Archpriest Nikolay Butkin Novel "Wine-growers. Part 2. The Doomed" (Final)
Here is the final part of novel “Wine-growers” named by the author, archpriest N. Butkin (1882-1937), “The Doomed” as he depicts events of 1918-1919. Christian Church was collecting people of Shadrinsk against the background of multiple tragedies of the fratricidal war. The ideas of Senior Priest of Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, Grigory Zagumennykh (pseudonym of archpriest N. Butkin), to arrange brotherhood inside the parish has come to reality. The official opening date of St. Simeon's brotherhood doesn't matter much but the parishioners' determination to serve God and other people actively according to the Christian belief turns to be the most important. This kind of service is revealed, for example, in the personal Christian deeds of Tanya Kruchinina, Tasya Zoloturina. Life stories of the novel are interlaced with one another. The author describes in detail the Divine service on Easter as well as the Sorrow Day devoted to the priests killed. Disputes on Grigory Zagumennykh's report “The Life drama of the clergy” won't leave readers unmoved. Polemical dialogues of Grigory and priest-socialist resulted in further correspondence that allows readers to see the conflict between the Church and society through the eyes of Nikolay Butkin's contemporaries. The novel presents a unique source for the ecclesiastical history of Shadrinsk and the whole Ekaterinburg eparchy. Readers can imagine the way a provincial priest existed in the complicated period of social and political strife. In the novel Nikolay Butkin shared his personal thoughts concerning a priest's responsibility. The author makes us acquainted with his contemporaries and helps our memory addressing to the tragic pages in the history of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church in the early 20th century.