The Valaam Monastery hosted the III International Festival of Orthodox Singing “Illuminator.

Valaam hosted the III International Festival of Orthodox singing "Illuminator", which was attended by hundreds and even thousands of pilgrims and tourists. From July 28 to 30, the audience could hear the singing of well-known performers, as well as get acquainted with new talents not only from Russia, but also from other countries. How was the festival and is it worth it to go to the "Prosvetitel" next year - in the material of the correspondent NEVSKY NEWS.

Every year, an unmeasured number of pilgrims go to the island of Valaam. In summer, there are queues on the pier, and people come from all over the country to find themselves on holy land. On the island you can meet Finns, Chinese and even French. Russian President Vladimir Putin annually visits Valaam and, it is worth noting, most often with an unofficial visit. According to local clergy, no one knows when he will arrive. Reported five minutes before arrival.

But not only shrines attract people. Valaam delights with the reserved nature and the work of people who have turned the lands of the island into one of the most well-groomed territories in Russia. The main reason for visiting the island this weekend for many tourists and pilgrims was the festival of Orthodox singing "Illuminator".

The Enlightener festival is being held for the third time. It was first held in 2015, the year of the millennium of the repose of Prince Vladimir, who baptized Russia. This year the concert programs were united by the theme of a person's spiritual growth and his path to God. Performers from Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Serbia and Cyprus performed on the stage for three days, and several thousand people listened to the singing.

During breaks, tourists and pilgrims walked around the island, got acquainted with the history of the island and the monastery. Now we can talk about three versions of the emergence of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery.

The Apostle Andrew the First-Called entered the "stormy and revolving waters of Lake Nebo", where he installed a stone cross on the "Valaam Mountains".

The monks Sergius and Herman came to Valaam, having come "from the eastern countries", and founded a monastic brotherhood on one of the islands in the 10th-11th centuries.

For the first time, the Valaam Monastery was mentioned by Savvaty of Solovetsky in The Tale of the Valaam Monastery. The date of foundation is considered to be 1407.

By the beginning of the 16th century, about 600 monks lived in the Valaam archipelago. However, numerous attacks by the Swedes led to the fact that the fertile island was neglected. During the Northern War, the archimandrite of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery asked Peter the Great to issue a decree on the restoration of the Valaam monastery, which the emperor did. After the Treaty of Nystadt signed in 1721, Valaam, along with the rest of the lands, joined Russia.

The Valaam monastery became part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the 19th century, then ended up on the territory of its successor, Finland that separated from Russia. During the Soviet-Finnish war, the monks, who at that time accepted Finnish citizenship, left the island and took with them the original icon of the Valaam Mother of God. Before the Great Patriotic War, a school of boatswain and cabin boy was organized in the monastery buildings, the graduates of which were subsequently sent to war.

In the 1950s, in the former cells and sketes, a House for the Disabled of War and Labor was created, in which war invalids were often forcibly placed. In 1984, the institution was transferred to the mainland. In the 60s, motor ships with tourists began to come to Valaam. In 1979, a museum-reserve was organized on the island, after which they began to restore the monuments.

In the late 80s - early 90s, the revival of the monastery began. Now the island of Valaam boasts a well-groomed territory, cleanliness, fresh restoration, numerous buildings in the form of churches, chapels, bridges and footpaths.

In 2015, the Light of Valaam Charitable Foundation for the first time held the Enlightener festival of Orthodox singing, the concert program of which was dedicated to the deeds of Prince Vladimir. The second festival was dedicated to the Twelfth Feasts. The third festival in a row proved that people's interest in such events is only growing.

On the final day of the festival, July 30, the concert "Mountains Look to the Sky" took place in the Singing Pavilion. The audience enjoyed the Christian chants of Armenia and Georgia. The State Chamber Choir of Armenia "Hover" and the State Ensemble of Georgian Folk Singing "Basiani" performed on the stage.

Later, a gala concert began, where the young but gifted soloist Nicholas Karagiorgis from Cyprus, the Dnevnerussky chant male chamber choir, the Chamber Choir of the Faculty of Church Singing of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University and many other talented performers performed.

There is no doubt that any tourist and pilgrimage trip is very different from the days that people spend on the island of Valaam at the Enlightener festival. The organizers managed to prepare a big celebration, which brought together both performers and lovers of Orthodox singing from St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. They have January concerts ahead of them, trips to the fountains in Peterhof, municipal elections, but here, on Valaam, time freezes, and everyone is immersed in a slightly different change, which some will call inspiration, happiness, harmony, others - the light of God, and still others simply do not can fully appreciate.

Material prepared: Nadezhda Drozdova

Photo report:

On July 29-30, 2017, III took place on the singing field of the monastery. This year the event is dedicated to the memory of the events of 1917.

The festival of Orthodox singing, which has become a religious, musical and cultural event of the Valaam Monastery, is held with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and is designed to serve the revival of the traditions of Orthodox singing, the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of Russia.

“The theme of this year’s festival is closely connected with the historical events of a hundred years ago – the revolutionary movement and everything that people had to endure over the course of all these years: emigration, the era of the war years, as well as the Gulag, persecution and the resurrection of faith. We all know that a person embarking on the path of churching asks many questions concerning the life of the Church, its traditions and teachings. Often the answers to these questions are found not even by the mind, but by the heart. One of the assistants in this matter is songwriting,” said the hegumen of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery at the opening of the song forum. Vladyka also noted the importance of holding such festivals, the main purpose of which is the development of spiritual chants.

Oleg Budargin, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Valaam Monastery, also spoke at the opening of the festival and read out the greetings of the President of Russia to the participants and guests of the festival.

“It is gratifying that your festival not only took place, but also clearly declared itself to the whole world. It unites the best choirs and solo performers from Russia and other countries on the territory of the ancient Valaam monastery,” the presidential greeting says.

The youngest participant of the festival was 14-year-old Nicholas Karageorgis (Cyprus). According to the young singer, he has been studying the Russian language for two years, "to get closer to the culture of the great people and to sing chants in their language."

Synodal department for monasteries and monasticism / Patriarchy.ru

Related materials

Concert dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was held in Smolensk

From the first minutes, the audience was surprised by the director's find: the festive choir of the Valaam Monastery was divided into two groups - one was in black concert costumes, and the other in red shirts. The groups "interrupted" each other: one tried to sing "I believe" and "God save the Tsar", and the second - "We will destroy the whole world of violence" ... Other historical milestones were shown with the help of theatrical and song miniatures: the Great Patriotic War , waves of repressions, post-war period. Documentary chronicles and the ringing of bells performed by Alexei Pugachev's school of bell ringers helped to create a portrait of the era. The performance of Elena Frolova, an actress of the Moscow Theater of Music and Poetry under the direction of Elena Kamburova, and the recitation by Archpriest Andrei Logvinov of his own poems gave the performance a special flavor.

At the official opening on July 29, Rosseti CEO Oleg Budargin read out Vladimir Putin's address. The abbot of the monastery, Bishop Pankraty of Trinity, described the festival as not only a cultural, but also a missionary, educational project.

"A person embarking on the path of faith has many questions. Most often, we give answers not with the mind, but with the heart. Orthodox singing evokes feelings that can give an answer. We convey spiritual values ​​through singing."

The program of the following days consisted of solo performances and evening gala concerts. All speeches were united by the theme of a person's spiritual growth, his path to God. Not for the first time, the Serbian performer Divna Ljubojevic, beloved by Russian listeners, participated in the festival with the choir "Melody". For the second time, the choir of the St. Elisabeth Monastery from Minsk came to the festival under the direction of the nun Juliana (Denisova). He presented several interesting finds: spiritual songs to verses by Hieromonk Roman (Matyushin), Archpriest Andrey Logvinov and other authors, and also performed for the first time with Hieromonk German (Ryabtsev), director of the choir of the Moscow Compound of the Valaam Monastery.

For the first time, Nicholas Karagiorgis from Cyprus became a participant in the festival. The fourteen-year-old performer is studying Russian, and his interest and love for ancient Russian chants arose when he heard them in a church in his homeland. In addition to chants in his native language, the young man sang the Trisagion in Church Slavonic. He performed some chants together with the regent of the fraternal choir of the Valaam Monastery, Hieromonk David (Legeyda).

A lot of people who are far from the Church come to the festival - just music lovers or travelers. The concert "The Way to God" touched many hearts with its confessional note. As conceived by the organizers, each performance was preceded by a video message from the performer, who spoke about his path to faith.

“At first I began to sing, and then through music and beautiful voices in the Church I found something that I could not find a definition for a long time,” said the famous Serbian singer Divna Ljuboevich. “Although I grew up in an Orthodox environment, it was through singing that I received a direct line of contact with God. Talent in singing is the guide to God."

Divna Lyuboevich included in the repertoire of the choir "Melody" led by her and the work of the St. Petersburg author - "Cherubim" of the Bulgarian chant hegumen Siluan (Tumanov), chairman of the publishing council of the St. Petersburg diocese.

"The existence of God is expressed to the utmost in music," said Sona Hovhannisyan, Honored Worker of Culture of Armenia, leader of the Hover chamber choir.

The concert "Mountains look to the sky: Christian chants of Georgia and Armenia" aroused great interest among the audience. The open singing pavilion could not accommodate those who wished, and a lot of people were sitting right on the grass around - fortunately, the capricious Valaam weather this time smiled all three days of the festival. The Armenian choir "Hover" presented several chants arranged by Komitas, as well as the world premiere - the piercing song "The Girl Sang in the Church Choir" by Artur Avanesov to the verses of Alexander Blok. A storm of applause was awarded by the audience and the state ensemble of Georgian folklore singing "Basiani". "Basiani" - a regular participant of the festival "Enlightener" - performed Georgian spiritual and folk songs a cappella and accompanied by Georgian national instruments.

The final gala concert of the festival was called "The Path to Enlightenment" and really had an educational character: in video messages this time, the performers talked about various chants, among them - Svyatogorsk, demesne, znamenny, Bulgarian, Serbian ... But in whatever language and whatever chant no matter how the participants of this musical forum sang, they put into it not only their deep professionalism, but also their soul, their faith.

"Angel-like, angel-voiced - that's what the Znamenny chant is called," said Anatoly Grindenko, director of the Old Russian chant male chamber choir. "It marks the way to God. Even if you are unbelievers, he can tell you about the Lord."

The ensemble of ancient Russian sacred music "Sirin", the ensemble "Kronos" (Russia), the Chelyabinsk chamber choir named after Valery Mikhalchenko, the chamber choir of the faculty of church singing of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University also took part in the concerts.

The Enlightener Festival is held with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. It was first held in 2015 to commemorate the millennium of the repose of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, Enlightener of the Russian land. Until 2015, the music forum existed as part of the summer Academy of Orthodox Music. The organizers of the festival are the Valaam Monastery and the Light of Valaam Charitable Foundation. Thanks to the support of the general partner of the festival, the Rosseti group of companies, attendance at all events is free for listeners.