HISTORY OF CREATION AND ACTIVITY OF KHOMIVKA ASSUMPTION-TRANSFIGURATION CONVICT

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to cover Khomivka Assumption-Seraphim Monastery’s history and the contribution of the Razdobarov family to the conversion of the Old Believer community of Kharkiv region. The research methods in the article have been selected in accordance with the purpose and based on the principle of historicism. They are represented by a general scientific method of analysis and a special scientific historical genetic method. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that previously unanalyzed sources have been discovered (archival documents, materials of the local press of that time, statistical documents) and introduced into scientific circulation, owing to which it was possible to recreate the history of the monastery and find out new facts in the history of the church in Ukraine. The Сonclusions. Special attention in the research is devoted to uncovering the facts of the priest T. Razdobarov’s biography, a renowned figure among the missionary movement of Kharkiv region. It was his name that was considered to be associated with the local community of Old Believers involvement into monotheism and the decrease in the number of Old Believers in the region. The influence of Archimandrite Pavlo Prussky on the life and outlook of T. Razdobarov has been traced in the article. There has been elucidated the work of T. Razdobarov in the Old Believer community on the creation of the tenement to the monastery and his constant search of optimal ways of conversion to Old Believers. It has been determined, that one of the causes of the monastery’s foundation was T. Razdobarov’s experience of communication with the female part of the Old Believer community. As the priest stated that women’s fanaticism was considered to be a factor in slowing down the process of converting Old Believers to the same faith. Therefore, according to T. Razdobarov’s plan, the place where children of Old Believers and coreligionists could study and communicate together would be the tenement from which the monastery later emerged. In conclusion, the following events have been elucidated in the article: the fate of the monastery during the Soviet era, the closure of the monastery, the immigration of the family of Yo. A. Vasiutin and a gradual destruction of monastery premises.