AKSAY GORGE – MONASTERY

In 1921, after the revolution five outlaw monks left Verniy city (present Alma-Ata) and headed to the mountains. They didn’t want to submit to the new government, being aware of its attitude to religion and clergy. Initially the monks hid in the Medeu Clove, but they were discovered. According to a legend, when further wandering in the mountains, they saw the light streaming from heaven to a certain place on earth. The monks decided that the Lord himself pointed them this place. Here they managed to dig a cave for worshipping and settled here. They had to eat very poorly: their diet consisted of berries and roots. Later, locals began to come to the monks. Faithful people from the city and local villages walked dozens of kilometers to pray to the God.

The hermit monks realized that the more people came to them, the higher was the chance to reveal themselves. And on one day men from the city came to them. The monks (there were only three of them left) realized that these people were hiding their true themselves by pretending to be believers. But they still gave them food and shelter. Indeed, strangers turned out to be members of the bloody Cheka and at night captured two monks (Seraphim and Feognost). First, the criminals tortured the monks and then killed them. Moreover, the criminals’ main goal was church gold. Later, the killers were caught for other atrocities and executed. By the way, one of the monks (Anatoly) managed to escape and hide from the criminals.

Time passed. The church canonized the murdered monks. After all, it was they who at the edge of the 19th and 20th centuries arrived in the completely unenlightened by the Christian religion Turkestan Territory from the Russian central regions and were able to put the locals on the right track. They took an active part in formation of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan. The outlaw monks became the ones who created a solid basis for formation of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan. Contemporaries consider them to be kind and selfless shepherds. Moreover, the reason why they were canonized is not only a saintlike existence and painful death, but amazing cases of incredible healing that took place in the monastery.

In the early 1990s, the relics of the murdered monks were transferred to the temple building, although the grave remained. Now, a new building appeared at this place.

 “The castle”

“The castle” is located on the western bank of the Aksai River. It is a stone fortress built by Ivan Plotnikov. The construction began in 1983 by a native of Harbin (China). A special feature of the doorways and ceiling is that the self-taught master used no supporting materials. At the same time, he constructed the building without involving other people or mechanisms. For the construction, Ivan used about 900 tons of river stone.