{"id":16104,"date":"2024-12-02T16:16:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T13:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balkanclub.business\/?p=16104"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:57:34","slug":"serbian-gem-of-the-russian-golden-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balkanclub.business\/en\/2024\/society_en\/serbian-gem-of-the-russian-golden-ring\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbian gem of the Russian Golden Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of our previous issues, we talked about the <\/strong>old<\/strong> village of Sarajevo (namesake of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina), located in a remote corner of <\/strong>Privolzhskiy area<\/strong> of Ivanovo region, and the unique 18th-century church\u00a0 <\/strong>in honor of <\/strong>the Icon of <\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Our Lady of <\/strong>Kazan<\/strong>. Over the past year, there have been many changes in the life of the village and the church. But first things first.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The<\/strong> church where <\/strong>people<\/strong> pray for the Serbian people<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Sarajevo of Ivanovo region was the estate of the great Russian commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. The Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan\u00a0was built in the 18th century by order and with the funds of the Generalissimo. As the head of the church, Archpriest Peter (Surguchev) said, during Suvorov’s last visit to Sarajevo, the peasants asked him to build a church. \u201cThere was a wooden church at\u00a0the exact spot where the modern church is\u00a0standing now,\u201d says Father Peter. “Alexander Vasilyevich was a religious man. He sang in a choir during services, was a lay reader, and loved to ring the church bells. He participated in church life to the fullest. Suvorov chose the\u00a0project that cost the same as the peasants’ rent from these estates for 25 years. Thus, Generalissimo\u00a0paid the peasants back more than they had lost. It was a very noble project, implemented in 1795. Then the commander presented the church with a folding icon, which he had with him during many campaigns, and then he left. He was never back here again.”
\nThe church was closed in 1939, and from 1956 the premises have been used for commercial purposes. Father Peter arrived here in 1992. “A cement storage facility was located here, and feed was made by the altar. With the people\u2019s efforts, we managed to clean up the church. In 1993, church services resumed,” says the priest.
\nSince the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Father Peter has been praying in the church for the brotherly Serbian people. “I was deeply shocked by the war that broke out in Europe in 1999. I was born in the post-war years, in 1956. At that time, it seemed to us that there was no chance there could be another war in Europe. I knew about the Serbs from the book by Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov). He was the head of the White Army Church, a true Christian. The metropolitan recalled that when thousands of refugees came by sea\u00a0from the Crimea in 1920, the only place where Russians were treated humanely was Serbia! The Serbs saved the Russian emigration. This touched my soul deeply. At every Liturgy, we take out a large part\u00a0of the holy bread for Russia and our Church. In 1999, I began to take out the part for Serbia as well.”
\nFather Peter is convinced that all this was not accidental. In 2023, thanks to the efforts of Yevgeny Osenkov, director of the \u201cRussian-Balkan Dialogue\u201d International Cooperation Center, and Mikhail Yaruev, head of the Russian-Balkan Center for Business Cooperation and Culture, a Serbian delegation arrived in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n

Important changes<\/strong>
\nThanks to the efforts of Mikhail Yaruiev and \u201cPMK-710\u201d LLC, gas has been connected to the church and all conditions for church services have been ensured. The gas connection was made possible by \u201cIvanovo Gazprom Gas Distribution\u201d company. However, this is only the beginning: the exterior and interior of the church need to be renovated, and the initiators are waiting for support in order to build-up the center of Russian-Balkan relations in the Russian province. \u201cIt is important to restore the church with as much Serbian participation as possible,\u201d says Yaruiev. \u201cWe will create another gem of the Russian Golden Ring with our own hands, cementing spiritual bonds both within the country and with our historically close brotherly peoples. We\u2019ll be grateful for any help.\u201d
\nThanks to its history and unusual toponym, the village draws a great deal of attention, including international interest.
\nMikhail Yaruiev and Evgeny Osenkov are currently developing a plan to create a cultural and educational complex in the village dedicated to history and Orthodox Christianity. For further work, it is very important to conduct an expert examination of the church and recognize it as an architectural monument.
\nExperts highly evaluate the village potential also due of its convenient location. It is only 80 kilometers from Ivanovo to Sarajevo, and about the same distance from Shuya. With the help of the Shuya-Furmanov road, it is possible to build an Orthodox route from Shuya to Dunilovo and to Sarajevo. The town of Pljos is also within easy reach.
\nMikhail Yaruiev and Evgeny Osenkov met with Metropolitan Joseph of Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Vichuga, who blessed the project.
\nA string of visitors<\/strong>
\nOver the past year, Sarajevo has welcomed many visitors: officials, public figures, scientists, and artists.
\nIn particular, the village was visited by Mikhail Bondar, head of the Russian Humanitarian Mission in the Balkans and advisor to the head of Rossotrudnichestvo. He visited the church and spoke with the\u00a0archpriest, Peter Surguchev.
\nAs part of a research project to determine the cultural and historical significance of the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, the village was visited by Alexander Mikhailovich Tikhomirov, a renowned local historian and author of numerous books and articles on the history of his native region.
\nBased on the results of his research, the scientist highly praised the village\u00a0\u00a0potential for development as a cultural, educational, and historical place\u00a0of attraction. \u201cThe Sarajevo Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan is the only live heritage in the region associated with the life and times of commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov,\u201d the local historian emphasized, adding that it is important to preserve this unique heritage.
\nEdgar Filippov, head of the Representative Office of the Russian-Balkan Center for Business Cooperation and Culture in Tatarstan, a well-known artist and sculptor from Zelenodolsk, and a member of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan Creative Union of Artists, also visited the church. He started working on a sketch of Alexander Suvorov\u2019s bust, which is to be installed in the village.
\nEdgar Filippov noted that he was grateful for the invitation to the Ivanovo Region and considered it absolutely necessary to establish a strong Russian-Serbian-Tatarstan triangle relationship: \u201cThis amazing place\u2014the gem of the Russian Golden Ring\u2014has become a true cultural, historical, and educational site: every\u00a0 inch here is steeped in history, and as for us, creative people, we can\u2019t help feeling it. We are starting our work on new joint projects!\u201d he said. \u201cSarajevo has every chance of becoming a mecca and a real tourist attraction for neighboring regions, Russian residents, and, of course, foreigners\u2014especially Serbs!\u201d
\nArtists also visited this place. It resulted in the exhibition \u201cRussian Sarajevo,\u201d which opened in September at the Ivanovo House of Nationalities as part of the \u201cSerbia by Our Side\u201d festival. The project was initiated by Evgeny Osenkov, Mikhail Yaruiev, and representatives of the Center for Artistic Culture and Art \u201cCanvas, Oil.\u201d
\n“This exhibition is a kind of culmination of a unique project: over two months, artists Sergei Zdukhov, Tatyana Komshilova, Svetlana Kuzmicheva, and Vladimir Mayakovsky visited the village of Sarajevo, studied its past and present, culture and lifestyle, and met with the archpriest of the church – Archpriest Peter (Surguchev). This visit resulted in a series of works depicting everyday life in the Russian provinces and its distinctive features. The exhibition will be held in different Russian regions, and in the future we plan to hold it in the Balkans: Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and, of course, in the Republika Srpska\u00a0are looking forward to it,” said Evgeny Osenkov.<\/p>\n

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New invitations<\/strong>
\nDarinka Petrovic, a well-known journalist from the Republika Srpska, is also planning to visit Sarajevo of Ivanovo land. The reporter for Alternative Television (ATV) from Banja Luka, who covered the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin for Balkan viewers, is planning to interview Father Peter. \u201cWe are ready to provide media support for such an important initiative\u2014the transformation of the village of Sarajevo into the Serbian gem of the Russian\u00a0Golden Ring,\u201d she says.
\nArchpriest Peter has also invited Emir Kusturica to visit. The world-famous film maker was born in 1954 in Sarajevo, a city known as the \u201cEuropean Jerusalem.\u201d According to Father Peter, Kusturica is a film maker who continues to make poetic films. \u201cHis consciousness has not been absorbed by Hollywood,\u201d the priest noted. \u201cThe master did not bend to American pressure and continues the tradition of the authentic European cinema. I know that Kusturica is a busy man. But if he found the time to visit Sarajevo\u00a0of Ivanovo land, I would be more than happy to talk to him!\u201d
\nIncidentally, Evgeny Osenkov and Mikhail Yaruiev met with the film maker at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. They told him about Sarajevo and the Ivanovo Region. The grand master has a very busy schedule, but he said he would try and find the time to visit this unique village.<\/p>\n

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Gifts from the Republi<\/strong>ka<\/strong> Srpska<\/strong>
\nNow there are good relations between Sarajevo of \u00a0Ivanovo land and the one in the Balkans, the parties exchange gifts, so the Volga region and the church itself have become places of interest for delegations from Serbia and the Republika Srpska to visit.
\nFather Peter had long planned to install a large icon\u00a0case in the church with an icon of Nicholas (Velimirovich) of Serbia or Saint Savva in it.
\nAt long last, in the summer, icons of Saints Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirovich) and Justin (Popovich) arrived at the church from the Republika Srpska. They were sent as a gift from the Serbian people by the head of the Russian Historical Society\u00a0representative office in the Republic of Serbia, Dragan Mastilovic, director of the Institute of Historical Sciences at the University of East Sarajevo.
\nThe icons were handed over to the church warden, Elena Borshcheva.
\n“We are waiting for Drago Mastilovich and all the residents of East Sarajevo in Ivanovo. We invite Dragana Simic, who painted the icon of St. Nicholas of Serbia, and all parishioners of the Cathedral of St. Archangel Gabriel in Pale who took part in sending gifts from the Republika Srpska to Russia to visit us,” Mikhail Yaruiev said at the gift presentation ceremony.
\n\u201cI would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dragan Mastilovic for this unique and very important gift, which benefits cultural and spiritual bonding between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Serbia. This should become a new milestone in the development of Russian-Serbian relations,\u201d Evgeny Osenkov added.
\nSarajevo of Ivanovo land residents have also recorded a video greeting for Serbian\u00a0Sarajevo, and expressed their readiness to cooperate.<\/p>\n

The work <\/strong>in progress<\/strong>
\nThe Ivanovo region continues to enhance its position as a leader in the development of Russian-Serbian relations: in September, the first student from the Republika Srpska, Bogdan Mastilovich, arrived to study at Ivanovo State University (IvSU). This became possible after the memorandum of cooperation between the Ivanovo Region and the Republic of Serbia and the \u00a0cooperation agreement between IvSU and the University of East Sarajevo have been signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
\nIn addition, Draga Mastilovic arrived in Ivanovo and established cooperation with Mikhail Yaruiev’s Russian-Balkan Center for Business Cooperation and Culture.
\nIn 2025, Sarajevo will host the International Art Symposium \u201cBalkan Symphonies of Painting.\u201d
\nEvgeny Osenkov and Edgar Filippov, head of the Representative Office of the Russian-Balkan Center for Business Cooperation and Culture in the Republic of Tatarstan, agreed to start\u00a0 preparations.
\nThe Center for Artistic Culture and Art \u201cCanvas, Oil,\u201d headed by Tatyana Berdnikova, will be a partner in the project. The project details will be specified later, but one thing is for sure – that the representatives of the Artists\u2019\u00a0Union of the Republic of Tatarstan will take part in it. Agreements on cooperation within the framework of SPIEF-2024 have also been signed between the Republic of Srpska and the Republic of Tatarstan.<\/p>\n

Our magazine’s editorial staff will follow <\/strong>progress<\/strong> in this unique village. The Russian-Balkan Center for <\/strong>Business Cooperation and Culture and the Russian-Balkan Dialogue Center for International Cooperation invite <\/strong>everyone<\/strong> interested in the development of this Serbian gem to cooperate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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