From the editor: The places of former monasteries and the graves of some monks and nuns, famous for their ascetic life, enjoy great veneration among the Ural Old Believers. In the “Ural-Siberian Patericon,” in particular, there is information about the old woman Platonida. We present the story of a traveler to her grave.

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Our Ural forests are wonderful! Sometimes you climb a mountain, but it doesn’t get any drier. To get to the shihan at the top, you sometimes have to overcome mountain “hanging” swamps. From above you admire the sea of ​​peaked firs and spruces. For example, from Mount Shunut of the Konovalovsky ridge (726 m high), three dozen miles south of Revda. There, in the dark coniferous taiga, on the way to the grave of the old woman Platonida, one meeting took place.

They walked barefoot on the grass, wet with dew, on the ground, caught by the first cold weather - the harbingers of autumn. An endless line of women and children, young and old, dressed in white shirts, walked. There were no men among them. They walked in silence, not paying attention to the drizzling rain, to the sharp stones and branches that came under their feet. It was as if they were above the broken logging road with its rubbish and dirt, “above” it. It seemed like nothing would stop them. I knew where they were going, and I was amazed at the sight, which spoke of the unwavering faith in people's hearts.

Platonidine key

For the first time, a teacher at a Revda school told me about the old woman Platonida and her key in March 1993. The conversation at the Arakaevo camp site near the Sergi River then dragged on past midnight. After hearing what I heard, I took my backpack and ran to the night train to Druzhinino. In the morning I was in Revda and went by bus to the village of Krasnoyar.

I managed to walk along the Shunut-Serga trail (Oleniy Ruchi Park) without skis. On the ski track, a two-meter thick layer of snow was covered with a strong crust. Before the clearing to the Shunut-stone, the sun illuminated for the last time the amazing panorama of the forest valley from the pass to the Sokoly stone. It got dark quickly. Turning off the logging truck along the path, I found myself at the gazebo-chapel above Platonida Spring. According to legend, Platonida saved people from diseases with water from a holy spring. I remember that I drank water from it - and could not get drunk! At home, try drinking so much water - you won’t be able to. Later I found out that the spring is indeed complex and is rich in radon waters.

Then in the next clearing there was a hut with a stove, and opposite it was a bathhouse. They were full of people. Two tourists decided to spend the night “in the monastery,” and I asked to go with them. It was a frosty night, it rose full moon, and the forest became as light as day. From the spring we moved to the grave of the old woman. To the right, three grave crosses rose from the snowdrifts. At the burial site of Platonida there were the remains of a broken tombstone and a golbets - an Orthodox cross with a gable top. In front of the grave is a place of prayer for Old Believers.

The poles along the edges serve to secure protection from rain; in the center there is a stand for reading church books. "Forest Church"! Having passed the grave of the old woman, after a kilometer we went down to a dugout near the Maly Ik River. Inside the “skete” there were icons with the faces of saints on the shelves. The oven worked properly. Having warmed up our shelter, we perked up.

Few people knew about that tract then. I was there in the bitter December of 1994, when the monastery was already rickety and the oven was broken. Almost freezing, I saw how hunched praying grandmothers in headscarves approached the house at night. In the morning, in their place were fir trees, bent under caps of snow. In general, the forest in these places is as beautiful during the day as it is scary at night. The darkness thickens around, the trees come closer and begin to creak and groan. You can hear the howling of wolves, and an eagle owl hoots somewhere. For some reason, the soul is always calm at the grave of the old woman. You can stand in the black silent taiga in front of a candle burning with unquenchable light, listen to the sound of the river, listen to your heart. At such moments, everything vain seems small and insignificant.

I remember the autumn of 1995, when half a bucket of honey mushrooms could be cut from the door frames of the hut. From the “forest church” a steep path led to the bank of the Maly Ik river.

In one place a stone dam and a baptismal font were built. Over her, the branches of “trusted” trees, entwined with ribbons, bent. They hang clothes or shoes on them from the part of the body that they want to cure, while performing ablution in the font. By 2000, participants in the procession erected a large wooden cross near Platonida’s grave.

Many years passed, in 2013 I found myself there again. There was no hut, only ruins remained from the bathhouse. A new dome was built above the spring instead of the previous gazebo. On the grave of Platonida lies a new tombstone with a fragment of the old one. Another cross made of timber appeared. All that remained of the monastery was the door and the frame of an iron stove. The roof of the dugout collapsed.

Small Ik was still murmuring with icy water, running away like a snake into the forest. Above the font, small waterfalls flowed over the stones. As night approached, the bustle of people died down and everyone left. There was silence at the holy place.

We reached here on foot, feeling with our feet the road that the Old Believers have walked for more than a century. They pray “mutually”, including for Platonida, because she is not canonized. What was the life of an unfamous ascetic like? Why do women go to her grave?

On the history of the Ural Old Believers

The reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the 1650s split Orthodox Rus'. The reprisals against the Old Believers were brutal,

Bonfires burned everywhere, hundreds and thousands of people were burned, tongues were cut, heads were chopped off, and quartered; prisons, monasteries, and dungeons were overflowing with sufferers for the holy faith. The clergy and civil authorities mercilessly exterminated their own brothers - the Russian people. No one was spared - neither women nor children(Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Gennady Chunin).

Old Believers fled to the North, to the Urals and Siberia. I will quote excerpts from the work of nun Eustathia (Morozova) “On the veneration of unglorified ascetics in the Yekaterinburg Metropolis (Elder Platonida and Elder Avvakum)”. She examined rare archival documents about the Ural Old Believers.

“In 1725, Elder Nikifor with many monks arrived from Kerzhenets to the Nizhny Tagil plant, after which tens of thousands of followers of the main priestly concords—the Sofontievites—fled to the Urals. They initially belonged to the fugitive priests, accepting for service priests who fled from the Nikonian Church. In the 18th century, in this agreement, many communities began to switch to priestless practice, which was approved as the norm at the Tyumen Old Believer Cathedral in 1840. The performance of religious services and services passed to the elders and charter teachers, elected by the community: they read the services, omitting the prayers that the priest is supposed to say during services and sacraments. This movement became known as the chapel movement or the “old man movement.” Before the revolution, up to 90% of the Ural Old Believers belonged to the chapels. They had their own revered shrines, ascetics, martyrs and authoritative elders, with whom pilgrims traveled hundreds of miles for advice. The most revered shrines of the chapels included the graves of the monks Herman, Maxim, Gregory and Paul on the Vesyolye Gory near the Verkhne-Tagil plant, where Old Believers pilgrims from all over Russia gathered annually in June. Also venerated were the grave of the fugitive priest Nikola in Yekaterinburg, the graves of the fugitive priests Job, Peter and Arkhip, as well as mentor Gury in the Nizhny Tagil plant, the grave of the monk Tarasy in the Shartash village, the town of “Treasures” near the village of Tavolgi with the remains of a former monastery and tombstones of hermitages.” .

Wrote about the prayers of the Old Believers V. Sanin (Afanasyev) in the essay " On the Merry Mountains" 1910: " For some time, in tense silence, you hear the reading of the holy book, but then the voice of Elder Anthony is heard singing the stichera. It is picked up by the singers under the canopy, then by those nearby, a wave of sounds, intensifying every moment, grows throughout the entire clearing, reaches the last tents and echoes distantly in the forests and mountains... And then again silence, reading, and again a sea of ​​voices, harmoniously in the old hooks chanting stichera...».

In 1902, the “Ekaterinburg Diocesan Gazette” noted:

Old Believers gather on April 23 at the grave of Fr. George in the Chernoistochinsky plant; May 27, 28 and 29 at the grave of Fr. Job in Nizhny Tagil; June 6 - at the grave of the monk Avvakum, 6 versts from the village of Sazhina. On August 16, mostly women gather at the grave of Mother Platonida in the village of Krasnoyarsk and pray for their husbands who are suffering from heavy drinking.

The Life of Elder Platonida

​ The same edition for 1906 says:

The first of the hermits, as the old-timers say, in the vicinity of Krasnoyar was the mother of Platonida, and then the mother of Taisiya. [Platonida] was buried 10 versts from Krasnoyar; Every year, on August 16, a large number of people gather at her grave. Mother Taisiya died in the first quarter of the 19th century and was buried in the skete cemetery, along the Bolshoi Iku River.

The village of Krasnoyarsk itself arose in the second decade of the 18th century and consisted exclusively of Old Believers. Based on these data, we can draw a conclusion about the life time of the old woman Platonida - she labored in the Ural forests in the second half of the 18th century. The pilgrims said:

Platonida's mother will get up early, when there is not a single soul in the mowing. She already knew who needed help. Whether an orphaned widow or an exhausted man. He mows, applies hay, and cleans up. And she will do it all so that no one can see that she was working. As soon as she notices that people have appeared in the mowing, she is now leaving for the forest...

Information about the old woman Platonidas is in the “Ural-Siberian Patericon” - “Stories about the fathers and desert dwellers who labored in the last time of persecution in northern regions Russian lands, within the Ural and Siberian deserts." The Patericon was compiled in the first half of the twentieth century in one of the monasteries of the Old Believers of the Chapel Concord and was miraculously preserved by the Old Believers during the destruction of the monasteries by the Communists on the Lower Yenisei in 1951.

“Elder Platonida came from a family of pagan foreigners (Tatars or Kalmyks). When she reached adolescence, the lot fell on her to be sacrificed to idols, which is why all her relatives “became sad.”. It so happened that at that time a Christian stopped in the house for the night, carrying flour from the mill. Having learned about the grief, he invited the parents to give their daughter “as a sacrifice to the living God, that he may serve Him”. Having agreed, they put it in a bag, hiding it on a cart between other bags of flour. As soon as the guest had left, the pagans came to the house for Platonida. Not finding the girl, they chased after the man who had left, caught up with him, but could not find her on the cart. The unknown benefactor who saved Platonida, after baptism, placed her to live in one of the women's Old Believer monasteries. There she began to strive diligently and three years later she was awarded tonsure "in a monastic image". Such a quick tonsure aroused envy on the part of some of the sisters who had come to the monastery before her and had not yet accepted the rank of angel. Platonida was forced to secretly leave the sisterhood and settle secluded in the forest ( “Leave them for silence in the desert”). However, even in the forest she secretly helped those in need. “She was extremely merciful and hardworking, and helped those in need, ... receiving from God the gift of healing, enlightening the blind and healing the sick, not just in the stomach (i.e., not only during life), but also after his death.”

They talked about Platonidas "mother Meletina, mother Akinfa and Elizaveta Paramonovna", who was told about her by Father John, who still found Platonida alive and personally remembered her. It is specified that Father John accepted the monastic rank from Father Israel, "attested in the Genealogy" (“Genealogy” of chapel consent, compiled by Father Niphon). This story about the life of Platonida can be considered the most reliable.”

P.S. Our Ural forests are wonderful! On the way back I walked and thought about Platonidas. I didn’t even notice how a bear flew out of the forest right at me. I didn’t really have time to get scared. I stood on the road like a tree and looked past somewhere. The brown giant passed by me - and if only a twig crunched under its paw... Handsome. On Shunut, bears often climb in raspberry fields, keep in mind.

Mikhail Latyshev.

In the territory Sverdlovsk region, eighty kilometers from Yekaterinburg, near Mount Shunut, there is a unique attraction - the radon spring of Platonida, according to local legends, the water in the source has miraculous properties.

On topographic maps The toponym is designated as the St. Platonida Tract, it is located in the upper reaches of the Maly Ik River, in the vicinity of the city of Revda. This place can be called a cult place, since it is an object of pilgrimage for believers who gather at the source during religious holidays. Every year the desired object is visited by up to a thousand people: tourists and believers. Among other things, this source is classified as a hydrological natural monument of the Sverdlovsk region.

The spring itself has been fairly well landscaped through the efforts of Orthodox activists, who have established an internal infrastructure with a gazebo, a cross and benches. A trickle of water flows from a stream lined with stones, along a specially installed gutter for easy collection of water.

According to the results of a study of water samples from this spring, it turned out that the source is rich in radon. Water rich in this element has a positive effect on the body and is used for therapeutic purposes in the prevention of many very serious diseases, such as diabetes, kidney and liver diseases, and also has a positive effect on the healing of wounds and skin diseases. Apparently, in the old days people paid attention to unusual properties this source, considering it endowed with miraculous powers.

During the time of the settlement of Old Believer communities throughout the Urals, one of the settlements was founded near the Platonida spring. Over the many years of existence of the Old Believer community, the spring was popular both among representatives of the religious organization and residents of the surrounding villages. Over time, information about the miraculous source spread far beyond the borders of the neighboring settlements, so Platonida became a major religious center.

As for the origin of the toponym itself, it is directly related to the legends about a hermit who once lived here. For the most objective picture, I will give the two most popular ones.

Legend No. 1

The essence of the legend comes down to the fact that in a Muslim family there lived a girl who decided to renounce her father’s faith and converted to Orthodoxy. Of course, this act was not appreciated at home and Platonida, who was named at baptism, was forced to flee into the forest and set up a monastery. The brothers tracked down the girl and destroyed the relic. Later, at the place where the monastery was built, a spring with miraculous water began to flow.

Legend No. 2

Another legend says that a family of Old Believers lived in the vicinity of the spring. After the sudden death of their parents, the greedy brothers decided to divide the rich inheritance among themselves and get rid of their younger sister Platonida, so they decided to take her to the forest and leave her near a spring. A few years later, the brothers decided to visit the site of what they believed was the death of their sister. However, upon arriving at the monastery, they found her alive and healthy; moreover, despite the years spent in the monastery, she had not aged. In response to astonished questions, the girl replied that she drank and washed herself with water from the source. Rumors about the unique incident instantly spread around the area and pilgrims flocked to the spring.

As it turned out, all these legends are not based on nothing. Thanks to the research of Sverdlovsk local historians, it became known that in the area where the source was located, a hermit from among the Old Believers named Platonida actually lived. Unfortunately, no documentary evidence of her life has been preserved; we were only able to discover information that Platonida died in 1785 and was buried somewhere near her home. According to researchers, this woman was from the village of Krasnoyar, which has survived to this day, presumably from a peasant family.

By the way, according to the recollections of old residents of the surrounding villages, until the mid-seventies of the last century, there was an Old Believer chapel in the area of ​​the spring; twice a year, parishioners from all over the Sverdlovsk region gathered at the walls of the monastery, apparently adherents of the Old Believer religion and held their rituals here. After the chapel burned down, representatives of religious communities stopped gathering at the holy spring. This practice has gained popularity again since the early 90s. The appearance of the cross and numerous religious paraphernalia dates back to that period.

It is worth noting that these days the source has become more of a tourist toponym than a religious one. Foray to Platonida - perfect option for a weekend hike in a walking group or a car trip. However, it is worth considering that the path from the highway to the source is 6 kilometers; you can only get there by car using an SUV. By the way, there is a legend that on a separate section of the road there is a certain anomalous zone, once within the perimeter of which some tourists unimaginably lose their way, although it is quite difficult to get lost there - follow the road and that’s it, nevertheless, such emergencies happen from time to time. Some tourists also say that in the evenings on the forest paths leading to the source, you can meet the ghost of a woman dressed in white. Of course, such stories fall into the category of “tourist tales.”

A trip to the source will allow you not only to come into contact with history, but also to walk through legendary places and taste healing water.

LYUBUSHKIN Andrey // “Mysterious Ural”

A radon source in the upper reaches of the small taiga river Maly Ik (a tributary of the Revda River), bubbles up from underground and after a few meters flows into Maly Ik, located in the dense forests of the Revdinsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, south of Revda, on the territory of the Mariinsky forestry, in 10 km from the villages of Mariinsk and Krasnoyar, on the territory of the Olenyi Ruchi nature reserve. The spring has the status of a hydrological and historical natural monument. In ancient times, there was an Old Believer monastery here. Many Old Believers gathered at the source and it was one of the largest cult centers in the Middle Urals.

The spring is called the “Source of Saint Platonida” - after the name of the hermit who lived a long time ago in this place, who spent all her life free time in prayers and eating exclusively the gifts of the forest. There are few reliable facts about Platonidas. It is not known for certain what her real name and surname was, when she was born and what family she came from. Many researchers, not without reason, assume that before becoming a hermit, she lived in a peasant family in a nearby village, now the village of Krasnoyar. Local historian Vladimir Trusov, based on archival documents, established that Platonida lived in the 18th century and was buried at her monastery around 1785.

Subsequently, the spring and the grave of Platonida became revered and many pilgrims from all over the country and the Urals flocked here every year for worship and in the hope of healing from illnesses. Moreover, Platonida gained followers and some wanderers remained to live here. In the vicinity of Krasnoyar, over the years, several Old Believer hermitages were formed from which Old Believers came to the holy spring. From the source of St. Platonida, along the river, downstream, there is a path. Walking along it, after a few meters you will see three wooden nameless crosses. Old Believers, followers of Platonida, are buried here. It is unknown who is buried here and when.

According to the recollections of an old-timer, in Soviet times here, in the taiga, there was a small chapel. The priest conducted services in it. Even in times of obscurantism and atheism, without fear of punishment, people came here from afar, prayed in the chapel, bowed to Saint Platonida, bathed in the icy water of the healing spring, and took with them as much water as they could carry. Until the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, hundreds of people came here from Verkhniye Seryoga. Twice a year - on the ninth Friday after Easter and on the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr Panteleimon (August 9) - religious processions were drawn here from different directions - from Verkhniye Seryoga, Krasnoyar, Mariinsk, Polevsky... Now this tradition is being restored.

The police dispersed the pilgrims from time to time, and the chapel was destroyed. Soon in this place only an Old Believer cross on a stone base remained, which was also destroyed over time.

Nowadays, in a small clearing under a canopy of poles, there is a stone tombstone, above which there are shelves for numerous candles and icons, and next to it there is a huge wooden cross, brought here, according to a carved inscription, in a religious procession. All year round, pilgrims and tourists go to the miraculous spring and to the tomb of Saint Platonida. Platonida is sincerely revered and loved by both Old Believers and Orthodox Christians. An iron dome with an Orthodox cross is installed at the source. A few years ago it wasn’t here, but there was a nice gazebo. But in February 2005, unknown vandals managed to break it and take it away for the sake of several kilograms of metal. Multi-colored ribbons, scarves, underwear, socks, etc. hang on the trees (as they are called “wishing trees”) near the source. people believe that if they bathe in their underwear in the waters of the spring and leave them here, then all their illnesses will remain with their clothes. But I would like to warn you that this is still more like pagan rituals, but not Orthodox, and it is better not to do this. From time to time, the area is cleaned by pilgrims and volunteers.

Every year, several times a year, pilgrimage trips on all-terrain vehicles and religious processions to Platonida are organized by the Vvedensky bishop's courtyard in the village of Verkhnie Sergi.

Numerous pilgrims believe that if you pray at the grave of Platonida and plunge into the icy water of the miraculous spring, you can be healed of all diseases. Many got rid of hard drinking, impotence, skin diseases, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The spring water is very cold even in the summer heat, but it is very tasty and there are no unpleasant tastes. They say that the water collected here does not spoil for many months. There is a small depression in the flowing stream, in which, if you are skillful, you can swim, since it is very shallow.

Repeatedly laboratory analysis of the source waters showed that the content of heavy metals here is absolutely negligible, hundreds of times less than the maximum permissible standards (MPC). And such dangerous microelements as lead, cadmium, aluminum, etc. are not present at all. But the manganese content is 3 times higher than the norm, and the radon concentration is also increased - 40 Bq/l. This combination makes the water healing.

The dissolved radon contained in this water is perhaps the most unusual gas existing on Earth. Depending on the conditions, it may have an effect on human body both negative and healing effects. In the form of a radioactive gas, radon, even in minimal quantities, can lead to serious diseases, but dissolved in water has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, improves metabolism, has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and normalizes sleep. Radon baths successfully treat skin and nervous diseases, gout, and circulatory diseases. Taking radon water internally treats diseases of the digestive system.

Nearby, just two kilometers away, there is another natural monument - Mount Starik-Kamen, with which a healing spring is also associated with legend.

There are many legends about the hermit Platonis, at least about a dozen variations! The main four are presented below.

One of them tells that many, many years ago, a young woman named Platonida left the village of Krasnoyar and doomed herself to seclusion and loneliness in the wild forest. She lived near a clean forest spring until the end of her days. For many years, Platonida managed to maintain strength and health. After the death of Platonida, a pilgrimage began to her grave. The spring began to be considered miraculous.

In another legend, a girl from a wealthy peasant family fell in love with a guy - handsome but poor. She herself was Kirzhachka, and he was Orthodox. Only the father did not agree to give his daughter Platonida in marriage to a poor man, and decided to marry his son to a rich peasant. And the girl fled from her native place, with a convoy, to the village of Krasnoyar, so as not to hang around with the unloved all her life. The villagers greeted the wanderer with distrust, and she had to go live in the forest. The forest is rich in food, and I became friends with the animals. Gradually, the resentment towards people faded away, and Platonida began to secretly help people. Yes, I tried to find out if they had heard anything about her village, her mother’s father, her fiancé. It’s a pity that people didn’t know that all this time Platonida’s beloved was walking around the Urals in search of his bride. He visited more than once near the place where Platonida lived. But her dugout was so unnoticeable that the young man always passed by. He grew old and gray in his bitter wanderings. And one day, exhausted by the eternal journey, he sat down to rest on the bank of the Ik River, but could no longer rise, he turned to stone... People called this fossil the Old Man-Stone. And Platonida lived for many years on the banks of the Ik River near an underground spring. Platonida has been gone for a long time, and the key still gurgles and gurgles, mourning her fate. It quenches the thirst of travelers, and people say that it has become healing.

In another legend, there lived in a Tatar family a girl who decided to abandon Islam and convert to Orthodoxy. On the eve of her wedding to a Tatar fellow villager, the girl ran away from home and retired to a monastery. After living for several years in a convent, she received the name Platonida and began to lead the life of a hermit. Near the forest monastery, thanks to her prayers, a healing spring began to flow. A bear protected her from embittered relatives who were looking for an opportunity to take revenge on Platonida. But when the bear was killed, Platonida was shot with a gun, since the Mohammedans were afraid to come close to her. The soul of the bear turned into a stone, now called the Old Stone, and at the place where the hermit died, a healing spring gushed out and to this day the source and the immortal soul of Platonida are protected by it.

The main version of the legend says that a girl lived in an Old Believer family, in which there were two brothers and a sister of Plato. Trouble happened - my father and mother died, but they did not leave a will. The brothers were overcome by greed, and they decided to divide their meager property among themselves, and their younger sister was taken to a distant monastery to certain death. 30 years have passed and their conscience has tormented them. The brothers decided to go to the monastery to atone for their sins at the remains of their sister, considering their sister dead. But they were surprised when they found her in perfect health, unharmed and not aged at all. It turned out that the spring near the monastery produced healing water, washing with which Platonida preserved her beauty and youth. She forgave her brothers, but remained to live in her monastery, where she died many, many years later, burying her brothers who had obeyed not far from her home.

Here are the main legends that are passed on in different variations from mouth to mouth. Rumors spread far and wide about Platonid and the source at which she lived her life, and pilgrims flocked here and built a chapel in which services were held.

If you cross the river into which the spring flows to the other side, then not far, a little upstream you will find a good-quality hut. It has a stove-stove, near which you can warm up in cold weather. This is not the first building near the source; unfortunately, all the previous ones were burned. Let's hope that this hut will not suffer such a sad fate.

The Platonida tract continues to acquire incredible legends. They say that Platonida helps local residents find lost pets, and sometimes appears in white robes to lost and completely desperate hunters and mushroom pickers, helping them get out of the forest. This was confirmed in 2001. In August of that year, four teenagers from Yekaterinburg decided to hike Mount Shunut. At the same time, the youngest - 10-year-old Lesha Leontyev - got separated from his comrades and got lost. Only on the third day the boy was found, alive and unharmed. He was in a hut near the source of Platonida.

Some claim that in these places there are anomalous phenomena. People often get lost, as if they are being “circled” by an unknown force. It seems that someone invisible is standing behind you. And sometimes a strange fog appears here - in a place and at a time when it shouldn’t be, for example, on a sunny day over a certain patch.

But the most fantastic thing that was published about these places is that supposedly in ancient times, an entire cave monastery was dug in Mount Shunut, not far from the source of Platonida. Allegedly, in the mountain, a vertical mine shaft was pierced, from which numerous horizontal cave-cells diverged on the sides. Old Believers monks lived and prayed in them. According to this legend, later, fearing that the monastery would be discovered by the authorities, the entrance to the monastery was filled up... (Newspaper "Siberian Tract", No. 16).

It can be noted that in this area grow some rare plants listed in the Red Book of the Middle Urals. Such as Tatarian barkweed, Ural cicerbita, victory onion and others. You can only spend the night here in your own tent; the nearest hotels are only in Revda.

How to get there: on public transport by train or bus Ekaterinburg - Revda No. 151, departs from the Northern bus station every 20 minutes, travel time 1 hour 15 minutes, get to the city of Revda, then from the railway station by shuttle bus No. 103 Revda-Krasnoyar, travel time 1 hour 10 minutes, get to the village of Krasnoyar. In Krasnoyar, from the final stop, walk a little further down the street, in the direction of the bus, and turn right. After walking a little along the forest road, turn onto the marked path. To avoid losing your way, keep a close eye on trees marked with paint. Need to stick western direction. After 5-7 kilometers the trail comes out onto a well-worn logging road. Turn left and follow this logging road. After 5-6 kilometers a sign “Platonida” will appear. Turning left, you will find yourself at the legendary spring.

There is another, shorter trail to the source, but it is very difficult to find it on your own, being in these places for the first time.

Be extremely careful, it's easy to get lost here! In the vicinity of Krasnoyar there are a lot of logging roads and just trails, many forks. It's easy to take a wrong turn and lose your way. Even those who have been here more than once often get lost. The terrain in these places is quite wild. The taiga stretches for many kilometers around. Sometimes you can find traces of moose, bears, wolves and other wild animals here.

By personal transport After about 100 meters, after the bus station in Krasnoyar, there will be a turn onto the marked path to Shunut. After about 6 km there will be a dirt road along this trail. Turn left on it, and after 5 km there will be a sign “Natural Monument “Platonida”. In winter or during the dry season, you can get to the source by a car of normal terrain, at other times the road is very washed out, and you can only get there by SUV.

Three kilometers from Platonida there is another amazing place - Mount Shunut, the highest mountain in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg, 726 meters, a particularly beautiful view from its top. All of the above attractions in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg are excellent places for weekend routes.

Coordinates: N56° 30.318" E59° 47.383"

An interesting, unusual, legendary place in the deep forests of the Revdinsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, about 10-12 kilometers from the village of Krasnoyar. Hydrological and historical monument nature.

In ancient times, there was an Old Believer monastery here. Once upon a time this place was very revered by the Old Believers, but now both Old Believers, Orthodox Christians, various occultists, and just tourists are drawn here. First, let's dive into the depths of history and try to understand who this strange woman was, after whom the miraculous spring was named. There are many legends about the hermit Platonis (at least several dozen variations!).

According to the darkest legend, Platonida was born into a Muslim family, but for some reason converted to Christianity. The girl left her family and went to live in the forest. The Mohammedans who had not forgiven her found and killed the girl. A healing spring has since appeared at the site of the hermit’s death.

According to another legend, a long time ago, an Old Believer family lived in these parts, which included two brothers and a sister, Platonida. Trouble happened: my father and mother died, but did not leave a will. The brothers were overcome by greed, and they decided to divide their meager property among themselves, and their younger sister was taken to a distant monastery to certain death. 30-40 years have passed and their conscience has tormented them. The brothers decided to go to the monastery to atone for their sin at the remains of their sister. But imagine their surprise when they saw their sister alive, unharmed and very young, like many years ago. It turned out that “holy water” flowed in the spring at the monastery. By washing herself with that water, Platonida preserved her beauty and youth. The rumor about Platonida spread far and pilgrims flocked here...

Legends are legends, but there are few reliable facts about Platonidas. It is not known for certain what her real name, surname was, when she was born and what family she came from, etc. Many researchers, not without reason, assume that before becoming a hermit, she lived in a peasant family in the village of Krasnoyar located here. The famous local historian Vladimir Trusov was able to establish from archival documents that Platonida lived in the distant 18th century and was buried near her monastery around 1785.

Subsequently, the grave of Platonida became a cult place. Every year, many pilgrims from all over the Urals and the country came to her to worship and in the hope of healing from ailments. Moreover, Platonida gained followers and some wanderers remained to live here. A clear confirmation of this is the nameless crosses near the grave of Platonida. We will probably never know who is buried here. In the vicinity of Krasnoyar, several Old Believer hermitages operated over the years.

Old-timers say that even in the sweeping Soviet times, there was still a small chapel here in the taiga. A priest conducted services there. People came here from afar: they prayed in the chapel, worshiped Saint Platonis, bathed in the icy water of the healing spring and took with them as much water as they could carry. The police from time to time dispersed the pilgrims and destroyed the chapel. As a result, soon only an Old Believer cross on a stone base remained in this place. But it was also destroyed over time.

Now let's talk directly about the healing source itself. The holy source of Platonida is located in the upper reaches of the small taiga river Maly Ik (a tributary of the Revda River). It springs up from underground and after a few meters flows into Malyi Ik. Here, in the river, there is a small depression in which you can swim. True, for this you need to show skill, since the river is shallow. The water here is very cold even in the summer heat. The water tastes pleasant, no taste is felt. They say that the water collected here does not spoil for many months.

Scientists have repeatedly carried out laboratory analysis of the source water. It shows that the content of heavy metals here is absolutely negligible (tens and hundreds of times less than the maximum permissible concentration). And such dangerous microelements as lead, cadmium, aluminum, etc. are completely absent. But the manganese content is 3 times higher than the norm, and the radon concentration is also increased - 40 Bq/l. This combination makes the water healing.

The dissolved radon contained in this water is perhaps the most unusual gas existing on Earth. Depending on the conditions, it can have both negative and healing effects on the human body. As a radioactive gas, even small amounts of radon can cause serious illness. But dissolved in water (as in the Platonida spring), radon has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, improves metabolism, has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and normalizes sleep. Radon baths successfully treat skin and nervous diseases, gout, and circulatory diseases. Taking radon water internally perfectly treats diseases of the digestive system.

It is not without reason that according to legend, if you swim in the spring with your clothes on and then leave them here, then all your illnesses will remain with them. In addition to the healing properties of radon in in this case The tonic effect of ice water plays a role (it activates the body’s defenses, strengthens the immune system) and self-hypnosis. They say that many people on Platonida were healed of various, including serious, illnesses.

Multi-colored ribbons (“wishing tree”), scarves, underwear, socks, etc. hang on the trees near the source. From time to time, the area is cleaned by pilgrims and volunteers. Now a rather gloomy iron dome with an Orthodox cross is installed above the source. A few years ago it was not here, but there was a much more attractive and harmonious gazebo. But in February 2005, unknown vandals managed to break it and take it away for the sake of several kilograms of metal...

If you cross the river near the source to the other bank, then not far, a little upstream you will see a good-quality hut. It has a stove-stove, near which you can warm up in cold weather. This is not the first construction near the source. Unfortunately, all the previous ones were burned. I would like to hope that this hut will not suffer such a sad fate.

From the source of St. Platonida, along the river, downstream, there is a path. Walking along it, after a few meters you will see three wooden nameless crosses. Old Believers, followers of Platonida, are buried here. Who they are and when they were buried - history is silent about this.

A little further - in a small clearing under a canopy of poles - there is a stone tombstone, above which there are shelves for numerous candles and icons. Nearby stands a large wooden Poklonny cross, brought here by the religious procession. All year round, pilgrims and tourists go to the miraculous spring and to the tomb of Saint Platonida. She is sincerely revered and loved by both Old Believers and Orthodox Christians.

Before the revolution there were even more pilgrims here. Some are brave, without fear Stalin's repressions and executions, they came here even after arriving Soviet power. According to the stories of old-timers, until the late 1950s and early 1960s, hundreds of people came here from Verkhniye Seryoga. Twice a year - on the ninth Friday after Easter and on the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr Panteleimon (August 9) - religious processions were drawn here from different directions - from Verkhniye Serega, Krasnoyar, Mariinsk, Polevsky... Now this tradition is being restored.

Every year, several times a year, pilgrimage trips (on all-terrain vehicles) and religious processions to Platonida are organized by the Vvedensky bishop's courtyard in the village of Verkhnie Sergi. Platonida continues to grow in legends in our time. They say that she appears in white robes to lost and desperate hunters and mushroom pickers and helps them get out of the forest. And helps local residents find lost pets.

This fame was miraculously confirmed in 2001. In August of that year, four teenagers from Yekaterinburg decided to hike Mount Shunut. At the same time, the youngest, 10-year-old Lesha Leontyev, got separated from his comrades and got lost. Only on the third day the boy was found, alive and unharmed. He was in a hut near the source of Platonida.

Some claim that anomalous phenomena occur in these places. People often get lost, as if they are being “circled” by an unknown force. It seems that someone invisible is standing behind you. And sometimes a strange fog appears here - in a place and at a time when it shouldn’t be (for example, on a sunny day over a certain spot).

But the most fantastic thing that I have seen in the literature about these places is the statement that supposedly in ancient times, in Mount Shunut, not far from the source of Platonida,... an entire cave monastery was dug up. It was as if a vertical mine shaft had been pierced in the mountain, from which numerous horizontal cave-cells diverged on the sides. Old Believers monks lived and prayed in them. According to this legend, later, fearing that the monastery would be discovered by the authorities, the entrance to the monastery was filled up... (Newspaper “Sibirsky Trakt”, No. 16).

Finally, it remains only to note that in this area grow some rare plants listed in the Red Book of the Middle Urals. Such as Tatarian barkweed, Ural cicerbita, victory onion and others.

How to get to the radon spring of St. Platonis?

For those wishing to see this religious place for themselves and check the healing properties of the spring, I recommend taking a train or bus to Revda, where you can take the shuttle bus No. 103 Revda-Krasnoyar. Departure from the railway station (data for the distant year 2005) at 6:10, 9:10, 14:10, 17:10. Return flights from Krasnoyar are 7:20, 10:20, 15:20, 18:20.

In Krasnoyar, from the final stop, walk a little further along the street (in the direction of the bus) and turn right. After walking a little along the forest road, turn onto the marked path. To avoid losing your way, keep a close eye on trees marked with paint. We need to stick to the western direction. After 5-7 kilometers the trail comes out onto a well-worn logging road. Turn left and follow this logging road. After 5-6 kilometers a sign “Platonida” will appear. Turning left, you will find yourself at the legendary spring. There is another, shorter trail to the source, but it is very difficult to find it on your own, being in these places for the first time. Be extremely careful: it's easy to get lost here! In the vicinity of Krasnoyar there are a lot of logging roads and just trails, many forks. It's easy to take a wrong turn and lose your way. Even those who have been here more than once often get lost.

The terrain in these places is quite wild. The taiga stretches for many kilometers around. Sometimes you can find traces of moose, bears, wolves and other wild animals here. Three kilometers from Platonida there is another amazing place - the top of Mount Shunut, and two kilometers in the other direction is Mount Old Stone. These attractions in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg are excellent places for weekend itineraries.

06.12.2016 10:38:22

Text: Mikhail Latyshev

Our Ural forests are wonderful! Sometimes you climb a mountain, but it doesn’t get any drier. To get to the shihan at the top, you sometimes overcome mountain “hanging” swamps. From above you can admire the sea of ​​peaked fir and spruce trees.

This view opens from Mount Shunut of the Konovalovsky Uval, located three dozen miles south of Revda. There, in the dark coniferous taiga, on the way to the grave of the old woman Platonida, one meeting took place...

...They walked barefoot on the grass, wet with dew, on the ground, caught by the first cold weather - the harbingers of autumn. An endless line of women and children, young and old, dressed in white shirts, walked. There were no men among them. They walked in silence, not paying attention to the drizzling rain, to the sharp stones and branches that came under their feet. It was as if we were above the broken logging road with its rubbish and dirt, “above” it. It seemed like nothing would stop them. I knew where they were going, and I was amazed at the sight, which spoke of the unwavering faith in people's hearts.

I managed to cross Shunut-Serga" of the Oleniy Ruchi park without skis. On the ski track, a two-meter thick layer of snow was covered with a strong crust.
Before the clearing to the Shunut-stone, the sun illuminated for the last time the amazing panorama of the forest valley from the pass to the Sokoly stone. It got dark quickly.
Turning off the logging truck along the path, I found myself at the gazebo-chapel above Platonida Spring. According to legend, Platonida saved people from diseases with water from a holy spring.
I remember that I drank water from it - and could not get drunk! If you try to drink so much water at home, you won’t be able to. Later I found out that the spring is indeed complex and is rich in radon waters.


Then in the next clearing there was a hut with a stove, and opposite it - a bathhouse. They were full of people. Two tourists decided to spend the night “in the monastery” and I asked to go with them.
It was a frosty night, the full moon rose and the forest became as light as day. From the spring we moved to the grave of the old woman. To the right, three grave crosses rose from the snowdrifts.

Forest Church!


Having passed the grave of the old woman, after a kilometer we went down to a dugout near the Maly Ik River. Inside the “skete” there were icons with the faces of saints on the shelves. The oven worked properly. Having warmed up our shelter, we perked up.
Few people knew about that tract then. I was there in the bitter December of 1994, when the monastery was already rickety and the oven was broken. Almost freezing, I saw how hunched praying grandmothers in headscarves approached the house at night. In the morning, in their place were fir trees, bent under caps of snow.
In general, the forest in these places is as beautiful during the day as it is scary at night. The darkness thickens around, the trees come closer and begin to creak and groan. You can hear the howling of wolves, and an eagle owl hoots somewhere.
For some reason, the soul is always calm at the grave of the old woman. You can stand in the black silent taiga in front of a candle burning with unquenchable light, listen to the sound of the river, listen to your heart. At such moments, everything vain seems small and insignificant.
forest church" a steep path led to the bank of the Maly Ik river. In one place on the bank there was a stone dam and a baptismal font.
The branches of “trusted” trees, entwined with ribbons, bent over her. They also hang clothes or shoes from the part of the body that they want to cure. This is done by people who believe in it.
procession" a large wooden cross was installed near the grave of Platonida.
Many years passed, in 2013 I found myself there again. There was no hut, only ruins remained from the bathhouse. A new dome was built above the spring instead of the previous gazebo. For some reason, they brought a tombstone from the grave of Taisiya’s mother to Platonida’s grave. Another cross appeared, made of timber.
All that remained of the monastery was the door and the frame of an iron stove. The roof of the dugout collapsed.

Small Ik was still murmuring with icy water, running away like a snake into the forest. Above the font, small waterfalls flowed over the stones.
As night approached, the bustle of people died down and everyone left. There was silence at the holy place. We reached here on foot, feeling with our feet the road that the Old Believers have walked for more than a century.
They pray “mutually” – including for Platonida, since she has not been canonized.
What was the life of an unfamous ascetic like? Why do women go to her grave?

On the history of the Ural Old BelieversBonfires burned everywhere, hundreds and thousands of people were burned, tongues were cut, heads were chopped off, and quartered; prisons, monasteries, and dungeons were overflowing with sufferers for the holy faith. The clergy and civil authorities mercilessly exterminated their own brothers - the Russian people. No one was spared - neither women nor children," says Gennady Chunin.
Old Believers fled to the North, to the Urals and Siberia.
Old Believers were accepted at Ural factories; for the factory owners they were conscientious workers. It is interesting that metal icons and crucifixes appeared in the everyday life of Old Believers.

I will quote excerpts from the work of nun Eustathia (Morozova) “On the veneration of unglorified ascetics in the Yekaterinburg Metropolis (Elder Platonida and Elder Avvakum).” She examined rare archival documents about the Ural Old Believers.
“In 1725, Elder Nikifor with many monks arrived from Kerzhenets to the Nizhny Tagil plant, after which tens of thousands of followers of the main priestly consents - the Sofontievites - fled to the Urals.
They initially belonged to the fugitive priests, accepting for service priests who fled from the “Nikonian” Church. In the 18th century, in this agreement, many communities began to switch to priestless practice, which was approved as the norm at the Tyumen Old Believer Cathedral in 1840.
The performance of religious services and services passed to the elders and charter teachers, elected by the community: they read the services, omitting the prayers that the priest is supposed to say during services and sacraments.

This movement became known as the chapel movement or the “old man movement.” Before the revolution, up to 90% of the Ural Old Believers belonged to the chapels. They had their own revered shrines, ascetics, martyrs and authoritative elders, with whom pilgrims traveled hundreds of miles for advice.
The most revered shrines of the chapels included the graves of the monks Herman, Maxim, Gregory and Paul on the Vesyolye Gory near the Verkhne-Tagil plant, where Old Believers pilgrims from all over Russia gathered annually in June.
Also venerated were the grave of the fugitive priest Nikola in Yekaterinburg, the graves of the fugitive priests Job, Peter and Arkhip, as well as mentor Gury in the Nizhny Tagil plant, the grave of the monk Tarasy in the Shartash village, the town of “Treasures” near the village of Tavolgi with the remains of a former monastery and tombstones of hermitages.” .

On the Merry Mountains": “For some time, in tense silence, you hear the reading of the holy book, but then the voice of Elder Anthony is heard singing the stichera.
It is picked up by the singers under the canopy, then by those nearby, a wave of sounds, intensifying every moment, grows throughout the entire clearing, rolls out to the last tents and echoes distantly in the forests and mountains... And then again silence, reading, and again a sea of ​​voices, harmoniously according to the ancient hooks of those chanting stichera...".

The Yekaterinburg Diocesan Gazette" noted: "Old Believers gather on April 23 at the grave of "Fr. George" in the Chernoistochinsky plant;
May 27, 28 and 29 at the grave of “Father Job” in Nizhne Tagil;
June 6 – at the grave of “monk Avvakum”, 6 versts from the village of Sazhina.
On August 16, at the grave of “Mother Platonida” in the village of Krasnoyarsk, mostly women gather and pray for their husbands who are suffering from heavy drinking.”

The first of the hermits, as the old-timers say, in the vicinity of Krasnoyar was the mother of Platonida, and then the mother of Taisiya.
[Platonida] was buried 10 versts from Krasnoyar; Every year, on August 16, a large number of people gather at her grave.
Mother Taisiya died in the first quarter of the 19th century and was buried in the skete cemetery, along the Bolshoi Iku River.

The village of Krasnoyarsk itself arose in the second decade of the 18th century and consisted exclusively of Old Believers. Based on these data, we can draw a conclusion about the life time of the old woman Platonida - she labored in the Ural forests in the second half of the 18th century.


The pilgrims said: “Platonida’s mother will get up early, when not a single soul is mowing. She already knew who needed help. Whether it was an orphaned widow or an exhausted man. so that no one would see that she was working. As soon as she notices that people have appeared in the mowing, she now goes into the forest...”


Information about the old woman Platonida is in the “Ural-Siberian Patericon” - “Stories about the fathers and desert dwellers, who in the last time of persecution labored in the northern regions of the Russian land, within the Ural and Siberian deserts.”
The Patericon was compiled in the first half of the twentieth century in one of the monasteries of the Old Believers of the Chapel Concord and was miraculously preserved by the Old Believers during the destruction of the monasteries by the Communists on the Lower Yenisei in 1951.

This is what it says about the unglorified ascetic: “Elder Platonida came from a family of pagan foreigners (Tatars or Kalmyks). When she reached adolescence, the lot fell on her to be sacrificed to idols, which is why all the relatives “were in great sorrow.” It happened that at that time in One Christian stopped at home for the night, carrying flour from the mill. Having learned about the grief, he invited the parents to give their daughter “as a sacrifice to the living God, that he may serve Him.”

into a monastic image."
Such a quick tonsure aroused envy on the part of some of the sisters who had come to the monastery before her and had not yet accepted the rank of angel. Platonida was forced to secretly leave the sisterhood and settle secluded in the forest (“leave from them into the desert for silence”).

However, even in the forest she secretly helped those in need. “She was extremely merciful and hardworking, and helped those in need, ... receiving from God the gift of healing, enlightening the blind and healing the sick, not just in the stomach (i.e., not only during life), but also after his death.” They told about Platonida "mother Meletina, mother Akinfa and Elizaveta Paramonovna", who were told about her by Father John, who still found Platonida alive and personally remembered.
It is specified that Father John accepted the monastic rank from Father Israel, “testified in the Genealogy.” (“Genealogy” of the chapel agreement, compiled by Father Niphon).
This story about the life of Platonida can be considered the most reliable."