personality. After three difficult exiles, he did not break down; moreover, he found the strength to make a strong enough statement about himself.

As Voino-Yasenetsky’s colleagues and close acquaintances recalled, Vladyka never lived well, never laughed, but knew how to “smile sweetly.” For a clergyman, in our opinion, this is the only true, natural state.

Valentin Feliksovich spent his entire life advocating for the poor, for the right to receive the necessary free medical care for everyone who needs it.

When in May 1918 the People's Commissar of Health raised the issue of creating the Tashkent Higher Medical School, Professor Voino-Yasenetsky managed to convince the authorities to open a secondary medical educational institution that would work according to a simplified version and train rural (kishlak) doctors. However, eight months later the school was closed, or rather, rebuilt into a medical faculty according to the project of I.I. Orlova. Such a turn in solving the problem of training medical personnel did not affect the good relations between scientists, and this is confirmed by a photograph dated 1935, which depicts Voino-Yasenetsky and Orlov.

It has long been noted that the first stone is usually thrown from where you don’t expect it. And therefore, apparently, the above-mentioned E.U. came as a complete surprise to Voino-Yasenetsky. Makhkamov article in the newspaper “Pravda Vostoka” dated April 9, 1935. under the heading “On the verge of witchcraft”, signed by several doctors. The first listed was I.I. Orlov.

In the 30s of the last century, warm relations were established between the Avedov and Zhukov-Voino families.

In 1996, Nina Artashesovna (candidate of art history, born in 1924) recalled those distant years with great love.

“What connected my father Artashes Avedov (1897-1957), an Iranian subject, with S.D. Zhukov-Voino, I can’t remember anymore. At that time, our family in Kibray (in the vicinity of Tashkent) had a large garden. He was looked after by hired workers. My father worked seasonally as a gardener at the Iranian consulate in Ashgabat. By the way, a photograph has been preserved in which he is captured with the Iranian consul, as well as a bill of sale (1904) for the garden and other documents related to the activities of his grandfather and father. Owning a significant plot of land at that time created problems for the family with local authorities. Apparently, it was on this basis that my father became close to S.D. Zhukov, Voino-Yasenetsky’s son-in-law, a lawyer by profession. Sergei Danilovich and his wife Elena, Voino-Yasenetsky’s daughter, then lived in his mother’s house (on Sverdlova Street). “Mom always told me and my brother Vanya when we went to visit the Voyno-Zhukovs: “If Vladyka comes out to meet you, come up and kiss his hand.” He was considered a saint."

Dad was arrested on February 3, 1938 and placed in a regional prison. Later we learned that he was sitting in the same cell with Voino-Yasenetsky. Here's how we found out about it... Once we received his clothes for washing, we discovered pantaloons with the embroidered initials “V.Ya.” (The lines of these memoirs are especially interesting for us because they cast doubt on the assertions of some authors of books and articles about Voino-Yasenetsky that after the third arrest the family knew nothing about the fate of the professor for two years).

The day after the arrest of N.A. Avedova’s father, her mother Satenik was also arrested. In the remand prison (now the site of the Yulduz knitting factory is located), she met a young woman, Sima, the wife of the noble Afghan Raim Muhammad, who fled in 1929 from the province of Mazar-i-Sharif to the USSR and settled in Tashkent. A year later, the women were released, but they continued to communicate, especially since they had to carry packages to their husbands at the same address.

For two years, the ex-governor of the Northern Province, Raim Muhammad, was a bunk neighbor with Bishop Voino-Yasenetsky, and more than one evening he conducted a peaceful dialogue on theological topics with an Orthodox priest who was tolerant of people of different faiths and nationalities. This episode from the extraordinary fate of the Afghan prince is described in detail by M. Popovsky.

We managed to find out some details of the Tashkent era of the family of Raim Muhammad.

Paradoxically, after a seven-year prison sentence, the newcomer Afghan was immediately entrusted with teaching at the Oriental Faculty of SASU (now the National University of the Republic of Uzbekistan) as a native speaker of the Afghan and Persian languages. One of his students, now academician A.P. Kayumov, emphasizes his high education, good manners and kindness. When picking cotton, the “Afghan prince” worked equally with everyone else and considered himself a “citizen of the Union.” In the early 50s, the family of Raimjon Umarov (Raim Muhammedi) moved to Moscow.

Vladyka had strong charisma and was distinguished by extraordinary kindness... In the soul of everyone who communicated with him or became acquainted with his scientific and philosophical works, something changed for the better.

By the way, his contemporaries, doctors A.D., were also extraordinary, unmercenary doctors who honestly served the science of mercy and the fatherland. Grekov, A.P. Berezsky et al.

Military doctor A.P. Berezsky (1878-1945) from 1918 to 1919, as a public duty, was the chairman of the Hospital Council, which was later transformed into the Tashkent Department of Health. He collaborated with Voino-Yasenetsky on the competition commission at the Union of Doctors in 1918, which decided on the right of doctors returning from the front to take their former places (Newspaper "People's University" dated August 16, 1918).

On March 10, 1936, in Pravda Vostoka, in a report on a gathering of excellent healthcare workers, it was written in particular:

“Anatoly Petrovich Berezsky is remarkable because in all 34 years of medical activity he did not have a single paying patient. For 11 years now A.P. constantly treats workers of the Tashkent tram. Serving family members is not his responsibility. Nevertheless, Dr. Berezsky at any time of the day or night (whether it is a regular day or a weekend) rushes to the patient’s apartment at the first call.”

IV. Periodicals

We looked through all the surviving local newspapers of 1917-1937 in the libraries of the republic. and found a whole series of messages, articles and feuilletons that mentioned V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky.

Information notes published in the local newspaper “Our Newspaper” for May 21, June 12 and July 16, 1918 indicate a positive attitude of the Commissariat of Health towards the public service of the chief physician of the Tashkent City Hospital - Voino-Yasenetsky. These messages in a few lines make it possible to name the names of doctors (Demidov, Zhuravleva, Uspenskaya, Shishova, etc.) who were not previously mentioned in articles about Voino-Yasenetsky, with whom Valentin Feliksovich had close contact in medical commissions during various epidemics or when examining a mobilized medical personnel.

During this period, the name of the surgeon is mentioned in a calm tone and in brief publications concerning his spiritual life. They specify the circle of Tashkent acquaintances and like-minded people of the future representative of the clergy, and clarify certain aspects of his life story. For example, Archbishop Luke in his memoirs, written by him in his declining years - “I fell in love with suffering...”, in particular, wrote: “I soon learned that there was a church brotherhood in Tashkent, and I went to one of its meetings.” In the newspaper “People's University” dated July 4, 1918 (No. 50), in a brief review of the 2nd Turkestan Congress of Clergy and Laity, it is said that at its meeting Voino-Yasenetsky reported on the establishment of the Turkestan Brotherhood with religious and educational goals, missionary and charitable. The brotherhood was to become the center of the religious life of the region. Thus, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky stood at the origins of his organization. At the initiative of the Brotherhood, on September 27, 1918, in the cathedral, Doctor of Medicine V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, who had not yet thought about taking holy orders, gave a lecture “On the meaning of life,” which became the forerunner of his many years of philosophical work “Spirit. Soul. Body". Our newspaper reported about this event.

The Lord had his own vision of the world, knew how to foresee a lot, and sought to recognize the mystery of existence. At the same time, he clearly understood what audience he would speak to. According to L.V. Oshanin, Voino-Yasenetsky’s reports to the Union of Doctors always “...were strictly scientific and there was no religious tendency in them.”

From these same notes we learned that together with the future Archbishop Voino-Yasenetsky, a layman, an active participant in the 2nd Turkestan Congress of Clergy and Laity, tried to resolve the problems of church life - E.K. Betger (1887-1956), later a prominent scientist, bibliographer, director of the Navoi Public Library. Until now, there was an opinion among his admirers that Evgeniy Karlovich, a German by birth, converted to Orthodoxy against his will - it turned out that he was Orthodox in spirit.

Articles and feuilletons from later newspaper files in which the name of Voino-Yasenetsky was mentioned, written after he was ordained a priest, also quite accurately reflected the mood of part of society of that time in relation to the clergy. From now on, they are of an openly unbridled, poisonous nature. But they sometimes contain useful factual material that helps us clarify some aspects of the biography of the famous surgeon and church leader, as well as members of his family.

The feuilleton “The Autocephalous Cat and the Surgical Pike,” published in Turkestanskaya Pravda on September 13, 1923, contains valuable information for us from the autobiography of Voino-Yasenetsky, written by him on August 15, 1920:

“I really did not like the natural sciences, but had a strong attraction to the philosophical and historical sciences, served as a zemstvo doctor for 13 years, specialized in surgery, and wrote 29 scientific works, including a doctoral dissertation, for which in 1915 I received one of the most prominent in Russian awards. Since March 1917, I have been the head of the surgical department of the Tashkent city hospital.”

In the newspaper "Komsomolets of Uzbekistan" in the article "Aliens in SAGU" dated January 14, 1930, there are attacks against students - children of representatives of the clergy of the medical faculty of the Central Asian University. After the daughter of “priest Zhmakin” and “son of priest Yushtin,” the youngest son of Bishop Voino-Yasenetsky, Valentin, was named third.

In the newspaper “Pravda Vostoka” dated November 7 and 24, 1935, entire pages were devoted to the consecration of celebrations dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Tashkent Medical Institute. However, the name of Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, one of the pioneers of higher medical education in Turkestan, is not mentioned.

Unfortunately, nothing is said about the talented surgeon in the currently operating Museum of the History of Tashkent Medical Institute.

V. Historical Relics

In the personal archive of N.A. Tsitovich has preserved a letter from Voino-Yasenetsky addressed to the mother of Nikolai Alexandrovich:

“Peace and blessings to Elena Petrovna. I am very happy about Petya’s good qualities and his recovery and your peaceful life. Why are you waiting for me in Tashkent? It’s very far from you, and I, of course, cannot leave my numerous diocesan affairs. Of course, I cannot clearly judge Alexei Onisimovich’s illness behind his own eyes. I can only say one thing for sure: if his front and rear arteries of the foot do not pulsate, then, of course, amputation is necessary, but not only of the feet, which is completely unacceptable, but of the lower legs in the upper third, or better yet, amputation of the lower leg joint according to the gritty.

May the Lord heal him, and may He grant you all physical health and spiritual peace.”

“For me and my family, everything is good and prosperous, thank God. A. (Archbishop) Luke 2USH.”

The year the letter was written is missing. According to N.A. Tsitovich, the letter was written in 1960. Now this relic and the above-mentioned manuscript, with our assistance, have replenished the fund of the Central Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In the library of A.N.’s nephew Tsitovich - Alexander there is a monograph by Voino-Yasenetsky “Essays on Purulent Surgery” with the author’s inscription. This book is treasured by many Tashkent doctors. The name of its author is familiar to medical specialists all over the world. In the scientific literature there is even a professional term “Voino-Yasenetsky incision.”

When the items confiscated during the arrest by the NKVD were returned, the Avedov family was mistakenly given items that belonged to V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky: a record of Orthodox spiritual music and a book by the German scientist W. Wundt “Hypnotism and Suggestion” (St. Petersburg, 1898). On the cover of the book there are bookplates of its two owners: “Bookstore V.A. PROSYANICHENKO. Kyiv" and "Doctor of Medicine - V.F. YASENETSKY-VOYNO." He continued to use a seal with this text for many years. True, in the article by D. Toboltsev “The Revelation of Bishop Luke (regarding the death of Professor Mikhailovsky)”, published in Tashkentskaya Pravda on February 13, 1930, it is written that on the certificate about the cause of Mikhailovsky’s death next to the signature “Doctor of Medicine, Bishop Luke “There is an imprint of a “small round seal that says “Doctor of Medicine V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky.” In all likelihood, the same seal is mentioned here, well, and the name of the surgeon in the new pronunciation is given in the article out of late, established habit.

And V.A. Lisichkin also notes on page 197 of his book that the certificate from E.S. Mikhailovskaya is written on the doctor’s letterhead: “Doctor of Medicine Yasenetsky-Voino V.F.”

A rare gramophone record with recordings of sacred music by N.A. Avedova in 1998 transferred it for storage to the Tashkent and Central Asian diocese.

VI. Documentary monuments

We have selected a whole gallery of photographic portraits of friends and people from V.F.’s close circle. Voino-Yasenetsky in Tashkent. Among them, for example, is a photograph showing Elena Voino-Zhukova with two friends. The back is marked "February 13, 1933."

In his oral stories N.A. Avedova repeatedly mentioned Elena’s kindness and her culinary abilities. At the same time, she regretted that she lost her husband early, and she herself died prematurely in 1972.

Noteworthy are the photographs of the family of priest Vasily Bersenev, who served in the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, in which Fr. Valentin (Voino-Yasenetsky), portraits of the Bogoroditsky priests and their relatives, the Afghan prince Raim Muhammad, famous Tashkent doctors - work colleagues (Berezsky, Grekov, etc.).

Archbishop Luke at all times of his difficult life maintained warm relations with the clergy of the local Orthodox diocese. This is evidenced by photographs preserved in the private archives of Tashkent residents. One of them was shown to me by the teacher of the Tashkent Theological Seminary R.V. Dorofeev. Bishop Luke is photographed in liturgical vestments on the pulpit of the church, surrounded by clergy. The photo was clearly taken after the liturgy. There is no date.

Another photograph was published in the Word of Life newspaper in December 2002. In it, St. Luke was photographed together with the Tashkent priest Konstantin. The inscription on the back of the photograph indicates that this clergyman gave it to his friends in 1954.

It is gratifying to note that other Tashkent residents also collect documentary and iconographic materials about our glorious fellow countryman (for example, the late mitred Archpriest Father Pachomius (Lai), teacher of the Tashkent Theological Seminary R. Dorofeev, philologist and local historian B.N. Zavadovsky, etc.)

VII. Memorial places

It is well known how powerfully places associated with the lives of remarkable people influence a person. They help to plunge into the atmosphere of a bygone time.

Although, according to N.A. Tsitovich, “in Tashkent, in his own apartment, such an eminent person essentially did not have to live,” nevertheless, it should be recognized that for the first six years the Voino-Yasenetsky family lived in fairly tolerable conditions. He, as the chief physician of the city hospital, was given a six-room house on government territory. It was the most modern public medical institution at that time, located almost in the suburban part of the city on the street. Zhukovskaya (now Sadyk Azimov). The complex of buildings, built in 1898, was even electrified, although during the Civil War the normal life of the city's electrical network was paralyzed.

After the first arrest, in June 1923, the children, together with Sofia Veletskaya, moved into a tiny room, where they even had to build two-story bunks.

Today, a map-scheme of memorial places in the city associated with the name of the surgeon and religious figure St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) has already been compiled.

Returning to Tashkent after his first exile at the end of January 1926, the bishop “settled in the apartment in which Sofya Sergeevna Veletskaya lived with my children.” According to N.A. Tsitovich, “it was a two-room outbuilding with an entrance hall in the courtyard of the former modest mansion of M.I. Maltseva on Colonel Dolinsky Street.

In the samizdat manuscript, which circulated from hand to hand in Soviet times and marked 1979, it is written somewhat differently: during this period he lived “in a house on the street. Teacher's. Sofya Sergeevna ran the household and lived in a small outbuilding in the yard.”

We are more inclined to trust Tsitovich. After all, it’s unlikely that Veletskaya had the funds to rent such a large area...

Due to the long-standing history of the events described, St. Luke simply made a mistake when he wrote in his memoirs that he “settled on Teacher’s Street.” In fact, Uchitelskaya Street was the main street on a piece of land in the Russian part of Tashkent, which was owned by the merchant Yusuf Davydov before the revolution. Nearby, on the same site, Dolinskogo and Novaya streets were planned. This fact was confirmed in his memoirs by L.V. Oshanin:

“Once my wife and I met Voino on Novaya Street (now Kablukova Street), who was returning from a bishop’s service. At that time he lived on Dolinsky Street, in house No. 8.”

By the way, this is one of the few corners of patriarchal Tashkent that has been preserved almost in its original form.

N.A. was going to show us “Maltseva’s Mansion.” Tsitovich, since he had repeatedly visited all of Voino-Yasenetsky’s apartments, but due to poor health he could not do this. I.F. helped us find him. Cherneva (1923-2005). At the end of the 20s of the last century, her family lived opposite. During this period, Vladyka was engaged in worship and private medical practice. There was always a crowd of people in the courtyard of the house.

Rafoat Suleymanovna Kuchlikova (b. 1932) shared her fragmentary memories with us. Her family also lived next door to the Voino-Yasenetsky house. According to her, Valentin Feliksovich visited the house of her relative Rustam Islamov, the chairman of the People's Commissariat for Agriculture, as well as the house of her mother, Khasiyat Mirkarimova, and her aunt, Risalat Said-Alieva.

“In 1936-1937. Voino-Yasenetsky brought facial surgeon A.F. Keyser to us for consultation on the possibility of performing an operation on my sister.”

Several years ago, during the expansion of the highway, a number of pre-revolutionary buildings near the Alai Bazaar were dismantled, and the memorial house now became a corner building. The capital building, without any external differences, has four windows with a main entrance in the middle. From that time, high wooden carved gates leading to a fairly large courtyard, dilapidated outbuildings “with amenities on the street” and several old trees have been preserved. Among them, two cedars, which were then rare in the region, and a hazel stand out. According to legend, Voino-Yasenetsky loved to relax under cedar trees.

By the way, in the area of ​​Uchitelskaya Street in the years up to 1946, V.P. lived. Filatov (a talented ophthalmologist and church reader) is a great friend of V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky.

During this period of his life, the surgeon Voino-Yasenetsky was engaged only in private practice and saw “about 400 patients a month. The line had been forming since 5 o'clock in the morning.

After returning from his second exile to Tashkent (in the spring of 1934), Voino-Yasenetsky spent some time traveling. According to his personal sheet dated November 1, 1934, Valentin Feliksovich at that time worked as the head of the surgical department in the same first city hospital where he worked in 191

Series of messages " ":

“When I look over my memories of Turkestan, I sometimes think, not without sadness, about how thoroughly forgotten people are who once played a more than noticeable (scientific) role, even with a modest official position.”

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Part 2 - Voino-Yasenetsky V.F.
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Graduates of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University (KrasSMU) named after. Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky took the oath of a doctor of Russia. This is an annual event where future doctors swear to honestly perform their medical duty. The graduates were congratulated by the Governor of the region Viktor Tolokonsky, the Minister of Health of the region Vadim Yanin, the rector of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University Ivan Artyukhov and the chief doctors of the region’s medical institutions.

Over 500 graduates gathered in the Great Concert Hall today. All of them have already passed qualifying exams in the following specialties: general medicine, pediatrics, dentistry, pharmacy, social work and clinical psychology. As the graduates themselves admit, the ceremony turned out to be even more exciting for them than the exams themselves, because today they received the high title of doctor and made a promise to always provide medical care to all those who need it.

“You have chosen a very difficult profession. Studying at a medical university is probably the most difficult thing, because a great responsibility rests on your shoulders from the first year. A person’s life depends on your knowledge and skills. An internship awaits you ahead, but also after its completion, when you begin your practical activities - learn, improve yourself. And remember that even in the age of high technology, not a single modern medical device can replace the hands of a doctor, his attention to the patient and support during the treatment period," said the head of the region, Viktor Tolokonsky.

Minister of Health of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Vadim Yanin wished success and said that practical healthcare awaits all graduates. “You must not be afraid of the patient, you must seek dialogue with him, because without this dialogue nothing will work in treatment. If there is no dialogue, unfortunately, we have lost... In the country, military and medical workers - doctors - take the oath. The formal document contains all the wisdom of previous generations... It is very important that, no matter how life scatters you, you continue to communicate with each other. The future of our healthcare depends on your relationship,” the minister said.

Archpriest Anatoly Obukhov conveyed to the audience a congratulatory word from Metropolitan Panteleimon of Krasnoyarsk and Achinsk, who blessed young specialists for their work to save human lives and health, care and mercy for sick people. In his speech, Father Anatoly also recalled recent significant events in the life of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University - the consecration by the bishops of the university Lukinsky Church and the site for the monument to St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), whose name the higher educational institution bears, the priest told the press service of the Krasnoyarsk diocese.

Let us add that this year graduates of the specialties “dentistry” and “pharmacy” of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University underwent primary state accreditation. Passing the exams makes it possible to start working immediately, without additional postgraduate training.

Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) is one of the newly glorified saints, who, however, is already surrounded by enormous veneration among Orthodox Christians. His life was cut short in the early sixties of the 20th century as a result of a long illness. But his name is not forgotten; daily prayers are offered to Saint Luke of Crimea from the lips of many believers.

The formation of the personality of Saint Luke

Before moving on to the texts of the saint’s prayers themselves, we should understand a little about the biography of this person. This will give an understanding of why prayer is offered to him at all. Saint Luke was given the name Valentin at birth - Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky. He was born in 1877 in Kerch. As a child, he had a penchant for drawing and dreamed of becoming an artist, but ultimately chose the path of a doctor. After graduating from Kiev University, Valentin worked as a surgeon in the Far East, operating on wounded soldiers who took part in battles during the Russian-Japanese War. In 1917, he moved to Turkestan, where he continued to practice medicine in one of the hospitals in Tashkent. In 1920, he headed the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy at Turkestan University and gave lectures.

Taking Holy Orders

While living in Tashkent, Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky begins to show an active interest in church life. Thanks to one of his speeches in 1920 regarding church life in Turkestan, Valentin was noticed by the Tashkent Bishop Innocent, who ordained him to the rank of deacon, and then priest. Having taken upon himself the burden of shepherding and bearing the obedience of a cathedral preacher, Valentin did not abandon medicine and scientific activity, continuing to operate and teach.

Persecution and exile of Archbishop Luke

The persecution of Father Valentin began after he took monastic vows in 1923 with the name Luke in honor of the evangelist, who, according to legend, was also a doctor. In the same year, Hieromonk Luke was ordained to the rank of bishop, after which the first exile followed - to Turukhansk.

While in prison, Bishop Luke worked on his book “Essays on Purulent Surgery,” for which he would later be personally awarded by Comrade Stalin. Soon, Right Reverend Luke was sent to Moscow, where the authorities allowed him to serve and live in an apartment. Fourteen years later, during the anti-religious persecutions of 1937, Bishop Luke’s second exile followed, this time to Krasnoyarsk. When the war began, he was sent to work as a doctor at the Krasnoyarsk evacuation point. Since 1943, he has also occupied the Krasnoyarsk bishop's see. However, just a year later he faces moving again. Now, as a bishop, he travels to the Tambov region, but does not stop working in medicine, coordinating under his leadership about 150 hospitals in the region.

Awards and canonization

With the end of the war, Archbishop Luke will receive a church reward - the right to wear a diamond cross on his hood. And from the side of the state authorities he is awarded the medal “For valiant labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

In 1946, Archbishop Luke was awarded another award - the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree - for his contribution to the development of domestic science in the field of medicine.

In the same year he was transferred as a bishop to Simferopol, entrusted with the Crimean See. There the Most Reverend Luke will spend the rest of his life. By the end of his days, he will completely lose his sight, but still will not stop serving.

At this time, the Council of the Moscow Theological Academy accepts His Eminence Luke as an honorary member of the academy. And his posthumous veneration among the church people led to a natural canonization: in 1996 in Simferopol, Archbishop Luke was glorified as a saint and confessor of the faith.

His lifetime service as a doctor also determined his place in the cathedral of saints - prayer to St. Luke became a means of healing and recovery. People obsessed with various ailments and diseases turn to him, as well as to Saint Panteleimon. However, praying for something else is also not prohibited. Many parents read, for example, prayers to St. Luke for children and family well-being. As the patron saint of the area, Archbishop Luke is remembered in those places where he carried out his pastoral ministry - in Crimea, Tambov, Tashkent, Krasnoyarsk, etc.

General prayer to Saint Luke

In personal prayers, you can pray in your own words, but joint services are subject to a certain order and have a standardized set of texts. Below we will present a prayer to St. Luke of Crimea in Russian translation:

O all-blessed confessor, saint, our father Luke! Great saint of Christ! In tenderness, bending the knees of our hearts, like the child of our father, we beg you with all zeal: hear us, sinners. Offer our prayer to the merciful and humane God, to whom you stand in the goodness of the saints, with angelic faces. For we believe that you love us with the same love with which you loved all your neighbors when you were on earth.
Ask Christ our God to strengthen his children in the spirit of correct faith and piety. May he give the shepherds holy zeal and concern for the salvation of the flock entrusted to them. Let them protect the rights of believers, strengthen the weak in the faith, instruct the ignorant, and rebuke those who resist. Give each of us the gift that we need, and which will be useful both for eternal salvation and in this life. Grant our cities affirmation, the earth fertility, protection from hunger and disease, comfort to the grieving, recovery to the sick, return those who are astray to the path of truth, bless the parents, raise and raise children in the fear of the Lord, help the orphans and the lonely. Give us all your archpastoral blessing, so that we, having this prayerful intercession, will get rid of the opposition of the devil and avoid all enmity, disorder, heresies and schisms. Lead us on the road leading to the villages of the righteous, praying for us to the omnipotent God, so that in eternal life we ​​may be granted with you the unceasing glorification of the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This is the common prayer to St. Luke, read during official services. Prayer books intended for private use also contain other versions of the texts. One of them - a prayer to St. Luke for health - will be given below. For ease of understanding the text, it will also be presented in Russian translation.

Saint Luke: prayer for recovery

Oh, blessed Saint Luke, hear and accept us sinners turning to you in prayer! In your life, you are accustomed to accepting and helping everyone who needs your help. Listen to us, the mourners, who call with faith and hope for your intercession. Grant us quick help and miraculous healing! May your mercy not be squandered now towards us, the unworthy. Heal us, who suffer in this hectic world and find no consolation and compassion anywhere in our mental sorrows and physical illnesses. Deliver us from the temptations and torments of the devil, help us carry our cross in life, endure all the difficulties of life and not lose the image of God in it and preserve the Orthodox faith. Give us the strength to have firm trust and hope in God, unfeigned love for our neighbors, so that when the time comes to part with life, we will achieve the Kingdom of Heaven together with all those pleasing to God. Amen

This is how Saint Luke is venerated in the Orthodox Church. The prayer for recovery can be read not only during times of physical exhaustion, but also during times of depression or some kind of mental illness. In addition, the range of illnesses in the church tradition also includes spiritual problems, for example, doubts in faith.